Blogs from Valdivia, Los Ríos, Chile, South America - page 5

Hey all, thought of keeping a daily journal of my 9 day trek around the lakes district in Chile, however, given the time constraints decided to post a few pics along w/ verbiage...needless to say it was a nice break, the intent was to backpack/bus around the area to get a taste of the local flavor/sites...mission accomplished, however, in the future i will simply rent a car, lost way too many hours busing around...that said, journey started and ended in Valdivia visiting Pucon, Castro (Chiloe), Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Puerto Octay (my favorite). Just way too much to do; hiking, mountain climbing, white water rafting, horseriding, canopying, canoyeering, etc. and such little time. I would encourage each of u to visit this area whenever possible. The German influence is apparent everywheres, which makes for an ... read more

We left Chiloé in drizzle and arrived a few hours later in Valdivia in torrential rain! Fortunately the landlady of our hostel picked us up from the bus terminal but that didn’t stop us from looking like drowned rats as we trudged down the driveway. It was amazing to think that we got THAT wet walking a matter of yards! Luckily we had decent weather for the rest of our stay. Valdivia is a lovely place at the confluence of three rivers. It was great to see the fish market in action as the fish mongers filleted and cleaned their catch. There were so many varieties of fish, some familiar to us and some not, and mountains of shellfish like mussels and clams. The highlight is not the market though, but the thousands of seagulls and ... read more

we´ve had requests to know who got what for Christmas: Emma got Graham: an Argentine military issued fork and knife set for eating meat. Graham got Gordo: a camping cup which he had to secretly give to him without the girls knowing because he needed it for Torres del Paine. Gordo feigned surprise upon reaching into his stocking. Gordo got Elise: chocolate from Bariloche and a symbol of friendship for the four of us Elise got Emma: a Casio watch with a pink rim so she would stop asking what time it was. Off in 30 minutes for a bus to Santiago. We are in Valdivia right now and although it´s a charming town something keeps us pressing on. ... read more

We've slowed the pace down (a bit) since my last blog. No mad dashes across countries or fluctuating weather reports. We spent a couple of days pottering around La Serena (the town with the offending mall). Nothing much to report really. Nice enough town but (save for these few lines) nothing to write home about. As reported, we went to a mall, had a KFC and watched Teror a Bordo: Snakes on a Plane to you and me. We haven't watched much telly so it was quite a treat to watch a film... even one as cheesy as that. We also wandered down to the beach. The map on the Lonely Planet suggested it was a short walk away. It wasn't. Oh well, we had nothing better to do. Whilst on the subject, I should provide ... read more

These are from our recent South America trip when I finally got to meet Lorena's family after nearly 4 years!!!... read more

This overnight bus journey was made more enjoyable by seat numbers 3 and 4, where you can get a great view out the front window. This made for a more scenic journey with a less painful neck at the end of it. Once arrived in Valdivia - a very cold town surrounded by rivers - where it is either sunny or raining, nothing in between. We were approached by Ana, a lady who would not take 'no' for an answer about staying at her guest house for the night. Looking for a quiet life we accepted and found ourselves in a very homely house, with hot water (5 minutes max per person per day, which kind of took away from the homely feeling). We then stretched our legs by wandering around town taking in the ... read more