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Published: February 7th 2009
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040 - Chile - Ancud
01/08/09 - 01/19/09
Unexpected Chile
Here's a little travel hint from the 'engineer half' of Do It Like The Locals: a little spontaneity can add some much needed spice to your travels. Also, don't believe everything you hear or read about a place. Okay, that's two travel hints, I admit, but that's what Chile was for us: spontaneous and quite unexpected.
First, Bariloche (Argentina), a town prime with Argentinian tourists from Buenos Aires and other parts of the country. Getting to Bariloche consisted of a 22-hour non-stop bus ride that couldn't have ended
late enough. That's right, the bus system of Argentina is so good we didn't want to get off once we arrived. The middle-class seats on their buses are equivalent to first-class seats on airliners (OK, I admit, I've never flown first-class, but that's what they appear to look like!). The first-class bus seats (which we had on this journey) are huge plush Lazy-Boy-like concoctions that fold down flat like a bed. They come with blankets, hot food, wine, whiskey, and a handful of American movies to pass the time. Having slept in hostels almost exclusively in Argentina, this was
the best night's rest we'd had in the country!
Located in the northern part of the Argentinian Patagonias, Bariloche serves as the premier ski resort area for Argentinians during the winter. Coming during the summer season, we took advantage of the amazing mountain trails and went hiking to some scenic viewpoints. We also went white water rafting in some Class III and IV rapids on one of the days and were forced to learn the Spanish equivalents of 'Forward', 'Back', and 'Everyone to one side'!
On the night before heading to Cordoba, Argentina, Hannah mentioned the fact that we were geographically quite close to Chile. Why not cross the border (and the Andes) and check out a new country while making our way north again? Sounds good to me! Hence the beauty of spontaneity that landed us in Chile!
In case you didn't know it, Chile is a sliver of a country flanked with the Andes on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. We heard other travelers mention that Chile was nice, but more expensive than Argentina, and possibly could be skipped if our timing was tight. We found it considerably cheaper than Argentina
and intriguing in that it was a bit off the beaten path (at least compared with Buenos Aires and Bariloche).
The first stop was Ancud, a sleepy fishing town on Chiloe island. From here, we checked out the famous penguins of the area, consisting of the Marallanico and Humboldt variety. This was our first time seeing penguins in the wild and they really are as cute as all the cartoons make them out to be!
Chileans believe that they have the best wine in the world, and, at the very least, wine that is vastly superior to that from Argentina. Well, we decided to do first hand field research by heading to Talca for some wine tasting. The results? Well, perhaps we had bad luck with our vineyard and wine selection but I must attest to preferring Argentian wines. Part of it may be that many Chilean vineyards are located at high altitudes, thus resulting in wines that have overbearing strength and not enough flavor. I'm not sure, but we still had a good time trying them out.
Finally, we headed to Santiago, fully intending to skip the capital city because of all of the negative reviews
we heard from travelers and even the Lonely Planet 'bible'. Again, don't believe everything you hear, because we were pleasantly surprised. In all honesty we ony stayed because we couldn't find a bus across the border, but the attendant at the Information booth was very helpful and gave us a general direction for our 24 hr stop. It was clean, had a great transportation system, was full of museums, and had friendly Chileans. We even stayed in what we considered to be a 'boutique' hotel for a great price! We found some great art pieces scattered around town and checked out a fantastic Frida and Diego Rivera exhibit displaying dozens of their pieces. Santiago is right up there with Buenos Aires as a major 'western' city of South America and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
All in all, a spontaneous and unexpected trip through Chile as we make our way north and back into Argentina. Next stop, Cordoba, Argentina!
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Anne Clark
non-member comment
I'm WITH you!
Enjoying the landscape (again) vicariously. Thank you for sharing your perspective! I LOVED Argentina; glad to see that YOU do, too!