Chile

As mentioned often before already, during our Latin America-tour we have been going to many places in not enough time. There is just so much to see and to do, that even 6 months is by far not enough. Also for Chile we only had two weeks, although there is a lot to see and locations are very wide spread (from north Chile to the south is 4,270 km)! Therefore, this time we made a very difficult but wise decision: We would skip the north part and the most south part, and would only go to three different locations: Santiago, Valparaiso and Pucòn. This meant that we would miss out on Chile’s most beautiful and famous area: Patagonia. A very good reason to come back in the near future.

We arrived at the Santiago airport late at night, and had a taxi ride to the city center. We directly noticed a huge different with the previous Latin America countries: We drove on a real motor highway, and people were actually obeying the traffic rules! It almost felt like home! Also, the next morning when we left the hostel, the weather felt like spring at home – and that in October. The sun was shining, spring plants were flowering and the birds were singing. While walking through the city, we did not only noticed the organized traffic, but that city life in general was similar to what we are used to back home: an extended metro system, a financial district and clean streets without any street dogs. Overall, Santiago felt like any European city, and was for us a huge contrast with the last 5 months. Unfortunately, prices in Chile were also more Europe-wise.

After a few days in Santiago, we bought our bus ticket to Valparaíso: a small harbor city at the Pacific, known for its little winding streets up the hills, its colorful houses, lots of beautiful graffiti and the “funicular”: a common way of transportation up the hills (Chilean elevator). Although we didn’t do any special tour or activities, we really enjoyed the general city vibe while straying around the lovely narrow alleys. We took it very easy, enjoyed some drinks and very nice desserts (crème brûlee & raspberry cheese cake… yummieee!) at outside terraces – very rare in South America. One afternoon, we took a bus to a neighboring town Viña del Mar, which was recommended by our travel guide. However, except for a nice public garden, the town did not have much to offer, and we quickly made it back to Valparaíso.

From Valparaíso we took an 11 hour night bus towards Pucòn, a village at the Lake District in the southern part of Chile, just before Patagonia. Pucòn is a very cute town with wooden cottages, surrounded by a very green landscape, with a snowcapped volcano in the background: the Quetrupillán. Also our hostel was built mainly of wood and gave a very comfy sphere. The hostel owner turned out to be a Dutchman, and helped us out with information about the numerous activities in and around Pucòn.

We would have 6 whole days to explore this area: more time than we had at any other location for the last 5 months. We decided to go for rock-climbing and to climb a volcano. Ever since we arrived in Ecuador, it was our goal to do some mountaineering for reaching the summit of a volcano; but due to risk of eruptions or very high costs, so far we were not successful. Also the Quetrupillán had erupted this year and was still off limits. However, there was an affordable alternative: Vulcano Villarrica. We joined a tour and were equipped with warm waterproof clothing, snow boots, an ice-axe and a bob slide (for the way back). It was a beautiful day with clear blue sky. The first two hours we hiked through the woods, but then we left the tree line behind and had another 3 hour climb over a plain steep snowfield. Reaching the summit was breathtaking! A euphoric rush was rewarded with a stunning 360° panorama-view including more than 10 volcanos. We enjoyed this moment for a while before we started with the fun part: going downhill on sledges. In the beginning it was difficult to balance and steer properly, but soon we got the hang of it. It was a blast!

One of the days, we rented mountain bikes, to explore the surroundings on our own. We went to a highly recommended rental shop, to ensure quality bikes. The first hour was nice, and we really enjoyed the Scandinavian looking landscape. Unfortunately, the chains of one of the bikes got worse and worse, and biking became less and less doable. Irritations started to increase (also between us :P), and the way back was just shitty. As a make-our-day, we allowed ourselves a delicious dinner at a steak-restaurant that night.

For the rock-climbing we got our personal (Italian) guide: A cool and laidback dude. When we asked him until when the climbing would take his answer was “Whenever you guys feel like”. It was a lot of fun, and we both felt that we were getting better, but after our fourth ascent, the muscles were completely done, so we called it a day.

On our last day in Pucòn, we went for a hike in Cañi national reserve. The hike was an ascent from 400m to 1500m, with different sceneries on the way. We started in standard woodland with both needle- and leaf trees, followed by a fairytale looking forest with huge trees more than 150 years old. When reaching the lakes, we could see geese and other breeding birds, before we entered winter wonderland again, dominated by snow and Araucaria trees (typical trees only growing in the southern parts of South America). The view at the top was fantastic again, with snow-capped volcanos and mountains on the east side, and a green lake landscape to the west.

We enjoyed Pucòn a lot, with a good combination of relaxing and activities. After the night bus back to Santiago, we spent our last day relaxing in the capital city, did some computer-stuff in local cafes and finished our Pisco-Sprite (Pisco is a typical Chilean liquor); we went to the airport early and watched “Motor Cycle Diary” from the laptop.

And then it was time. Boarding to our flight towards New Zealand. We had incredible two weeks in Chile and were very happy with our decision to not squeeze more places in. It was the best ending of an amazing tour through an amazing continent. We have seen, done and experienced so many new things, including cultures, food, people, landscapes and outdoor activities. It will be hard to top that during our second part of the journey. Off we go, and see you from the other side of the world! ¡Hasta luego chicas y chicos!