So about my trip to the South- it was many, many hours on a bus, but we got to see a LOT of Chile! I don't have photos of everything we did, but the highlights are below. [Sorry if the map is small, you can click to enlarge it]
Saturday, our bus leaves from Vina at 8pm.
Sunday, 11am, we arrive in Puerto Montt. This is the port town to get to Chiloe, so we stopped here for lunch. We had some delicious mariscos (shellfish) and scoped out the artesanias. This area is known for the llama and alpaca wool- it is everywhere! Gloves, sweaters, jackets, hats- you name it. Then we got on the ferry to Chiloe and got our first taste of the Chilote countryside. We decided that it felt like Ireland- so green, hilly and rainy!
This is a view of Chiloe, from our first stop there. We went to an agrotourism farm, where half of our group ended up staying. As a group, they made us a traditional meal of curanto. Curanto is meat, shellfish, potatoes and balls of dough cooked in the ground. According to wikipedia, "It is traditionally prepared in a hole, about 1.5 meters, which is dug into the ground. The bottom is covered with stones, heated in a bonfire until red." There was a small band that played music for us as well, people danced and it very entertaining! After the meal, a group of about 10 girls and I went to our sleeping quarters for the next two nights, another agrotourism site. We were the lucky group and our place was much newer, nicer and had really warm bedrooms, which after our long, wet days was quite nice.
Monday, we went to the Parque Nacional Chiloe and made a few stops along the way. Above, we stopped to marvel at the homes on stilts, called palafitos. And below is a very old church. On all walls of the church were small, colorful places to worship. I think that this is very intersting and I'm not sure if this is a typical style of Latin American churches or simply in Chiloe. I'm taking Theology in Latin America next semester, so I will find out!
These are some photos from the national park. Instead of Ireland, I felt as though I was in the Amazon jungle! It was so green and just gorgeous! This was my highlight of Chiloe. After our time in the park, we went to Castro, the capital of the island. Here we all indulged ourselves in some llama-ness. I bought myself a pair of mittens and a hat, which I used throughout the whole trip, because it was generally cold throughout our time. After that, our group parted ways again, and we returned to a delicious, hot meal at our farm! I had merluza, which I just found out is hake, a white fish. Mmm! Did I mention that the best part of the farm was our breakfasts? We had great home-made cheese, whole milk, freshly baked breads and marmelades. YUM. I really enjoyed the agrotourism thing, I wish we could have stayed there longer.
The girls on our farm! And the incredible view from it.
Tuesday, we left Chiloe, crossed on the ferry and drove to Puerto Varas. Pto. Varas reminded me of a cute mountain town- it had a breathtaking view of a volcanoe over a huge lake. We lunched there and then moved onto two more incredible places!
This is incredible place number 1: the cascada [waterfall]. Look at the color of the water! There was also a great view of the mountains.
This is just one view from incredible place number two. We went on a boat tour on the lake and got to spend some time on the beach after. Those mountains are technically in Argentina, if this gives you a reference point as to where we were. After this, we returned to Pto. Montt to stay in a hotel for the night.
Wednesday, we drove a few hours to Valdivia, an important town because of the role it played in the Spanish inquisition. We got lunch in the main area and then headed to the Kunstmann cervezeria. This is a German beer that is very popular here in Chile. Valdivia is known for its German influence. We ran into some German travelers later that day and they said that that the beer and food was the closest thing to real German cuisine in their 3 months in Chile. We toured the factory and then got to sample it. I've decided that I really don't love beer! Even if it is higher quality, it's not my favorite.
After the Kunstmann factory, we went to a Spanish fort and then another historical museum. It was pouring rain that day, so none of us were in great spirits to be herded around in our group of 30. Having tours of these kinds of places are quite hard in our big group, no one can hear everything, nor is everyone interested in what the guide is saying. Oh the joys of traveling in huge groups! After these, we drove a couple more hours to Villarica- a town outside of Pucon. Pucon is a touristy area because it has a fantastic location- with a huge volcanoe and lake. The sporty-types come here to ski in the winter and partake in hiking and water sports during the summer. Unfortunately for us, it was still raining and all activities (including trekking up the volcanoe and ziplining) were cancelled. This was quite a disappointment, but it was no one's fault but Mother Earth.
Thursday, we were able to sleep in for the first time. We stayed in private cabins, with 4-5 people in each cabin. It was so much fun to have our own spaces for our first time in Chile! We had a small kitchen and living room in each cabin. Then about half of our group opted to go to some thermal hot springs to get out and away. We drove there, and enjoyed the hot springs very much! It was still raining very hard, but the sensation of the cool rain drops and the warm springs was unbeatable. Also, there was a wire bridge that we found, so of course, we walked across! I did something very similar when I went to Belize, so I was excited to find another rickety bridge to cross in a foreign country! :) After the hot springs, we stopped in Pucon for dinner and had the most delicious, warm meal ever! Hot food had never tasted so good.
Friday, we spent the majority of the day on the bus, driving north towards Vina. Our stop for the day was in a small town outside of Concepcion called Lota. Lota had a famous carbon mine that was open until 1997 and made a large footprint on the economy in the past. Chile has a rich mining history, from success in nitrate in the late 1800s to copper and carbon in the 20th century. On the way to the mine, we watched a Chilean film called Sub Terra, which is based on a historical fiction story. The conditions in the mining town were awful. We learned more about the mine once we arrived. We geared up for our drop into the mine, helmets with a flashlight were definitely necessary.
We spent a few more hours in the bus after this and stayed the night in Linares. Linares has absolutely nothing in it, so it was a boring night!
Saturday, we awoke and yes, you can guess it, more hours on the bus! We drove through a wine region with great views of the mountain range. We arrived in Santa Cruz and spent a couple hours at a really interesting museum! I don't remember the name, but it is the largest, privately-owned museum in South America. It was huge! With exhibits on Latin American history, automobiles, dinosaurs, etc. None of us were too thrilled to be going to another museum, but without a tour guide, it was a great experience to meander around. We got lunch after that and then drove back to Vina! It was about 6 more hours to Vina, and we were very ready to be away from a bus for a LONG time!
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