Hola!
OK, I am extremely behind on my blog entries, so here it goes! Dan and I spent 7 days in Chile... awesome but also unfortunate because we could have easily spent another three weeks getting to know the entire 7833 miles of coastline of this beautiful and diverse country.
Our first day was spent mostly in buses, planes, and taxis... but probably the most memorable day of the trip. We left Bariloche, Argentina, by bus at 7:30 am, which was scheduled to arrive in Osorno, Chile at around 12:30 pm, plenty of time to make our 2pm flight from Osorno to Santiago... so we thought. After about 30 min of traveling by bus, the bus pulled off the road for about 30 min. We didn't realize until later that it was because some woman had missed the bus, called the driver and asked to wait for her while she hired a taxi to our stopped bus. Very aggrivating. Next we get to the Argentine border control station where we disembarked, and had our passports stamped and bags sniffed by drug dogs. This took a while but not nearly as long as the time we had to spend at the Chilean boarder control station. We first had to wait for two large buses in front of us (probably because we were 30 min late because of the late tourist) to clear the border crossing, then it was our turn. Sixty passengers waiting for one Chilean official to check, register, and stamp our passports. At this time it was already about 1:30 pm and we were 100% sure we were going to miss our flight until someone told us that we gain an hour in Chile. Even so, we were cutting it dangerously close. We talked to the bus driver and he said that we would make our flight... but looked a little worried. Right before we were about to get back on the road, he told us to grab our bags and get on the bus behind us, which was scheduled to arrive at the Osorno airport before his bus. Either way, we had 1.5 hours to board our flight, and we were still about 1.5 hours away. So, already convinced that we would miss the flight, jumped on board. At 1:52, the bus pulled to the side of the road, told us to get off and grab our bags. We were confused because we were in the middle of a field with nowhere close to anything that resembled an airport. Then the driver pointed to a small building in the distance and said it was about 700 meters "over there." So, backpacks on, we took off running. By the time we arrived at the only building "over there," were completely out of breath. There wasn't anyone at the check-in counter but we saw someone in an airline uniform. The only thing I could get out was "Santiago!" Casually she told us, "sure, you just need to check in," and very slowly started checking us in. I was freaking out a bit, wondering why she wasn't moving faster and asking her if our bags would make it on the plane. It wasn't until we received the boarding passes when we realized that the flight was delayed 20 min. Everything after that was like a dream, still wondering how it was possible that we made the flight that we had already given up on. All I can say is that we had a very nice and smooth flight to Santiago, and made it to our comfy hostel before sundown!
The next two and a half days were spent in Santiago where we did loads of touristy things: hop-on hop-off bus; steep cable car ride up to the Statue of the Virgin (their Statue of Liberty); ate lots of seafood in the trendy neighborhood of Bella Vista, where they always have nightly live entertainment, and lots of wandering around! One night at a random bar called "Harvard," I ran into a friend from college who had recently taken a job in Santiago - such a small world! We ended up hanging out with him and his buddy for the rest of the night, sharing beers and tales of our travels.
On day four, five, and six we rented a car to drive ourselves to the coast. The first two days were spent in Valparaiso, a historical port city directly to the west of Santiago. Valparaiso is a precious little town with brightly painted buildings built on top of one another, dangling off hillsides. Every winding alley was a picture perfect post card, full of color, hills and pacific ocean. Some areas were so steep that many used telefericos (gondalas) to get to and from home. Valparaiso has a huge artist community and many are hired to grafity/paint murals on their homes. For me, this town was a good mix between San Francisco and Chinque Terra (in Italy).
We spent most of our time wandering and getting lost in the windy and steep neighborhoods, took a free walking tour of the historic sites, visited the house of the late Chilean author, Pablo Neruda, and ate lots of fish.
The next day and a half was spent driving north of Valpariso and getting to know a few coastal towns. My favorite was Horcón, an old fishing village full of colorful buildings an markets, pelicans, and hard-working fishermen. There the fishermen still do things the old-fashioned way, hauling their small fishing boats to the shore by horse. Everytime a new boat is drug to shore, a crowd of locals hovers around to check out the fruits. Since it was a fall, mid-week day, Dan and I were the only two tourists around... kinda fun!
We ended up staying in Zapallar, a resorty-coastal town which looks very similar to an under-developed Carmel or Monterey. Zapallar was also completely empty of tourists which made for a fun day at the beach. For the most part, we just took it easy - watched the sun set, then watched a futbol game with the locals at a rustic tavern (where they serve a mean ceviche!).
The next day we drove around a few more sleepy-coastal towns before making our way back to Santiago for a final evening in Chile before heading off to Ecuador.
All in all, Chile is a beautiful country that looks a lot like California, especially the coast. We would have loved to have traveled further north to the Atacama Desert or explored the southern Patagonia, but you can only do so much in a week! Guess that just means that we'll have to return someday... :)
OK, that's all I got! Next up is Ecuador!
Besos,
Kristen
