30.03.-03.04.11

Chiloe

After the smooth border crossing from Argentina to Chile close to Villa Angostura I arrived in PUERTO MONTT in CHILE. My plan was to stay in Puerto Montt for one night.But after I arrived at the bus terminal at 2.30pm and I couldn't find a hostel I decided to continue straight to the ISLAND OF CHILOE.

Two hours later I arrived in the harbour town of ANCUD and checked into the beautiful hostel "Hostel Nuevo Mundo", owned by the Swiss guy Martin. There I bumped into Xavier from Lyon and we had a nice chat at the dinner table. He asked me if I would like to join him for the favourite Chiloen dish "CURANTO" the next day…..and for sure I said YES!

After a good night sleep and the best breakfast ever I had so far I walked to the nearby beach. The walk took me two hours and it was a beautiful warm and sunny day. In the afternoon I did some food shopping and headed back to the hostel where I uploaded all my photos from the last week.

At 9pm we finally managed to leave the hostel and go to the restaurant "Curantos" which was located across the harbour. Antoine, another nice French guy and his parents joined us for the dinner. It was a fun night and we managed to eat four huge plates of CURANTO and two bottles of wine. Antoine spoke four languages fluently (French, German, English and Spanish) and for sure we went through all of during the dinner. Que divertida!

The next day, 01.04.11, at breakfast we met the French couple Julian and Perrin from Montpellier. As we all wanted to go down to the capital of Chiloe, CASTRO, we took the bus at 11.30pm and arrived there two hours later. Even though that the HOSTEL PALAFITO was far more expensive than the other hostels on Chiloe we decided anyhow to stay there for a couple of nights. The hostel was one of the typical wooden houses built on stilts and sometimes when we were sitting in the kitchen it was moving from the water.

The first day we checked out the city centre and went to one of the typical wooden built churches and the handicraft market at the harbour.

The second day we got up early, enjoyed a yummy breakfast with homemade "integral" bread and took the bus to the NATIONAL PARK CHILO. Unfortunately it started raining and after our first walk back from the beach we stayed in the information centre for quite a while. When the rain stopped we decided to go for another short walk through the "bosque". The walk went mainly over a wooden built path and after 20 Minutes I somehow managed to slip. Oh je…I fell on my right knee and back….and it was quite painful! The following night I could hardly sleep because of the pain and Xavier snoring in the bunk bed below me!

The third day (Sunday, 02.04.11) we got up at 8am, enjoyed the great breakfast with homemade brown bread and marmalade. At 9am we walked over the nearby bus station and took the bus to DALGAHUE. Every Sunday there is a famous FERIA ARTESANAL which we visited first and where we bought a nice scarf for Perrin and a hat for Xavier.

After a quick stroll through the town and visiting the church we took the ferry and bus to the Island ISLA QUINCHAO! The bus took us over the whole island to the largest town called ACHAO. In Achao we visited the oldest church of Chiloe, IGELSIA SANTA MARIA from 1767 which nicer from the inside then the outside. For lunch we were looking for some nice EMPENADAS but couldn't find any and therefore we went into a nice local restaurant at the beach where we had a PLATO DEL DIA for 3000 Pesos. (Mussel soup, fish and potatoes with a few tomatoes) Well, nothing special …..but cheap!!! At 4pm we took the bus back to our lovely hostel in Castro.

After a cup of tea and some biscuits at the "Palafito Hostel"we took our backpacks and walked up to the bus station from where our bus to PUERTO MONTT and PUERTO VARAS left at 6pm.

In Puerto Montt we sadly had to say "Good Bye" to Xavier as he was continuing his journey to Bariloche in Argentinia.

I travelled further on with Perrin and Julian to PUERTO VARAS where we arrived at 10pm and checked into the Hostel Mawenka.