Sur Chile

Cats, dogs, fish, hikes and penguins!
A wild and wonderful final ten days in Chile.

We only had one night in Chillan, it was a lovely regional town. Jamie experienced a traditional Chilean stewed apricot shrivelled ball in juice with oats drink called Huesillo con Mote. Ian looked on from a safe distance.
Christmas continues to be the theme in all parks and squares. Plenty of carol's being sung and holiday shopping taking place.
We pre-purchased and triple confirmed our bus ride from Chillan to Temuco. All went smoothly for the journey.
Our accommodation in Temuco was considered, 'rustic' by Jamie. Though, Ian's description was a little more colourful.

Cooler weather met us in Temuco as we had continued South. With jackets on we walked the markets and enjoyed a Chinese dinner. We liked the small tables out the front of the mercado's with vendors selling their own groceries. Particularly the bag of mixed vegetables ready for cooking.

Temuco was surrounded by some hiking sized hills, in the afternoon we followed a trail up Cerro Nielol. Lovely gums and a few statues greeted us at the top. Further walking through town we came to appreciate the 'new' part of town with universities, shopping malls and bars. Very different to where we were living in the 'old' part of town.
After a relaxing two days, we were on the bus again to the coastal town of Valdivia.

A thrilling three days in Valdivia. Fantastic riverside fresh markets including overfed sea lions gorging on discarded fish heads. Our host was a real treat, the lead violinist of the town chamber orchestra. Listening to him practice was a memorable experience. Plus his two cats gave us our pet indulgence.

We hired some bicycles and rode out to say hello to the Pacific Ocean. A nervous ride at times on the skinny road but most vehicles were polite and gave us room. We enjoyed cooking meals with fresh fish and had a lovely time experiencing the funky culture of Valdivia. Delicious cakes and desserts, craft beer and stylish murals.

Back on the bus, this time further South to Puerto Varas for two nights. Our host, Jorge, pronounced 'Your gey', had two split personality dogs. One was hyper active, the other extreme nervous. The nervous dog hid under a seat or in Jorge's room the entire time, while the hyper dog, 'Princess' had an ecclectic hair style and tried to climb onto your lap for pats.

Puerto Varas reminded us of Banff and Jasper. A winter ski style village. Three giant snow capped mountains sat across a large fresh water lake. We had a great view on our first day, sadly the second, which we chose to hike around Volcan Osorno, was a little drissly and overcast. We still loved our four hour hike. Predominantly a sand and ash ground surface made it tough going at times. Very few people on the trails meant we had a peaceful and serene walk between the trees and by the lake.

We played around with our plans for the final few days in Chile. Puerto Varas was only 30 minutes North of Puerto Montt which would be our last two nights in Chile before flying out. Instead of spending a day on local transport as we checked out of one accommodation and checked into another in Puerto Montt. We decided instead to hire a rental car and use the day continuing to explore the area.

We tried to book a Europcar vehicle for early Thursday morning, alas when we arrived, they said our booking had been cancelled and they no longer have a spare vehicle available to us. We wandered Puerto Varas and spoke to three other rental companies. Some could give us a car, but we would have to bring it back to them the morning we fly out. Which was from the Puerto Montt airport, not ideal.

Change of plans, decided to public transport on the mini bus shuttles to Puerto Montt. Which worked fine, then we checked another two rental car places, this time 11am. The second, said they didnt have a car, but a friend of theirs did.

Jamie's comment in hindsight, 'At the beginning of these travels, we probably would have said no to that sort of thing. But now, we just keep our wits about us and go with the flow.'

So a 'friend' turned up and drove us in their car to another rental location. Once there, we then organised a hire car through them. No problems, $50AUD per day, we could take it now and bring it back Friday night.

Done, we departed in a small Nissan Marche, South, to a National Park, Alerce Andino, to explore.

A beautiful park, probably needed a 4wd to access it but we flogged our rental car up the steep gravel road. Gorgeous alerce trees and fast flowing rivers. A short three hour hike was thoroughly appreciated.

Puerto Montt definitely had a coastal shipping town feel to it. It was handy with a car but a little crazy driving a manual with Spanish road signs. It required sharp navigating which Jamie handled with ease. Our three months with Big Bird paying off.

Our second day, we took a ferry across to the Chiloe Island. Some nervous moments as we were low on fuel but managed to secure some in Ancud. A walk around Ancud was delightful, a groovy tourist town.

We then drove to the North West of Chiloe to observe some small penguins relaxing on rocks. Some beach driving gave us worries but guides in life jackets assured us the sand was hard enough.
Our boat tour was a real tourist treat. Wonderful bird life, an english speaking marine biologist was very helpful. He gave a great explanation of all that was taking place on the three islands we boated around.

Back on shore we then plotted a few more routes we could take around Chiloe. We then became aware of the lack of bitumen roads and majority are rough gravel. A little nervous of getting severe dints in the rental car as well as getting stuck in some of the softer gravel patches. We made sure to collect speed when needed and rev hard.

Nevertheless, the drive was very scenic. Similar to parts of New Zealand. Rolling hills, ocean wind swept grasslands. Plenty of sheep and cattle on thick green paddocks. We made our way to Quemchi and looked back to the Andes on the mainland. Back on the gravel road and we returned to our ferry by 6pm. Almost five hours on rough gravel roads while on Chiloe. Fortunately, no dints or chips of paint.

Some more confusion at the rental place, when paying with a credit card they asked for 20% extra for the country tax. That made it an extra $20aud, we were a little peeved. Whereas with cash it was only the $100. After some discussion and frustration on our faces, they agreed to the $100. It made us relieved and happy that we stuck to our guns.

An uber to the airport in the morning. We had prepared extra documentation for our flight to Argentina. We were concerned we would experience the same hassle we had in Cuba when exiting with Copa Airlines. Needing an exit flight from Chile before boarding the plane.
We did not have anything confirmed for exiting Argentina. Our planned exit is a bus at Iguasu Falls, over to the Brazilian side. But we hadn't purchased that so had no proof. Instead we had flights from the Brazilian side of Iguasu up to Rio.
So with a variety of documentation we prepared for the worst. Even if we needed to buy a flight and then refund it later.

Turns out, nothing was required. Nothing at all. Even our concern with the Airline, Jetsmart, saying we only had an 8kg carry on limit.

Nothing happened. No one checked or even questioned our bags. No one asked us about our exit from Argentina. We walked in, walked on board and took off. We flew via Santiago and went through International customs at the airport. Again, no issues. Though we constantly fretted in the lines picturing the worst.
A brief moment of chaos while in the line for immigration at departure. It seemed a few passengers were late for a flight, so jumping the queue took place. First a group of five, then ten, next thing you knew an entire flight of passengers started cutting across ropes and piling at the front. A lot of exclamation from other Chileans. We tried to keep to ourselves. We had enough time, we'd be okay. And as it turned out, we were completely fine.

Our landing in Mendoza, Argentina, was a simple photo taken, fingerprint scan, where are we staying and thats it.

As we look back, Chile - you were incredible. We only saw parts of your Southern strip. We hope to catch the Northern area later in our trip. And we have promised we will one day return and see the greater Patagonia. Your four and five day hikes look incredible and we hope to experience that one day. We are sorry we couldn't do it on this part of our journey.

However, the areas we saw, the frustrations we had and overcame, the experiences and people we met, simply outstanding. A unique and gorgeous country. With a background of mountains all the way, stunning.
Thank you and we will see you again.

Now, onto Argentina!