Solo Travelisms2

Category: Chile

  • Puerto Varas

    Puerto Varas

    Volcano Osorno, taken from three lakefront.

    Puerto Varas is just north of Patagonia in the Lake District of Chile. It is absolutely beautiful. It was settled by a large group of Germans in the late 1800s, and you can see the style in some of the older homes. 

    I am loving my hostel. I feel like I’m in my room in a big house and Mom‘s gonna call me down for dinner any minute. The shared bathrooms lock and have a dressing room. The kitchen is really nice; even the plates are pretty. There’s a Krups coffee maker that grinds the beans, then makes espresso or Americano style coffee with the push of a button. Much better than the Nescafé in my last place.

    Hostel
    Hot tub
    Backyard of hostel
    View out my window

    I did my perimeter walk after checking in and found that it’s really one long street to the lakeshore with small streets that run off of it.

    It’s a beautiful day, about 62. When you stand in the sun, it’s warm. There are three volcanoes on the lake that are visible as you walk into town.

    It’s hard to see the middle one but it’s there.

    It’s definitely high season because trips fill up 3 days in advance. I was trying to book the thermal baths for tomorrow, but everything was full. I walked by a Spanish agency and was able to book a trip for tomorrow.

    For dinner, I went for a burger. It’s Election Day in Chile, so they were posting results in the television.

    I kind of knew what was going on because I had sat next to a lawyer on the bus from Valpo to Santiago last week, and he had explained it to me. 

    They have eight candidates that people vote on. The two highest have a run-off a month later. Right now it is literally tied between a Communist and a far right person. Crazy! By the way, voting is mandatory here.  Maybe it should be in the US so we could get more than 50% turnout.

    I am really liking this town. In the evening, I found a restaurant called Mesa Tropera, the coolest restaurant in Puerto Varas. Based on its three-sided lake view, it should be shockingly expensive. But prices are as they would be anywhere else.

    To my left is a man from Morocco that speaks Arabic, French, Korean, and Spanish fluently. He is a tour guide to a group of Koreans, including the girl next to him. She spent seven years doing tours of Machu Picchu so she’s fluent in Spanish.

    To my right is a French Swiss girl who speaks French and Spanish fluently. 

    This is what travel is all about: finding a common language and communicating. We all spoke Spanish together, and the more I drink, the better I speak and understand. 

    Back at hostel,  I came into the living room for a minute, and they’re were ten men on the couches.  Ive never ever seen so many men in a hostel.  It’s always women!  

    Travel Tips and Observations

    • Puerto Varas is the friendliest town I’ve been to in Chile.
    • Prices are similar to those in Puerto Natales.
    • There are lots of worthwhile tours here. Be sure to book the Osorno Volcano and Petruhue Falls tour, as well as the Thermas del Sol tour. They’re both full day tours so allow a day in between.
    • Check or the lakefront restaurants. Prices are not really different than inland.
    • The bird with the curved beak makes noises that sounds like he’s laughing.
    • There are big orange fuzzy bees here
    • The economy here is 80% dairy. Cows are all free range. There’s lots of land for them.

  • Glacier Grey … Almost

    From Waaaay Farther Away than it was Supposed to Be

    Grey Glacier is a massive glacier inside the park. It’s 6 km wide and 30 m high.

    The van picked me up from my hotel at 8:30. When I woke up this morning to the wind howling and saw that 65 kph gusts were expected, I wondered if the trip might be cancelled. I checked WhatsApp and had no messages so assumed all was well.

    We spent two hours in the van, checked in at the park entrance, and then went into Hotel Grey to confirm that the boat would still be running. Evidently the trip was in question due to the wind.

    At 12:00 the announcement was made that the trip was to be canceled. We were all (about 100 people) crushingly disappointed.

    The van was silent as we returned from the park back into Puerto Natales.

    This is the boat we were supposed to go on to get very close to the glacier.

    Travellers Tips and Observations

    • It is expensive here, close to prices in the US. Many restaurants have sprung up to cater to tourists, and they are packed. But they are expensive. I had local salmon lastnight for about $15 and that was cheaper than many things in the menu. It was excellent!
    • Anywhere you go, whether it’s a fancy place with a view or a cafe, wine and empanadas are very reasonable.
    • The Torres del Paine park entrance is good for three days.
    • For anyone considering this itinerary, I would recommend doing both Puerto Natales and Calafate and staying in each at least 5-7 days each to allow for weather and cancellations. Also, for those wimpy hikers like me, I would’ve skipped the bus tour and taken the local bus to the park and gone on my own hike. I may need to come back someday. 

  • Torres del Paine National Park

    This amazing, giant park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the 8th natural wonder of the world. It’s very famous for hiking and trekking, especially 4 to 9 day hikes staying in refugios (very basic lodging) or, if they didn’t book a year in advance like some I talked to, camping. It has become recently very famous with hikers from around the world.

    Since I am a wimpy almost non-hiker, I took the bus tour through the park.

    When van arrived, the driver apologized and said the other van had problems running, so they had changed vans.

    There were only four of us on the trip: a Chilean lady, two German guys, and me.

    It took two hours to get to the park entrance where we had to show our paid park entry document.

    We drove a lot and got out a lot to take a lot of pictures.

    The border with Argentina right off the highway!
    There’s a legend about a woman who dies of thirst, then gives birth. People leave her water bottles.
    Condors, the largest flying birds in the world
    One of the lakes that’s turquoise blue when sunny

    We covered the big lakes on the south end of the park, but it was raining and overcast, so the lakes didn’t look turquoise blue like you would see on a sunny day. We didn’t even come near the northern side of the park where most of the serious hikers go.

    I found that you can actually take a public bus to the park for a few dollars. It takes you near the famous three towers. According to a lady I talked to, a short, easy hike from there was completely possible. I had everything I needed except waterproof pants, which was stupid of me not to bring. I could’ve done it, and I’m sad that I didn’t take hike of a lifetime.

    The road to Torres is horrible. This is what everyone said on the blogs I researched and it’s true. They are washboard gravel or paved with a million potholes. The drivers swerve wildly like they’re driving a Maserati instead of a van to avoid the potholes

    With thousands of people paying $32 every day to enter the park, they have to making buckets of money. One would think they could fix the roads.

    We took a walk up to Cascada Paine.

    Cascada Paine

    Then at a later stop we went to Cascada Salto.

    Cascada Salto

    The van stopped for pix many times.

    Here you can see a touch of blue
    And here a strip of blue

    It finally stopped raining around 12:00. At the visitor center we had free time so the Chilean girl and I had the cheapest thing on the super expensive menu and talked around our language barriers. Then we walked the path to the beach.

    Pics from the beach on the lake

    Next we went to the Milodón cave area. This was super exciting to me because I love caves.

    Loved this!❤️
    Looks like a smile
    My boyfriend the Milodon

    The cave is 80 million years old. In 1895 a German guy discovered the remains of a Milodon, a prehistoric creature related to the sloth that became extinct 10,000 years ago. It is so cute I bought a stuffed Milodon animal.

    Observations

    • Tourism here is very new; it started within the past 20 years.  The tourism infrastructure is good in many ways like every store and restaurant is credit card ready.  Many menus have an English version.  There are airport shared shuttles.  But there are gaps. For example, there are thousands upon thousands of people going to the park on tours each day that don’t include access to lunch. They are told to bring their own.  But there are no boxed lunches or early breakfast services available. Backpackers know to go to the local grocery store and buy bread and fruit and meat and cheese and make sandwiches.
    • Very few people speak English which is the international travel language mostly used my Europeans and the few Americans that come. It is fine as long as you know some Spanish.
    • There are two more caves to be explored at the Milodon cave area. I would rent a car and spend half a day there.
    • Research how to take the local bus into the national park and plan a short hike from there if you’re not really a hiker.
    • Don’t be afraid of the street dogs. They’ll ignore you but will happily accept a rub on the neck.

  • Hanging in Puerto Natales

    Patagonia is a wild frontier. Do not put any trust in The Weather Channel, Accuweather, Rain Radar, or anything else. Don’t base your activities on the weather forecast. A rain forecast can mean sun, strong winds, or rain. The wind can be like ice.

    Heading out to the waterfront, the wind blows about 40 kph. It’s so strong, you can’t walk straight. There were these cool wind figures along the beach.

    This is not Jimmy Buffet’s latitude, boys.

    From the other side

    I was curious about whether we are near the Pacific or Atlantic oceans. Evidently these are fjords that lead to the Pacific Ocean. On the Chile lan side of the border, it’s always the Pacific. And on the Argentinian side of the border, it’s always the Atlantic.

    I brought my writing with me and found a cool coffee shop called Wild. Two of the street dogs were sleeping on the couches outside.

    Here’s one. I love his pink tongue.

    Spent about three hours there unraveling my book notes, and that was my day. I went back, skipped dinner, and went to bed early.

    Wild Coffee Shop

    Today is the Puerto Natales tour. They’re late picking me up. I asked the hotel guy if he knows when they’re coming and he yelled at me that he told me they’re coming between 7:30 and 8:00. Then at 8:00 he said they’ll be here in a short time. At 8:10 he said they’ll be here in a short time. At 8:15 I heard him whisper to his mother, “automatico”. Then the mother said that the van has a flat tire. This is disappointing because we will be back very late, and there is no opportunity for lunch.

    While we waited, the guy and his mom were talking shit about the customers while we’re sitting there. They call the guy from Denmark “El Viejo”.

    If anyone reading this ever goes to Torres del Paine, note that you must buy your park entrance tickets online 24 hours in advance. You can’t get it at the park.

    In true form, I had tried to pay through my hostel yesterday and he sent me away, told me to come back at 8:00 pm. I came at 8:00 and he wasn’t there. His mom said to wait. At 930 he finally gave me the ticket. It’s best to just handle the ticket yourself.

    I wanted to add the strange red and white statues randomly placed all over town.

    These are how the indigenous people here used to paint themselves for ceremonies.

    Tips , Tricks, and Observations

    • Salmon is local in Puerto Natales.  It’s naturally caught, and it’s excellent.
    • Speech Differences: they use the diminutive a lot; plus they leave off s at the end of words so words come out like hueveito instead of huevecito or agauita for aguacita or eta for esta. It’s enough to throw you when it’s said so fast.
    • The weather can change in an instant in Patagonia and especially Torres del Paine park. You can experience all four seasons in an hour. Tours are subject to cancellation due to weather. It’s good to be aware of this. i
    • It’s dark at 9:30 pm and light at 5:30am.
    • Everywhere they play classic American rock— in taxis, Ubers, restaurants — I’m listening to Metallica right now in a burger place.
    • People in Chile are not particularly friendly; not that they’re unfriendly, just not warm and cuddly. For example, today I was trying to buy a banana at a grocery store and the lady asked me the weight and I said I didn’t know so she took it away from me. I was not allowed to have the banana because I didn’t follow the proper procedure of whatever I was supposed to do. She was visibly annoyed with me. 🍌

  • Puerto Natales

    Puerto Natales

    Getting up at 4:10 was not fun especially when I was finally getting a rare good night’s sleep.  

    Puerto Natales is 3 1/2 hours by air from Santiago.  I accidentally booked Economy Plus which was like Business Class. It was nice!  Lots of space and we got lunch and snacks. 

    Getting off the plane, the wind was blowing 22 mph, whipping my hair in front of my face so I couldn’t see.  The airport is the cutest little log cabin-looking airport I’ve ever seen.

    The hostel was picking me up at the airport, which was one of the reasons I chose this hostel. If they treat you this well, it must be great! (We’ll see about that.)

    I searched the signs drivers were holding up but my name wasn’t there. I waited hopefully until everybody was picked up, then waited 5 more minutes and finally just got a taxi.  I’d assumed they didn’t get my last message. 

    When I arrived at the hostel, the lady told me she didn’t have my reservation.

    I tried to tell her that I’ve been communicating with someone from the hostel about being picked up so she must have it, but neither of us could understand a word each other was saying. I was speaking my best Spanish, but the Spanish here is so different! There are no s’s, there’s many different words and they talk so fast they blur it all together. We were both getting frustrated.

    Just then I received a message from the guy that he was looking for me at the airport.

    I showed her the message, which was in Spanish.

    She finally understood and called him, then found my rese. It was stressful; I didn’t want to try to find another place.  There are lots of tourists here and everything is probably booked.

    When the guy returned, he charged me for the room. I told him that I shouldn’t have to pay the tax, which is what all of my hotels have done because foreigners don’t pay taxes. He argued with me and told me that I did have to pay hotel taxes. So I paid the tax. The whole conversation felt very hostile.

    The Hostile Hostel

    Puerto Natales is cold. All the tourists are in cold weather hiking outfits and ski jackets carrying big backpacks and wearing hiking shoes. Most do the “W” which is a W shaped hike that takes 4 days in Torres del Paine National Park. 

    These things are all over town and they show parts below indicating that they’re boys. That’s why I took this picture from the chest up.
    As you can see, not a pretty town. Bet frontier-like, reminding me of Alaska.

    This is the reason people come to Puerto Natales. I am not in physical shape to trek, so I’m going to do the bus tour where you get out and just walk around to take pic of the sights. It’s very touristy and tacky, but if it rains we’ll stay dry.

    After getting my room, I went out to do the perimeter walk to get my bearings. The town is a simple grid so it was very easy to figure out.

    Leaving the hostel, I felt cold. I had 2 fleece sweaters on, a t-shirt and sweatpants but could see that I’d need my jacket, a hat, and a windbreaker at all times.  Here’s the forecast:

    For lunch I had a delicious king crab-stuffed avocado. Then a coffee at a cafe near the beach. I’m not sure if this the Pacific or the Atlantic. Check out these birds!

    Another issue with the hostile hostal: I asked if they had coffee because it says outside that it’s a coffee shop too.  It sounded like both of them said no, but as I was leaving to go out and find a cafe she said she already made the coffee so I sat back down, thinking now that she went through all that effort, I had to stay. She brought out a basket of Nescafé packets and hot water.

    I sheepishly said sorry but I was looking for a cappuccino. The guy (who is her son) threw up his hands, and the lady looked very insulted.  He said that’s all they have and I said yes, sorry, but I will just go out and get something else. Then he repeated himself like he thought I didn’t understand him. Ugh. Not liking this part of my trip so far. Plus, the town is hideous. 

    And this is not the ugliest street

    There are little packs of street dogs all over. They play/fight, full of testosterone, and wander the streets. They are not threatening — they ignore humans. They’re fairly healthy; not all scratched up like in Ecuador. It turns out that the people put food and water out for them and keep an eye on them. Kind of a cool system really. They’re fed and semi-healthy.

    This is a restaurants outdoor area. They allow it
    This poor baby had matted fur and arthritis

    I booked a Torres del Paine bus tour with my hotel and the communication problems resurfaced. I asked if I do some short hikes and he said yes; then he said no. When I asked if we stop by Grey Glacier, he said yes. Then he said no, we don’t stop there. I have no idea what’s happening. He said I needed to buy the entrance to the park and I said do I go online and he said NO YOU PAY HERE. I should’ve booked with Viator. I’ll probably be in some rusted out van with no heat and no English.

    I finally found downtown. I wish I wouldn’t have eaten my soup lastnight at what becomes a bar for old men at night. Had no idea — and it was raining. A guy with a missing eye pointed at me from across the room, which the little waiter said meant he was offering me a drink. I politely declined.

    At the Hostal I offered to pay for the entrance to the park for tomorrows tour and he barked, “In the afternoon“ I asked what time and then he repeated in English “In the afternoon” like I didn’t understand. I repeated “what time?” And then he answered.

    These guys are getting a bad review from me. Who knows if they’re even is a tour. He’ll probably tell me it’s full tomorrow or some bullshit.

    Travel Tips and Observations:

    Toilets are very low to the ground here. My knees are higher than the level of my butt. Getting up is like doing a low squat. Check out their cool method of leaving garbage out for the garbage man:

    Dogs can’t get into these garbage bins

    Alfajores are delicious cookies cooked with lots of butter, filled with caramel and chocolate. Banks charge $8-9 for a maximum $200 withdrawal. The weather forecast is not dependable at all.