Solo Travelisms2

Solotravelisms2

The Trials and Tribulations of Low-to-Moderate Budget Solo Travel

  • Bariloche, Argentina

    Bariloche is famous for its German influence and also for its chocolates. There are chocolate stores everywhere, with long lines in each. It also has a few ski areas with chair lifts for the winter.

    It’s beautiful, almost as pretty as Puerto Varas. and the weather is perfect, around 75°. Spring has sprung here.

    I took a walk down the lake towards the downtown to see what was up.

    I don’t know the story around this unless it’s that one famous story we all grow up with with the wolf that raised a boy.
    The town center

    Outside of town, coming from Puerto Panuelo, there are gorgeous restaurants up on the hillside overlooking the lake. They’re pretty far from Bariloche though. I tried walking to one yesterday, made it about a mile down the road and got tired. I jumped in a taxi that took me further up the road to a small area that had a few restaurants overlooking the lake. It reminded me of South Lake Tahoe a little. (Forgot pic)

    I don’t know what these weird trees are but there’s a lot of them along the lakefront. 

    There’s not a lot to do here though other than the Seven Lakes Tour to San Martin de los Andes. But I’ve just spent the last few days on lakes and I don’t need any more lake tours or bus tours. There is a ski lift down the road that takes you up to the top of the hill that I’d like to go to, but today’s a national holiday so I think they’re closed.

    Yes, they were closed.

    I found a couple of really good cool restaurants right on the lake, my favorite being kilometer 1.

    Then I found another place that’s about15 stairs down (not 100) like Km 1 and even closer to my hotel called Berkana.

    I’m starting to get to the Lonely Place. This happens every trip, and it’s common with solo travelers.

    I haven’t spoken to anyone, even in Spanish for four days except waiters and store clerks. It gets to you. The few English speaking couples I see completely ignore me.

    Right now, I’m eavesdropping on an American couple at the next table. I think they’re cheating in their spouses. They don’t seem to know each other very well based on the questions they’re asking each other. They’re in their 60s. I’ll bet they’re going to go do it in their hotel. Ew.

    Almost everybody here seems to be happy groups of Argentinian or Chilean friends or couples. I feel like such an outsider.

    And to top things off, I tested positive for Covid today. I started feeling funny last night. Sure enough I’ve got it. It’s not horrible, just upsetting because now Mendoza is ruined. 

    Even though I wasn’t feeling good and walking literally hurt, I went on the German Footprint Tour at night bc it was outside and also because I booked it before I felt sick. 

    In a nutshell, there were three waves of German immigrants to Argentina: one in the 1850s to settle and create an agricultural economy, one after World War I, and one after World War II. In the last wave, many people trying to escape Germany including criminals, Nazis, Jews, and many others seeking an escape. Many of these came to Argentina and settled. Puerto Varas and Bariloche kept some of their German culture, which you can see walking around town.  There were some very bad Nazis hiding out here, like the guy who decided which prisoners will go to the work camps and which will be gassed right away; the medical guy that would do horrible experiments on people, and leaders of battles that atttacked citizens of other countries like Italy. It was a very interesting tour.

    Afterwards, a German couple invited all of us to go have a beer, so I went with them, although I felt guilty for going inside a place when I had Covid. I sat right in front of the open window, hoping to dilute any germs and might be spreading. I feel kind of guilty about this today. It was so nice to speak to people though!

    Travel Tips and Observations

    • Facing the lake, turn left and walk along the lake for good restaurants. The two I found are within a 10 minute walk to the left. If you want to go down to the further ones (Blest and Manuch) it’s probably a 30 to 40 minute walk. For the super nice ones you need a car or taxi/Uber because they are probably 20 minutes further by car.
    • Wait in line at the busy chocolate stores, and don’t go to the places with no lines. I did this and got a box of something you would buy in a store. The way it works: choose an empty box size, then tell them which items you want, and they place the individual chocolates into the box. It’s beautiful.
    • Check out inland a little bit up from the city center. It goes uphill, but there’s lots of nice parks, and the restaurants seem nicer up there. I didn’t discover this till the last night.
    • Western union take all or none. If you wanna take $300 out three times you need three codes. 

  • Cruce Andino: Traveling Over the Andes from Puerto Varas,Chile to Bariloche, Argentina

    This route was discovered hundreds of years ago and has been used by indigenous people as well as traders to cross to from Chile to Argentina and vice versa.

    I chose this rather than a regular bus because it seemed much more relaxing. To make each travel day shorter, I opted for the overnight option in which I stayed at Puerto Blest Hotel, about 3/4 of the way through the trip.

    After checking into the Puerto Varas tour office at 7:30 AM, we had a short bus ride, then got onto our first ferry. This is Todos Santos Lake. 

    After an hour and a half, we stopped in Peulla for lunch at the gorgeous Hotel Natura.

    Outside, a young guy was calling this little dog and I asked “Can I pick him up?”

    He agreed. “How old is he?” I asked. “One day ago,” he said.

    I must have said it wrong, but he couldn’t be more than two months old.

    Next, we took a short bus ride to the border to exit Chile.

    Chilean Customs Building

    It was ten more minutes through the jungle on the bus to check into Argentina. This was not quite as smooth. They were having technical issues or something, but it took 25 minutes to get to the front of the line, and I was only seventh in line. A Chilean traveller sarcastically said, “Welcome to Argentina”. I asked him if Argentina is always like this and he said yes. He said, “Chile is so much more organized.”

    After all of this, we got onto another boat and went across the small lake to Puerto Alegre, then a bus to Puerto Blest for about 10 minutes.

    The rest of the group  continued on to Bariloche, but I, along with two Chilean women, checked into Hotel Blest at about 4:30 pm.

    The view from my room was amazing!  I even had a bidet and a towel warmer. And there was a pool, which I went in right away.

    The pool was 90 degrees

    There was nothing out here, not even a store. The cafeteria was supposed to be open but it wasn’t. Dinner wasn’t to be until 8:00. I was starving and thirsty with nowhere to buy water so I filled it from the bathroom sink. (I Googled it — should be OK because it’s mostly glacier melt like in Puerto Varas). 

    At 8:00 on the dot I went down to dinner. The ladies were supposed to meet me, but they didn’t show up so I went ahead and ordered gnocchi which was the cheapest thing on the menu that I wanted. Still, it cost $25. It was God-awful.

    The ladies showed up half an hour later and had their dinner. We communicated as best we could, but if there was a word I didn’t know or said wrong, the one that knows a tiny bit of English would switch to English that was worse than my Spanish, and the struggle would continue. It was kind of like when I talked to the hotel lady in Puerto Natales who I couldn’t understand and who couldn’t understand me. With most other conversations, I do just fine for the most part.

    The next morning, a good breakfast was included. I ate with the two ladies. “Did you bring a bag?” I asked. They nodded and pointed to their little bags on the seat. The night before we had all agreed to bring little bags to put our extras in for lunch. I was able to make a half a sandwich with cheese, turkey, and a piece of toast, along with a small croissant they call Medialunas.

    After checking out, I went for a walk around the lake, but immediately two giant horseflies started swarming me, one of them getting stuck in my sunglasses, buzzing really loud. I screamed and shook my head. I was flailing my arms around wildly and they wouldn’t stop. I started to panic. So I turned around and went to the grass area by the hotel to kill time.

    We had to wait until 3:30 pm to continue our trip into Bariloche.

    I was anxious to get out of there, as I was bored to death. I was also nervous about our luggage getting on the boat because the boat pulled up and people started getting on the boat, but our luggage stayed in the hotel.

    “Will someone be getting our luggage?” I asked someone with the tour company. I was dismissed with the wave of a hand. I asked someone else and once again was dismissed.

    Once we got on the boat, our luggage was still in the hotel and I was worried so I asked the two ladies. It sounded like they told me they had theirs with them. So then I got really nervous and they asked somebody in Spanish for me. I didn’t understand what he said exactly but he made a motion like it’s coming. Don’t worry. So I sat down where I could see if anyone was carrying the luggage, and a guy eventually brought them onboard. Whew!

    After an hour ride on the boat, we had half an hour on the bus, and then we were finally dropped off at our hotels.

    Travel Tips and Observations

    • I’m not sure I completely hundred percent recommend this trip. It’s just a lot of time and after taking pictures for so many hours there’s not much more to do.
    • I definitely do not recommend doing the overnight, especially if you’re a solo traveler. It might be OK for couples.
    • It only saves you two hours on Day One and then you have you lose two full days because the second day you have to wait until 3:30 pm
    • If you go make sure to bring snacks and plenty of water.
    • Be aware that lunch and dinners there are extremely expensive and not very good. Even a bottle of water is about $5. And the cafeteria may or may not open when it’s supposed to. 

  • Puerto Varas Trip: Osorno Volcano and Petrohue Waterfall

    The WhatsAp came last night introducing our guide, Paula, along with pickup time. The van was far superior to yesterday’s van. I got my own normal seat and everything. First we went to Petrohue Falls, which is the prettiest set of waterfalls I’ve seen so far.

    There were different hiking paths around the area, a café, and a store. The entrance was absolutely beautiful.

    Next, we went on a ferry on Lake Todos Santos. The water is so clear.

    Then we were off to a buffet lunch in Ensenada. There was salmon, trout, wild boar, chicken, a bunch of sides, and a bunch of deserts.

    Stuffed to the gills, we continued up to the Osorno Volcano.

    We went up the volcano at about 2,500 feet elevation, a little less than halfway up. This little place is a very tiny ski resort.

    You can normally pay for a lift ticket and ride up but it was closed for maintenance today. 

    Unfortunately, the clouds were playing peekaboo with the top of the volcano so we weren’t able to see more than the right side of the cone.

    Back in Puerto Varas, an English lady and I decided to go have a last Pisco Sour, with both of us leaving Chile the next day.  We went back to Meso Tropera where we had a Pisco Sour. It was very strong, and we both started grinning. Then we unwisely decided to split another one.

    Well buzzed and giggling, we walked down to see the wire lady at the end of the beach on the dock. It’s just beautiful as you can see.

    Off to bed to check in at 7:30am for my trip across the Andes to Argentina!

  • Puerto Varas: Termas del Sol

    The first day in Puerto Varas I couldn’t find any trips so I just hung out in town. It was cold and raining cats and dogs. It was a good day to shop and explore. I bought a bunch of tops for $4 each at a clothing store that reminded me of H&M.

    Wanting a hot chocolate, I stopped in a German coffee shop and started with a delicious berry kuchen, which is really a berry crumble, and a mocha, both of which were really good and really sweet.  Then I needed something not sweet, so I got a hotdog with sauerkraut on it. The sauerkraut was very different than what I’m used to, but it was still pretty good (waaay too much food).

    While eating, I met a Chilean woman who I could’ve sworn was German. She looked German through and through. Turns out her dad was from the Netherlands and her mom was Chilean. She wanted to go to California to learn English. I tried to warn her how expensive California was, even along the northern coast, but she’ll figure it out as she researches. I gave her town names like Dillon Beach, Eureka,…

    The next morning, the minivan picked me up for my trip to the hot springs. The minivan was already pretty full. I got the last single seat. We stopped to pick up another woman so I nicely scooted over to the hard fold-down temporary seat in the middle so she could get in but then realized that all of the other regular seats were full. There was no going back. I was stuck in the hard fold down seat for the whole trip because just like when you’re in school, once you pick your seat, that’s the one you go back to every single time. It’s a weird human habit, but we all do it.

    The trip was only in Spanish; it was fine; I understand enough to get the gist.

    The road was windy and there was nothing to hold onto for the two hour trip. It was extremely uncomfortable. We eventually arrived at the thermal baths, which are beautiful. They are upscale and clean.

    The complex has ten pools with different temperatures listed at each.  It was an overrun by 100 16-year olds on a school trip, but I just went to the pools they weren’t in.

    We had five hours of relaxation time. It was a little cold outside — about 62, so I developed a strategy: Sit in a hot pool (I liked the 42°C one) until you sweat, then walk quickly to the cafeteria area where it’s warm and order food or coffee, then go back to the pools. Rinse and repeat.

    When I was in the hot pool, one of the 16-year-olds came to the pool and we started chatting in English. I asked him if they were on a school field trip and he said yes, they’re from a private school in Santiago, “a very exclusive school”, he said.

    I asked him what he’s going to when he graduates and he looked shocked. I said well what kind of job are you going to have? And he said oh no, I will never work. My family is very rich.

    Wow, I guess there are people in the world like this. Most of us just don’t mix them in our daily lives.

    After the baths, I asked the lady to change seats in the van with me and she waggled her finger NO at me. I slammed a few things around in my backpack and made a few huffing sounds but then decided to let it go.

    On the way back, we stopped at the town of Cochomo, which had cheap souvenirs. I bought a wool hat for five dollars. This lady you see knitted it. The sweaters for sale weighed about 10 pounds and are of pure wool.

    On the way back, one of the other ladies on the trip offered to switch seats with me, which was so sweet. So at least I got to sit in a normal seat for part of the time.

    We got back at 6:15 pm. In all, it was a 10 hour 45 minute trip.  (I’ve noticed all trips were around 10 to 12 hours.)

    Starving, I went to the closest restaurant, La Terraza. It was completely empty except for the owner sitting at a table talking to a friend. I got a weird vibe. Where are all the customers? Why are there are only four items on the chalkboard menu?

    I just about left but I decided to not be picky and to stop obsessing over every little thing.

    I ordered the lasagna bolognese, happy that I found something with a red sauce. And it came with soup and salad. Ok, I thought.

    The lady went into the kitchen to evidently prepare the food, as she was the only one employee there. When she came out with bread, I asked her if she was the only one here and she said, “I am the chef the bartender and the waitress.” I again got nervous and asked myself, Why aren’t there any employees?  A bowl of bread and some brown stuff in a ramekin came. I put a little bit of it on my finger and realized it was pate. I almost vomited at the taste of liver. How do people eat this stuff? And how could it even possibly be a delicacy?

    Then came a small bowl of chicken soup, which was fine. Then came the salad, sans lettuce or dressing, mostly carrots. I asked for oil and vinegar and she brought oil.  Then she brought out the lasagne. It was covered in runny white sauce which completely disgusted me. Being forced to eat dinners smothered in cream of mushroom soup as a child damaged me. To this day, I have a visceral reaction to cream sauce. I cannot help this.

    So I told her I’m lactose intolerant (lie) and can’t eat it. She roughly snatched the dish away and made huffing and puffing noises. I apologized and offered to pay for the soup, salad, and juice.

    Just then a man came in and she yelled at him to charge me. He charged $10.90 for a juice, cup of soup, and salad of nothing that’s normally in a salad. I said that’s crazy. So he redid it and came up with $8. I paid and ran out, feeling super uncomfortable. She was still ranting in the background.

    I guess I could’ve scraped the white sauce off or turned the lasagna upside down to get the bolognese sauce that was supposedly on the bottom. That’s what I should’ve done. But I was also nervous about the food even being OK with no customers there. How old was that lasagna? I don’t think the restaurant is busy enough to make any money, and I felt bad. Anyway, she could’ve handled it better.

  • 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.