Anyway, we´ve covered a lot of ground since Puerto Varas. Word on the street was that Chiloe was ¨bonito`, or that´s what we kept hearing from the locals anyway. Acacia knew this meant beautiful and I just took her word for it. Plus Chiloe is an island and required another ferry ride to get to, so it seemed like quite the desitination. I had met one of my John has Korean friends!?! Korean friends in a grocery store in Puerto Varas and he also recommended it. Our last night in the house hostel we were in, we knocked on the door and the owner had left for the night, but another guy who had knocked the night before, also after the owner had left, let us in. We made ourselves at home and were informed that the hostel was without water for the immediate future. This made our last morning in the hostel a fairly quick one since showering was out of the question. We were on the road to Chiloe by about 11 in the morning.
It was raining. You know, bummer. The ferry ride was an uneventful trip, but pretty efficient by Chile standards. Once off the ferry we drove to Ancud, the nearest town of any size. I have been seriously sweater deprived, but have been holding off, because if I am going to own any sweater on this trip (really not very practical because it is bulky) it isnt gonna be store bought. Or even from a vendor who bought it from someone else, like many of the markets near here. I guess I have high standards. the second we arrived at the market I spotted it. THE sweater. Made of undyed wool, still scratchy. I am in love. The woman selling it told me it was from here, and told me to smell it, as proof. She was right, it definitly smelled like a farm (which reminded me of a girl I was in first grade with who also smelled like a farm. No one wanted to play with her because she smelled, but I liked her because she could build great cube towers). Anyway, then we ate some empanadas, and decided to cruise the backroads to a village that had been suggested to us by Carlos. A combination of John's navigation and a terrible map led us down the wrong road. We finally ran into a dead end with a gate into someone´s farm, which we entered and then quickly realized the road ended because it was private property. We got out of there with a few dogs barking at us, and dodged the pigs, and asked the first guy walking on the road how we get to the town of Chepu. He directed us, and originally pointed to a turn off the road we were on, but then said we could only get there on foot. So we were mislead because whoever told us directions wasn´t expecting us to drive or something. We arrived in Chepu right around sunset.
In Chepu, the plan was to kayak up a river and then head farther south on the island. Carlos had said that the Chepu Adventures had good kayaking, but was super strict. Didn´t really know what that meant, but we found out real quick once we arrived. Chepu Adventures was an `Eco Hostel¨ Timers on the showers only let you take one for 3 minutes, there was a code to get into the bathroom (because people stole water from the toilets?), and we had to sign waivers agreeing to the rules of the place with our pinky prints. The couple that ran the place was originally from Santiago, and had moved to Chiloe. I dunno where he was going with that.
My issue wasn´t the rules, since I imagine it would be pretty hard to run a place like that sustainably, especially since the guests aren't always like-minded. I had an issue with the inconsistencies. The best example- in the summer when water is in shorter supply and there are more guests, they aren't able to wash the bedding on the premises, so instead they deliver it to the nearest town. Meh. bummer. Anyway, we rented what they called a dormis, a little cabin without bedding, and bought a bottle of wine at cost to compliment our backgammon.
The next morning the rain had stopped, according to pictires John had a cigar at sunrise. We signed more waivers with our pinkies, were informed of the kayaking rules, and set off down the mellow river. The sun was out and there was no one around. Perfect. There were loads of dead trees to cruise through, like a maze. Some birds. On our way back I spotted a river otter, the treat of the trip.
After our kayaking adventure we cruised the backroads to a town called Castro, the capitol of the island. It´s a pretty good little town, but we were planning on just stopping to grab some groceries and then head west towards the Chiloe national park about an hour away. For some reason everything was closed. And not the usual siesta hours around here, EVERYTHING was closed. Then it dawned on me that there was a national holiday I remember was happening this week. Must have been what was going on. Anyway, we found a kiosk that was open, and bought 4 days worth of food and libations at a tiny little corner store, which held up the other half the town also shopping there because instead of grabbing your groceries off the shelf, you have to tell the only cashier exactly what you want, then he gets it. Then off to the national park!
We were kind of racing the sunset out to the coast, and picked up a couple hitch hikers on the way, but didn´t make it for sunset. We entered through a gate at the first sign we saw for the park, and wandered along some trails for a bit until we found something of a camp ground and a restaurant where some guy came to greet us, showed us around the camp, and told us to drive up the road to the other entrance to the park. We set up the tent, made a quick dinner, and I crashed early.
The next morning I woke up and walked down to the lake for some pictures and then walked down to the restaurant where I found Alejandro (the camp host, not our car) and asked him for some advice on trails in the park. He pulled out a picture book of the trails made by some University of California students who do research in the area every winter, and showed me a few of the trails.
I slept. When we decided to leave John had a vague idea of where the trail was, I had the previous research I had done, which didn't make the trek we were planning very enticing. Turns out we couldn't even find the trailhead, so we spent the day on the beach, the first time on the west coast in awhile. I had recently discovered 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo´series, so I read all day, while John went for a run... and???
After our beach day we headed to a hostel that was suggested to us, but it was full, and so was everwhere else, or too expensive. We finaelly found a room, fed my olive addiction with bulk olives, and relaxed.
We were met with more overcast rainy weather, and traveled up the east coast of the island. It was a nice day of rural driving. We stopped in a town that had a restaurant with people selling fish outside, seemed like a good call. Turns out everyone inside was just drinking. We ordered some fish, and then John saw a guy eating a fish stew, so we ordered that too. The highlight of the meal was probably the hot sauce, we cleaned them out, but everything else was great too.
After finishing our drive through the countyside we hopped on the ferry again, where we received an email from Jeff, the guy we who told us about the beer event before, this time telling us he was in Osorno and there was another beer event there.
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