We are now in Valdivia, a city in Chile´s Lake District, at a hotel that offers free (if slow and quirky) Internet. Valdivia is a pretty University town at the convergence of three rivers, not far from the sea. Yesterday, we walked to the next town (about 17km) to see an old spanish fort and views of the pacific. The walk was as nice as the destination - through farmlands and along the river, and it was a beautiful day. Of course, I insisted on taking the bus back. Today we walked around town and checked out the local parks, and found out that there´s a farming expo that starts tomorrow. So, we´re going to stay an extra day and check that out. Not like we´re in a rush or anything.
With a month and a half behind us, we are just about two-thirds through Chile, with what we expect is the most interesting part to come - Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Chile is just lovely, but I have to say, so far it doesn´t quite compare to the awesome-ness of Bolivia, which just blew me away.
Chile is not quite as exotic as Bolivia, in that it feels much more like the hemisphere I´m used to. Sure, the aspects of S. America are still here - water flows the opposite way down the drain, no paper (at all) can be thrown in the toilet, and the only coffee available is Nescafe - but many cities and towns resmble places we´ve seen before, particularly on the west coast.
The transportation here is great. We`ve traveled quite a few miles by bus, and have found them to be comfortable, modern and efficient/on-time. And, although the bathrooms aren´t anything to rave about, they put Greyhound´s to shame! They even serve food on most long-haul buses (but by the time they serve lunch, we´re usually so hungry that we´ve bought something from some vendor at a station) and most show movies. Unfortunately, they are mostly horror or action flicks, which we both dislike (although I have to admit, I´m developing a soft spot for Vin Diesel - he´s a cutie!)
The accommodations are also somewhat better than I expected. Though it is sometimes a challenge, we are managing to stay within our budget of $50 per day by finding hostals that cost between $15 and $20 per night. Most times we share a bathroom, but most places have been clean (enough) and some places even have laundry, cable tv and/or free internet, like this one. We save money on food by eating in local places (which we want to do anyway) and sometimes buying food at the supermarket. And we thought we would have to camp out to save money, but that doesn´t seem to be the case, at least not yet. Better to camp when we want to, instead of out of necessity. So what if I´m not living the true backpacker life - I`m too old for that crap anyway.
I don´t know if I mentioned this before, but there is a great deal of German influence in Chile. Apparently, many Germans immigrated here (no, not after WWII, as I`ll bet many of you would guess) in the 1800s. We don´t know why they came here, but we´re about to visit a town - Puerto Octay - that has a museum focusing on German ¨colonization¨ that should answer our questions. The influence is becomming much more evident in the southern part of country, where many of the houses look like they belong in Matthias' hometown, kuchen is available at every cafe, and the beer of choice is Kunstmann.
After Puerto Octay, we´re heading Puerto Montt, where we will make reservations for the ferry to Puerto Natales - a four day trip through the Chilean Fjords. Before we take the ferry, though, we´re planning to visit the island of Chiloe, which is supposed to be beautiful. Clearly, we´re excited about the next leg of our journey.
Hope everyone is well. And please, email us with news/updates about life back home or elsewhere. We miss you!
We stayed an extra day to ride around the lake and go to the Country-Western festival they had there. It was fun, and the band, the Chiemsee Cowboys were really good (and much better than the Elvis impersonator.) So, on the eve of my 21-year high school reunion, I got to relive those days listening to 80s rock...the Eagles, ELO, Billy Idol and more. It was all I could do to keep from yelling "Freebird!"
(Photo below is the view from our room in a local pension.)
