Chiloe/Puerto Varas (Last week in April)

So I am starting the updates that I never blogged about...



Amelia and her curanto

This was the weekend I went to Ancud and Puerto Varas with Amelia, Julie Ann and Sam. We headed on out Thursday night after our classes and took a night bus down to Puerto Montt. After the 14 hour bus ride we needed to get some fresh air and walk around a bit. We decided to check out Puerto Montt a bit but there is nothing there. It wasn't very pretty in my eyes either. We found a restaurant to eat at that was recommended by a carabinero (police here) because it was his families. The place was kinda a hole in the wall but pretty full and we could tell that it was authentic Chilean food from the south. Amelia decided to try curanto which is the dish you need to try when you go the south. It is basically just a bowl full of clams, mussels, meat and potatoes. It was a huge proportion and super delicious! I decided to get cazuela which is just basically a soup with meat and potato's, squash and potato's. It is also super delicious and authentic to Chile. After our lunch we went back to the bus station and bought bus tickets to get over to Chiloe. You have to take a bus for about 2 hours and part of that involves going on a ferry because Chiloe is an island.


On our way on the ferry



Ancud on Chiloe

We arrived in Ancud right next to the hostal that we were staying at. 13 lunas was recommended by my friend Brittney in my class. The owners were super friendly and showed us the place. We rested for a bit and then decided to walk around a bit along the water and get some food. The island was beautiful when we rode onto it and getting to walk around a bit in one of the towns was nice. That night after dinner we went back and hungout. The next day we woke up kinda late and decided to walk around and look at all the towns museums and little spots. We saw an old military spot, museums, Church's, ferias, and much more. It was a good day and made me feel like we got to see the town. We had been debating if we wanted to go to Puerto Varas and spend a night there but our hostal emailed us in Puerto Varas and had to cancel. Because of that we knew the best choice was to stay in Ancud one more night. We played games that night and talked.

 

Top of a church

Amelia and I dancing

On Sunday we woke up early because we had a bus from Ancud to Puerto Varas at 8:30. We got in around 11 and walked around the town a bit and also looked for ways to get to Saltos de Petrohue which is a beautiful waterfall. We found a touristic office and talked to her about what to do and made a plan. We went into the cutest cafe for a quick lunch and then took a mini bus to the waterfall. The ride to it was gorgeous. There were rolling hills, beautiful landscapes and animals. We all really felt like we were out in nature. The bus took about an hour and once there we walked up to the waterfall. I thought it was going to be more of a hike than it was but, oh well. The view was awesome and we all just sat and soaked it in for a bit. We had more time to kill so we walked down the river a bit on a few of the trails and I decided to find a spot to put my feet in the water! It was freezing but I had to do it. We decided it was time to start heading back so we went out to the road and had to wait an hour.... for the next minibus to come. On the way back it became full of people and I gave my seat up for an old man and had to stand for about 45mins. I think I fell asleep standing up hahah but it was the most uncomfortable thing I had done in a while because I was squished between people and it was warm. Back in Puerto Varas we found a pizza restaurant and ate because we were starving. We found ice cream also at this cute little diner place (we got ice cream every day on the trip :D). Afterwards we bought some food at the supermarket and walked up to the bus office to wait for the bus. 45mins later we were standing outside a gym waiting for our bus with everybody else. We weren't in a bus terminal because that town didn't have one, so you just have to wait on the side of the road. We got on and continued our 13ish hour trip back to Valparaiso.

Salto de Petrohue

My feet in the water!

Overall the weekend went well, but it was a little frustrating at times because I felt like I had to make all of the decisions and the other girls didn't want to ask questions. Every group is a little different and my other trips went better! More to come about my trips!