Chile’s Lake District

We were picked up by the shuttle bus to get to the airport. Balmaceda airport near coyhaique is tiny! From arriving at check in to being sat at the gate took us 8 minutes. There were only 2 gates! An employee stood at the front of the waiting area and held up a sign to indicate which flight was next and so to get in the queue. Slightly chaotic but seemed to work. Our flight was only 80 minutes but the take off was the bumpiest I had ever experienced. I may have already mentioned that I am not a good flyer, which is less than ideal when wanting to travel around the world! Anyway. We were bouncing all over the place to start with and so began the sweaty palms and fast breathing. Soon enough we got through the bumps and calm was restored.

After a smooth landing Alex went to sort our hire car out and I got the bags. We had got a small car but we managed to fit with all our luggage so what more did we need? As we pulled out of the airport we had such a sense of freedom. No bus times. No early starts. The ability to stop where we wanted to. Amazing. Naturally, we got lost immediately after leaving the airport and so we we drove through it twice. My sense of direction is poor and I often get the wrong turning on google maps, however I’m sure google sometimes changes its mind about routes mid drive! An hours drive later and we found ourselves at the ferry headed for Chiloé island. It was 10 minutes and £12 for the privilege to cross it. Our first night was in the first town you get to in the north called Ancud. Our accommodation was great. The owner was so friendly and the room and bathroom so clean! After a walk around town we treated ourselves to an ice cream. We worked out that it was our first non-scoop ice cream of the trip. We have a lot of time to think about things like this…! The supermarket was our next stop as we wanted to cook for ourselves for the next 5 days. With the luxury of a car we could carry more. We picked up some Waitrose olives and Dijon mustard. What a find. We ended up eating the whole jar of mustard within a week! After rustling up some fajitas it was time for bed.

The next morning we drove to some forts at the very top of the island. The road suddenly went into gravel so it was rather slow progress. We walked along the beach and then headed to the west coast to see the penguins. On the way we stopped at some of the churches as there are a lot on the island. The penguin tour ended up being a disaster. Having been lucky enough to see a few penguins on our trip so far, we were not sure if we would do the boat ride. However. On Chiloé there are the Humbolt penguins (which we had seen) and also the Magellanic penguins (which we had not seen). After wandering along the beach we turned back to the car and decided to take a boat ride. We saw a boat for £5 less than all the others. With hindsight (and had we had more than 30 seconds to decide), we might have asked what the differences in tours were, but we didn’t. And we paid the price (no pun intended). We saw only 4 Humbolt penguins and went a completely different way to all the other boats. We got back to the office as we had to pay and with broken Spanish, charades and google translate we conveyed our annoyance. We had time to read the brief when we got back and it said 2 colonies of penguins. I’m not sure 4 penguins would even make one colony. The woman in the office looked about 20 and she just said if we didn’t like the tour don’t pay for it. We decided to split the difference and pay for one of us but I was pretty cross as we didn’t get to see the Magellanic penguin. Next time we take a tour we need to read the brief!

We left the beach and picked up a couple of hitch hikers who were heading our way. We always said that if we saw some hitch hikers when we had a car we would try and help them as we had wanted (and got) rides earlier in our trip. The couple were useful as they gave us some info about our next stop which is New Zealand. That afternoon we drove down the Eastern side of the island. We didn’t have anywhere booked to stay but had been recommended somewhere. We turned up and no one was there. After a few shouts of ‘hola’ we were going to give up when the owner arrived. We were the only ones that would be staying in this amazing cabin with incredible views of the sea and mountains. Life was good.

The next morning after a delicious brekkie with home made honey we set off to a nearby island. After a 5 minute ferry we were being shown what would become our accommodation for the night. I would describe it as an unfinished communal room at a camp site. It had a couple of trestle tables, some chairs, a cooker, a sofa bed and also a dead bird in the corner. We checked out a couple of other options on the island but this one proved to be the best. The winning feature was the view. It was brilliant. Risotto and red wine was on the menu tonight. The sofa bed just had room for both of us but it wasn’t the best nights sleep. Still. It was an adventure.

The next morning we set off for the west side of the island. We tried to go for a walk but the road to the parking area suddenly ran out and we found ourselves driving on the beach! Other cars were there too but we didn’t hang around for too long. We managed to find a walk after 15km on gravel roads. We got attacked by the huge beetle bugs for most of the walk and it was very busy so not one of our favourites. We stopped off to try and find a cabaña for the evening. We found one right on the river. It had a little balcony around it and all you could hear was the sound of the water. It was definitely one of the best stays of the trip.

The following morning we headed to Castro which is the biggest town on Chiloé. After browsing a few places to stay we ended up at the first one we looked at. It had a funny smell to it but apart from that it was fine! I’m not sure what we were expecting in the town but after an hour we felt we had seen it. That evening we treated ourselves to some sushi. Delicious! That night the dogs around the house barked all night. Horrendous.

The next day it was time to head back to Puerto Montt and brace ourselves for our 14 hour overnight bus ride…