Chiloe, Chile

Jon and I have reached the island of Chiloe just south of the lake district in Chile. As we make our way south to Torres del Paine we´re experiencing colder weather, cities replaced by smaller towns, and friendlier faces. Chiloe is a real chilled fishing island with a rich culture of it´s own and the beautiful fishing huts called Palafitos where fresh fish rules!

We are currently staying in Castro for 2 nights to refuel our legs and stock up on food for our trek through the Chiloe national park. We had an amazing dinner last night (deciding to splurge on a 10$ US meal). I had the freshest Chilean sea bass with native purple potatoes and fresh veggies. It was extraordinary! I made Jon walk all over town searching for this place I´d read about in Lonely Planet. Azul Luna. Great great food! Totally worth the wait, and walk.

We had just arrived in Castro after a looong bumpy bus ride from Puerto Montt where we scoured the town for Camping equipment. We need fuel and I had my swiss army knife lost, or stolen. In a lank of treks and camping it has been impossible to find gear. We keep being pointed to shops where they specialize in just about everything, but find only a couple of tents, stylized camping clothes, lawn mowers and bikinis all in the same aisle!! Puerto Montt did not prove totally a waste of time in the pouring rain with our heavy packs...we saw el presidente del Chile, or at least the body guards and Jon bumped into a man he shared some hours with in the Sri Lanka airport years ago. Pretty amazing!

Our heads were also still full of blissful memories of Puerto Varas, the very relaxed town on the sea. We loved this place famous for german style chalets and churches. In our cozy, pine walled hostel we met Mark. He´s an ex stock broker turned Colorado river guide. We spent a few days together eagerly planning the 9 to 10 day Q trek we want to do in Torres del Paine. This trek promises extreme wind and metre deep snow and mud, so I´m happy to be sticking with two boys, one of which is experienced in dangerous situtations. We´re also hoping to do some sea kayaking with him, and life jackets!

Anyway, he´s off to run one of the top 3 rivers in the world, the futulafue (sp!!?) So we´ll meet up in a month or so....

It´s time for Jon and I to search this town for camping gear and a couple of trekking poles for me so I don´t blow away. I´m also hoping to find an alpaca sweater. We´ve already purchased 2 caps hand made for 2000 pesoes, around 3 bucks us. We´re trying our hardest to blend in, but with our lack of spanish (I´still study every day!!) and white skin, it´s proving difficult. The people are lovely and friendly though. Chile is proving to be a comfortable, safe, beautiful country to travel in.

We´ve been staying with a local famiily in their house in Castro. Our room overlooks the sea and we´ve just been stuffed with a breakfast we didn´t know we were getting!

Adios amigos y hasta pronto!
Emilia