Chile
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Travel day again for us. We have to get
from Bariloche back to Puerto Montt then pick up a rental car.
I returned the vehicle we had used yesterday. We waited for
our pick up to the bus station. It never came.
Another one of
the English/Spanish misunderstandings. A taxi was called and
we made it to the bus station with 5 minutes to spare. The bus
took a route on the north side of the lake and then up to a
pass to cross over to Chile. Customs is a time eater at both
sides. The entire journey took 7 hours, not the five we had
been told. Maybe it was five hours travel and 2 hours for
stops and customs! The countryside changed as we climbed down.
Argentina was mostly forested with alpine lakes. Chile was
full of rich farms.
There were huge fields of blooming tulips. (Must be a
competitor for Holland). Fruit farms sported acres of
raspberries, and apple orchards. The bus had to stop in Osorno
and Pt. Varas on the way. The bus station in Pt. Montt was not
a happy time. A rental car from Avis was supposed to be
waiting. We knew it wouldn’t be there and it wasn’t. Phone
calls to the office found a Spanish only speaker. I called
Pedro twice to try and find out what & where. 45 minutes
wasted in a long day was not pleasant. We still had to pick up
our stored baggage and get dinner before driving off to Chiloe.
It only took about a half hour to get to the ferry. The seas
were roaring and the docking ferry flying with it. We watched
wondering how a car could be driven on to. Fortunately the
heavy bus and truck went first. It took them a few tries for
the ramp to be flat enough to drive on. The weight of those
two vehicle was enough to steady the ferry for cars to safely
load. There were 15 foot waves (at least) rocking the boat. AD
& I got out to watch. What we didn’t watch were the bus and
truck rocking. That would have brought on seasickness for
sure.
Chiloe is an island just off the coast of Chile. It is the
largest island in the eastern Pacific. Our arrival after 8:30
PM was not good. We don’t like getting to a new town after
dark or traveling on unknown roads. We had a 100 Km to drive
south to Castro. Halfway down there was some major road
construction that cost us the rest of the daylight. It was 10
before we found the Hosteria Castro del Isla Chiloe. They had
no record of our reservation! Another phone call to Pedro who
told us “he made a mistake and we were supposed to be in Ancud
an hour north”. We stayed in Castro for the night. It was a
good nights sleep at a nice hotel.
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