kjp

Alledgedly it's early morning (pre dawn) here in Auckland. My watch still says 1pm yesterday. Got here ok, was able to sleep a fair bit. good.

To Syd, then to Bris.

So it`s Friday morning here in Ancud. I don`t have any real plans for this morning - just check the weather in Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, Santiago, Puerto Montt - my clothes are ok for all of those places - my route home - reversed.

So last couple of days - Wednesday, left Castro, and came here, Ancud, in the northern part of Chiloe island. I think that I prefer Castro. Apparently there was an earthquake here in the 60s, so some things got rebuild then. Not as scenic. Yesterday, went out to a tiny village on the western coast of Chiloe, ie, the Pacific Ocean, and went out on some boats to see some endangered species of penguins - Humbolt and Magellan (sp?). Was interesting, quite cold though. On top half, had thermal, long sleeve shirt, jumper, rainjacket, lifevest, and then an overcoat poncho thingy. I was tagging along with 2 Germans and 2 Spaniards. Instead of waiting around for the bus back to Ancud, we hitched. First time I`ve done that. Highlight probably was being in the back of a truck used for cattle transport. Judging by what the farmers said, mooo in Spanish is the same as mooo in English.

Been eating some yum seafood here - there`s plenty of it. Wednesday, had Curanto which is a monster dish - lots of seafood (clams and mussels), pork, sausage, chicken, with several different types of potato. Sad to say that it got the better of me, couldn`t finish it. Also had some really yum salmon. Yum. Speaking of seafood, the hostel I`ve been staying at here is near the port. Yes, that`s right, I`ve been sleeping with (ok, well, near) the fishes... Sorry.

OK, Friday 10am now. Should go. Bus to Puerto Montt, bus to airport, plane to Santiago, then Auckland then Sydney then Brisbane. Long two days (minus a half). But looking forward to being back in Brissy. Great trip I`ve had though.

Today I went to a very small town called Achao on an island Quinchao that is supposed to have a population of 9200 people. Very yummy piece of salmon for lunch with simple but very fresh (local produce, I suspect) salad. Sat on the beach for a while watching the world go by. It´s got a church that was built in 1730, wood shingles. Many wooden churches on Chiloe and surrounding small islands that are UNESCO listed, I think. quite pretty. But unluckily could not go into church to nosey as today was priest´s day off - according to sign on outside of church. Yesterday almost OD´d on seafood - many different types of mussels, clams, etc. for lunch and dinner. Lots of seafood in this part of the world - lots of Salmon farming apparently. I´ve been wearing thermals underneath clothes all day. Outdoors during the day, light jumper. Cold wind, but today has been fine skies, good.

So apparently it´s a bit windy and cold at the moment. This morning I was out for a walk, following the tourist walking trail around town, until I lost it, and went in search of a cafe instead. Puerto Varas has a fairly strong German heritage, lots of German buildings around, one of the main churches is modelled off one of the ones in Black Forest, apparently. So basically wandered around town, taking photos of old buildings, and a lake that you can´t see the other side (volcanoes) of. When the weather is clear (eg: yesterday), it was very scenic, but not in an over the top way, just pleasent way. Puerto Varas reminds me sort of a less boganie version of Bato´s Bay, without the fishing. Just a small town where there´s not much to do. So good for me to bludge. Fairly well do to Chileans around I think though.

Lunch today was Pastel de Choclos (which was bits of meat and a chicken drumstick cooked in creamy sweet corn mixture, in a pie sort of dish. Apparently a Chilean local dish. Was good. Followed by Kuchen, which, assuming from the name of it, is a german desert. Was rasberries with Riccota (I think) cake thing. Both were different. Both were yum.

I´ll be off to Castro tomorrow, a town in the middle of Chiloe island. So that will be very different again. I´m yet to find an ATM that doesn´t charge me high (>AUD$5) withdrawal fee. Peru and Bolivia were easier in this regard - BCP made things easy.

A good thing about the cool weather is that I sleep well, which is tops.

Enjoying spending time in Chile, but looking forward to getting back home: friends, family, own bed, water from the tap, home cooked food, clarinet, singing, running, etc, etc.

So it´s a bit chilly in Chile. hah.

I´m now in Puerto Varas. After several days in La Paz, I decided that I´d had enough of cities, so directly after my flight from La Paz to Santiago (via Iquique), I bought a overnight bus ticket to P.V. Several comments like ´´it´s a nice place, but cold´´. The best translation I could think of to ´they breed us tough from Canberra´ was along the lines of ´nació en Canberra, hombres de Canberra es fuerte´ or something like that, just didn´t have the same ring. Anyhow.

Night bus here was good. Very comfortable, easily more comfortable than nightbuses in Peru or Chile, but I did pay a bit extra to get cama (bed) class. Anyhow, there´s not much to Puerto Varas, as I thought and hoped for. Basically the rest of this trip is a bludge, I don´t intend to see many major things or anything - I´ve been on the go for a bit anyway. P.V is nice though, it´s quite scenic - on the edge of a lake with several volcanos in the background. Was very pleasant (except the wind being a bit cool) just sitting at the end of the one pier working on my woefully out of date journal.

I´ve gotten a bit of a cold anyway (since arriving in Chile), I think because of the altitude.. higher up, nose was blocked a fair bit. Must of got used to that, now lower, so runnier. Anyhow.

I knew Chile would be more developed than Peru or Bolivia, but I thought the difference would be less. Ie: I can more easily it as a mix of bits of Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Beijing in it, with Latin American people, if that makes sense. Cleaner streets, less people trading in small stores on the street (higher employment rate). Chileans seem taller. Lower altitude or more money so better diet?.

Music in this internet cafe is a bit old school - they´re playing the rick roll´d song. lol.

Time to find a cafe and some lunch.