This was my third attempt visiting Chile and this time I was successful. I entered Chile through the land border from Ushuaia. It was relatively easy albeit all in Spanish but the coach drivers told us exactly what to do, gave us the correct forms and rounded us up from the ferry too. Once in Punta Arenas I walked to my hostel and settled in for the night. What a dump. It looked like a junkyard from outside and it wasn’t much better inside except there was amazing heating. The hostel standards in South America is lower than expected. I’m paying anywhere between $12 and $15 a night so I guess you get what you pay for. I wish I had another night here to do the Patagonia region but I didn’t plan an extensive stay in Chile. The next morning I flew to Puerto Montt and got a bus to town and walked to my very nice but cold hostel. This was $5 more and the difference is amazing. So clean and bright with breakfast included. My only issue was there was no heating on the top floor where I was staying. I wanted to visit Chiloe island which is why I’m here. All the usual tours were booked or unavailable so I decided to get the bus myself. As I went to the bus station to get the tickets I saw local Spanish tours to the island for only 3000 pesos more and they would take me to 3 places and take me back to my hostel. It was a great deal so I booked it. I didn’t care that it was all in Spanish as I just wanted to visit the island. Chiloe island wasn’t as I had expected like I had seen in the magazines. The place looked old. At least it wasn’t busy and the tour ran very smoothly. I visited Chacoa the coastal village, Ancud, the main town, the fort and the beach. Then we went to Castro which was supposed to be the highlight because of the stilt houses. But you had to pay 5000 pesos for a boat ride to see them. It was an unexpected expense but still cheaper than the other tours. The final stop was Delachue a port town with a huge wooden church. Then we took the ferry back to the mainland and went back to Puerto Montt. The next morning I flew to Santiago then took the airport bus to the city and walked to my hostel. I spent 4 days taking it pretty easy really. I didn’t have to rush or stress about anything. I visited most of the tourist places on my list. It was very hot every day and my dormitory doesn’t have a fan or windows. Luckily I had the whole place to my self 3 out of the 4 nights all for £10 per night.
Santiago is a safe city but it’s full of dog mess and most of the streets smell of urine. The men here don’t seem to understand the basic concept of the banos.
The most interesting district has to be Barrio Yungay because of the grafitti art and the row of fancy townhouses in the middle of it all.
Barrio recoleta is just a district of shopping and markets stalls. They sell everything from stuff they find at home to new items as well as fruit and vegetables. All using shopping trolleys. Even fresh chicken is stuffed into trolleys for sale. These markets are the best place for cheap fruit and vegetables not the supermarkets which I found relatively expensive. The little supermarkets are even more expensive.
Food wise I didn’t care for empanadas much as flavour was not strong enough for my tastes. I enjoyed their hot doritos instead which was on promotion during my stay for 1000 pesos. I was buying a packet each day and took home 5 to Scotland. I liked their bakeries and particularly their custard filled buns. This was my food during my stay in Santiago.
My main reason to visit Chile was definitely Easter Island or Rapa Nui. It didn’t disappoint. The flight was expensive nearly $600 but my hostel was only $25 a night. I stayed 20 minutes walk from town. The only downside to Easter Island is their new policy since covid in combating stupid people visiting their island. This was to impose mandatory tour guides for every site but 2. So every visitor must book a tour with a guide. The national park tickets cost $80 per person valid for 10 days. So the tour was additional an expense I didn’t consider. I couldn’t even hire a bike like I had planned as there would be no point as I would be denied entry without a guide. This made my visit restricting for me but I adapted. I booked two full day tours to cover all the national park sites. Unfortunately for me it started raining on day 2 and it never stopped. I was only able to do one day tour and the visit to the crater. Seeing the Moais up close was an experience. They weren’t as big as I thought it would be the biggest being only 11 meters high. It was still a stunning site especially with the sea background. I also had fun watching the turtles by the beach. They came so close to you and obviously some idiots kept touching them.
I feel I want to come back to the island to see the rest.
