After our time in Torres del Paine, and a couple of sleepy days in Puerto Natales, we decided to take the Navimag ferry for 4 days up the coast of Chile to Puerto Montt (a nice alternative to about 50hrs on a bus). The first day was magnificent, both scenery and weather, gliding quietly through the archepelegos of southern Chile. A mild bout of sea sickness saw me sleep for 13hrs on the second night. The 2nd two days were less scenic but by this stage confined space and social lubrication had ensured that we had made a dozen or so new friends. The last night of bingo and then `fiesta` made getting off the boat at 8am rather painful. Mike and myself created the man hoof dance in honour of the high pant wearing sth american women (long story).
After docking, we bused straight to Pucon, a chilean tourist haunt famous for the active volcano, Villarica. We did what most people do and climbed the volcano on what turned out to be another wonderfully clear day which gave great views in all directions. We needed ice picks and crampons to make it to the top and made it up in about 4hrs, only to be blown away by the sight of lava spurting from the smokey, sulfur smelling mouth, breathtaking!
The next day we hired a car and took in a few of the sights around Pucon, waterfalls, national park, black sand beaches before doing the second most popular thing, termal spas. We soaked in clear, ~40 degree water for about 3hrs as the sun set. I told you backpacking is hard work...
An overnight bus from Pucon saw us finally hit Santiago. And to our pleasant surprise we found the city quiet nice. Everyone had said its just another big dirty city with no charm and to get out asap. We stayed a Casa Roja, a lively hostel with its own cricket net in the backyard (owned by an aussie) and enjoyed wandering the streets and observing the preparations for the national independence day. We met back up with sheepy here after his trip to mexico with soxy. We broke a week in santiago with 3 days in Valpariso and Vina del Mar (costal towns). 2 mad nights at the yo you hostel and El Huevo (the egg) nightclub were great after the lack of nightlife in patagonia. Bad facial hair and bunny rabbit face paint made for some interesting photos! We had a great crew for 3 days only interrupted by the noisy dorm shaggers who kept everyone awake all night!
Chile was more expensive and western than most of Sth America, but it was a nice surprise. Few people give it much time on the backpacker circuit, but the people were friendly, vibrant and the scenery just spectacular. It would have been easy to spend longer than the 3 weeks we did.
