Westfalia Puerto Varas

... Shelly says the house is always filled with people because her host mother runs a hostel out of the home. There is always a gentle flow of new faces; travelers stopping to rest here as they travel from one place to another. The family also has a holistic lifestyle and all their food is organic.

Just when I think that nothing else can surprise me in Chile from the window I see the strangest sight. The craziest chicken I have ever seen in my life. I ...

... imagined. We do know lots of random words now which i'm sure will prove invaluable in later life - 'palta' is avocado, and 'basura' is rubbish (we didn't necessarily learn them together though I should point out). The second thing we learned about chile is that they have good roads and an even better long distance bus system - the buses are fab! Having managed to negotiate getting to the bus station and bought some tickets, we made friends with a security guard. Now ...

... They were a great company to go with. Beyond being affordable, they have maps of the city with suggested bike routes that blend the best sites with the least crowed streets. They are also on a mission to change the mentality of Santiago people by making ...

... It was not looking very good that we would get off the ship before noon but happily mail to John Heald, many visits to the Purser's desk and a phone call to our Cruise Director, Goose, bore fruit with a promise to get us off the ship as quickly as possible after we received clearance. Our group met in the Morocco lounge, received our tender stickers and Carnival, true to their word, whisked us off the ship before we could say "Bobs-Your-Uncle". The ...

... DC scene. After a little snooze, we went for a late lunch at the fish market, Mercado Central. The next day we walked up the mountain to Cerro San Cristobal to say hi to the immaculate virgen and took the funicular down to the Bellavista neighborhood for a little shopping and lunch. We tried to beat the late afternoon heat with a dip in the pool and packed our bags for the early flight the next day. Lake ...

... the cabin to your bathroom but it was just next door) and we were sharing with a lovely Italian women from Milan called Laura. The fourth bed was free which gave us some more space. We went for a wander around the boat and then had a nice dinner in the canteen where we met Marco and Kathrin from Munich. Dinner was very nice. The wake up call in the mornings is at 8 oclock for breakfast so we got up a little earlier to shower and then ...

... stomachache at 2 am. It was Saturday before he was even able to get out of bed again. Bron spent these days improving her Spanish, especially in supermarket transactions ("donde estan el gatorade y las galletas de soda?") and taking repeated walks around the 8 blocks of downtown Puerto Varas in an effort to maintain her sanity. Even with Eli on the up and up at the start of the weekend, we had ...

... was cool. El Calafate is a small town born largely out of tourism in the local area. The main attraction here is Puerto Moreno Glacier, the largest moving glacier in South America. Some stats, the glacier is 30kms long. 6kms wide, it protrudes 60 meters out of the water and underwater it is a further 120 meters below. At the top of the glacier it snows almost every day of the year. The sheer scale of it simply blows you away. Our ...

... dagen op zitten wachten. Na het laatste avondmaal aan boord heeft er zich nog een hilarische bingo-avond plaatsgevonden. Goed idee om vlak daarvoor een 'Happy Sour' uurtje te organiseren. Pisco Sour voor maar 1,50 EUR. Ambiance verzekerd! Ik kan deze boottocht zeker aanraden aan mensen die 3 dagen zalig niets willen doen. Wij hebben pech gehad met het weer. Had er een mooi zonnetje aan de hemel gestaan, dan hadden die uitzichten zoveel mooier geweest. Ach, een mens ...

... kun kesken yota seisoin oven takana jonka han avasi huoneeseen tullessaan baari-illan jalkeen. en tehnyt tahalleni (vaikkakin nyt tiian et toimii aika hyvin jos haluaa tehda oivan kallin jollekulle) mutta kun olin veskiin menossa ja keskella yota sita saattaa jopa joutua pohtimaan etta jaksaako liikkua viitta metria. mutta se aviomies. pitaisikohan yleisiohjeena antaa etta ela usko umpihullua saksalaista kun han sanoo etta tottakai on ok lainata jaakaapista kaljoja. EI OLE ...