On Monday 7 November our flight departed from Auckland at about 5pm and we arrived in Santiago at about noon on the same day - how weird it is when you´re crossing the date line! We got to Santiago and decided to change our flights to get to Puerto Montt on the same day - we would, after all, be spending a few days in the city with Rich´s parents at the end of the month - the flight changes all worked out and we arrived in the southern city of Puerto Montt at about 3.30pm.
After finding a room for the night, I had a nap while Rich went out hunting for car hire options: pretty unsuccessfully, as it all seemed really expensive. We headed out for a stroll around town at 6.30ish, both feeling quite shell-shocked at the change in culture and language after having it easy in New Zealand. Over dinner in a small restaurant, we got into a little bit of a tight spot with a tour guide Rich had met on his wanderings earlier that afternoon... the guy was trying really hard to sell us a day tour and car hire. He was ever so nice, though, and Rich said yes to the car hire, even though we didn´t know anything about the terms and conditions, the insurance etc (the guy´s English didn´t extend that far). Mmmm, I wasn´t happy.
However, the next morning when we turned up at the appointed place to meet our contact, he wasn´t there, so we were off the hook and free to search for other car hire options. We walked from agent to agent, shopping around, and popped into the office of Navimag, the company which runs a four day/three night cruise from Puerto Montt way down to Puerto Natales, the base for exploring the glaciers of southern Patagonia and Torres del Paine National Park. I must say, we spent a good deal of time and mental energy agonising over whether to go for it or not, but in the end decided against it on the grounds of cost (355 USD per person) and the fact that the dates of the weekly sailings didn´t quite fit into our itinerary. However, it´s something we would have loved to do. Decisions, decisions!!! It was tough making that one, and for many days afterwards we wondered whether we´d done the right thing.
Instead, we decided to hire a car for a week longer (18 days in total) and pay extra for the paperwork needed to take it into Argentina. So, at about 5pm, we signed up to 1,000 USD worth of car hire with Avis... Ouch! But still cheaper than combining car hire with a Navimag cruise!
At 5.30pm we headed out to Chiloé, a long, narrow island south-west of Puerto Montt. It was a sunny afternoon, and we saw large flocks of pelicans on the ferry ride over. We drove on through the town of Ancud and headed for Chepu, situated at the northern end of the Parque Nacional de Chiloé. The drive took us through rolling green countryside, past simple wooden cottages and farmers in ponchos and hats riding their horses (the main form of transport in rural areas).
We arrived at Chepu at sunset - an awsome location beside a beautiful winding river surrounded by forest - but the ´village´was nothing more than a scattering of cottages. We knocked on the door of one signposted ´camping´ and a shrivelled little man with a broad, toothless grin came out and showed us into his paddock with toilet cubicle. It was just fine for the night, so we pitched tent, but the problem was that we had no food! You can just imagine what a problem that was to the two of us... we love our food and booze way too much! We found a house with a board outside that read ´Vende Queso´ (cheese for sale) but the farmer ínsisted we buy a whole giant cheese, the size of a shoebox, so no luck there. And so... to bed hungry!
Strangely, we weren´t starved when we woke up, but by the time we arrived in Castro, a large town further south, at mid-morning, we were ravenous. First we found a tyre shop to have a slow puncture fixed, and then strolled around town in search of breakfast. We settled for a large burger and steak sandwich with chips and coffee... greasy but needed! We reflected on the fact that we were both still feeling really displaced... not speaking much Spanish doesn´t help.
After midday, we drove on to Cucau - onto a gravel road beside beautiful lake Hullinco to the village, which was more substantial than Chepu, and located on the sea. After exploring the coast road, with wind-blown sand-dunes and horses strolling on a long, desolate beach, we found the National Park office and went for a short walk through interesting wetland forest beside the lake. The warden had told us that we were welcome to camp for free, so we pitched the tent near the lakeside before walking over the dunes to the long, white, deserted and windy beach. Back at camp, we lit a wood fire as dark clouds started rolling in. Rich took out his fishing rod and did a few casts off the jetty before we settled down for our BBQ ´on the rocks´ - we cooked on hot stones as we had no grid. Worked like a charm!
ON Thursday morning we awoke to mist over the lake, an enchanting scene. Rich retured to hte jetty for some more fishing and within a couple of casts he´d hooked a lovely big salmon! What a beaut, about 60cm long and in great shape. Pleased as punch with our excellent catch, we packed up and drove back up to the north of Chiloé, stopping along the way to find a flamingo feeding ground we´d read about. The flamingoes turned out to be elusive, but the drive took us to a wide bay with colourful fishing boats and flocks of black-necked swans.
After the ferry crossing and a frustrating drive through the centre of Puerto Montt, we headed to Parque Nacional Alerce Andino, situated about 1.5 hours east of the city. The weather was fab that afternoon, and the park ranger friendly; we decided to do a full day hike in the park the following day, and checked into the ´refugio´ (mountain hut) for the night. The place was basic (no power or hot water) but comfy, and we cooked our salmon in the gas oven.
The next morning (Friday) at about 9am, we set off on a glorious 8-hour through dense mountainside forests of beech, cypress, flame tree and bamboo. The path took us beyond tranquil Lago Sargazo: as we climbed higher up the mountainside, we wound our way through groves of Alerce trees. These endangered confiers of the southern Andes grow tall and straight and have leaves like cypress. They can live for thousands of years...in the course of the day, we walked through stands of Alerces several hundreds of years old, and past impressive specimens 2000-3000 years old. What a magnificent sight - graceful and upright, these old trees with thick, fibrous, reddish-brown bark spread their small crown of foliage high above the forest canopy. I was enthralled...during my time at the Botanics I´d worked with botanists who study these magnificent trees, so I´d had all about them and had seen some photos. To see them in the flesh was just amazing.
Much of the path was boggy, so we slipped and slid our way through mud and on rough wooden boardlwalks and stepping stones. There were a few comic slips on the mossy boardwalks, and we landed kneedeep in mud a few times. However our efforts were rewarded not only by the magnificant forests all around, but by the birdlife - a large black woodpecker with scarlet head, cheeky little robins darting in the path before us, and a pair of tiny humming-birds.
We munched our lunch of left-ver slamon and potatoes on the log bridge over the river before turning back. That evening, we camped at the nearby National Parks campsite. With a little help from the warden, we bought wine from a house in the village nearby - a good old one litre tetrapack! At sunset, Rich cast a few lines in a dark mountain pool... just the little ones were biting.
The following morning, on Saturday, we headed back to Puerto Montt to collect the papers needed to take the car to Argentina. We arrived at about 10.30 and were told that the papers would only be ready after 2pm, so spent the morning doing some emailing and shopping. After collecting the papers, we headed north out of town on the PanAmerican highway in the direction of the Lakes. More in the next entry...
11 votes 
This is a top pick!
