Peurto Montt
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Peurto Montt,
Chile
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Following a couple of days in Mendoza post-hike celebrating, we headed to south Chile to a place called Pitchelemu with Kev and Jan (a German guy we met on the hike). It just so happened that there was some kind of festival there so all accommodation was packed, but we managed to pick up a dodgy room in Hotel Bahia for a ridiculous price. This involved Mark and me in a single bed, Kev in the other single and Jan (almost 2 meters) curled up on the floor. The reason for choosing Pitchelemu is that it is supposed to be a surfers paradise......
We headed down to the beach and the surf looked amazing, but really BIG. Apparently it has Chile's best left-hand break. The funny thing was how few people were surfing. The guys decided to give it a go, and I got a boogey-board. The water is 14 degrees (compared to a balmy 30 degrees in Cayman) so full wetsuits etc are required. Anyway we headed out and all I remember was the odd gasp for breath between being dumped and washing-machined by every wave. The guys may have been successful but all I saw was water and sometimes my board flying towards me. Eventually I ended up back on shore and then stubbornly went back for more. I eventually caught a wave, but by this stage was so cold and tired. All boards were returned and then we headed to their other beaches and surrounding towns - Punto de Lobos which also has great surf and is really pretty. After hours of searching we found a little cabin to stay in, but this was only after searching everywhere in the area. We spent 2 nights in the cabin which was great.....There was a lot of chilling, eating, and playing of drinking games and cards until the early hours. Unfortunately I was on a losing spree and once we ran out of beer shots out came the wine....
On the 21st we headed back into Santiago to meet Matt and Asti. They were meeting us at the hostel we had stayed at when we first arrived. Unfortunately when we did eventually find them they had just been mugged in the park. Luckily they still had their money and passports but their camera and Matt's jacket were gone. We decided to commiserate by heading down to the local bars and pubs and had a great night walking around to the different bars and sampling the local beers.
The next day we booked our bus south and headed to Santiago's shopping area and main town centre as Matt wanted to replace his Gortex jacket, and I needed more hiking boots (I managed to lose my soles during the hike). We spent the day walking around and then caught the bus to Puerto Montt that evening. The bus trip was 14 hours long but the buses here are great as the seats go all the way back and there is plenty of leg space. The scenery was awesome and once the sun went down we started watching 24, Series 1.
Puerto Montt is cool. We spent the day yesterday cruising around, figuring out what we are going to do for the rest of our time in Chile. After a long day walking around we decided to chill before we went out for the local meal for dinner. This turned into a little nap which ended up in a mammoth sleep and no dinner.
Today we are off to Castro which is a town on Isla de Chiloe.....will let you know how it goes!
