Castro,
Chile
Monday, February 27, 2006
Went from Puerto Montt down to an Island called Chiloe. It is just south of the mainland, about 1/4 of the way up Chile. It was a very beautiful island, with some great stuff on offer. We went down to a town called Castro, which is on the waters edge, and is a very cool spot. From there we took a bus down to the Chiloe National Park, with no particular plans to do anything other than a couple of hikes. While my Spanish is improving, there are still some rather serious holes, but we managed to get details of a remote camp site from the bus driver. After some bush walking and then some walking in circles we located Mario, who owned the camp site. It was an amazing camp site on a beautiful lake, and cost all of $2/night. Beers were also $2 for 1 liter. We made a fire, cooked some steaks we bought in Castro and generally chilled at the campfire we made. We had bought a big roast chicken and were really looking forward to eating that for lunch - the local cat had other diner ideas, and during the night stole the chicken out of our tent! A bit of a problem as there are no shops in the area. On the second day we did a 6 hour walk along the beach, with some amazing scenery. It is a great area to relax, hike and get to grips with nature.
We have now come back to Puerto Montt, hired a car and driven 300km North to a town called Pucon. It is an amazingly European town, and we are looking forwards to using the hot springs, climbing the active volcano, and perhaps some river rafting.
