Showdown at the OK Corral.

Trip Start Oct 06, 2004
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58
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Chile  ,
Thursday, April 28, 2005

Man this place rocks! They have a bilingual traffic light here, speaking both Spanish and English. "You may cross now, You may cross now, You may cross now, You may cro......screeeeeeech". Just too bad they haven't implemented it all over town, as there's about a zillion other traffic lights around (how to turn nuts in less than half an hour). They even got a shopping center where there's a floor full of shops, but you cannot get to it as it's between the first and second floor. Kind of like the 7 1/2 floor in "Being John Malkovich", only thing I couldn't find the elevator. So I have to settle for the food court on the second floor where they play Modern Talking, "Brother Louie, Louie, Louie". Can you feel the rhythm of this bustling city? Hmm, what else have we got? Oh yes, I look up the eating/drinking section in my Lonely Planet guidebook. I read the following, "OK Corral, also a hopping bar......" After checking it out one evening I wonder where they got "hopping" from, as it looks like Wyatt Earp has just been around and wiped out the whole crowd 01 Puerto Montt and Volcano Osorno.
01 Puerto Montt and Volcano Osorno.
 . Darn you Wyatt!

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm in Puerto Montt, Chile. It's a gateway city to Carretera Austral, the Navimag cruise to Puerto Natales and the apparently magical island of Chiloé. However since I have decided to give all of them a miss, mostly due to car hire costs, I am not sure why I bothered to come here. In a way it's pretty nice I guess with it's waterfront setting, but one night is enough before I head half an hour further north to Puerto Varas, a top adventure and fly fishing destination in the Chilean Lake District. I spend a couple of days in this pleasant but quiet town, visiting Volcano Osorno, Saltos del Petrohue and Lago Todos los Santos. I don't see any other Western tourists or backpackers around, only a few Chilean and Brazilian. In fact I haven't seen any Westerners since I left Bariloche. I find this strange as I thought this part of Chile was pretty popular. Maybe I'm just staying in the wrong places or travelling in the wrong season. Not that I am particularly bothered by it. Sometimes it's good to be on your own just idling around with your own thoughts.
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