Its Not Just Fun and Games – Travel Frustrations and Tests of Patience

 

Its Not Just fun and Games – Travel Frustrations and Tests of Patience

Today was one of those travel days you usually don't write about. We got up and had to return the car we rented the day before to tour the UNESCO World Heritage churches around the island. As we were about to drive into the rent a car place (which is also a car dealership and the only car rental on the island) I remembered that we had not filled the tank. So we left to find a gas station thinking we would only be a few minutes late. We knew where the gas stations in Castor were so we went to the closest one. It was closed because the truck was there to fill the tank for the station. We went to the second place, same thing getting refilled. At the second place a man told us it would be about 20 more minutes. We went to look at the last station we remembered near town and it was completely closed, bordered up, nothing happening. We drove back to the car rental place, explained the situation, the man said don't worry about it, take your time, so we went to the first station to wait. After about 10 minutes a worker came over and said it would be at least another 40 minutes. So we headed to gas station number two where they had said 20 minutes. What felt like many minutes later we had a full tank.

We drive back to the rent a car place. Just as we drive up a small service van of the business pulls into the driveway and stops. We wait. And wait. And wait. 20 minutes later no one has come back to the van and another car in waiting behind us to get in. Dave has started to fume. He held it together through the gas station hunt and wait, but this was too much. I got out and went in to tell the car rental guy we were waiting but couldn't come in because of the van. He said that's okay just wait. I knew this would not go over well with Dave.

Dave' s stress was just building as he sat in the car in the street, worried someone would hit him or some how hurt the car we were trying to return unscathed. Finally he lost it when my report sunk in. He said that's it, I've had enough, and stormed out of the car with the papers. (Anyone who knows Dave knows how unusual it is for him to get to this point.) He threw the papers on the guys desk, said," I am done.", and stormed out. I was shocked, it takes a lot to make Dave loose it. When he got back to me he said we are leaving. I said aren't you even going to roll up the windows? No! Then he hesitated. "I'll just make sure we didn't leave anything in the car", he says. He threw the keys on the front seat. At this point the rental man came out and asked what was going on. I tried to explain but Dave went off. Here I am trying to translate between the two of them and feeling worse and worse. When the guy said he deserved to be treated with respect and I translated that to Dave, Dave came back to reality immediately. We told the guy we would wait. Rental man went in and the man in the car behind us, who looked like he was buying a car, went in and spoke to the man who looked like he was in charge of sales. The service van got moved right away. We pulled in and went to sit outside the rental man's office. By now Dave felt like a bad boy. I realized the guy could make us wait for as long as he wanted, charge us for extra for something or make up damage or whatever, if he was upset enough. I was not happy and I told Dave I would not translate for him if there was any more fighting. When our turn came, Dave apologized as best he could in Spanish, the rental man was calm, everything went smoothly. I thanked the rental at the end for his patience and asked him not to think badly of us or our country. The rental man was very gracious and said oh it was only a moment that is gone now, don't worry about it. That was our morning, there went half the day.
We have actually had very few experiences of frustration or difficulty in the last seven months of travel. We have been very lucky. but here is a list of the stressful moments related to travel so far. (Notice I am not including stressful moments relating to parenting, family dynamics etc.)

Moments of Dismay on the Big Trip (so Far)

Thailand

Bangkok scam that cost 5$ and two hours

Leaving Anika asleep on the bus as it drove away in the middle of the night

Bali

A monkey stole Lysa's camera. Dave got it back.

Japan

Dave and the missing rail passes that showed up after we missed the train

Losing Anika on the Tokyo subway. We got her back too!

New Zealand

No room after 24 hours of travel even though we booked it before we left.

Chile

Waiting for the bus at the wrong terminal in Concepcion  and missing our connection. We still got where we were going.

Dave leaves his backpack in the car and we all get on the bus. (we got the backpack back)

As you can see nothing too terrible. One of the things I have learned on this trip so far is everything works out some how. Not always they way you thought it would, or wanted it to, but it works out. And there is almost always another bus. Or way to solve the problem.

Week Five- Castro, Chiloe Island, Chile

Castro, Chiloe Island

"Palafitos" UNSECO World Heritage homes, Castro, Chiloe Island

We spent a week on this island staying in the town of Castro one of two mid sized town on the island. The rest are small, smaller and tiny. It is an interesting town, a mix of gritty port and artsy-ness. There is a good modern art museum, interesting book stores, galleries, lots of fisher men and boats coming and going. While we were there tons of Chilean families and young people with backpacks on summer break arrived and took over the town. Dave and I spent many hours in the Plaza de Armas (town square) people watching and enjoying the atmosphere. Dave said it was like a circus. Every night there were food and toy vendors, jugglers, musicians, shows in the band shell. One evening there was a chess master playing ten people at the same time. Anyone could play him. When one game ended another person would step up. All the boards were set up in a row and the master just went from one end to the other and back to the beginning. We saw the Miss Castro pageant one night, heard an amazing DJ, saw some bands. One of the things that amazed us the most is there was nothing threatening, no gang members posturing and only a small police presence. People were drinking but there was little drunken behavior.

View from our room in Castor at night

One day we visited the churches Chiloe is famous for.  They are also UNECSO world heritage sites. We took tones of photos.

Another day we went to the national park and took a hike (had an excellent lunch in their cafeteria), 

Nalca, a native plant you see every where

The day before we left we took a tour to see the penguins that nest on two off shore islands. We also visited a farm  where we bought artisnal cheese, a farmers and artisans market, and a museum about the islands churches. Chileans are very romantic about rural life and many tourist activities are farm or rural living oriented.

There are both Humboldt and Magellan penguins on these islands

Typical farmers market stall. Hanging are dried seaweed (looks like kelp), mussels and clams.

We were there for the 450^th anniversary of the City of Castro with fireworks and all night partying.  The next day we took the bus to Puerto Varas. We spent two weeks here studying Spanish. More on Puerto Varas in the next blog post.

Week Four Chile

Week Four Chile- Refugio Tinquilco and Navimag

We left Pucon for three nights in the Parque Nacional Huerrquehue. The park is about an hour outside Pucon but feels worlds away from the tourist hustle and bustle of the town. You have to hike about 2km from the park entrance to the Refugio were we stayed. Anika was not happy about this at all as most of the people in the park probably could hear. The Refugio is a joint venture of four Chilean professionals. It is run by one of them, Patricio, with the help of his sons. Patricio is a documentary film maker. The refugio is a simple but comfortable lodge within in the park boundary. There is not much else around except camping. So no wifi, phone, TV etc. Very quiet. Patricio is also an excellent cook. Although you can cook for yourself I am so glad we didn't. Breakfast (typical Chilean bread and tea/coffee) was included and part of it was homemade jams and pate. Dinners were amazing. My favorite was a soup that was hearty and flavorful, it seemed like it had everything in it you could think of. Our first full day it rained almost non stop all day. So we hunkered down and read, napped, wrote and ate.

The refugio Tinquilco

The second day Dave and I started out in the morning and took an all day hike into the park. The first hour or so was steep but after that it leveled out. The trail took you around four small lakes, one more picturesque than the next. Mountains or rock walls loomed over the lakes. The tress were especially amazing as many are very different from ours. We saw the national tree, the aruacaria, among others. There were also many interesting birds. I wish I knew their names. On the way back down the views were stunning. We could see the lake the refugio/lodge is on, Tinquilco, surrounded by mountains on the sides, and then with the snow capped top of the volcano peeking out from the third side. I doubt the photos do it justice. Our great hike ended with a short nap and then rejuvenation in the wood burning sauna and pond cold plunge. After that another excellent dinner and we were in heaven.

Photos from the hike:

We had to leave the next morning. We were lucky enough to get a ride with Jamie one of Patricio's sons back to Pucon. So we did not have to hear Anika complain for the second time about the 2km hike to the park entrance from the refugio/lodge. The views driving down were also spectacular. Jamie is a musician so we talked about the art/music scene in Chile and how his work is going. He also told us that one of our next stops, Chiloe island was a very special place. He was right, but more on that when we get there.

Best view coming down. White capped mountain is volcano Villarica.

Navimag- Laguna San Rafeal and Glacier

This is something we never thought we would do and certainly didn't plan on. We do not have every day or week planned, and in Pucon we started thinking about how far south we wanted to go. We had run into many travelers who went to see the glaciers in Southern Patagonia. There are several ways to do this and one popular one is to go down on a ferry and fly/bus back stopping along the way. We went to check this out and found out about a four night, five day cruise to Laguna San Rafeal and the glacier there. Not only that they had a two for one offer and a room with three beds. (Three has turned out to not be a magic number in the lodging world, 2 and 4 are better). So we booked it. When we left Pucon we made our way to Castro on the Chiloe Island to catch the boat.

Chiloe has a distinct history and is considered by many Chileans to be a special place. The island was isolated until the 60 when there was finally regular ferry and road traffic. It is still very rural and people here seem to have a very romantic notion of life in the country. The Panamerican highway, for no reason I know of, leaves the mainland and ends at the southern most point of Chiloe. The island has its own mythology and magical creatures to go with it. After our boat adventure we spent a week here but more on that later.

So I don't think many people with backpacks usually take this boat. But they were very polite and welcoming to us. They load your bags so when you go on the boat and are directed to your room your bags are their already. That alone was service beyond my wildest dreams. Our room was very comfortable with a large window looking out on the water and a bathroom with unlimited hot water, something rare for us in Chile. There was a paper in English explaining the schedule for the rest of the day. And every morning a new paper like this appeared. They cleaned out room twice a day, turning down the sheets while we were at dinner. For those of you out there who have been on a cruise this may all sounds oh so normal. For us it was a luxurious treat.

View from our Room

Anika and Dave having the welcome drink

So for four days we didn't have to make many decisions or figure out what to eat, or where, or how to get somewhere. Like our short tour in Cambodia we enjoyed having such great hosts and guides. We sat at the same tables for meals with the only other American (a way ward backpacker like ourselves) and a Korean girl traveling with her mother. The mother spoke no English but we had fun with the daughter who was super cute. The meals were huge, often buffet style but we had the same waiter and he went out of his way to make sure we were happy. Each day there were excursions and ,activities. The guides were all bilingual, some tri lingual. There was a group from Germany and a large group of Chinese. The Chinese spent most of the time playing cards in one common area of the ship. Everyone else was Chilean.

Our table buddies in the dinning room

There were two great hikes that were marred by bad weather. During the first we got soaked to the bone. Luckily the day we went to the glacier it didn't rain in the morning. The glacier was like going to the grand canyon. Pictures and words do not come close to describing being next to it watching chunk fall off and hearing the sounds it makes before, during and after. We learned a lot about the history of this particular glacier. Scientists have been studying it since the 70s. We saw a huge seal and some birds. Everyone got a chance to hold a chunk of ice in their bare hands. When we returned to the boat they had hot chocolate and whiskey served with a piece of the ice.

In the evenings there were movies and presentations about nature in Patagonia, wine tasting and other activities. One night there was a bingo game were if you said the word bingo, for any reason, you had to get up and dance in front of everyone. The MC tricked us into saying it and we had to dance, much to Dave's dismay. Because of course when any of the Chileans had to dance, even the awkward teenagers or kids, they looked like they knew what they were doing. And then Dave said it again and we had to do it again. But after that all the Chileans on board who had been there were super friendly to us. There was a salsa demonstration and lesson too. We did not stay long at the Karaoke night for fear we would get tricked somehow again and have to sing. Dance I can do, sing no way!

Rainbow from the boat

On the second hike we also visited the town of Chiten which was devastated by a volcanic eruption four years ago. The government wanted to move the entire village to another location and tired to. But many people refused and are now trying to rebuild their town with very little government support. Their town in near Parque Pulmatin, one of the largest (if not the largest) private park in the world owned by the man who started Esprit and North Face and his wife, one of the founders of Patagoina clothing. We visited a small part of the park and did a very short hike in the pouring rain. It is incredibly beautiful. This guy is fighting with the government here all the time to prevent more development in Patagonia. From what we heard people here like him because he got out there with everyone else after the volcano exploded and helped out. He lives here most of the time.

Street in Chiten

The time on the boat was like a really good dream and I was sad when it had to end. I recommend this tour for anyone wanting to see a glacier close up in a super comfortable low stress way.

Photos On!

Check out the photos I added to my first and second Chile posts. More photos and blogs from Chile to come. The trip is over half way over, hard to believe. Yikes!

Weeks Two and Three in Chile

Tome/Los Morros/Dechato/Pucon

The harbor, Los Morros

Our second week in Chile we headed from the cities to Los Morros outside the small town of Tome and near Dechato. Dechato is a beach town that was flattened by the tsunami that followed the earthquake here about two years ago. It killed more people than the earthquake and left many homeless. The reason we headed here was that my last Spanish teacher in Santa Cruz, Yolanda, has a sister and brother in law who live here part of the year and in Salinas the rest of the year. We stayed with them for a week. Roberto and Sonya were wonderful hosts and we fell right into the rhythm of their lives. We slowed down to the pace of a small fishing village. There are also second homes of quite a few Chileans here, as well as a group of expats.

Sonia and Bob's house

The beach in front of the house

Through Roberto and Sonia we met some of the people most effected by the tsunami. Many are still living in temporary housing on hills away from the coast. We helped one settlement cover their greenhouse so they can grow more of their own food. Anika and I did a beach clean up one day on the beach in front of Sonia and Roberto's house, collecting three huge bags of mostly plastic trash. Besides this volunteer work we listened to Sonia tell stories of her and her family's life in Chile, watched movies (Sonia is a big movie buff and they had Netflix. She picks the best movies!) relaxed a lot and explored the area a bit. We took a really nice walk one day with a group of expats living in the area and had dinner with them one night as well. It was a wonderful week off the tourist trail seeing another part of Chilean life.

This boat was moved to this spot by the tsunami. It is being refurbished so it can go fishing again

Dave in front of the finished green house

Scenes from the farmers market in Tome

Giant pumpkin/squash you buy by the chunk

Students of Baile Foklorico group performing in the street to raise money to go to a competition in another area.

 Pucon- The Lake District
We left Roberto and Sonia early one morning and headed to Pucon on a bus with broken air conditioning and a stinky bathroom. We stayed for a week in Pucon, a tourist destination on the side of a lake surrounded by mountains and with snow capped Volcano Villarica looming to one side. Although the town was full of Chilean's on vacation and adventure travelers passing through we had a great time. There were some really good restaurants, yoga classes and lots of possible excursions. Dave and I went rafting on a challenging river that included an unexpected 25 ft jump off a cliff at one point. (Into the river not the raft.)

Being tourists and driving by our hostel

Colorful flower made of wood

 The area has 25 natural hot springs and we went to two, Los Pozones and Las Geometricas. Geometricas was my favorite hot water so far (not including Japan which is in a category by itself and can not be compared to other countries when it comes to hot water.)

We did a short day trip to Curarrehue, a village that is 80% Mapuche, the largest indigenous community in Chile. There we had a fantastic lunch of Mapuche food which is very different from Chilean food.

Inside the Restaurant

Outside the restaurant

Eating in the restaurant

We also met some very nice people at the Hostel we stayed at in Pucon. Andy from New Zealand and Clare and Jordan from Oregon. We hope to meet up with Clare and Jordan later on our journey in Chile.

Mapuche Weaving

After Pucon we headed for Refugio Tinquilco, a hostel in the National Park Huerquehue. Here we are now in the pouring rain. I promise photos soon! We just need faster Internet.

Beautiful Landscape