46. CHILE

My third country in South America was the 4,300 km long and narrow stripe of Chile. Well known for its natural beauty and different geographical features it already welcomed me with snow and beautiful views on the bus from Bariloche to Puerto Montt.

Since I was just at the beginning of learning Spanish, it was even harder for me to understand people here. They not only speak incredibly fast but also use a lot of different words and sounds. In my 3 weeks there I met a handful of people who spoke English but besides that, I had to deal with what I got. Somehow it worked very well and I found Chilean people very pleasant to socialize with and much calmer & relaxed than in their neighboring countries.

My initial plan was to rent some camping equipment and head further south into Patagonia. The really cold temperature, snow and my lack of proper equipment told me otherwise and I will visit that apparently beautiful part of Chile another time. I started to explore the city of Puerto Montt and the beautiful town of Puerto Varas in the Los Lagos - region. The lakes, snowy volcanos and mountains make it a really impressive region with a lot of natural beauty. Hitchhiking in Chile was really super easy, there are only two directions (North and South) and people are very willing to help you out with a ride. One time I went for a couple of hours with a truck driver on his way to Santiago delivering several parcels to gas stations while talking about everything without knowing each other. Also, Venezuelan construction workers helped me took me a few times. With Ignacio, Stefania & Fran I met amazing people and made my first friends in Chile.

I continued to travel up to Central Chile, where I spent 10 days. I enjoyed the colorful street art of the port city in Valparaíso, walked along the beaches watching sea lions in Viña del Mar & villages around and stayed with Marlene in Villa Alemana where I had a great rest from happening travel days. I really loved to eat fish and seafood there, especially Pastel de Jaiba (a thick crab soup), Cazuela de Mariscos (like a stew out of mixed seafood) and Choritos (Mussels) were my favorites.

At the end of my 3 weeks in Chile I met with Roberto, whom I met just a year ago while hiking the Himalayas in Nepal. He invited me to his beautiful house in Santiago, where we had a great cycling trip through the Andes and watched the Panamerican games together. Meeting people again that I met in a different part of the world sometimes years before, is always a big highlight and I am really thankful for how many great & kind-hearted people I already met over the last few years.

Chile was great and clearly a country, I will travel back to soon. The national parks in Patagonia, but also the dry deserts & Andean highlands in the North are just too interesting not to visit them.

3 Highlights:

- Cycling through the hundreds of curves in the mountains just out of Santiago

- Exploring the hills with beautiful street art and seaside views in Valparaiso

- Charming Puerto Varas with beautiful views of two volcanos