Chile, part 1

When we returned from Africa this summer our hopes of traveling to Egypt in 2019 with OAT were dashed as all their Egypt tours for 2019 were already full! In fact, we were lucky to get a spot in one of the OAT tours in 2020. When the Egypt trip for us and our good friend was confirmed the countdown to our departure date was over 600 days away. Well that did not set well with Paul who decided that we had to plan another trip to take in 2019. Have I ever mentioned that I married into a family that are travel addicts!

With Chile/Patagonia in mind, partly due to some incredible photos Paul had seen on Safari talk, Paul began researching for information about this area on the web. Paul, unlike me, can spend hours on the web and while doing research on Chile he stumbled upon a tour company called Swoop Patagonia that caught his attention. Paul liked what the English company offered for Patagonia and esp. that they would put together a private tour focusing on the things you were most interested in. Paul encouraged me to read about the wildlife and landscape found in Chile on Swoops’ website and I agreed that it was intriguing. I wasn’t real sure about the guaranteed windy conditions or the possibility of seeing every type of weather in one day in Torres del Paine, but the birds and wildlife possibilities won me over.

Paul contacted Swoop and the planning for a February trip began in earnest. We were told that it was very late to be booking for February (when we would be able to get away) as this was the high time for tourists in Chile. Most people book a year in advance esp. for the Patagonia area. So, we were asking this company that specializes in Patagonia to put a tour together in less than four months. Chloe took up the challenge of coming up with a tour following Paul’s suggestions of what we would enjoy. Chloe proved to be up to the task when a few weeks later she had put together what looked to be an incredible adventure. Chile here we come.

We are two days from winging our way to Chile and the weather looks as if it could be a problem as the day we leave the forecast is for freezing rain. The day before our flight Paul and I take our diabetic cat to a pet boarding place in Manhattan. We say goodbye to the loudly protesting Taz and go to run some last-minute errands. We arrive home before three and check the weather again. It hasn’t changed much for us but the forecast for KC is much worse. We waffle a bit wondering if we should leave this afternoon when an email from Paul’s cousin arrives in which he writes that if it was him he would leave now. The advice from the well-respected cousin helps us decide to do just that. We are already packed but we have a “things to do before we leave the house” list that we rush through and an hour and a half later we are motoring towards Kansas City.

We get on the turnpike at Topeka and once we pass Lawrence there are flashing signs at intervals cautioning motorists to watch out for ice on overpasses and bridges. Upon reading this information we call Air Park Express, where we will be leaving our car, and ask the very helpful woman who answers the phone about hotels close to them and about road conditions. It turns out there are lots of hotels to choose from within a mile of the facility and she gives us the exit to take off of I29 to get to the hotels. She also says that the roads were okay when she came to work about an hour ago but the forecast is for worsening conditions. Yikes.

The road conditions seem fine until we turn off the turnpike onto I435 and cross into Missouri. We soon begin to encounter the “worsening conditions”. There is snow blowing across the highway for a short distance, then we drive through some freezing rain, then there is an area where snow has blanketed the fields but the road seems to be okay. It is getting dark when we turn off on exit twelve and we breathe a sigh of relief since we made it without incidence. We nix the first hotel we stop at after looking at the room but find a Comfort Inn a block away and say this will do. There is no restaurant but Paul finds a vending machine in the lobby and we have a package of crackers and cookies for supper.  I reluctantly agree to watch the KU vs KSU basketball game since there really is nothing else to do and I am stunned when my team, K-State beats Paul’s team Kansas. Sometimes miracles happen!

The next morning, we go down for breakfast and it appears that the bad weather that was forecasted for last night never materialized. Cars and trucks are zooming by on I29 and Paul walks outside and says there appears to be little in the way of ice. After we eat, Paul goes to exercise on the hotels treadmill and I walk the hallways and stairs of the hotel. After all we will be sitting for hours on a plane before long.  We shower and laze around since we don’t have to check out until noon. I happen to look out our window just past eleven and tell Paul things have changed. Ice is building up on the windshields of parked cars and patchy ice can be seen on the asphalt. Shoot.

We carry our luggage downstairs and check out. Paul goes to get the car but due to having to scrape the thick coat of ice off of our windshield it takes him awhile to arrive at the door to load our luggage. Paul drives slowly and safely to the car park and then gives our keys to the attendant. There are two other people waiting for the airport shuttle who were driving on the highway just now. Both of them witnessed accidents along the way including one where a jeep slid across the highway barely missing a school bus. We encourage our shuttle driver to take his time as we pass some vehicles that have slid into the ditch. Our driver delivers us to the American terminal and now we have to hope no flights will be canceled. Our flight isn’t until three-thirty so I nervously look at the departure board now and then and am so grateful every time I see, “on time” next to our flight number.

We arrive in Dallas a bit late but we have plenty of cushion time before our flight to Santiago. The jet is packed full with lots of people traveling with children but all is fairly tranquil for the duration of the flight. I manage to sleep four hours of the nine-hour flight but Paul only slept for a couple of hours. We arrive at Santiago a bit late but again we have plenty of time before we have to board our flight to Port Mont. Thank you Hillary for making sure we had adequate time between flights!

There is nothing that gives Paul and I more relief then walking out of the baggage claim area and seeing someone holding up a placard with the name Paul Miller written on it. The pretty young woman greets us with a smile and hug, then apologizes for not speaking much English. We apologize for not speaking any Spanish and follow her to the car. We are only 20 minutes from Puerto Varas where we are spending our first night in Chile. The young woman does point out the stunning trio of volcanoes, in which two of the cone-shaped mountains dominate the skyline. The most eye-catching volcano, Osorno, is the proverbial conical shape and snow-capped, while the middle volcano, Tronador, sitting far in the distance is also sporting a snow cap. The monstrous volcano Calbuco, on the left has no blanket of snow and we find out later that this volcano last erupted in 2015. Let us hope that this active mountain is not thinking about blowing its top any time soon.

Our driver parks the car and escorts us to the hotel, Mero Gaucho, where we are staying tonight. I already like this place because it has birds painted on the outside wall. The owners have turned this 1930’s house into a very attractive hotel. The floors are wood, (original floors I’m pretty sure), as are many of the walls, a beautiful staircase leads up to the small but adequate rooms, (our room has a wonderful terrace) and someone is a very good interior decorator as the lobby is very appealing.

After checking in with the friendly receptionist and depositing our bags in our room we decide to check out the small city of Puerto Varas. The receptionist has drawn suggestions of where to walk to see historical buildings, where some good eating places are, among other things of interest but we forgot to take the map along so we just wander. We first walk to Lake Llanquihue where the three volcanos serve as a backdrop. The view is just breathtaking with the deep blue water, the snow-capped volcano and the bright sunlight which accents the whole scene. The people we meet often look us in the eye and say “Ola” plus when we are crossing streets the drivers stop and politely motion us to cross. Wow, in every other South American and Central American country we have visited, crossing the street is a “run for your life” encounter as pedestrians get no respect.

Paul and I do find one of the restaurants our helpful receptionist suggested, The Daruma Tea House. We decide to share a barbecue pork sandwich and what a great choice we made. The meat is melt in your mouth tender and it is topped with a creamy coleslaw. A bit messy to eat but as good of a sandwich as I have ever had. Paul wants dessert and after agonizing over all the choices of delectable pastries on display, he settles on a piece of cake which the waiter explains is a special German recipe. I have a couple of bites and it is quite good.

After our early supper we happen to walk by the office of Bird Chile which is the company that will be driving and guiding us for the next few days. We walk in and introduce ourselves to the young women that are in the office. We end up shoring up our plans for tomorrow and find out that the owner of Bird Chile is going to be our guide. Well all right!

As we are heading back to Mero Gaucho, the sound of drums catches our attention and we turn left instead of right to search for the drummers. There is a small park where a trio of men are putting on quite a show. I wished I had taken video because the performance of the drummers was just incredible. The men, well two men and a boy,  beat out a tempo on the drum carried on their backs while spinning in an ever-tightening circle. A strap attached to their shoes would crash cymbals together whenever they placed their heels on the pavement. I have no idea how they managed to walk a straight line when they finished with their pirouetting but they did. It made me dizzy just watching them. Naturally, they passed a hat around at the end of the show and Paul gladly put money into it.

We walk back to the hotel and prepare for our departure tomorrow. We both shower and are asleep by nine o’clock.

Next blog, Chiloe Island.