~4 weeks in Chile, on bike

~1 week in Argentina without our bikes

 

    After having the time of our lives cycling in Greece and having traveled a number of times in Western Europe we decided we needed to find a different region of the world to explore. Plus we needed to get away from the wet, cold, gray weather of February in Seattle. So off to South America we went.

       Santiago was hot! Oh how I love summer weather.

       We spent just a couple days in Santiago getting our bearings and reconstructing our bikes. Santiago doesn't get much praise but actually Tarah and I rather liked it. Much of the city is dirty and rather un-historic looking but there were many very charming neighborhoods and an incredible public market with delicious raw and prepared foods.

       We left Santiago via bus heading to Puerto Montt. This was not easy. First off, we had to go to like 5 different bus companies before we found one that would consider taking our bikes. We even offered to simply pay extra for the inconvenience, but the best we got was a maybe and that it would be up to the driver when he came. This meant we would have bought tickets (which were not cheap) and may not be able to use them. Finally we found a company that didn't have any problem taking our bikes and didn't even charge us extra. The problem was that it was the end of the summer vacation season and so all the busses were full. Later when we came back to Santiago there was no problem getting our bikes on the bus (although strangely enough that time we had to pay extra). The bus ride was quite pleasant and overnight so it really went by quickly, plus it acted as lodging for the night so maybe the price wasn't really too bad.

       Puerto Montt is not the nicest place. It's pretty small but really crowded and we didn’t feel at ease on our bikes. So we ate a quick breakfast and headed South toward Chiloe. Chiloe is pretty and reminds me of the San Juan Islands in Washington State. Cycling on the island means taking the Panamerica, with lots of traffic and little shoulder.  If you have a sturdy mountain bike and can endure days of very bumpy riding, then the side roads are possible. We made it down to Castro in time for the "Festival de Costumbrista". This was totally unplanned and fricking great. There were dozens of food venders and artists and crafters and demonstrations.... It was kind of like a county fair except all the food was incredible and the entire focus was on traditional methods of Chiloe, oh and there were no rides or games with scary pushy pony tailed dudes yelling at you to just win one for your lady friend. OK back to the food. All the meats were from scratch with carcasses literally hanging from the roofs of virtually every stall. As the day progressed a carcass was taken down and carved into large pieces for roasting. Behind every stall was a large trough of fire that the meat was turned over. It was crowded though so ordering was a true challenge. Tarah and I had eaten some freshly deep fried cheese empanadas, which were relatively easy to get your hands on, but I was determined to get some of that meat. She took a seat and I got in line, or what sufficed for a line in Chile. There was certainly no semblance of order to the group of 10 or 15 of us that crowded around the stall. I stood there with money in had trying desperately to make eye contact. We were all rather patiently waiting in our crowded mass but nothing was happening. Some people had silverware already but the rest of us just had cash in hand. This went on for 30 minutes. Even if some sort of instructions had been communicated, my grasp of Spanish is such that I wouldn’t have understood anyways. Then from the back came a large skewer of well roasted meat carried on shoulder by two men. "Over here, yeah I need some of that delicious looking roast" I tried to signal with my money waving and eye contact.  But no it turns out that those with the silverware were the only ones getting these spoils. Crap what am I doing wrong? How do I get the magical silverware? We were again left to wait patiently with only our money in hand. Another 20 minutes goes by and finally she (she, being the God like creature that doles out the meat) came and began collecting money. I have to emphasize here that I wasn't getting screwed by being a tourist. Somehow she was doing a good job of remembering who entered the crowed in what order. WOW she's asking me for my order finally! I pay my money and OMG I feel blessed as she hands me the true symbol of the privileged few. The silverware!! Dinner will be coming soon. I thrust my silverware high into the air to show Tarah just what I have been bestowed. "It's almost here" I kept telling myself as I looked around making small excited connections with others that were also so worthy as to be among the chosen few. This excitement wore off however as the wait continued 10, 15, 20 minutes. Finally after about half an hour, making the total wait well over an hour, I got my roasted meat. I was still excited but it was a little underwhelming after such a journey. The meat was great and I washed it down with a nice glass of wine. YUMMM!!!

 

I’m still in the writing process