Chile was the second country on our trip around the world in 2015.
We entered Chile in Patagonia for the first time coming from Argentina. Patagonia was a border hopping experience – never got many stamps in our passports in such a short period of time. From mid March until mid April we stayed in Chile, traveling up north.
Puerto Varas
Hostel Casa Azul
Nice clean hostel with a small garden, spacey kitchen and communal area, good beds and good water pressure for the showers. Many Germans stay here as the owners are a German-Chilean couple. Anyway, beside the German speaking intern at the reception the rest of the staff was mainly only Spanish speaking. Short walk to the city center.
We took a few days off to relax and to do some spring cleaning as we waited for our friends Flip & Tine to return from their hike in the Cochamó Valley. The town itself has nothing note worthy, but has a good infrastructure. We even stumbled upon some acquaintances that we made in Torres Del Paine, as we drank a Pisco Sour in a café. Nice view upon Lago Llanquihue and the volcanoes Osorno and Calbuco (that later erupted in April after our return to Europe).
Places to eat
Donde El Gorito
This is an authentic experience!! Small Chilean restaurant (within an art / souvenir market in the city centre) with good fish and meat dishes. Pisco Sour here is a must! The walls are covered with thousands of notes and interesting decoration – a lot to look at 
Café Dean
Try the Apfelstrudel or the torta Alfajores, or any other of there great cakes. Also the fried empanadas and tortas de choclo belonged to the guests favorites. A nice place for breakfast or having a break while exploring the city.
La Gringa (in an old Villa)
The café is located in a nice old villa on the high street above the lakes shoreline. It’s interior is modern and cute. They offer delicious menus of the day, mouthwatering cakes, pastry and tasty salads and sandwiches for an affordable price. Try to get the table in the window corner – a good place for watching people and enjoying the sun!
Puerto Varas – Pucón
Simple and short bus ride during the day.
Pucón
Hostel Chili Kiwi
Nice place with friendly, helpful staff directly at the shore of lake Villarica. Best seat in the house is called “David”, it’s in the garden and has a direct view on volcano Villarica. In the afternoon and for sunset this is the place to be and relax.
A few days prior to our arrival the volcano Villarica had a short but impressive eruption. The first very heavy one since 1971. The warning lamp at the town hall showed yellow since than. After we left several more eruption followed.
We are definitely no thrill seekers! So why did we go there? I guess because we are aware that Chile is part of the “Ring of Fire” and henceforth eruptions are a constant risk. On the other hand the monitoring of these threads is as good as it can be. This is why we believe that the risk is one we are willing to take.
Parque Nacional Huerquehue
We made a 5-day hike here. Starting on the first day with a hike up “San Sebastian”, which could be done as well as a day trip. After the 1000 altitude meters up Tom’s left knee said “enough” on the way down. As he got a headache on top of this (there is no drinking water along the way) we split after a night at camping “Olga” at the lake. Nice campground, but with a lot of ripe blueberries at the time that covered everything there and gave our tent a new color 
Tine, Flip & Claudia moved on and hiked for three more days.
The trek is very steep, especially on the first day. With heavy backbags it can be a demanding trek. But the changing surrounding and the impressive landscape (a lot of mountain lakes, huge valleys, deep forest) make it worth it – especially if you hike the whole trek till Thermas Blancas – small hot springs, run by a local family (including campground). Sitting there in the hot tubes at night or in the late sunny afternoon is really an experience! The way back can be done in one day! But if you plan an additional night at campground “Olga” before heading back to Pucon is more relaxed and you can treat yourself with a cold beer after the hike.
Attention: Bring chlorine tablets because the water quality isn’t sure here (if there is fresh water at all)… So bring some liter water with you straight from the beginning.
Tom stayed in the hostel, wondered about a strange blister between his toes and got a few – what he thought were – insect bites around the hip during the night. The next night he got more and thought of bed bugs, but those did not look like typical bed bug bites. On the third night he got more on legs and toes and some developed blisters. Time to visit the local hospital. The doctor told him that he got an infection. To understand the big picture was not that hard, because of the “technical” Spanish. The rest was explained in a Spanish/English mix. The personal was very friendly and patient with Tom. A big thank you to Dra. Fuentes Ortiz and her staff!!
Pucón – Valparaiso
12 hrs, semi cama, Tur Bus, overnight ride
With this bus, the busses got better again. Better streets = better busses!
Valparaiso
B&B Costa Azul
A nice young couple from Slowenia runs this cute and clean hostel on top of one of the Cerros of town (Cerro Playa Ancha). Great view from here (Rooms 1,2,3) and a very, very delicious self prepared breakfast.
Valparaiso is a unique town. The mix of harbor town and open air art museum – graffiti everywhere – together with the colorful houses on the many hills from posh to poor is a mixture that we liked very much.
We actually wanted to go from Valparaiso to San Pedro de Attacama, but because of the floodings and – in addition – Toms illness/medication we had to stay 7 days, we did not regret that!
Chilean Cuisine Cooking Classes
We met Ines – the chef – in a café downtown. 10 people took part that day and together decided what dishes we wanted to cook. At first we went to the market together and bought the ingredients. Markets are always cool places and the market here is no exception. From there we went to our kitchen – a spacious and well equipped place. We learned how Pisco Sour is made, how to prepare the fish for Ceviche, what the secret of Chilean empanada dough is and prepared some typical local dishes. The dinner was great! Ines was a knowledgeable chef for questions about cooking and as well about Chilean lifestyle.
Goodbye Valparaiso: Late at night, going downhill in local bus 505, way above speed limit, we the only passengers, the cabin light flickering, George M. loud out of the speakers singing “Careless Whispers”, was an appropriate farewell.
Valparaiso to La Serena
6 hrs, semi cama, overnight ride
La Serena
Hostal La Puento
A very well run place (by a German couple) with a wonderful courtyard, two funny dogs and a lovely cat. Small breakfast buffet included!
The bus arrived at around 5.10 am and we were welcomed by a short tremor of 5.0 at 5.17 am. Our first earthquake in Chile – for the people here nothing special.
The center of La Serena is small and you can do everything by walking. To the beach you walk approx. 20 minutes. We can’t say how beach live really is, because we were there around Easter, it was cloudy and quiet cold so the beaches were empty. To be honest for us La Serena wasn’t a must see or a must do on a Chilean travel bucket list. The city centre is small and there wasn’t anything really special to explore and the beaches are not appropriate for swimming. Nevertheless, if you want to relax for a few days it’s OK.
Valle de Elky – daytrip with Eco Tourism
We should have known it, but … First stop mango plantation. In reality it was a store with mango products and three small mango bushes in front of it. Next stop with photo opportunity at a dam. Quiet nice view into the valley. Next: distillery.
In the pisco distillery everything stood still. We saw some wine, some maybe used machinery and got two small plastic cups for tasting. Next stop Gabriela Mistrals old school building, today a tiny museum. The highlight was the much better than expected restaurant for lunch. Before we went home a last stop at Vicunia, but unfortunately the main plaza was closed due to construction.
To be fair – it was a standard tourist tour, with a bilingual guide. Though we can’t recommend it unless you have no other choice.
One last question. What was so eco about this tour anyway?
A nicer idea to spend the day is definitely to rent some bikes and ride to Coaquimbo along the beach. They even have bike ways. Along the way construction of vacation apartments booms. We in Europe haven’t proven enough how ugly coast lines can get if you just have profit in mind, so it seems.
From La Serena we wanted to go further north to San Pedro de Atacama, but unfortunately a flooding caused severe damage in the region. The main road to the north was blocked for several days and no buses were running. So we decided to go earlier to Santiago.
La Serena – Santiago de Chile
6,5 hrs, semi cama, 8000 CLP
Santiago de Chile
We liked Santiago, although the city itself has not these unbelievable highlights – despite its recent history – that you would not see anywhere else in the world. Maybe we liked it exactly because of that. To us Santiago seemed like a European town, but with a far more relaxed vibe.
Apartment via Airbnb
We rented a small flat in downtown Santiago not far from the metro station Universidad de Chile. Very nice and clean it was a perfect base for exploring the city. Best of all: it was much cheaper than any other hostel or B&B offer at that time.
The subway
Great, easy and cheap way to maneuver through town. During rush hours prepare yourself that the polite inhabitants of this town loose their temper and start pushing and shoving to get into already crowded couches. You have to buy a metro (BIP) card that needs to be recharged. One ride costs around 600-700 CLP, depending on daytime.
Barrios
> Barrio Centro
Mercado Central is today more a hugh restaurant – everybody is trying to get you at his table. We saw more interesting fish markets during our travel through Chile.
Dominó – a contemporary take on the traditional fuente de soda – is a good choice for quick snack like “viennas” (hot dogs with different toppings).
> Barrio Italiano
Around Av. San Isabel and Av. Italia you find a bunch of nice places to eat & drink in the evening. Many locals go there. We met there with Sophie, that we met before in La Serena. It was a great and long evening! Hope to see you again one day, Sophie
> Bario Brazil
B&B Abacadabra
Nice rooms in a nice old building with wooden floors. The breakfast is a little above average for South America.
On Sundays there is a local street market on street Esperanza. Fruits, vegetables, clothes and lots of Chileans buying their supplies. We recommend a visit.
Tip:
Most restaurants are closed on Sundays, but you can eat torta and drink coffee near Plaza Brazil till late in the evening.
Museo de la memoria y los derechos humanos
It is for sure not to be missed. The exhibition is in Spanish, but you can rent good audio guides in many languages (prefer the English version, NOT the German one!). The information is given in a neutral way and spans the time from September 1973 until the Referendum in 1988.
Parque Quinta Normal
After our visit to the museum we spend the late afternoon in the parque and watched the kids recklessly play with the nice water fountains. A good place to hang after your thoughts.
> Bario Bellavista
If you want go dine and party this is probably where you have to go. It is a bit touristy and up market, but you can choose from a variety of options.
Cerro San Chrisobal
We took the Fernicula first, got to the statue and walked back down. You have many scenic views on top and during the walk, so it is worth going there. Our shocking moment: We saw a family “playing” with a huge Tarantula spider on the street… in the middle of this million city!? Scarry!
> Bario El Golf
At our last evening we wanted to go posh and drink Pisco Sour in the sky bar Red2One. Unfortunately – although still mentioned in guidebooks and social media – it is closed since approx. two years!!! Nevertheless, we walked around the Barrio and saw all the huge skyscrapers of the town.
To the airport
We took the subway to the bus terminal Pajaritos and paid 1500 CLP for the bus directly to the driver. This took us about 40 minutes in total.
Santiago has a relatively small airport, so that orientation is definitely no problem. The lady at the LAN check-in however was not very cooperative and denied us a change in seating, so that on the first flight (4hrs) we did not even sit together.
The flights with British Airways were as smooth as the first two. Even the meal was enjoyable. The funny thing is that to us a 24 hour bus ride in Chile or Argentina seems more enjoyable, but this is for sure personal taste
We landed safely in Germany to spend some time with family and friends.
End of part one of our trip round the world.
Thank you for reading so far. We hope that we could give you a good impression of our journey through Chile. Would be great if you join us riding the Trans-Siberian Railway from Saint Petersburg/Russia via Ulan Bator/Mongolia and up to Bejing/China. (A link will be posted as soon as possible.)
Should you have missed our start you can go to Argentina or Patagonia.
By for now, stay safe!
Claudia & Tom
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