NAVIMAG BOAT TRIP – PUERTO MONTT TO PUERTO NATALES

March 3, 2013April 7, 20133 Comments

“The Navimag Experience – the good, the bad and the ugly” is the title Lonely Planet uses to describe the four-day boat trip through the Patagonian fjords in Chile. From all accounts, your Navimag experience was ultimately decided by the weather so when we boarded the Navimag and were greeted with blue skies and calm seas we breathed a sigh of relief.

For the most part, that weather is what followed for the next three days – the sun shined and we were able to spend as much time as we wanted out on the deck, taking in the scenery and relaxing. We passed through various narrow channels, saw our first glacier, visited the small fishing port of Puerto Eden – where the local Indian tribe are considered UNESCO living treasures and looked out over the snowy mountain peaks as we headed south.

Our accommodation on the boat was more like a storage cabinet than a room but they do remind you the Navimag is not a cruise ship! We were in a 4-person cabin – two bunk beds either side with hardly a breath of air in between. Our roomies were Andreu and Elena, a really lovely couple from Spain however no matter how well we got along – it was always a little awkward moving around in the cabin with all four of us. As well as Andreu and Elena, we met some of the other travellers and together we drank and played a whole lot of card games (as in 4 days at sea worth of card games). There was also a massive chess set out on the deck, which was played under pressure with an onset of spectators. Meal times broke up the day although the [prison] food left much to be desired.

The ship put on a few different activities throughout the 4 days. On the last night it was BINGO night followed by a ‘disco’ on the bar level’s makeshift dance floor. One of the passengers on board was Jack, a 19 year old boy from the UK who works at TESCO and prior to this adventure – had never left the country before. It was his birthday on the last night however as Jack had not really socialised with many others on the boat he decided to go to bed at 9pm. The rest of us, considering this unacceptable for such an occasion took great delight in waking him up and getting him ridiculously drunk (which only took a few beers and multiple top ups from the rest of us as he had never really had a drink before!) By this time, the ‘disco’ had commenced and this was Jack’s time to shine – it really is incredible the confidence that comes with multiple mixed alcoholic drinks (think Big Kyle in Road Trip when he dances at the black fraternity).

In addition to the beautiful scenery, spending time hanging with the others on the boat made it just as worthwhile so to any of them reading this – thanks for the laughs and helping the time pass by! Side note from Will: It was NAVIMAGNIFICENT!

VALPARAISO

February 24, 2013April 7, 2013Leave a comment

We arrived in the coastal town of Valparaiso after a short train and bus ride from Santiago. It could have been slightly shorter had we not hopped off at the wrong train station in a panic (nearly leaving camera bag on the train as the doors were shutting!) We had been advised to get off the train at Universidad de Santiago but then five minutes into the trip we heard what sounded like our stop and in a panic rushed off the train only to realise we were at Universidad de Chile (rather than Santiago) station and we had to wait and pay again for the next train to get back on!

When we did arrive in Valparaiso we were dropped at the hectic downtown marketplace where we took a quick trolley bus ride further into Valparaiso to take an ‘ascensor’ (inclinator/funicular) up one of the numerous hills where our hostel was located. We walked to the nearby ascensor only to find out that it was closed (as were many others) and we would instead have to take the stairs – probably wouldn’t have been too bad without our backpacks but that was a serious climb!

We were staying at Hostal Caracol, located in the Bella Vista neighbourhood, a pretty area of Valparaiso with a panoramic view over the town. Once we had recovered from the walk up to our hostel we decided to walk back down and explore some of the other neighbourhoods. Walking through Valparaiso at the city level is quite the contrast to the vibrant neighbourhoods located on the hills. The streets were dirty and mostly associated with petty theft yet as soon as you climb the hills you are surrounded by brightly painted buildings and cobble stone paths leading to restaurants, museums and galleries. We walked through the Concepcion neighbourhood, an older area of Valparaiso where we took Valparaiso’s oldest ascensor (built in 1883) back to ground level.

On our second day we first walked to the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s house – a 4 story masterpiece located high on the hills of Valparaiso with what he believed to be the best vista, looking over the city he loved. His house was incredible, one of his passions was collecting various eclectic pieces for his house. From every floor and room there was a view to rival the last.

We were fortunate enough to have arrived on the weekend of the urban downhill mountain bike race ‘Cerro Abajo’ which was fantastic to watch. Mountain bike riders from around the world compete in time trials from the top of a hill in Valparaiso and through the streets, riding down stairs, between buildings and on purpose built jumps throughout. The riders do not know the exact track until the day so have only a few trial runs before the main event. As they ride, they dodge energetic locals and a few stray dogs doing as much as they can to avoid incident.

After a long day in the sun we climbed the stairs once more to get our backpack before a taxi ride to the bus station for our night bus to Valdivia. Arriving at the station, a quick check of our belongings would find that the laptop was not with us! I didn’t have it in the back with me and Will couldn’t remember if we had it in the cab or at the hostel so he jumped back in a cab and sped off to the hostel leaving me with the rest of the bags at the bus station. Waiting for Will, it became apparent that perhaps it wasn’t at the hostel either as a good 20 minutes had passed without his return. 5 minutes before our departure time and he comes running into the bus station, laptop in hand – he had gone back to the hostel and on not locating the laptop realised it must have been left in the cab! In what can only be described as very good luck, the cab driver that drove him back to the hostel was the brother of the cab driver who had driven us to the bus station and within minutes they were searching the streets for each other, driving through the curvy roads on the hills and meeting just in time for Will to make the bus back. Relieved but exhausted from the stress, we boarded our bus… perhaps it takes a while to get back into that ‘must check all belongings always’ frame of mind.

SANTIAGO

February 23, 2013February 1, 2015Leave a comment

An eleven and a half hour direct flight from Sydney and we had arrived in Santiago, Chile – our first destination in South America! After a long queue at Customs, it was just a quick stamp of the passports and we were on our way to Dominica Hostel, our accommodation for the next few days in Barrio Bellavista, a neighbourhood of Santiago full of colourful graffiti, numerous bars and somewhat tattered charm.

With a 14-hour time difference to home, we were rather jet-lagged so limited our exploring to a quick walk and lunch close to our hostel. Our first South American food experience saw Will order a ‘hamburguesa’ and end up with two meat patties, an egg, some onion and some chips but without a burger bun (or some lettuce/tomato) so he was rather disappointed! We shared 2 litres of Escudo, the cheapest of the local beers (at $3 a litre bottle) – and with that and the time difference, we were ready for bed!

Recovered from our jet lag, the next morning we walked to Plaza de Armas, the city square located in the oldest part of Santiago where we joined the free walking tour of the city. We had two rather large dogs escort us to the square – there are so many stray dogs in Santiago! They were pretty awesome though, in that ‘I really want to pat you but I’m also scared you’ll bite my hand off’ sort of way. For the most part though, all of the dogs seem quite friendly and healthy – there are some really nice looking dogs… I think if I moved there I might become that crazy dog lady stealing dogs from the streets. Anyway, the walking tour was ok, we were shown around the various neighbourhoods of Santiago but the guide himself didn’t really seem to know all that much!

The next morning we were up early and walked in Parque Metropolitano, one of the largest urban recreational parks where we walked up Cerro (meaning hill) San Cristobal, where you have a fantastic 360 degree view over smoggy Santiago and beyond. We had some more dogs escort us on the journey and at one stage while we were walking we watched a dog run along the cliff high above us chasing a rabbit only to then fall off the cliff and tumble down 20 metres before landing right near us, getting up and walking off a little dazed and confused.

Back at the base of the hill, we walked to Mercado Central Santiago, Santiago’s fish market where we had lunch before continuing around Santiago, walking up Cerro Saint Lucia and through Barrio Lastarria, a rather pretty neighbourhood. We walked through a few museums and searched through some antiques at the markets before making our way back to Barrio Bellavista. At this point we had worked up an appetite so we decided it was time to try ‘Chorrillana’ – a Chilean dish that seemed very popoular amongst the uni students of Santiago and advertised at every restaurant we passed. For the most part it consists of a plate of hot chips covered in onion, meat/sausage and then fried eggs on top – a really healthy dish! Anyway it didn’t really live up to expectations but really, none of the Chilean food had so far so we enjoyed what we could and washed it down with some more litres of beer!