Verdeta Journey

We woke up around 10am, Denisa went to buy something for breakfast and we ate in the hostel. Then we packed all things and left to the tourist information centre, where young English speaking girl gave us a business card of local car hire place we headed to straight after.   The car hire place we used in Castro Chiloe is called Hostal Cordillera. They asked us what type of car we want (no English speaking) and what the prices are. We chose the smallest car Kia Morning (3 cylinders) and the lady told us we need to wait until 12 as someone will return the car to use for us. So we walked to see the main church (UNESCO) on the main square and we bought some really tasty potato bread, or something, filled with minced meat. And also kuchen with special local berries called makui (they grow only on Chiloe). Each was only 1000 pesos and it was amazingly good (we ate the kuchen later on the road).  At 12, we were back in the car hire place. Jorge spoke very clearly Spanish and slowly

After our breakfast, we went to wait for our ferry. In the ferry office Naviera Austral they told us to be there one hour in advance, so we came to the port at 10:40am. Few people already waiting.   We waited until 2pm. We saw few dolphins, some of them even jumped above the sea.  After the ferry to Quellon arrived, we got in, left our rucksacks in a luggage storing area (they take their time to put them in, they give you a sticker like at the airport and they never use the sticker later) and then we looked for our seats. Someone sitting on them. So we found another ones.  It was lovely sunny and not windy weather, so shortly after we sat in the main area, we went upstairs to the upper deck to sit there in the sun. We stayed there all the time, playing games, slept, etc. Also as we were sitting there, I could see Aimee (we met in Coyhaique) going to the upper deck as well. So cool coincidence. They took this ferry from Puerto Chacabuca a day ago. We had a nice chat. 

We got to the plaza at 6:50am. The white minibus is leaving at 7am. Already many people waiting outside and a lady loading the back of the minibus with all the luggage. We gave her our rucksacks and paid 2500 clp per each of us to get to Raul Marin Balmaceda. Some people came late and didn’t fit to the bus. Now also inside of the bus is full of rucksacks and one Asian guy got an extra spot sitting on a rucksack next to the door. 16 people + one driver + one extra seat in the floor.   It’s sunny and me met many cyclist on the way to Raul Marin Balmaceda. The road is very bumpy unpaved dirt road and it is very hot and humid inside of the  bus. Also the driver is playing some crazy shit and loud music and I’m feeling sick.  At 8:45am we are getting on a ferry to cross the river Río Palena and around 9:15am we got off at a supermarket in the middle of the Raul Marin Balmaceda village. There we bought some simple breakfast and walked to find our accommodation. We couldn’t find it

Right after 11am, we got to coffee Holzar. This time just for a coffee, as we had some bread left from yesterday. Around 12, Annie, Andres, Vagia joined us. When the waiter came to ask us where we all are from, and we said República Checa, a young guy sitting nearby came over to our table.   Michal, his name. A Czech guy from Sydney, enterprise IT consultant who is trying to run a camp site with his Czech wife for climbers about 2 hours away from here. We all had a chat together and then we went to catch our bus.  The bus left at 14:00, full mostly with locals. It’s Sunday and we bought the bus tickets in the bus terminal on Friday afternoon for 10000 clp each.  On the way, the bus stopped around 15:30 for refreshments at Mañihuales.  Around 17:15 serpentines close to Puyuhuapi, 18:00 stop at camping Valle Los Coihues. All the way dirt unpaved road and time to time we met cars or other buses. There were also some roadworks. At 19:00 we stopped at Puyhuapi for 10 minutes an

We had many days with rubbish or none internet and I’m now many days behind with my blog posts. I’m just finishing up the 13th Jan and then will slowly continue to today’s date. I though I can do a lot here in Coyhaique, but needed to backup my photos (not done yet) and I cannot use my phone while it’s backing up to cloud. Plus I had to do my self assessment, since I’m not sure when I get internet fast enough to open a page.

  Not much to say really. Jochen and Chiara left to catch their flight. For the breakfast, we found a nice coffee place called Holzer. Had good breakfast with coffee for about 4900 pesos each. I decided to buy ferry tickets to get from Raul Marin Balmaceda to Quellon. I bought the ferry tickets online using Naviera Austral website, 7300 pesos each. For some reason, I didnt get any confirmation email, but I took a screenshot with the transaction number. It was 11:30am and I didn’t have any email, so checked if they have an office here. Naviera Austral has got an office in Coyhaique and closes at 12:30 on Saturday and is closed on Sunday. I went there and put what I needed to a translator and came back with the ferry tickets. Quite a lot of people were in their office, I had to wait for about 20 minutes in the queue.   Then we went to withdraw money - found one bank which charges fee only 4000 pesos for the withdrawal - ServiEstado. So we took 300000 pesos out to have a stash for

We had some simple breakfast on our cabana (not that simple like in hostels), packed and Annie came to pick us up. We all then went to a bus stop an at 9am bought tickets to Coyhaique for 10000 clp per person (there were last 6 tickets remaining to sell, we were 5 people). And we were waiting outside of the shop/coffee place.   The bus arrived at 10:20am. There were many people waiting for this bus. We put our rucksacks inside and the drive asked only some people for the ticket and some not. I don’t know why. Seemed so random. The bus then left at 11am.  The road was unpaved all the time, the views were there only sometimes due to forest and rocks. But around 13:30 we were passing through Cerro Castillo and it looked amazing. Massive Valley and mountains. I think after that the road became paved.  Just before reaching Coyhaique, Jochen and Chaira got off the bus for the Airport Balmaceda. Then we were slowed down by roadworks and we arrived to Coyhaique at 15:30.  On