Stuff we have done in the last week

Travelling from South Chile to Central Chile

• we chose to take the bus. We left Puerto Natales at 7am Weds, arrived El Bolson, Argentina, at 10am Friday morning.
• The good news was we made the most of our 12 hour wait in El Calafate, before we caught our 3am bus...
• ... we went to the pub (twice) and had our final Argentinian mixed grill. Gonna miss those!
• we also found ourselves drinking and playing cards in a bar playing Jewish Reggae. Turns out out Hebrew is a good language for that.
• We went back to our favourite hostel in El Bolson, El Pueblito, where they even had our log cabin ready for us...
• ... and we met a Texan who doesn't own a gun, vote Bush, or drive a car. She was cool...
• ...and drank more home brew beer in front of an open fire. We really never get tired of this.
• We finally made it back to Chile yesterday, arriving at Puerto Montt

Finding Bed and Board in Puerto Montt

1. Bus door opens
2. USA voice says "Do you need a room?"
3. Kara replies "Yes"
4. Get bags. Follow New York raised, Chilean born woman, Maggy, back to her home
5. Agree price.
6. Meet and play with dogs

This is quite a standard way to get accommodation in Chile. Lots of people use spare rooms in their homes to get a bit of extra cash. This one was good as she was a fluent English speaker, it was cheap, 5 mins from the bus terminus, and we got home made sponge cake for breakfast.

Maggy also recommended a local sea food restaurant. In terms of decor, it was like a greasy spoon with Donald Duck (as a sailor) wallpaper. In terms of food it was like the sort of places we can't afford in the UK. For the princely sum of 18 quid we had a mixed seafood platter, consisting of:

• 4 oysters
• 4 LARGE mussells
• small bowl of prawns
• small pieces of salmon
• more salmon in a salsa (chopped tomatoes with herbs and onions)
• white fish we didn't know but liked
• crab claws
• crab meat
• some kind of shellfish still in its shell covered in cheese
• some kind of "marisco" (shellfish) that was like a big lump of white meat with butter
• large glass of white wine each
• basket of bread with butter and salsa

We told them the price of 4 oysters in fish restaurants in the UK. Their jaws hit the floor- they said they'd reprice the menu for English people!

So, sea food is THE thing to eat in Chile as the country has little land but a LOT of coast line.

Isla de Chiloe
Another day, another bus and a ferry crossing too, to get to the Island of Chiloe. Famed for its rural tranquility and rain, it is a bit like the sleepy parts of England. We're in the little fishing village of Chonchi.

The way to find accommodation here is to turn up at a hostal that Maggie gives you a card for, only thinking when you reach this slightly out of the way village that you are stuffed if there is no-one in or no place to stay. Still, all is well, and our hostel, Esmeralda, is on the edge of the beach so we have a lovely sea view. Plus it's run by a helpful Canadian, who has given us loads of ideas for trips etc. The big thing is... will the rain hold off? Local activities are somewhat limited at the moment due to an active volcano and flooding, but hey, there's still some stuff we can do.

A note on safety here for the anxious at heart - our host has assured us it's fine with the words "Don't worry, there has only been one murder here. And the victim survived. In fact, she'smoved back in with the sugar daddy who shot her". Oooo kayyyyy! He also said, "I've never lost a guest yet". Good-o.