Santiago - Chile Janneke
Hey everybody!
Long time no see! Happy to have you back on the website :-) I hope you will enjoy the stories and all the pictures.
So after the epic failure in New Zealand we were excited to start traveling in a brand new continent, South America. First stop Santiago de Chile. I think that at the first hostel we stayed we probably still be known as the nightwalkers, because we had a major jet lag. But we did learn about the concept to work for accommodation, and since we wanted to learn Spanish somewhere anyway, we decided to spend our waking ours at night writing other hostels in Santiago for the possibility to work. La Casa Roja needed 2 volunteers, so we went there and settled down for 2 weeks. There was a Spanish school (ICHIL) around the corner where we got lessons and learned more about Chilean traditions like the Queka, a traditional dance. 2 blocks down there was a gym where we went to every other day and we had a lot of fun with the other volunteers. The work mostly entailed working at the reception or cleaning, so easy piecy, and the night shifts were perfect for doing our Spanish homework (yes, we did homework, voluntarily, can you believe it?). With Tessa, Bailey, Kelsey, Ulalia, Nacho, Ignacio, Sebastian (no, not the guy we traveled with, notice the A in the end instead of E, haha) and Judith we had some good times going on city tours through Santiago, partying at the Miercoles Po and having picnics in the garden of the Hostel. Overall it was nice to have a ´home´ for 2 weeks.
And then came the biggest surprise on this trip so far. Since we both had different time plannings and wanted to see different things, Fleur and I decided to split up and travel alone for a month. So the following will be a description of what I did in Chile and Fleur will post her own story about her experiences in Chile later.
On my last evening in Santiago me, Fleur, Kelsey and Bailey went out for some amazing sushi and drinks, but the next morning it was time to say goodbye to my new home, friends and Fleur. It felt a little weird, but I was also exited for this next chapter: traveling alone. From a friend I got the tip to visit Patagonia, so I took the bus to Puerto Montt and stayed for the night at a very cosy guesthouse. And then I faced my biggest challenge: since I refused to fly (expensive!) I had to take a 36 hour bus ride to Punta Arenas...so I read half of the 2nd part of Game of Thrones, listened to my I-pod, stared out the window, chatted with my neighbor (in Spanish, yeah) and spend some time waiting at the boarder (the bus went through Argentina), but then I still had 20 hours left....aaaaahhhh!! When I arrived in Punta Arenas I figured that I might as well take the bus to Puerto Natales immediately, since that was my goal anyway and it would save me the search of a hostel in Punta Arenas. So after 3 more hours I finally reached my destination: Lilli-Patagonica hostel in Puerto Natales.
The main thing to do there is visit Torres del Paines National Park and there are 2 ways to do that: walking the W-trek of 4 days/3 nights or the full circle of 8 days/7 nights. You might have guessed already for which one I wanted to go...exactly, the full circle. Luckily there was another girl just as crazy as me and at the information meeting we met another crazy guy. He already had a tent, so we rented all the other necessary equipment, bought typical camping food (it is amazing what you can accomplish with soup powder, lentils, rice, pasta and dried nuts), went for 1 last drink with a viking and within 2 days Jon, Connie and me were sitting in the bus towards the park. It is the best, craziest and most challenging decision I have ever made. After the first night I didn´t even remember what it felt like to be warm, even the tent was frozen! But the amazing surroundings made everything worth it. The first few days we got higher and higher, some of the times more gradually than others, with every day a different landscape. The fourth day was physically the most challenging, crossing the John Gardner pass. We climbed (steep!) for 4 hours to get above the glacier and then descended again for another 5 hours, but to see the whole glacier laying beneath you...wauw...indescribable feeling. The next days we went through a beautiful lake district, saw a mountain massive in a valley, survived a rat infestation on one of the campsites and bit through our muscle aches solely by willpower (and chocolate, right Connie, haha). On the morning of the 8th day the whole campsite got up at 5 am, walked for 1,5 hours up with a flashlight on our head and we watched the sunrise over the highlight of the park, the three ´Torres´...it was a moment I will never forget in my life. After that the way down was easy, suddenly we all had some kind of energy burst now that the end was in sight and before we knew it we were back at the bus. Bruised, aching and 10 kilo´s lighter, but what a feeling of accomplishment. 2 years ago I never would have thought that I would be able to do this, and now somehow I did. During the hike we met a lot of great people, so that evening (after the best shower ever!) we all went out for local beers, burgers and a whole lot of fun. Connie, Jonatan, Annika, Ryan, Rob, Roxana and Clemént thank you so much for making this trek an unforgettable experience, you guys are the best!
From Puerto Natales I took the Navimag Cargo ship back to Puerto Montt, a whole different experience. I don´t know how often you guys go on a Cargo ship, but for me this was the first time, and it was awesome! We went through fjords, glaciers, mountains and saw seals, dolphins and....wales!!! From far away so unfortunately I couldn´t take a picture, but still, I have seen wales! One afternoon the waves were so high that even I was forced to take 2 seasickness pills and sleep it off, but that did gave me the rest I needed so much after the trekking. The landscapes were amazing, the sunsets stunning, game and poker night a whole lot of fun and my fellow ´sailors´ were the best. Ali, René, Re Be, Eve, Gerard and Kevin, thank you, you have made this trip!
When I arrived in Puerto Montt I immediately took a bus to the north of Chile. The original plan was to go to Valparaiso, but do to bush fires and limited time I decided to go straight to San Pedro de Atacama. Until Calama everything went great, but there I just missed the last bus to San Pedro, bummer. So I took my backpack and walked out of the bus terminal in search of a hostel, but within 5 minutes people were whistling at me, calling me or asking weird stuff (it was late in the evening so I guess they were drunk). Definitely did not felt safe, so I jumped into the first hotel I saw, asked for a single room, locked the door and did not come out until the next morning when I took the first bus to San Pedro de Atacama. The first thing I noticed when I got of the bus: It was warm! Hallelujah! I met a really nice french girl who showed me a good hostel and some interesting tours. From Fleur I had already heard what the best ones were (she was there the week before me) so I could easily arrange everything. After that my plan was to go into town, but I met a German girl who wanted to go horseriding but didn´t want to go alone, so I volunteered and within 2 hours after getting of the bus I was on a horse heading towards the moon valley. It felt like being in a Western, driving on a horse through the dessert with nothing but red rocks around you, incredible! That night I was picked up at 3 am for a special tour: watching the moon eclipse in the middle of the dessert! Very special to see. After that we went to geysers where you could see the colors changing from moonlight to sunrise, it was like being in a fairytale. Luckily there was also a hotspring, because trust me, the dessert in the middle of the night is not the warmest place on earth. When we got back Clare and me went for lunch and talked, and talked, and talked...we were almost late for the next tour! It was time for some natural Spa treatments like covering yourself in mud, letting it dry and than float in very salty water. Baby-skin guaranteed! Put in some jumping in Laguna´s and visiting a Sal flat during sunset with good music and Pisco Sour and you have all the ingredients for a perfect day. In the evening I bumped into Ulalia and Nacho, a couple who also worked in Casa Roja, so it became an unexpected fun night out. The next day I went on a full day tour to the altiplanico in the Andes. I saw flamingo´s, vicunas, beautiful lakes and dessert foxes. Overall I really liked my time in San Pedro and I wished I had more to just relax and enjoy the town, but I wanted to spend some time with Sébastien and Fleur in Lima as well and surprise my mother on the airport, so I had to go. I took an overnight bus to Lima and the next day I saw Fleur and Sébastien again, which was great! Traveling alone was amazing and it has definitely made me realize some things and changed me for the good, but coming back to good friends also feels really nice.
Fleur will tell you more about these last days in Lima and about her own adventures in Chile. Thank you for reading all of this, I know it is a long story but I am so enthusiastic about this part of the world trip that I wanted to share every detail of it. I really hope you enjoyed it and will be a bit more inspired to visit places and countries that you normally wouldn´t think about.
Lots of hugs,
Janneke
Long time no see! Happy to have you back on the website :-) I hope you will enjoy the stories and all the pictures.
So after the epic failure in New Zealand we were excited to start traveling in a brand new continent, South America. First stop Santiago de Chile. I think that at the first hostel we stayed we probably still be known as the nightwalkers, because we had a major jet lag. But we did learn about the concept to work for accommodation, and since we wanted to learn Spanish somewhere anyway, we decided to spend our waking ours at night writing other hostels in Santiago for the possibility to work. La Casa Roja needed 2 volunteers, so we went there and settled down for 2 weeks. There was a Spanish school (ICHIL) around the corner where we got lessons and learned more about Chilean traditions like the Queka, a traditional dance. 2 blocks down there was a gym where we went to every other day and we had a lot of fun with the other volunteers. The work mostly entailed working at the reception or cleaning, so easy piecy, and the night shifts were perfect for doing our Spanish homework (yes, we did homework, voluntarily, can you believe it?). With Tessa, Bailey, Kelsey, Ulalia, Nacho, Ignacio, Sebastian (no, not the guy we traveled with, notice the A in the end instead of E, haha) and Judith we had some good times going on city tours through Santiago, partying at the Miercoles Po and having picnics in the garden of the Hostel. Overall it was nice to have a ´home´ for 2 weeks.
And then came the biggest surprise on this trip so far. Since we both had different time plannings and wanted to see different things, Fleur and I decided to split up and travel alone for a month. So the following will be a description of what I did in Chile and Fleur will post her own story about her experiences in Chile later.
On my last evening in Santiago me, Fleur, Kelsey and Bailey went out for some amazing sushi and drinks, but the next morning it was time to say goodbye to my new home, friends and Fleur. It felt a little weird, but I was also exited for this next chapter: traveling alone. From a friend I got the tip to visit Patagonia, so I took the bus to Puerto Montt and stayed for the night at a very cosy guesthouse. And then I faced my biggest challenge: since I refused to fly (expensive!) I had to take a 36 hour bus ride to Punta Arenas...so I read half of the 2nd part of Game of Thrones, listened to my I-pod, stared out the window, chatted with my neighbor (in Spanish, yeah) and spend some time waiting at the boarder (the bus went through Argentina), but then I still had 20 hours left....aaaaahhhh!! When I arrived in Punta Arenas I figured that I might as well take the bus to Puerto Natales immediately, since that was my goal anyway and it would save me the search of a hostel in Punta Arenas. So after 3 more hours I finally reached my destination: Lilli-Patagonica hostel in Puerto Natales.
The main thing to do there is visit Torres del Paines National Park and there are 2 ways to do that: walking the W-trek of 4 days/3 nights or the full circle of 8 days/7 nights. You might have guessed already for which one I wanted to go...exactly, the full circle. Luckily there was another girl just as crazy as me and at the information meeting we met another crazy guy. He already had a tent, so we rented all the other necessary equipment, bought typical camping food (it is amazing what you can accomplish with soup powder, lentils, rice, pasta and dried nuts), went for 1 last drink with a viking and within 2 days Jon, Connie and me were sitting in the bus towards the park. It is the best, craziest and most challenging decision I have ever made. After the first night I didn´t even remember what it felt like to be warm, even the tent was frozen! But the amazing surroundings made everything worth it. The first few days we got higher and higher, some of the times more gradually than others, with every day a different landscape. The fourth day was physically the most challenging, crossing the John Gardner pass. We climbed (steep!) for 4 hours to get above the glacier and then descended again for another 5 hours, but to see the whole glacier laying beneath you...wauw...indescribable feeling. The next days we went through a beautiful lake district, saw a mountain massive in a valley, survived a rat infestation on one of the campsites and bit through our muscle aches solely by willpower (and chocolate, right Connie, haha). On the morning of the 8th day the whole campsite got up at 5 am, walked for 1,5 hours up with a flashlight on our head and we watched the sunrise over the highlight of the park, the three ´Torres´...it was a moment I will never forget in my life. After that the way down was easy, suddenly we all had some kind of energy burst now that the end was in sight and before we knew it we were back at the bus. Bruised, aching and 10 kilo´s lighter, but what a feeling of accomplishment. 2 years ago I never would have thought that I would be able to do this, and now somehow I did. During the hike we met a lot of great people, so that evening (after the best shower ever!) we all went out for local beers, burgers and a whole lot of fun. Connie, Jonatan, Annika, Ryan, Rob, Roxana and Clemént thank you so much for making this trek an unforgettable experience, you guys are the best!
From Puerto Natales I took the Navimag Cargo ship back to Puerto Montt, a whole different experience. I don´t know how often you guys go on a Cargo ship, but for me this was the first time, and it was awesome! We went through fjords, glaciers, mountains and saw seals, dolphins and....wales!!! From far away so unfortunately I couldn´t take a picture, but still, I have seen wales! One afternoon the waves were so high that even I was forced to take 2 seasickness pills and sleep it off, but that did gave me the rest I needed so much after the trekking. The landscapes were amazing, the sunsets stunning, game and poker night a whole lot of fun and my fellow ´sailors´ were the best. Ali, René, Re Be, Eve, Gerard and Kevin, thank you, you have made this trip!
When I arrived in Puerto Montt I immediately took a bus to the north of Chile. The original plan was to go to Valparaiso, but do to bush fires and limited time I decided to go straight to San Pedro de Atacama. Until Calama everything went great, but there I just missed the last bus to San Pedro, bummer. So I took my backpack and walked out of the bus terminal in search of a hostel, but within 5 minutes people were whistling at me, calling me or asking weird stuff (it was late in the evening so I guess they were drunk). Definitely did not felt safe, so I jumped into the first hotel I saw, asked for a single room, locked the door and did not come out until the next morning when I took the first bus to San Pedro de Atacama. The first thing I noticed when I got of the bus: It was warm! Hallelujah! I met a really nice french girl who showed me a good hostel and some interesting tours. From Fleur I had already heard what the best ones were (she was there the week before me) so I could easily arrange everything. After that my plan was to go into town, but I met a German girl who wanted to go horseriding but didn´t want to go alone, so I volunteered and within 2 hours after getting of the bus I was on a horse heading towards the moon valley. It felt like being in a Western, driving on a horse through the dessert with nothing but red rocks around you, incredible! That night I was picked up at 3 am for a special tour: watching the moon eclipse in the middle of the dessert! Very special to see. After that we went to geysers where you could see the colors changing from moonlight to sunrise, it was like being in a fairytale. Luckily there was also a hotspring, because trust me, the dessert in the middle of the night is not the warmest place on earth. When we got back Clare and me went for lunch and talked, and talked, and talked...we were almost late for the next tour! It was time for some natural Spa treatments like covering yourself in mud, letting it dry and than float in very salty water. Baby-skin guaranteed! Put in some jumping in Laguna´s and visiting a Sal flat during sunset with good music and Pisco Sour and you have all the ingredients for a perfect day. In the evening I bumped into Ulalia and Nacho, a couple who also worked in Casa Roja, so it became an unexpected fun night out. The next day I went on a full day tour to the altiplanico in the Andes. I saw flamingo´s, vicunas, beautiful lakes and dessert foxes. Overall I really liked my time in San Pedro and I wished I had more to just relax and enjoy the town, but I wanted to spend some time with Sébastien and Fleur in Lima as well and surprise my mother on the airport, so I had to go. I took an overnight bus to Lima and the next day I saw Fleur and Sébastien again, which was great! Traveling alone was amazing and it has definitely made me realize some things and changed me for the good, but coming back to good friends also feels really nice.
Fleur will tell you more about these last days in Lima and about her own adventures in Chile. Thank you for reading all of this, I know it is a long story but I am so enthusiastic about this part of the world trip that I wanted to share every detail of it. I really hope you enjoyed it and will be a bit more inspired to visit places and countries that you normally wouldn´t think about.
Lots of hugs,
Janneke
Xx nienke