If yesterday was a fantastic day for touring, today is quite the opposite. The weather has been dreary and rainy all day until almost 5pm, the sun was out. A different tour company, still one of those small cargo vans with 12 passengers, a guide and a driver. All Chilean except me and a German girl. I was told that the guide speaks english, of course, she did not. Or she really did not try. After her giant introduction of today's agenda and probably introduction about the islands, when we got the first stop, I asked her "hablas english ok?" She said, "No" and then "so-so". So, I said I understand very little spanish, and if she can give me important information like when we are coming back to the car, or how many minutes we are spending in this location. It is not the first time I am on a full spanish tour so I am kind of used to it. The only inconvenient part is that everytime we stop somewhere, I need to make sure I understand when we are coming back to the car.
Chiloe Island is a huge island, so we and the vehicle took a ferry across the channel to the island. The ferry was literally at snail pace. Today it was just raw weather wise, I had my layer and still felt a little chill, so I stayed inside and looked at the calm sea and we were moving very very very slowly. The island kind of reminded me of Nova Scotia actually but not as nice. We made stops in a couple of towns. The first two were pretty much a waste of time, there was really nothing interesting to see or take pictures for. Meanwhile, we passed by some ship factory or warehouse and some colorful houses, I wished they would stop closer to that area, so I can walk back to snap some photos, instead of this stupid fort with tourist traps vendors.
The third town Dalcahue was a little better, but still not a whole lot catching my eyes. After we went on a boat tour, where most everyone got wet from the waves, it was not fun on a dreary day like this. People were either hungry or tired. We were going to have lunch as it was getting quite late like 1:30pm. Earlier the guide explained the food selection to everyone and took everyone's order. When she came to me, I said, "ok I heard comida, something to do with eating, right?" Yes, but she had no intention of trying to repeat the options in english, so I heard "pollo", "asada", "papas frites". So, "pollo y papas frites para mi" then, y bebida "sprite". Not until we got to the restaurant and all sat down at a communal table, I saw what everyone ordered, many seafoods, salmon, hake or sea bass, a whole bowl of clams and other shellfish. And this asian fella had a fried chicken leg and french fries. It was a good chicken leg, but geez, if I had known the options, I would have wanted some of the seafood.
At lunch, it was when everyone was loosening up a bit. The German girl started the conservation, who comes from where, her name is Josephine, she is taking a 2 months break between jobs, and going on a long solo vacation. I had met other Germans like her before, they are very self-dependent and self-sufficient. I admire that. She was in much better shoes, since she spoke spanish. She spoke to me the most, and then there was another "pothead" chilean couple, I believe they were from Santiago, they also tried to speak to me some. The others pretty much just stuck to themselves.
Last town to visit is the capital of the island, Castro. Not quite that Castro in San Francisco. Also church, square, more or less the same thing. Until we were about to leave, the sky was totally lightened up, blue sky. Could we have that weather earlier? I think I would like to see Chiloe Island on my own, rather than with a group. We passed by some interesting things that I would have taken a lot of pictures with, but we were not stopping at those places, but rather stopped at the main square with the freaking churches and gift shops every town we go. It was kind eh..
Got some updates on the Antarctica tour. The tour agency sent out an email that because of the weather forecast, they are moving up the flight to King George Island, Antarctica. We were originally scheduled to fly on Friday morning, but now we are leaving at 5pm tomorrow. Drake Passage which separated Antarctica and South America is known to be rough and have unpredictable weather. I checked King George Island, and it looks like they are expecting a few days of snow. Anyway, we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow, I have an early flight to Punta Arenas where we will check in with the tour group and we will have to go through the "biosecurity" (covid test and anything else), finger cross I will pass with flying colors! I have not tested positive once during the last 3 years, I do not plan on getting a positive result coming all the way here either!!
Forgot to mention about this crazy yellow flowers I saw all over the island, the yellow were so bright, it was almost look like god dump some yellow paint on the leaves and say hey here are some colors for ya!
Day 4 Photos: Here
