Saturday, September 15th, 2007 Chiloé in a Day (It rhymes!)

Saturday, September 15th, 2007 Chiloé in a Day (It rhymes!)

Around 9:30 everyone stumbled out of bed in various stages of hung-over-ness. By the time we all got showered and repacked it was approaching 11 and I was getting anxious to take advantage of our trip. After finding some food, much decision making and a bit of debate (one of the down sides of such a small group), we decided to got to the National Park of Chiloé, about a 2 hour bus ride to the west side of the island. So at 12:30 we got on ANOTHER bus. But once again the view was incredible and it was a wonderful to see the Chilote country side and many small towns along the way. The island is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen with rolling green hills running straight into the sea and tiny towns surrounded by crazing cattle and sheep. We got to the national park around 2:30 and they told us the last bus leaving was at 4. Since we didn’t have much time, we found a short trail that was supposed to lead us to the beach. But as we were walking we saw the beach in the distance and suddenly the trail ended. But the boys didn’t let that stop us. We forged our own way about 15 minutes across rolling sand hills and marshland looking scenery till we reached the beach. Words can’t describe how beautiful it was, so I won’t even try. We played in the water and loved life until we had to head back to make sure we didn’t get stuck at the park. We made it back and got BACK on the bus to head back to Castro. On the way back, the group decided they had seen enough of Chiloé (I could have stayed for the rest of my life) and that they wanted to go to Puerto Varas, the other beautiful stop on our tour of the south. Unfortunately, this required the 4 hour ride back to Puerto Montt then a 30 minute ride to Puerto Varas.

When we got to Castro we got our bus tickets and bought empanadas and fruit for dinner on the way. Right before we left, Sam and Calli and I found a grocery store and bought a birthday cake for Matt and ran to catch the bus. On the ride back we watched the sun set over the mountains then admired the Southern ski from the ferry. The stars were incredible and reminded me of the sky at Young Life camp in the Rockies of Colorado. To pass the last 2 hours of the trip we played silly various get-to-know-you and other random games we had learned at camps etc. We got to Puerto Montt around 10:30 and found out we had just missed the last bus to Puerto Varas. So we found a somewhat shady hostel to crash at in Puerto Montt. Once all 10 of us arrived and settled in, we surprised Matt with his birthday cake which we had somehow managed to hide from him the entire evening. The cake was huge and incredible and all 10 of us couldn’t finish it! We shared with the owner of the hostel and even they couldn’t finish it! After stuffing ourselves with cake, everyone decided to head to bed. Its amazing how sitting on a bus can exhaust you. I shared a room with Sam(antha) and as soon as I hit the pillow, I was out.