Some time has passed since our last blogpost. Today I have post that is long overdue. In December I took a flight that took me across the Atlantic. I spent 3 weeks in Chile, the land of wineries, empanadas and great outdoor experiences. I and my travel companion arrived in the 30th of December, just in time to the New Year’s celebrations. We spent new year’s with some family and friends at a restaurant in the outskirts of Santiago. I’m glad we did, we got to experience the real Chile with great food and a lot of dancing! Cumbia is definitely the most popular type of dancing during celebrations in Chile but we also got a chance to watch the local dance “Cueca”, the national dance of Chile. If you ever visit Chile I strongly encourage you to experience the dancing culture. If you don’t dance you should at least visit a show. It’s part of the experience. But today I’ll leave the dancing-topic with the video below.
Cueca from Chile
Anyhow. During our stay “in” Santiago we were situated just outside of Santiago, about 20-30 min outside of the city. This gave us the opportunity to experience the countryside and relax a bit. The first few days we spent in the countryside simply relaxing, reconnecting with family and getting to know the country. It’s hard not to relax is the environment shown below…
The days when we were not too lazy we traveled to downtown Santiago to get a view of the city. The city offers excellent commuting, the best way to move around in the city is with Metro, it might be a bit crowded during rush hours but it surely the most effective way to move around.
Santiago, Chile
In Santiago you can experience excellent shopping and dining. But you if you visit Chileyou shouldn’t spend too much time in the capital. Chile has much more to offer. So bring a guide book and check off the typical tourist must see locations and move on. Chile is a narrow but very long country with the Atacama desert in the north and the Patagonia wilderness in the south. That is why we left Santiago as soon as possible. We headed south to the city of Pucón to start the real adventure. The village of Pucón and the surrounding region offers a lot of outdoor activities. It’s a “must visit” for anyone that is visiting Chile and looking for some outdoor experiences. Pucón offers the whole package; whitewater rafting, kayaking, trekking, canyoning, horse trips etc. All in a green mountain region. During our stay in the south this was my personal favorite. Each day we chose one tour to take/do and in the evening we either relaxed in our cabana or visited one of the many restaurants/bars.
Pucón Chile
Los tres saltos Huepil Pucón
White water rafting in Pucón, Chile
During my stay in Chile I covered only a fraction of the land. There is wayyyyy more to see, eat, do… With that said, I can really only give you this short “article” that consists mostly of photos to possibly spark an interest the land. It’s well worth a visit but you are going to need time, lots of it. According to Wikipedia the country is 4270 km. So plan ahead to make sure that you are able to experience what Chile has to offer.