Acarajé: Chile and Argentina

I felt an urge to write this post in English because I think it would help many others around the world who would like to travel to the places about which I am gonna write in this post. So here goes my words...

In fact, I was planning to go to India in this year (2016) in October. I was planning to go via Europe to India, visiting the countries of Europe and at the end of the tunnel of tour , take a plane to Mumbai. But plans got crushed as I could not get my vacations in October. So we (I and my wife) had to make a sudden plan to visit Chile and Argentina. So we made it and traveled and had the most awesome buckets of experiences.

Our travel itinerary was like this as shown.

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So, we started our journey from Salvador on 13th of April, 2016. We had our flight from Salvador International Airport around 08:00 AM. Hardly could I sleep in the previous night due to the excitement and woke up before the alarm rang. So, we packed up and reached the airport somewhat around two hours earlier. I was very sleepy but I could not sleep because I was very excited. Then we embarked in the plane. We had a connection in São Paulo airport and the layover was around two hours, it was hectic and boring and the International Airport of São Paulo (GRU) had few options for restaurants inside and all were very expensive. I bought a small sandwich the costed around 25 reais. Too expensive and too small to compensate the price.

Waiting for flight to SP (at International Airport, Salvador)

After two hours of waiting in the airport we took the plane to Santiago, Chile.It was very hot in Brasil and I was only in a T-shirt. There was turbulence in the mid air. In fact I never disliked turbulence, I enjoyed everytime the airplane jerked in the midair, seemed it crashed against an iceberg.It was kind of riding a bumper-car. I enjoyed the ride otherwise sitting in a seat with belts buckled up was kinda boring. But my wife was almost dying of fear and she was clutching me as if a drawing man grasping whatever firm.

In transit (International Airport São Paulo)

Me ready to face the cold with a T- shirt.

Inside flight (From São Paulo to Santiago via LAN)

After nearly four hours of travel, we finally arrived in Santiago, Chile. And now it was my time to die. As I told you that I was wearing only a T-shirt and in Santiago the temperature was five or six degree celsius and I had my warm clothes shipped in the baggage. I had to shiver in cold until I get my baggage and took out my jacket. Yet I was feeling cold like hell. We had booked an apartment in the center (centro) of Santiago. From the airport to reach the center of Santiago, there are options like taking a taxi or shared vans. We went for the latter alternative as it was cheap. I don't remember the price but it was very cheap if compared to the price of taxi.

So, finally after dropping passengers here and there the van finally reached our apartment in the street called Monjitas, near the metro station Belas Artes.

Here goes our activities from 13th April till 4th of May on each day basis.

13th April

This is the first day we landed in Santiago. In fact , we could not do much on that day because we reached by 17:00 and we were tired of traveling and just wanted to take rest. The place where we had our apartment rented was a nice one. It was clean and silent. I could not see the garbage dumps as can be seen anywhere in Salvador where I live. So, after putting our luggage in the apartment, we just came out to explore the area and buy some food stuffs for the night. There was a supermarket (Lider) few yards from our local and we bought noodles , water etc etc. I was tired to cook food and so we went to a Chinese restaurant nearby and ordered some quick food for that night.

We had bought a bottle of wine and after my daughter slept we started drinking it. But unfortunately it was not good. It tasted like some grape juice with excess of sugar. After some pegs , just gave up.

There was a bed room with a twin bed and a hall with kitchen. As I snore while sleeping, I chose the hall to sleep. There was a sofa-bed and it supposed to be enough for me. But unfortunately there was not enough blankets. And it was cold like hell. My wife and daughter took the most parts of the blankets and I was left only with a think white bed sheet. I was drunk so I fell in sleep right after having some cheap wine with elevated level of alcohol. But in the mid night it was so cold that I could not sleep. I had to put all my warm clothes on even two jeans pants. Even I had to put the sofa-cover off and wrap it around me to feel warm. But it did not help. Also I did not want to sleep with my wife and daughter as I knew well that I would snore and did not want to disturb others. So, the final salvation was the bath towels hanged in the bathroom and the remaining wine and it worked. I slept like an ass in the cold and don't remember when I woke up. And this is how I passed my first night in Santiago.

The map location of our local.

We had our apartment booked in this building. We stayed there in the period of 13th April to 16th April.

A selfie in front of our apartment.

The nasty cheap wine that I bought but it was my life saver.

14th April

After a gruesome suffering night of cold on 13th April's night, we decided to walk out to explore the city on 14th. It's worth to mention that there was a earthquake around 06:00 in the morning. I went to the bathroom around 05:40 in the morning and I was half asleep and suddenly I heard a big roar and dogs barking loudly outside and the building shaking. I thought I was drunk but it was a real earthquake because I opened my eyes and I could feel my sofa spring making noise and shaking.

It was a nice rainy, chilling weather. We planned to visit the Cerro San Cristóbal hill. It was more or less at waking distance from our local Belas Artes. But as my daughter was reluctant to walk and I had to carry her over my shoulder all the way that we walked and it seemed to me that taking a taxi would have been a better idea.

On the way we passed by shopping Patio BelaVista and there in an agency booked a tour to a winery for the next day. We booked for the Undurraga winery. We did not eat in the shopping because I already had known that the gastronomy of Chile was a crap and I did not want to waste my money eating in shopping. So we only took some pictures in the shopping and came out to walk farther to our destination.

We observed a lot of big stray dogs everywhere and to our surprise they were friendly. We cuddled with them and they too. Finally after walking through some streets we arrived at the entry of Cerro San Cristóbal. It is nothing but a hill where resides a small zoo and at the summit of the hill there is a big statue of Virgin Mary (about 22 meters ). The peak of the hill is the second highest point in Santiago. From the top of the hill there is perfect view of the city. To reach the top, one can walk on feet or by car or by cable car. Of course we preferred the cable car. We did not go to the zoo, instead we preferred to go to the top of the hill. It was a nice experience to sit at the top of the hill and observe the city.

We took pictures, bought some toys for our daughter and came back. We did not go till the place where there was the statue of the Virgin Mary but stayed somewhere below. After that we came down and walked off. I was hungry after walking so much and so we went to a street-by restaurant. And there I asked for a dish named Pollo a lo Pobre. A big plate with grilled chicken, omelet, potato fries and onions fried. It was good and it compensated the price for the dish.

Then we came back to our local and went to supermarket to buy some stuffs for that night. But in the night I was lazy to cook and went out to taste some Peruvian food nearby.I ordered something of chicken and rice and my wife ordered a burger. And not to my surprise, it was expensive and size was very small to my disappointment. And my daughter stuck herself to rice only as rice was her the most preferred meal unfortunately. I was hungry even after the meal, in fact it was too small for me. When we came back to our apartment, I could not resist and cooked some noodles for me and only after that I had the peace.

Somewhere near Belas Artes

Museum

Museum Belas Artes

Shopping Patio BelaVista

At Shopping

At the entrance of Cerro San Cristóbal

Doggy

Cable car

Cable car.

At the top of Cerro San Cristobal

The statue of Virgin Mary.

The dish named "Pollo al lo Pobre".

Me with a hungry face.

The Peruvian food. Costly but disappointing as it was small enough.

My wife preferred a burger.

15th April

On 15th April, we went to a winery called Undurraga. We already had our tour booked and around 13:00 o'clock in the afternoon the tour van took us off. In all the way the tourist guide kept explaining the tourist places but hardly could I understand Spanish. It was raining and so I slept, the best thing I could do. After some one or two hours we reached the Undurraga winery. It was awesome. Never had I seen so much green and organised place in my life. The guide at the winery took control of our team of tourists and led us to the inside of the winery. She explained the types of grapes, the cultivation of grapes, the legends related to Undurraga and all those stuffs. And finally we arrived at our most wanted moment, tasting the wines. Each person had the opportunity to taste 4 pegs. And I was lucky because my wife did not want to get drunk and she had her all four pegs given to me. So in total I had eight pegs of awesome wine.

So we stayed more or less two hours in the winery and then we bought 3 bottles of wines and returned to our tourist van. I was so much drunk that this time I was understanding and talking Spanish as if it were my native language. After all it was real fun. Enjoyed a lot.

We arrived at our apartment in the evening and I just slept like a stone. We did not go out for eating and cooked some food and slept. On the next day , we had bus to Puerto Varas in the night. And during the day we passed our time with a with a friend named Angelo who promised to take us to some places.

At Undurraga winery.

The grapes plants.

At Undurraga winery.

Mashed grapes.

Wine in fermentation.

Barrels of wine.

Underground storage of wine barrels.

The best part. Tasting wine.

Winery

The wine-guide is explaining the wines and their characteristics.

White wine.

While I was drinking wine my daughter was drinking milk.

Wine samples.

My daughter listening.

My wife

Some part of the winery.

Tired.

Some part of the winery.

The best part when I was drunk.

... and I became Wine Man.

16th April (Valparaíso)

On 16th April, we had to check-out our apartment by 11:00 am. Its kind of crazy, in most of the hotels and hostels and apartments the checkout time is 11:00 am. I did not like it. And in our case while we were packing our luggage the "land-lady" already knocked our door and I was in my underpants and had to hurry up dressing up.

Around twelve o' clock in the afternoon the friend of my wife arrived and took us to an another major city of Chile called Valparaíso. It is a big sea port. I could find nothing interesting there. It was very stinky, everywhere smelled of fish and fish. But the highway that led to Valparaíso was awesome. On both sides of the highway large fields of grape cultivation could be seen.

We took some photos there, had our lunch in some restaurant on the beach and that's all. Had to come back to Santiago because we had bus to Puerto Varas. We had our bus around 21:30 and it was raining cats and dogs in Santiago. The bus was awesome. The bus agency was Bus Norte. It was the only agency where we could book our tickets online successfully. The bus was double-decker and we had our seats in the first row of the upper decker. It was kind of experience in a roller coaster. The bus was very comfortable as were the seats. And for our astonishment we were served with dinner. Never traveled in bus that serves foods on board. So for me it was kind of new experience. And in the morning we were served with breakfast.

Center of Santiago

Way to Valparaíso

Center of Valparaíso

Valparaíso (dirty beach)

Lunch at Valparaíso

Me taking Pisco.

After getting high.

With all.

17th April (Puerto Varas)

I do not remember the exact time when we arrived in Puerto Varas on 17th April, I guess it was around 10:00 am. I had a very nice sleep in the bus.In Puerto Varas, we had booked a hostel named MamaHostel. The check-in time was 14:00. Another crappy thing that I noticed in Chile. As we arrived early , we kept our luggage in the hostel and kept wandering around the city. It is a small city and clean like heaven. Even the super markets don't give plastic bags to the customers to reduce garbage in the city. After wandering around for some hours and taking coffee or some food we came back to our hostel around 13:00. The room was ready for us. The room had a view facing a street and far far away was the volcano Osorno and had a veranda kind of space near the window.

We did nothing much on the first day. After getting into the room, we just slept like stone. It was around one or two degrees and was cold enough for us. Around 20:00 horas we came out of our hostel and went for dinner. Food was expensive and quantity was little. We had some sandwiches and bought something to cook.

Arrived at Puerto Varas. Freezing cold.

At MamaHostels

Poor cat used to stay outside all days and nights.

Source of entertainment for my daughter.

At MamaHostel (First day)

The street of the MamaHostel (San Fransisco)

Selfy

The church

The shopping near our hostel.

There was a marathon by the side of the famous Llanquehue lake.

The marathon runners.

The Llanquehue lake and far far away is the Osorno volcano.

The Indian shoe store.

The church.

A dog taking care of some kittens.

On the bank of Llanquehue lake.

First night dinner.

18th April (Puerto Varas)

I admit that the MamaHostel was the worst hostel I have ever stayed in. First of all it was very noisy. Seemed the walls were made of just think papers and one can hear the noise of the other rooms. Everytime somebody walked through the corridor I could listen the noise of foot steps. To make it worse, under the veranda of our room there was an open place with a grill for people to make barbecue. So in the night I heard some guys smoking and drinking and talking loud under our veranda. It was kind of hell. I guess I finally slept around 03:00 in the morning. The worst experience I have ever had. I just wanted to get out of the hostel as soon as possible but I had already paid for this crap. If you are a silence loving person, I personally suggest you to NEVER GO to MamaHostels.

The hostel staff was good and friendly but they were also noisy and that's why the whole mess. And I got a trauma of hostel. The only person that liked the hostel was my daughter because there were some toys for her to play around and some cats outside to cuddle.

After lunch (Some cheap junk food ) we went to take some pictures in the Llanquehue lake.Some guys were selling tickets for tours.And it was cheap. Each adult paid around 10.000 pesos that was around 60 BRL. We immediately bought two tickets and for children upto four years it was free and so my daughter had free entry.

The tourist van started from the legendary and mighty banks of the Llanquehue lake. The roadside view was so beautiful that I could not find any words to explain the beauty. Simply I got myself drowned and immersed in the divine beauty of nature. On both sides of the road there were very beautiful houses. In all of the houses German architecture prevailed. Our van went on through the boulevard of serene beauty.

First we went to a place called Ensenada. It was so much beautiful and clean that never had I seen in my life. There we stopped in a place where we saw a lot of Lhamas, donkey and pony. And they were friendly and we touched them and they cuddled with us. After that we went to a restaurant for lunch in the same place. The price was okay for the quantity of food. Food costed more or less 60 BRL and you could eat how much you wished. For me it sounded kinda paradise. I was hungry like hell and I ate till I could not take in anymore.Food was awesome, simply awesome.

After lunch we went to a park called Vicente Peres Rosalez to see the Salto de Petrohue. Nature has its own beauty stored for us and you can not believe its beauty until you see with your own eyes.Later we went to a lake called Lago de todos los Santos or Lago Esmeralda. The water of the lake was crystal clear and seemed like emerald and that's how its name came from.We took a ride in boat in the lake. The water was very cold and the temperature seemed like two degrees. The breeze was very cold and I was almost freezing. I put my hand in the crystal clear water to feel it and after letting my hand in the water for some minutes I could no longer feel my hand, could no longer close my fist. That much cold was the water and I could imagine how painful death would be drowning in freezing water even though knowing swimming as it would be impossible to move the limbs.

After that we went to a place called Laguna Verde. There was nothing much interesting there. A green lake but I did not see green , I might have been color blind or might be due to the sun setting. It was the last point of attraction and later we returned.

The friendly donkey.

Lhamas

Lhama

Dear donkey.

Furry lhama

What the heck !!!

At the restaurant.

Eating like a monster after starving for so many days. This was my second plate. First plate missed the photo shoot because we were too much busy in foods.

At the park Vicente Perez Rosales

Salto do Petrohue

Boat ride in the Lago Esmeralda

Boat ride in the Lago Esmeralda. Ice cold water.

Laguna Verde. Did not see anything green there.

Magnificent Osorno volcano.

Lago Esmeralda

Tried to take a selfie with the Osorno.

Playing with the sand in the Esmeralda lake. Every bit of soil there i

was generated from the lava of the volcanoes.

Me at Lago Esmeralda.

Sheila at Lago Esmeralda.

Somewhere around Lago Esmeralda.

and us with Osorno behind.

19th April (Puerto Varas)

We did nothing absolutely. We slept bad in the night of 18th April because of excess of noise made by the people around us in the hostel. We slept only around the early morning and so we woke up late in the afternoon. We were lazy after previous day's activities and so we just wanted the day to pass by easily. Also we had to take bus in the next morning around 08:50 to Bariloche (Argentina). We booked tickets in an agency called Cruz del Sur. We tried to book tickets online much time before but failed repeatedly. But at the agency we could book easily without any problem. Cost was 18 thousand pesos per head. There was only one bus to Bariloche and that was at 08:50 in the morning.

Just to point out, the booking sites of bus tickets in Chile are really craps. The sites look like some mini projects carried out by some school children. So even if you get an error while in the process of booking do not worry, just go to the counters and reserve the tickets in person. In Puerto Varas it was really a good experience to book tickets in person because the bus terminals were small and few people. You do not need to stay in big queues. It is fast and quick.

It was a rainy day and I prayed to God to rain as much as possible so that the people in the hostel won't be able to make barbecue and make noise outside. God really listened to my prayers and it really rained and we could have a very good sleep.

The bus terminal was near to the MamaHostels and we did not have to walk too much. It was in fact in front of the hostel. That was the ONLY advantage I could see staying in that noisy hostel.

20th April (Bariloche)

From Puerto Varas to Bariloche it took around six hours by bus. The bus was really a good one. And even we were served with small breakfast. It rained all the way to Bariloche. We slept like stones. And it was very very cold. The road was like a spiral running amidst the beautiful hills and lakes, At some point in the road it started to fall ice pellets in the windows of the bus and it was an amazing view.

We were stopped by at the entrance of Argentina to do the immigration stuff. One can not enter Argentina with materials like fruits, derivatives of milk like cheese, milk, handicrafts made out of woods or animal furs, seeds of plants or anything related to plants and agriculture, bacteria etc. Once I read in internet that one tourist entered Argentina with some apples and he was fined 500 BRL. So we did take care of it and had already thrown out these kinds of stuffs in the hostel before embarking in the bus.

All the passengers had to come out of the bus and had to stay in queue to get some immigration document stamped by the federals. At the time of verifying my documents, perhaps they noticed my birth of origin marked as India in my document and took a bit longer to let me pass. I was worried if I would get deported back to Chile but it was fine, I could pass through the immigration.

Then again we entered the bus and started our rest of journey. It was very cold. After around 15:30 we reached Bariloche. It was cold like hell. I was shivering in cold. I did not have enough warm clothes to face the climate of Bariloche. We took a taxi from the bus terminal to our hotel and it took more or less 20 minutes to reach. It was a nice old hotel named TangoInn.

I was hungry in fact very much hungry. After putting our luggage in our room we came out to street looking for a restaurant to have lunch. The street in front our hotel was full of restaurants. We walked some yards and went into a restaurant named Rock Chicken.

There were many dish with very good price. I ordered a dish with mixed meats (beef, chicken, sausage and fries) and my wife ordered a burger. Well, one thing to point out is that in all the restaurants either in Chile or in Argentina that we went to, the customers were served with breads and some kind of sauce as courtesy. I used to get full even with the foods for courtesy. In Rock Chicken we were served with breads, vinegar salad and chimichurri. It was simply awesome. And then came the main dishes. I was amazed looking at the size of the dishes. I was tired of having small quantity of foods in Chile , and so I was exponentially happy looking at the enormous plate. And the taste was awesome. I do not have words to explain the taste that I tasted. Wish there were some ways to embed the taste of food or smell online !

Anyways, after lunch we walked around. It was cold and wind was strong and it was raining lightly. So we came back to our hotel and took a nap. In the night my wife was lazy and I was hungry again to eat in Rock Chicken. So I went out and ordered a light dish with grilled chicken leg piece and salad. And it was not light in fact, it was a big plate and I ate till I burst. After that I went to a supermarket nearby to buy some juice and milk and came back and slept. For our luck the hotel room was very warm and cozy.

Waiting for bus (Cruz del Sur) at Puerto Varas.

Friendly Dog.

Immigration check.

At Rock Chicken.

My delicious dish.

My wife's burger.

In the street.

Nice trees in the streets.

My dinner.

21st April (Bariloche)

We slept well on 20th April unlike in the MamaHostels. Thanks God it was not a damn hostel. I woke up with full of energy and came out for a morning walk while others were sleeping.

Walked on the banks of magnificent lake called Nahuel Huapi. Took some selfies and came back. Breakfast was included in the hotel and so I had mine and came back to room. After we all had breakfast we booked a tour in the hotel reception.

Then we went to a Spanish restaurant (Breogan) to have our dinner. The food was simply awesome. We ordered "picanha" and fries. The price was simply great for such a delicious dish.After lunch we waited for our tourist van.The tourist van came around 15:00 hours and took us to the tourist places.

The tour was called Circuito Chico. All along the journey we could see the panoramic view of the Nahuel Huapi lake. Our van stopped at Cerro Campanario . It was a very beautiful hill station. To reach the top of it one can use either cable chair lift or walking on feet. Of course we preferred cable chair otherwise I would have to lift my 15kg daughter on my shoulders. The view from the cable chair was simply marvelous. The climate was awesome and after some minutes in the cable chair finally we reached the top of the hill. And there was the heaven. I am not lying. When you will see the pictures you will believe. Nature has its beauty stored in itself for years there. Simply magnificent, resplendent, marvelous (if you are good at English you can add more adjectives here).

We took photos there and had coffee in a restaurant on top of the mountain. Then after passing some time there we came back in the cable chair. While descending in the cable chair, the view was simply awesome. We took photos as much as possible. Everytime someone had to get in or out of the cable chair (only at the bottom and top of the hill) the whole cable chair system used to stop and we were left hanged standby in the mid air and the chair used to swing slightly and a wave of fear mixed with excitement passed through our veins.

Finally we landed and our van continued motoring to other places. Then we went to a lake called Lago Moreno. There we took some photos. There was a guy with a big San Bernado dog and to take picture with the dog the cost was 300 (Argentina Peso) for three photos. We paid to take three pictures. In one picture the dog put its fore limbs on my shoulder and it was really hard for me to keep my shoulders upright because the dog (Che was his name) weighed 86 kilograms , more than my weight.

Later we went to a place called Bahia Lopez. It is a very beautiful place with lake shore and crystal clear water amidst sky high mountains. The water was so clean that the bottom could be seen, and it was chilling cold. We stayed there and took some photos. My daughter found a stray dog there and they became friends in no time.

Then we went to a place called Llao Llao. This place was full of exotic and expensive hotels. Our van only made a round around the exotic hotels and extremely beautiful houses near the lakes. Finally our van stopped by a very beautiful church. There we took photos it was the last attraction of our tour.

Finally after one hour we arrived at hour hotel. It was very cold and we just wanted to relax in our warm and cozy hotel room. We took a nap and around 20:30 we went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant named La Marmita and ordered Fondue. It was delicious but was very heavy for me as I am not so much used to cheese kinda things.

It was chilling cold and we did not stay too much time outside and came back soon to our hotel and slept and wrapped up our day with full of activities.

At Breogan

Drinking Beer

My Picanha.

Delicious Argentinean Picanha.

My daughter playing.

Waiting for our tourist van.

Nahuel Huapi lake.

The cable chair

In the cable chair lift with my wife.

At Cerro Campanario.

At Cerro Campanario. Looks like a paining. But it was real.

At Cerro Campanario. Looks like an oil painting.

At Cerro Campanario.

At Cerro Campanario. Having hot chocolate.

At Cerro Campanario.

Somewhere near Lago Moreno.

At Cerro Campanario.

At Bahia Lopez.

Bahia Lopez.

Bahia Lopez. The friendly dog.

Lago Moreno.

The luxury hotels at Llao Llao.

The church.

At Bahia Lopez.

At the church in Llao Llao

At the church

And finally the dinner (Fondue)

22nd April (Bariloche)

We did nothing much on 22nd April. Only slept and slept. In the afternoon went for lunch in Breogan. I ordered a dish with chicken and fries and my wife ordered picanha again. I also wanted to eat picanha again but to vary a little asked something else.

The rest of the day we did nothing much. Stayed inside our hotel room because outside was too cold. In the afternoon we walked up to the center of Bariloche and did some small shopping. Most importantly I bought a sweater because for me the cold was simply unbearable.

In the night we had our dinner at Rock Chicken again. I ordered a chicken dish with fries and my wife ordered ravioli. Again I devoured my food as if I were hungry for the last ten years. In the next day we had to come back to Puerto Varas (Chile) and we had bus early in the morning around 08:00. So we packed up our luggage and slept early for the next day's journey.

Having coffee somewhere in the center.

In some handicraft store.

In a church in the center.

In a church.

In the center somewhere. I found the tree very beautiful.

On the bank of the lake.

My dinner.

Ravioli

23rd April (Puerto Varas)

We booked our bus from Bariloche to Puerto Varas in the same bus agency (Cruz del Sur) and it was around 08:00 in the morning. Woke up early and called a taxi and went to the bus terminal. It was chilling cold and dark.

Funny thing was that it was the same bus and the same bus driver that was in our inbound journey to Bariloche. And in the early morning we were served with a small breakfast. Some biscuits and coffee with straw. I liked the coffee of Argentina but please do not keep good expectation of good coffee in Chile. Anyways we went on.

Immediately after getting into the bus I slept like a stone. After one or two hours I woke up. It was a rainy climate. The view of the street was simply awesome. The nature, the colorful trees, the lakes the cleanliness , the breeze everything was perfect.

After some hours it started to fall ice pellets all the way. It was getting colder and colder and after some point we could see snow all the way around. First time I saw snow in my life. Believe me, I had never seen snowfall in my life till that day and I was exponentially happy. But unfortunate thing was that I could not touch and feel it. How I wished to touch and grab some snow !!!

The bus moved on and finally we arrived at the immigration gates at the border. The bus stopped there for almost one hour. We all had to come out of the bus with all our handbags. Our shipped luggage was withdrawn at the immigration and sniffer dogs were deployed to sniff our luggage in search of objects of concern to the feds. Even after that we had to open up our each and every luggage and the federal agents checked each and every bags with hands. When they searched my bag, some of my dirty underpants fell off and I was ashamed. Anyways all were fine and we continued our journey.

After around 14:30 we arrived at Puerto Varas. We had an apartment(cabana) booked this time. I had nightmare of MamaHostels so I preferred personally to pay more and relax. We walked up quite a long to reach our apartment. But the apartment(cabana) was as beautiful and cozy as heaven. It has its own fireplace to warm up. It was a rainy weather and inside the apartment it was very warm to stay in. So we preferred to stay inside and did nothing. I just went outside to a supermarket in search of something to eat. And I bought a big roasted chicken and some vegetables to make a simple salad and come noodles for my daughter.

I made some food for dinner and after that we simply slept. The apartment (cabana) had a hall with a fireplace, one room with a bed for couple and another room with three beds. As soon as I got into the bed and crawled inside the blanket I slept like a stone and woke up only in the next morning. There was no noise at all. Absolute silence. What a difference from that crappy MamaHostels.

Snow all the way from Bariloche to Puerto Varas.

Putting logs.

Enjoying the warmth.

The ME.

Our cozy fireplace.

Roasted chicken and salad.

24th April (Puerto Varas)

Woke up fit and fine on 24th April. The morning was too much beautiful and silent. The grass was full of raindrops from the last night's rain. Droplets of rain was dripping from the roof of the apartment. The magnificent volcano Osorno could be seen from the backside window of our apartment. Weather was cold and all summed up to result in a very pleasant morning. Living in Salvador (Brasil) for the last six years I almost lost my wish to live more but after rejoicing that morning full of life I felt myself rejuvenated and wished to live more and more but of course not in a place like Salvador.

We did nothing interesting. We had already visited Puerto Varas and there was nothing much to do. Just in the afternoon we went to the lake Llanquehue to take some snaps. It was a Sunday and most of the stores were closed and so could do nothing much. In all places of Chile there is a special hot-dog found called Italiano. Terrifically tasty. We had it almost everyday, at least it was less expensive and costed around 5 to 8 BRL.

In the next morning we had bus to Pucón around 09:20. So we packed up our stuffs and had dinner in the apartment.In fact my wife went to a nearby pizzeria to buy some pizza but she came back with something else.The name of the dish item was Chorrillana. It was a big dish full of meat and omelet and fries. It was told that the dish would serve for two persons but for us it seemed that it would serve for four people. We ate till we could and let the remaining to eat in the morning just before leaving for the bus. It was delicious.

In front of our cabana. It was cheap. Costed 75 USD per night.

Lunch. Salad and chicken.

In the afternoon we went to the Llanquehue lake and sat on a bench in a park. There were many friendly dogs around us.I bought some popcorn for my daughter and this dog approached us and most part of the popcorn was eaten by this lovely beast.

Osorno behind our cabana.

Our small yet comfortable cabana.

Is that a fish !!!

The cabanas.

A typical house.

Collecting logs left in the door steps.

Posing for a shoot.

The flowers

Plucking an apple for my daddy.

Preparing lunch with a nasty hair style.

Feeling cozy.

The magnificent Osorno.

The small city.

The food that my wife bought for dinner.

The food that my wife bought for dinner. Chorrillana

25th April (Pucon)

I booked our bus tickets in an agency called JAC. Again I would like to mention that I could not book the ticket online so I had to book in person. Luckily the bus terminal was a few steps ahead of our cabana so we did not have to walk too much.

We took the bus around 09:20 in the morning. It was not a comfortable bus. When we entered it smelled as if somebody pissed inside. The seats were not comfortable. But it was empty and there was nobody beside me , so I could have a good nap.

We should have arrived in Pucón around 14:00 if I had not committed some silly mistake of getting off at Villarrica (A small city before Pucón). In fact we all were sleeping and I woke up and saw that the bus was stationed in a terminal and I thought we had already reached. So I woke up my wife and daughter and asked them to get off. Suddenly my wife realized that it was not Pucón but till then the bus was gone. May be I had gone mad out of hunger and got off the bus hallucinated by some kind of tasty aroma of food in the air which led me to do this mistake. But there was an another bus in queue and the driver asked what happened to us because my wife was angry at me. She explained to him our situation and the guy asked if we had the tickets. On showing them the tickets, we could enter the bus without any problem. After around one hour we arrived in Pucón. A small yet terrifically beautiful city.

We had booked a hostel much time before online. I was reluctant to go to hostel after the MamaHostels but the cancellation fees was 45 USD , so I preferred to suffer. The name of our hostel was Emalafquen. It was a very beautiful hostel conducted by a nice woman named Ema. And for our luck the hostel was almost empty, only us and one more couple. So we had the pleasure of the heaven and we felt like home home.

After putting our luggage in our room, we came out for lunch. Pucón is a very very clean beautiful garbage free city. Simply fell in love with it. The streets did not have semaphores and people used to stop cars for pedestrians to cross the roads.We went to a restaurant and ordered something called Cazuela. It was a typical Chilean food.It looked good but I did not like it too much. So I gave it to my wife and she liked a lot.

After lunch we went to a park called Parue La Poza. It was a small clean park with a lake full of ducks. The ducks made noise all the time and when somebody approached them they came closer expecting some food. The people used to give food and they used to make more noise to get closer as much as possible. We did not have anything except some peanuts and we gave them.

It was getting dark and we came back to our hostel after buying some foods for dinner. I bought some sausage, rice and vegetables to make some quick food. We had our dinner and waited for the next day adventure.

Meaning of the indicators of the intensity of eruption of volcano.

The green indicator means that it's safe.

In Pucón.

At the lake where there were lot of noisy ducks.

Noisy ducks.

Behind me is Villarica Volcano.

At the park.

At the park

At the park.

26th April (Pucon)
We had a good night sleep at the hostel because it was empty. We planned to rent a car and go to the ski place at the base o Villarrica volcano. We rented a Suzuki Alto car.I found it expensive. 35 thousand pesos for 24 hours plus 400 USD as security (refundable). And the free kilometres were only 100km. After crossing 100km, for every kilometer the extra charge was 150 pesos.Anyways we went on.

The Villarrica volcano was nearby. More or less 20 km. But the road leading to the volcano was terrible. Unless you have a four cross four vehicle it is kind of pain in the ass. I was afraid if the car would break down in the middle of nowhere. And there was no help because we were travelling in a off season and there were not much tourists at least to seek help.

Anyways after one hour we reached near the volcano and to our surprise there was snow everywhere. My intention was to go till the base of the volcano but as there was already snow all the way we parked our car and got down to enjoy the snow. Believe me , that was the first time I touched and felt snow in my life. In Bariloche I saw snow first time but could not feel with hands. So for me it was an experience for lifetime. We played, skidded, threw snow balls on each other, made snowman and I had all the fun of my childhood days.

Stayed more than one hour there and then we came back to Pucón to have our lunch. I ordered something with chicken and my wife asked for the same Cazuela. Our next destination was to go to one of the hot springs in Pucón. We chose to go to the Huife hot spring. It was around 35 km from Pucón. When we arrived at the hot spring it was almost getting dark and it was very very cold. Even I was lazy to put off my clothes. Once I put off my clothes the only option was to jump into the hot water pool. There were three pool with small variation of temperature and depth and one hydro massage pool. Once we were inside the hot pool it was impossible to get out because the outside temperature was getting lower and lower, and if I am not wrong it was around 3 or 4 degrees Celsius .

We enjoyed too much in the hot springs till we get tired and hungry. Getting out of the pool was really a hard job. After getting out we dressed up fast and returned back to Pucón. The street to the hot spring was very very beautiful with colorful trees on both sides. The road was a total spiral and if you don't pay attention I am sure you will fall down into some creek.

After one or two hours of driving we finally arrived in Pucón.It was in fact a very good experience. Then we cooked something for dinner and slept like stones.

On the way to Villarrica.

Villarrica volcano.

National Park of Villlarrica.

Villarrica.

Ski Pucón.

Acting like stupid.

Isn't this beautiful.

The cable chair was closed and would reopen only in winter (June)

Deserted cable chair.

Walking on snow.

How romantic !!!

Snow everywhere.

Broke my ass.

A beauty amidst beauty.

The alien I made.

How beautiful the sky was !!!

Getting mad.

The deserted ski station.

The road leading to the base of the Villarrica volcano.

Making snowman.

At Huife hot spring.

Hot water pool.

The spa.

With an ass face.

Jacuzzi.

The spa.

The resort.

Me (trying to look the best)

Hot spring. The temperature of the wild river water was 3 degrees and the swimming pool was 30-40 degrees.

Inside hot water.

The street on which our hostel was. (Arauco street)

27th April (Pucón)

We did not do anything on 27th April. Felt lazy to do anything and so kept sleeping the whole day. In the afternoon I and my daughter went outside and bought some breads and went to the park Parque La Poza to feed the noisy ducks. When the ducks saw us far away they left the water and came to the ground and approached us.They even ate bread crumbles in hand.

After passing some time there we went to an another lake. There was a very nice and super clean park there and saw some children playing there.My daughter immediately got into some and played. After that we went to see the lake. There was nothing much to do there and it was becoming dark. So after clicking some photos we came back.

In our itinerary , we planned to go to Santiago on 28th April but we liked Pucón so much that we decided to stay one more day (28th April) in Pucón. I also liked Pucón and for our surprise the hostel seemed to be very very calm and felt like home.

Feeding the noisy ducks.

This is the safe way to vacate the city if there occurs eruption.

In the park. It was very cold and wind was very strong.

Posing.

Surprised to see the cleanliness.

Playing.

Some part of Pucón.

The lake.

Some exotic apartments facing the lake.

28th April (Pucón)

We planned to rent a car again and go to Villarrica volcano again. We could not just take our eyes away from the magnificent volcano. In the passed night we could even see red fire in its mouth. Just kept imagining how would be if there had been a eruption. And we could see smoke in its mouth in all those days during daylight.

After having some food we went to look for agencies to rent a car. This time we were in search of a cheaper car to rent. And we were lucky and found a very good car agency in the street named Colo Colo. We rented a Fiat car with a 1.3 cc motor for 20 thousand pesos and unlimited kilometers. Just to remind that in the previous car agency where we rented a car, the free kilometers that we could ride was only 100 and after that for every one kilometer we had to pay 150 pesos. So with unlimited kilometers we had added advantage.

The car was good in fact and economic. And with a 1.3 cc motor it could reach the base of the volcano easily. But we were not lucky that day because there was no snow at all. We really had to arrive at the end point of the road (the base of the volcano) in search of snow. On the way to Villarrica, we brought with us two rented ski boards. We had to climb high Villarrica to use them.

I really got tired pulling the two boards. But after reaching some adequate height for skidding our real fun began. I don't remember how many times we skidded. Even if we got tired we continued pulling up and up the boards and kept skidding as if we were some kids. It was real fun, moments to remember for lifetime.

At some point we really got tired and decided to come back to Pucón and get some stuffs at our hostel and ride towards a hot spring. On the way back to Pucón , we met a French couple who asked for a ride and I didn't mind. On the way we had some chit-chats and we offered them shelter if they would visit Salvador (Brazil) someday and on the other hand we got shelter in France. We exchanged our emails and dropped them at their hostel.

We came to our hostel and packed some shorts and bikinis and headed towards a hot spring named Los Pozones. It took around one hour or may be less to arrive there. The road was same as that of the hot spring Huife that we already visited. Los Pozones was some three or four kilometers ahead of Huife. I already knew the road and so I could accelerate at the top speed (considering the traffic regulations of course).

Los Pozones is the actual natural hot spring. The boiling water of the hot spring comes from volcano. The site says that there are six pools but we got into only one of them because we saw some people in it. Also it was getting dark and cold so we preferred to stay inside this. Cost was 8 thousand per adult and 2 thousand pesos per child for three hours.

The hot spring was really inside a forest and without any artificiality. We stayed there for some hours and then around 20:00 , we decided to go back because on the following day we had to take a bus in the morning to Santiago. On our way back to Pucón, we bought something in a supermarket and had our dinner prepared in the hostel. After dinner we packed up our luggage and set alarm to wake up early in the next morning.

The car I rented for 20 thousand pesos.

The old woman renting the ski boards. Three thousand pesos for unlimited time.

No snow.

Small streaks of snow far far away.

Skidding, skidding and skidding

No snow.

Pulling the boards and climbing high the volcano in search of adequate snow to skid.

The volcano.

The worst part was I had to pull my daughter upwards in search of enough snow to skid.

Looking for enough snow.

Finally got some adequate snow to skid.

And it was real fun. In my childhood I used to skid only in the paddy fields in mud.

The base of the volcano.

Skidding together.

Skidding

Never got tired.

Showing off.

Doing a variation of ice bucket challenge.

In the Los Pozones hot spring. She did not get into the pool because she found it was too hot.

It's me.

My wife.

Our hostel room (Emalafquen)

Our messed room.

The owner of the hostel, Ema, a very nice, gentle , caring lady.

29th April (Santiago)

We booked our tickets in Tur Bus in Pucón in person as I already told that booking online was a real crap. And in fact we got a big discount while we booked our tickets for the bus for 10:20 AM in the morning. The bus terminal was near to our hostel. But when we went to return our rented car to the agency by 09:30 in the morning the guy gave us a ride to the bus terminal as he promised. So there was no problem at all reaching the terminal on time and in fact we arrived before time.

The bus was good and seats were good and luckily it was empty so I could sit alone with no one beside me. The bus took around 11 hours to reach Santiago. It was really a ass paining, back paining journey. Five or six movies were played in the whole journey. It was really a tiring journey. I would really prefer a night journey in he next time, at least I would be sleeping.

Finally we arrived in Santiago around 22:30 . We had booked an apartment near the metro station Santa Lucia. We could easily find our building. The apartment was a nice one, on 25th floor with a full view of the locality from the veranda. There was nothing much to do that night. Just put our luggage in the room and came out for dinner. Had dinner in a Chinese restaurant nearby and went to sleep.

The apartment.

30th April (Santiago)

We were lazy and without energy after having all those activities done. It was a lazy Saturday and the sky of Santiago was full of smog because of pollution. The climate was terrible and I had wish to do absolutely nothing. We stayed in a apartment near Santa Lucia metro station. The place was a mess, over crowded and in fact no place to put your feet. I personally preferred to stay only inside the apartment.

We decided to go to Cerro Santa Lucia. It is nothing but a small hill at the heart of the center of Santiago and in fact it was in front of our building. Just crossed the Bernardo O' Higgins road and we were there. There was no entry fees. I was not so much enthusiastic to climb up the hill. The weather was very bad, the air was as heavy as that of Mumbai, polluted and stink. And the streets were full and over crowded. I felt as if I were walking in Mumbai.

We walked up to some height and sat in a park and took some local drink called Graniso. My wife already visited the hill in her previous visit and so she decided to stay in the park and let us climb the hill up to the peak. I was not so much excited to climb but my daughter was excited so much to climb the stony steps. We finally arrived at the peak of the hill. All of a sudden I felt a terrible sound in my stomach and I could feel the strong signal of an upcoming diarrhea. I rushed to the apartment , did not even look for my wife who was somewhere in the park.

Later we did nothing. In the afternoon went out to see the La Moneda Palace. It was at a few blocks away from our apartment. The road was extremely crowded. Later we went to eat some street food. There was no place to walk. People everywhere all around. Kept walking with a grumpy face. How could people live like this ! I did not feel good to eat the crap fast foods. I don't like eating foods prepared from flour like breads etc and everywhere I could see was sandwiches, hot-dogs , empanadas etc etc. Lost my hunger. Finally found a chinese restaurant and had our dinner there. The chinese food was good in fact.

While coming back to the apartment in some corner of the street a woman was selling some kind of food looked like yellow flying saucer. I approached her and asked the name of the food. She said something that I could not understand. I bought two. When I munched I found it too delicious and bought more. And it was cheap. Each one costed 150 pesos. The whole night I kept thinking of the food to eat more in the next morning. I googled and found that the name of the food was Sopapilla.

The depressing city.

At Cerro Santa Lucia (Drinking Graniso)

At the top of Cerro Santa Lucia

Climbing the Cerro Santa Lucia

At La Moneda Palace

There was some exhibition going on at La Moneda.

At La Moneda.

The Chinese food.

1st May (Santiago)

It was the World Labour Day and everything was closed. And I was dying to eat Sopapilla. Even I went to the streets early in the morning but there was nothing at all.

We decided to attend the ceremony of changing of the guard at La Moneda Palace. We went there around 11:00 but unfortunately there was nothing. The police guy said that it already happened by 09:00. And also there was a protest going on and saw a lot of military forces with arms and so we decided to come back before happening something worse.

The rest of the day we did nothing. Everything was closed. I was also depressed to stay in Santiago, a terrible place. So I kept writing my blog the whole day. Did lunch and dinner in the same chinese restaurant and the same food. And slept.

2nd May (Santiago)

It was a Monday and I woke up early and before the rest woke up I went down to the street in search of Sapopilla. But could not find. Really got disappointed. But I saw a beggar eating that flying saucer food and even I wanted to ask him. But did not approach and came back to apartment.

In the afternoon we went to a place called London Paris. In fact there were only two streets named London and Paris in that town and on each street the buildings followed the patterns of the place of its proper name .Then we walked around a handicraft market and a small commercial center (Euro center) to buy some mementos for our friends. In the Euro center we saw many stores selling stuffs for smoking marijuana. In Chile in house cultivation and consumption of marijuana is legal. When I heard about it before visiting Santiago I found absurd but after passing some days in Santiago I could say that whoever created this law was for the welfare of the people of Santiago otherwise people wold die in depression.

Santiago is a really depressing city. The more time I stayed there I got more depressed. Everywhere was crowded like hell, the air was polluted , my skin got rashed , lips got cracked, hair got clotted and mood got spoiled. I did not have any intention to get out of the apartment and stayed in the apartment the whole day. Had lunch and dinner in the same chinese restaurant and slept.

London Paris town.

The two streets.

London street.

The thin papers to make cigarette of marijuana.

Various apparatus to inhale marijuana.

Various apparatus to grind marijuana leafs.

Hookahs

A video showing plantation of marijuana.

Apparatus

The whole building never sleeps.

3rd May (Santiago)

My wife wanted to buy something in the shopping Costanera. I did not have the least intention to go but went taking the metro only to not disappoint my wife. And the worse part was that in the previous night I slept late and wanted to wake up late in the morning. But god knows why the hell the apartment owner rang the bell and I was in my underwear and hardly gave time to put on my jeans and she entered the room with her keys and I was struggling to put on my jeans. What the hell ! She said that she got confused if we would leave on 3rd or 4th of May. I got terribly angry , just wished to stay naked in front of her in charge of invading my privacy. Holy shit.

Then around 11:00 I took a metro to Costanera. Another holy crap place over crowded, polluted. I did not find ANYTHING interesting in the shopping. Just a big crap one. Big does not mean that something interesting.And everything was expensive. Went to supermarket Jumbo, till I could not make out why the hell it was famous for. Just a big one. Shopping was crowded, supermarket was crowded and everywhere was crowded. The only thing Santiago lacked to become Mumbai was noisy vehicles and garbage and some heat in the air.

I bought the objects my wife suggested and rushed to the apartment. I could not stand outside anymore. Or I would get knocked down or fell down myself losing my senses. Had some burger as dinner and started packing our luggage.

4th May (Brazil)

Finally it was our time to say bye bye to Chile. I was sad because our vacation was coming to an end but at the same time I was feeling happy because I was leaving Santiago. Santiago was unbearable for me in the last days.

We slept late in the previous night because had to spend time in packing up our luggage. We had to manage space in our bags to put the extra things that we bought in Chile. Not too much but had some delicate things like bottles of wine, beer etc.

Could not sleep well in the night. We had our flight to Brazil by 09:20 in the morning and we booked a taxi around 06:30. I slept around midnight and around 04:30 in the morning I heard some big noise sounded like big bombs bombarded just near me. I woke up petrified , thought it was an earthquake or volcano eruption. But soon realized that it was coming from the other room, the result of over consumption of street food. In the last days in Santiago, when I complained about the city my wife used to say that Santiago had life. And I just wanted to say that night to her, “Your butt has more life than Santiago”. I lost my sleep afterwards and kept rolling and crawling in the bed till the alarm ranged.

The taxi arrived on time and finally we arrived in the airport and did the necessary immigration stuffs and embarked in the plane. It took three and half hour to reach São Paulo. Unfortunately we had a layover of five hour for our next flight to Salvador. Just had some lunch at the airport of São Paulo and waited for the next flight.

Finally we arrived in Salvador around 21:30 and arrived at our home. Home sweet home.

It was the first international travel for our daughter. Seems she enjoyed the backpackers' journey. At least she did not give so much trouble as we thought before traveling. She only came back very thin. Resuming all, the place that I liked most was Pucón (Chile). Extraordinarily beautiful place with a lot of stuffs to do. I personally recommend to rent a car and go wherever you want. We went in the month of April, so there was not enough snow for skiing but if you go in winter (June), you will get all the snow to have a awesome time there. And never forget to do hiking in the national parks and jump into some hot springs.

After Pucón in the second place comes Bariloche (Argentina). A very beautiful city situated on the magnificent bank of Nahuel Huapi lake. Do not forget to taste the awesome Argetinean food. Do not forget to visit the Cerro Campanario hill and the resplendent view from the top of it. Then comes Puerto Varas (Chile), an extremely beautiful and small city situated on the banks of Llanquehue lake. Do not forget to visit the magnificent Osorno volcano and the Vicent Rosales Perez national park. And at the last position I would put Santiago. I would personally recommend to stay in a good town like Belas Artes. At least I liked that town. And do have a visit to Cerro San Cristobal. It's a beautiful hill from the top of which one can see the whole Santiago city. I did not find anything interesting in the Cerro Santa Lucia. And of course do not forget to visit the wineries. That suppose to be the principal point of attraction in Chile. Valparaiso is a stinky sea port. If you like smelly fish and garbage you can have a look.

Anyways, I am finishing this post here. Will come back soon with other experiences. Till then tchau, bye bye.

Acarajé

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Chile and Argentina

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