Chiloé Island, Santiago and the Atacama Desert - Chile

After a wonderful month or so in Argentina it was time to leave and head to Chile. We were both super excited as Chile was a country neither of us had been to before and we knew we had some cool things planned. On 1st January we took a bus from Bariloche to the southern port town of Puerto Montt. The bus took about 7 hours, and we were spoilt with the amazing views that northern Patagonia had to offer. We arrived at a nice little hostel that evening, both hungry but luckily we managed to get a pizza delivered as we couldn’t go out, as all the restaurants were closed for the bank Holiday.

The next day we picked up our hire car and got the ferry to the beautiful island of Chiloé. Here we did a lovely four-day road trip, basing ourselves in the towns Castro and Ancud. Chiloé is known for its iconic wooden churches built by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries, fresh seafood, houses on stilts, whale watching and birdwatching, specifically penguins! The landscape reminded us of Scotland and Ireland, with rolling hills and green fields and for the most part we had similar weather! However, we were both quite surprised that we enjoyed the cloudy, windy and grey days as it made a nice change to the normal bright sunshine we had got used to in Argentina.

We really enjoyed our road trip and loved the freedom of having our own car. We did some great walks, ate some lovely fresh ceviche and seafood and did a fun boat trip so see some penguins. The penguin colony we saw is one of the few places in the world that is home to both Magellanic and Humboldt penguins which live side by side along with Sea Lions and other sea birds.

After we dropped off our hire car, we took a long 12 hour night bus north to Santiago, the capital of Chile. We stayed in the lively barrio called Bellavista which was covered in cool graffiti and had lots of bars and restaurants. We did an interesting walking tour where we learnt more about the country’s history, including the 17 year authoritarian military dictatorship which started in 1973, the more recent wave of protests (starting in 2019) and the new constitution which is in the process of being made as a result of the protests.

The next day we took a bus to a port city of Valparaíso where we would be spending the night. Valparaíso is famous for its steep hills, colourful clifftop homes and street art. We did a fun walking tour where the guide explained the meaning behind much of the art, often which is politically motivated, and we learnt about the city’s history. Valparaíso used to be the ‘Jewel of the Pacific’ as it was the main port used by all ships until the Panama Canal opened in 1914. The Chilean Navy headquarters are still here and although the city no longer has the same prestige as it once did, it still has a multicultural feel and is a fun vibrant city with lots of nice restaurants / bars and we highly recommend it as an overnight or day trip from Santiago.

After one more night in Santiago we flew north to the city of Calama and then took a short bus to San Pedro de Atacama, passing lots of solar panels and wind turbines. The town is in the Atacama Desert and is therefore very dry and hot with narrow dusty lanes surrounded by whitewashed buildings which are mostly made with mud and straw, with straw roofs.

Its dramatic surrounding landscape incorporates desert, salt flats, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs. We spent 4 nights at a great hostel which had a nice swimming pool (Casa Voyage) and spent the days doing various tours exploring the surrounding areas. These included, visiting the vast salt flats, swimming (more like floating) in saltwater lakes, flamingo watching, hiking past lakes which were more than 4,000 meters above sea level, viewing active volcanos and stargazing. Although the night we went stargazing was the only cloudy night they’d had in months….typical. We even saw a herd of male Llamas fighting and a wild fox. The Atacama Desert was like nowhere neither of us had ever seen before and was a real highlight of our whole trip.

We flew back to Santiago for a couple more days and met up with our friends Will and Valentina. Will is a university friend of Rory’s who lives in Chile with his wife Valentina, and it was great to spend the evening with them. We visited Will’s polo club for a drink which had beautiful views of the Andes and went for a delicious and somewhat boozy supper, making the most of the Chilean wine.

We loved our time in Chile, which is often overlooked by backpackers due to it being more expensive than other countries in South America, but we would highly recommend it! One of the things we loved was how diverse the landscapes were. Chiloé could not be more different to the Atacama Desert! Although the priciest country we have visited we think Chile was worth every penny and really loved it.

The pictures below are from Chiloé.

The pictures below are from Valparaíso.

The pictures below are from around San Pedro de Atacama.