ArboursAbroad contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase using one of the affiliated links, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. See our Disclosure Policy for more information.
Hitchhiking, beautiful places, and a God who speaks so clearly!!
We left Valdivia with the hopes of hitching all the way to Chiloe in one day. We weren’t really sure what that would look like, but thought it was plausible with the possibility of us getting a hitch with the right person. We got up early, had one last amazing breakfast at AiresBuenas Hostel, said goodbye to the friends we made there, and hit the road. We walked and walked and walked for quite some time before getting a hitch out of town.
A dad picked us up and took us from Valdivia to Ruta 5 (The highway that runs through Chile) and from there a milkman picked us up. The milkman took us all the way to where he was getting of the highway to drop off the milk, and this happened to be right next to a little hill. The best part about hitchhiking is getting dropped off in the middle of nowhere!! We decided to climb the little hill and have lunch at the top. After lunch, it took us quite some time to get another ride. We walked and walked again until an older man picked us up and insisted on taking us into the town of Puerto Varas. Again, another great thing about hitching.. You never know where you will end up.
This hitch was such a blessing. The little town of Puerto Varas is so beautiful. We were able to relax for a bit, talk to people about traveling down to Chiloe, have amazing tacos, and really enjoy the city. The morning we were supposed to leave Puerto Varas there was a huge thunderstorm with loads of rain. It literally poured for over five hours. We figured we would have to buy a bus ticket out of town, but the Lord had other plans.
We walked with another lady to find the bus station to get our tickets, but when we got there the computer was down so we couldn’t buy our tickets, but instead only reserve them. This turned into us hanging out at the hostel until about 2:00 in the afternoon, and by that time the rain had let up, so we cancelled our bus reservations and made our way out of town to hitchhike to Chiloe!!
We didn’t even have time to take our backpacks off before someone had pulled over to pick us up. He took us all the way to the Chiloe exit, and from there a really nice semi truck driver literally drove us all the way into Castro, and he even bought us chocolate bars! It was perfect- again we got picked up so quickly and both the people that picked us up were extremely nice and patient with our poor Spanish.
Once we got into Castro, we had to try and find the place we were planning on staying for the night- a camping AirBnB place. We didn’t have internet to search for the address, and had no idea where it was, so we started just walking down one street to find internet. As we were walking, we looked to our right and there it was. The place we were supposed to stay for the night just happened to be on the random street we chose to walk down. Thank you Lord!! We set up camp, met our camping neighbors, and walked around for a bit before enjoying dinner.
The next day was spent walking aimlessly around Castro trying to schedule a boat off the island and figure out what the island had to offer. This proved to be more of a task than we thought with nobody having patience with our broken Spanish. We eventually found where we needed to buy the ticket and found out that there were no boats leaving that had open seats for a week and a half. So there you have it, we were staying on the island for a week and a half, when we had planned to be there for only three or four days.
{Traveler’s Tip… Book your ticket off the island before you get to the island! Research what you want to do and how long you want to be there because the boats off the island only leave certain days and during the high season they fill up fast. If you want to book your ticket in person, the place to do it is at the tourist place that can be found on the same street as the big yellow church, but to the right of the plaza when looking at the church.}
After booking our tickets, we hung around Castro for a couple of days enjoying the city before hitchhiking to Parque National Chiloe. Our first hitch was with two guys that were extremely excited about us being from the states because the motor they just picked up was one from the states as well. After them, a girl named Daniela picked us up and took us all the way to the national park. She was really nice, and since she spoke English, we were able to talk a lot with her!
The national park was not what we expected, and we actually ended up just camping on the beach for five nights instead of doing one of the treks in the park. This turned out to be amazing. We were in the middle of the beach where nobody else was around and were able to fulfill our dream of sleeping on the sand. The first night we laid out the footprint of our tent, threw out our sleeping bags, and slept under the stars. Nothing between us and the stars except for the nighttime breeze. On top of it being a perfect night with the weather to sleep under the stars, there was also a completely full moon! It was gorgeous!! Our God is way too good to us!
In the morning, we were awoken by a slight mist, which ended up turning into rain. We quickly set up our tent, threw everything inside and laughed at how we woke up after falling asleep so perfectly! The next few days were spent enjoying soaking in the sun when it wasn’t raining, collecting seashells, and spending lots of time with the Lord. It was just what we needed.
After sleeping for three nights on the beach, we decided to get out of the sand and try and find somewhere where we could get fresh water, since we only had less than a liter left. We packed up camp, and started hiking down the coastline. We found a river that flowed into the ocean, so we hiked up a little trail and found the absolute perfect spot to spend a couple more nights.
After spending two more nights again just enjoying the beauty around us, we decided we would try to hitch to a different place we had heard of that had a really nice hike. We got a hitch into the town of Cucao, had an awesome lunch, and started walking in the direction of Rahue to go to Muelle de las Almas. Luckily we were able to get two more hitches to the lookout because it was an extremely long drive up and down hills that would not have been fun to walk.
Muelle de las Almas was amazing. This lookout is something that an artist constructed on someone’s property and the owners use it as a tourist attraction. It is in such a beautiful place, and we were so glad the people that own that land share its beauty with other people. It felt so good to get back on a trail and hike again. The hike reminded us so much of the Oregon Coast, and got us thinking about all the beauty we have back around our hometown.
{Traveler’s Tip.. Do the hike to Muelle de las Almas. The scenery is gorgeous, and it’s a fairly simple hike and definitely worth the money. Hitchhiking out there and back was pretty easy, and we think the only other way to get out there if you don’t hitch is by doing it through a tour, but those cost an arm and a leg and the entrance fee is only 1,500 CHP (just over 2 USD).}
After sitting and enjoying the beauty for an hour or two, we decided we should head back so we could catch a hitch back into town. We weren’t sure if we were going to stay in Cucao for a night, or head into Castro, but the hitch that we picked up was going all the way to Castro, so we decided we would go there too. We road in the back of a truck for nearly two hours with another couple, and we all nearly froze. But hey, it was a ride so we had to take it!
At this point, we still had five more nights to kill before our boat took off. We spent the five nights moving from place to place, simply relaxing and spending time trying to figure out where the Lord has us heading next, and kayaking down the shore line of the palafitios in Castro.
{Traveler’s Tip… If you want to camp in town, there is a green house listed on AirBnB that has camping in their backyard. It’s super cheap and the location is great. It’s on the main waterfront street of Castro. If you’re not into camping, stay at Palafitio Sur Hostel. It’s a beautiful palafitio, and you can take out their kayak for free!!}
The Lord really used this time to speak so clearly to us, and although we were bummed at first about spending so much time on the island, we knew the Lord had our time there written out in His plan. We really enjoyed not having to think about where we were going in the next couple days, and truly just relaxing, which believe it or not, is something that doesn’t really happen often when you are backpacking.
We were finally able to leave Chiloe Saturday evening. We spent Saturday just relaxing at the hostel, enjoying a nice Valentine’s Day dessert at our favorite coffee shop in Castro, and packing our backpacks for our next adventure. We began hitching out of town around 4:00. Our first hitch was with an older man who took us down to the next big city. From there, a man picked us up and took us all the way into Quellon where our boat was taking off. This hitch was way more than we ever could have dreamed of. When we got into Quellon the man insisted on taking us out to dinner and buying our dinner for us! On top of that, he was working on the ferry we were taking, and he let us stay in his truck until it was time to board the ferry at 11:30pm. Again, hitching turned into such a huge blessing for us!
…On A Side Note…
We are really far south in Patagonia right now, and are doing a lot of hiking and camping. With that said, we don’t have Internet service often, and when we do it’s usually not good enough to upload pictures and post a blog! So sorry we are so far behind, that just means you have more to look forward to later!!
…Where We Have Been And Where We Are Going…
Wow! It has been just under a month since we have been to Chiloe. We have been so many places since! We have thoroughly enjoyed lots of hikes, incredible landscapes, and meeting loads of new friends! We traveled with two Chilean guys for a week before getting stuck in Villa O’Higgins for seven days where we became a traveling family with six other people. (When you get in a car accident with people, then get stuck in bad weather and only have one warm/dry place to hang out, you get really close to the people you are with!) Yes, we got in a car accident and nearly died, but no worries, everyone was okay. And yes, we got stuck in a tiny tiny town because the boat wouldn’t leave due to “bad weather”, but again no worries, we are on the move now!! We are still traveling with three of the six people, and we will be doing the Torres Del Paine circuit with them in just a couple days.
…Prayer Requests…
*Pray for good health. Like we said, we are hiking and camping a lot so our health needs to be in top condition!
*Pray for easy transitions with buses/hitchhiking. The services down here aren’t so regular and we don’t want to get stuck in one place again for a week!
*Praise God for the beauty He has created for us to enjoy, and the ability that we have to share that beauty with you all!
*Pray for our friends back home that are pregnant! Trust us, there are lots, and pregnant people need prayer!! So do their hubbies!!
