April 21,

We awoke, and Jeff started a fire. We got around after 20 minutes, readied and had our Javas with breakfast of Muesli, a pear, and yogurt. It was a miserable, overcast, rainy day. So we did not do much of anything. We watched some educational videos on YouTube.

For lunch we had pasta with a red zingy sauce, tomatoes, onions, and garlic with ciabatta bread. It was surprising, the zing of the sauce was pretty all right. When we finished I blogged and Jeff planned some, and booked our last night in Chile. That last night had slipped under our radar and we almost forgot it. At 1830, Jeff got a text from the car rental company. They need the car back – they are selling it – and will upgrade us. What!!?!!! This is one of the weirdest things we have had happen to us ever! Jeff also went out for some wine but found some rum, which we had not had in awhile. We watched the original Iron Man with popcorn and rum. Then turned in around 2200. It had rained off and on all day, mostly on! Kind of a bummer day!

     April 22,

Well, the weather wasn’t any better today. Jeff lit this fireplace for the last time, which was good as we have gone through much of the firewood. We got up and about, readied and packed up our stuff. We ate our “last ofs:” Muesli, a pear, and yogurt; also had our Javas. Finished our packing, loaded up, and we were out of our place by 1030. We stopped in central Castro and took a picture of another church, Iglesia Patrimonial San Francisco, Castro. It was located right on Plaza de Armas de Castro. It was open, but there was no parking available. So I hopped out and took a quick picture, then jumped back into the car when Jeff came back around. There was actually blue sky right then and there was a brief plug in the waterworks of the day. HA-HA!!

On the road again. We took the lesser road, W-55, as it snaked mostly along the coast. The weather changed back to overcast and rained enough to make Jeff leave the wipers on as we drove. About 1130, I finally remembered to text our host that we were out, but had to wait for a signal to send it, OOPSEY. It was okay though, we did not have to be out until noon. As we drove, we went north out of Castro. We picked up a hitchhiker, but she arrived at her place within 15 minutes. She did not speak any English.

Around 1245, we arrived near Chacao. It was here we caught a big ferry to the mainland to go towards Puerto Montt. The ferry loaded at 1255 and we were on our way at 1305. The price for the ferry with our car was 19800 CLP, or $22.25. At 1334, the ferry landed at Punta Coronel and we were underway on Route 5 – a super hwy/toll road. Jeff had to pay 3100 CLP, or $3.50. The speed limit was 120 kmph!! It’s the first time we have seen this high since we’ve been driving in Chile! We arrived in Puerto Montt and went to a Lider, a branch of WalMart, buying from a list. Then we looked for a chicken place, but could not find it and ended up at a hamburger place, Burger 7. I had a Classic Hamburger with a real hamburger pattie, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles. Jeff had a double smash burger with two cheeses. We also ordered a side of fries, and water. We got our orders that came with a basket of fries each and then our side order! We did not know that the hamburgers came with fries. The burgers were good, but we ended up having the side order packaged up for takeaway. We left around 1540, paying 36,377 CLP, or $41.11 with a 10% tip, which Jeff usually does if it is on the ticket.

We left and drove to a gas station. We needed to top up as the car rental company is coming to pick up the car tomorrow and they want it full. It is still crazy to us that the company has sold the car while someone has it rented! Anyway, we will see how that goes tomorrow. Now we headed north, to Puerto Varas, arriving there by 1600. We drove out of this town a bit to our new accommodation. We arrived about 1710 and the clouds opened up enough that we could see the Volcano, Osorno, across Lake Llanquihue! Beautiful cone shape! We unloaded, and our host came to check on us. We heated up the fries for a snack with a bottle of wine! We will be here for four nights