I started on the planning table with a broad, indicative map - with a plan to travel the length of the Chile, the longest country in the world - starting from the far north and make my way to the far south of the country.
While I did travel the entire length of the country (spoiler!), there were unplanned deviations and detours, based on new facts I learnt while travelling, recommendations by fellow travelers, suggestions by hosts, just conditions forced upon by the timings of public transport. Or just whims.
1. The Santiago Leg
Santiago, the largest city (by far), and the capital of the country was my entry into the country. I had registered for the Santiago Marathon on Sunday and landed in the city 4 days ahead to make myself used to the place, including a safeguard against a case of Jetlag - a nasty rich-man disease I had only heard of in lore and fables. (Thankfully, I didn't).
After having run the marathon on Sunday, I flew to Arica, the northernmost town of Chile, right at the Peruvian border, where was to begin my southbound journey from.
2. Arica to Valparaíso
I started from the beach city of Arica, the northernmost city in Chile at the Peruvian border - a city that knows how to party.
After a night of sleep (as discotheques stayed up thumping the grooviest Latino numbers), I spent the day exploring the city. It happened to be on 1st of May, streets were deserted and places shut. Much peaceful!
I took an overnight bus to San Pedro de Atacama, a town designed for tourists to explore the Atacama desert. After a halt of 3 days in the beautiful (and touristy, ergo, expensive) pueblo, I moved to the city of La Serena.
La Serena, the gateway to the Elqui Valley, known for vineyards and production of Pisco, a spirit under a who-came-up-with-it-first dispute between Chile and Peru. I stayed in a small village named Pisco Elqui for 3 days - drunk with Pisco and the local wines and beers almost the entire time.
My next destination as I moved south, was the colorful city of Valparaíso. The city, true to its reputation, was a city of rebels and loud and colorful fiesta-loving people.
I could not find a square inch of real estate on any city wall spared from the vibrant and expressive, often anti-establishment, graffiti and murals in wherever I went in Valparaíso.
3. Valparaíso to Los Lagos
Unsure of which place to head to next, I was convinced by a couple of hostel-mates to skip right past the centre of the of the country, where the farmlands and trees start sprouting up, preparing us for the thick temperate forests and untouched landscapes that come next.
The city of Pucon (in the region of Los Lagos) - the gateway to these temperate forest landscapes - was to be my pitstop for the next 3 nights. Lying in the shadow of the magnificent Volcano Villarica and a lake that goes by the same name, Pucon was an absolute delight. Right at the edge of the national parks and mountain hikes, I could have stayed there for weeks and still have some new hike or landscape to explore the next day.
I decided to head to the German belt of the country - a bunch of towns established by the German settlers in the 19th century, mostly along the lake Llanquihue.
Of my possible options, I chose the town of Frutillar (literal translation in spanish - Strawberry). The absolute beauty, located on the lake with Volcano Osorno, even bigger than the Volcano Villarica in Pucon, rising like Olympus above the Serengeti.
4. Hornopirén to Coyhaique
After stopping over for a day in Frutillar, and getting a little smashed on German beer that evening, I decided to move down south the next morning, this time unsure of which town I would end up in by the day end.
I took a bus to Puerto Montt, and then after a wholesome encounter with a lady at the information helpdesk, took a bus to La Arena, and then a free of cost ferry to cross a river and then a bus to the city of Hornopiren, a town at the foothills of a volcano and the mouth of a fjord.
5. Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams
The road down south, ends a little after in Coyhaique (Villa O'Higgins, insert reference), as Patagonia starts to grow in grandeur and physicality, disallowing any human settlement and land transport through the massive blocks of glaciers and ice guarding the region.
Calle-Sin-Salida-ed by nature, I decided to take a small flight from Coyhaique (Balmaceda airport) to the city of Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellanes and the largest town in South Patagonia.
One of the most beautiful cities in my eyes, Punta Arenas was a treat to walk around in.
It was also to be the starting point for the longest, coldest and my last leg of journeys - a a 32 hour ferry to Puerto Williams, the southermost town of Chile. And the world.
The ferry, called Yaghan, charted through the rough and choppy waters of the Strait of Magallenes, and then through the calm and cold Beagle Channel. One of the most beautiful journeys I have undertaken in my life - the ferry after a day and a half long journey drops you at the port of the southernmost town in the world, Puerto Williams.
I stayed in the town for 3 nights, before starting my journey back, one leg at a time, all the way to New Delhi.
The Return Journey
The solemn and sombre return journey was to start by flying from ill-sized yet adorable airport of Puerto Williams to Punta Arenas. The week before, no flights took off from the adorable airport because of snowstorms and turns out, it's not abnormal for such blanket flight cancellations. My flights all the way to Delhi, were all on the heels of one another and so if one leg gets affected, the whole return leg comes crashing down.
The weather was good on Monday, the day of my flight, and we flew. So far, so good. From Punta Arenas, a bus to the town of Puerto Natales, where I decided to stop for a day hike to see the famous Torres in the Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine.
From the town of Puerto Natales (an airport in a town of 18k people), I took a flight to Santiago (via Puerto Montt), thanks to the weather holding strong. (insert I'll allow it meme)
The next day, I took a my flight back to Delhi, after a layover in Paris.
*extremely sad human noises*
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