Southern Chile & memories of Home

I woke up to the sound of what can only be described as an air raid siren, like the ones I remember from watching WW2 movies with my Dad. Was it possible that the Nazi’s were bombing Chile? I didn’t care, I was tired and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Sleep never came so I decided to get an early start.

It was the first cool morning that I have had in Chile, it felt refreshing. I was now glad for the early start as the cool air would wake me up. I headed south and started to get a familiar feeling; it was if I had taken this highway before. Things looked and felt familiar but I knew I was going the right direction. I started to get memories of home. It was the road that was so familiar, with pine trees on each side, giant Shell gas stations with all the extra shops and services, it was just like Ontario. Lots of signs for camping, many rivers and lakes and more backpackers than I could keep track of, all heading for the countryside, just like in Canada. One thing I did see a lot of that you won’t see in Canada were hitchhikers, people are too afraid to hitchhike in Canada, too many crime shows on TV if you ask me.

I little further down the highway I could see snowcapped mountains off in the distance. Memories of Alberta and Alaska flooded my mind. Seems so long ago, but it wasn’t really. It was an interesting ride and my mind was drifting back to memories of my childhood and summers spent in our little camper by the lake, maybe I will buy one when I get back. The Pan American highway here is very straight and I didn’t have to pay attention to much, and wasn’t paying attention to my speed. The cop and his radar gun were paying attention though and I had to talk my way out of yet another ticket. This cop was a little easier than the rest, he found my excuse amusing “My fingers are cold; I need to find some hot coffee”.  Don’t try that excuse back in Canada.

Eventually I reached the city of Puerto Montt and instantly had memories of Vancouver. There was a cruise ship in the harbor, mountain off in the distance and a long boardwalk along the shore, similar to Vancouver.  Over 1,000km today, most of it spent in the past. Tomorrow I am going to look into taking a ferry further south and spend the day in the present, living in the moment.  

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2 Responses to Southern Chile & memories of Home

  1. Pete Chester says:

    Hola Greg. I am enjoying reading your reports. I also found Argentina & Chile more expensive. Nice travel report & great deep thinking. You are so right about how adventure traveling gets your mind straight. I wished I had done more of it when I was younger. I guess you are going to take the ferry down aways then cut over to Ruta 40 in southern Argentina, that will be nice. I wished I had riden over there on my trip. Have fun & I am looking forward to reading more reports. Make sure to post a bunch of pictures. Pete Chester

  2. greg says:

    Glad you keep reading Pete. You are right, Chile is a bit more expensive, but it is sure beautiful. I will be taking a lot of photos in the next few days.
    Always good to hear from you.

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