Ancud, Chile, South America

I woke up today to the sound of pouring rain outside, so I was really in no hurry to get moving. I had breakfast downstairs at the hostel and then got packed up and left by noon. I walked down to the bus terminal and got my ticket for the next bus to Ancud, which was in two minutes. I love it when that happens! It was just an hour and a half to get to Ancud, which is at the north end of Chiloe island. I got up to Ancud and unsurprisingly, it was raining up there as well. I had to get a taxi to the hostel, because it looked like it was too far to walk to in the rain.

I hailed a taxi, turned on my maps on my phone, and watched as we drove toward the center of the town instead of toward my hotel. We stopped and picked up two other people, and then I realized that this town only has collectivos, not regular taxis. So instead of just having my own taxi, he drives around until it is full and then we all go to our destinations at once. It’s a pretty good deal though, because it probably only added about five minutes to my trip, and it ended up costing me 500 pesos ($1) instead of about 4,000 pesos. I like that.

So even though I was the first one picked up, I ended up being the last one dropped off at Hotel Arena Gruesa. It’s a nice old house on the water with a huge yard, and a campsite as well. I rang the doorbell for someone to let me into the lobby and had to wait about three minutes for someone to show up. It appeared that there was no movement at all inside and I was starting to get worried. Finally an older man opened the door and his wife checked me in to the hotel. It reminds me of the old hotel in The Shining. It’s cold, windy, and rainy outside. And I’m pretty sure I’m the only guest here.

They showed me three rooms in the bottom floor of the hotel and I could have my choice. Only one of them had a queen bed, the rest were just twins, so of course I took the big bed. It’s a big room with a queen bed, twin bed, and a loft area. I also have my own bathroom, so it’s a pretty good setup. I dropped off my bags and headed into the “center” of Ancud. I didn’t think it was possible, but I actually found a smaller town than Castro. It’s really tiny. I found one restaurant that was open, and had some chicken and fries for lunch, that was just okay.

I walked around the town a little bit to see the port, and some old fort that was there. There was absolutely no information about the fort though, so I’m not sure of the story there. I tried to find a tour agency to organize a trip to see the penguins for tomorrow, but no one was open. Maybe they don’t open on Mondays or something, who knows. I got a couple of website names to check out later, and then headed back to the hotel.

It was just a 15 minute walk from the center to my hotel, but it felt like a lot longer in the rain. This weather is miserable. I picked up an empanada to have for dinner because I knew I wasn’t going to want to go back out in that rain if it persisted. It did. I checked out the websites for a tour to the penguin places, and you can only book tours online for the weekend. This is no good for me, so I’ll have to see if I can get myself there tomorrow morning. This island is nice and relaxing, but a little too relaxed I think. It’s hard to get anything done…