Thursday Nov. 22
It was weird going into work on Thanksgiving as if it were a regular day. When my family had their Thanksgiving lunch, they tried to call me, because they forgot that I was at work.
Though I didn’t get the day off, I did get to leave early so that I could catch my flight to Puerto Montt. Though I had packed myself some broccoli and hummus for dinner, it was Thanksgiving dinner and that warranted a splurge. That’s right, overpriced McDonald’s at the Airport.
I got pretty lucky with this flight – I was able to get window seats and watch the sun set as we flew over Chile. It was amazing – looking at the snow-covered mountains from above, watching towns appear in the valleys between mountains and seeing the sky turn pink over the green fields of the lake region.
I arrived to Puerto Montt after 9 pm, just at the sun had set. I took a transfer to the bus terminal and walked to my hostel from there.
I was slightly confused when I arrived at a wooden house in a residential area in the hills of the town. Rock music boomed from somewhere down the street – so maybe the area was more than a normal neighborhood? Luckily, there was a sign near the door letting me know that, this was indeed my hostel, Casa Perla.
I was greeted by, who I assumed must have been Perla, who let me know what room I was staying in. It was a really quaint space – everything was wooden and creaked just a little, making it feel like a cabin. Shortly after arriving, the other two beds in the room were filled by a pair traveling from Europe. The girl was from Spain, and the guy was German (names escape me… not sure if I ever really learned them). They had just spent two days making their way up from Patagonia – in boats and on roads that closed due to the downpours that I had just missed. (This region is notoriously rainy). They had travelled all over Chile in just two weeks – hitting all of the stops that I had seen, and more. I was amazed. They were fun to talk to – the guy had worked in South Carolina for 3 months and loved the food (particularly obsessed with Five Guys) but wasn’t a fan of the guns. I always love hearing an outside perspective of the US.
