Keeping up the blogg when spending big chunks of time on the road is proving tricky. On the road there is so much I want to remember to share later but I don't want to look down to write and maybe miss something while. I think the photos tell the story better anyway.
Doing a road trip in Chile is nothing like doing a road trip in Australia. There are towns and people EVERYWHERE here. You don't go for more than a few kilometers in any direction before you're reminded that you are surrounded by people. There is always a billboard, or town sign or "Pan Amasado" sign to remind you. And you also don't go more than a few kilometers without having to pay a bloody toll!
Mum, dad and I started our little road trip south, travelling on the Ruta 5 - otherwise know as the Pan-Americana Highway. Starting from Santiago, we went to Temuco, Osorno, El Tayque, Puerto Montt, Ancud, Castro, Valdivia, Coral and just about every town in between. Pretty much anywhere we saw a "Pan Amasado" sign dad wanted to stop. And every time there was anything that looked remotely like a 'feria artesanal' mum and I wanted to stop so it was a nice slow pace for the most part. Although anyone who's been in a car with my dad driving will know this is a relative statement.
Doing a road trip in Chile is nothing like doing a road trip in Australia. There are towns and people EVERYWHERE here. You don't go for more than a few kilometers in any direction before you're reminded that you are surrounded by people. There is always a billboard, or town sign or "Pan Amasado" sign to remind you. And you also don't go more than a few kilometers without having to pay a bloody toll!
Mum, dad and I started our little road trip south, travelling on the Ruta 5 - otherwise know as the Pan-Americana Highway. Starting from Santiago, we went to Temuco, Osorno, El Tayque, Puerto Montt, Ancud, Castro, Valdivia, Coral and just about every town in between. Pretty much anywhere we saw a "Pan Amasado" sign dad wanted to stop. And every time there was anything that looked remotely like a 'feria artesanal' mum and I wanted to stop so it was a nice slow pace for the most part. Although anyone who's been in a car with my dad driving will know this is a relative statement.
Of course when we were in the area, we went to stay with Tia Sarays in El Tayque. We headed out just past sunset after picking up Tia in Entre Lagos where she'd been in a meeting. Now to get to Tia's house you have to get up a pretty nasty hill on a gravel road with no safety fences or any fancy shit like that. I tried to tell dad this but of course, dad does not like to be told how to drive - he's the man and he knows what he's doing even when he hasn't got a clue. Now on this road there is one point in particular that is so steep and so gravelly that even Tia's Subaru with the 4x4 on struggles to make it. We, on the other hand, were travelling in a tiny little Kia Pop (like a Mitsubishi Colt) with tiny wheels that was struggling on the flats with the big rocks that make up the gravel road.
It is on this precise spot - the steepest, gravelliest, most dangerous corner - that dad decides to move to the edge so that a ute following us can overtake.
THERE IS NO FENCE ON THIS ROAD.
THERE IS SOFT SQUISHY PILES OF GRAVEL ON THE EDGE OF THE ROAD JUST BEFORE THE DROP.
IT'S DARK AND WE ARE IN A CITY CAR.
Mum screams, the car is sliding everywhere in slow motion, and the edge is so close when we stop that the car is tilting scarily forward. All but dad are madly trying to get out of the car as quickly as possible. Mum has hit COMPLETE panic mode. I'm trying to keep my own panic down whilst calming mum down so that she doesn't faint on me and so that dad doesn't freak out at mums freak out. Tia Sarays is calmly waiting for everyone to just relax a little.
Dad finally gets back in the drivers seat swearing at everyone that he knows what he's doing and will have us right in two seconds. He whacks the car in reverse, spins the wheels in the gravel, and slides the car within inches of falling into the ditch on the other side of the road.
Mum is screaming! Tia and I are both screaming for dad to stop. Dad is screaming at mum to stop making him nervous. Total chaos. Dad tells me to get behind and push the car to help get it out of the gravel - no worries, Tia comes over and gets set to push too. And next thing you know the reverse lights are on and dad is revving the engine. STOP!! we yell, what the hell do you think you're doing? Getting a run up to go forward of course!
When we finally got the car back on the 'good' bit of the road and up the hill, mum swore the car was not to move again until we were ready to leave and once we were down the hill we were NEVER going back up in that car again.
But thankfully most of our other adventures were good ones. We ate so much seafood, I don't think I can handle anymore for quite some time. There were some amazing sights, especially on the ferry to Chiloe and in Ancud where we stayed at a beautiful hostel over looking the ocean. 
The last town we stayed at was Niebla, Valdivia. Some family friends, Isabel (Chabela, Nuby's daughter) and husband and kids, live there and they made us feel very, very welcome. We were there for 3 nights all up. The family is clearly a happy one with lots of love and respect for everyone, and lots of fond memories of mum and dad too. They invited me to come back and stay anytime and I think I'll take them up on the offer.
Interesting point for me too is to see mum and dad from other peoples point of view - especially dad. I know I can be very hard on dad sometimes. Sometimes I find it hard to understand how he could have made some of the mistakes he's made in terms of our family. But when I see the good that he's done for other people, the love that he inspires from people (who consider him as their surrogate father) I find it easier to accept that maybe he didn't really mean the fuck-ups he did with us.
One of my objectives with coming to Chile was to understand my parents and my family history better. This road trip certainly meets that criteria.
