Hallenbad in Chile

Um dem Hausfrauendasein ein paar Stunden zu entfliehen, will ich anfangen regelmässig zu schwimmen. Schwimmbäder gibt es ja wie Sand am Meer, aber alle maximal acht Meter lang. Öffentliche Schwimmbäder zum Längen Schwimmen sind spärlich gesät. Und da jetzt der Herbst beginnt, muss ich ein Hallenbad finden. Unsere Gemeinde bietet für alle Anwohner ein Sportzentrum, wo es unter anderem ein gedecktes Hallenbad gibt.

An einem Montag Vormittag mache ich mich auf den Weg dorthin. Die umliegenden Sozialwohnungen machen die Gegend ein wenig unsicher. Das Velo muss man in das Gebäude reinnehmen und dort noch mit einem U-Schloss abschliessen. Ich frage nach dem freien Schwimmen und will einen Eintritt kaufen. So läuft das aber hier nicht. Man teilt mir mit, dass ich zuerst eine Schwimmprüfung ablegen müsse. Sonst dürfe ich keine Längen alleine schwimmen. Ich könnte ja untergehen und dann wären sie schuld. Amerika lässt grüssen. Ich muss also die Badehose und Badekappe anziehen und einem hübschen Schwimmlehrer vorschwimmen. Ich bin sogar ein bisschen nervös. Dabei bin ich doch schon viele Gigathlonkilometer in Flüssen und Seen geschwommen.

Nachdem der Schwimmlehrer sein Okay gibt, muss ich aus dem Wasser raus und darf nun erst mal einen Monatseintritt kaufen gehen. Etwas anderes gibt es nicht. Das benötigte Passfoto habe ich nicht dabei. Ich darf erst bezahlen und schwimmen mit Passfoto.

Montag Vormittag eine Woche später verschaffe ich mir endlich Eintritt ins Bad. Ich ziehe gemütlich meine Längen und spüre, wie gut es mir tut. Plötzlich füllt sich das Bad mit 30 Senioren mit Badekappen in allen Farben. Bald ertönt Reaggeton, der hübsche Schwimmlehrer schwenkt sein Füdli und das Wasser beginnt zu wellen. Ich freue mich innerlich über die typisch chilenische Zusatzunterhaltung.

Ich merke, dass mein Badekleid schon bessere Zeiten gesehen hat und überlege, wann ich mir denn im Costanera Shopping Center ein Neues kaufen könnte.

Nach einem Catwalk vor den 30 Tanzwütigen in die Garderobe fragt mich eine dort sitzende Dame, ob ich Interesse an einem Badekleid habe. Hääh? Hat sie meine Gedanken gelesen oder ist mein Badekleid etwa schon durchsichtig? Sie breitet ihre selbstgenähten Stücke vor mir aus und voilá, ich kaufe mein neues Badekleid ganz ohne Zeitaufwand. Das passiert einem auch nur ich Chile.

Ich freue mich auf meine neue wöchentlich Schwimmsession zu „te ví“ von Piso 21.

Carretera Austral with small children

I am writing this post in English because I was desperately seeking information about going on Carretera Austral with little kids. Since I wasn’t very successful, this post may be of use to other families living in Chile.

The long holidays have started and after having made a wonderful trip to the little south of Chile with my mom, sister and her child we wanted to head onto the famous Carretera Austral with our two children in February 2019. The Carretera Austral, also called „Southern Way“ is the name given to Chile’s Route 7. The highway runs 1’240 kilometers from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins through rural Patagonia.  In 1976 under the dictatorship of Pinochet the highway was being constructed to connect a number of remote communities. It is among the most ambitious infrastructure projects developed in Chile during the 20th century. Lots of parts are still unpaved and enhance a feeling of being in complete wilderness.

We decided to take our own car and take all the camping gear with us. Most traveller’s goal is to get as much driving done as possible, our goal was the opposite. How can we get to see as much as possible with as little driving as possible? I found out about the Naviera Austral which are ferries, that take you to different places on the Carretera Austral. We decided to take a night ferry from Quellon on Chiloé to Puerto Cisnes to get a lot of kilometers done on a boat while the children would sleep. Leaving dock at 5pm this ferry ride provided us with a beautiful sunset and a feeling how it must have been when boat was the sole possibility to reach remote parts of Chile. But it was also very tiring since we always had to be behind our 1-year old who loved running around on deck. When our kids finally fell asleep at 11pm, we didn’t mind the uncomfortable seats anymore and slept until the morning, too.

Arriving in Puerto Cisnes at dawn we started driving north because the children were still sleeping. And there is was, the Carretera Austral in its full beauty: unpaved road, lush dark green vegetation, peaks of white glaciers and the sun rising. There I knew it was worth taking this trip.

Arriving at our hotel location very early we decided to head directly to the „Ventisquero Colgante“ (hanging glacier) in the „Parque Nacional Queulat“. A good idea, we were there at the park opening at 8.30am and there was already a line. The kids woke up just as we parked the car. We were the first ones to start the hike to Laguna Tempanos, an easy 30- minute-walk to a lake with a view of the hanging glaciar. Our 4-year-old loved to walk over the hanging bridge and through the small path to the lake. We carried the little one most of the walk in the ergobagy.

On the shore of the lake we finally had breakfast and arrived around lunch time at our Hotel „Posada Queulat“ which I had booked to recover from the night on the boat. But since all hotels on the Carretera Austral are expensive we wanted to camp as much as possible. Our second day in Queulat we spent in the „Termas el Ventisquero“, relaxing in the hot springs and swimming in the cool water of the fjord while watching dolphins diving up an down in the same water. Leaving at 10am the next day we wanted to get as far as „Lago Yelcho“ or even „Parque Pumalín“ which meant a 3-hour-drive. Because lots of the roads are paved in this area we got quite far deciding not to stop for fuel in Puyuhuapi or Santa Lucia which would have woken up the kids. At lunch time we arrived in „Lago Yelcho Lodge“ which has a nice camping area, too. Unfortunately the camping was fully booked but the owner let us have lunch at a still empty camp site. We used our gas cooker for the first time and played at the beach. So the little one went back to sleep for our drive on to „Parque Pumalín„. „Parque Pumalín“ was bought by the founder of North Face Douglas Tompkins. He bought the land to contribute to the protection of the Earth’s last remaining wilderness. It has now been donated to the Chilean State and will be passed over this April.

We found a beautiful camp site in the „Camping el Ventisquero“ in the sector „El Amarillo“ of Parque Pumalín. There are a lot of camp sites in „Parque Pumalín“, all just having basic equipment like toilettes and cold water. No electricity, no hot water, no signal. But the rest spotlessly clean and with a beautiful design. We felt really happy.

We spent 4 nights there doing little hikes with the kids and simply being in nature. Sleeping in the tent was fine for our 4-year-old and us. The little one we had to put her in our sleeping bag to keep her warm. The temperature went down to 5 degrees Celsius. One day I even dared to do the 20k hike to the glacier „Ventisquero Amarillo“ while my husband was staying with the kids. It was nice to spend one day among the young „free“ hikers but I thought I would never get back. The last kilometers stretched endlessly for a mother who doesn’t do lots of sports anymore. I wished I had brought my hiking shoes and cut those permanent nails short.

The forth night the chicken pox broke out with our little one. We knew we had to head to Puerto Montt sooner or later. We drove to Chaitén to buy our ferry ticket for the next day. We had to spend one last night in Parque Pumalín. Somewhere I had read about Bahia Santa Barbara. That’s where we camped wild for the first and the last time. It was beautiful. Black warm sand in front of the „house“, the sun setting while sea lions played on the shore. But our little one and us didn’t sleep much because of her fever due to the chicken pox. And the one toilette was a five minute walk away. Not really comfortable with two little kids. And it got worse, the next day with woke up with rain. The children put on their rain gear and played just as long as it took us to dismantle the tent until they were completely soaked. We started the long trip to Puerto Montt. First driving to amazing Caleta Gonzalo. I wish we would have had more time in Parque Pumalín. There we got on the 4-hour-boat-ride to Hornopirén.

And then the convoy went on for another hour to the 20-minutes-ferry taking us to Puerto Montt. There we stayed in the Hotel Diego de Almagro for two nights to cure the chicken pox and recover from the sleepless nights.

It was an adventurous trip that we will never forget. I recommend Carretera Austral to everbody living in Chile. Especially Parque Pumalín .