20 Puerto Varas, casino

Holidays and short breaks
Argentina (2001)
Chile (2002)
India (2003)
World trip (2005-2006)
Libya (2008)

Pictures
1 Croydon to Arica
2 Arica, Azapa Valley
3 Arica, Panam + Codpa
4 Arica, PN Lauca
5 Calama
6 Chuquicamata
7 Salar de Atacama
8 San Pedro de Atacama
9 Tatio and Puritama
10 Santiago
11 Santiago to Pucón
12 Pucón
13 Pucón, a lazy day
14 Termas de San Luis
15 Pucón, horse ride
16 Puerto Varas
17 Ancud
18 Chiloé
19 Chiloé, pinguineria
20 Puerto Varas, casino
21 Torres del Paine
22 Torres del Paine
23 Torres del Paine
24 Torres del Paine
25 Zapallar
26 Zapallar
27 Zapallar, rodeo
28 Long trip home

Chile

Saturday 23 November 2002

The early start doesn’t happen, no surprise there! We again meet our Swiss friends at breakfast but don’t get together for conversation. The breakfast service is a bit below par today, but understandable as they have three tables to deal with. We manage to check out and depart around 11am finally, neither of us in any hurry. Luckily we don’t have to queue at the ferry and there is only one car in front of us. Ness is driving us back to Puerto Varas, which we reach around 2pm. The weather is warm but grey. The sun can’t manage to break through the cloud. The lady at reception recognises us from a few days back. Our room is smaller this time round. I have a go at getting us moved but to no avail, they’re full – huh?!? (most hotels in Chile bordered somewhere between empty and deserted…) The walk will have to wait until we’ve had something to eat, ave y tomato for Ness, chacarero for me. It is drizzling outside but we feel like a walk. We have both had enough of driving and there is a lovely lake right on our doorstep so the obvious conclusion is to walk along the lake shore. The walk is rather shorter than we had anticipated – the path ends at a fence marking private property. So we amble back through town. Most shops are still closed, but we hit on a bar where we stop for a few drinks – we may come back here tonight. A slow amble back to the hotel – the sun is now shining – and later I head down to the bar to write postcards. As I’m having a coffee in the bar a group of French people starts to build up in reception. A bit later I’m politely invited to vacate the bar and move to the breakfast room at the front of the hotel as the froggies have reserved the bar for a cocktail drink. The mystery of the full hotel has been explained.

That evening we go for a walk around Puerto Varas before picking a place for dinner. In the main square there is a band playing, badly. Many people are milling around, listening to the music, chatting – a lively Friday-night atmostphere. The bar we went to earlier now has a few more people and looks convivial, plus they do food so we head in. A group of British backpackers are in the back. Their conversations sound the same, and it’s a bit irritating to hear their English voices, so we move along one table when it’s free. Dinner is simple but successful for me (spinach crepe with centolla), less so for Ness (bland pasta). I order a coffee and cognac afterwards and am served a monster measure of XO cognac of an unfamiliar brand, but very good all the same. The band has stopped playing in the main square by the time we head back, but the casino is in full swing. We had a walk through earlier, intending to come back for a flutter at the cards and roulette upstairs. We lose a few chips of the $30,000 (£30) we started with, then move to one of the Draw Poker tables. The atmosphere is friendly and informal. I play for a while – it’s quite late by now – and end up first winning, then losing. Ness then takes my place when I go to the varones (gents toilet) and gets quite into it. We’re down to the last $15,000 but manage to keep it ticking over. Then Ness wins a few hands and a big one with a full house. Before we know it we have around $100,000! At the end of the evening we’re still $50,000 up, including all the drinks we have had. We both feel very …erm… “top of the world” when we finally head back to our hotel around 2.30am. And we have an early start tomorrow, only four and a half hours sleep!

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