Blog 18: The Farm From Heaven

30th November - 4th December 2023

It was an eventful trip out to El Chucao, the farmstay I had organised on Airbnb. It was to be completely self-catered, so when I checked out of the Bellavista I walked up the street to the supermarket and provisioned-up. I noticed a few things; if this supermarket was typical, Chileans don't have the range of vegetables and fruit that we are used to. The range of bread was limited to wholemeal and white, both in plastic packs and both sliced. Honey ('miel') is popular in its creamed form, the pure form is there but you have to look for it. At the checkout the girl sent me back to the veg dept to weigh and label my bananas and apples, then joined me to weigh other stuff I'd put in like avocados and onions. It was kind of her to come and weigh/label those items for me.

Once I was done, I went outside and dialled up an uber. Within 3 minutes a young bloke turned up; we'll call him Pablo. Like so many people in the service industry here, he was instantly grumpy with me for not being able to speak Spanish. With help from Google Translate, I got him to stop at the Hotel Bellavista for me to collect my cases, but booking in the trip destination became problematic very quickly. For some reason the farm owners have resisted being Google-mapped, so the farm does not appear in any search. The owners had sent me a long set of instructions in WhatsApp, all in Spanish, to help the uber driver. Pablo was dubious; he needed a destination to properly book the ride, so we settled on a nearby property on the same road as the farm and hoped for the best.

Oddly enough for a relatively small city, the route out of Puerto Varras was banked right back, and it took a good 40 minutes of crawling along to be free of the snarl. About 20 minutes later Pablo turned off the busy sealed road to Ensenada at the Police Station, as directed in the message, and headed up the dirt road. It seemed to take forever to find anything resembling the farm described in the directions. Pablo kept hesitating, looking at Google Maps and trying to work out the location. I knew Google Maps was useless if the farm is not registered on it, but the language barrier was becoming a real issue. Finally I spotted a sign - El Chucao, with a road next to it, but Pablo seemed reluctant to go down it, and I must admit I couldn't see a farm at the other end of it. I kept saying I think we're here, but he turned back trying to look for something more certain and we ended right back up at the intersection with the Ensanada Road. Through gestures I got him to call the owner, who told him we ACTUALLY HAD been at the farm when I saw the sign! But for a reason I couldn't understand, Pablo refused to go back. In English he managed to say he was running out of fuel and because I had not provided a destination, he was returning to Puerto Varras. He also indicated that I should pay for his fuel. I said 'Let me out please', which he seemed to understand perfectly.

So there I was standing by a dirt road in the middle of nowhere with my 23k case, my 10k backpack, my briefcase, and about $100 of supermarket provisions.

I managed to text the owner on WhatsApp and soon enough 'Juan' was on the way to get me. Kanky, the property owner was Kranky Kanky by now and said the uber driver was an idiot. Juan took a while, he was held up by a herd of cows on the road, but to my relief he eventually turned up in his 4WD. Juan's English was good, and as we drove back to el Chucao he told me about the farm, the woods, the different kinds of trees that grow here, the soil, his animals. All very interesting. The farm is a kind of commune. He and Kanky have separate houses and there are 5 or six lodges for guests.

The driveway into the farm was about 2K long and an awesome road to walk on. It led through open farm land with spring flowers in full bloom, views of the volcanoes (on a good day) and a forest with boardwalks and a creek. Every outlook was beautiful, a feast for the eyes. Over the next few days I was to walk the driveway several times.

My accommodation was rustic, but really well designed, comfortable and appointed with everything I could need for a self-catered stay. It was double-storeyed, with a full kitchen and sitting room on ground level next to the glass reading room that had attracted me in the first place, and upstairs on an open mezzanine, a very comfortable king sized bed, a desk looking out over the forest, and an ensuite. Perfect. It was also a comfortable distance from everyone else on the farm, private, an extension to the barn.

On the second day it rained and hailed. I spent the day pretty much in the glass sitting room listening to the birds and watching the forest drip. Awesome.

Here are some of the photos I took of the farm over the full 4 days I was there, in random order, ending with my glass reading room overlooking the forest.