Southern Chile

Parque Nacional Huerquehue

From Santiago we went onward- further south into the Chilean lakes district, where it was truly the middle of winter. As we arrived at our first destination, Pucon, a thick haze of smoke hung in the air from all the wood fires heating homes, restaurants, and hostels.

Our hostel, cosy from said wood burning stoves, was decked out in typical Southern Chilean log cabin-style decor. It also gave us an excellent view of the main attraction in Pucon, the active Volcan Villarica, which was glowing orange with magma when we arrived that night.

Pucon is a picturesque resort town located next to a beautiful lake and alarmingly close to the volcano. While we were there we went hiking in the Parque Nacional Huerquehue, where we climbed into the snowy mountains and were rewarded with views of half-frozen lakes and stands of the famous Monkey-Puzzle trees. And since volcanic activity always means an abundance of natural hot springs, we spent a relaxing night at the thermal baths Los Pozones- beautiful pools of varying heat located next to a rushing river and shockingly uncrowded.

Monkey Puzzle Trees

We also spent a rainy day playing cards and cooking, and one day as we walked around town a wild pack of family dogs adopted us and made us their leaders. For two days they wandered the streets with us, chasing cars and barking at other dogs and the occasional shifty looking person.

The Pack- Sheila, Steve, Bob and Rex (from Left to Right)

Unfortunately, in the end we did not get to climb the volcano, which is what most people go to Pucon to do, and why we were biding our time for a few days, hanging out with our dog pack and whatnot. The climb is an ideal way for beginners like us to get technical climbing experience using crampons and ice picks, and after reaching the top you get to sled all the way back down (!) but it was not meant to be. The weather needs to be perfect and does not often cooperate in the middle of winter. On our last day there we seriously considered going up though there were some clouds on the volcano in the early morning, but the owner of our hostel strongly encouraged us not to- imagine our disappointment when at 10 am we were greeted with this view:

But the clouds rolled back in around 1, right when we would have been reaching the summit. So, feeling slightly better but still regretful, we decided it was time to move on.

From Pucon we headed to Valdivia, a city located near several rivers and the Pacific coast- for this reason the Spanish built several forts here which can still be visited. Valdivia also has a lot of influence from the Germans that came to settle in the lakes district in the 1850´s, it is the site of a major university, and it survived the strongest earthquake ever recorded- a 9.5 in 1960 (not to mention the 8.9 this past February!). We actually felt a 4.5 in the middle of our first night there, but that´s like not even a big deal in Valdivia.

Mercado Fluvial, Valdivia

We were pleasantly surprised by how much there was to do and see in Valdivia- many thanks to Viella at our excellent hostel, Airesbuenos, for clueing us in. We checked out the mercado fluvial- a fish and produce market along the river, where giant pelicans and sea lions (both animals way bigger then the ones you´ll see in california) scavenge for tasty treats. We visited the botanic garden at the Universidad Austral de Chile, and then caught a microbus out to La Niebla, a small fishing village on the coast. There we ate the best seafood of the whole trip (no joke- really delicious crab) and visited one of the spanish forts.

Valdivian coast near Niebla

On the way back to town we visited the Kunstmann Cerveceria, where they are making some pretty legitimate German beer. The other German ¨treat¨ we (well, really just Kurt) tried in Valdivia was crudo, raw beef with lemon on white toast. People really love the stuff and order piles of it. We both were more into the Kuchen- delicious cake!

Tidepools near Ancud, Chiloe Island

Our next stop after Valdivia was the mystical island of Chiloe (there are all sorts of legends about the brujos (wizards) and other magical creatures that live on the island). After our bus got ferried over to the island we arrived in Ancud, where we sampled curanto- the local dish that includes a variety of shellfish, pork ribs, chicken, sausage, potatoes, spongy bread, and a side of pork broth (whew!). We also took a walk to a beach slightly north of the town, where we saw exactly three penguins (at other times of the year there are thousands! but it was still nice to see any at all).

The next day we headed south to the capital of Chiloe, Castro. We admired the famous local church, built entirely of wood (even wooden pegs instead of nails) because of a lack of metal at the time it was built. Then we went to the national park on the western side of the island for a day of hiking.

Parque Nacional Chiloe

After walking through the boggy inland forests we headed for the beach but found the path had been flooded by a sizeable marsh. We were at an impasse- I stubbornly refused to take off my shoes and wade across, and Kurt stubbornly refused to turn back without reaching the ocean- until we agreed upon a compromise:

We arrived at the beach to find it completely deserted except for a lone clamdigger who was stuck in his wetsuit- Kurt very nicely helped him and then we had the beach all to ourselves for the rest of the afternoon.

From Castro we headed back to the mainland to Puerto Varas, another nice resort town on a lake near some volcanoes. It was really just a stopover for the night before we continued on into Argentina, our last country of the trip!