On my last day in Pucon I visited Huerquehue national park. Even though it is almost impossible to pronounce the name of this park, it really is beautiful. Myself, Chris (from Oz) and a couple from Switzerland hiked the Lagos trail, traversing three stunningly beautiful lakes. After a swim we headed back and joined the rest of the hostel to celebrate the last night for a few of us.
I have finally decided to head North. The South of Chile is absolutely amazing but it´s currently the highest of high seasons and I´m planning to go back to the general region at the beginning of next summer anyway. There´s not much to see between Pucon and Santiago but I always like the challenge of searching for interesting things that aren´t in the guide book.
With this in mind, I picked two random towns and flipped a coin. The winner was Temuco, 3 hours bus ride North. This strategy has provided some gems on previous trips....but this time it backfired. I arrived to find what I can only describe as the Chilean version of Milton Keynes. Except everything was closed and there were zero accommodation options. I got there at midday and had already decided to leave by 2pm.
I wanted to go to the town of Chillan, but the only bus I could find departed at 8pm, arriving at midnight. And I hadn´t organised any accommodation.... Anyway, I bought a ticket and was told that I had to go to a different bus station "600 meters" down the road, so I decided to kill some time by walking. After what I considered to be at least 800m there was a sign informing me that the bus station was another 1km away. Spirits were low at this point! I finally got to the bus station and chilled out on a grass verge to pass the 4hrs waiting time. As luck would have it, I ended up chatting to a guy from Santiago who called a hostel in Chillan and sorted me a room - absolute legend.
There was an empty seat next to me when I got on the bus but at the first stop a woman got on and sat next to me. After about 10 minutes she asked me if I knew what time the bus arrived in Chillan. She could tell from my reply that I wasn´t Chilean - obviously my Spanish was perfect, it must have been the subtle difference in the accent! - and asked me where I was from. It turned out that her family lives 3 doors down from the hostel I was planning on staying at, so we shared a taxi. I´m not sure if it was because she´s really friendly, or because she was amused by my comedy use of the Spanish language, but she offered to show me round the town the next day.
So I met Paula the next day and was shown around town. I was also introduced to pretty much everyone who lives there - I don´t think they get many tourists. Chillan has a great market, a really unusual church and a large mosaic wall depicting the escapades of Bernardo O´Higgins, who freed Chile from the Spaniards.
We wandered around for a while and the next thing I knew I had been invited over for lunch. With the entire family! I couldn´t really say no so I rocked up to the house to find a dining table set for 15! There were three generations of the Villaman family, as well as numerous cousins and friends. Luckily they weren´t fazed by my ridiculous use of the Spanish language and the father, who enjoys travelling a lot himself, said "mi casa es su casa" - which I didn´t even know was a real phrase. Half the time I didn´t have a clue what was going on but it really was awesome.
The next day some of us went to the national park 100km out of town. There are two volcanoes there and thermal pools everywhere. We hiked up a mountain to find some hot mud baths and gaps in the rocks spewing sulphur out into the air. In the evening we went to the restaurant of one of their friends which was completely outside - its about 20 degrees in the evenings here.
Today I said goodbye and I´m back on the road North. It sounds cheesy but I am truly stunned at how friendly and generous the people in this country are - especially the Villaman family! Next stop is either the beach town of Pichilemu or Mendoza in Argentina - can't wait!
A huge spider in Huerquhue National Park - a bit bigger than my hand....
We wandered around for a while and the next thing I knew I had been invited over for lunch. With the entire family! I couldn´t really say no so I rocked up to the house to find a dining table set for 15! There were three generations of the Villaman family, as well as numerous cousins and friends. Luckily they weren´t fazed by my ridiculous use of the Spanish language and the father, who enjoys travelling a lot himself, said "mi casa es su casa" - which I didn´t even know was a real phrase. Half the time I didn´t have a clue what was going on but it really was awesome.
The next day some of us went to the national park 100km out of town. There are two volcanoes there and thermal pools everywhere. We hiked up a mountain to find some hot mud baths and gaps in the rocks spewing sulphur out into the air. In the evening we went to the restaurant of one of their friends which was completely outside - its about 20 degrees in the evenings here.
Today I said goodbye and I´m back on the road North. It sounds cheesy but I am truly stunned at how friendly and generous the people in this country are - especially the Villaman family! Next stop is either the beach town of Pichilemu or Mendoza in Argentina - can't wait!
A huge spider in Huerquhue National Park - a bit bigger than my hand....
One last look at Villarica Volcano
Lago Verde
Mosaics at Chillan
Statue outside Chillan University
Me, Paula and Lorenna about to conquer the mountains of Chillan!
Beautiful views from the mountains near Chillan
Hot mud baths!
A twin volcano near Chillan
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