Blogs from Araucanía, Chile, South America

On the rare occasion you must visit the grocery store, I have a great idea to break the boredom at home. Venture over to the well stocked wine section of your store. Nobody is there, six feet social distancing is not a problem! Instead of buying your usual red or white wine, try this: step over to a section of a country you have not tried before. Some choices I would recommend: Chile, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and France. But you might ask why? I say give it a try and do a little research. Be your own sommelier. How many times have I discovered a new wine by chatting with the wine steward, or another diner? Maybe try something sweeter or drier than your normal choice. Or my favorite, a sparkling wine! ... read more

Pucón (01/08/2018-07/08/2018) Pucón: a cosy, charming town set on the gorgeous Lake Villarrica, with some serious alpine vibes going on. Sitting under the shadow of Volcan Villarrica (one of South America's most active volcanoes, and one I would later climb), Pucón packs a massive punch despite it's small size. Here you can find all year round adventure; it offers the perfect combination of adrenaline and nature. I absolutely fell in love. I arrived at 7am - the air was crisp and fresh, the ground was sparkling with frost, the sunrise was a beauitul purple pink, and snow-capped Volcán Villarrica was smoking in the distance. Ahhh, beautiful, beautiful Pucón. Chili Kiwi Hostel This is the hostel of dreams. I walked in at 7.30am and the fireplace was lit and somebody was cooking pancakes. Oh, hello! Soft beds, ... read more

Valparaiso is known as the seaside resort for Santiago with Vina del mar just up the road from there known as the garden city of Chile and host to a big annual festival! We arrived around midday checked into our hostel which was perched up on the hillside in the graffiti neighbourhood. It was pretty cool to look at and there was loads of it to see. We decided to go on the free walking tour to orientate ourselves so headed out down the long stair case to the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately we didn't do the walking tour. No sooner had we got there, I projectile vomited and more millimetres from a dog! A flustered Jo managed to hail a cab and we swiftly returned to the safety of the hostel and headed to ... read more

R: We arrived in Pucon in the northern Chilean lakes at about lunchtime. The bus trip was uneventful except for talking to a man at the bus station who was doing almost the reverse of our trip after retiring. Our hostel here is a bit far out of town but has incredible views of Volcan Villarica right from the window. But first we had to read the 2-sided rule card for the hostel, said the lady who checked us in. We found the England v. Ireland match on the TV so I nipped to the supermarket during half time to grab some empanadas. It's kind of like eating a pie. After the resounding win, we headed into town. Pucon is quite touristy, and overpriced, but very sweet. The buildings are all pretty wooden affairs and there ... read more

First of all apologies for being so late with this instalment...anyway on with the blog. We left Argentina by minibus which took us a welcome 550m higher to the border. We crossed the Argentine and Chilean borders by bike and then had an enjoyable descent of 800m in 20km. Thereafter it was rolling ups and downs which would have been nicer without the strong headwind! We arrived in Pucón under grey skies which threatened rain and we couldn't see the Villarica volcano that we were hoping to climb the following day. Sadly the weather forecast for the following day was poor and no trips to the volcano were running (we wouldn't have been able to see much anyway). So the plan for our free day here morphed into a cycle ride to some nearby thermal springs. ... read more