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Published: February 1st 2014
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Valdivia is situated on the west coast at the point of convergence for three rivers and is described as the most important university town in Southern Chile, with a strong emphasis on the arts and as such has a good, young vibe. The town was strongly influenced by the immigration of Germans in the mid 19th century, who brought with them the love of cake, which is still known by its German name "kuchen" and beer. So worth a visit in our eyes.
Unfortunately, it was raining when we arrived in Valdivia, which was quite a surprise for us as we had not really had any significant rain since we left the UK over two months ago. Despite the rain, we spent an enjoyable day or two in Valdivia, visiting the odd museum (having cake of course), but probably the most entertaining activity was watching the numerous sea lions that live in the river and hang about around the lively fish market hoovering up any spare fish bits that are discarded into the water.
From Valdivia we continued south to the picturesque lake side town of Puerto Varas, situated on the shore of Lago Llanquihue and overlooked by two
snow capped volcanoes, Osorono and Calbuco. Unfortunately, we did not actually get the full panoramic view from the town over the lake, which is supposed to be spectacular, as it was still a bit cloudy with fairly heavy showers. Of course the chance of the odd shower did not stop us from yet again seeking out the joys of an over crowded, bumpy, dusty local bus heading in the vague direction of a national park, treking mostly vertically for several hours, munching a well earned, if not slightly squashed cheese butty and just trying to take in all the incredible scenery. Such a satisfying way to spend a day. Also not a bad way to work off some of the excess cake consumption.
Continuing southwards, the island of Chiloe beckoned. Chiloe is a fair sized island about 180 km long by 50 km wide, is by far the biggest island of the Archipelago de Chiloe and was a Spanish stronghold during the Chilean war of independence. Although only separated from the main land at the northern end of the island by a narrow stretch of water (about 20 minutes on a car ferry) the island has a very different
feel to it. The sleepy fishing town of Ancud was our first port of call, where we decided to hire a car for two days to see some of the more remote parts of the northern half of the island. True to form with our budget car rental options (or rent a shed as we like to call them), we got a very tired Hyundi that sounded like it was powered by a pneumatic drill especially when pointed up hill. Nevertheless, with a bit of nursing it did the job and amongst other places took us to Punihuil beach where we boarded a small boat for a trip out to see the penguin colonies. Fortunately the sun shone for us and we saw loads of Humbolt and Magallanic penguins, as well as a sea otter which was a bonus (it was all Ross could do to stop Liz hopping over the side into the sea to join them for a swim).
With the car safely returned, we headed down to the island's main town of Castro for two nights where we watched dolphins out in the bay.
Before heading to the small settlement of Cucao on the west
of the island, we had to concede that, much as we would like it to remain blazing hot and sunny, as we push further southwards, the climate is changing and whilst it is very much the height of summer, that means about as much in Patagonia as it does in Wales. So after much searching of various retail outlets, we found ourselves some waterproof clothing that does not make us look too much like a pair of Pacific Ocean fishermen and headed towards Cucao and the promise of yet another stunning National Park.
It is difficult to describe Cucao as a village, more a collection of dwellings on a wind swept coastal inlet. We squeezed our way off the local bus through the throng of rather well built local folk and emerged into the damp and wind. We easily found our lodgings for three nights (not difficult in such a small place) and were greeted by the owner, a nice old lady called Luz, who seemed to immediately take a shine to us (or at least to Liz after she got her Spanish verbs a bit mixed up and ended up describing Ross as useless, which solicited a knowing
nod from Luz). Luz explained in a hushed voice that she also had some Chilean guests staying who were, in her eyes, a right pain and as such we could have breakfast at half the price they were being charged, but we had to keep mum about this. This really amused us and we decided that we liked this place.
Whilst this part of the island is known for its high rainfall, hence the temperate rain forest landscape, we were lucky and for the most part the rain confined itself to the night time, so we were able to walk the forest trails and along the wild windswept beach in the sunshine. We were granted the use of the kitchen to cook ourselves some dinner using the provisions we bought at the surprisingly well stocked local shop and Ross set about redeeming himself by preparing a fairly basic tomato pasta sauce. Luz took quite an interest in the sauce and needed no second invitation to try a spoonful which she seemed to enjoy immensely, in fact she seemed so impressed that we offered to cook the same meal the following evening and invited her to join us. This seemed
to go down well and resulted in Luz asking us to join her for supper on our final evening, which was a very tasty traditional fish and vegetable stew called cazuela.
So we have now left Cucao with full stomachs and fond memories and, with a one night stop over back in Castro, we then head by ferry over the Gulfo de Corcovado to Chaiten on the main land. The next leg of our journey will be heading south some 1000km down the Carreterra Austral by what ever means available. This is not such a well trodden route and the road will be mostly unmade with sketchy public transport links. We are looking forward to the adventure.
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