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Published: February 5th 2008
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We crossed back into Chile from Argentina and went straight to the town of Villarrica to relax for a few days before moving on. This was a good place to rest as it was so hot there was nothing else we could do - 36 degrees celsius, ouch! But soon we had itchy feet and were on the move again. In a very roundabout way (via the town of Chillan to pick up our Chevy hire car) we made it to the areas slightly north of Villarrica, which according to our guidebook comprise part of Chile´s "Central Valley". First stop was the slightly unimpressive Salto del Laja waterfalls. The falls themselves are nice, but the whole set up is a bit strange. The falls seem to be sponsored by Coca-Cola giving quite a surreal commercial edge to a natural sight. After about 5 minutes we were ready to move on - the best bit about having a car is not having to stick to bus schedules!
So we continued south on the Pan-American Highway and turned off for the town of Curacautin. The town itself does not have too much going for it (apart from a very friendly hosteria owner
and a great cheap bar) but it is the location for setting off on trips to Volcan Lonquimay and Crater Navidad. We spent two days exploring this fascinating area - day one trying to climb the volcano and day two on the crater. The first day was particularly tough-going as on its last eruption the volcano had spewed out plenty of ash and lava, so that the walking was either as if we we going up a sand dune or over rough and spiky volcanic rock. Neither is nice and because of the latter we both ended up with cuts on our hands and legs. Anyway, after a couple of hours we finally made it to the final ridge below the summit. By this point I had decided that I had gone high enough and I was happy to just sit there and enjoy the view. But Barry was keen to reach the summit so I let him go whilst I sat on the ridge wondering how climbing volcanoes can make a person so dirty. The descent of the vocano was a lot easier than the ascent. We were able to slide down the sand for most of it and
within an hour we were back at the car, ready to return to Curacautin for relaxation before the next day´s activities.
The following day we returned to Volcan Lonquimay but this time drove beyond it to look at the Crater Navidad on its north-eastern side. This crater was formed on Christmas Day 1988 when lava which should have come out of the top of Lonquimay decided to make its own new mini-volcano here instead. The landscape in the area is simply breathtaking, very lunar and thoroughly fascinating to wander through. We climbed up the side of the crater to get a look inside. It was full of bright red rock and - more worryingly - we could see (and smell) a number of vents giving of sulphorous gases. We had read that the crater (though not the volcano) is extinct and so it was a bit of a surprise to see the gases! We also climbed higher and up around the rim of the crater to get views further afield. We were the only people there which I think certainly added to the experience. All in all, one of the best sights we have seen in Chile, and to
think it doesn´t even get a mention in most guidebooks.
From Curacautin we moved on back to the Pan-American before taking another detour to the town of Angol. This is the access town to the lovely Nahuelbuta National Park. Due to its relative inaccessibility we were only able to go to the park for a few hours but I am very glad we went. A two hour hike took us up through forests of "monkey puzzle" trees to a massive rock outcrop with great views to the valleys and mountains beyond. Chile has certainly been graced with amazing scenery.
I wished we could have spent longer exploring this part of Chile but money and time constraints meant we had to return the car and continue travelling north. On our way back to Chillan we came across a nasty road accident on the Pan-American, where at least 5 cars had been badly damaged. A few seconds after we got there a mad lorry driver who clearly hadn´t been paying attention to the road almost crashed into us as he tried desperately to brake. Luckily he only hit our wing mirror but the car in front was much worse-off and
the car in front of that, which had already been hit once, received a second hit. Ouch!
So, all in all, a great few days - just watch out for those mad lorries.
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Stephen Paul
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Lovely!
Great pictures as usual. This is totally awesome, you 're spending more time than normal for backpackers in beautiful Central Chile! The Chilean Andes from north of Santiago to below Coihaique- over 1200 km- is saturated with National Park apon National Park. 5000 meter peaks turn to glacial canyons that turn to massive volcanos that turn to dense Monkey Puzzle forests that turn to Alerce Rainforests and granite peaks that turn to glacier capped fjords. Its like paradise for nature lovers! im so happy you shared a glimpse of this with the world. :)