Iquique and the Chilean Lake District

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Having crossed from Peru into northern Chile (and a very slow crossing it was), I passed through the Chilean border city of Arica, where I’ve been before, and headed straight for the city of Iquique, 4 hours to the south. Driving through the Atacama Desert, there was nothing at all in the 300km between the two cities. The approach to Iquique was quite something, with the main road passing over the cliffs 500m above the city before descending to sea level. Iquique used to be a border town on the Peruvian-Bolivian border, but these days is firmly Chilean. The contrast of the city with Peruvian cities couldn’t be greater, with Iquique’s centre feeling modern, clean and safe; almost European. Indeed the British, German and Slavic influences are apparent throughout the city. The best part of Iquique must be its coastline. Although it is a large port, it also has miles of sandy beaches, some of which were pretty jammed when I was there, despite the rather chilly temperatures. But the city’s real claim to fame is as the paragliding capital of South America - it’s one of the best places to do it, due to the stunning natural setting, constant wind, and lack of rain (being in the world’s driest desert). As I was there, I thought I may as well give it a go, especially as it wasn’t too pricey (30,000 pesos or £40). And it was amazing - definitely worth it. I was driven to the top of the cliffs overlooking the city, where the instructor gave me a quick run through of what to do. As it was a tandem flight, all I had to do was sit back on the seat attached to the instructor’s harness whilst he did all of the work. The only slightly tricky bit was taking off, just because of the force of the wind on the parachute as we stood at the cliff’s edge. But it was pretty straight forward. Circling above the cliffs, I could see for miles around (all desert) as well as Iquique and the sea below. I was a bit nervous to start with (especially standing on top of the cliff before take off), but the flight was pretty smooth, with only a few extra-strong gusts every now and then violently rocking the parachute. Floating over the city with no sound other than the wind was very surreal. After 25 minutes, we had a short stint over the Pacific, before coming to land on one of the beaches. Landing was easier than I thought as well - just running as soon as your feet touch the ground. Half and hour and it was all over.

Straight after my flight I had a night bus to Santiago to catch. As time is getting the better of me now, the rest of my time in South America will be spent in Patagonia, in both Chile and Argentina. That unfortunately meant a long bus journey from Iquique (just over 2,500km in fact). The bus to Santiago was 26 hours, though it was a very nice bus (any bus is comfortable after having arrived from Bolivia and Peru) and the coastal highway is smooth, so the journey was at least tolerable. I had 2 hours in Santiago before my next bus left. As I was in the Chilean capital back in April, and got bored then, there was no reason to stop for any longer. The second bus took me the 11 hours to Pucón, in the far north of Patagonia and in Chile’s Lake District. Waking up in the lush and green Lake District, after having been in the desert, made quite a change. The area had a Scandinavian feel to it - lots of pine trees, wooden chalets and large expanses of land with hardly any towns. Pucón itself was a lovely town. It clearly depends heavily on the tourist trade, with most of the main avenue (Avenida Bernardo O’Higgins) given over to tourist agencies, with the surrounding roads filled with hostels and hotels. Two sides of the town border one of the largest lakes in the area, Lake Villarricca, whilst to the south lies Villarrica Volcano, one of the 10 most active in the world, and from which a stream of smoke was constantly visible.

On my first day in Pucón I stayed within the town, not doing too much besides exploring the immediate area, the view points above the town and the lake. As I was tired after the long bus journey, I didn’t really want to do too much else. The weather was amazing - clear blue skies and sizzling temperatures - not what I had expected for my first encounter with Patagonia. The Andes here are really not that high (with the biggest peaks below 3000m), and Pucón itself at only 700m above sea level. It seemed like the perfect time of year to be visiting, given how warm it was and how peaceful and tranquil the town was - in January and February, when droves of Chileans descend upon the area, I imagine it would not be as pleasant to visit. I spent the whole of my second day in the nearby Huerquehue National Park, which was easily reached by public transport and where there were excellent paths for trekking. I did the trail that most visitors seemed to be doing - a 15km round hike to three lakes, taking up more or less the whole day. The national park was really beautiful, with the first hour or so of the trek passing through woodland that very much felt like it could be somewhere in Britain. As the path edged up hill, I was surprised to find that the path turned from dirt to snow. The rangers had said there was snow at the top of the trail, and many other trails higher up were shut as a result, but I didn’t expect to find so much snow so low down when it was so warm. The second half of the hike was more difficult just because the path was so slippery, though it was more difficult coming back. When I eventually got to the lakes at the end of the trail, it was amazingly beautiful. The crystal clear waters reflected the trees and hills perfectly. The snow was actually very deep. The snow on the path had been compacted, so wasn’t too bad to walk on, though I did stumble over the handrail as the snow was that deep. Leaving the trail to get a close look at the lakes, my feet sank in the powdery snow up to a metre in a few places, though mostly I followed the footprints made by others. The third lake, Laguna Verde, was almost completely frozen over, so I couldn’t even judge if it was aptly named. Around this lake there were plenty Monkey Puzzle Trees, though I didn’t see much else of interest in terms of flora or fauna. All in all, a very good hike, though a bit less snow would have made it a lot easier.

The next day I moved on to my next stop, a city called Valdivia, close to the Pacific Coast, some 3 hours south of Pucón (and with hardly any towns in between). The city itself is one of the oldest in the country, but has been razed to the ground several times by the Mapuche Indians until they were “pacified”. Consequently the city has a modern feel, though with clear German influences, and seemingly a different university on every street. The city sits on the confluence of two rivers a few kilometres from the coast, where the major attractions in the area - the Spanish 17th forts - are located. There are more lakes near here as well, but with so many in the Chilean and Argentinean Lake Districts, I couldn’t possibly visit them all, especially when I only had 3 days before I had to be in Puerto Montt to catch a ferry I had booked.

The most interesting feature of the town was the Mercado Fluvial (River Market), where a family of sea lions fight it out with pelicans and other types of seabirds for the scraps from the fish mongers. I’ve never got so close to wild sea lions before (less than 1 metre) - the male ones were gigantic and rather aggressive, though luckily there was a steel fence to stop them climbing into the market itself. The birds seem to get a lot more scraps as this fence obviously didn’t stop them.

The following day I headed to the coast. The small town of Niebla, 17km to the west of Valdivia, sits on the mouth of the river, overlooking the Pacific. Other than the nice coastal scenery, there were also 3 forts to visit, which were built by the Spanish in the 17th century to keep the British, French and Dutch out of Valdivia. I only visited one - the one in Niebla itself, as the other 2 required a boat ride, and I didn’t have enough time before I had to be back in Valdivia for my next bus. My next and final stop in the Chilean Lake District was the small resort town of Puerto Varas, some 200km south of Valdivia. Situated on the shores of Chile’s second largest lake, Llanquihue, with the 2 snow-covered peaks of Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes in the distance, the town definitely had charm. As I arrived late in the day, I only had time to enjoy the views of the lake and volcanoes from a few different view points before sunset. The town is extremely German, in terms of architecture, cuisine (German beers and strudel a plenty!) and street names - it felt more like being in the Swiss Alps than the Chilean Andes. Pretty much the only thing I didn’t like about the town was the fact that a couple of houses had Christmas decorations up already (despite it being mid-October).

The area around Puerto Varas was stunningly beautiful. As I only had one day to explore it, I tried to cram as much in as possible, but still barely scratched the surface. Early in the morning I took a minibus to the small village of Ensenada, 45km from Puerto Varas on the opposite bank of the lake. This is where the Vicente Pérez National Park,
Chile’s oldest, begins. Ensenada is located between Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes, though unfortunately the former was covered in cloud for most of the day. Despite this, the views of the lake from the village were very nice, as was Laguna Verde, a short walk outside of the village. 15km past Ensenada are the Petrohué Waterfalls, which were actually quite an impressive set of falls, especially with the volcanoes in the background. There were quite a few nice trails offering different views of the falls and the river, so not just a case of getting off the bus, taking a photo and leaving. 6km past the falls is the village of Petrohué; I ended up walking as the buses are quite infrequent. Petrohué consisted of a couple of hotels and a pier - not much else. But the views of Lago Todos Los Santos (All Saints’ Lake) and the volcanoes on the border with Argentina beyond made it worth the visit.

After my brief stop in Puerto Varas, I had to head to the nearby port of Puerto Montt (only 20km to the south), the last major city in Chile before the land breaks up into small islands. As I had a place booked on the weekly 4-day Navimag Ferry to Puerto Natales, much further south in Chilean Patagonia, I unfortunately did not have as much time in the Chilean Lake District as I would have liked (it’s gigantic as well as being beautiful, but as I’ll be visiting the Argentinean Lake District in November, I’m assuming the landscapes will be similar.) The next blog will come from my trip on the Navimag.

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