Blogs from Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 4

Début de matinée à aller voir le centre de Osorno quand même, on m’avait averti qu’il n’y avait pas grand-chose, c’est vrai mais c’était bien vivant et ils s’auto-proclament comme écrit sur la statue du taureau « terre de la viande, patrie du lait », je n’aurais pas eu le temps de tester ! 5 heures de bus plus tard, arrivée à Pucon. Ville très touristique cela se voit mais que je trouve mignonne (sauf le café en faux volcan de la photo !) et ce n’est plus vraiment la haute saison, alors ça ne fourmille pas. Et puis il y a le lac avec sa plage de sable noir et le volcan Villarica quasi l’un à côté de l’autre, j’ai jamais vu ça moi. Demain, si le temps le permet je vais faire l’ascension de ... read more

The weather wasn’t too good, cloudy skies with intermittent light rain. No views of the volcano over Lake Villarrica from the front porch of our cabin yet. Fortunately, it’s still possible to enjoy a visit to the hot springs that are famous in these parts despite the clouds and light rain every now and again. Based on the number of recommendations, out of all the options available we settled on the Termas Geométricas as our destination and it turned out to be a good choice. It was a very nice experience and we all had a very good time. The setting was quite and the way the individual pools were set up, blending in to the natural surroundings. Very picturesque and serene, everything you imagine a good spa would be (not that I have much experience ... read more

The next part of my journey would take me through the wind-swept plains and snow-covered mountains of Patagonia, and down to the End of the World. I had signed up to a 34 day overlanding trip with my favourite company, Dragoman. We'd be covering thousands of kilometres in a giant truck laden with camping equipment and outdoor cooking gear. The truck was called Elle, and she was a tough lady capable of driving over rough terrain. Our trip would take us into the true wilderness of Chile and Argentina. Our crew consisted of eighteen people of varying nationality, age and background. It was an interesting and eclectic mix of personalities, and over the coming 34 days we would get to know each other very well. We would become a small community where everyone has to work ... read more

Day 4 Pucon a Chile Wanaka/Queenstown a small town of tourist/excursion shops cafes and bars. That afternoon we took ourselves to the local hot pools on a local bus our Spanish is improving (slightly) much more natural than De Bretts. We encountered a quite unusual “spiritual” man who was trying to read our auras?! Apparently no one is going to mess with Rhi and Amy has come across some F*ckwit blokes in her time . . . The trip there and back was an experience in itself the bus driver taking a detour to drop something off to a mate! Again we were unfortunate in that our volcano climb was cancelled because of the high winds and snowboarding was out as for the same reason. Not letting this keep us down we caught another local bus ... read more

Gold to Crimson This was it; after almost a year and a half among lakes, mountains, volcanoes and glaciers, I was leaving Patagonia. For the eighth and last time, I crossed the southern Andes. On the weekly Sunday afternoon bus from Junin de los Andes, Argentina, we passed through wild west scenery with native forests of prehistoric araucaria trees and Lanin Volcano, whose clouds kindly parted for my last view. After passing through the Paso Tromen (to the Argentines)/Paso Mamuil Malal (to the Chilenos) our funky old bus was stopped by a herd of cattle walking down the middle of the dirt road that is the international highway. We had entered Chile. For the last month, I'd been chasing autumn foliage in Argentina's Lake District. In April, I thrilled to the first leaves yellowing in the ... read more