Blogs from Chillan, Biobío, Chile, South America

The morning had finnally arrived were we had to get up, pack up the car and leave the san martin and then Argentina for good, i supose we might not ever return again but i was thinking about coming here on my honeymoon, and that says everything about how lovely it has been. We were woken by mum at about 8:00am and then did the usual final bits of packing and piled it all into the car to leave around 9:30am also fitting some breakfast in there. The border with Chile was only about an hours drive away from where we were staying but because of the previous border crossing issues nerves were starting to rise as we came nearer but there was an upside as we drove along we came across this big volcano covered ... read more

You Get What You Need I came to little-visited Chillan in Chile's south-central, rainy Bio Bio Region to visit the Saltos del Laja, billed as a little Iguazu (very little), Mexican murals (being restored), and Chillan's ski resort (hostel closed). I was a bit disappointed, but as the philosopher Mick Jagger sings, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need." Right on, Mick! And lucky me, I was there for vived fall colors and half of my days were sunny--not bad at all! After a 7-hour journey from Pucon, I rolled into Chillan, finally tearing myself away from Patagonia. How could anything ever match glaciers, snow-capped mountains and quaint alpine lake villages? Well, the mountains around Chillan and then Talca did have their charms, but now I ... read more

The second half of our winter break we decided to visit the Biobio region. This included Concepcion, Chillan, and termas de chillan. Our first stop was Concepcion. When we arrived it was late and raining., which the rain is very common. It was difficult for us to find a hostel because all of the hostels are expensive. We ended up settling for a much to expensive hostel but had no other choice. We slept and woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We walked around the city and explored the park. The park felt like Oregon because it was wet, green, and beautiful. It was just like home. In the park there were some good view points where we could really see the destruction of the earthquake. After we spend a couple hours wondering in the ... read more

Hello Again! I have just returned to Conce from my week long adventure. The week started out very simple. We hopped on a bus saturday the 13th for Chillan, to snowboard, hike, and hopefully find some hot springs. We arrived in the City of Chillan a bit lost, but quickly found our bearings. We then began walking to the Escuela Mexico, which houses murals by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Unfortunately for us the murals are being restored which is going to take about a year. After this we went to the Feria de Chillan which is a huge market inlcuding artisans and fresh produce. I bought a scarf and some mittens for the snow in the Andes as well as a bag full of vegies and fruits YUM! We then found out that no buses ran from ... read more

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 ... read more