Onwards to the Lakes District

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From Curanilahue, we rode on through major forestry plantations, small farming communities and rolling countryside to Lake Lanalhue where we came across a very nice small hotel with a great room over looking the pretty lake. It was a bit more upmarket than we normally go for but we were in the off-season and managed to bargain the price down. Besides, it was getting late, we were cold and it looked like rain was coming. The man who owns it used to work in a bank in Santiago, and we could tell from his always-beaming face that he knew he'd made the right decision when he bought up here.

A late start the next day and our first big mountain pass to climb to get us out of the coastal plains and back into the main valley that runs down the centre of Chile between the Andes and the coastal range. We had planned to get as far as Traiguén that day, but tiredness overcame us in Los Sauces so we decided to stay in the quaint old wooden pensión that we saw advertised at the side of the road. The old lady that ran the place was thrilled to see us and gave us a great welcome. We think she was quite lonely as she was very much a chatterbox and spent most of the evening mothering us and talking to us in Spanish. We only understood a fraction of what she said, but we gleaned that she had a son at university, that 2 other Australian cyclists had passed through 3 months ago travelling north, and that she had had breast cancer a few years ago. We amused her when Dave took charge of cooking the evening meal on our little camping stove in their garage. It is a rare sight in Chile to see a man doing this kind of work, unless it is taking charge of the barbecue! Sounds almost like home!

The next day was beautifully clear as we rollercoasted along a wonderfully quiet road through lush green farmlands with magnificent views east to the Andes. This day we saw our first volcanoes (Tolhuaca, 2806m; Lonquimay, 2890m; Llaima, 3125m) welcoming us back to the Andes. It was an otherworldly landscape: the perfect cones of the volcanoes, tops the unearthly white of snow seen at a distance, floating above paddocks of young pastures so green they looked fake, at least to eyes attuned to an Australian palette. Our destination that day was Galvarino. We arrived to find that there was no accommodation to be found in this small town apart from an offer by a restaurant owner to stay at his house. However, this involved eating at his restaurant (really a café, with no proper food), waiting until he was ready to go home (we wanted a shower NOW); and he was being vague about the price. We politely turned him down, stocked up on fresh water, headed straight up a very steep hill and camped on a pleasant forestry track in a eucalypt plantation overlooking the town. It was a great choice. As we tucked into dinner, we sat watching the fairylights of Galvarino below us flicker through the eucalypt leaves and the full moon rising over the ridge behind us.

Temuco was our next destination and we were really looking forward to reaching a large city and having a day off. Riding for several days in the backwaters is interesting and adventurous, but does have us craving quality accommodation, better food and an excuse to get off the bikes for a day and look around museums and tourist sights. We set off early that day and rode almost non-stop the full 57km. Almost: we stopped momentarily to watch a game of soccer which was made more complicated by the players running around the cows grazing peacefully on the sports field. We checked into a cheap hotel just after noon and just before the rain set in! The hotel owners were very welcoming and allowed us to dry out our tent in their carpark and gave us the use of their tiny kitchen.

The next day, we eagerly set off to explore the sights and sounds of Temuco only to find that the city was closed for Columbus Day. This is a holiday celebrated in many countries in the Americas, commemorating the date of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World on October 12, 1492. We did, however, find a German chocolate and cake shop open, so we spent a bit of time in there relaxing, catching up on our diaries, trip planning and refuelling on real coffee and cakes. One of the great things about heavy duty cycling is that you absolutely must replace the lost calories every day, and it doesn't matter that much how you do it — you can eat what you like when you like. Claire still thinks that cake for lunch is acceptable!

By this stage we were very keen to get to the Villarrica-Pucón area to start our Spanish classes and take a couple of weeks off from cycling while we explore this beautiful region among the mountains, lakes and volcanoes. So the next day we set off early in the morning and rode the remaining 83km to reach Villarrica by lunchtime — just in time for more coffee and cake!

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Photos

Logging trucks a plenty
On the pass between Contulmo & Purén

Dave contemplates the hills ahead
Between Purén and Los Sauces

First view of Volcán Llaima
From Traiguén

Wow, that looks steep!
And it is! It is a bit disheartening when we come across signs with the trucks pointed up at the same angle.

Local kids playing at the entrance to the cathedral
The designs in the doors are inspired by the culture of the local indigenous peoples, the Mapuche

Anyone for cheese?
What about honey? This stall at the markets in Temuco is typical of fresh produce stalls everywhere we've been in Chile

First view of Volcán Villarrica, from the window of our hostel bedroom
The previous day, the volcano was covered by cloud

Dave takes a bath at last
Hot springs at Coñaripe. It was quite cold and rainy this day but the water was a pleasant 37 degrees.

Comments

[marilyn]

HOLA!
I so look forward to your updates. this travelblog is brilliant idea, Almost as good as being there...I am hugely envious! LOL M xxx

[Hairy and Scary]

Cool road signs
Hello Travelling Will and Berry, great hearing from you again. We saw some cool road signs in Fiji when we hired a car. One was an exclamation mark all by itself and another was a question mark. Even the locals didn't know what they meant. Maybe the authorities had ordered some road signs to be erected and the sign manufacturers didn't know what to tell the driving public so they just put punctuation marks. Out in the country roads we also came across, painted in the middle of the road, a white arrow turning left. This was just before a left hand turn so we thought that was pretty normal. Our logic was shattered when we came across our first right hand turn and the arrow still went to the left! It turns out the arrow actually informs you to get into the left hand lane (rather than drive in the middle of the road like everyone did) before the next blind corner or the crest of a hill. Thankyou for your very informative letters and photos - we love them. Take care, missing you lots Love Davo

[Mark and Becky]

Cheese Grommitt?
You have the cake, I'll have some of that great looking cheese and we can both have coffee :) It's great to read about Chile from your point of view, as before I new next to nothing about the country. When they were all off for Columbus day, were there any festivals? In all the films South American people are shown at noisy festivals all the time, so what's it really like? Do they hit the town square with their drums and whistles or flop in front of the TV like westerners do when they get a day off? The people you've met so far all seem so friendly. Mark and Becky

[Stephen Paul]

I cant believe I didnt subscribe
Another great post. I would have liked to see more Temuco pics, but hey Im a visual person! I like your storied descriptions of the people running hostelerias and hotels. Why didn't I subscribe when I saw your first post "In central Chile"?? Foolish of me! ;)