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Published: December 21st 2009
Pucon 1
Innsbruck! Okay, there's missing an "n", but nevertheless, it's home! :-)I got up on the 28th of March at 5:45 to take the bus at 6:40 from Junin de los Andes (Argentina) to Pucon (Chile). In fact the bus left at 7:10, but I'm already used to that ;-) They had suggested to take a seat on the left side, because I would see more of the scenic route, but because it was raining, I didn't really see a lot ... I was very tired, when I arrived in Pucon and was immediately approached by an woman, that wanted to promote her hostel. She was very friendly and funny to talk to and I didn't have an idea where to stay, so I agreed to at least have a look at her place. While we where walking to her place she started to make the price cheaper and as the hostel was really nice and the price good I decided to stay there. The deal was, that when another single-traveller was coming, I will have to share my room - that's okay for me :-)
Pucon is a nice little village, although - yes you can already guess it - very touristy :-) I met big groups of Israelis there
(as usual ;-) and also some nice girls from Switzerland and Germany, who stay at the same hostel. So we tried together the Liqueur de Oro, that I had brought from Chiloe - really nice :-) Although I was that tired I forced myself to learn 2 lessons of my Spanish-book and finally went to bed at 0:30. :-)
The next day I slept until almost twelve :-) It was raining a little bit, so there was no good sight and you didn't even see the Vulcan that Pucon is so famous for and that should really be very close to the village. I spent the day reading my Spanish-book and in the Internet-cafe. Finally I decided to make a one day-hiking in the nearby park Huerquehue, that should be very nice. Hopefully it is not raining tomorrow!
I meet the girls at the breakfast-table and guess what? They are making the same trip today. They already have been up longer and went to the bus-station early. I finished my breakfast and went then to the bus, where we still had to wait (yes, that's normal ;-). The park itself was very nice and good for walking. I
ate lots of Blackberries there :-) There are also lots of Auracien (trees) there. Unluckily it started raining quite heavy at the end of the day. Back at the hostel I had a nice chat with the owner and than went to bed really tired.
On Tuesday the 31th it was finally sunny! So I could see the Vulcan and it is really impressive! Perfectly shaped with a white snow-cap and a little bit of dust coming out of the top. Nevertheless I decided not to climb it - I think I will have many possibilities to climb a Vulcan in Southamerica and so I do not have to make the tour from one of the most touristy places. I explored the village, that really has some nice places, learned some Spanish in the sun and just relaxed. I also informed myself about buses going to Valdivia tomorrow. This will be my next station and I have already a positive reply from a Couchsurfer.
The next night I was somehow "agitated" and slept very "wild" - don't know, what happened ... But the next day was nice again, so I just spent some hours sitting in the sun
and also learning a little bit of Spanish again (somehow this seams to be the place, where I want to learn, because the last weeks I didn't really look at the book ;-). I found a nice restaurant, where they even served Falafel and it was really good! Finally I took the bus at 3:45 to Valdivia.
When I arrived in Valdivia, Rocio (my CS-contact) picked me up from the bus-terminal and we made a short walk through down town. She is really a very nice girl and explained me a lot about Valdivia and its history. It was really amazing - she is a perfect guide! :-) We then went over to her home, where I did get to know her lovely family and they offered me dinner and we had a nice chat, before I went to bed. Oh yes, by the way: It was raining - that's something special in Valdivia, because it happens that seldom ;-)))
After a great breakfast on Thursday the 2nd of April, Rocio went with me to show me the town. She´s really a very good guide and knows a lot about her home town. So we had a look
at down town, went to museums, visited the University with it´s nice park and finally went to the fish-market, where the sea-lions are lying on the street! We bought mussels and went home, where they prepared a delicious mussels-soup - really great! In the afternoon I went to the history-museum, had a look at the church and went to inform myself about bus-connections to Talca - I will continue to there on Saturday at 9:30.
The next day Rocio and I went by bus to nearby Niebla, where there is an impressing fortress. We continued by boat a short ride across the bay to Corral, where there is another interesting fortress. After that much of sightseeing we deserved some relaxing and therefore went to the beer-brewery Kunstmann - yes, it´s German and you can tell this by the furniture and music (they played Bavarian folk-music :-)! Of course you also get traditional German dishes there. So we continued to have a look at the old traditional German houses in Valdivia. This evening I got a positive answer from a Couchsurfer in Talca - great!
On Saturday the 4th I had a last very good breakfast with Rocio´s family
and her mother even brought me to the bus-terminal - very kind! The bus ride to Talca was long and we saw 3 films, but the sound was that silent, that you could hardly understand something. And also asking for turning up the volume twice, didn´t really help ;-) In Talca I went first into the city-centre to visit the tourist-info, just to get to know, that everything is closed today ... So I went to the meeting-point with Jorge (Couchsurfer) and called him from a public-phone (in fact I had to try 3 different, until one worked and a woman did help me, because you had to press some button too, when starting to speak ;-). Jorge picked me up and we went to his place, where I got to know his family. They are all very nice and pleasant and so we ended up chatting till late in the evening.
In the morning again a great breakfast, with home-made blackberry-marmalade - mmmhhhh :-) After that I went to have a look at down town and strolled around in town. I returned for dinner and we chatted a while and I played cards with Maria (the mother of
Jorge) - very funny. In the afternoon Susana (also CS) came over with her actual guest from Germany and we had a good time talking and went to a park together in the evening. That day also Argentina lost in football against Paraguay 1:6 and no one in Chile was really "sorry" about that ;-)
The next day I went to the tourism-office to inform me a little bit about visiting Constitution (a town at the sea with a nice train-journey to there), the Park Altos de Lircay and the Park Siete Tazas and some vineyards. Well, seems to be possible to go to Constitution tomorrow in the morning, spend the day there and return in the early afternoon to visit some vineyard. For the Park Altos de Lircay I got different information: In the tourist-info they told me 4-5 hours to walk to the plateau and 3 hours to return - in the office of the Park-Administration (Conaf), they told me 6 hours to walk there and 5 hours to return ... well, if Conaf is right, it´s not possible to do it as a day-trip ... we´ll see ... For the Park Siete Tazas it´s even a
little bit more difficult: There´s only one bus every day and this one leaves at 5 in the afternoon, getting there at about 7 and returns the next day at 8 in the morning only! So it´s necessary to go there the first day, stay over night, visit the Park the next day, stay over night again and then leave early the next day. And the place where you can sleep is about 12km from the Park ... okay, we´ll see also ... :-) On my way back to the house I saw an old woman carrying lot´s of bags and they seemed to be heavy, so she stopped every few meters to take a rest. I offered my help and she gladly agreed and yes, the bags WHERE heavy - at least 10 kg :-)
Well, well, well ... from here the text will be a little bit shorter, because I have to remember what happened, because they stole my little-bag in Lima and inside was my diary ... let´s see, how it works out :-)
I went to Constitution, which is a nice little town at the coast and the rock-formations there are really impressing. On
the way back I made a tour at a winery, which was really interesting (and the wine that good, that I bought a bottle ;-). One day I went also to the Park Altos de Lircay early in the morning and as I was walking fast, I could even cover all the points, that were interesting for me in one long day and return the same day with the bus. But it´s really long and it would be nicer to enjoy it in 2 days. The view there is really great and beautiful. Unluckily on the way back, on a part that was quiet steep, I stumpled over a root in the about 10cm deep dust on the way and tried to avoid to fall, but after "running" 3-4 big steps I crashed with all the velocity with my head first onto the ground, next to a rock ... Luckily I could bring my hand in front just in time, to protect my head a little bit, but I screamed loud and just lay there the next seconds, repeating one thought "oh please, let the pain get less ... oh please, ..." ... Oh yes, what a good feeling, when
the pain finally releases a little bit :-) I was terrible afraid, that I had broken my leg, because it was hurting very much, the trousers was torn and my leg was quite bloody ... so I not tried to move it within the next minutes, just because I was to afraid of the result ... But when I finally tried, I realized, that at least it was not broken - thanks good! Well, time was running and I tried to get down as fast as possible and cleaned my wounds at the next river I crossed. At the end I even had to run, to catch the bus ... well, this wasn´t really a good idea, but I didn´t want to get stuck in the nowhere for night ... At home I had a shower and went to bed, with every single bone hurting. I was really lucky, that I could raise my hand, because it was quite "damaged" and if not, this "damage" would have been done to my left eye ... I don´t want to imagine this ...
The next days, I didn´t really do very much (except heal my wounds :-), but spent a really,
really great Easter-weekend in Talca with the CS-family. We went to the "via crucis" on Friday and to the "candlemas" on Saturday. It was really interesting seeing the different customs here, although big parts have been familiar to me. On Sunday I awoke, because I head the others laughing and screaming downstairs and when I went down, they already had started searching for hidden chocolate-Easter-eggs and it was all big fun. I found several in my room and also had "hidden" some for them - great fun. The little niece of my CS invited (insisted :-) me to search for eggs in her home too and it was just great.
Finally there came the time of saying goodbye to this great family and it wasn´t easy. I continued to see the Reserva the 7 tazas. It was actually not so easy, finding a place to sleep there, but I managed finally and also could negotiate an acceptable price, because they only had cabins for 6 persons and this price is just not payable for me. The next day I walked in total about 30km, because at this time of the year, there is no public transportation to get there,
but it was really worth it and I enjoyed it very much, although it was very hot. I slept like stone that night, but had to get up early, to catch the only bus back (to civilization ;-) and then continued to Santiago de Chile, to meet the CS-friend of George, whom I had met in Talca. They had a meeting from CS at this evening, so I went there with all my bags, to join them at an Arabian-restaurant. It was very nice to meet all the people there and we had a great time, great food and even an belly-dance-show. The next day we went to town and in the evening met with a friend and although I had to get up at 6, it lasted until about 4 in the morning, because it was just too funny :-)
Well, the "next" day I had to catch my flight to Rapanui (the Easter-island) and it started with an disaster ... but this is another story ... :-)
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Ricardo Riviello
non-member comment
Excelentes vistas!!! Me alegro que hayas completado tu viaje bien. Por favor escribime. Ahora vivo en Ushuaia, no en Río Gallegos. Un abrazo. Rick