The Lakes District in Chile

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We are losing our touch on pavements! All that training in Edinburgh,Princes St. hasn't helped. They have this knack of sticking to a line and not budging! In Vallerrica they are very strong on the pavements, they move for no one. Its just one of many adaptions you have to take on as a visitor in foriegn climes. The Chileans are a very proud nation and won't give up,even on the sidewalk!
The trains don't serve a great deal of Chile, its better to bus it. Great buses with great service, blankets and pillows provided in the basic ticket, up to dinner films and wine with the top ticket. So it was 10 hours south of Santiago to a town called Villarrica which is famous for its active volcano of the same name. This time instead of staying in a Hostel we decided to rent a "Cabana" for a week from Roberto,the uncle of Fillipe in Santiago,long story. It was a Roberto's house but we had just the lower floor and a bit of the second, all in all 2 bathrooms, 8 beds,tele,wifi and fire, yes it was cold at night. Oh and 3 guard dogs that kept us awake over doing their job!
"Empanadas", or what we call bridies are a local dish with all sorts of combinations including egg,lamb,potatoes and spices. Cooked on the street in clay ovens, very fresh and delicious. The beaches have black sand due to the Volcanoes locally. Villarrica Volcano is the most active in Chile, the last time it erupted was '84, you can see it smouldering in the photos.
There are 14 disricts in Chile , this one is No.9, the further south the higher the number. In this area it is known as the " Lakes District". About 10C cooler than Santiago and a lot greener with forests of "Monkey Puzzle" trees, lakes and volcanoes.
We used local mini buses to travel to Pucon 30km north and Lican Ray 30kms south of Villarrica. Pucon is a ritzy busy place, being closer to the volcano its more established as a tourist destination, prices prove this especially at restaurants. Our town Villarrica is middle of the three, they still sell milk from a float. Lican Ray is going to overtake Villarrica as a destination but at the moment is the quieter of the three. Many small shops on one main street ,the only one paved, sell snacks and watersports paraphanalia.
In the next 24 hrs we are taking a bus across the Andes to Argentina to a town called San Martin de Los Andes, another ski resort! See you there...

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