Pucón

After all the rain in Talca we hopped in an 8h bus ride the first sunny day we had...bugga. As we got to Pucon the sky turned grey again and in the morning we woke up to the sound of raindrops hitting the window. Oh well. We enjoyed the warmth of the hostel with two fires on all day long and ventured out for a hot chocolate and to buy me a better rain coat. Exciting.

The next day, despite howling winds and pounding rain we decided to take our chances with going to the Parque Nacional Huerquehue, as it turned out good the previous time... well, there was meant to be a nice refugio waiting for us here too, and the kind bus driver promised to drop us right outside to spare us from getting drenched yet again. Unfortunately we had imagined to be somewhat of a repeat of Altos Lircay turned out to be a hunters lodging where the remnants of the drinking and eating the night before were still lingering on the tables along with the intoxicating smell of old meat... Hence we decided to take our chances once again, and try to find this refugio.

An hour later we were still waiting for the rain to ease under the cover of the park rangers house which was deserted - he probably did not think that anyone would be daft enough to actually go visit the park on this day, and had no idea where the refugio was meant to be. After some more prograstination about what to do, we decided to walk back towards the hunters lodge and see if we could come across anything else, and so we did.

As we battled the howling winds getting soaked to the bones we saw a sign of a Hospedaje ie. family lodging. The house looked deserted but we decided to knock on the door in hopes of getting out of the rain. As we stood there looking miserable the timid face of a wee old lady appeared on the window, and on seeing us she rushed to the door telling us to hurry in from the rain. Inside a fire was roaring and señora made us feel right at home, well at your nana´s home that is. We ended up staying with her for the day and the night, and as the wind and rain turned to a storm she kept thanking the lord for sending us to accompany her while she was alone and scared of the ´satanic weather´in her words...hmm...we spent the day inside listening to the rain, reading and playing cards with old Ines, drinking wine. She treated us like a real nana, feeding us home baked bread and jam, roasted chestnuts and coffee - what a treat it was to stay with her and so amazing to meat somebody like her, enabling us to have a real peak at the inside of the culture.

The next day the sky had cleared and we had a perfect day to do a hike. The forest was still soaking from the rain, and as we came across a waterfall it was running at a speed I have never seen before. The sound of the roaring water was so loud that we could not hear each other talk and just to poke your head around to have a peak of it got you wet in a second. It was truly an amazing site, and we later heard that the very same waterfall is usually a tranquil trickle down the mountain.

As we kept on climbing, yes again this was a hike to higher altitude, which we did not realise as we started off, the wetness of the ground turned to snow and ice. Soon we were surrounded by snowy Araucaria trees and mirror clear lagoons, it was like a fairy land, a place out of this world. The path had practically disappeared under the snow, only wee paw prints of a small animal guided us along the way, along with the birds that kept following us as we entered deeper into this magical forest. I was waiting for the trees to start talking or a hobbit to appear from somewhere, and I´m sure I caught a glimpse of pairs of eyes following us from behind the bushes...

However, as all fairy tales this one had to come to an end before the sunset and it was time to descend back to real life. As we got back to old Ines´ house an hour before we had a bus to catch back to Pucon, she was giving us the proper guilt trip of not staying another night - just like your nana would! I even felt a bit guilty as she walked away hurt but pretending not to care, like a child before a tantrum. Poor old Ines, I promised to send her a few photos we took - must keep that one!

Oh, but it was good to be back in Pucon and in our warm hostel, since although it was nice and toasty at Ines´ in the living area, the bedrooms were freezing cold with no heating or insulation - kind of like being in NZ in the winter...;) Even more amazing was to see the smoke puffing volcano which towers over the town, and which we had not yet seen because of the weather. It was incredible imagining the people living their everyday lives so close to something so powerful but so beautiful at the same time.

From Pucon we headed more south to Puerto Varas to be greeted yet again with more rain. This time it never ended and after two days we decided to splurge and take a flight down to Patagonia, to Punta Arenas were we flew to last Friday. As we took off from Puerto Montt, the rain was still falling as heavy as ever, but about half way through our flight the clouds disappeared and we were able to view the beauty of the snowy Andes along with uncountable glaciers, Mount Fiztroy and the famous Perito Moreno glacier - truly amazing views which made the flight definately worth every penny!

As we arrived to Punta Arenas and stepped outside of the terminal we had our first experience of the coldness of Patagonian winter. And after two nights in yet another hostel with unheated bedrooms we decided to start moving again and hopped in a bus to Puerto Natales, the gateway town to Torres del Paine national park. But more update about the town of wind later on...

Parque Nacional Altos Lircay

We have entered southern Chile and stepped right in the middle of autumn. As we arrived to the city of Talca it was raining so heavy that after a 15 minute walk we were completely soaked - to the extent that none of our clothes had dried by the next morning. The reason to enter this murky city was to access the beautiful national park of Altos Lircay, which we almost didn´t go to beacause of the rain. But luckily we took our chances and made the interesting journey into the park.

It was still raining, though not as hard, when we got to the small village of Altos Lircay, just at the edge of the park, but we found the refugio in no time and were greeted with a fire and the refugio, which in reality was a huge amazing log cabin, all to oursleves. We waited a few hours for the rain to ease - spending that time making a puzzle...and really enjoyed it by the way (Maiju , nyt ei voi sit tostakaan sanoo enaa mitaan...;) -haha - then headed for the walk to the look out. It was a beautiful, though hard walk, pretty much climbing all the time, but we got to a look out to the waterfalls - not quite as far as we wanted to get which was a lookout of a volcano (but in this weather we wouldn´t have probably seen it anyway) - as we didn´t have enough day light left.

On our way back the sky cleared and the sun intesified the beautiful autumn colours infront of our eyes. We got back to the refugio just as the sun was setting, knackered after 18km of walking and treated oursleves to the most expensive bottle of wine we have bought so far - this at the hard price of 3,000pesos (about $9/4e)...tough life ay ;)

Valparaiso

Walk, walk and walk - it´s what you need to do to discover the secrets of this inspiring city, and walked we have. The city lies around a harbour on various hills where the narrow streets and hidden stairways are covered in street art, each house is also painted with a different bright colour contributing to the joyous feel of the city. Behind every corner is a new painting, stencil, writing - it´s almost overwhelming as there is just so much awesomness around! We were lucky enough to find a really nice hostel right in the heart of the arty barrio Cerro Concepción, all we need to do is step out the door and we find ourselves amongst it all - cute wee cafés, restaurants, design shops and more art on the streets... I think we might have found our favourite city in South America, Valparaiso is like a mix of Wellington and Barcelona - a perfect city one might almost be able to say... Well, we are in love with for sure.

Before Valparaiso we enjoyed the hospitality of my friend Henna and her partner Daniel´s whole family. It was a true wind down for us, not having to plan anything for a few days and still visit some beautiful places. It was a great break, although I suffered from quite bad stomach pain for which I finally had to go to the doctor - poor Daniel who had to translate the movements of my bowl for the past month, I think he knows me better now than he would´ve ever wanted to...sorry, and thanks Daniel ;)- I did manage to get some hard core antibiotics to kill whatever I have carried with me possibly from Bolivia or Peru... Feeling tons better now though, but a shame that my condition put brakes on our weekend in La Serena. Was still a very enjoyable time and nice to catch up with friends.

We arrived here early tuesday morning, the city was still asleep when we made our way through it´s dark, silent streets before the sunrise. As we had been advised not to walk around too much in the dark with our packs on, we decided to have a coffee and wait for the sun to come up before trying to find our hostel. And up the sun came in no time, with colours of red and yellow, finally revieling itself and lighting the clear blue sky. We headed up the hill, a steep climb and a decent work out for first thing in the morning. On our arrival, although waking the hostel owner up as it was still only about 7am, we were greeted with a smile and offered the best breakfast we have had so far in a hostel. Every morning now we stuff ourselves with fresh bread, fruit and scrambled eggs...ah, heaven...

The first day we did what we have been doing ever since - walked. As we walked down the hill into the heart of the city we encountered the ugliest dog in the world, who of course, decided to follow us for the day. We named him ´Mala Cara´ - ugly face - and magically he has searched us out every day, he just appears from nowhere, being all of a sudden behind our heels. So, we walked along the bustling harbour front where the fishermen are busy bringing in the days catch, took a cable car up a hill (thus thinking that old Mala Cara will have gone by the time we come down, but no no, he stayed loyal...at least he provided us and every other person who sees him with a good laugh) to enjoy the views of the harbour along with the whole city of Valpo, as it´s called by the locals. In the afternoon we took the long windy walk to La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda´s Valparaiso home. The house was like a representation of the city - each wall in the house was painted a different colour, and each room was filled with paintings and extraordinary knick knacks which the poet had collected from around the world. A truly bohemian house filled with treasures.

On wednesday we set out to explore the neigbouring city of Viña del Mar - but the weather was not on our side and the spitting rain soon drove us back to Valpo and inside one of its cosy cafés. We did walk around the sea front of Viña, which was beautiful and no doubt filled with people in good weather, visited a park and walked along it´s busy shopping streets - but we found that something was missing...the rustic feel of Valpo just has its own special charm, and we were happy to return. We still have one more day to immerse oursleves into this amazing city, and tomorrow we head towards the surf paradise of Pichilemu where we will spend the weekend watching some monstrous waves and a competition which should hopefully still be running...

Here are a few photos of our bbq with Henna and Daniel and the labyrinth of art that is Valparaiso: