Trip to the Lakes & Rivers Districts

Hola Amigos!  It has been a very busy two and a half weeks for us! So first of all, I wanted to mention that I had a really nice Valentine's Day and received a few surprises! George bought me some dry shampoo, a new pillow, some coffee ice cream, and some gummy candies.  Those presents may sound weird, but they were all things I really wanted!  George's dad also sent me a lovely surprise!

I have a plant and no cats to eat it!  Yay!  I also just made myself a little sad.

Missy arrived on Sunday February 15th after 30 some odd hours of travels and just left on Monday evening.  I was a nervous wreck while she was on all of her flights, but everything went smoothly.  So here's what we were up to while she visited:

Trip South

After much deliberation about whether to head south to the Lakes/Rivers districts of Chile, or to head north to the Atacama desert, we settled on heading south! We discussed details about renting a car, found places to stay, and bought our tickets.  As I was about to fill out the car rental reservation, George informed me that his paper license was actually expired.  Sister and I would both have licenses, so what is the problem?  Well you see, you can request an automatic transmission car here, but you are going to get a manual anyway.  And I know, it's sad, but Sister and I cannot drive stick.  So George's dad dropped his license in the mail, and we hung on pins and needles.  It arrived the evening before our flight south!  Many sighs of relief! George's dad was basically the hero of the trip because learning to drive stick on the fly in lots of tourist traffic was not on my to-do list!

Región de Los Ríos

So we landed in Temuco, picked up the rental car, and then made our way South to Valdivia.  Valdivia is at the meeting point of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau Rivers.  The whole area is very lush and green, and the weather was beautiful for our time there!  We walked through town and along the river, had some chilean food, took a boat tour, and found a delightful new microbrewery named El Growler.

If I lived in a place with a river or lake!

If George Lived in a place with a river or lake!

Just pretty.

IPA cervesas, chorripan (sausage and bread), and hamburguesas!

Sooo much fish at the market!  Missy did not appreciate the smells.

The seals did appreciate the smells!  They were super entertaining to watch.

On the afternoon of our second day we intended to go to the Kunstmann brewery near Valdivia, but it was so packed when we got there that we opted to keep driving and head to part of the Spanish fort system in Niebla.  Best decision ever! From wikipedia:

The Fort System of Valdivia are a series of Spanish colonial fortifications at Corral Bay, Valdivia and Cruces River established to protect the city of Valdivia, in southern Chile. During the period of Spanish rule (1552–1820), it was one of the biggest systems of fortification in the Americas. It was also a major supply source for Spanish ships that crossed the Strait of Magellan.

Aside from being interesting, it was really beautiful on the coast! I actually would love to visit the area again and see the rest of the fort system!

Región de Los Lagos

After two packed days in the Valdivia area, we hopped in the car and headed to our next adventure!  The drive was gorgeous, but we were very excited by our first views of the Villarrica Volcano!  Here are just two photos that I took in Villarrica:

So, let's talk about our airbnb place!  It was cheap...and well, there's always a catch, lol.  So first, a picture:

Cool right?  The place has potential, but it still needs some love.  In the form of a new hot water heater.  The first night we had some intermittent hot water.  That was the only hot water we had during our three day visit.  The next morning the pilot was out on the water heater, but the stove still worked (so we knew there was still gas).  We lit the pilot again and went on our merry way.  When we got back home in the evening after a long day of hiking, it was out again AND the stove was out.  So, no gas.  Contacted the guy, and he replaced it that night, but it was a night of cold showers and sad dinner (we had planned to make spaghetti).  The next day we were able to cook, but the water never got warm (just less cold), and when we got home from our daily activities, the electricity was out (I know, right?).  Well, it turns out there was a car that had knocked out a tower or something, and it was only out for like an hour, but George was fully ready to lose it.  I told George, "Well, it was really quite nice if you think of it as a fancy tent". Luckily that made him laugh, and we made the best of it! 

While our lodging left a bit to be desired, our visit to Huerquehue National Park was awesome!  We left very early on Saturday morning, and managed to arrive just as the park opened.  It was nice and cool still, and not at all crowded! We did the Tres Lagos hike, and we made it to two out of the three lakes.  For the third lake there was just a little too much more uphill for the amount of water that we had on us.  One thing that is super different is that Chileans don't seem to drink water.  Many people that we saw hiking just had a small thing of juice or even a soda with them.  We had a nalgene bottle and two smaller bottles and it wasn't enough for us!

An Ent looming.

 

Taking a break by the lake

We also drove to a "hot" springs that was about an hour away.  The springs were more warm than hot, but the drive was lovely!  On the way there, the sun was starting to set and it was beautiful!  These pictures don't even do it justice!  The sunset over the springs was also super lovely, and then all the stars!  Missy and I stared out the windows the whole drive back!

Villarrica Volcano

Aside from those two excursions, we also went in to Pucon a few times.  It was the height of the tourist season in the lakes district, so driving and parking and walking was all quite stressful in the towns!  We did find a really good burger place though, and Missy and I tried our first Piscolas (pisco and cola)! Pisco is a brandy that is made in Chile and Peru. The burgers were huge!

OK, my original goal was to write about the rest of Missy's visit and our other travels, but I think I'm going to save that for the next post!  Chao!