Thursday November 26th-Saturday November 28th
Valdivia is a neat little city with a college, casino (by far the largest building there), and easy access to the ocean. It was nice to spend time there, though we didn’t do anything overly exciting or extremely (that’s how normal people relax right?). This is partially because we didn’t really have time to go to this park nearby which apparently had sport climbing (well, climbing with a broken hand in a cast I suppose is not a smart thing to do).
Upon arriving in the early afternoon, we checked into a hospedaje (like a hotel and hostel combo), and then headed out to explore the town. The weather was gorgeous, warm and sunny (of course it is only when we’re riding on buses or don’t have the time to climb something). We had dinner at a small restaurant right by the water. I had the best salmon of my life and Tom had this fantastic white fish dish. We had dessert at a popular chocolate café place. That night, we split a bottle of wine while we planned our last day together.
Friday, we woke up early-ish, packed, showered and ate. We then headed to the bus terminal, bought our bus tickets-Tom for Santiago which left that night just after 9 and me to Bariloche, at 8:30 the next morning. We headed to the port to see if we could get tickets on a boat ride one way around the bay to the town of Corral, but found out there was only round trip, so we caught the bus to Neibla, hopped on the 20 min ferry to Corral where we walked around the town a little and explored the old fort there. We then caught the ferry back and took the bus to the Beer Museum with a hope of getting a tour of the brewery. Unfortunately they only allowed people in the museum which we checked out briefly and we ate lunch which was gigantic meat sandwiches that were delicious (yes, I did take pictures of them). Yes, I some how managed to eat mine in just one sitting. We also got their beer sampler so we could each try all the beers they produce there. Pity I haven’t really acquired a taste for beer as I have for wine. Though this honey one was kind of good.
After putting ourselves in a food coma, we headed back to Valdivia, walked around town, looked for a fort, found it and were disappointed. We walked through the fish market which was pretty neat and an artisans market. We found the mall as well, and contemplated watching a movie in Spanish there but decided we didn’t have time. We then headed to this large park there, explored this random craft fair there and wondered around on a bunch of trails (again finding ourselves being follow by some dogs-I don’t get it). The park had a couple huge ponds with hundreds of lily pads and some really neat abstract sculptures of wood, stone and wire in one area.
After the park, we headed back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff, and headed to a bus station. I found a cheaper hostel right outside. The host was this crazy old woman and got angry at us for some reasoned and lectured us on who knows what in Spanish. Tom and I then said our good byes and he got on his bus to eventually head home and I headed back to my odd hostel.
The next morning, I was on the bus at 8:30, not realizing that my trip which was to end at the farm in El Bolson, was not going to finish until about nine O’clock that night. At least the bus rides went through beautiful areas
Friday, January 8, 2010
Temuco and Malaleahuello, Chile
Monday November 23-Thursday November 26th
The bus ride from Pucon to Temuco was around 2 hours. As soon as we were in Temuco, we began the long and some how short search. Each person we talked to kept giving us different directions to different bus stations or stops to get to Malaleahuello (the town at the base of Lonquimay). We were sent for about an hour back and forth down this one street walking over a mile, each of us carrying 2 heavy packs. Finally we found the right bus station, which turned out to only be about 2 blocks from the bus station we were originally at. That bus ride was about two and half hours long. On the bus we met a couple from Spain who were there on vacation and could speak some English. They helped us to get off at the right stop, which was conveniently the same stop as theirs.
Malaleauhuello turned out to be a very small town that consisted basically of farms, cabanas, some rundown homes, a very small rundown looking library that had maybe a bookshelf or two, a ranger station for the national park, and one small convenience store. We went to the ranger station and struggled to talk to them for an hour to find out about Lonquimay Volcano. We weren’t able to find out to much, other than that there was no overnight hiking in the park because of all the snow and as long as we did it in a day, we could climb Lonquimay. They did have another ranger come in that they claimed could speak English. Turns out he couldn’t speak any more English than the others, he just talked more confidently and as though he understood us. We found out it was about a six mile hike to the base of the volcano, there was no bus there and the only way to get there now is to rent a car, which they said we could in one town over. After talking to this nice girl in the info center in town, we found out that really to get a rental car we had to go all the way back to Temuco. So after hanging around Temuco with nothing much to do, we caught the bus back to Temuco.
That night we checked into a hostel and hit the bar, to relax after a stressful, frustrating day of riding buses back and forth and talking/hand gesturing with people who didn’t understand a lick of English. Lets not call this a wasted day but a “Recon.”
The next morning we rented a car and headed out to Lonquimay, hoping to hike it that afternoon. Unfortunately the weather was against us. So we drove through a really long tunnel to the town of Lonquimay to check it out. It turned out to not be that exciting, not much to it except the beautiful views. We soon headed back to Malaeahuello, and did a short easy two hour walk in the park and then headed to this Swedish restaurant that was suppose to have fantastic desserts, and most importantly, people who spoke English. Dinner the was pricy but delicious (I had this traditional Swedish dish I’ve had with catering, but I wont lie, theirs was far better) and our waitress could speak English so wonderfully that after she listened to me rant about our past two days, she helped us a little with planning our climb up Lonquimay and a beautiful drive we could do afterwards.
The next morning was a slow start, for the weather was still against us. We stopped in town briefly to extend our rental on the car and pack up our gear. Around noonish, we slowly starred our hike up Lonquimay, hoping the weather predictions were right and the clouds on top of Lonquimay would clear away completely in a few hours. We took our time, afraid of getting caught in a white out and using a GPS to track our position so we wouldn’t get lost. Once in a while the clouds would clear enough that we could actually get some views. It was a pretty nice climb. Very steep towards the top, my calves reminding me of how little I had used them of late every time I dug in with the toe of my crampons to step up. We harnessed up and tied together as we got close to the summit for it would have been a very long, steep slide down at this point if one of us should have fallen. We were maybe a hundred feet from the summit though, when an icy wind came at us from over the summit and blew snow and ice in our faces and a cloud descended upon us so that I could see Tom 15 ft away and nothing else. After a minute or two of debating and waiting to see if the cloud would lift, we began to make our way down without a claim to the summit.
When we finally made it back to the car, it was rather frustrating for we could look back toward the summit and see the clouds that shrouded it, but they looked so calm and peaceful from where we stood. How deceiving. Still, a good hike, felt good to be moving and not sitting. Well after our hike, we headed back through the long tunnel toward Lonquimay town, but turned before it onto a dirt road that passed through the mountains. We stayed at a small village that night and left early in the morning to be able to arrive at the car rental place by noon. It was a very scenic drive both in the evening and the morning. When we finally arrived back in Temuco, and within a couple of hours we were on a bus to Valdivia to enjoy our last days in Chile with hopefully minimal stress.
The bus ride from Pucon to Temuco was around 2 hours. As soon as we were in Temuco, we began the long and some how short search. Each person we talked to kept giving us different directions to different bus stations or stops to get to Malaleahuello (the town at the base of Lonquimay). We were sent for about an hour back and forth down this one street walking over a mile, each of us carrying 2 heavy packs. Finally we found the right bus station, which turned out to only be about 2 blocks from the bus station we were originally at. That bus ride was about two and half hours long. On the bus we met a couple from Spain who were there on vacation and could speak some English. They helped us to get off at the right stop, which was conveniently the same stop as theirs.
Malaleauhuello turned out to be a very small town that consisted basically of farms, cabanas, some rundown homes, a very small rundown looking library that had maybe a bookshelf or two, a ranger station for the national park, and one small convenience store. We went to the ranger station and struggled to talk to them for an hour to find out about Lonquimay Volcano. We weren’t able to find out to much, other than that there was no overnight hiking in the park because of all the snow and as long as we did it in a day, we could climb Lonquimay. They did have another ranger come in that they claimed could speak English. Turns out he couldn’t speak any more English than the others, he just talked more confidently and as though he understood us. We found out it was about a six mile hike to the base of the volcano, there was no bus there and the only way to get there now is to rent a car, which they said we could in one town over. After talking to this nice girl in the info center in town, we found out that really to get a rental car we had to go all the way back to Temuco. So after hanging around Temuco with nothing much to do, we caught the bus back to Temuco.
That night we checked into a hostel and hit the bar, to relax after a stressful, frustrating day of riding buses back and forth and talking/hand gesturing with people who didn’t understand a lick of English. Lets not call this a wasted day but a “Recon.”
The next morning we rented a car and headed out to Lonquimay, hoping to hike it that afternoon. Unfortunately the weather was against us. So we drove through a really long tunnel to the town of Lonquimay to check it out. It turned out to not be that exciting, not much to it except the beautiful views. We soon headed back to Malaeahuello, and did a short easy two hour walk in the park and then headed to this Swedish restaurant that was suppose to have fantastic desserts, and most importantly, people who spoke English. Dinner the was pricy but delicious (I had this traditional Swedish dish I’ve had with catering, but I wont lie, theirs was far better) and our waitress could speak English so wonderfully that after she listened to me rant about our past two days, she helped us a little with planning our climb up Lonquimay and a beautiful drive we could do afterwards.
The next morning was a slow start, for the weather was still against us. We stopped in town briefly to extend our rental on the car and pack up our gear. Around noonish, we slowly starred our hike up Lonquimay, hoping the weather predictions were right and the clouds on top of Lonquimay would clear away completely in a few hours. We took our time, afraid of getting caught in a white out and using a GPS to track our position so we wouldn’t get lost. Once in a while the clouds would clear enough that we could actually get some views. It was a pretty nice climb. Very steep towards the top, my calves reminding me of how little I had used them of late every time I dug in with the toe of my crampons to step up. We harnessed up and tied together as we got close to the summit for it would have been a very long, steep slide down at this point if one of us should have fallen. We were maybe a hundred feet from the summit though, when an icy wind came at us from over the summit and blew snow and ice in our faces and a cloud descended upon us so that I could see Tom 15 ft away and nothing else. After a minute or two of debating and waiting to see if the cloud would lift, we began to make our way down without a claim to the summit.
When we finally made it back to the car, it was rather frustrating for we could look back toward the summit and see the clouds that shrouded it, but they looked so calm and peaceful from where we stood. How deceiving. Still, a good hike, felt good to be moving and not sitting. Well after our hike, we headed back through the long tunnel toward Lonquimay town, but turned before it onto a dirt road that passed through the mountains. We stayed at a small village that night and left early in the morning to be able to arrive at the car rental place by noon. It was a very scenic drive both in the evening and the morning. When we finally arrived back in Temuco, and within a couple of hours we were on a bus to Valdivia to enjoy our last days in Chile with hopefully minimal stress.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)