We'd had a lovely time on Isla de Chiloé and around Chile's southern lakes. After that, we drove our motorhome Vdos north on the Pan American Highway (the PanAm), heading for central Chile. We soon reached the town of Frutillar located on the bank of Lago (lake) Llanquihue, the largest of Chile's many lakes.
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| Lago Llanquihue and Volcano Osorno from Frutillar, Chile |
Across the lake, we could see the spectacular and conical shaped Volcano Osorno, at around 2,652-metres high.
After picking up a few supplies in Frutillar, we found our way back to the PanAm heading north. Our aim was to reach Osorno city and the Municipal Campground there,
before it got too late in the day.
Reaching Osorno, we drove through a highway toll booth, then from the highway, spotted the
camp below. But somehow, we missed the turn off the highway. After circling back
and paying another highway toll, we finally got there……..only to find it closed!
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| Our COPEC fuel station and truck stop - food, clean showers, and safely off the road |
With no other camps in
the area and the day getting later, we drove back onto the PanAm. About 30 minutes out of Osorno, we found a COPEC fuel station/truck
stop on the highway.
It seemed safe, so we parked there overnight. They had inexpensive but tasty food, and clean hot showers so we were happy, and had a relatively quiet night (with the help of earplugs).
The next morning, we headed north-west to the city of
Valdivia on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
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| The riverfront in Valdivia, central Chile |
Driving into the city, we thought it looked a bit grotty, but
then we reached the city centre and riverfront and changed our minds, as it was lovely.
Valdivia dates back to 12,000 BC. Now-days it is a thriving port city with a population of around 150,000. It sits at the meeting point of the Calle Calle and Cruces rivers, where they flow into the Valdivia River, 18 km from the Pacific Ocean. We loved its vibrancy, river life, and proximity to the sea.
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| Los Molinos beach, central Chile |
After a good look around Valdivia, we drove to the coast along a
pretty and winding road to reach a little fishing settlement called Los
Molinos.
They had a few nice looking restaurants specializing in seafood, so we
had a great lunch there, looking out over the water and the local fishing boats bobbing about.
Driving inland after lunch, we arrived at the village of Pucón. It's in Chile's central lakes district, and sits on the shores of Lago (Lake) Villarrica.
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| Lago Villarrica, Pucón, central Chile |
Pucón is tourist-centred, and it seemed to be
waiting for summer to arrive. It is a favourite of Chileans because of its
location on the lake for swimming and boating, and proximity to Volcano Villarrica and its ski fields.
Leigh wanted to do the guided climb up the volcano to see into the crater.
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| Marg in Pucón village, central Chile |
However, it was 6 hours up and 4 back, and we decided we weren’t fit enough for that. Plus, the weather was wet and overcast and the volcano was obscured by mist, so we satisfied ourselves with staying at ground level.
We had a nice little break in Pucón, before driving around the lake to the town of Villarrica, also on the shores of Lago Villarrica.
Pucón and Villarrica are both pretty towns. They have smart shops, a great café culture, street art, tree-lined streets, nice lake-side recreational areas, and attractive wooden architecture.
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| The lovely waterfront of Villarrica on Lago Villarrica, central Chile |
After a look around Villarrica, we drove on, heading north.
A long drive later, we found ourselves at another COPEC fuel station for the night, this time with a nice German couple, Barbara and Uwe
and their campervan. They were lovely to chat to about travel and life on the road.
We used the clean COPEC facilities instead of our own
bathroom (at only 500 pesos-NZ$1.15), and set off on the PanAm again in the morning.
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| The large, vibrant and colourful market in Chillán, central Chile |
Our next stop was Chillán, located in the geographical centre of Chile, where we came
across the most wonderful fresh food market.
Founded by the Spanish in 1580, Chillán (despite several wars) went on to become an important meeting and market-place where the surrounding native tribes came together. The market is still a large and vibrant place, so we stocked up on veggies - a fabulous find.
After a wander around Chillán, we were back on the PanAm still driving north.
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| Volcano Tolhuaca and the Andes, central Chile |
The weather was beautiful and clear, and for hundreds of kilometres we had spectacular views of the snow-topped Andes Mountains. We even spotted a few volcanoes including the one in this photo, which we think, is Volcano Tolhuaca standing tall at 2,739 m.
After several hours, we came close to the wine area of San Fernando, which was to be our next destination. However, our GPS took us a strange way so we missed San Fernando, but found Santa Cruz and the Viu Manent Winery instead.
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| Viu Manent vines with Andes behind |
What a find! We ended up tasting their 5 best
wines - the wine tasting man took a liking to us and bent the rules so that we
had more than usual, and for free.
We topped this off with a fabulous dinner at
their classy restaurant as it was Leigh's birthday. We had oysters with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, then pork ribs with their Cabernet Sauvignon. A brilliant combination and celebration!
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| Leigh in the Viu Manent vines on her birthday |
Much later, we staggered back to Vdos, as we were staying
overnight beside the vines. It was so peaceful, and the night sky was so clear
and star-filled.
The next morning after a leisurely start, we
drove through the lovely town of Santa Cruz.
There were lots of signs for Ruta del Vino (wine route), and we could have stopped so many times for wine tastings. However, we bravely resisted as we didn’t want to drink then drive.
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| Sights in and around Santa Cruz, central Chile |
The area is full of vineyards, orchards and market towns. Everywhere you look you see fruit and vegetables growing, and lovely small villages. It is an incredibly beautiful area, so green and obviously very fertile.
We continued northward, but later veered west toward the coast where we found the pretty seaside town of
Pichilemu. This smallish town has a population of around 14,000 and is known for its beautiful swimming and surfing beaches.
After a drive through the narrow streets in summer beach traffic, we found campsite Laguna del Perro.
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| Leisurely lakeside activity at Camping Laguna del Perro, Pichilemu, Chile |
Finding a great parking spot beside their lake in the shade, we enjoyed a couple of quiet nights watching people fishing, cows grazing, and
butterflies flitting.
We were also close to one of the lovely Pichilemu beaches that we visited on several occasions.
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| Vdos in the shade at Camping Laguna del Perro, Pichilemu, Chile |
A few days later when leaving Pichilemu, our GPS told
us that a road to the left would be a shortcut to our next destination, so we
followed her instructions.
Bad move, as we ended up on the worst road we have ever driven on, and we really didn't think we were going to be able to get out again without the help of a tractor or helicopter!
The road was narrow and became narrower; hilly and the hills became higher; and cracked and the cracks became wider….we had to straddle, then zig-zag across them.
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| Ghastly wrong road leaving Pichilemu, Chile |
And, there was nowhere to turn around as it was only one car wide, with high banks on each side.
Eventually we found a place where we thought
we could turn around. We parked and walked about 500 metres further on to
check the road condition, finding that it became far, far worse, and ended on a
deserted sandy beach.
We had no choice but to
turn Vdos around and go back over the awful road again; so after a 25-point U-turn, that’s
what we did. It was so nerve-racking and is indelibly printed in our minds.
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| Vines as far as you can see in central Chile |
With both of us exhausted and very stressed, we headed back to our original road which took us further up the coast. As we drove, we passed through more wine areas – vines as far as the eye could see.
Further north, we decided to bypass Chile’s capital Santiago, and its neighbour Valparaiso, both of which we had visited last year.
Hours later, we came to an area that was a
port serving the local oil and gas refineries. The whole area was huge, and truly ugly, and we started to wonder if
we were on the right road because we were again trusting a GPS app (albeit a
different one this time).
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| San Pedro guarding Horcon fishing port |
Eventually we arrived in Horcon, a small fishing village on the Pacific coast, proudly guarded by San Pedro, many seagulls, and some huge pelicans.
In Horcon, we found Camping Cau Cau. The camp's gate opened and we drove behind a house to
find a wonderfully spacious camping area with everything we needed....and it was clean.
Yaay.
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| Player Cau Cau and fishing boats in Horcon, Chile |
Later, we explored the village, finding an interesting waterfront. After a yummy seafood lunch, we clambered down some very steep steps to Playa Cau Cau (Cau Cau Beach), which proved to be a delightful and safe beach between two headlands.
After a relaxing few days in Horcon, we decided it
was time to move on as we wanted to get to the Mendoza wine area across the border in Argentina. So we headed towards the Paso Los Libertadores
border crossing which would take us across the Andes Mountains out of Chile.
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| Tricky road crossing the Andes |
This proved to be an amazing drive, as the road climbed higher and higher, through 29 hairpin bends (or curvas in Spanish). As we climbed and looked back, we could see lots of trucks and other traffic
crawling along the road as it zig-zagged up the mountain-side.
We finally reached the Chilean border and went
through a slightly shambolic system to get out of Chile.
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| Coloured mountains-crossing the Andes |
Then we drove through more stunning mountains to reach the Argentinean border. The colours in the mountains were spectacular.
This is our last time in Chile with Vdos. We have enjoyed Chile and found the people
very friendly, the rural areas colourful and interesting, and the towns and
cities attractive.
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| Typical red ute in Chile |
One strange random thing we noticed is that there are an awful lot of red utes driven in Chile. Maybe the Chileans
like red as it is a main colour in their flag.
Certainly 4-wheel drives rule
because of the road conditions, as we discovered in both Chile and Argentina.
We won't miss those ripio (gravel/dirt) roads when we leave here, that's for sure, but we will miss the friendly people.
Our next adventure will be in the wine districts of Argentina.
The above blog is part of our 4-month tour of South America. The first blog on this tour is called "Buenos Aires here we come".