Puyuhuapi and Chaiten, Chile

Saturday 31st March

to Puyuhuapi

Whilst the woman who sold us our bus tickets for todays trip was very friendly, we're still keeping our fingers crossed that we actually depart today.

Thankfully we do, and get away on time at 8am. We were accompanied to the bus station by a group of dogs, in varying states of health, but all had wagging tails, and some had a limp.

Whilst we do get away, there's uncertainty about whe the next bus will come through and pick us up for the onward journey from Puyuhuapi to Chaiten. It might be Wednesday, it might not be - either way, we're only looking to spend a day or so in Puyuhuapi.

The journey along the Carreterra Austral, which was constructed during the late 1970's by the Pinochet Government, was nice, with the early morning blue sky. Although the road has opened up this area, it remains the most sparsely populated areas of Chile - mainly fishing and forestry go on here.

It's good to be on the road, surrounded by mountains, and passing rocky streams. If it was more downhill, I reckon we'd sign up to do this by bike. Maybe...

For the first couple of hours (into this 5 hour trip) the road is paved, but soon after the forest closes in on us and we're on a narrow gravel track. As we get closer to Puyuhuapi we see a couple of hanging glaciers, one of which we can do a return trip to see from Puyuhuapi.

Beautiful, warm, sunshine when we arrive in the small town (though that seems to big a term to describe the place) and we meet Meg (Irish, but living in Spain) who gives us a tip for a good place to stay - Hosteria Carretera Austral (next door to the Police Station). Recommended, very friendly, nive eating/living room area, though no kitchen. The Senora can provide lunch and dinner for a reasonable extra charge. Breakfast is included.

To be on the safe side, we try to sort out our exit bus ticket, and hear that there's a bus leaving tomorrow. A little sooner that what we wanted, but we'd rather that, than be stuck here for 4 days, where we still are unsure about buses as we get closer to Easter. So, we're booked up for the lunchtime bus tomorrow, which probably means we'll not get back into the National Park for a walk to the hanging glacier.

After a spot of lunch at the hostel, we agree to pay a visit to the Termas (thermal springs) a few kilometres back along the track. Meg organsises some transport for us (there's no local bus service of taxis here, though it seems that most hostel owners provide transport, though it's not cheap. We'll pay 3000 Pesos each for the return journey to the springs.

Looking forward to a hot soak - Paul's feet still giving him some trouble after the recent trekking.

These springs are an alternative to the 'resort' that is across the fjord, that also has hot pools. Much too expensive, plus you have to pay for the boat trip across.

These 'new' springs, on the shore of the fjord, are 8000 Pesos per person and are currently open from 9am to 6pm.

We really enjoy ourselves, and get the place just to us. The view is superb, looking out over the lake and the skies remain blue.

Saw several hummingbirds zipping around the Fuschia's.

We leave the springs feeling really relaxed - just what we needed. Enjoyed chatting with Meg.

Snacked our way through dinner, and played some cards Meg also spent some time with us helping with our Spanish. We can now say some things in the past tense, though we can't say them very well.

Sunday 1st April

After a nice breakfast we stroll along the waters edge and around the quiet town - weather good again today, warm and sunny.

Also, a couple of birthday's today, Christine's Mum, and it would have been my dad's 70th as well as my folks 44th wedding anniversary.

We get back to the hostel in time to get our bags to find Meg coming back to the hostel with hers. Eek - it seems that there'll be no bus today, though we are promised (seguro, seguro, seguro!) that we'll have one tomorrow...

Oh well, there's worse places we could be stuck for another night.

With the sun still shining, we find a grassy spot by the water and Chris catches up with the diary and Paul listens to some tunes on the Ipod. We're accompanied by a few different, but friendly, dogs throughout the afternoon.

Puyuhuapi was founded by 4 German immigrants/pioneers back in 1935, so there's a little German touch around the town - street names, restaurants and a hostel run by the daughter of one of the pioneers. They were given land by the government, though had to build from scratch, including clearing the land of trees.

We returned to the hostel late afternoon, only to find that Meg had hitched a ride out of town with a group of guys competing in some kind of around the world race. Glad for Meg, but kicking ourselves that we didn't hang around for the same opportunity!

The evening drags a bit, as we try to understand a trashy Chilean soap on the telly. Played Uno for a bit, Paul won some, but lost most.

In bed, things get a little weird (not like that). Paul wakes up at some point, needing the loo, but also wondering whether he has just been dreaming of shaking, or whether there was some sort of tremor. Didn't think too much about it until the next morning...

Monday 2nd April

First things first, what happened last night??

Chris also felt something during sleep and we later find out that there was an earthquake over in Chiloe, a little way away. Nothing seems to be damaged here, just a slight tremor, though our first ever.

Less exciting is that we've also woken to lots of rain and crap surrounding conditions!

Despite the above, we're agreed that we really like it here, both in Puyuhaupi, and this accomodation, though we are keeping fingers tightly crossed that our transport does leave at lunchtime.

We try and get some info from the tourist information, but find out that the office is now shut for the season, and the place where we bought our bus tickets is also closed.

So, we're just hanging around town, and chatting to a couple of guys hitchig their way north - one of them has been waiting since 7.30am, it's now just before midday. Both of them complain that the friendly dogs hanging around them make them less an attractive passenger option. Anyway, they don't have to wait too much longer and they're on the road to....wherever they get dropped off.

We make our way around to where our bus should show, the rain still coming down. 1 o'clock comes and goes, and we get excited as we see vehicles in the distance, but they turn out to be other transports.

However, at about 1.30, our bus arrives, though our second need for luck is that it isn't full already. Thankfully, there's 3 spaces, so we just scrape on.

Meet Aaron coming off the bus and give her an accomodation recommendation, and also a warning about the bus situation in and out of town.

Also, meet Brit Theresa who helps us explain to the driver that we should have been on yesterday's bus, but it didn't arrive. Chris and Theresa sit together on the bus and appear to not stop talking all the way to Chaiten. The journey is about 6 hours, and the scenery a little blocked from the steamy windows in the minibus, but the outside cloud and rain doesn't help either.

Arrived in Chaiten just after 7pm and Thesesa joins us in the hunt for Casa Hexagon - accomodation that Meg had recommended - in fact, we were booked in there last night, but of course the bus let us down.

Thankfully, Theresa has great Spanish and this helps us track down the accommodation quickly. It's a great place, run by a friendly German guy. The house is, unsurprisingly, hexagon shaped and very 'cool' looking. It's also warm and cosy, and there's some friendly faces there - Meg, and Ian and Claire, who we met on the minibus up to Puyuhuapi.

The room is lovely (7000 Pesos per person) and the kitchen is the best we have come across in a while. So good, that we bother to go back into town and get some veggies to accompany our pasta and sauce. We even splash out on some wine, and within the hour, wish we had bought another one. Or two.

Meg shared her lovely home made lentil soup too, so we actually ended up with a three course meal, including some Vienetta-style icecream.

The atmosphere really friendly thru the evening and we go to bed very relaxed, and looking forward to the next day, and some more trekking in the nearby national park.

Tuesday 3rd April

Made scrambled eggs for breakfast - really appreciate the nice facilities here - clean, and plenty utensils.

Our trip into the National Park is with Nicholas, who seems to be something of a local celebrity, at least in the tourist world. So many people had mentioned him as a good source of info, and he turned out to be a really friendly guy, and particularly knowledgable about the local area.

The plan was to meet at his 'shop' around 9.30 and some of the other folks at Casa Hexagon were taking a trip with him too. We were joined on the trip by Lobo, one of the guys we met who was hitchhiking out of Puyuhuapi.

So, we're off the Parque Pumalin, which was created by a US billionaire, Douglas Tompkins. This is seen as one of the most important conservation projectsin the world (it has nature sanctuary status). It is 320,000 hectares of temperate rainforest.

The journey into the parks takes about an hour and we're travelling along a narrow gravel road, inbetween inpenetrable rainforest. Surprised to find out that the 'rhubarb' looking plants, Fuschia bushes and bamboo are native to Chile.

We did a short walk 'Sendero Los Alerces', passing by the huge and ancient Alerce trees. One inparticular is said to be over 3000 years old. Apparently they grow incredibly slowly and are one of the oldest trees in the world. The Monkey Puzzle Tree is also found here, and is the oldest of the tree species - it's pre-Jurassic.

It's a beautiful sunny day today, and we're lucky bearing in mind stats for this area receives over 4 metres of rain a year.

Further into the park we stop at Lago Rio Blanco - a beautiful lake, where we see more green Hummingbirds. There's wonderful glacial rivers, trees covered in moss, bamboo groves, ferns etc.

There's another short walk up to a waterfall, though not a big flow today.

After a spot of lunch, we all do a longer hike - 'Sendero Cascadas' - to an impressive waterfall that has several viewpoints as you make your way up to the top.

Ended the day at the beach area at Santa Barbara - a lovely black sand beach. Unfortunately we didn't see dolphins as hoped, but the sunrise was pretty, despite the cold wind getting up. Back in the minibus, and Nicholas entertained us with a South American '10-string-guitar-thing' (about the size of a violin) - oops, we've forgotten the name of the instrument, but his playing was enchanting.

Really enjoyed our day out, and we invite Lobo back to our accomodation to join us for dinner - there's no one else staying at his hostel.

Got the numbers right on bottles of wine - 3 bottles of red, all turned out to be very good, and only a couple of quid each.

Again, another pleasant evening at the house, and we sleep well.

Wednesday 4th April

Realised this morning that Casa Hexagon is in a beautiful spot overlooking the river, and hills behind. The early morning mist looks pretty as it sits above the water flowing below.

We have arranged for Nicholas to take us to some nearby thermal pools, so get some chores done in the morning, like dropping the laundry off at the power-tool emporium(?).

At the pools (Termas de Amarillo), about 40 minutes drive from town (and passing a clear view of the volcano), we find we have the place to ourselves again. Not quite as nice as the pools in Puyuhuapi, but very relaxing anyway and a great place to unwind, surrounded by green hills.

Apparently you can buy apple empanadas here, but they're sadly sold out today.

Back in town, we're working against the clock to prepare dinner, before we leave to catch our ferry from here up to Puerto Montt, also to do a bit of last minute packing.

Underestimated where the ferry port was, which is a little walk around the corner from the waterfront of the town, but got there in plenty of time.

Onboard (with Theresa), we grab ourselves two bench seats facing each other and spread our gear to secure the area. Thankfully it's not too busy tonight, so manage to keep our space for the overnight trip.

Not the most comfortable of nights, and some other travellers making a bit of noise is annoying. Actually, more embarassing than annoying, when one of the locals (it's mainly locals on board) asks them, on behalf of everyone else, to keep it down when people are trying to sleep.

Curiously, the girls end up mostly stretched out on the benches, Paul gets to sleep sitting upright.

We cruise smoothly through the night towards Puerto Montt...

to be continued on next thread...