Travel Days

We have essentially had 2 travel days. We have been busy travelling however we haven't done anything terribly exciting.

We got up at 6:30 am in San Pedro de Atacama as we had to drive 2 hours to Calema, fill up with gas and return the rental car to the airport. Our flight didn't leave until 12:30 but I find giving oneself some extra time really decreases the stress. We were away by 7:10 and were going through security at 9:30. Everything went smoothly. The Chileans seem less concerned with the security checks and things flow much faster. We had an hour and 15 minute layover in Santiago before catching our next flight to Temuco in the lake district. All in it was a 2700 km journey.

The longer I stayed in San Pedro the more it grew on me especially after getting over the altitude and the heat. I guess I was a little surprised about the state of the town for two reasons. Firstly Santiago felt like a first world city so the discrepancy between the two cities was surprising. Secondly I haven't travelled much in Latin America so I didn't have anything to compare it to. We met two German women who had come from Bolivia who reported that the state of many Bolivian towns was worse than San Pedro. In fact San Pedro's fortunates appear to be on the rise with the lithium mining and the tourism. They have done well promoting there natural wonders which were interesting but not spectacular.

Last night we spent in Temuco after picking up our rental car at the airport. No hassles from the rental car company. Lots of traffic coming in from the airport. Temuco was just the jumping off spot for our Lake district adventure. We were happy we stayed over at a modern Best Western hotel as we were quite tired. We had supper at a Peruvian restaurant which was beside the hotel before calling it an early night.

Temuco seems like a fairly modern prosperous North American city. We hit a modest regional museum before heading off to Pucon. This part of Chile is totally different from the Atacama desert. It is very lush with vegetation and it is quite cool with daytime temps ranging between 14 and 20 degrees.

An abbreviated history of the area is that up until the 1870s it was controlled by the Mapuce Indigenous people. They were able to resist conquest by the Spaniards due to their resolve and organization. They however fell to conquest by the Chileans around 1870 as epidemics were starting to take their toll on the population. The Chileans government settled them into communities and opened their land up for settlement by Switzerland. Italy and Holland. This sounds like the same playbook that Canada and America used.

After the museum we headed off on our two hour drive to Pucon with a break in Villarricia on Lake Villarricia with a spectacular view of the Villarricia volcano. That is right, they seemed to have a shortage of names to use so they kept recycling Vilarricia. The Villarricia Volcano looks like Mount Fuji but with more snow. I should got a picture of the volcano/mountain before I got here as now we are in Pucon, we are too close to it. In fact we are staying at the base of the volcano in a condominium a ways from town.

We are off tomorrow in search of a monkey tree forest so stay tuned.Les mer