Out of the desert, water at last!

Volcan Villarrica near Pucon, in the Lake District, Chile.

The transition seemed to abrupt, at least in my mind, in the way I remember things. I had been driving hard, as other than the wonderful time spent in San Pedro de Atacama, I had been on the road, Ruta 5, the PanAmerican Sur, forever. And all along the way, from Lima in Peru, south into Chile, Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, up to San Pedro and back down again, it was all desert. And other than Lake Titicaca, and the salars high above San Pedro, there was little water. It was all desert. So I drove, always heading south, rarely stopping until the day was over, continuing to pee in a bottle at quick stops along the way, snacking on Oreos or peanuts, maybe some fruit if I had any, always driving. I did have to stop for diesel occasionally, but at 100 kph, van seemed to run forever on a tank of fuel. We left Arica in the north of Chile on the 30th of November, and on the 9th of December, arrived in Talca, 2,289 km away, and this does not include the detour up to San Pedro de Atacama. But I was now past Santiago and Valparaiso, we were out of the desert, and our next destination, Pucon, did not seem that far away. And each km I drove got me closer to Patagonia, so every effort seemed worth it. Pucon was still 532 km from Talca, another long day away. But seeing rivers which carried water, trees and flowers, green, yes the color, and not brown and tan, and even rain drops, I was out of the desert, and moving quickly into the Lake District, land of lagos and volcanoes, I could not wait. So off to Pucon and the Lake District we went. I could not wait.

Got to Pucon after another long day, but found a great campground where I would stay for a few nights. It was raining when we arrived, but found a site, and quickly met the campground manager, Jose, and an American, Luis, who was fluent in Spanish. They were off for town, just down the road along Lago Villarrica, and to the market. I needed ice, if nothing else, so I tagged along. I did not take any pictures in Pucon, too bad, a great little town, resort town, wooden buildings, lots of bars and restaurants, guiding services for trips up the volcano, or rafting down the local rivers. Reminded me of bit of small resort towns out west, except Pucon sits along the shore of Lago Villarrica, a big lake, and always under the watchful eye of Volcan Villarrica, an active volcano just south of town. I enjoyed my time in Pucon, and in campground La Poza. Jose did not speak any English, but was always helpful, and the American Luis, nice guy, and a wonderful translator. I met a few other campers, including a Kiwi, Paul Chainey, who seemed to be traveling the world on a shoestring, and did enjoy my time in Pucon. Biked out to some waterfalls one day, was real domestic another day (was raining that early that day, so good day to clean the van, continue to organize things, and do some laundry later when the sun came out). There was WiFi in the common room in the campground, but pretty weak signal. I tried to connect with Josh and Tess, couple from Colorado I met in northern Chile, did not happen. It was nice to be in a larger town, yet very relaxed place. I ate asado with the boys one Sunday afternoon, and partied pretty hard that night (I had lots of cold beer, so I was popular). It was a productive, and enjoyable couple of days. But after three nights, it was time to move on, and this time, needed a hot bath, off to find some thermal springs. They are all over the place east and north of Pucon, all cost about $8,000 pesos, but some are just big, blue, hot, swimming pools, while others are much more natural, much more fun.  After three nights in Pucon at Parque La Poza, went to Las Termas Pozones, great, before heading to a private campground right down the road, Agrocamping La Araucaria, another spot recommended on iOverlander. The hot springs were a series of very natural-looking, rocky pools, with handrails, which varied in temperature from just warm, to almost scalding. I loved it, very low-key, very relaxed, and very natural, rocky pools of very hot water, very few people, and maybe only seven or eight meters away from the pools was a beautiful, rushing river. And the campground was only minutes away from the hot springs, and I was the only one there, and old guy running the place, just great, and so happy to see me, see someone. The six or seven campsites all were in a strip of forest which border a nice small, river. There was no hot water, but the bathrooms were clean, and since I was the only camper, a theme which would continue for a number of nights, it was very quiet. I did have an interesting visitor later in the evening, Michael I think his name was, Canadian, who had been living in Chile for many years. He came to Pucon as a ski bum, and never left. Interesting guy, college educated, and fun to chat with. 

After my night at La Araucaria, became a road warrior again, the urge to keep moving south took over, and off we went. I did stop at another hot springs, big, blue swimming pools, yuck, camped at an overpriced private campground near Neltume, Camping Rio Chan Chan (and he did not even turn on the electicity at the site, or for hot water), and drove on probably the scariest road I had been on in Chile, before finally getting to Panguipulli, great little town overlooking Lago Panguipulli, and great campground, Camping Puchaley Laequeh (they had wonderful cabanas as well). And again, I was the only one in the campground, third night in a row. I did meet two couples who had met on the road, one from Australia, the other from Holland; they stayed in a cabana near the campground. From here, we would continue to head south, towards Puerto Montt, and eventually to Pargua where you catch the ferry to Isla Grande de Chiloe. And then, after a few days on Chiloe, would then catch another ferry to Chaitan, and Patagonia. I was getting close.

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