Road Trip from Volcano to Temblor

Update:  12-19-15

Richard loves shopping at the Mercado Municipal Presidente Ibanez.  Here's our haul from Saturday.  $14 US: 

Above the eggs, a bag of Christmas cookies.  Below the parsley a bag of Haba beans.  The little twist of pate in the center was a gift from the butcher who sold us a beef roast.  And that chunk of squash is for the "pumpkin" pie we'll make as a contribution to Christmas dinner at Tere's house. 

I took this next pic a couple weeks ago while walking up the steep hill from Centro to the Jumbo grocery store.  It's a pretty good image of Chile, I think: Flowering gardens, nicely trimmed, with walls of graffiti in the back ground.  On this particular day, I walked past a team of seven men in orange vests hunkered in the shade a hundred meters below this garden.  They had probably just finished trimming this garden patch. Two of them had weed-eaters lying on the grass, still idling, while the men smoked cigs and rested in the shade. 

 

Road Trip, continued: 

Sunday, December 6th, well-rested from the Chiloe leg of the trip, we headed north to Villarica.  By noonish, I was driving, with Larry in the front seat, when we came round a beautifully wooded bend and caught the first glimpse of Volcan Villarica commanding more than half the sky. 

Photo from internet, thank you!

Our goal:  to check in to our cheap hotel in the town of Villarica, go for lunch in Pucón, and prepare for a trip tomorrow to the hot springs just below the volcano's snow line. 

We found the Hotel Valentino, where we were buzzed in - to climb a very steep and narrow stairway to reception.  But the five-year-old boy who had buzzed us in was unable to get us registered, or give us room keys, or produce an adult of any gender, although he had a lot to say on several other topics, and finally set himself up at the desktop computer and asked us for our contraseñas.  We decided to go get some lunch and try again later. 

Villarica is on Lago Villarica, with spectacular views of the volcano and some tourist traffic, but
Pucón, a half-hour drive further along the lake shore, is the real tourist center of this area.  Richard had told Larry about eating wild boar at a restaurant here some ten years ago when we made our first trip to Chile.  With Larry enthusiastic about this dish, we searched for that restaurant.  But the town has grown ferociously in those ten years, and tho we recognized a few places, the wild boar place did not jump out at us. 
Thirsty and boggled (or should I say:  Any excuse for a Pisco Sour?) we sat down in a colorful, shady bar advertising Peruvian Piscos, which they made deliciously.  After sharing a plate of empanaditas, some stuffed with shrimp and some with cheese, we dared to ask the waitress if she knew a place that served jabalí, which you better pronounce correctly if you expect to be understood.  It wasn't till Larry showed the waitress the word on his IPhone that she got what we were trying to say.  Gotta get that kkhh-hawking sound to the j ... and don't let the b slip into a v sound, which is the way it's usually written.  The waitress did not know the restaurant herself, but she came back in two minutes with directions from the chef, and wished us well as we paid our cuenta and moved on around the block to the next street over.  Ana  Maria  Restaurant. It might be the same place as ten years ago, re-made somewhat.  Can't be sure. 
The guys were very happy with their jabalí.  I think I had the ensalada mixta con palta.  Later, we called ahead to the hotel to make sure someone could check us in.  Papa Claudio, obviously proud of young Sebastian, put us in the view rooms at the back of the hotel where we had a porch ... at the cost of another flight of even narrower, steeper stairs, very few of which were the same size.  We had two nights in that place, and I'm very grateful that nobody made a wrong step on those stairs. 

Monday, December 7: Ten years ago Richard and I booked a tour from Pucón up to the hot springs at Geometrica.  We got a hell of a deal on what turned out to be a three-hour ride (six, round trip) in a diesel-powered stinky mini-van over some hellacious mountain roads to the ultimate paradise of those seventeen pools artistically built into a cascading river under a canopy of trees, ferns and flowers with the hot spring water plumbed into each pool.  We paid 40 mil CLP (about $80 US back then) for the two of us that full day, and had the Termas practically all to ourselves. 

This time, we drove our rented car, and paid 20 mil CLP each (about $28 US - at current exchange rate) to enter the termas.  The last 45 minutes of that road, definitely improved, is still gravel and dirt, climbing thru goat pastures past farm shacks and sheep pens, with the occasional bus stop shed along the way.  But now, up in the higher reaches anyway, there are two or three quinchos advertising lunch available, and there are other termas developed for tourist use.  Termas Vergara, for instance, is new Vergara website and appears to have cabanas available, so you could stay overnight and bathe for days if you wanted to.  We drove on to our destination, Termas Geometricas.  Visit their beautiful website:   Geometricas   and immerse yourself in the stone-lined pools.  We arrived just before 11 a.m. and had to wait for the staff to get there in a yellow school bus.  Another couple with a youngster waited with us, but by the time the staff had opened the place, there were four other cars.  And when we left, around 2 pm. the parking lot was filled to overflowing with cars, trucks and buses!  The popularity of this place has grown immensely, no doubt in symbiotic relationship with the improvements to the road to get here.  (photos from internet)

Entrance to Paradise. the grass-topped sheds are changing rooms with lockers.



Hot water runs in a wooden channel beneath the walkways to help keep the walkways dry in winter snows. 

The air is cool at the top, where the waterfall marks the top of this canyon.

 

Every pool was filled with people, old and young, couples and singles, teens and toddlers, by the time we had cooked ourselves to the wet noodle stage and were ready to leave.  It wasn't until the next day, Tuesday the 8th of December, when we noticed how many restaurants and stores were closed, that we realized this was a 4-day holiday weekend.  December 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a national holiday in this country. 

 

Tuesday, 12-8:  We drove out of Villarica, headed northwest to Ruta Cinco and then north thru Temuco to the town of Victoria where we got off the Panamericana to drive west thru the wheat fields to Capitan Pastene, our all-time favorite place in Chile.  Founded by Italian colonists in 1904, this village has decided in the last 15 years or so to earn a place in the hearts of Chileans and tourists alike.  Prosciuto and pasta, both made the old-fashioned way, are their claim to fame.  And who could ask for anything more?     

 

Don Primo's prosciutto factory warehouse was our first destination, to show Larry the hanging hams.  In past visits, Richard and I have meandered into this dark but open building to marvel at the rows and rows of moldy-looking meat suspended from the ceiling ... but this time, an elegant Señora, dressed in colorful silks, joined us inside to offer guidance.  She was also guiding a couple from Santiago, and somehow, we did not get her real name ... but let's call her Sra. Primo, as she told us she did everything here, from salting the hams and hanging them to serving at the restaurant across the street.  She showed us the kitchen at the back of the building, which Richard and I had not seen before.  We did recognize the newly constructed back wing of this building, as we'd seen it under construction when we were here a year ago.  Don Primo's is expanding.

Our guide took us upstairs to the special area where the prosciutto hang in mesh bags that keep the insects away.  This upper area has the humidity the prosciutto need to cure properly.  At least, that is my interpretation of the Spanish with which Sra Primo regaled us! 

 

Maybe I was thinking we would take Larry to lunch at one of the other fabulous Capitan Pastene restaurants, but the silk-garbed Señora was so compelling, we simply followed her across the street to her restaurant.  http://www.donprimo.cl/

Our cabaña at L'Emiliano   http://pastenegourmet.com/Lemiliano/   was ready for us, but due to the holiday, the restaurant there was NOT serving dinner.  What a shock.  Let me just admit right here that there is practically nothing else to do in Capitan Pastene except eat and drink, and I had decided that L'Emiliano had the best pasta. 
We walked to the plaza and read the monuments about the original man, Capitan Pastene, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bautista_Pastene who served the Spanish in the 1500's.  We would have taken Larry to visit the flour mill and the old-fashioned carbon-arc movie theater ... but neither were open due to the holiday.  So, due to the holiday, we ate at a couple other places ... St Peter's Hotel for dinner, and Anita Covili's for lunch the next day.  Both very special treats.  Especially the plum and pork ravioli at Anita Covili.  Are you hungry yet?  Somehow we ate at Montecorone, too, where the proprietress, Mabel, is Richard's favorite Italian in all of Chile.  Was that two lunches in one day?  Good thing we only get there once a year. 


Wednesday, 12-9:  Thoroughly stuffed, we left for Concepcion, driving the first 25 km on potholed, eroded roads beaten by logging trucks.  Through Angol, Renaico and Nacimiento the traveling was smoother, and the last half hour or so we followed the Biobio River into San Pedro de la Paz and over the new bridge into Concepcion.  The old bridge was destroyed by that 8.8 earthquake Feb 27, 2010.   Do you remember?  When Richard got shaken out of bed at 3 am in his 14th floor apartment in the Centro Mayor Building in downtown Concepcion?  Yes.  Here we were, back at the scene.  We checked into the Hotel Araucana, where they've replaced all the windows that broke in the earthquake.  We walked Larry out to the site of the Centro Mayor, which has been razed and not yet rebuilt.  Then we went to a restaurant we knew from the past, Fina Estampa, and while we sat there drinking our pisco sours and talking about the earthquake time, didn't the whole building take to shaking for about 8 seconds?  Ai yi yi.  A woman a few tables away from us covered her eyes and cried.  Larry said a few of the kitchen staff ran downstairs.  But no dishes fell, no piscos were knocked over, and when the shaking stopped we asked the waiter, "How often does this happen here?"  Twice a month, he said with an uncertain grin. 

Onward!  Into the Valley of Uncertainty, as my brother Mark used to say.  More in the next post.  May your Holidaze be filled with warmth and loving kindness, and que les vayan super bien.

Awaiting Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere

Speaking of summer time (December 21 is the Summer Solstice here), let me admit right up front that I was wrong about Chile abandoning Daylight Time.  In fact, Chile decided to STAY ON Daylight Time year round.  Wikipedia: Time in Chile  What a good idea, right?  Some of you have already heard Richard quote one of his native American heroes:  "Why would you think you can cut the bottom off a blanket, sew it to the top, and get a longer blanket?" 

Okay, so much for corrections.  What a good time we have had these last weeks with our visiting buddy from Detroit, Larry Zilioli.  He sailed with Richard for a week.  A lot of rain ... but Larry says he prefers that to the heat of the sun.  See AbrazobyBaila.BlogSpot.com for a glimpse of their voyage.  The night before arriving home, they picked up a mooring buoy off the beach at Huelmo on Thursday, November 19, revisiting an ECO-farm

run by a young attorney Richard had met at the marina recently.  Mario, who wants to sail his own boat around Cape Horn, gave the sailors a ride to the wine store and hosted them for dinner.  He posts on a website called WorkAway, where you can sign up to work on his farm in exchange for room and board.  Hey, maybe when we get back to our own little farmette in Bellingham, we'll recruit some Workaway help for the summer.  WorkAway Website 

After the sailors made Abrazo fast to the dock again at the marina on Friday, they took the bus and colectivo up to Valle de Volcanes to our apartment.  But the captain had left his keys on the boat ... and I was in Puerto Varas for my book club meeting.  The grocery store near our apartment has a warm café where the guys patiently awaited my return.  I do love my Book Club here.  We share book talk, good food, and amiable conversation, mostly in English.  Sonia P., a muy amable Chilena
who lived in California and Texas for many years while her US husband was alive, dropped me off at the Santa Isabella.  Larry had just purchased a bag full of lemons there, plus confectioners' sugar so he could make Pisco Sours.  I remember when we encountered Pisco sours on our first trip to Chile.  We, too, searched for the recipe and ran many a liter of the mix through our blender.  Larry had to make do without proper measuring devices in our kitchen, but his first batch was delicious.  He's made steady improvements ever since.  If you are a Detroiter, you're maybe going to be invited to a Pisco party soon.

A day trip to Frutillar by bus ... a pizza feast at D'Allesandro's there ... and by Monday we waved goodbye as Larry marched off to get the plane to Puntas Arenas in the far south of Chile.  He'd booked himself a trekking expedition to the Torres del Paine National Park.  What an ordeal!  Hike for 8 to 10 hours a day on "The W Trail", where you stop for dinner and a tent at hostal-like stations along the way.  Larry is a trooper.  Torres del Paine is a place I am happy to visit virtually.  Wikipedia: Torres del Paine   


By the time he returned to Puerto Montt late at night on December 2, Richard and I had planned the Grand Tour that would eventually get Larry close to Santiago for his departure on December 14.  We started with Angelmo, right here in Pto Montt.  Shop-hopping from the woolen goods and alpaca products to the wooden wares and silver jewelry, we stopped in the caballero store to see silver spurs and wide-brimmed
huaso hats.  Giggling Chilena merchants demonstrated a wooden toy that pops an over-sized penis out at you when you pull on a clownish head. Yikes!

Our friend, Tere, took the afternoon off from her work at the Corte de Apelacion, to join us for lunch at the restaurant Pa' Mar Adentro, where they really know how to cook fish.  Pa' Mar Adentro


Friday, December 4, in our rented car, we drove south on Ruta 5- the Pan-American Highway - to Pargua, where the ferry carried us across Canal Chacao to the Island of Chiloe and the town of Ancud. 

Maybe this bridge will be built someday, and put the ferries out of business.  We saw some evidence that the pile-drivers had begun their work. 

Richard and I had never been to the Pacific side of the island of Chiloe, so we wandered on beautiful country roads to Pañihuil where the Magellan penguins hang out.  I drove that portion, and when the road ended abruptly on a wet beach with a wide stream of water running across to the sea, I didn't know what to do.  Pretty soon a man with a radio phone at his ear came over to wave me on across the stream.  If I was going to board one of the pongas for a half-hour cruise around the penguin islands, he was my reservation expert.  We opted to dine at one of the seaside restaurants, so he directed me to drive over the sand to the orange cones that marked the parking area. 

The penguins are on those small islets.  Restaurants, to the left, let you wonder, while you're eating, how fast the tide is coming in.  The pongas take people out around the islets every half hour or so. 

Back on the road, we drove to Castro, checked in to The Hotel Alerce Nativo, built long ago by the Jesuits, I believe.  While wandering the streets beyond the fish and vegetable market, Larry spotted a colorful restaurant on the waterside, with abundant rose and lily gardens on its street side.  "Travesia" ... gets great reviews on Trip Advisor, and we can highly recommend the ceviche mixta ... which included salmon, abalone, and merluza ... so fresh, we wondered if the limey-lemoney ceviche bath had just been applied to the fish when we put in our order!  The pisco sours here are really special, too.  No fluffy burden of egg white ... no diluting freight of shaved ice.  Just the beautiful marriage of chilled pisco and sugared limone in a pottery cup. 

Saturday, we drove south from Castro, still on Ruta Cinco.  There was a terrible moment when a stone from a passing truck whacked our windshield, leaving a thousand pointed star by the rearview mirror, and a crack that travelled all the way to the dashboard.  Richard and Larry both seemed secure that the windshield would hold, so we drove on.  R wanted to stop at the marina in Quinched, where we left flyers announcing our boat for sale.  You Tube re: Chiloe & Marina Quinched As you can see from the video, this is a place we might have to return to after the boat sells.  There's a lodge to stay in, a charter boat to take us out on the water, and a boatyard where Richard could probably get work with his corking mallet. 

Map shows the official southern terminus of Ruta Cinco, in Quellon.  The views of the volcanos and icefields of the mainland are spectacular from here. 

On the way back north, just before we boarded the ferry, we found the enchanting Parque Ecologico Mitological de Chiloe ... a place Richard and I had visited 10 years ago on our first trip to Chile.  La Señora who greeted us, screened us carefully.  It was important, she told us, that we enter the path thru the park with the hearts and eyes of children, and she needed our assurance that each of us could do so.  Otherwise, there was a prison cell made of tree branches standing at the ready.  She was very skeptical of Larry until he removed his dark glasses to show her his honest face.  Then we could proceed. 

The following text is from The Rough Guide's description of Chilote Mythology, special to this island.  Many of these mythological characters are portrayed in artistic depictions created by the old man who led us thru the Parque after La Señora had taken us past the displays of native vegetation.  The Basilisco, for instance, is a curvy tree branch painted with snakeskin, with its knobby "head" painted to resemble a rooster.  Beside him is a small house in which crude dolls represent the dead people in various stages of decay.  On a sign board nearby, the story of this creature is hand-printed in Spanish, which the old man reads to us out loud.  He guides us onward from one station to another to meet the mythological creatures.  In between stations there are treacherous bridges over crocodile-filled marshes, while spiders and other scary things swing from the closest bushes. 

We drove on back to Puerto Montt for the night, before continuing our journey the next day.  More in the next post.  Meanwhile, I'll leave you to read about these monsters.  What a good idea it is to project all the foul and wicked aspects of humanity into these characters, don't you think?  That way we can enjoy our families and friends with peace and humor and child-like pleasure.

Basilisco A snake with the head of a cockerel, the Basilisco turns people to stone with its gaze. At night, the Basilisco enters houses and sucks the breath from sleeping inhabitants, so that they waste away into shrivelled skeletons. The only way to be rid of it is to burn the house down.

Brujo This is the general term for a witch; in Chiloé, there are only male witches and their legendary cave is rumoured to be near the village of Quicaví. To become a witch, an individual must wash away baptism in a waterfall for forty days, assassinate a loved one, make a purse out of their skin in which to carry their book of spells and sign a pact with the devil in their own blood, stating when the evil one can claim their soul. Witches are capable of great mischief and can cause illness and death, even from afar.

Caleuche This ghostly ship glows in the fog, travels at great speeds both above and below the water, emitting beautiful music, carrying the witches to their next stop. Journeying through the archipelago, it’s crewed by shipwrecked sailors and fishermen who have perished at sea.

Fiura An ugly, squat woman with halitosis, she lives in the woods, clothed in moss. The coquettish Fiura bathes in waterfalls, where she seduces young men before driving them insane.

Invunche Stolen at birth by witches, and raised on the flesh of the dead and cats’ milk, the Invunche was transformed into a deformed monster with one leg crooked behind his back. He feeds on goats’ flesh and stands guard at the entrance to the legendary witches’ cave, the Cueva de Quicaví, grunting or emitting bloodcurdling screams. If you’re unlucky enough to spot him, you’ll be frozen to that spot forever.

Pincoya A fertility goddess of extraordinary beauty, Pincoya personifies the spirit of the ocean and is responsible for the abundance or scarcity of fish in the sea. She dances half-naked, draped in kelp, on the beaches or tops of waves. If she’s spotted facing the sea, the village will enjoy an ample supply of seafood. If she’s looking towards the land, there will be a shortage.

Trauco A deformed and ugly troll who dwells in the forest, Trauco dresses in ragged clothes and a conical cap and carries a stone axe or wooden club, a pahueldœn. His breath makes him irresistible to women, and he is blamed for all unexplained pregnancies on the island.

Voladora The witches’ messenger, the Voladora is a woman who transforms into a black bird by vomiting up her internal organs. The Voladora travels under the cover of night and can only be detected by her terrible cries, which bring bad luck. If the Voladora is unable to recover her innards at the end of the night, she is stuck in bird shape forever.

Read more: http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/south-america/chile/chiloe/chilote-mythology/#ixzz3ubWaRVN0