Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Our Year at Home
After 5 nights we finally left Puerto Varas. On the way out of town we popped into the third of the supermarkets, for a quick look, a smallish Jumbo. We were not disappointed and came out with big smiles and a trolley full of goodies. So many infact we have filled the food cupboard, an area under the bed and a plastic box on the floor.
We drove towards Puyehue National Park which was supposed to have some scenic roads. On the way we camped in an actual campsite for only the second time since we started. It was a Wednesday night so we knew we would be safe from the hoards of weekenders with their giant meat BBQs and late night noise. At the site we meet and had a drink with a very nice Dutch couple. It was Peters birthday and he had bought 3 Fullers beers in Jumbo (thats possibly why he liked Jumbo so much). The next day we headed into the park but were disappointed as yes there were some lovely lakes and dramatic waterfalls but you couldn't see much because of the thick undergrowth and a distinct lack of viewing points. We drove to the ski village in the centre of the park but all the lifts were closed for the summer. We tried a trek to a lake but after a mile and a bit with no sign of the lake we turned back. At this point we decided to give up on this park.
We had been told by fellow travellers that there was a great car museum on the way to Valdivia so obviously we paid a visit. It had a rather big collection of American Studebaker cars and a few other cars. The museum does a lot of restoration and some of the cars were so perfect it was impressive. A chap called Raymond Loewy was involved in the design of some of the cars but more interesting is that his career as a designer in the USA included the iconic fluted Coca Cola bottle with white wording, the interior of Airforce One and the first NASA space station, the Shell, Spar and Chubb logos and a lot more. A busy man.
Our plan was to pop over to Valdivia on the coast for a day before returning to the lakes. We decided to save time by using the Pan American Highway (Ruta 5). For the night we parked up in a petrol station with all the Lorries. A lot of the petrol stations on this highway have showers as well as toilets for the lorry drivers. Peter had a shower but when I went over the woman in charge was not at all happy for me to go in as it was men only. I just stood and looked confused and she obviously thought it was not worth while trying to explain so let me in. That evening Arthur let us down as he developed his third flat tyre. Peter was not impressed as it was so flat he had to put the spare on.
Valdivia was founded back in the 16th century by the Spanish who heavily fortified it to keep out pirates. Apparently Sir Francis Drake even attacked the town. The fortifications were finally destroyed, except for a few little bits by the Chilean independence army. We had come to the town to go on a Chilean Oberon submarine, built in the 1970's in Scotland. It was decommissioned in 2008 and is now a museum. It even has a couple of original torpedoes [with the explosive charge removed]. 76 men lived on board and shared 4 toilets. That would not have done for me! After this we went on a little boat trip around a large island in the middle of the river. In 1960 the area experienced the biggest earthquake ever recorded reading 9.5son the Richter scale. 24 minutes after the earthquake a very large tsunami with waves 25 metres high hit the area. The earthquake resulted in a large area of land dropping 3 metres and then being flooded with water. The result is a massively wide river with large marshlands all around it. Very pretty now but probably a bit scary at the time. As we left the dock on the boat we passed the fish market. Sitting below the stalls waiting for the scraps thrown from the cleaning of the fish were lots of sea lions, Pelicans and Seagulls.
We left town still in search of a tyre repair shop, but it was not till we were back on the Pan American Highway that we found one at a large Shell garage. Peter breathed sigh of relief! The man appeared to be living in a large shipping container with his wife and 2 children.
After this we headed back to the lakes stopping the night at a town, we visited on our first trip, Villarica. We camped on the lake shore with other overlanders. Surprisingly it was a quiet night. Next day we headed to Pucon. The season is a bit early for most of the touristy activities in this very touristy town but we really only came for a short rest (and if truth be known for me to have Sushi meal. I remember a great restaurant from our last visit) before we start the epic 2400 kilometre drive north to the Atacama desert.
Before we headed to the Sushi restaurant we visited another old haunt a German bar/restaurant which stocks beer from around the world and more importantly one of Peter's favourites Fullers ESB. It is a rather strong beer and after 2 Peter was a little tipsy. So much so that he went to the loo and came back claiming he had got lost and had ended up in a different restaurant!The Sushi restaurant was still there so I had a great meal. Peter sat and watched and then we went back to the German bar for him to have his meat quota for the week.
Pucon is overshadowed by the large volcano Villarica which is of limits at the moment as it is on amber alert. Our first night we could see the red glow of the lava bubbling away in the crater. The town will get a very loud siren going if they need to evacuate. That would be exciting!
Peter went Hydro boarding the next day down a rather fast river down lots of rapids. You lie prone on a small board and use your feet for propulsion and steering. What can I say except Peter enjoyed it.
On our last night in Pucon we had our third Sushi and burger and retired to be woken at 2 by barking. It sounded like every dog in town. I got up to see what was going on and the volcano had a big red glow over the crater from the lava. Did the dogs think something was going to happen? Nothing did.
We drove towards Puyehue National Park which was supposed to have some scenic roads. On the way we camped in an actual campsite for only the second time since we started. It was a Wednesday night so we knew we would be safe from the hoards of weekenders with their giant meat BBQs and late night noise. At the site we meet and had a drink with a very nice Dutch couple. It was Peters birthday and he had bought 3 Fullers beers in Jumbo (thats possibly why he liked Jumbo so much). The next day we headed into the park but were disappointed as yes there were some lovely lakes and dramatic waterfalls but you couldn't see much because of the thick undergrowth and a distinct lack of viewing points. We drove to the ski village in the centre of the park but all the lifts were closed for the summer. We tried a trek to a lake but after a mile and a bit with no sign of the lake we turned back. At this point we decided to give up on this park.
We had been told by fellow travellers that there was a great car museum on the way to Valdivia so obviously we paid a visit. It had a rather big collection of American Studebaker cars and a few other cars. The museum does a lot of restoration and some of the cars were so perfect it was impressive. A chap called Raymond Loewy was involved in the design of some of the cars but more interesting is that his career as a designer in the USA included the iconic fluted Coca Cola bottle with white wording, the interior of Airforce One and the first NASA space station, the Shell, Spar and Chubb logos and a lot more. A busy man.
Our plan was to pop over to Valdivia on the coast for a day before returning to the lakes. We decided to save time by using the Pan American Highway (Ruta 5). For the night we parked up in a petrol station with all the Lorries. A lot of the petrol stations on this highway have showers as well as toilets for the lorry drivers. Peter had a shower but when I went over the woman in charge was not at all happy for me to go in as it was men only. I just stood and looked confused and she obviously thought it was not worth while trying to explain so let me in. That evening Arthur let us down as he developed his third flat tyre. Peter was not impressed as it was so flat he had to put the spare on.
Valdivia was founded back in the 16th century by the Spanish who heavily fortified it to keep out pirates. Apparently Sir Francis Drake even attacked the town. The fortifications were finally destroyed, except for a few little bits by the Chilean independence army. We had come to the town to go on a Chilean Oberon submarine, built in the 1970's in Scotland. It was decommissioned in 2008 and is now a museum. It even has a couple of original torpedoes [with the explosive charge removed]. 76 men lived on board and shared 4 toilets. That would not have done for me! After this we went on a little boat trip around a large island in the middle of the river. In 1960 the area experienced the biggest earthquake ever recorded reading 9.5son the Richter scale. 24 minutes after the earthquake a very large tsunami with waves 25 metres high hit the area. The earthquake resulted in a large area of land dropping 3 metres and then being flooded with water. The result is a massively wide river with large marshlands all around it. Very pretty now but probably a bit scary at the time. As we left the dock on the boat we passed the fish market. Sitting below the stalls waiting for the scraps thrown from the cleaning of the fish were lots of sea lions, Pelicans and Seagulls.
We left town still in search of a tyre repair shop, but it was not till we were back on the Pan American Highway that we found one at a large Shell garage. Peter breathed sigh of relief! The man appeared to be living in a large shipping container with his wife and 2 children.
After this we headed back to the lakes stopping the night at a town, we visited on our first trip, Villarica. We camped on the lake shore with other overlanders. Surprisingly it was a quiet night. Next day we headed to Pucon. The season is a bit early for most of the touristy activities in this very touristy town but we really only came for a short rest (and if truth be known for me to have Sushi meal. I remember a great restaurant from our last visit) before we start the epic 2400 kilometre drive north to the Atacama desert.
Before we headed to the Sushi restaurant we visited another old haunt a German bar/restaurant which stocks beer from around the world and more importantly one of Peter's favourites Fullers ESB. It is a rather strong beer and after 2 Peter was a little tipsy. So much so that he went to the loo and came back claiming he had got lost and had ended up in a different restaurant!The Sushi restaurant was still there so I had a great meal. Peter sat and watched and then we went back to the German bar for him to have his meat quota for the week.
Pucon is overshadowed by the large volcano Villarica which is of limits at the moment as it is on amber alert. Our first night we could see the red glow of the lava bubbling away in the crater. The town will get a very loud siren going if they need to evacuate. That would be exciting!
Peter went Hydro boarding the next day down a rather fast river down lots of rapids. You lie prone on a small board and use your feet for propulsion and steering. What can I say except Peter enjoyed it.
On our last night in Pucon we had our third Sushi and burger and retired to be woken at 2 by barking. It sounded like every dog in town. I got up to see what was going on and the volcano had a big red glow over the crater from the lava. Did the dogs think something was going to happen? Nothing did.
- comments
Belinda Sounds like peter's having one long pub crawl-fantastic!:-D
Dave and Sandra Looks fun (That foam extinguisher is out of date and needs replacing by the way).
Dave and Sandra It's amazing how many collections of old cars exist around the world. Glad you found the Jumbo. Every little helps!
gerty581 Comment on photo 'That door looks a bit small' by Dave H Looks fun (That foam extinguisher is out of date and needs replacing by the way).