Week Four Chile

Week Four Chile- Refugio Tinquilco and Navimag

We left Pucon for three nights in the Parque Nacional Huerrquehue. The park is about an hour outside Pucon but feels worlds away from the tourist hustle and bustle of the town. You have to hike about 2km from the park entrance to the Refugio were we stayed. Anika was not happy about this at all as most of the people in the park probably could hear. The Refugio is a joint venture of four Chilean professionals. It is run by one of them, Patricio, with the help of his sons. Patricio is a documentary film maker. The refugio is a simple but comfortable lodge within in the park boundary. There is not much else around except camping. So no wifi, phone, TV etc. Very quiet. Patricio is also an excellent cook. Although you can cook for yourself I am so glad we didn't. Breakfast (typical Chilean bread and tea/coffee) was included and part of it was homemade jams and pate. Dinners were amazing. My favorite was a soup that was hearty and flavorful, it seemed like it had everything in it you could think of. Our first full day it rained almost non stop all day. So we hunkered down and read, napped, wrote and ate.

The refugio Tinquilco

The second day Dave and I started out in the morning and took an all day hike into the park. The first hour or so was steep but after that it leveled out. The trail took you around four small lakes, one more picturesque than the next. Mountains or rock walls loomed over the lakes. The tress were especially amazing as many are very different from ours. We saw the national tree, the aruacaria, among others. There were also many interesting birds. I wish I knew their names. On the way back down the views were stunning. We could see the lake the refugio/lodge is on, Tinquilco, surrounded by mountains on the sides, and then with the snow capped top of the volcano peeking out from the third side. I doubt the photos do it justice. Our great hike ended with a short nap and then rejuvenation in the wood burning sauna and pond cold plunge. After that another excellent dinner and we were in heaven.

Photos from the hike:

We had to leave the next morning. We were lucky enough to get a ride with Jamie one of Patricio's sons back to Pucon. So we did not have to hear Anika complain for the second time about the 2km hike to the park entrance from the refugio/lodge. The views driving down were also spectacular. Jamie is a musician so we talked about the art/music scene in Chile and how his work is going. He also told us that one of our next stops, Chiloe island was a very special place. He was right, but more on that when we get there.

Best view coming down. White capped mountain is volcano Villarica.

Navimag- Laguna San Rafeal and Glacier

This is something we never thought we would do and certainly didn't plan on. We do not have every day or week planned, and in Pucon we started thinking about how far south we wanted to go. We had run into many travelers who went to see the glaciers in Southern Patagonia. There are several ways to do this and one popular one is to go down on a ferry and fly/bus back stopping along the way. We went to check this out and found out about a four night, five day cruise to Laguna San Rafeal and the glacier there. Not only that they had a two for one offer and a room with three beds. (Three has turned out to not be a magic number in the lodging world, 2 and 4 are better). So we booked it. When we left Pucon we made our way to Castro on the Chiloe Island to catch the boat.

Chiloe has a distinct history and is considered by many Chileans to be a special place. The island was isolated until the 60 when there was finally regular ferry and road traffic. It is still very rural and people here seem to have a very romantic notion of life in the country. The Panamerican highway, for no reason I know of, leaves the mainland and ends at the southern most point of Chiloe. The island has its own mythology and magical creatures to go with it. After our boat adventure we spent a week here but more on that later.

So I don't think many people with backpacks usually take this boat. But they were very polite and welcoming to us. They load your bags so when you go on the boat and are directed to your room your bags are their already. That alone was service beyond my wildest dreams. Our room was very comfortable with a large window looking out on the water and a bathroom with unlimited hot water, something rare for us in Chile. There was a paper in English explaining the schedule for the rest of the day. And every morning a new paper like this appeared. They cleaned out room twice a day, turning down the sheets while we were at dinner. For those of you out there who have been on a cruise this may all sounds oh so normal. For us it was a luxurious treat.

View from our Room

Anika and Dave having the welcome drink

So for four days we didn't have to make many decisions or figure out what to eat, or where, or how to get somewhere. Like our short tour in Cambodia we enjoyed having such great hosts and guides. We sat at the same tables for meals with the only other American (a way ward backpacker like ourselves) and a Korean girl traveling with her mother. The mother spoke no English but we had fun with the daughter who was super cute. The meals were huge, often buffet style but we had the same waiter and he went out of his way to make sure we were happy. Each day there were excursions and ,activities. The guides were all bilingual, some tri lingual. There was a group from Germany and a large group of Chinese. The Chinese spent most of the time playing cards in one common area of the ship. Everyone else was Chilean.

Our table buddies in the dinning room

There were two great hikes that were marred by bad weather. During the first we got soaked to the bone. Luckily the day we went to the glacier it didn't rain in the morning. The glacier was like going to the grand canyon. Pictures and words do not come close to describing being next to it watching chunk fall off and hearing the sounds it makes before, during and after. We learned a lot about the history of this particular glacier. Scientists have been studying it since the 70s. We saw a huge seal and some birds. Everyone got a chance to hold a chunk of ice in their bare hands. When we returned to the boat they had hot chocolate and whiskey served with a piece of the ice.

In the evenings there were movies and presentations about nature in Patagonia, wine tasting and other activities. One night there was a bingo game were if you said the word bingo, for any reason, you had to get up and dance in front of everyone. The MC tricked us into saying it and we had to dance, much to Dave's dismay. Because of course when any of the Chileans had to dance, even the awkward teenagers or kids, they looked like they knew what they were doing. And then Dave said it again and we had to do it again. But after that all the Chileans on board who had been there were super friendly to us. There was a salsa demonstration and lesson too. We did not stay long at the Karaoke night for fear we would get tricked somehow again and have to sing. Dance I can do, sing no way!

Rainbow from the boat

On the second hike we also visited the town of Chiten which was devastated by a volcanic eruption four years ago. The government wanted to move the entire village to another location and tired to. But many people refused and are now trying to rebuild their town with very little government support. Their town in near Parque Pulmatin, one of the largest (if not the largest) private park in the world owned by the man who started Esprit and North Face and his wife, one of the founders of Patagoina clothing. We visited a small part of the park and did a very short hike in the pouring rain. It is incredibly beautiful. This guy is fighting with the government here all the time to prevent more development in Patagonia. From what we heard people here like him because he got out there with everyone else after the volcano exploded and helped out. He lives here most of the time.

Street in Chiten

The time on the boat was like a really good dream and I was sad when it had to end. I recommend this tour for anyone wanting to see a glacier close up in a super comfortable low stress way.