BOTTOM LINE:
Drove from Valdivia to Pucon, Chile
NOTEWORTHY: Valdiva had the biggest earthquake ever in 1961. Pucon is a gateway town like Jackson Hole or West Yellowstone and is dubbed the adventure capital of Chile.
BACK STORY:
We went to sleep with music playing and woke up with the same. There was a church up river that was playing praise music that echoed off the water and into our room. Nice way to wake up!
After a lovely breakfast (included) we packed up and left this very modest city...a city that experienced the worse earthquake in recorded history in 1961...9.7 on the Richter scale.
Somehow the GPS took us off of a well paved road and onto a very remote road up a steep and densely treed hill side. I'm guessing that it was a "short cut" back to the connecting highway but to be off the grid was a bit unsettling. In the back of our minds, there is a real sense of lurking vulnerability about driving a rental car in unknown areas...basically our AAA doesn't work in South America!
We just pray every morning for safe travel and that the car continues to work properly. I drive very cautiously and defensively...but I am not a wimp. With all of the dusty dirt/gravel roads I wonder daily about the air filter coughing us to a sudden stop or the axel/ tires giving out from constant pounding on chunky gravel roads. Luckily there are few pot holes, but at times on a decline I have felt like we are going down a ski slope of moguls! Oh well, it's part of the adventure! This ain't Kansas!
Although the freeways are four lanes and seem like ours in the US, every mode of transportation seems to use them. Bicycles, pedestrians, horses with carts, and farming equipment. When we finally reconnected to the main freeway there was a sigh of relief. We were greeted by many people anxiously offering handmade green leaf table wreaths with red berry centers. Not sure what the occasion was or maybe it was just a Sunday tradition. For miles the freeway was dotted with people holding out the wreaths with hopeful grins.
We happily arrived to our destination of Pucon, Chile five hours later. Pucon was located in a very pretty valley on the shores of Lake Billerica. To the south the towering Volcano Billerica shadowed the town and constantly puffed smoke out of it's active crater.
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| Lake Billerica |
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| Volcano Billerica |
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| Hotel Gardens in Picon |
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| Surrounding mountains |
For a Sunday, the town was crowded with tourists, locals and roaming dogs. It saddened me to see the number and condition of the dogs. They seemed to be tolerate of one another and not travel in packs. They also seemed territorial to a restaurant and would quietly lay or sit in close proximity waiting for a morsel of food to sustain their matted, flea bitten bodies.
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| Garbage draped on fences so dogs won't get it! |
The town had many tour booking agencies and we found that Pucon's claim to fame is in all forms of adrenaline pumping sports...sky diving, canopy zip lines, white water rafting, mountain biking, etc. Besides sports and restaurants, Chocolateria's were on every street along with souvenir shops and clothing shops for locals.
The lake has been a draw for many as well. We walked through the city center park that was ablaze with music, artists, children playing and people laying on the grass DPSA...displaying public signs of affection...and I'm talking about, "get a room!" On a side note, Bruce and I have observed how openly affectionate people are. Growing up in the Hippie Generation of "free love" I think it's great...within reason.
Stepping out onto the beach, we were shocked at the sight. The beach front for about 1/2 mile by about 100 ft. was filled with beachcombers. We were surprised at how many people, towels, umbrellas and picnickers lined the beach. We had no idea of how popular the area was. We were told however that it was the end...the end of summer and the last Sunday for family outings.
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| Picon's public beach on Lake Billerica |
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