Christmas & New Year 2012/13

This was our second Christmas in Chile and just like last year we took about two weeks off work to get out of Santiago. Once again, we headed down south - the obvious thing to do during the height of the summer. This time, however, not quite as far south as last year.

Earlier in 2012 we had already spent some time in the Araucania and Los Ríos regions of Chile (the former currently being in the news for violent conflict between Mapuche activists and local landowners), but felt like going back for more volcanos and temperate rain forests. These regions are about 800km south of Santiago, and not wanting to travel all this way in one go, we decided to first spend a couple of nights along the coast half-way between here and there.

The beaches between the towns of Constitución and Concepción were recommended to us as not crowded - thanks to their distance from Santiago - as well as beautiful. And so we camped for a couple of quiet nights near the beach, spent a chilled day eating the last few Chirimoyas of this season and took Señor Mario Carrasco and Princesa Margarita for nice long walks and runs along the beach.

Christmas in Chile being all about getting the family together (...as opposed to going on holidays) and so we practically felt like the only people there, although we did bump into a couple of locals, such as this guy:

(S)he was the bigger of the couple we saw, although still no more than 5cm long. Neither of us had seen scorpions before, but apparently all 35 species that can be found in Chile are fairly harmless, i.e. the sting may hurt but shouldn´t require medical attention.

After this relaxing start of our holidays we moved on to Lago Calafquen where we had spent a weekend last February. Like last time, we arrived in pouring rain and with the forecast not promising any change for a few days we ditched the idea of camping and hired a cabin. Yes, we must be getting old or something (o;

The weather otherwise did not keep us from making the most of our time there. The first day we hiked through the southern fringes of Villarica National Park with its impressive Araucaria trees.

We did get fairly wet that day but two of the four of us treated ourselves to a visit of the nearby Termas Geométricas afterwards, which made up for it.

Another interesting excursion lead us to Huilo-Huilo, a privately owned nature reserve and eco-tourism project, which protects 600km² of rain forest a little further south. We visited a couple of impressive waterfalls there and had a quick look at their Montaña Mágica Lodge and Nothofagus Hotel, just because we had heard of them before for having won some sustainability awards.

After three days the weather started improving and so we decided to relocate to the northern side of Volcán Villarrica. We purchased a topographic map in Pucon on which we spotted a remote campsite in the middle of nowhere, which spontaneously was elected as our new base for the next few days. And what a lucky move that was! For the following three nights only the croaking of the frogs, the singing of the birds and the chirping of the crickets (as opposed to snoring, annoying music and other campsite noise) accompanied our dreams.

We were the only people there and with the weather turning to glorious sunshine we opted for enjoying nature as nature intended it q-:

During the days we went for walks in the area, although we found that we were pretty much limited to the gravel road which went past the campsite - the forest was simply too dense to venture far. Another highlight was the little lake at the campsite and the different perspective of the surrounding forest it provided from its centre.

After those three days we didn't feel like leaving but with the New Year looming we had to start thinking about heading north again. Just like on the way down, we stopped again for a couple of nights along the coast, this time camping right on the beach.

(Southern Cross visible near the top of the photo)

We had picked a spot which was next to a little shrine which during the day turned out to be quite a popular place of pilgrimage for the people living in the area. I don't think they minded our presence too much, but we clearly were somewhat of a curiosity. I guess they don't have a gringo couple with two dogs camping and picking up rubbish on the beach very often there. It's a shame that their priest hasn't inspired them to take their candle wrappers, plastic bags, bottles, etc. home after visiting the shrine, yet.

On New Year's eve, after the last of the pilgrams had left, we lit a fire to enjoy the final hours of the year 2012, listening to the waves and watching the stars.

More photos of the whole trip below (or in hi-res here).