Patchamama Tour

Dear all

Pomaire

We decided to ease ourselves gently into South American life & Chris recommended that we used a company called Patchamama to cover our journey down to the Chilean Lakes. The van picked us up on the thursday morning and off we trundled to the south. Our first stop was a small village called Pomaire which is famous for its pottery. As with most chilean towns the village had a sleepy feel to it and even at 12.00 noon that 'just got up' air. Most of the shops were just opening and the smell of freshly baking bread wafted down the main street from the bakers.  

Rapel Dam

We then stopped at Rapel Dam a huge hydroelectricity station which powers most of Santiago and is pretty impressive. The lake is full of black carp who swarm up to you as you approach on the scrounge for food. One big mass of open mouths yuck! The end of our day was spent at Punta Lobos with a large glass of Chilean Carmanere wine & a beautiful sunset overlooking the sea full of athletic surfers and huge pelicans. Very beautiful. A group dinner back at our first night stop in Pichilemu sealed the group dynamics over a few glasses of wine!



 

Day two saw us stopping at another small town Santa Cruz which is quite typical for the region apart from the fact that it has a massive museum dedicated to virtually everything! Why I hear you say? Well its all due to the very generous 'investments' of a former arms dealer who can't leave Chile as there is a world wide warrant for his arrest by the US! It is one of the best artifact museums I have ever been to with some of the best fossils and insects preserved in amber I have ever seen.  A long stretch on the road for the rest of the day brought us down to Pucon in the noth of the Chilean lakes. It was too cloudy to see Volcan Villarrica which entices most people to the area to walk to its steaming peak and slide back down the ice peak. Unfortunately the same cloud was also there on our second day so we had to settle for a long walk around the lake where Dean managed to collect a series of dogs until we had a small pack following us!





Dean reflecting on the evils of red wine!

  

The dogs here don't seem to belong to anyone, but are well fed and generally in good health & will take anyone for a walk given the slightest encouragement! That evening we went to the local hot pools ( with some contraband wine!) and had a  great time with our group. We had to split from the group as there wasn't enough double beds (wasn't a big deal as we had a great room!) so back at the main hostel we had a huge BBQ together and a very heavy night on the vino. Dean could hardly walk home! We also lost our first group member Jarno, who stayed to climb the Volcano ( hoping the cloud and poisonous gases clear!)
 

Day 4 saw us down in Valdevia a hippie university town on the banks of the Rio Valdevia it was the centre of german immigration in the mid 19th Century (war criminals!!) and chocolate and lager abounds in the centre! It is beautiful location albeit tinged with disaster as it was pretty much raised to the ground in 1960 by a huge earthquake. We had a wonder around the Feria Fluvial, a riverside fish & veggie market where sea lions and black shags cruise the edges coaxing handouts from the men filleting the fish! We also lost the second of our group Jonny & Charlotte Kiwi's who lived in Oz & had been the live wires of the group.



Last night together in Valdivia



  



Day five we started in Puerto Montt, a very uninspiring town albeit it is the place where you can get the coastal ferry down to Puerto Natales via the fiords. Probably very nice when the weather is great, but an expensive trip if not! We stopped for a great fish lunch in the the port & then bought a fresh salmon for dinner (another product the region is famous for!). There was also a great little handicraft market that the two Irish girls in our group, Christine & Gemma both pounced on !

Our final stop as a group was at Puerto Varas only 30 mins from our last stop, but a a much different place. There is a beautifil german settlement with stunning views of Volcano Orsorno on the other side of the lake. (when its not cloudy!). We had our final feast of salmon & steak cooked on the grill in the garden washed down by yet more Chilean red amnd as it was our last night Kevin (our Dutch group member!) bought some Champagne whoop whoop!   Once the group leave we are going to hire a car for the next couple of days and see the area in the meantime I'm off to grab another glass of red!!