True to form, Pucón turned out to be quite the peaceful lakeside town, and again we found ourselves settling comfortably down for a week, living in a completely unexpected but all the more appreciated state of domestic bliss.
Pucón is in the middle of Chile’s Lake District, on the edge of Lake Villarrica and overlooked by the perfect snowy peak of the Villarrica volcano. In that way that things do, a very cute log cabin just presented itself to us, complete with our own little kitchen, living room with cable TV, and even a guest room, for a tenner a night. (Breathtaking, considering the extortion we’ve been subject to elsewhere in Chile…)
So of course we made ourselves at home in our own little cottage in the countryside, drinking many cups of tea and enjoying nights in for the first time in three months. Funny how all those little homey things are suddenly heavenly after roaming for a while.
And we have been enjoying this pretty, if slightly odd, corner of the world – all log cabins and chimneyed bakeries nestling among rolling green hills and lakes. It’s like Switzerland meets Wales. With the occasional nod to Scandinavia.
In between lying on the sofa with tea, we went on some outdoorsy adventures… long walks through a national park (Huerquehue National Park) filled with snow and lakes and general wintry loveliness. And mountain biking to some waterfalls, which was more hideously painful than I’d imagined or I never would have agreed to it (not only has it been about twelve years since I last rode a bike, I’ve never tried a mountain bike, I don’t think I’ve ever been off paved roads, and I’m not sure I’ve ever even been good with slopes…) – so that was hard, and more so when we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere as it got dark and started to rain, and had to pedal for our lives; getting back to the bike hire shop soaked and stiff and greeted by a smirking group of outdoorsy blokes who had evidently had to keep the shop open late for us.
Oh, and Rich climbed a volcano. I hear it was all very rewarding and picturesque, although he did come home fearing frostbite. Meanwhile, I had a lovely day reading books by the fire.
But, again, tore ourselves away from the comfort and things went downhill as a camera got left behind and rain won’t stop pouring. We’re now in Valdivia, which is city-like, not remotely cosy, and very, very overcast. But it’s not all bad; it does have some rather friendly sealions.
