An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
(written in the smallest room we’ve ever inhabited!)
We awoke (throughout) this morning to the sound of a vicious wind and heavy rain. It was quite gray outside as we went down to breakfast, and the low clouds completely shrouded the lake and hung over the surrounding forrest.
We packed up and checked out of yet another hotel, then boarded the van for the long drive to Villarica, Chile. We motored up the Pan American Hiway for about 4+ hours, leaving the rain mostly behind and finally arriving in the town, which is known for its Mapuche (Indian) crafts.
We lunched at 2001, a quite good sandwich shop, enjoying chicken and barbecued beef. Then we walked the town, cruising the flea-market like Artisan shops without the slightest temptation to buy anything. After some comical miscommunications, we met up with the van and mounted our bikes for the 25km ride to Pucon.
The ride was along a lake, but was really not too scenic, especially with all the cars and buses whizzing past us. Occasionally, we’d get a look at the big lake, which was quite peaceful, with wooded hills rising steeply from its shores and rolling farmlands along its far side. There were also copious big hydrangeas of blue, indigo and pink all along the roadside, each looking like a miniature exploding firework.
We were quite fortunate that we ended up biking in the little bit of warm sunshine for the day, and without our usual entourage of horseflies (so Milton no longer needed the big bamboo switch he brandished back and forth throughout yesterday’s hike in what has come to be known as the “Lake Country Dance”).
As we rolled into Pucon, we saw a shop with a big outdoor display selling wood flowers in many shapes and colors that looked remarkably beautiful and real; wish we could find something like that back home. We checked in and were able, for the first time since Tuesday, to check our email; imagine, traveling to exotic locations around the world without being able to log on! We showered in the smallest bathroom imagineable, then went down to meet for dinner. We thought we were a bit late, but Felice was just returning from wandering lost in the city, so we and Berne headed to dinner with Felice to meet us there later. We walked the town, which is a Chilean lakeside resort at the base of the Villarica volcano (on the top of which there’s skiing for much of the year). Redolent of a touristy ski village, but without the preponderance of t-shirt shops.
We dined at the local fondue place, which was really fun. We shared a meat fondue (cubes of meat fondued in herbed boiling oil) with many assorted condiments, and a raclette, which is basically a mini-broiler set on one’s table, under which one cooks (in one’s own personal little skillet) ham and melts cheese which is then dumped/poured over cooked potatoes and decorated with the aforementioned panoply of condiments. We had a Santa Rita vino, which was Merlot-like and tasty. For dessert, we had two fondues - chocolate and sweetened condensed milk with a caramel flavor - into which we dipped little madelines, bananas (not Milton, of course), and marshmallows, then rolled them in crushed nuts and coconut. This (especially the dipped marshmallows) may have been the best dessert we’ve enjoyed in quite some time.
As it was past 11:45 when we drained the fondue pots, we were beat, so we walked home in the perfect cool evening and squeezed ourselves amongst our luggage into our room.