An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Awoke to foreboding skies and wind (causing whitecaps in the lake!). But also got to have some delicious fresh fruit from the aforementioned grocery (some of the best fruit we get in NY comes from Chile). We also snacked on some crackers with local peanut butter (sugary, of course) from the breakfast buffet while waiting for the van to be loaded.
As it had begun raining, Wendy stayed in the van while Milton and Berne set off riding in their raingear. Went about 20 minutes, then heeded Berne’s suggestion that we board the van now, drive the 30 minutes to tonight’s hotel and ride around there instead.
Along the way, we stopped to see a condor that had been found injured in the wild and has lived in captivity ever since. (It was released twice, but came back each time) It’s a big, black vulture-like creature that I had instant affinity for. We learned that they can live to 50 and have a wingspan of over 8 feet!
The van next stopped at a Trout farm/smokery where Berne went in and picked up lunch for today and tomorrow. When she got back in, she told us how disappointed the owners were that we hadn’t gone in also (since Americans are a rarity here), so when we stopped a few minutes later at the Kuchen (a german custard/cake creation) place (actually just an older woman’s house), we all piled out and went in to visit and choose which fruit kuchen to get (peach/blackberry).
We arrived at the hotel and thawed and dried in our room until meeting downstairs for our picnic lunch, which was good, especially the trout which actually looked like a salmon. It then started to clear up, so Milton, Felice and Berne rode to the Salto Petrohue falls while Wendy napped in our room.
The ride was beautiful, and it had warmed up nicely, passing through the lush Villorican rain forest. The falls were interesting — rather than a large waterfall, it was a wide turquoise river rushing over and through large lava formations. Some were large channels, and some were steep and narrow, but it was loud and quite scenic, especially with the high wooded hills alongside and the ubiquitous snow-capped Orsorno volcano looming right above it all.
While leaving the park, we met and talked with two pairs of cycle-tourers, one an English guy and his Chilean girlfriend who were in the midst of their 4-year ride from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile, and a pair of guys from Vancouver who were cycling in Chile and Argentina for 2 months. Berne then realized it was time for Milton to make haste back to the hotel to be there when Art, the Norweigan raft guide/owner arrived at 4:00.
Of course, they were late, and then they couldn’t send their fax to their insurance company, etc., but we finally left - eight of us crammed in a vintage Toyota Land Cruiser. I listened to the long safety lecture in spanish (fortunately I’d done this before) then we paddled off under the commands, adelante, derecho atras, izquierdo adelante. . .Luckily, there were two college students from Santiago who spoke enough english for me to converse with. The river had some good, long class 3 rapids early on, but the last hour or so was a lot of lazy paddling. The setting was, of course, lush and mountainous, however, we were perpetually harassed by the tabanos - local horseflies the size of small grasshoppers. They are clearly the condors of the insect world, travel in packs and can bite through clothing.
Meanwhile, Wendy walked along the lakeshore and explored the grounds of our hotel. After succumbing to the tabanos, she went indoors and checked out the rooms, nooks and hallways, taking in the eclectic collection of antiques that had found their way here over the past 100 years.
We dined at the hotel, just the four of us, on another good Chilean soup (chicken), a large and tasty salmon steak grilled in butter (as good as it sounds!), and then during dessert (ice cream and watermelon) were joined by the two Canadian cyclists (who were camping on the beach across the street) and who, along with Berne, entertained us with stories of all the wacky places they’ve biked and traveled. We then eased up to the room.