Smog, Coffee with Legs, Pinochet and Wine Tasting

Santiago is not the most picturesque of cities. Viewing it from the window of our 13th floor AirBnB apartment, or from the top of the nearby Santa Lucía hill, the main impression is of ugly, high rise concrete tower blocks and the all pervading smog. Yet as we have explored the city from the ground, we've realised there's more to it than we'd first perceived and it is actually an interesting and lively place to be.

The entrance to Santa Lucía hill 

We have spent much of our time here checking out the city's highlights with Louise, my friend who is in South America for a few weeks. On our second day here we did a free three hour walking tour around the city centre. This was well worth doing; our guide took us not only to the obvious places but to some more interesting ones - some of the city's most famous street art, for example. Perhaps the weirdest thing we learnt about is a popular style of coffee shop in Santiago - 'café con piernas'  or  'coffee with legs'! Type 1 of these cafés look like normal coffee shops. They are open from 9-6, and don't serve alcohol... but all the waitresses are dressed in exceedingly short skirts and high heels. Type 2 is a step up - they are still open daytime only and don't serve alcohol, but have blackened out glass and loud music playing. As we stood outside one of these listening to our guide, one of the waitresses emerged and waved - let's just say they were somewhat more scantily clad than type 1(bunny ears wouldn't have gone amiss)! As for type 3 - you don't get them in the city centre...

Smoggy view from the top of San Cristóbal, with the Andes just visible

We've also taken the funicular railway to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal, the highest hill in Santiago, from where you get a great, if hazy, view of the city. We could even see the tops of the Andes emerging from the smog. Nearby is La Chascona, one of the three homes in Chile of the nation's Nobel prizewinning poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda built the house in 1953 for his secret lover, Matilde Urrutia and named it after her (Chascona means dishevelled hair, a reference to Matilde's wild red curls). The house has been left much as it was and is evidence of Neruda's quirky taste and his love of the sea: the long, narrow downstairs dining room and bar with low ceiling are designed to look like a ship.

Walking up towards the Immaculate Conception statue at the top of San Cristóbal hill

Kev and I visited the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Musuem of Memory and Human Rights), which was an absorbing insight into the 1973 coup, the death of the socialist president Salvador Allende and the following Pinochet regime that lasted until 1990. Some of the images of the torture and human rights abuse that took place were shocking, as were the figures we learned as to the impact of the dictatorship on the Chilean people - over 3,000 deaths, nearly 40,000 people tortured or imprisoned and 200,000 people exiled from the country. Controversy continues today as to the legacy of both Allende and Pinochet.

Wine tasting at Emiliana winery, in the Casablanca Valley

We escaped the city for a day with some more wine tasting in the Casablanca region, an hour or so away. Getting here by bus and then walking to three wineries was easy and a lot cheaper than all the advertised tours. We sat in the sun sampling wines and admiring the beautiful vineyards. Casablanca is known for its whites and the Gran Reserva Chardonnay at Quilmay winery was my favourite of the day - the reds were pretty good too!

The Lengths We Will Go to See a Waterfall

We'd decided that we wanted to spend a day seeing the waterfalls in the Siete Tazas (Seven Cups) National Park. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy - there is only one bus there every day and it leaves Molina at 5pm. It returns at 7:30am the next morning. Therefore, to have time to actually see the park at all, we would have to spend two nights there.

The Velo de Novia (Bridal Veil) waterfall, close to the national park

As we were in Talca, we would first have to get to Molina for the solitary bus at 5pm. We were told that there were regular buses there, so we turned up at the bus station at just after 3. However, this happened to be the only gap in the schedule - there wasn't another bus until 4. We sat impatiently on this one and might just have arrived in time, if the bus hadn't got a puncture just outside of Molina. In desperation, we tried to hitchhike into town, and the first thing that arrived was another bus. It rattled ominously and struggled to get out of second gear for the rest of the journey. We arrived at the bus station 10 minutes too late.

The 20m Salta de la Leona (Lioness) waterfall

Molina is not a town geared up for tourists, but we did manage to find a dirty, but dirt cheap, guesthouse and, amazingly, a place selling craft beer. We got up early in the morning as we had been advised that there was a bus that would take us some of the way towards the park, and then we could hitchhike the rest of the way. The bus part went successfully; the hitchhiking part started less well. We stood shivering on the roadside in darkness until the sun rose an hour or so later. Only two cars passed in two hours; neither stopped. Eventually, a pickup truck did pull over for us, threw our bags in under the tarp and on top of the goat, and we were off. For some of the way. They seemed to be delivering the tied up goat to their friend, just 7km further down the road. Soon after though, we were picked up by a visiting Chileno family and taken the rest of the way. We'd made it! And the seven waterfalls were fine.

The Siete Tazas waterfalls, and their cups - the object of the arduous journey

From the national park, we had to be up before dawn once again for the one morning bus back to Molina. It was somewhat surreal walking by torchlight into the pitch black village and seeing the bus materialise out of the darkness. From Molina we took another bus to Curicó and a final one to Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is the heart of the Colchagua Valley wine region and, although difficult to get to, the vineyards produce fine red wines. Particularly of the full bodied variety we're both most keen on. We enjoyed some lengthy tasting sessions, even if one was interrupted part way through by a small earthquake sending a jolt through the room.

So much wine!

We've now moved on again, up to the capital, Santiago. We're hoping to see some of the cultural sights around here but mix it up with some more wine tasting in the nearby Casablanca and Maipo regions.

Wine Tasting, Stargazing and a UFO Landing Site

After a busy few days of long hikes near Curacautín, we thought we needed a break and have spent the last week or so based in and around Talca, the capital of the Maule Valley wine region. The Maule Valley is known for its red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, and some of the wineries are fairly easy to access by public transport; on our first day we took local buses to check out a couple of the nearest ones.

Hiding among the wine barrels

The first winery we visited, Balduzzi, offered a tour in English at a reasonable price, including four tastings. We enjoyed seeing all the machinery used, for example in pressing the grapes, removing stems and so on. Our favourite section was the huge room where the reserve wines are left to mature in huge barrels - the powerful scent in here of oak mixed with wine was quite intoxicating! We tasted two reds and two whites, one more of a dessert wine. All were fine though not spectacular; the spicy Carménère was the pick of the bunch.

Enjoying the sights at Gilmore winery

The second, Gilmore, was more out in the countryside, very picturesque and much less visited by tourists. We didn't bother with a tour but sat outside in the sun with our wine, admiring the vines and the beautiful Mediterranean style garden. The wine here was also better  - we only tried two types but the Merlot here was much more full bodied and satisfying than either of the reds at Balduzzi. The measures were large enough that two tastes was plenty! Gilmore made its own artesanal beer as well as the wine; obviously we purchased a bottle for later.

Volcanic formations at Altos de Lircay

Despite our designs on a restful time, we couldn't come to Talca and not visit the nearby Reserva Nacional Altos de Lircay. We duly caught a local bus at 7 am and after a couple of hours bouncing along in the cold arrived at the reserve (actually 2 km outside it - the bus can't make it all the way down the road). We walked through forest and then steeply uphill for some hours, passing huge formations of solidified lava in outlandish shapes and colours. The culmination of our efforts was reaching El Enladrillado, an incredibly flat plateau made of massive volcanic stone slabs in a very ordered layout - it is popularly rumoured to be a UFO landing ground! From the edges there were stupendous views: a panorama of snow capped mountains in every direction, with the far away river just visible down in the valley. One of the nearest mountains was Volcan Descabezado, or the 'headless volcano' - the summit is so wide and flat it really does look like its top is missing.

Looking over the canyon from the Enladrillado, towards Volcan Descabezado

We headed out of Talca to spend three days in a hostel right out in the countryside, Refugio Tricahue. The Belgian owner has found a pretty stunning setting - the hostel is right next to the Rio Maule, with steep, tree covered slopes rising sharply on the other side of the valley. We had a great time chilling out here, venturing out on some short walks but mostly sitting out in the sun enjoying the quiet and the lovely scenery. The highlight though was the night sky. The lack of light pollution here, together with the glass ceiling in our room, meant we had the perfect conditions for stargazing. I have never seen so many stars. Falling asleep gazing up at the Milky Way was really something special.

The Maule valley, from the Tricahue park

Land of Fire and Ice

After our exertions climbing Quetrupillán volcano, we decided that we needed a bit of a quieter day. We'd been told about a 'secret' waterfall a couple of hours walk from the hostel in Pucón. 'Just go up the road, through the field and climb over the fence. Then walk 150 paces and there's a path down to the right. It's a bit steep. The waterfall's just at the end.' We found the path, then discovered that 'a bit steep' meant climbing down a muddy cliff. 'Just at the end' meant scrambling along a river, jumping between boulders. It was all worth it though - the waterfall was around 80 metres high and we had it all to ourselves.

Leaping along the river towards the waterfall

We've moved on from Pucón now and have spent the last few days in Curacautín. It's a great access point for three national parks - Conguillío, Malalcahuello-Nalvas and Tolhuaca, which are centred around the volcanoes Llaima, Sierra Nevada, Lonquimay and Tolhuaca. Nobody was sure if Tolhucaca was currently open or not, but we made it to both of the others.

Volcanoes Sierra Nevada (left) and Llaima (centre) from Malalcahuello national park

Conguillio contains both Llaima and Sierra Nevada volcanoes. Llaima is the second most active volcano in South America (behind Villarrica), but was fortunately not erupting at the moment. Sierra Nevada is much older, and we hiked to its base, with spectacular views of the double-cratered Llaima all the way. The park is famous for its araucania (monkey puzzle) trees, which make an intriguing frame for photos of the volcano. We also heard, and then saw, several Magellanic woodpeckers hammering away in the forest.

Monkey puzzle trees and Llaima volcano in Conguillío national park

We also went to one of the two sections of the Malalcahuello-Nalvas park, containing Lonquimay volcano, which last erupted in 1988. The steep hike along its flanks took in fantastic views over Conguillio national park and its two volcanoes, before turning around to face Lonquimay itself. The main cone is covered with glassy ice that glistened in the sun. The park is another great place to see monkey puzzle trees, and the terrain alternated between forests and barer sections of rocks and volcanic ash.

Lonquimay volcano in Malalcahuello national park

We've had enough of volcanoes for the minute, so we're heading north towards Talca and its nearby wine region.

Volcanoes, Forts and Beer

From Chiloé we took a bus to Puerto Varas, a touristy town close to Volcán Calbuco. En route the volcano erupted for a third time and we could see the ensuing ash cloud from the bus window. Sadly, once in Puerto Varas itself the weather was too bad to see any more of the volcano, despite it being just over the lake. Since most activities in the town were suspended due to the Calbuco situation, we decided to move on after one night.

Hazy view across from Puerto Varas to Volcán Osorno (left) and Calbuco (right)

Our next stop was Valdivia, a pretty city towards the west coast, with tame sea lions and pelicans frequenting the big riverside fish market. We were lucky to find a fantastic hostel to stay in - it was very eco-friendly, had a resident pet cat (adorable) and duck (vicious!) and was very sociable, with a delicious communal fish barbecue on our first night.

Resident sea lions at the fish market in Valdivia

Valdivia is located at the junction of three rivers and has some wonderful scenery just out of town. On our second day we visited the remains of several forts around Corral Bay. These were built by the Spanish in the 17th century to defend their territories from the threat of attacks from the Pacific, especially pirate raids which were becoming an increasing problem at the time. After going round the recently renovated and very well done fort at Niebla, we took a ferry across the bay to the town of Corral and went to see two more forts there. Corral seemed to be the store for the whole country's supply of wood chippings - the town was dominated by two absolutely enormous piles!

Guns at the fort in Niebla, near Valdivia

Valdivia is also known for its breweries and after a washed out attempt to go to a national park one day, we spent an enjoyable afternoon sampling beers. It is the base for one of Chile's largest brewing companies, Kunstmann, but we decided to give the very touristy trip there a miss and instead checked out two microbreweries. We particularly liked the first of these, El Duende (The Gnome), which had a wood burning stove, free herb bread and lovely river views even in the rain. Not to mention very decent beer on tap!

Fishing boats and pelicans

After three days in Valdivia we moved on to Pucón, a lakeside town adjacent to Volcán Villarrica. We only intended to stay here for one night since a) it is very touristy; b) the top activity, climbing Villarrica, has been impossible since it erupted in March; and c) we'd heard the town was badly affected by volcanic ash blown across from Calbuco. However, on arrival we swiftly reversed this decision. The air was perfectly clear, there weren't many people around, and there was plenty to do! Our hostel in Pucón is on the lakefront and also has a great view of Volcán Villarrica. There's still a plume of smoke from time to time and on a clear night you can see the top glowing red - it's pretty awesome.

Glowing Volcán Villarrica, from Pucón

The forecast for the day after we arrived was clear, so we took the opportunity to climb another of the volcanoes in the area. Not Villarrica of course, but a much less active one. We left the hostel at 7 am and made the ascent in a group of ten with two local guides. The walk started in the forest but most was out on the mountain and the snow cover increased as went up. We were carrying lots of gear and in the course of the walk up our bags lightened considerably as we donned crampons, helmets and began using ice picks. This was the best part of the whole experience - neither of us had ever done any serious hiking in snow and ice before, and the scenery blanketed in white was spectacular. As were the views from the top, from where we could see down to the snow filled crater, and across to Volcan Villarrica on one side and numerous other volcanoes in the other direction.

Ascending Volcán Quetrupillán, with Volcán Villarrica in the distance

We have another couple of days here, with lots more outdoor activity planned, including a waterfall and a national park.