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.