The Central Valley and the lakes (till Puerto Montt)

Santiago - Rancagua - shortly after Curico - Talca - near Parral - Chillan - Saltos del Laja - Mulchén - Victoria - Temuco - "Playa Linda" - Playa ? (between Villarrica and Pucon) - Lican Ray - Panguipulli - Los Lagos - Valdivia - Osorno - 8km before Llanquihue - Puerto Montt

( 97 - 118 - 64 - 87 - 71 - 86 - 69 - 82 - 71 - 97 - 22 - 51 - 46 - 63 - 52 -108 - 95 - 38  km) 

7.11. - 29.11.2011

our trip so far...

If there is an appropriate adjective describing Chile' s Central Valley along the Panamericana, it' s BORING. Boring, because it' s a monotone landscape you can find everywhere in middle Europe, with apple and cherry cultivation, green fields of wheat andsugar beet, vineyards, rivers and dense population (which made camping outside of oil stations or Picnic places impossible). Because all the cities here look the same (one Central Plaza with all the streets orientated perpendicular or parralel to it) and have nothing to offer; only big supermarkets (who give you by way too many plastic bags, even for a bottle of water you get 2 bags), a commercial street and a little church. Besides, the nver-ending traffic of the Panamericana makes the area for a cyclists even worse.
So, if I can advise any traveler who wants to visit Chile, to skip all the Central part between La Serena and Temuco, including Santiago (unless you' re fond of vine and horse-riding), because for this experience you don' t need a flight to Southamerica.

Contarely to what other cyclists had told us, the North of Chile is very interesting (from San Pedro de Atacama to Chañaral), with the Atacama desert, the Valle de la Luna and the friendly fishermen' s caletas.

the Central Valley is full of vineyards - find the difference to an European landscape;)

the waterfall "Saltos del Laja"

on top of the smaller fall of the "Laja"

As there had been nothing interesting since Santiago, except for the Saltas del Laja, we just wanted to escape from the Chilean Panamericana - after Temuco we went eastwards to see some of the seven lakes of that region. 

Unfortunately, after Temuco also the good weather is a thing of the past: after 4 almost rainless months the rain begins. In Victoria we saw the disadvantages of a small village without canalisation: within 30min of rain and hail the streets turned into rivers. And fortunately we had already a hostal room at that time, so we just passed with bare feet, and trousers pulled up, the 40cm-deep currents.

What we learned from this experience: always know the weather forecast for every day, as the sky is often covered with grey clouds.



who can read...Mapudungu, the language of the Mapuche (here Mapuche pottery in the historical museum in Temuco)

The Mapuche are the main indigenous group of Chile (600 000 in all Chile). For centuries they defended their lands in Southern Chile fiercely against the Spanish invadors (and before against the Inkas) - successfully: they destroyed all cities founded by Pedro de Valdivia in the Southern part of Chile (the Rio BioBio was the border to Mapuche territory) and in 1641 they were assigned their own independent territory for 200 years by the Spanish crown..

Afterwards, Chilean landhunger took over and in 1850 Chile started the colonization of the Mapuche territory. For that purpose, they called for settlers from Germany (especially south Germany, as these people were supposed to resist the Patagonian climate better), Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and other European countries, who should colonise the "empty" Chilean south.

a Mapuche woman on the market of Temuco

The best part since Santiago was the 4 lakes we cycled along: Lago Villarrica, Lago Calafquén, Lago Panguipulli and Lago Llanquihue.

Lago Villarica is incredibly touristic, each meter along the coast is in private property, big areas whose rich owners live in Santiago most time of the year, but put a big fence and a dangerous dog on their terrain in order to make it impossible for the rest of the world to set their feet on the lake' s shore...Nevertheless, after much search, we found two lava beaches where we camped. Unfortunately the sky was cloudy most of the time, so that we couldn' t spot Volcano Villarrica entirely.

camping between Villarrica and Puco, at the lake Villarrica' s border

the Queltehue (Vanellus chilensis chilensis) is omnispresent in Chile and accompanies us with its callslensis chilensis



in the hyper-touristic village of Pucon, with volkano Villarrica in the back



on the lava beach of lago Villarrica

From Lican Ray we saw Lake Calafquen, where we made a little walk along the big beach, the small beach and up on the peninsula between. There were a load of liane-covered trees and views on the lake. And fortunately it was not high season yet, so the village was de facto dead and we had the landscape for ourselves.

Playa Chico in Lican Ray

one of the two poisonous spiders in Chile, the "spider of the corner" is only 5mm small

in Panguipulli, with view of the lake of the same name

Leaving Panguipulli, my bike chain broke at the first steep uphill, so we returned and I' m cycling with a new, not-corrodet chain the remaining kilometers of our route.

Rio Calle Calle leading to Valdivia

dirt road between Los Lagos and Valdivia

Valdivia is located at 20km from the Pacifique coast, but nevertheless it has been an important port before the use of the Panama channel, due to its rivers. Even though we had expected Valdivia to be an exceptionally nice city, ergo the only beautiful city in Chile, I found nothing special about Valdivia, except for the enormous sea lions sun-bathing near the fish market. They are lying on wooden baulk at the shore of river Calle Calle, spending their time rubbing their backs, enormous necks or heads, roaring with each other or awaiting food rests near the fish market. I really don' t want to swim in waters with sea-lions, as their shouts are intimidating, as well as the image of one of these giant animals throwing its weight towards another - and the male' s huge head lives up to the animal' s name.

in Valdivia we' re nearer to the South Pole than to Machu Picchu

who doesn' t recognize a human face here?

algae sold at the market in Valdivia - they are used for cooking

the market at the shore of Rio Valdivia displays fish diversity of the Pacifique

the long country we' re cycling along..., in front of the lighthouse of Valdivia

From all the lakes we' ve seen, Lago Llanquihue was my personal favourite, as the region is mostly rural, with cows grazing in the green, the perfectly-shaped Volcano Osorno and stump Volkano Calbuco (after an eruption it lost its cone).

arriving to Frutillar (the first village at Lago Llanquihue), with Volcano Osorno in the background

the sea pavillon of Frutillar, a village marked of the German colonists of the 19th century, arts, culture and tourism

between Frutillar and Llanquihue a long day comes to its end

sunrise at 6:15h behind volcano Calbuco

Puerto Montt, the port to Patagonia

Here, in Puerto Montt, is the end of the Panamericana (Ruta 5) and the Carretera Austral (Ruta 7) begins. This dirt road of 1200 km between Puerto Montt and Villa O' Higgins passes the Chilean Patagony, along the rough Pacifique coast with its winds, climbing landinwards to lakes, fjords and Volcanoes, and through the native forests. And finally the high traffic, which had accompanied us all the time in Chile, will be over.

As nothing can ever be perfect, this part of the world is punished by much rain, and a Chilean told us that if it rains there, then it rains cats and dogs. So let the fun begin!