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Driving south along the coast we went past sand dunes and salt marshes with lots of birds around. We stopped for shopping in Constitución and then drove out to the harbour where we stopped for the night. The fishing boats return between 10am and late afternoon. We got there at 12-30pm and some of the fishing boats had returned.
A crane is used to lift the boats up onto the jetty so that the fishermen can work on the catch and unload it. We have seen this before on the coast of Oregon. Kirsten went for photos first but then we packed everything away so that both of us could go out onto the pier together. The fishing boats had brought back eels and some tuna-like fish with a psychedelic blue colour shimmering on their skin. We watched as they filleted them for customers.
The catch is sent to Santiago but the fishermen will sell to people who come down to the harbour and fillet it for them. It costs 2,500 pesos ($3-80 US) per kilo. This is the price of the fish before it has been filleted.
The discards are thrown out to a large flock of sea gulls who swoop in to feed. Kirsten got pooped on twice!! She must be a glutton for punishment because she went back for more photos the next morning. At least she managed to return poop free!
Puerto de Magullines
On the way out from the harbour we stopped for photos of various rocks and sea lions along the coastal road and then inland towards the Ruta 5. Along the way we passed a huge forest area that had been devastated by fire. We knew there had been fires over the summer but didn't realise how bad it had been. We could see several homes that had been lost.
We stopped at a Copec petrol station on Ruta 5 near San Javier and found out that they had two washing machines and dryers for customer use! Yippee!! It only cost 600 pesos per washer or dryer which is less than a dollar! It is extremely rare to find washing machines that you can use here in Chile and Argentina. Normally we have to hand our washing in and collect it the next day. In Chile the prices have become extortionate so that it's almost cheaper to buy new clothes rather than wash the old ones!
Finding washers and dryers was an opportunity we simply couldn't miss so we spent the next 4 hours doing three loads of washing. We also had not so hot showers for 500 pesos (80 cents) and decided to push the boat out and go for home-made hamburgers at their café! It was too late to drive anywhere else so we stayed there for the night which was very noisy from all the traffic.
The next morning was very foggy so I did another load of washing before we drove off towards Paso Maule (Pehuenche) on the border with Argentina. Along the way we saw trees with some strange looking fruit growing on them. They looked like grapefruit but with a bobbled peel. Kirsten got out and tried to break one apart that had already fallen off the tree. She tried squashing it with her shoe but it didn't work and then she threw it on the ground and it bounced! Eventually she got one apart that had segments inside but wasn't any kind of fruit. It had a lemony smell. No idea what they are!
There was quite a lot of construction going on and we believe they are building several dams up here. We saw helicopters transporting heavy materials to different parts of the valley. The road was virtually new and good to drive but the nets on the rock walls were virtually full of debris that had fallen down the hillside. The nets needed to be emptied!
The pass itself isn't very high – only 2,553 metres. But we were only allowed as far as the customs office which was about 20km before the pass. We asked the customs officers if we could drive through even though we weren't going across to Argentina but they said no. We would have to leave our vehicle at the gate and walk up to Laguna del Maule to see it - which is exactly what we did.
On the way back down we stopped at a rock formation called Monjes Blancos (white monks) for photos and then drove virtually all the way back down again. But it was getting dark so we pulled over at a bridge for a spot we had used for a coffee break earlier and spent the night there.
The next day we went to Talca (not quite on our route as it was slightly north) to try and find shock absorbers and check out tyre prices. No shocks and they were selling Argentinian Firestone tyres that are more than likely cheaper in Argentina so we didn't buy anything. We did manage to do some food shopping and bought a very nice ready cooked chicken.
We headed south along the Ruta 5 until it was getting dark and then pulled off into a small town called Longavi where we parked in a side street for the night. It was better than a noisy Copec on the Highway.
