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We were heading south to see some waterfalls. After passing a toll (2,500 pesos, $4US) we saw strawberries being sold out of the back of a truck on the side of the highway. We pulled over but there was no one around - the seller had another stand on the other side of the highway and had to run across to serve us! Dangerous! He made it though and we got our 2kg of fresh strawberries! We have to take advantage because it's the end of the season already.
Our first waterfall was Salto del Laja, 35 metres. We were here 15 years ago and there were numerous stands and restaurants on the road that we are pretty sure weren't here back in 2002. We went for a walk to get closer to them and later parked up for the where the old campground used to be.
The next day we headed over 200km further south, through another toll and also had to pay a 600 pesos toll ($1 US) to get off the highway. We went to Princess Falls - we had seen a photo of them when we were on our tour at Paranal Observatory and had marked them on our map for when we get down to this area. They are near Curacautín on the road to Paso Hachado.
We had stopped at a Copec station to do internet and to have some food so it was already dark before we got to the falls. It's not easy because I couldn't anticipate the bumps in the road and we kangarooed far more! (Will we ever find shocks and new tyres?)
We had to drive down a very rough and bumpy track to get to the falls which we couldn't see. We had to manoeuvre a bit on the small parking area to find the best spot that wasn't on too much of a slope. We could hear that the falls weren't very far away but would have to wait to see them the next morning.
Lots of people came to visit the falls the next day even though it was a Monday and not a holiday, as far as we knew. The falls were only 20 metres away from us! We didn't leave until 2pm because we needed to do a large amount of washing up that we had accumulated and also needed to plan the next part of our journey south.
We headed further east and went up to Reserva Nacional Malalcahuello where we found out that it is indeed a Bank Holiday (1st of May) and, therefore, free park entrance. Wow! Nice surprise! So we drove into the park on a tarmac road at first and then onto a lava sand road up towards Navidad Crater. We went up to the snow line and then turned around and parked on the side of the road. The snow looked a bit too deep and we could see tyre tracks that had sunk in the wet sand. We didn't want to risk getting stuck.
The crater was further up along the road and around a bend so we couldn't see it from where we were parked. Unfortunately it was extremely windy outside and each gust blasted us with sand! Kirsten was determined to see the crater though and set off despite the wind. She came back totally wind and sand blasted and said it wasn't worth it!!
We headed back down and out towards Ruta 5 and found a spot off the road when it was getting dark. There were some houses nearby but we thought we would be okay here. At midnight, when we were already in bed, there was a knock on the door! Kirsten got up to get dressed and I switched on the torch so she could see what she was doing. But she had pulled down the blind on the window to take a look just as I switched on the torch. Essentially, I lit her up in her sleep shirt for all the world to see!!! Oops!
She quickly put on some clothes, climbed into the drivers cabin and opened one of the windows slightly. A man who a) obviously lives in one of the houses and b) had been drinking, asked us if we wanted to buy tortillas! At midnight??! I don't think so!!
It rained all night so it was a bit loud to get too much sleep. Consequently we got up late and then headed into Temuco, a large city on Ruta 5. We went on yet another search for propane, shocks and tyres. We didn't get propane or shocks but we did get new tyres!
We'd found a tyre place called Bacon and went in to ask about our tyres. They had Continentals in stock which are the same brand as we already have. It took 4 hours to get two new tyres on the front and to get our two spare tyres from the back and underneath the motor home to put on the back. Getting the spare tyre off the back rack was fairly easy even though the padlock had completely rusted and needed to be whacked with a hammer to break it open. But the tyre underneath took two men to get it out! Thank God we have a spare on a rack on the back door for emergencies otherwise I don't think we would be able to get the other one off!
We also have a problem because one of the places where we normally jack up the vehicle was so corroded that it bent and almost broke off when they jacked us up! So they had to put the jack in a different place to get the front left tyre off.
We took the best two used tyres as our spares but couldn't get one onto the back door rack. It had a different tyre hub and we needed longer screws to attach it. We searched but we didn't have anything long enough so we had to dump it inside on the floor for the moment until we could buy some screws.
Next thing was an alignment. The front left tyre was getting worn down on the one side so we knew that the tyres weren't straight. For the alignment I had to drive onto a ramp that wasn't easy as we were almost too wide for it and then they lifted us up. They use a laser system - very modern!
The laser system showed that our front left tyre was pointing 4.7 degrees to the left and our right tyre was pointing 1.2 degrees to the right! No wonder our tyres were getting worn down. But that's when we found another problem. Just like the corroded jack point, our steering track rod on the left side was also corroded and couldn't be adjusted. Oh boy, now we need a new steering track rod before we can get our brand new tyres aligned. Without the alignment our tyres will start getting worn down on one side.
They told us they would be able to get the part the next day and aligned the front right tyre so that it was plus 2 degrees to the left. At least both tyres were now facing in the same direction!
It was 6-30pm when we left and drove through heavy traffic to find some screws for the spare tyre. We found them at a hardware store and managed to get our spare tyre back onto the rack before it got too dark. Then we drove off to a supermarket because we were really hungry. We'd missed lunch but there wasn't any fast food on sale so we ended up having quesadillas and a lovely peach cake at 8-15pm.
It had been quite a stressful day and we seem to get added problems every time we try to get something fixed. We wanted an oil change and ended up needing a new clutch! We finally found new tyres but now need a new steering track rod before we can get them aligned! Oh well, just part of the travelling life!
The next morning was damp and cold. After doing some shopping we returned to the Bacon garage but they couldn't get the part. They told us we wouldn't be able to get it in Chile! Hmm. We'll have to drive on our new tyres knowing that they will eventually get worn down on one side at the front. Hopefully we can get a part in Argentina. But we'll keep looking in Chile just in case.
Afterwards we tried to find propane - we'd already been to a gas plant here but they couldn't fill our bottles and gave us directions to another place in town. We were on our way there when we found the Bacon garage to get new tyres. So now we went in search of the other place. It turned out to be a Petrobras petrol station that have propane pumps but they don't have the right connection. (It's the same connection we would need to fill our inbuilt tank in our other motor home, but no good for this one.) We still have some gas left in our cooking bottle so if we need to put our heater on we'll need to move the bottle to the heater bearing in mind that we don't want to run out of gas completely otherwise we won't be able to cook!
We gave up on propane and headed further south and then inland to Villarica where we got a great reflection of Mount Villarica (2,847m). The road to Pucón was really bad for us and we kangarooed a lot but it had turned into a beautiful day. We knew the weather would change for the worse so we made the most of it and tried to see everything we wanted to in one day.
In Pucón we went for a one hour walk around the town. We were here 15 years ago and even managed to find the hotel where we stayed. We also found German style cakes and couldn't resist! After making our evening meal and quickly cleaning up, we set off to drive up Mount Villarica to a parking area for the night near the ski station and a closer view of the mountain.
The road was extremely steep uphill but only the first part was on tarmac. Then we hit gravel which slowed us down a lot. We didn't have much time left and it was already getting dark but we carried on up and up. In the end we had to turn around because we didn't think we would make it and wanted to get off the gravel before it got dark. The road was very narrow and took a while for us to get turned around. We ended up driving down in the dark. It had been a waste of time because Mount Villarica had been covered in clouds the whole time but at least we got a nice sunset over the lake as we drove back.
It was foggy and grey the following day so it was a good job we had done all our sightseeing the previous day. We went to see a famous flower shop which was just around the corner from where we were parked. They sell hand-made wooden flowers that are very colourful.
We went back along the bumpy road to Villarica and then took a different road south to Lago Calafquen where we stopped for coffee and ate our German cakes from Pucón. We continued south to Lago Panguipulli where we stayed for the night.
Lago Calafquen - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We headed back to the coast to Valdivia and straight into the pouring rain! It rained so hard that the streets were flooding and we had to be careful driving through massive puddles as they might hide potholes underneath! Driving was not easy so we went straight to a spot listed on iOverlander next to the river on a concrete road.
The rain continued all night and all the following day. It just wasn't going to stop! We sat it out for another night. One of the local residents actually pulled up in his car next to us and asked us if we needed anything and told us which house he lived in, in case we needed anything! Really nice!
It was still raining the next day but we decided to move on. We drove to a museum car park where we could get internet and then Kirsten took advantage of a break in the rain to go off to take some photos. The break in the rain didn't last long though so she got wet!
Fish market and sea lions in Valdivia.
We set off towards the coast and pulled in to the large Kunstmann brewery with a very busy restaurant - it was a Sunday afternoon. They also do two tours for 10,000 and 15,000 pesos ($15 and $23 US). The next tour was at 4pm but we decided to continue along the road. We stopped at the ferry terminal in Niebla where we could fill up our water bottles and then tried to find another spot listed on iOverlander.
We drove along an extremely steep coastal road, like a helter skelter! There were lots of potholes and water damage on the road and then we hit mud! The dirty track was okay to begin with and we only had 1.6km to go but then we had to drive steeply uphill with a bus right on our tail and through very deep mud!! Oh Sh...! We had to grit our teeth and hope we made it!
Somehow we managed to get up the hill without getting stuck in the mud, only to find that the spot we were heading for was now being used for road construction vehicles and blocked off! We weren't going to go any further so we turned around and had to go back through the deep mud again. It was a lot easier going downhill! Our poor new tyres!
We stayed on the ferry terminal car park for the night in the rain and drove the next day, also in the rain! Valdivia is supposed to be a really nice town but we just had bad weather. Well it's May and we're heading into winter so we can't expect too much.
We went back to Ruta 5, heading south through another toll and stopped at a Copec petrol station. We had showers there and went to their café for home-made burgers! We also got internet and saw that the forecast for tomorrow and the next two days was going to be good. So we decided to get down to the Chiloé Islands, where it normally rains a lot, and take advantage of the sun. That's if the forecast was correct, of course!
