First days in the South

We stuffed what we could into our car and headed south on Sunday morning.  Because it was estimated to be between 8-11 hours to get to our cabin we decided to stay over on the way down.  I found this place to stay in the Lonely Planet, Los Manantiales, and figured we could see something pretty, Salto del Laja, off the main highway.  What we didn't realize was that it was a huge tourist destination with many, many tacky souvenir stands and concessions and a big daytrip destination for Chileans.

The first few minutes.  It really wasn't that bad.  The two-day trip was exactly one "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" long.  Unfortunately, I don't think that #3 is going to be a Harry Potter fan.

Both days on the way down we stopped at road side restaurants and ate typical Chilean food.  Each restaurant had three things on the menu that day (besides some basic sandwiches) and all were filling and a bargain.  I lived on big salads ;-)

This turned out to be one of many places to stay.  It was frozen in the mid-70s complete with a piano and saxophone duet belting out "Feelings" over lunch.

Our "cabin" that came without matches to light the water heater, an extension cord to reach any appliance in the kitchen, silverware, or towels but...

it came with a chicken.  You get what you pay for.

Playground also circa mid-70s

I couldn't do the number of birds justice in pictures.  But there were a lot!

Part of the "Haj" to the waterfall

This was definitely a different cross-section of Chile from our Las Condes world.

After getting a shower at the falls the kids bought some little instruments to torture us with for the rest of the trip ;-)

They sell this horse jerky everywhere even when you are waiting at toll booths to pay.  Nobody could be convinced to try some.

We did, however, finally try some sopaipillas (fried dough apparently with some pumpkin flour).  They sell these everywhere in Chile but I didn't break down until I found the right lady from whom to buy it.  They put different things on top like pebre, mayonnaise, and hot sauce.

The kids didn't care about the tackiness or lack of creature comforts - they had a blast exploring the area and seeing all of the birds.


We headed the next morning to our main destination, Lago Panguipulli, and the Rucapillan cabins on the east side of the lake.  While the landscape changed dramatically to pine forests and rolling hills, we traveled through periodic rainstorms and arrived while it was still rainy.  Apparently we are staying at the foot of an "active" volcano but it hasn't emerged from the clouds/fog yet.  We did take a little walk around the "town" last night and were able to see the black sand beach a half a block from our cabin.  Today we head out to explore a bit and then we have Wednesday-Friday when it is supposed to clear up to do some hiking, rafting?, thermal baths?  Photos, hopefully, eventually.