Day 7
Valdivia and Punacapa... |
|
This morning started
at the riverfront of Valdivia. We walked through the produce and
fish market on our way to the boat. |
One side was vegetables and
fruit and the other side was the fish market. In the river were sea
lions waiting for the scraps thrown out by the people cleaning fish. |
 |
|
We got on a small boat
and rode about an hour to the small village of Punacapa. |
 |
The boat takes you through the "Carlos Anwandter" Nature Sanctuary at Rio Cruces (Crosses River). The sanctuary was formed due to the 1960 quakes when the land sunk and the agricultural lands were flooded. In 1981 the sanctuary was put on the roster of the Internationally Important Wetlands (Ramsar Convention), making it the first piece of land in Chile to be included in this plan to protect wetland areas, especially aquatic habitats. |
|
Jim got
sick on the boat and threw up. When we got off the boat, men with
ox carts greeted us. Several of our group and I got on the carts and
were carried to the town. I road the cart and Jim walked and took
pictures. |
|
Punacapa is a small village with about 300 people. They had just had
a religious celebration and the streets and the church were all
decorated with flowers. There was going to be another celebration
going on that night and we walked around the stands where the people
would be selling food and other things. There were reporters from a
local newspaper and they interview and took pictures of our group.
The pictures were in the paper a few days later. |
|
The community had
built a cider factory as an effort to raise money. We ate lunch in
the mill. It was a traditional Chilean clambake. The food was
presented in a sack and contained muscles, clams, pork, chicken,
sausage and potatoes. I didn't eat but two muscles because I think
they are yucky. A cup of broth the food was cooked in was given each
of us, but I don't think many people drank it. We sampled the hard
apple cider (it was good) and had plenty of wine to drink with lunch. |
 |
|
Terry Wright didn't like any of the food, but drank a lot of wine.
We surrounded him with wine bottles and took pictures promising to
send them to his wife who was not on the trip. |
 |
On the way back to the
boat, we met a woman and her 1-year-old niece. The woman was having
trouble carrying the niece so Jim picked her up and carried her down
the road. Several of the group stopped at a little shop, which
happened to be owned by the little girl's mother and grandmother.
They were very friendly and Jim and others bought cokes.
We walked to the boat
ramp and had to wait about an hour for the boat to take us back to
Valdivia. |
|
It was a hot afternoon and shade was welcome. On the way
back we saw a lot of waterfowl. The black-necked swans were
plentiful. As we got closer to Valdivia there were more boats on the
river and some were pulling skiers. For a Tuesday it was a festive
day at the riverfront. People were boating and some of the
university students were practicing rowing. |
 |
|
Back at the hotel we
enjoyed Pisco Sours by the river.
|
 |
We left Vladivia about
9:30 and headed south for a long ride to Puyehue. On the way we
stopped at a car museum owned by a German man who was a friend of
Terry, our guide. The owner collected Studebakers and had quite a
collection. They also had a restrooms and cafe, where we ran into a group of
school aged children visiting the museum. They sang for us. |
|
We continued driving
through the central valley to the Termas de Puyehue for a two-night
stay at the hotel and spa. It was up the mountain from a lake and
was in a beautiful sitting. It is one of Chile's most famous hot
spring resorts, and features thermal pools, mud baths, and lush
gardens. There were three swimming pools and a European style spa.
I signed up for a reflexology the next day.
|
 |
|
The food there was
great also. It was buffet style and they had a lot of different
kinds of food. The hotel had it's own gardens for fresh greens and
other fruits and vegetables. Jim toured the gardens and was
surprised they could grow enough for the restaurant.
|
|
The evening we arrived
some of us took a walk to a waterfalls. We walked up and up through
a cow pasture. It was quite a hike. Once we got to the waterfalls
we had a long steep hill to climb back down. Jim hiked all the way
down to the waterfalls, climbing down a very steep stairway. The
rest of us stayed at the top and looked down. At the bottom Jim took
off his shoes and waded in the cold water. We hiked back and had a
wonderful dinner. |
 |
 |
|
Near Termas de Puyehue is the Puyehue National Park. Located in the Andes, in Los Rios and Los Lagos Region of Chile, it covers 1,068 square kilometres. The park is dominated by Puyehue volcano, Cordon Caulle and Antillanca Group. The rivers Gol-Gol and Chanleufu flow through the park, whereas the major lakes within it are Gris and Constancia. The park features numerous waterfalls, Salto del Indio is one.
The next day I felt
bad, but got up for breakfast. Jim and Jim Goldman decided to take a
long hike into the mountains and streams. I stayed in the room and
slept. I did get up for lunch with Jim and we met some American
missionaries who had been in Puerto Montt working on a building
project. They were on their way home and were having some relaxing
time before heading back to the U.S.
|
Salto del Indio
 |
 |
The spa had not counted on the size of our group so some got to go to the top of a mountain; others went
on a zipline, and others to the lake. I was hoping for the mountain top, but
we didn't get to go. |
|
After lunch I went
back to the room to get ready to go to the spa and Jim went for
another walk.
|
|
I told Jim that I was going for a swim after the spa.
The reflexology was wonderful and made my feet and body feel great.
Afterward I went to the outside swimming pool and met some of the
women from our group. The pool was nice and had jets in several
places in the pool. Ruth and I sat in the hot tub for a while and
then got back into the pool. We also stopped at the indoor pool
where the water was warmer. |
 |
|
This spa was a
wonderful place to stay and gave our group time to relax and catch
our wind before we went on the road again. This was the first time I
used the Internet to email home and found out that Gary Evans had
passed away. |