Road Trip with Gramma - Buchupureo & Ruta de los 7 Lagos

With Gramma’s arrival in mid-November, we seized the opportunity to check out some sights we had been meaning to see.  Buchupureo and neighboring town Cobquecura were the first stop on our trip.  Perched up on the hillside in a lovely off-season hotel called Joya del Mar overlooking the estuary, beach, and ocean, we watched oxen pull fishing boats over the beach to and from the water throughout the day.

 

The ocean is so cold and powerful in Chile! But that didn’t stop Kaia from chasing the waves high up on the beach for hours.  Rock collecting also runs strong in the DNA, and Gramma and kids enjoyed sharing  treasures with each other.

Beach friend guarding Niko sand mound

This section of Chile is the epicenter of the massive 2010 earthquake, which registered a whopping 8.8, lasted 3 terrifying minutes at 3:30 AM, and tremors felt from southern Peru to Chiloe.  Chilenos are quick to share “their” earthquake story, be it in falling out of bed in Santiago, or hearing 1.5" ropes just snap under tidal pressures in Ancud, and that makes sense - it was the 5th strongest earthquake ever recorded according to the USGS.  But all stories pale in comparison to the description from folks in the areas around Buchupureo, where stories of mountains rising from the sea, or people yelling at the top of their lungs into their spouse’s ears but not being able to hear a thing over the roar of the “gates of hell opening up” certainly left an impression. 

Tsunami memorial

Heading north to the town of Pellehue, we were shocked to see how the subsequent tsunamis wiped out hundreds of homes.  The only remains of entire communities were the concrete footprints where homes once stood or the occasional house wall that happened to run exactly parallel to the path of the wave.  An eerie sight indeed to see clear remnants of what was obviously a neighborhood not that long ago.

As magical as the beaches are, all of these stories, along with remnant damage on many houses across Chile, provide a powerful reminder of the awesome strength of Mother Nature.  Looking out at the sea lion loberia off of Cobquecura, we had to wonder what the inhabitants out there thought of the whole earthquake and tidal action given their proximity to the epicenter!  Even on a regular day in November, the ocean just churns.

The epicenter of the 8.8 earthquake is 60 km straight out from these rocks.

Look closely, this is actually high density sea lion housing.

We took the long way home via National Park Conguillio, home to Volcán Llaime just north of Pucón.  Old growth auracaria forest, knowledgeable and enthusiastic park rangers, and fields of lava from one of Chile's most active volcanoes made for an impressive return home.  Friends in Pucón told us about going to the next town over, Villarica, just to watch the show.  You can see why in this video!

Conguillio National Park visitor center

Those are the famous Araucaría trees--The original pine tree
and a living fossil from the dinosaur age...these old
growth specimens are easily over 100ft high!!

 Taking advantage of gorgeous weather and Dottie’s adventurous spirit, we refueled with a great Thanksgiving meal in Pucón, and packed up Monty (our trusty Mitsubishi 4x4) once again.  

This time, we headed south to check out the Ruta de los 7 Lagos.  In the Lakes Districts of Chile and Argentina, winding roads lead past glacial lakes, trout filled streams, waterfalls, and homes and ranches all in the shadows of towering white-coned volcanoes.

We started off in Pucón and wound our way south towards the Puerto Fuy - Pirihueico ferry to cross over to the Argentine border and the city of San Martin de los Andes.   

We had to try a real Argentine parrilla (BBQ), and figured a starving group arriving at 5 PM would just have to show up.  Not so, restaurants don’t open up until 8 and the parrilla isn’t ready until 9 PM at the earliest.  We held out (kids included) and it did turn out to be worth the wait.

First town in Argentina: San Martin de los Andes

Off the next day along the very scenic drive out of San Martin south, towards Bariloche.   While parts of the road were quite well paved, a large portion turned out to be hot and extremely dusty.  Thank goodness for lakes like Lago Espejo to cool and rinse off!

We stayed one night in Bariloche, a city loaded with chocolate shops and people strolling all over town.  It was fun for us in Argentina as we realized that even though Argentines use the ‘vos’ form for you (which we haven’t learned), and turn all of their double l’s into a sh-sound, we could actually understand them better than Chileno!  Our apartment on the top floor of a funky hostel overlooked Lago Nahuel Huapi and provided a really stunning view.

Our very own little mermaid

Then it was time to turn back home towards Pucón again, with Gramma, Niko, and Kaia providing all the entertainment along the way, singing new tunes and old favorites in turn.

Volcán Tronador

Volcán Osorno