No, this is not going to be a fairytale, despite the title that would suggest it. No, I'm not starting a punk rock band with a fancy name. I've just finished two weeks long cycling trip through Chile and wanted to share it here. Where the silly name comes from then? You'll have to read it to find the answer.
I'll be going through four different provinces in the central-south part of this very, very long country. Some things would change along the way, weather being one of them, others will stay there all the way, like omnipresent volcanoes.
This time I'm not randomly wandering on a bike. This time I'm on a mission. So... long, long time ago, beyond seven lands, beyond seven seas I decided to go to Los Ángeles in a search of the tree. (No, not this Los Angeles. Mine was different, and I've heard this joke countless times when someone was asking where I'm coming from and where I'm heading.)
The tree was told to be located in the province of Araucanía, where even summertime on the beach is gloomy to make the whole trip look more serious.
On my way though the province there have been many dangers just waiting for me. Meteor shower is a serious, fourth-level spell, so I'm hearing a helmet today.
Just as if it wasn't enough, the path is guarded by hordes of local creatures. I'm not sure if they are dangerous, but I guess I won't risk, just in case.
Fortunately I'm prepared, I have fast 40-mm tyres, there's no way they would catch me.
Ancient scrolls were indicating that the tree can be found in the land of rivers and waterfalls, so looks like I'm going in the right direction.
I've found a tree! It's an interesting species, but I don't think this is the one I'm looking for.
I don't think the cloud on the top of the volcano is actually a cloud.
Let's climb up the volcano then. If anywhere, this is where my tree should be
The crater is close, and on the way there... Yes, I've found it!
My tree is called monkey puzzle tree and it can be found in Araucanía. In fact, in Spanish, just as probably in most other languages, the tree is called araucanía. Why the weird English name then?
If the story can be believed, old Englishman would have tried to climb the tree when it was imported to Britain centuries ago. The tree is very unclimbable though, leaves are as sharp as they are hard. Unfortunate climber commented, after failed climbing attempt, that monkeys would be puzzled trying to climb the tree.
The tree grows really tall, and on the volcanic soil of Araucanía province, together with surrounding provinces in Chile and Argentina one can find large forests full of these trees. To me, they looked like taken straight from the Jurassic Park, which is not completely wrong, because they're truly ancient. More Jurassic Park later, now I'll just continue climbing the volcano.
Home Alone
An hour or two later I'm on the top, or at least as high as one can go with a bike on a Lonquimay volcano.
As it happens, I'm climbing the volcano on the Christmas Eve. What I'm finding on the top? Christmas crater!
That was spooky, but let's go down to the small village where I booked an accommodation for tonight. More monkey-puzzling trees on my way there.
If the crater was spooky, I don't quite know what to say now. I'm arriving at the place, big wooden house near the forest. Big, wooden and... empty. But it's open, so I'm going in and getting myself comfortable. Christmas, everyone disappeared. Feel like Kevin tonight. Only late in the night I'm getting a message from owners who missed all my previous calls and are explaining now that they didn't see my booking and now they are in different city, but I'm ok to enjoy the place.
After my Home Alone experience, I'm even starting to see some slightly unsettling road signs.
The lakes
Monkeys explained, but that's the deal with the seven lakes? This is where I'm going now, I'll be cycling thorough the Chilean Seven Lake's district. I'm explicitly stating "Chilean", because there's one more set of seven lakes in Argentina, just on the other side of the Andes. Meanwhile, the road didn't change that much so far.
Today I'm entering an area that could be called, more or less, a forest of araucanía trees. I mentioned Jurassic Park before, here I'm really feeling like there could be a T-Rex hiding somewhere in the bushes.
The area, just like many other places I've already seen in Chile, suffered its own dose of forest fires. Here, the forest slowly starts to recover, but obviously it has been totally devastated.
Arriving at a proper campsite this time and owners of the campsite have a small, improvised shop at their own kitchen where they would sell warm, freshly baked bread. What else would I need?
Next day the path gets a little tricky. Need to re-think the choice of my navigation app - Komoot shows this as an MTB trail. A little bit of rain and it would be closer to a kayaking route.
After very long day, climbing with average speed of around 3km/h I'm finally at the top and can enjoy the view. At this point I still don't know that the way down on the other side of the mountain, also tagged as MTB trail has some tiny problem. Steps. It's basically a 5km-long staircase.
Having carried my bike down the staircase I'm arriving in Villarrica, a nice little town by the lake. I'm taking a day off to rest a little before heading further south.
If you ever cycled for a whole day, thermal bath at the end of the day would be among your biggest dreams. On the afternoon of my next day I'm coming to an area full of thermal baths powered by the nearby volcano. The one I've chosen is 700 meters above the village where I arrived, but nothing will stop me. Termas geometricas, numerous natural hot baths in an interestingly designed setting keep me soaking in hot water for a many hours.
Back in the village, sunset by the lakeside.
Now this type of views will accompany me for many days. Lake region, right? I think I counted more than seven lakes, remembered names of just a few, but they're all just as beautiful and usually with a volcano in the background.
No matter how hard you try, there's no way to classify this as a bike route, but after everything I cycled through already, this feels nice and easy.
Lago Ranco could be the favourite of all the lakes I've seen there (I even remembered the name!). This night I have a friend with me, try to spot him!
Leaving lago Ranco on a rainy day, which is getting unfortunately more frequent the farther south I go, I'm arriving at a small village called Puerto Octay. I didn't plan to come here, but the rain made me want to skip camping tonight and this was the closest place with a hotel. And the hotel, just like all the other buildings in the the town was a treat. This building for example is a pharmacy.
It's so cute I'm deciding to stay here for two nights. After a visit to a small museum I'm learning that it was a small German colony, built in mid-XIX century, and all the wooden buildings, very well preserved, function this this day.
German town, let's have a beer! And tere comes the discovery of the day. For the record, I passionately dislike fruity beers. But this is something different. Proper, bitter beer with a delicate touch of... rhubarb. How is this even allowed!?
When I die one day, hopefully not because of drinking excessive amounts of rhubarb beer, I want to be buried in Puerto Octay. No other cemetery has a view like this.
Meanwhile, still alive, I finish the ride next day, cycling around Llanquihue lake to arrive at the ugly city of Puerto Montt, which I'll be leaving as soon as a can. Because it's not about the destination.
Amidst the mountains en route to Port Elizabeth, I'm going to encounter a myriad of fascinating creatures, some slightly scary. There are also some that I will try hard not to meet. Views continue to be amazing all the way though. Trip map created with Wanderlog , a trip planner on iOS and Android To the coast. Twice. Starting this part of the trip on the northern side of the mountains, on the very first day I'm jumping over the pass and going south. It's mostly down, but today's ride down is going to be anything but easy. It's going to rain and the wind is so strong, that going downhill I'm pushing hard in the low gear and barely moving at all. What's at the end of it? Mordor? Nope. It's Shire. Listen to the squeak. Hobbit house is a good prize for the struggle. My Hobbit house is inhabited though. It comes with this little friend. I'll have to politely ask him to leave the house for me for this night, just this...
This supposed to be a short trip from Buenos Aires to Misiones province, mainly to see famous Iguazu falls. It ended up being something slightly different. Iguazú falls are located where borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. Temptation to visit these countries was simply too strong. I did return to Buenos Aires, but instead of retracing my original path I went there through Brazil and Uruguay, with a short visit to Paraguay. Map provided by Wanderlog, a travel planner on iOS and Android Misiones Misiones is a province in north-eastern Argentina known for one of the biggest waterfalls on earth and for being a host to a number of Jesuit missions. Jesuits have been very successful in building their position, economical position included, in South America. Successful enough to be expelled from the continent by the king of Spain in the eighteenth century because economically they were becoming stronger than Spanish Crown in this part of the world. Ruins of ...
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