What could be better than an open road journey at the bottom of South America? In March 2022, we loaded up a car and headed out on an adventure from Santiago to Patagonia to discover the continent’s untouched Pacific wilderness and the beauty within it.
Santiago is a big city. Traffic moves noisily and neurotically. Exit ramps miraculously appear out of thin air and everyone is in a hurry. Just before noon on a scorching day in March, my girlfriend and I nervously weaved our rental car through the capital’s relentless traffic, hoping to exit unscathed. When we finally hit the open road, we felt our journey had begun. We had always wanted to visit Patagonia, and this was our chance.
Chillan
Our first destination, a pit stop for the day, was Chillan, a small city in the middle of Chile’s Central Valley, the long fertile corridor that’s the country’s breadbasket. Like many Chilean municipalities, a powerful earthquake rocked it in recent history. The 1939 tremor killed thousands of people and leveled the entire community. Chillan now stands proudly in the center of the Ñuble region, a major agriculture, viticulture, and adventure sports destination.
We pulled into this small city in the evening, hungry and excited to unwind. Our welcoming bed-and-breakfast host met us with fresh fruit picked from her garden. It was peaceful. The wind consistently blew, making her wooden wind chimes sing. After checking in, we hurriedly prepared sandwiches and cut up some local fruit, which was astounding.
9am, a lazy but fun start to the day, and we set off. Highway 5 is Chile’s industrial lifeline and driving it, at least during the day, is a breeze. Toll roads and empanada stands soak up our cash. Around the small city of Los Angeles, logging becomes the paramount industry. Rows of planted pines sweep across the rolling valley. One thing is apparent immediately, the impact of forest fires. Chard burn scars take up vast amounts of land. Bridges, telephone poles, and some buildings were scorched beyond recognition. Smoke was still lingering in the air. Chile, like many places with Mediterranean climates, is suffering from the recent scarcity of rainfall. This is just another sign of the foreseeable tragedies brought on by climate change.
Pucón
After driving for two days, we made it to Patagonia’s Lake District. It was like entering a fairyland. Snow-capped mountains and towering volcanoes extended to the horizon. Their reflections shimmered on Lake Villarrica, one of the Chilean Lake District’s most famous summer vacation spots. Because of its black sand beaches and emerald waters, it’s a haven for people that live in the capital and want to get away. Our first stop was the small lakeside town of Pucón. The alpine inspired buildings are testament to the waves of German immigrants who arrived here in the 19th century. The area is now one of Chile’s adventure sports capitals. Skiing, snowboarding, world class whitewater rafting, and limitless hiking trails are easily accessible.
Waterfalls and Volcanos
We lucked into finding a quaint and affordable Airbnb cottage tucked into the forested slopes of the active Villarrica volcano. This snow-capped peak rises dramatically almost 1600m above the town. Eruptions are frequent and often produce rivers of melted ice, mud, and debris known as lahars. These destructive events move down the mountainside and have threatened the communities living at the base for centuries. This same geothermal energy produces another one of Pucón’s most popular attractions, natural hot springs.
We saved the volcano trek for another day. We were here for waterfalls. Chile’s Lake District contains some of the country’s most pristine cascades. Most are within green temperate rainforests that are like something out of a storybook. Our destination, Parque Ojos del Caburgua, is no exception. After a slow and windy drive through rustic village markets and riverside cottages, we pulled up to a crowded parking lot full of domestic vacationers eager to see the falls. The patience required to maneuver in between families and people taking selfies was worth it. The falls form an azure pool, surrounded by broadleaf plants, ferns, and towering pines. It was like being transported into the 1992 animation Fern Gully.
Refreshed and tired from doing laps around the park’s trail network, we drove a few kilometers to one cafe we passed. Caburgua Rustico is the kind of unassuming restaurant that changes your perspective on what a restaurant should be. Run by a kind local family, it serves a revolving menu of some of the most satisfying Chilean classics like steak churascos, ceviche, and hearty stews. Although Pucón is inland, Caburgua Rustico had our favorite ceviche in Chile.
Puerto Montt
With rain on the horizon, we packed up everything in the tiny cottage, grabbed some plump wild blackberries, and set off. Puerto Montt, the gateway to Patagonia, was our destination. The city is the ultimate stop before reaching almost pure wilderness. Regardless of being a city, Puerto Montt is very much Patagonia. Snow covered volcanos, thick temperate rainforests, and endless wilderness; the great unknown encapsulates it.
Our mission here was to find one of the oldest trees in South America. In Alerce Andino National Park, we found it and so much more. Alerce are prehistoric relic. Like many other species in their family like sequoia, coastal redwood, they grow to massive heights.
The Giant Alerces
The trail to the giant Alerce was beautiful. The road to get there is not. Once we made it past the washed out sections of dirt, rocks, and mud, we threw on ponchos and headed into the park. Along the trail, towering cliffs rose above us like a stadium filled with gigantic trees. The rain, relentless at times, made the hike exciting. Once we hit the oldest growth of the forest, thick moss covered everything. Large decaying tree stumps became ground cover amongst the thick old-growth alerces. This was a nature-lover’s eden.
A few hundred meters further, we ran into a roaring waterfall. The Rio Lenca, the fast-moving waterway the trail had been following, opens up violently, spewing massive amounts of water from the relentless rainfall that batters the mountains here. Water like this shapes the surrounding landscape with jaw-dropping force. The beautiful show of nature humbled us.
We continued a little further until we met it. The towering Alerce Milenario, an almost 4000-year-old testament to longevity and beauty. For the indigenous Mapuche, it was Lahuán, or the grandfather tree. Now, protected by rangers and fenced in, it survives as a testament to conservation. The highlight of our introduction to Patagonia was this. From here, we would set off to another sacred space. The island of Chiloe. Where penguins, witches, and ghost ships parade through dreams.
To be continued……
For more articles about the open road check out https://wayfarersoliloquy.com/2021/05/26/american-highways-road-trip-through-americas-heartland-sedona-az/