Visiting the South of Chile

Beyond Chilean wines and amazing views of the Andes mountains, one of Chile's best-kept secrets is the south of the country.

The family in the south of Chile.

Surrounded by glorious lakes and with a number of massive snow-capped volcanoes dotted throughout, the south of Chile is truly spectacular, and we got to visit over the Christmas holidays (gasp! I know this is a long time coming...). You may have heard about the less commercial Vail-ish (or at least what I think Vail would be like) town of Pucon, but the lakes are dotted with small, beautiful, quiet towns (if you don't visit in February when all of Chile vacations here).

Pucon, Chile

Yours truly

Because the drive can take upwards of 10 hours from Santiago, we flew into Temuco, which is the biggest city in the area and has a tiny little airport, but it was totally functional. Due to not having an up-to-date (or remembered) driver's licence between the two of us, we had to wing it and hop a ride (with Trip and massive amounts of luggage in tow due to Christmas presents) with a very nice lady who drove us to Villarica, and then the landlord of the cabin we rented picked us up and let us use her SUV.

We stayed in a quaint cabin off of a dirt road about 30 minutes from the nearest (tiny) town, and the open space, clean air and vistas were spectacular. We were up on the hills above the town of Panguipulli, and we stayed the week that the wild cherry trees were full of ripe treasures, which ended up being one of our favorite things to do, pick cherries (and then eat them).

Taking a rest during a walk around the property

Trippie showing off his cherry loot!

The family we stayed with was truly amazing, and included us in many family events, including the New Year's Eve Patagonean-style barbeque. We learned a lot about Chile on this trip, both from exploring and from this family, who incidentally are the people who produce the Sur del Mundo documentary series about Chile that airs weekly here.

Patrick got to go fishing with a local top-notch fisherman (who didn't really speak, but took him through a bunch of honeyholes). Though I don't know how much fly fishing he did, Patrick did manage to wrangle some beautiful fish in, and we had a lovely fresh fish dinner.

Patrick with his first catch!

Fishing in Chile

We also got to visit a natural hot water spring called Termas Geometricas, which was an adventure just to get to as it is located in a 8-meter-wide crevice between two moutains. Nonetheless, we arrived safely and are still amazed with how breathtakingly beautiful the pools are. Here, they have maybe 20-plus little pools that range in temperature from freezing (because they are fed with the snow-melt run-off waterfalls) to too hot to take a plunge, and are connected by a red wooden walkway.

Quite truly, visiting these hot water springs was one of the most unique and amazing experiences of my life.

We also visited a lot of the tiny little towns around there, including my favorite Puerto Fuy, which is on the coast of a lake that spans the Chile-Argentina border. Right on the water's edge is a beautiful, quiet hotel with spectacular furnishing and five-star food and vistas.

Puerto Fuy

You can take a water ferry from the Chilean side to the Argentinian side, and that is something I hope to return to do.

We loved our trip to the south, and although we can't wait to go again, we're also eager to go even farther south to the glaciers, and even to the deserts of the north. Only time will tell, but I'm watching for cheap flights and will let you know!