A Day in Santiago

 

We were staying at the Sheraton Inn located in the Providencia neighbourhood of Santiago.   It was free with Airmiles and was a little upscale compared to our usual accommodations. Lots of guys opening doors for us.  It backed right up against the Parque Metropolitano de Santiago and the Cerro San Christobal with a teleferico going up the hill to a statue of Jesus.

We attempted to climb the hill but found ourselves on a series of informal trails scrambling up the sideslopes.  Remember we were recovering from Covid and it was getting hot.  But the cool thing was the giant geranium bushes growing wild on the hillside:

We eventually gave up and just wandered around the city. It was a national holiday (El Día Nacional de las Iglesias Evangélicas y Protestantes, who knew) so the streets were busy.  It looked liked most people were celebrating the holiday not in church but in the parks and streets of Santiago.  Maybe they were all Catholics.

We walked up the road in the Parque Metropolitano to the Japanese garden but it was closed for renovations. And it was hot.  So we turned around and walked downtown.

The Maipu River goes right through town and we crossed on a covered bridge.

Note the jade trees planted outdoors!

We passed a lovely community garden dedicated to the native plants of Chile.

And couldn't resist a photo of another hummingbird tree.

We also couldn't resist a photo of standard Chilean electrical wiring:

We wound up at a popular Korean restaurant where we had Noodle soup.

Then it was time to walk back to the hotel, pick up our bags and take a taxi to the airport.  

Our flight left at 11 pm.  We flew 10 hours to Los Angeles, possibly the worst airport in the world, where they make you go through customs on a connecting flight, walk for miles to to another terminal and go through security again to get to your connecting gate.  Good thing we had a 5 hour layover.  Then a 3 hour flight to Vancouver.  After LAX the Vancouver Airport was a breeze and soon we collected our car from longterm parking and drove to Hope where we found a motel and collapsed in bed.  A very long travel day!

Total species seen for whole trip:  262  Total Lifers:  187

Last day in Villarica

Street scene - Villarica

In the morning we had our last buffet breakfast at Hotel El Parque and said goodbye to our cabaña.

We returmed to the embarcadero to look for a flying steamer duck reported on ebird.  No luck but we went back to the great grebe colony and watched four pairs do their courtship displays.

We checked out another beach but there were no steamer ducks or other new birds to be seen.

We went back to the pizza place and had jugos naturals and pepperoni pizza.

As an example of our facility with Spanish, Leo asked for jugo de naranja (orange juice) and got this:

Hmm look at those desserts back there . . .

Blueberry juice (arándano). 

We checked out a Mapuche museum (really just a replica of a hut and some souvenir stands) and bought some wooden crafts.

Then it was time to drive back to the Temuco Airport, drop off the rental car and fly back to Santiago.

In search of Araucarias

It was really difficult to find out where to go to see an araucaria forest, i.e. monkey puzzle trees.  The website for Chile's national park has very little information.  I ended up looking at Google maps and checking the photos taken at all the viewpoints in the park and checking if they showed any araucarias.

We wound up driving up Ruta 199 towards the border with Argentina.  It was a beautiful drive up a winding road through lush valleys ringed with snow-capped mountains.

We stopped at two viewpoints 

with small stands of  young araucarias 

that had probably been planted there.

Closeup of young araucaria 

As we drove up the highway we went around a curve and spotted our first Southern caracara perched on the divider.

Can you spot the southern (crested) caracara? Remember we don't have Leo's camera anymore.

The southern carcara is the same species as the crested caracara we've seen in the southwest and Mexico.  This was the first one we'd seen in Chilé.  It was still there when we drove by again.

We stopped at Laguna Quillelhue where we saw off in the distance

What looked to be a stand of araucaria trees.

Sure enough there they were.  We kept driving and came upon a larger stand in the shadow of Volcan Lanin.

The lichen looked just like old man's beard

The trees were magnificent.  I think most of the forests are logged like the redwoods in California.  

Or like visiting Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island.

We actually ate some araucania seeds (piñones) when we were up north in Arica (where araucania does not grow) but we didn't know what we were eating.  It was only later reading about araucaria that I realized what they were.

There were signs posted prohibiting the harvest of the piñones; only the indigenous Mapute people are permitted to harvest.

We kept driving up the road but soon came to the border with Argentina.

We turned around at the border control and drove back down the valley.

Pucón

 The national parks of Chilé are closed on Mondays so we decided to visit the town of Pucón, about 25 km from Villarica and also on the lake.

We went for a walk along the Playa Grande.  There was a tree-lined sidewalk between the waterfront homes and the beach.  Quite a few people were sunbathing on the beach.  

Chimango caracara

Saw a few birds.

This little cutie is a tufted tit-tyrant

We were interested in this attractive lawn weed.

On the beach we found a family of southern lapwings with chicks.

About this time Leo's camera battery died and his battery charger stopped working (or his batteries would no longer charge, we are not sure which). So if you're tired of looking at  birds you are in luck; these were the last pictures.

Mural in the park

After that we went into town and bought groceries and had lattes with cake in a café.

Downtown Pucón complete with scenic volcano

By then we were pretty tired out and returned to the cabaña for more rest and recuperation.

And more communing with giant plants.

Hotel y Cabañas el Parque

Our cabaña at Hotel El Parque

We couldn't have picked a better hotel to recuperate and semi-isolate than Hotel el Parque.  It was located a few kilometers out of Villarica on park-like grounds.

Our cabaña was very cute and comfortable and we were able to prepare simple meals.

Our kitchenette

We had a great view of Lago Villarica from our window.

In the morning we would walk up to the hotel

And have our buffet breakfast in the breakfast room.

Breakfast consisted of an assortment of breads, salami, cheese, fruit, yogurt and cereal, fruit juice, and cake(!).  They made scrambled eggs to order.

View from the breakfast room:

View of the restaurant from the breakfast room:

We had a resident group of Southern lapwings living on our lawn.

Leo inadvertently got too close to a nest and the group went crazy screeching and dive bombing us.

Leo was intrigued by the Douglas firs they had planted, massive but without the thick bark big old trees have at home. 

Leo took a photo of a stack of lumber to show how fast growing the trees are here but I'm not sure it shows all that well.

The giant rhubarb (Gunnera) that's grown as a novelty in horticultural gardens in Vancouver and Victoria (and banned as an invasive in Britain) is native to Chile where it's called nalca. People were selling the peeled stalks for eating on the street in Temuco.

I believe this giant fern is also native. We saw it growing on the Cerro Ñielol in Temuco.

Giant fiddleheads too.

And there was more Fuchsia magellanica.

Down on the lake we could see the volcano peeking over the hills.

Checking for birds:

We saw another dark-bellied cinclodes.

Enjoying the grounds: