This is a photo absent entry, as there isn’t anything interesting or noteworthy in Middle Chile…

 Talca – Why am I here?

Presilla was the name of the girl on the bus from Santiago to Talca. She had asked why I wanted to visit Talca and I was at a loss for an answer other than it was on
the way south. The great thing about travelling in Chile is everything is so
close. I had gotten used to buses taking upward of 6 hours to get anywhere,
whereas in Chile it’s never more than 3 hours until the next major city. However this doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything to see in these cities.

Middle Chile is known for the wine growing region of Chile, and I really wanted to visit another bodega after the experience in Tarija, Bolivia. The Lonely Planet kind
of glosses over Middle Chile saying it isn’t a big tourist attraction area and I can now confirm this is accurate. As so often in these cases you look back in retrospect and say, nope, shouldn’t have stopped off here, better to have just
continue to the Lakes District further south. But hey, I didn’t know any better at the time and that’s part of the adventure.

There were only two hostals in the Lonely Planet, one was closed in winter and the other ended up being demolished. After walked around for an hour only to discover the vacant lot that used to be the hostal I headed back to the only other hostal I had seen. It was back at the bus terminal, which always means it’ll be
expensive. Sure enough it was, but I thought screw it, I’m only going to stay here tonight and move on.

Chillan – Wrong Day, Four Restaurants

The next stop was Chillan, which was a much nicer city than Talca and I stayed in a
really cozy hostal run by a little old lady that somehow managed to talk faster than anyone else I’d met in Chile. I was struggling enough trying to understand
Chilean Spanish, and I had no idea whatsoever what she was saying.

The hostal was a block from the central area which normally would be filled with
restaurants to go forth and taste test. However Chillan was different in this respect, and after walking a good 5 blocks in every direction around central I encountered an entire four restaurants to eat at. One was just a little café with
sandwiches, one was a buffet style fair that was packed with people, another had
beggars strategically placed at both entrances and finally there was a bar that served cheap beer and pretty good food. No guesses where I went.

The next day I headed to the bus terminal, bought my ticket and waited a good couple of hours for the bus. As I sat on the bus and we were almost out of the gate, a man ran up obviously late for the ride. When he boarded he hovered around my seat and the bus conductor came over. As it turned out, my ticket wasn’t for that day, it was for the next day. I have no idea whether the girl at the ticket office told me this, but I left the bus meekly, retrieve my backpack and made my way back to the hostal for another nights stay. The only positive was the
single room was free and cheaper.

That night I went back to the bar for food and beers while pondering how a cities central area can only have four restaurants. I have been told a few times that Chileans have very family orientated, so I can only guess that most people choose not to eat out, and having a home cooked meal is more important. That doesn’t really jive with the rest of the cities in Chile, but it’s the only reason I could think of!

Temuco – First Taste of the Lakes District and the Biting Cold

After the lacklustre of Middle Chile I arrived in Temuco, the capitol of the Lakes
District. The first sign that things were going to be different here was the bus terminal. Amidst a sea of green trees the bus pulled into the terminal that was more akin to a large log cabin. It’s without fail the nicest bus terminal in all my travels and undoubtable the nicest in all of South America. Stepping out into the crisp air I could tell this area was going to be an enjoyable place to visit.

Jumping into a taxi we headed into town only to find the hostal I was planning on staying at was closed. The taxi driver was super helpful, getting out to see whether there was an alternate entrance, and after I asked whether there was another hostal he knew of, he took me a few blocks down the road to another place. At first I thought luck had abandoned me as we rang the door bell with no answer. The driver even tried calling the place with no answer, but finally the owner did appear and invite me into what can only be described as a museum. The place was decked out in old school cameras, guns and even a WWI gas mask!

Temuco doesn’t have a lot to do to captivate the tourists attention, but it does have some pretty great places to eat. Here I had one of the best pizzas I’ve tried,
topped with a mountain of meat and a struggle to finish, and an Irish pub that is amusingly devoid of anything Irish. They serve a monstrous pork burger that I even made the conscience decision to eat the sliced tomatoes on (I’m trying to like whole tomatoes). So good, so filling, and so glad the food in Chile is getting better the further south I travel.

It’s currently winter here and while northern Chile was cold, southern Chile is
where it’s gets bitingly cold. The days aren’t so bad with the sun mostly out to add some warmth, but once the night comes the temperature drops to 10 degrees. It was at times like this that I wished I had bought some alpaca clothing back in Peru, but even here I’d look like a stupid tourist. I honestly still can’t get over how silly people looked in Peru decked out in full alpaca get up. At least they’d be warm, I suppose, but I’d rather be cold than look like that!

After two nights in Temuco I left for Pucon. I was in the Lakes District and it was time to see some actual lakes. Arriving at the terminal there was a bus leaving in 10 minutes; perfect, I jumped aboard and half an hour later a loud bang came from the underneath of the bus. We pulled over and waited for the replacement while a very good pirated version of The Avengers played on the entertainment
system. 

All aboard the next bus, we headed off towards Pucon.