Huilo Huilo and Other Magical Places

The last trip I took out of Santiago was to northern Patagonia. I was really excited to see this part of the world, and I wasn't disappointed. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

Again, I went on a group tour and travelled by bus overnight. The journey was 10 hours (two hours shorter than I expected!) and when we got out of the bus, I saw how different this part of Chile was from Santiago. It was also much, much colder!

We spent the first morning exploring the Siete Lagos (seven lakes) region. The first lake we saw was called Pellaifa, which means "hidden forest" in the Mapuche language. Unsurprisingly, it gets its name from the fact that there is a forest underneath the water! There were a few tree tops poking out over the surface, but they are much more visible in the summer.

We saw several other lakes and a canal afterwards. I didn't find out what they were all called, but they were very beautiful, as was the surrounding scenery.

In the afternoon, we went to Huilo Huilo. It's a biological reserve and the nature there is incredible. It has a fairytale theme and really feels like a magical place. The first thing we did there was to go on a short trek through the forest to an amazing waterfall, Salto de Huilo Huilo.

It was an incredible sight.

Afterwards, we looked around the rest of the reserve, including the gift shop. I found it funny that even the toilets had a magical, fairytale look about them!

The last place we went to in Huilo Huilo was probably the thing it's best known for - Montaña Mágica (magic mountain). It's hard to tell what it is from looking at it, but it's actually a very posh hotel!

There was still another lake left to visit that day - this one was next to a double volcano (Mocho-Choshuenco). The scenery was beautiful, and a perfect representation of the south of Chile. Plus we got to go on a boat and look around all of its different rooms, which was fun and interesting.

That night was the low point of the trip. We stayed in cabañas which were very charming and cosy looking. However, there was no heating, so they felt a lot less cosy than they looked!

The second day was much less busy than the first. We only went to one place - Termas Geométricas. There are seventeen hot springs there, in very picturesque surroundings. I found it very peaceful and relaxing. 

This trip was definitely one of the most memorable parts of the whole Year Abroad. I had actually booked it at the end of May, in order to motivate myself to remain in Chile for the last month and a half of the semester. As I mentioned in my Argentina post, I was having a lot of problems at that time. However, by the time the trip came around, things had improved immensely. For starters, I met my boyfriend! I also moved apartment, which made some other issues I was having easier to deal with. The last month in Santiago was amazing, and a blog post all about it is on its way very soon.

I've neglected this blog since July, as I've been busy in France, completing my Year Abroad. Now it's all over, which feels very weird and a bit sad! But at least I still have plenty to document on this blog. The last six weeks turned out to be a lot more eventful than I expected, but it was an interesting and varied experience. So several posts will be appearing soon - hopefully within the next couple of weeks...

My Weekend in Argentina

At the end of May, I went to Argentina for a long weekend. This was one of the things I most wanted to do during my semester here, the other things being visiting Valparaíso and Patagonia (where I went last month!). The trip was actually quite stressful and I have to say I was relieved when it was over. However, there were some good moments and overall I'm glad I went.

We travelled there overnight in a coach, and although it was dark, the views were really impressive going through the Andes. Having to get out and queue to go through customs at three o'clock in the morning was not so much fun though!

We spent the first day at Termas Cacheuta, a water park with hot springs. I liked it a lot, especially the pool pictured below which was kind of like an infinity pool with amazing views of the mountains.

After spending a couple of hours in the pools, I explored the surrounding area a bit. The scenery was very beautiful.

I spent the rest of the time studying, reading and sleeping. And then we went to the hostel... I was expecting it to be a pleasant place to get a good night's sleep. I was very very wrong! 

First of all I was told to change room, because other people wanted to be there together in a group. In the second room, my bed was a top bunk bed (with no ladder). I climbed up, and it shook violently whenever I moved! So I asked to move again. This time I ended up with another top bunk bed without a ladder, and which was very high up, so I had to climb on the other beds in the room to get up there. But at least this one didn't shake so much.

However the worst was yet to come... I woke up at five o'clock in the morning to the sound of someone in the bathroom (which did not lock, by the way) being violently ill. Disgusting!

So it was a relief to be out of the hostel and back on the bus later that morning. We visited a winery, and then we went to a chocolate shop and did a tasting, which was probably the best part of the whole trip!

After some free time, we had a city tour of Mendoza. It’s not a very compact city, so there was a lot of getting on and off the bus. The first thing we saw was Cerro de la Gloria, a very grand patriotic monument on a hill. There was really nice scenery from up there, which I liked a lot.

The next thing we saw was Parque General San Martín, which was very big with a lot of palm trees.

Other things we saw included the city hall...

...and another big park, Plaza Independencia.

We arrived back in Santiago the next morning, after a bit of a scare at the border crossing when the machine initially wouldn't accept my passport!

Overall I'm glad I went on the trip, even though there were some stressful moments. It probably didn't help that I went at the start of what would be the most difficult period of my time in Chile.

Thankfully things improved, and my last month turned out to be amazing, the best of the semester. And I still have a couple more blog posts to write about it all!

The Maule Region

In May, I went on a trip with some of the other UDD international students and Global Ambassadors to the Maule Region, about 6 hours south of Santiago. The nature there was incredible and I feel like it was worth spending the night on a bus to get to see it!

The first thing we did when we arrived was a trek at 7:30am. Even though it was very cold, I think this was my favourite part of the trip, as the scenery was beautiful and we saw dogs and ponies. :)

At the end of the trek we arrived at some thermal springs. The water was so so hot, which was really nice at first, but made me start sweating after a little while!

After trekking back to the bus, we went off to Laguna del Maule, on the border between Chile and Argentina. The lagoon is beautiful, but underneath lies the second most dangerous volcano in the world. If it exploded, it would destroy the whole of South and North America.

The next place we went to was Mirador Monjes Blancos (white monks lookout). I think it is called that because there are white rocks there that kind of look like people? Anyway, the views are really impressive.

Then we went to the Cascada Invertida (inverted waterfall). The guide told us that if we got too close to the edge and made one wrong move, it would be "instant death"... Safe to say that I stayed well back!

The last place we went to was some more hot springs. However these ones were not actually hot, which was disappointing!

It was a great trip, and we packed a lot into those 24 hours. All the things we saw were an example of how much amazing nature there is to see here in Chile.