Huilo Huilo Nothofagus Hotel near Panguipulli

Blog post for Saturday, 4 November, 2023

There are a lot of hikes in the vicinity of Huilo Huilo Nothofagus Hotel where we are today. This morning we hiked to the museum and to the animal park across from the hotel. They have wild boar and red deer that we were able to get a good view of. The museum covers the history of the indigenous people in Chile and some of the mining and minerals in Chile. The museum is quite run down but it was still interesting.

Wild boar
Red deer
The museum
I’m not sure what this mineral is. Perhaps anthracite?

This afternoon we did two hikes to three different C waterfalls and a lava tube cave

Huilo Huilo Waterfall
El Puma waterfall
Going down into the lava tube cave
Duke coming out of the lava tube
You can walk behind Llallalca Falls but we all agreed there was too much water.
Llallalca Falls

For dinner we ate in the hotel again. We had venison and lamb and for desert lava cake.

Pucón to Huilo Huilo Nothofagus Hotel near Panguipulli

Blog post for Friday, November 3, 2023

Today after breakfast we walked up to the lookout just above our hotel. It has been a clear day so we had a good view of Volcano Villarrica. Yesterday there was a significant amount of smoke coming out of the top. This morning there was almost no smoke and the snow at the top seemed to have a dusting of ash.

Volcano Villarrica

After checking out we drove south to Huilo Hilo Rain Forest Preserve near Volcano Mocho Choshuenco and Panguipulli. Along the drive we had some wonderful volcano and lake views.

Volcano Mocho Choshuenco

After checking in at at Nothofagus Hotel we went for a two mile hike. through the forest to see the nearby waterfall.

Bonnie and Brian at the waterfall overlook
Salta de La Leona
On the trail

We ate in the hotel restaurant.

Brian’s pork chops
Duke’s desert

Pucón

Blog post for Thursday, 2 November, 2023

Ten percent of the active volcanoes on earth are in Chile. Volcano Villarrica is very near where we are staying in Pucón.

Volcanoes in Chile
Volcano Villarrica

Luckily it didn’t rain today and we had enough blue sky that we were able to see the volcano. We picked out a hike on the slope of the volcano. When we got to the park entrance and talked to the ranger we learned that the storm Monday had left too much snow to hike our chosen hike. So we hiked up from the entrance station about a mile and a half.

Hiking towards Volcano Villarrica
We turned around when the snow covered the trail
Bonnie made a snow angel
It was cool to see the smoke coming out of the volcano.

After our hike we went into the town of Pucón and had lunch.

Lunch

Back at our hotel we rested then played cribbage and Rummikub.

Cribbage

We had pizza for dinner at our hotel.

Pizza and wine

Futrono to near Pucón

Blog post for Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Today is All Saints’ Day in Chile. We couldn’t find a place open for coffee but we did find a mini mart where we got some pastries and took them back to our dome where we stayed the last two nights. Then we packed up and drove from Futrono to Ni-Newen Lodge near Pucón where we are tonight. Because of All Saints’ Day every cemetery we passed on our drive had cars parked for blocks around and lots of venders selling flowers.

Ni-Newen Lodge

We ate dinner at the lodge

Duke’s corn stew
My Roast Beef

Futrono

Blog post for Tuesday, October 31, 2023

This morning we went into town to find some coffee. We didn’t really find a coffee shop but we did find a place that served coffee and we got some very good pastries from the bakery across the street.

Breakfast

In the afternoon we decided to do a nearby hike we found on AllTrails. But when we got to the trailhead it turned out to be a nice dirt road in a beautiful valley. It definitely wasn’t a hiking trail. We walked for about three miles mainly on the road.

Our hike

For dinner we went to a steak house called Restaurante De Pellin y Coigüe. It had a wonderful view of the lake and mountains.

The view at dinner
One of our steaks
G & T and bread