11Feb14
Back on the road! Yesterday, we took an excruciating bus ride to a rural area just north of Los Ángeles, in the Bío Bío Region. It was two hours from Viña del Mar to Santiago, a two-hour wait for our next bus, and a six-hour ride to Los Ángeles where we picked up our rental car. Thankfully, it was only a 20-minute drive to the place where we’re staying.
Even though the buses are comfortable, traveling that long always sucks. There was beautiful scenery along the way, but I was too grouchy to take any photos for you.
We’re staying at a lovely guesthouse with just a handful of rooms that is nestled in the trees with babbling streams nearby. And fruit and vegetables growing! Check out the grapes.
It’s run by a couple named Wendy and Roland. They both spent years crewing private yachts, and decided that they wanted to settle down somewhere. The guesthouse was run by an older German couple who was ready to sell, so they fixed it up! It’s very peaceful.
We took a drive over to Laguna del Laja national park today, which they highly recommended. It is about an hour and a half drive east of here and almost to the Argentinian border. From Los Ángeles, you take the road towards Antuco and just keep on goin’. You can see the Antuco Volcano in the park during parts of the drive.
Once at the park, it was only about USD$5 for the two of us to enter. There are lots of great hikes, and we saw lots in just two hours. The terrain is really interesting because of the volcanic rock everywhere.
No, that’s not dirt. It’s lava rock! Not far from the volcano, there is another mountain with a glacier up top. I’m sure it would be amazing to be here in the winter.
But I’m glad we visited in the summer, because summer means… waterfalls!
We miss our friends in Viña, especially our housemate Eduardo who we had a great dinner with a couple nights before we left. But we’re excited for the adventure ahead.
