By now it's starting to get cold and rainy for real but we are still hopeful that things will clear up as we head to Taique Lodge near Puyehue. The lodge is a bit out of the way down a gravel road which was pretty easy going except our rental car scraped over every rock over the size of two inches in diameter. I was worried we might be beating the car up a bit but it soon became apparent that small rocks were the least of our problems where the car was concerned.
The lodge is run by a nice French couple with a toddler and a St. Bernard. We stayed here because the hiking is supposed to be great as well as the views of the volcanoes and the nearby lake.
See those amazing volcanoes in the distance? Yeah, me neither that's because it rained the whole time we were here. We did walk around the property and down the road and saw some slender billed parakeets and green-backed fire crown hummingbirds but the light was just so crappy it made for lousy photos.
We opted to drive to Parque Nacional Puyehue to see some waterfalls and drive up the mountain to a ski lodge for hot soup, a few beers and to warm up by the fireplace.
South American gray fox
I'm lichen this photo
The Incident
We were pretty bummed not to have had better weather in Puyehue but we had high hopes for sun and fun and penguins as our merry band headed out for the five hour drive to Chiloe Island in the rain. We were tooling down the highway without a care when, and this would be the part of the movie where the music builds and then the shark actually eats the unsuspecting swimmers, we were smacked by a car trying to overtake us in a construction zone.
Much hand flailing and incomprehensible Spanish ensued.
Donde esta el bano and un cerveza por favor will only get you so far in a police station in Chile. Note to self, learn to speak some damn Spanish already. After a couple hours and some quality time with Google translate, we were able to tell our side of the story or so we thought we weren't really sure. But it was pretty obvious that he said it was our fault and we said it was his, well 'cause it was. After much more hand gesturing, we were given a scrap of paper with an address and a lot of Spanish spoken very quickly which we were able to figure out meant that we were to appear the next morning before a judge. Problem was, we were supposed to be five hours away from that town by that evening. Fred really did save the day though because he was able to show the police dude that this was not going to work for us and negotiated our appearance in court three days hence.
We left full of anxiety and worry about what it might entail to appear before a judge in a foreign city where no one spoke English. Let's just say the next few hours in the car were pretty quiet.
Chiloe Island
By the time we reached the ferry for Chiloe, we had resolved to not let the accident interfere with our time on the island since there was nothing we could do about any of it anyway.
Rich contemplating a run for the Argentine border
Couple of drunk dudes welcoming us to the Island
We stayed at a palafito which is the Chiloe version of a house on stilts. They are on stilts because they have serious tides here.
View from our palafito
It's like the Bay of Fundy with tidal flux
Just relax, take in the views and think about your court date
We took a drive over the island to get our bearings and explore the Parque Nacional of Chiloe which turned out to be absolutely beautiful. Cold, cold beaches and lakes but at least the weather had cleared so we could take some hikes and soak up the local flavor. That flavor included the local mythology of the Mapuche people who believed in a creature known as the Trauco, or seducer of virgins. The Trauco hypnotizes young girls with his gaze then has his way with them. The only way to distract him is to throw sand in his eyes so Toni and I were careful to always have a fistful handy because you can't be too careful.
Same temperature as liquid nitrogen
Yellow-billed pintails don't mind cold feet
Just a couple of Chiloans chi-illin out
In case of tsunami, run sideways
Don't stare at him!
Darwin stopped on this beach on the Beagle voyage
Clams are a big deal here, unfortunately I don't like clams
After a nice little hike along the beach and a couple of trails, it was time for lunch. We had been given a recommendation by the palafito owner. Turned out to be absolutely delectable.
El Arrayan, go here if you go there
Little shrimps bubbling in melted butter with homemade rolls and Chilean white wine. Nom, nom
These kids were hanging in the town square sharing one phone
The locals have been arguing about a bridge to the mainland for ten years. We decided to weigh in.
Down by the harbor in Castro, note police car on right coming for Rich
Iglesia San Francisco in the town square
More yummy local food and Chilean cab
Not to mention the local beer
Southern Caracara
Worlds smallest, not to mention cutest deer, a pudu
Oh, just your typical roadside shot
Lapwings by the bazillion
You know what we didn't get pictures of? Penguins. Wanna know why? 'Cause we had to get up the next morning at 3:30 a.m. to get out the door and haul ass back to Osorno for that court hearing. But first we had to load up the car, get lost, make it to the ferry landing just as the ferry was pulling away, encounter heavy fog and dodge pudu/dogs in the road. Fred was a machine though and got us to Osorno with time to spare so we had a little caffeine and contemplated how often we would be able to visit Rich in prison.
Osorno
We were nervous I'll admit it. I mean really all we had was a scrap of paper with an address on it and no idea of what we were in for. Fueled with instant coffee (what can I say, they love Nescafe here), we made our way to here:
We went in and encountered a room jammed full of people. After patiently waiting in line to talk with someone, the woman simply pointed upstairs. Upstairs, more of the same. We were hoping at this point that the guy who hit us would just not show up but no such luck. He was right on time. Then began a series of back and forth into the bowels of the building between Rich and the other guy. At one point a man approached us and asked if we were German. I guess because, well we're obviously not Chilean and they have lots of Germans living around these parts. This is where we got lucky because he offered to translate for us for a mere $30. Deal! Over the next two hours Rich told his side and the other guy told his. Back and forth, back and forth. Fred, Toni and I could only wait in the crowded room to hear what happened after each visit.
When the final gavel banged, well actually there was no gavel, in fact there wasn't even a judge just a paralegal who communicated to a judge, there was no winner. We were told to come back on the following Monday. Problem was we were gonna be long gone back to the US by then. So, long story short, the other guy will have to cover his damage and we will have to cover the damage on the rental car. All that to say:
Someone was pretty damn relieved to done with this mess
We were feeling pretty good about the court deal so we strolled around town
Took us a long time to figure out what this was about, it's a college initiation
No bull, we are glad this part of the trip is over
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