We started of by visiting the Colchagua Valley - the center of the wine. Left before sunrise so that the kids would sleep the 195 km ahead of us. It worked out well and we landed at our hotel, an old mansion (Fundo) remodeled as a small guest house with the friendliest staff ever and the nicest location you can imagine Vinegrapes and sunflowers greeted us at the entrance at 9 in the morning. Our children charmed the hostess, who made sure we got some very nice homemade breakfast to start of the day. Then we headed out to the center of Santa Cruz. What a beautiful town!!! How come I have missed this place in my previous adventures? Sadly, the old city center had been badly hit by the earthquake last year. Of the Sushibar in one corner of the Plaza, it was only the toilets that were still standing while the old church did not even have such luch, cleared to the ground, no indications even of the wholy empty ground.
I suggested that we visited the local museum while G slept his day nap, just to have something to do. Was I mighty surprised... The local museum was the best collection of Chilean history, if not even Latin American history, that I have ever seen. Dinosaur sceletons to start off with, the indigenous pottery from Mexico in the North to Patagonia in the South, Original Conquistador outfits and letters, followed with the complete set of Chilean history up to the 1950´s (including a car collection big as a town hall - Formula racing cars and Chiles oldest car). How come this small town of 30.000 inhabitants has better collection of historical objects than all museum in Santiago together? I looked at the brochure handed out at the entrance. The museum was no local city museum, it was the museum of the Cardoen Foundation. Cardoen is a multibillionaire who made his fortune on weapons. Production and trade. Simple as that. His also known for being wanted by Interpol. In his home town he seems to be more of a local heroe than anything else. Interesting guy - to say the least.
The afternoon we spent in a wineyard making sure that our kids understand the concept of winemaking. Priorities in life, you know. And yes, you can taste wine with a three year old and a one year old as company. It just requires a good portion of cookies in the pocket and a very understanding husband.
One thing we learnt dearly this first day of our beautiful vacation was that lunch hours in small Chilean towns are to be respected. We did not make it in time for Chilean lunch (would have been our dinner). All restaurants close at 3-4 p.m. and do not open before 8 p.m. Not even by begging. The Mini-restaurant at the side of the main road became our salvation (or we would have had to go for yet another pollo asado with papas fritas, but remember hubby and daughter were just recovering from stomach flu which originated in poultry just one week earlier...). We ate a delicious Chilean "comida casera" for a very convenient price. I send my humble thanks to the lady that dared keeping her restaurant open despite the established Santa Cruzian norm. This family was happy again at 6 p.m. and headed for the hotel pool under the vineplantation. The whole family slept like royals that night. Lovely!
Next day we took route towards the Lake Vichuquen. No GPS, no maps, only my sense of location based on maps that I hade checked on Internet some 3 weeks ago in Finland. We passed the ancient town of Lolol and laughed out laud (LOL-LOL) all through the beautiful little village. Almost at least. Once again I was sad to see the brutal force that the earthquake had used on yet another colonial village in Chile. If Santa Cruz had lost a sushibar and a church, this town seemed to have a crack in every house and no rooftops anymore.
Our trip continues, the forest starts appearing in front of us (until now it has been almost only vines and fruit trees). The road becomes lonlier and smaller. I start doubting my built in GPS. We ask for directions...no indications of Lake Vichuquen anywhere. The locals help us find the way to an unpaved, bumpy, steep road. Hubby swears. He had promised the owner of the car (his dad) that we would not drive on any unpaved roads. Lunch has passed long time ago. Kids fed with sugary oatmeal cookies. We drive, we bump, we search for the lake. We find the lake - voilá what a beauty. But paved roads? No, no, no. More bumpy roads and no idea of where our prepaid cottage is located. Another half an hour on a very bumpy (but oh so sceanic) road. The ambiance is just slightly on the tense side inside the borrowed car. Finally, paved road and 50 meters later; our cottage! Beautiful place, playground, pool, beach etc. We later find out that we had come from the wrong direction. Instead of 4 km unpaved road, we drove 40 km. And the road around this beautiful lake could be paved, the financing of it was approved 12 years ago. Problem? The local land owners (richer side of Santiago´s population) do not want this place to be discovered by others so they keep it unpaved and thus only four wheel drivers will make it to the lake. That is also a way of marketing differentiation.
This lake is a true beauty. I remembered my year in Bellingham. During that year I stayed three times with families with houses at Lake Whatcom. Vichuquen is much like Lake Whatcom : the forest filled hills around the lake, the tranquility, and off course: the jet skies, the water skies, the wind surfers... We spent three relaxing nights at the lake. Once again, slept like royals each night.
One day we made it out to the beach on yet another bumpy road. Only 10 km this time. I still do not undestand how I managed to get green lights from hubby for this day trip. Maybe because the lake did not offer much culinary experience and I promised him a nice beef for lunch if we made it to the coastal resorts. We drew through forest plantations in the fog in the morning. Not much that we saw of the surroundings there. WE were lucky to keep the car on the road. The road was goinh in a spiral, first upwards and then downwards. The Chilean 4-wheelers did not seem to have noticed the slipperyness of the road. Drove like (crazy) kings of the road. We came out from the woods to the sea (miraculously without damages to the car) at the little fishing village called Limpimavida. Headed south towards Duao and Iloca. It did not take long for us to notice that this coastal region seemed depressed. In comparison with the beach resorts close to Santiago this seemed to be completely abandoned. I soon noted why. Maremoto - Tsunami. It erased many beach resorts down here just one year earlier. Tourists have no dared to make it back. The beautiful kilometer long beaches, completely abandoned. No kids playing the tsunami-run-away-from-the waves-game here. Houses without windows, roofs, walls. Houses without anything. Small new wooden houses next to the abandoned once. Construction sites everywhere.
I have seen pictures and heard much about the earthquake on February 27 last year. Since I spent that moment in the local library in a snowed in Haga it is hard for me to conceptualize what this moment actually meant for the Chileans. Almost three minutes of near death experience, that´s what my friends and family have told me. Three minutes. That is a long time. I usually get scared after three seconds of ground shaking...Here at the beach I understand that you can skip the word "near" and just talk about death experience. It was real here. Houses, cars, furniture and lives where sveapt away with the big waves. Still, the survivors continue their lives next to the sea. They live of the fishery of the ocean that deceived them. Even more so now that tourists are resitant to return. Life goes on.
We spend our last cash here at the beach. We would have spent even more in plastic, as a way of supporting the local community, but unfortunately credit cards are still unheard of in this place. We even tried making it out to the beach, with towels, swimsuites and the sand toys... but something made us go back to the car. The feeling of desaster was still too much present, as was the smell of burned tires and the strong wind. Still, I must insist, this was one of the most charming Chilean beach resorts I have visited. I would love to return and spend more time here some day....
Today we drove back home to Santiago. On paved serpentine roads, next to the Mataquito river. First we visited the town of Vichuquen, celebrating its 426th birthday this year. For a Chilean town that is old. Once again I am struck by the undiscovered beauty. How come that I have traveled through South America, read all guide books there are to be read (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Inside Chile...you name it, I have it) and never come across the name of Vichuquen. It is by far the nicest and most authentic colonial style town I have visited in the whole of South America. Maybe (foreign) tourists have not made it due to the poor road conditions... maybe the local (tourists) just never wanted an invasion of outsiders here. But now the town is falling apart of the damages from the earthquake. I just wish it would be UNESCO protected so that financing and rebuiling would be guaranteed.
This is the map we should have had with us....
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