Renting a car and driving through Chile’s Lagos region (Los Lagos) from Temuco to Pucon and then on to Valdivia, Puerto Varas, and Puerto Montt was the ideal way to get a sense of just how big the country is. I was surprised at the number of volcanoes that walled the western horizon and how vacant the landscape appeared alongside them. Stretches of road feel like you are in an untouched, virgin frontier that has yet to succumb to people.
Marce navigated through the geography as a copilot, flavoring my understanding of the Lagos region with anecdotes about the local cuisine, personal stories about eating it, and also helped translate Chilean when needed. For example, as good as I think my Spanish is (“meh”), it’s not good enough to understand turbo Chilean from the huevón facilitating my rental car at the Temuco airport. You’ll want to have a Marce for that.
In case you are unaware, Spanish speakers often cite Chilean Spanish as the most difficult dialect to understand owing to the many idiomatic expressions and slang terms in use. Chileans have their own separate vocabulary, cachai? It’s a good thing I was with a woman who listens to Chilean voicemails on her phone at 4x speed, as an interpreter. In my opinion, Chileans should come with closed captioning, but when forced to be without, bring a Marce.
Marce also guided me to the best Chilean food (completos, in my opinion) and figured out how to find Wi-Fi in each of our destinations. Wi-Fi has become the running joke whenever I am in Chile (it always seems to be unavailable or poor).
Marce was also present to witness the first Airbnb scam I’ve been a part of. The home I had rented in Valdivia was misrepresented as “the entire unit” and ended up being a communal living space with a private bed. If you know me, you’d know I would rather cross the Gobi Desert on hands and knees than share a roof with the person lying to me on Airbnb. I forgot where we stayed, but it worked out. It always does. Always account for 15% chaos while traveling, it helps to take it in stride when chaos takes its turn.
Pucon was the featured destination of the road trip. During the high summer season, vacationing Chileans congregate for lake watersports, boating, and adventure sports at the base of one of South America’s most active volcanoes, Villarrica (which, in the winter, you can ski down). Autumn is ideal for hiking owing to the changing colors of the foliage. Pucon has a charming feel that I would compare to Vail, Colorado, but finding parking during the summer peak season was frustrating and had me wanting to return next time when it’s the offseason.
The highlight of Pucon was finding a gem of an accommodation on the outskirts of town — a volcano lair in view of Villarrica. We only stayed for two nights, but it left an impression on me. The owner designed and built it over the past 15 years, and it’s just the sort of place I would design and build if I had the time and money to design my own volcano lair. More on that later.
