The forgotten city of Temuco

So the city was forgotten only by me! I realised I hadn't done my post from here when I was chatting to my parents and then I realised I was struggling to remember what I'd done there! Eek! That looks bad for Temuco but really it's more a reflection on me!

So I arrived in Temuco and was faced with the joy of working out yet another bus system. The challenge is usually: how do I buy a ticket? This may sound simple but I've had to buy tickets in numerous different ways including from a conductor on the bus, paying via an oyster-like card, buying them from the kiosk by the bus stop, buying them from a kiosk nowhere near the bus stop, paying the driver when you get on and paying the driver when you get off to name but a few! Most days you just take this in your stride but I was thrown in Temuco as this time the challenge was not how to buy a ticket but where to get the bus from, because a man standing in front of the stop with a sign saying 7A (the bus I needed) said it definitely didn't stop there... So after at least 20 minutes of wandering around trying to work out from his crazy hand gestures where I needed to go I just thought sod it! And got a 7B instead as thanks to GPS and the lovely Ulmon maps I figured if I went too far off piste I could just get off and go back to where I started! As it was the 7B dropped me at the opposite end of the street to where the 7A did and I was half way along the street! Winner! Although from the map on the bus, you never would have guessed, because that said it went somewhere else entirely!

Unfortunately I had arrived in Temuco on a Sunday. Given how important this place was described as in terms of being a transport hub between north and south Chile and its size overall I wasn't really expecting this to be a huge problem despite the whole Sunday closing issue, but it turned out to be worse than usual! Even most restaurants were closed! Fortunately I found a really nice restobar that was open. These are kind of a cross between a cafe and a restaurant but unfortunately, being a particularly nice one, that meal cost me around £18. Just slightly more than my daily budget... 

The next day I had chores (laundry) so dropped that off (much more reasonable than Santiago at £5.50 for the load!) then went for a wander around town. Turns out I was close to a very large shopping mall which was OK to mooch round for a bit but I decided investigating the town would be more fun, with the central market as my ultimate destination. On my way there it started to rain. And this only added to the disappointment when I realised the market was a derelict building! I never did find where it had relocated to and so instead I headed to the Tourist Information Office to find out what else there was to do in Temuco. A very helpful person gave me information on how to get to Pucón, my next destination, and also the lowdown on what to do in Temuco, which turned out to be one museum and a Monumento Nacional (effectively a parque) which was located in the town. I decided that I'd give the parque a go but just as I walked out of the office, the heavens opened. The rain was pretty hard for about 5 minutes and then turned biblical, fortunately, just as I managed to find shelter. I stayed there for around 20 minutes and then decided I was just going to have to make a run for the bus, which I did, but got very wet in the process. It dropped me outside the mall where I had the worst KFC in the world and then I headed back to the hostel, figuring that there was not much more to be done that day.

Fortunately the next day dawned bright and sunny and so I did as planned and made my way to the parque. 

After such a washout the day before I was feeling a little in the doldrums but the parque soon put paid to that! There's something about being immersed in nature that is really soothing to the soul and boy were you immersed in nature here! I started off doing the most difficult trail and then took all the others that were easier! The views over Temuco were beautiful and walking through the parque felt like I was in a forest!

There were lots of the little lizards running around 

And this was the first place that I started seeing fuchsias

But I've seen many more of these since I've headed further south.

The parque is important to the Mapuche, the indigenous people of Chile and there are some Mapuche statues there. 

Whilst here I met a couple from Chile/Venezuela and had a mini conversation in Spanish with them (I was hopeless but kind of made myself understood!) and then I met Felipe who was of Mapuche origin and he wanted me to take his photo with the statues, again, and again, and again...! I think he was happy in the end!

After spending nearly 4 hours in the parque I headed back to the hostel to discover I had the room to myself for the evening. Sometimes this is great. Not always as you stay in the hostels for the company but that night it was perfect! After a good night's sleep, I then headed to Pucón where I fell in love all over again...