This Adventure Called Life: Curarrehue to Liucura

A peaceful morning leaving Curarrehue

It had rained during our time off near Pucon, but the skies were clear as we hiked out of Curarrehue and into the Chilean mountains. We walked up out of the town's valley along a dirt road that turned into an older, more-trail-like road. I was wondering about the change in conditions of the roads, and we figured out we had come back into another part of Villarica- Reserva (instead of Parque) Nacional Villarica. It was nice to have more shade again, as the sun bore down on us in the meadows. We hiked along a large lake to an area of designated campsites for a lunch break. That evening, we found ourselves back on a road, walking between parts of the Reserva. As dusk settled in, we found a small camp spot along the river and slept.

Enjoying the beautiful view and clear skies

The next morning, we continued our road walk along the dirt road and found some friendly folks along the way. We attempted to greet each person we saw, and everyone greeted us kindly in return. Stopping for lunch in the shade of a bridge, we saw a few kids fishing along the river. We exchanged greetings in Spanish upon their arrival, and they called out excitedly the few English words they knew as they left. As we continued down the road that afternoon, the heat became oppressive. With no breeze to cool us, we stopped in the shade of the few trees along the way to our next camp. We were able to find a campsite near where we re-entered Reserva Villarica (for the 3rd time - those of you counting), and I rinsed the sweaty salt off my face in the stream, ate dinner and fell into a deep sleep.

A roofless puesto along the track

Fidgit enjoying the viewpoint

Waking up the next morning, I sat up and immediately laid down again, as I almost passed out from light-headedness. We decided to sleep a bit longer, and I felt much better, though still out of it by the time we packed up camp and moved on. I thought it was mild dehydration/heat exhaustion from the previous evening. I made sure to drink plenty of water as we walked along, making our way past a couple of large mountains and across many river crossings, down the valley that led to the CONAF station and trailhead for a hike up one of the volcanoes. Stopping at the trailhead for our evening break turned into talking with the CONAF employees about their work and the tourist season in the area - it seems as though this seasonal station usually opens in October, but this year hadn't opened until early December. They were unsure what that would mean for future seasons and funding. We walked on to our home for the night, discussing tourism in Chile and wondering what will happen in the future - will these parks and reserves continue to be funded, or are they the first to have their funding cut in times of money shortage? It is uncertain what'll happen until it happens.

Grateful for clouds along this roadwalk

Neon: professional river-crosser

Enjoying the heat of the stove in the downpour

As we set up camp that evening, clouds were moving in and we awoke in the the morning to rain falling heavily on the tent. We packed up in the downpour and walked along, getting more and more wet. The trail went up and became old road, and we slipped and slid in the mud up and up until we came to a saddle and found a puesto. At this point, we were soaked and cold even in our rain gear, so we decided to stop and build a fire for the day - the cost of pushing on through the rain was not worth it for us, and we had enough food to make it to the next town. Fidgit collected wood to dry while I started the fire, and we were able to dry out and warm up. We tucked in for the day and night under a metal roof that protected us from the deluge that continued until early morning. When we awoke in the puesto, the rain had stopped but everything was still dripping wet. We walked along an old road that turned into trail through a bamboo forest that turned back into a road and led us into the town of Icalma.

Fidgit walking along the muddy road after the downpour.

We resupplied in Icalma and stayed for a day to make sure we had tied up loose ends, as there was a long town-less stretch coming up after the small frontera town of Liucura. We took an alternate of the GPT out of town to avoid road walking on the main road, and instead walked along a lesser-used road that led to trail and another, even less-used road. Walking between Icalma and Liucura took about a day and a half, so we made it into Liucura mid-afternoon and went into the small shop to resupply. A couple of British boys were also resupplying - the 3rd and 4th GPT hikers we've met this year! They were friendly, and we talked trail and culture - they told us about the route to the north, and we were able to help them with trail information to the south and what we had seen of the lakes they would be pack rafting across. We left town heavy with food and rife with knowledge about part of the upcoming stretch.