We wish you a Happy New Year for 2013!

It’s been a bit up and down since we left Santiago on the 27th but we feel like we turned a corner yesterday and that things are looking up! On our first night out of Santiago, we found out that we had to take the car for a revision (WOF or APK) and after reading about other experiences of dealing with it we were filled with dread. The revision technica is like the Warrant of Fitness in New Zealand or APK in The Netherlands and is necessary if you want to keep your car legally on the road and be covered for insurance. The dealer who we bought the car from insisted that he would send us a new revision technica with our permanent pardon (ownership papers) but once we paid and took the car he changed the story and said he’d told us that we had to go somewhere else to get it. Our Spanish is bad, but not that bad and we knew we’d been lied to! A few other things popped up during the last few days that made us question everything else the dealer said to us. From only one of the two new car alarm remotes not working, to not knowing where our ownership papers will end up, and a couple of other little things, well these made us feel not quite so positive about Chile so far. But with the knowledge that the revision technica was running out on the 31st December we decided to just try to do it at the next big town we came across after spending a couple of days camping in Siete Tazas National Park.

We camped in Siete Tazas for two nights in a nice quiet area, surrounded by trees, and with the river running below us. The road to it was really rough, and we used the car’s 4WD to get to it. The car handled quite well! Around the park there are many beautiful waterfalls and hikes, with the main highlight being Siete Tazas (Seven Cups). Siete Tazas are a breathtaking series of seven waterfalls and pools carved out of black basalt rock by the Río Claro. Very beautiful! The camping was nice and picturesque. From our campsite we could bush bash or slide down a hill to swim in the chilly river which we did a couple of times a day simply to cool off! We also used the time here to organise the car so that we can pull everything out and set up camp easily. It’s messy already, but it is a work in progress!

Siete Tazas

Siete Tazas NP

Horse invades campsite!

Friendly dog makes friends!

Camping in Siete Tazas, peaceful!

After Siete Tazas, we stopped in the sleepy town of Chillán for the night. There’s not much to say about Chillán except that they had a nice plaza. Lots of young people practicing acrobatics and circus movements made it quite entertaining people watching! A little ugly vicious poodle was the pet of hatred living at the guest house we stayed at. It barked and barked all day and all night, and gnarled its teeth whenever someone walked near it. We felt like we were right at home though, when the guesthouse owner showed Richard how to bash a stick against the wall to make the poodle stop barking (although Richard felt much more like bashing the poodle around the head a few times)!

Finally, yesterday we drove down to Temuco. The landscape changed and became more green and verdant, lots of forestry around, plenty of farming and some hills. We’ve seen the Andes in the distance all the way down as well. The temperature dropped slightly and it now feels a bit like New Zealand summer warm, so it’s been quite a comfortable change! Getting back to the Revision Technica, well we drove straight to the office here and a nervous hour and a half later we had it! With that out of the way, we felt like a weight had been lifted off of our shoulders and the things that are left to sort with the car are all little things that aren’t going to stop us from having a good time now!

Temuco has a big Mapuche population here and things are quite rustic! We got stuck in traffic yesterday and in front of us was a woman driving a horse-ridden cart. In the back of the car was a sheep, a mountain of lettuce and tomatoes and a nice bunch of flowers to top it off! We liked!

Stuck in traffic in Temuco

New Year’s was quiet, as we looked ahead at where to go over the next few days. Some more camping and hopefully lounging on the beach of a lake, and a visit to Valdivia are on the cards! Happy New Year everyone!