Weiter nach Chile - Mote, mudslides, volcanoes ... and a special encounter

Fortunately, we once again find very friendly Argentinians who take us back to Esquel from Los Alerces National Park and drop us off directly in front of our hostel. Hitchhiking is just a great way to travel! So we have a whole day to rest and also witness a special event. Today is the final of the Copa Libertadores - the equivalent of the Champions League. Two teams from Buenos Aires are playing for the title - Boca Juniors vs. River Plate. Contrary to expectations, the match is not taking place in Buenos Aires, but had to be moved to Madrid, over 10,000km away, due to riots! We can tell that the people here are crazy about football when the match is over (no, we didn't watch it ;) ) A concert of honking horns and car parades, it seems like all the fans of the winning team River Plate gather on the streets, singing, lighting flares, playing drums, and shooting fireworks next to the police. They really seem to be happy, it's almost contagious! The amazing thing is that even 2-3 hours after the match, cars are still driving around with flags hanging out of the windows, honking, and there are still parades of singing people! We don't even celebrate that much when Germany becomes World Cup champions! And just to repeat: we are in Esquel, 1,860km away from Buenos Aires. And a team from BA has won against another team from BA! One can't even imagine what it would be like in bigger cities - not to mention BA itself!

Happily, having witnessed this spectacle up close, we cook a delicious lentil-pea-vegetable pan and have a somewhat difficult conversation with a French girl who is traveling through South America for 8 months with a backpack, without speaking Spanish and only having very basic English skills. Brave! But thanks to Google Translate it's apparently possible.

The next day, the bus to Chile leaves at 8am sharp. Well, that's not entirely true. It goes to the Argentine border station for departure, we walk a few hundred meters to the Chilean border station for entry, have our bags checked, collect stamps, and then continue to Futaleufú with another bus. Of course, both buses have to be paid separately. Despite the rain, we are immediately in love with the small town of Futaleufú. It is beautifully located in the mountains, well-kept, the people are absolutely friendly, and there is a really nice café run by a very friendly elderly gentleman. People here also trust each other, so we only get a key for our little cabin when we ask for it, because you don't need it here! We learn that the town is one of the world's best rafting spots. However, we decline the offers of the many rafting tour providers and explore the area on foot.

We climb a few small lookouts, drop off our laundry at the laundromat, drink freshly squeezed juice for the first time in a long time, and get to know the national drink 'Mote con Huesillos'. It is made from boiled wheat called 'Mote', served in a juice made from a kind of sugar and preserved peaches. The nice café grandpa explains the recipe in detail. And it's delicious too! So it's bearable here even in April weather. We have plenty of time to think, talk, and reflect on the future. We also read a lot in the blog of our friends Bernd & Claudia, who have been traveling the world with their old Land Rover for almost 2 years. Due to travel and wedding stress, we are not quite up to date, but we catch up on these things during these days! (If you're interested in their blog: www.bodensee-overlander.de). What was planned as one night in the town of 3,000 people becomes two, and we even consider staying longer. But we know that there is so much more exciting stuff waiting for us on our journey, so we decide to continue to Chaitén.

Along the way, we also pass through the small village of Santa Lucía, which was destroyed a year ago by a gigantic mudslide triggered by the melting of a glacier. Many people lost their lives and the houses were destroyed. It's a strange feeling to drive through here and see the devastation and the gigantic wide riverbed where the landslide must have come down.

Shortly afterwards, we reach Chaitén, which was also a victim of a natural disaster. In 2008 and 2009, the dormant volcano 'Chaitén' woke up after 9,000 years and sent a flood of mud and ash over the then 5,000 inhabitants of the town, which was just experiencing a growing tourism industry. Fortunately, the wind blew in the Argentine direction at the time of the eruption, so the ash cloud did not reach the village immediately and all people could be evacuated in time. Nevertheless, a lot was destroyed and there was a thick layer of ash above the houses. Nothing was cleaned up for two years because the government did not want to rebuild the town. But the people stayed anyway and the cleanup began. Today, you can't see much of the devastation anymore and tourism is gradually returning. Tours to the volcano crater are particularly popular - we don't want to miss that either. But first, we want to take the ferry to Puerto Montt to rent a car there and explore Isla Chiloé. However, we will come back later and take a closer look at the crater as well as the adjacent Pumalín National Park, and we will take more photos of Chaitén. This time we only stay for one night and are mainly occupied with planning the onward journey. When we visit the tourist information of the town for this purpose, we meet Dante - an extremely nice Chilean who speaks German very well and who gives us information about the park. However, we also talk about various other topics, he is also very musical and interested in the Mapuche people. After almost two hours in the tourist information center, we agree to meet again in the evening for a campfire and music. We get the beer, he gets the fire, perfect! We walk a bit into nature along the river, find a quiet spot, and make a decent fire (despite the very damp wood). We talk a lot about our views of life and he and Jan play music together. The guitar and Andean bamboo flute sound really beautiful together. Since we are taking the ferry to Puerto Montt the next morning, we finally leave at around 1am and already make plans for another evening together when we are back in Chaitén. Thank you Dante for this great evening and see you soon!