Third stop: Chile, Part 1: Civilization and finally camping

Chile, you beautiful Chile, thank you for existing. That pretty much describes how we've been feeling since our arrival in Santiago de Chile. Comparing Chile to Peru, you have to acknowledge right away that Chile is significantly more Western, wealthier, and much cleaner than Peru. This realization on our arrival day in Santiago brought us immense relief, especially since we missed our usual standards of hygiene and order during our nearly 4 weeks in Peru, and we were dismayed by the omnipresent poverty. We only realized how much these circumstances weighed on us when all the problems suddenly disappeared. It's always said that you only truly appreciate the value of something when it's no longer there. That statement is certainly an important realization of this journey, because we never thought that simple things like clean toilets could make us so happy. The first thing that both of us noticed on the drive from the airport to the hostel in Santiago was that none of the drivers honked for no reason, something we didn't experience a single day during our entire time in Peru. In addition, no one stared at us or asked to take a photo with us. Even in the hostel, we were no longer the only non-South Americans, but among many like-minded people from all over the world. Of course, we don't want to badmouth Peru completely, it was beautiful there!! But now we realize that we can't be completely happy without our usual standards. But enough comparisons, because it's actually not about a competition for the prize for the most beautiful country, because every country is beautiful in its own way.

Looking at the city of Santiago itself, as a European it stands out how inconspicuous it is. By that we mean that Santiago doesn't differ much from European cities. There are regular cars and no tuk-tuks, everyone follows the traffic rules, and the houses have roofs, facades, and are very well-maintained, often enhanced with murals. Santiago also has a few beautiful and large city parks and many creative restaurants and bars. So during a city stroll and a small sightseeing tour (unfortunately mostly in the rain), we treated ourselves to a waffle wrap with cheese, lettuce, bacon, and barbecue sauce (yes, we had to mention it because it was just soooo good). Oh, and there's still something "normal" that thrilled us: our car rental pick-up went completely smoothly. (OK, admittedly, that's another comparison, but honestly: Santiago is clearly winning 1:0 against Lima.)

To our own surprise, civilization has done us so much good that we decided to visit Valparaiso first on our journey through Chile. This is a port city west of Santiago and famous for its street art and colorful houses. Due to the low income here, the residents are resourceful and beautify the city with what they have. From numerous wall paintings to flowerpots made from plastic bottles to garlands made from trash bags, there is nothing that is not colorful. We would probably describe the city as charming-run-down, but it was a lot of fun to explore a city and all its alleys again completely carefree and free.

The main reason why Chile made it onto the list of countries on our world trip is that Chile is famous for its national parks, hiking routes, and camping. Therefore, we were most excited about finally finding a quiet place in nature, setting up our tent, unpacking our camping stove, and letting our souls relax. We achieved this for the first time at Reserva Nacional Lago Peñuelas just outside the gates of Valparaiso. Granted, the nature reserve itself doesn't have much to offer except for a small lake and a few birds and wild horses, but the abandoned campground in the middle of a forest was all the more beautiful and perfect for the first night of many nights in the tent. There were only three Irish people in a 1976 VW bus with us at the campground, so we had a great time with them and ended the day by the campfire. Simply perfect.

Our next destination had much more to offer, as it was Parque Nacional Radal Siete Tazas, which impressed us with its variety of beautiful waterfalls. Since Natalie in particular is a huge waterfall fan, you could probably see her smile all the way to Germany as we explored one waterfall after another. The adventurous and sometimes climb-only hiking trails couldn't stop us. These experiences were only topped by our overnight stay on a field directly opposite a waterfall and breakfast with a view of it.

In the adjacent Parque Ingles, a bit tired and overwhelmed by the many beautiful impressions, we reviewed and ended the days with a short hike through bamboo forests and a beautiful view of the mountains and the valley. We will definitely return here someday.

With impressive waterfalls, we continued to the next national park, Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja, this time embedded in a panorama of yellow flowers and snow-covered mountains. The center of the national park is the active Antuco volcano, whose cooled lava blocks the outlet of a glacier river and thus has created a huge, brilliantly blue lake. However, since lava rock is porous and allows water to pass through, waterfalls have formed in the park, which seemingly emerge directly from the rock. In addition, volcanic soil is very fertile, which is why countless yellow-blooming bushes beautify the otherwise bleak environment. The combination of black lava fields, snow-covered mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and yellow flowers was simply picturesque and accompanied us on every hike.

In order to see something other than waterfalls (don't get us wrong, you can never see enough waterfalls), we drove to the only national park in the Coastal Range. Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta not only offers a huge forest consisting of Araucarias, a rare coniferous tree species, but also the best viewpoint in Chile at Piedra del Aguila. From there, you can see the entire width of the country, from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Andes with its volcanoes in the east. The lichens that cover almost all the trees in the park and create a fairytale atmosphere were also impressive.

However, when we made the first ascent to the viewpoint, we were denied the view due to dense fog. So the next morning, we had to try our luck again and were rewarded with a beautiful panorama. It had to happen, because otherwise, we would have regretted the 45 km gravel road to the park and the overpriced campground.

After seeing the volcanoes from a distance, we were burning to get closer to them. However, we only had 2 days left before we had to arrive in Puerto Montt for our continuation on the Carretera Austral. The pressure to head south was therefore increasing. So we postponed some highly acclaimed national parks and hikes for our return journey north in January and set off for Panguipulli. This place is located in the middle of Chile's Lake District and is surrounded by hills and volcanoes (and simply has a name that is too funny). The most beautiful volcano is probably Villarrica, which we had a fantastic view of from our campground.

Admittedly, we only had this view for one evening because apparently Chile wanted us to move on and then gifted us with two full days of continuous rain. (As we write these lines, we're sitting in the tent without a view and with rain pouring like from bathtubs, hoping that we won't get washed away.) So we had to forget about the view of the volcanoes, and the only logical thing to do was: if you're already wet, you can just go hiking to waterfalls because compared to these masses of water, the rain doesn't seem so bad anymore.

In addition, on a frosty and rainy morning in the tent, we had a brilliant idea: if you're already wet, you can also go to a thermal bath because there you can at least say that you're intentionally wet. So we visited the Termas Geométricas, a beautiful outdoor facility in the jungle of Villarica National Park that heats its 20 thermal pools geothermally. A breathtaking setting to relax, for which alone it's worth traveling to Chile, especially when you can experience it almost completely alone like we did.

Completely relaxed and warmed up, we now embark on our journey on the Carretera Austral and are very excited to see what Chile has in store for us. So far, we can only say: It's even more beautiful than we imagined.

Song of pure satisfaction: World I wanted - Secret Nation