A
N
D
E
S
Puerto MonttPuerto VarasPucónLake Llanquihue Petrohué
RiverLake RancoPACIFIC
OCEAN
Futangue ParkAR
G
EN
TI
NA
OSORNO
CALBUCO
VILLARRICA
SCAHNTLIIAEGO
DISLTARKICET
50 milesIMAGE:
PATR
ICIO
G
ARRIDO.
ILLUS
TRA
TION:
JO
HN
PLU
MER
GETTING THERE & AROUND
British Airways has the only direct
flight from Heathrow to Santiago,
departing twice a week. ba.com
Average flight time: 14h.
European carriers such as Iberia
and Air France offer one-stop
flights via their European hubs,
while Avianca flies via Bogotá, and
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and
United Airlines via US hubs. iberia.com
airfrance.co.uk avianca.com aa.com
delta.com united.com
Car rental is available in Puerto Montt
and Pucón.WHEN TO GO
November and December, during the
austral summer, are recommended,
when average temperatures hover
around 24C. January is best avoided
due to the proliferation of insects.
February and March are also pleasant
before the rain returns in April, and
temperatures drop to around 3C in July.MORE INFO
Alsur Expeditions, for rafting on
Petrohué River. alsurexpediciones.cl
Mawida Adventures, for Mapuche
cultural visits. mawidadventures.cl
Chile Tourism. chile.travel
The Rough Guide to Chile. RRP: £16. 99HOW TO DO IT
Journey Latin America offers a nine-
night self-drive holiday in Chile’s
Lake District from £3,624 per person,
including two nights at Hotel Awa
in Puerto Varas, two at Futangue
Hotel & Spa and three at &Beyond
Vira Vira in Pucón. Plus, domestic
flights from Santiago, hire car in the
Lake District, excursions and most
meals. Excludes international flights.
journeylatinamerica.co.ukand that the Mapuche had so clearly linked the
moon’s shadow to the coronavirus. But then,
perhaps this very different interpretation
shouldn’t be a surprise — they are, after
all, a pre-Columbian people who see magic
and meaning in nature, cherishing, even
worshipping, things that other people ignore.
Rosario toasts foraged monkey puzzle
nuts over the open fire in the centre of the
room, explaining that they wait for them to
fall, rather than shaking the sacred trees.
The aroma wafts around in the dark of the
ruka, while the 68-year-old grandmother
of 14 explains a little more about the Mapuche
way of life. Tours like this often leave me
worried that they’ll feel something like a
human safari, but Rosario’s generosity puts
me at ease. As does her patience — as I listen
to her and eat the waxy nuts, I casually throw
the shells into the fire. She calmly asks me to
stop. “We don’t burn them, but collect them
here and give them back to the Earth,” she
says, while my face glows brighter than
the flames.
Heading back out into the bright, autumnal
morning, my pupils can hardly shrink quick
enough as the white sun bounces off the snowy
peak of the Villarrica volcano. The rains from
earlier in the week now seem like a work of
fiction. In some ways, so does the volcano
— hulking, satisfyingly conical and always
snow-capped, it looks almost too perfect.
As a backpacker all those years ago,
I’d climbed it, an ice axe needed near the
top, then stood at its belching summit as
sulphurous smoke encircled our hardy
little group. With the weather so nice today,
younger, fitter travellers are doing the same,
but I wish them luck, having instead signed up
for a shorter hike to Cerro Espejo (‘mirror hill’),
one of several treks offered by &Beyond Vira
Vira, a sprawling, luxurious hotel on the edge
of Pucón Pucón that encourages its guests to
get out into the extraordinary landscape.
It will be, I’m told, much more forgiving than
summiting Villarrica.
After an hour of walking through pines and
monkey puzzles, Magellanic woodpeckers
cackling in the canopy, the forest peters out
— eruptions from the hyperactive peaks
having made meaningful plant life an
impossibility here. This natural clearing
means that from the summit of Cerro Espejo
the views are especially generous, even by
the supernatural standards of the region.
From here, I can see a waterfall, a lake and,
inevitably, volcanoes, their snowy peaks
blushing pink in the vanishing sun to create a
landscape that suggests peace, if not forever,
then at least for now.Views from the terrace at
&Beyond Vira Vira hotel, Pucón