On the Trail Again – Concepción

After a couple of flops and lots of time in urban centers, Maggie and I were feeling motivated to explore the outdoors. We finally got out on our first South American hike after spending a week in Chile.

6 January 2023

We were up and out of bed at 7 am. Our next destination was Concepción, which was about 9 hours away by bus. Maggie and I tip-toed down to the hostel kitchen, since we were up before quiet hours ended. The electricity was off in the kitchen, and there was no staff around to help. Thankfully, we came prepared for everything, so we fired up our backpacking stoves on the rooftop patio. Tea, coffee, and hardboiled eggs for breakfast sandwiches. A group of German travelers came out on the patio and they asked if the power was off in the kitchen. We confirmed their suspicion, and they said with a disappointed nod, “That would explain why you’re cooking up here…”

Backpacker breakfast was a success, and afterwards, we packed up and made our way to the bus terminal. Apparently 9 am is early in Chile, as only a handful of folks were waiting for the bus with us, and all the vendors were still closed.

We boarded bus number 1 and settled in for a long day on the road. Back to Rancagua, we had to catch a transfer at 12:15. Our bus was pulling in at 12:10, and we were anxious about missing the connection. It seems the departure times for these buses are more like suggestions when you’re living on Chile time. We had plenty of time to buy a quick lunch and board our bus to Concepción. The time passed, watching the world go by, and reading e-books. The country was becoming less desert and more forested the further south we went.

We arrived in Concepción and promptly got on a city bus. We each took up two seats, our massive backpacks sitting next to us. As we got closer to the city center, more and more people were boarding the bus till every seat was taken and people were standing in the aisle. We heaved our packs onto our laps to make space. A nice local man sat next to me, and we talked a little bit in English. “We don’t get many American tourists here…” he said. I explained we had time to explore the whole southern half of the country, so we were making lots of stops.

The bus got to our stop and we carefully squeezed between the crowd of people to get off. A few blocks later, we were at the apartment building which housed our AirBnb. The only instructions we got for check in were, “The keys are with reception.” As we approached, the door was locked, but thankfully a resident let us in to the front desk. A younger fellow came running up to the unoccupied desk soon after. We tried to explain the situation with our limited Spanish, but he looked confused. Finally, I found the room number on the booking and the guy let out an excited, “Ooooooh!”, then he handed us a set of keys with a smile. We walked over to the elevator, which appeared to have an inner door open, but outer door stayed closed. We were confused, since the door wouldn’t slide over for us. We asked our friend at the desk… He came over and swung the outer door open. Boy did we feel silly! We dropped our stuff in the room, and began the search for dinner.

As the hanger set it, we eventually opted for sushi, which was decent. We’ve discovered that every single Chilean sushi roll includes a healthy dollop of cream cheese inside. Every. Roll. Now ya know! We went to the grocery store after to get some stuff for breakfast. We retired to our room, worn out from a long day of traveling.

7 January 2023

Maggie and I slept in a little after our late night. We didn’t have much of a plan for Concepción other than maybe trying to find some hidden beaches near Caleta Lenga. We made breakfast and sat around anxiously unsure of what to do. It had been over a week since we had done laundry. Turns out self service laundromats are essentially nonexistent in Chile, so we reverted to our hiker trash ways and did some bathtub laundry. I would say you can hand wash your clothes about 80-90% as well as the machines. We hung our clothes to dry around the apartment, then resolved to get to the beach. We walked downtown to exchange some cash, then came across a taxi driver. The short old man didn’t speak a word of English, but we were able to figure out a price for a ride to Caleta Lenga, dos mil (2,000 CLP, or about $2), which I thought was surprisingly cheap. Shortly after getting in the little Toyota Yaris, our driver was on the phone, which he then handed to me. Uhh..? He gestured to me, so I spoke into the phone, “Hi I’m riding in a taxi and.. uh.. I speak english..?” The voice on the other end replied in English – our driver had called his friend to translate and make sure we were on the same page. After a little back and forth, the man on the phone said, “Two thousand doesn’t sound like enough, the price is twelve thousand, doce mil.” Ah yes, that made a lot more sense for a 25 minute ride. We made it to Caleta Lenga, a small beach community, and paid doce mil.

Maggie and I walked along the sidewalk above the beach. It was mostly overcast, and we were skeptical of another chilly day by the water… Onward north to a high, forested peninsula. We followed some people around an imposing gate and continued up a dirt road. The place was covered with pines, cypresses, and eucalyptus.

We instantly felt relieved to be out of the city and in the woods again. There was a handful of people walking along the road in both directions, but hardly crowded. We came upon a secluded, stony beach, 100 feet below us. No one else was down there, and we were hungry for lunch, so we made our way down the steep, gravelly path for a quiet meal on the water.

Stony Cove #1

Other than the giant shipping container boat off the coast, we finally felt like we had some solitude. The clouds were slowly burning off and we soon found ourselves sitting in full sun, smiling as we munched on our sandwiches. As we sat, tour boats full of people kept crossing from right to left, then returning left to right empty… Hmmm. The waves rolled in, sets of four or five at a time, growing into small crests before crashing onto the rounded rocks. We scrambled out along the edge of the cove to check out a couple small caves. Super neat! We packed up and climbed back up the hill to continue our peninsula adventure.

A little further on, we could hear some commotion through the woods. More people were out and about on the dirt road. At last we saw, a proper sandy beach full of people. This is where those boatloads of people were going.

Seeking some quiet, Maggie and I passed the party beach and continued out towards the end of the peninsula. Passing through more woods, we eventually got to the end of the road. A gate, a gun turret, and signs about a military installation compelled us to turn back without hesitation. We took a different way back towards our starting point, and we found another empty, stony cove.

We wanted to jump in the water, but it was saturated with seaweed. The surf looked a bit precarious as well, churning chaotically around the rocks. We didn’t linger here too long, only taking a moment to check out the shiny purple snails in between the stones on the shore.

We walked back to the party beach, and we were feeling hot enough now to jump in and cool off here. It was well worth the little detour, shedding some heat into the 60°F Humbolt current. We walked back to Caleta Lenga, satisfied with our little adventure. The town was packed now on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. We weaved between cars and street vendors to the edge of town where we waited for a bus. We had seen it driving into town, so surely it was coming back soon. It did eventually, and we found ourselves on yet another jam packed city bus, except this time, our bus was decked out with festive decorations. Frilly blankets draped across the windshield, trinkets dangling from the ceiling, and party music bumping at a reasonable volume.

Maggie and I were standing in the aisle just behind the young driver and his two buddies in the front seat. The driver made sure to honk his horn several times a minute in a fun “bop-bop-bop” for any admirers on the street. It was, quite literally, a wild ride. A pair of older women got off the bus looking displeased, making sure to call the driver “loco” on the way out the door. Back at the apartment, we cleaned up, then walked over to a restaurant one block away. We tried shrimp ceviche, which was pretty good, although it was more like a cold soup than I was expecting. As dusk was closing in on the city, we wandered around a long, narrow park on the edge of downtown.

A small waterfall and large trees were the highlights between people watching. Basketball, dog walking, and running, all familiar scenes from any US city. We picked up a bottle of wine to split back in the room, which we drank while watching outdoor adventure videos. Despite feeling a bit lost in yet another city, we were happy we had come here.

8 January 2023

Another travel day was on deck. Next stop: Curacautín. The earliest bus was at 1:30 pm, so we weren’t in a rush to get out. Breakfast, packing, organizing, and grocery shopping were all on the list, which we completed by noon. It was a quiet Sunday again in the city, with very few businesses open and very few people out and about. We caught a city bus back to the bus terminal. We got to the ticket window and tried to ask for the 1:30 bus towards Curacautín, but that wasn’t an option… The language barrier wasn’t helping, but it appeared that the bus we needed wouldn’t leave until 4:15 pm. Oof. We weren’t too keen on sitting around the terminal for three hours, so we walked back into town for lunch.

Maggie ordered from a vegan restaurant online, but when we got there, it was very closed… However, a little hamburger stand next door had veggie burgers, which we eagerly ordered. While we waited, we talked to a a friendly man out front, mostly in simple Spanish. He was asking about our trip, and giving recommendations along the way. It was great practice, and a bit of a confidence boost that my Spanish had improved a little since we arrived. We got our food and took it to a little park next to the natural history museum, which was filed with enormous dinosaur statues. We made sure to take some silly photos before heading back to the bus terminal.

We were on the road again, another 5 hours of travel. The landscape grew greener yet as we continued south. A brief “lay over” in Victoria, then we headed east towards the Andes. A couple volcanoes, patched with snow, filled us with excitement as we rode into the sunset.

We got to Curacautín a little after 9 pm and walked the mile to our lodging at EcoSur. We had already been in contact with them for a few days, sorting out transportation options to Conguillío National Park. They were waiting for us at the gate, here at 9:30 pm, and the jolly man escorted us to our cabaña. “¿Estás consado?” (Are you tired?) is all I understood. We were tired, and still full from our late lunch, so we snacked on some leftover veggies for dinner and went to bed.