CARRETERA AUSTRAL
Day Thirty Nine - Almost Valdivia
Posted on 28th Mar 2016
Photo: Valdivia, 30 minutes was enough for us...
After two days retracing our steps on the Carretera Austral, today we were heading to new territory (at least for this trip). After a 30 minute ferry crossing and some fun navigating into, then out of Puerto Montt we were on the best road of the trip so far and heading north from Puerto Montt in the direction of Pucon.
After about 90 minutes of dual carriageway driving we spotted a road sign for the turning to the town of Valdivia. Remembering various comments from friends about how nice it was, we followed the sign which brought us to the thriving riverside town, but it was too much for us. After almost 5 weeks of open roads, small villages and the desolate nothingness of wild Patagonia this town was just too busy for us. The homeless people sleeping by the entrance to the Tourist Info office and the smell of fish from the nearby market just wasn't the welcome we were hoping for, so we hopped back in the car were on our way to Pucon.
First stop in Pucon was the burger restaurant we had eaten at before; then we walked round town looking at various hotels for somewhere to stay. Not content with the prices or quality we found at the hotels we stumbled across some cabanas and were able to negotiate a great rate on a cabin and decided to spend 3 nights in Pucon!