We got to the bus terminal a few minutes before the 7:50 departure time, only to find that the small bus was packed to the gills (of course, since it was a school holiday, there were lots of kids going skiing). We got the last two seats, and 8 or 10 more people got on after us and spent the trip standing in the aisles or sitting on the steps. The trip from Chillán to Las Trancas was uneventful, although we couldn't see much in the early morning light with the windows of the bus completely fogged up.
When we got to Las Trancas, we asked for directions to the next bus to Las Termas... oh no, they said, there is no other bus, you just have to hitch hike. OK. So we stuck out our thumb and soon had a ride. Most of the people on this road were headed for skiing, but we explained to our driver that we didn't want to ski, only soak. No problem, he would drop us at the right spot. bueno.
Soon enough he dropped us at the Gran Hotel. We went inside to ask about the thermal pools. Oh no, they said, the pools are only for overnight guests. OK, so where are the public pools? Oh, you have to walk back down the road 1 km to la Valle Hermosa, they have public pools. OK. Start walking...
So, we walked back down the road a bit to the fork in the road to Valle Hermosa. Several men were standing at the bottom of the road, and we asked about the public pools... Oh no, they said, you need a car to get to them...but, but, we were told us that there were public pools at Valle Hermosa. True, they said, but you can't walk up the access road, too dangerous, cars only. But we have no car. hmmm. After a moment of awkward silence, one of the men said, come with me, and drove us up the access road in his truck. What generosity! Once we got there we paid a small entrance fee, changed into our bathing suits, and sat down in the pool, which was warm, but not too hot.
There was a gorgeous view of the snow covered mountains and steam rising from the surface of the pool. For the first half hour, we were the only ones there. Gradually, people started arriving, so that by noon there were almost 20 people in the pool with us.
One of the people in the pool with us was a man with his two year old daughter. We both ended up getting out at the same time, and I asked him if we could perhaps have a ride back down the access road to Las Trancas. Of course, he said. In fact, he lived in Chillán and would be happy to give us a ride all the way back down to Chillán. Along the way we found out that he was originally from Germany and had been living and working in Chile for nine years. As we came into town, he suggested that we stop for tea (and ice cream for his daughter). It would have been so easy for him to just give us a ride and drop us off, but instead he chose to make time to extend our interaction. After another half an hour or 45 minutes of conversation over tea, with him marking his favorite places to eat in Chillán on our map, he drove us to our house and dropped us off. I promised to email him photos of his daughter (which I will do right after I finish this blog entry). We were so touched that he took the time to help us out and connect with us on a more personal level. This is Chile.
