We just got back from a three-day weekend. Catherine and Pam and I headed northward about two hours to Casa Chueca, a beautiful little cabaña situated in the countryside just outside the town of Talca. Casa Chueca is run by a German couple who also run a lot of outdoor camping treks in Chile. Most of the other guests were also German, some on holiday and others living and working in Chile. The setting was lovely and it was great to get away from the noise and exhaust of city life for a couple of days.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon, hung around for a while, and then headed into Talca for a late lunch. We ended up at an unassuming place along the river that had great food, and lots of it. The place was really crowded when we arrived, but thinned out as we ate since we arrived at the tail end of the lunch time. By the time we finished we were so full that we didn't even think about dinner later.
On Sunday we hired a driver for the day to take us to Siete Tazas, a forested national park with famous waterfalls. The drive there took over two hours, mostly on dirt roads, and we saw almost no other cars, so we figured that we would have the place to ourselves. Wrong! When we finally got to the national park, it was actually very active with lots of people camping out with tents and barbeque grills. We are finding that the Chileans love to get out into the country, and this three-day weekend, with spring weather finally here, really brought them out. We're all in this together. But the crowds weren't so bad, and we spent several pleasant hours hiking and sitting by the river and the falls. Eventually we made our way back to the trailhead and made the long drive back to Casa Chueca. That night we ate dinner at the hotel, served family style at one big table with the other guests, with conversations in German, Spanish, and English swirling all around.
On Monday, we woke up with big plans to rent bikes and go riding, but as it turned out we spent most of the morning reading in hammocks in the shade, which was just what we needed. We arrived back in Chillán Monday night refreshed and ready to charge ahead with activities in the coming weeks.
More photos of the weekend can be seen at this link.
