After breakfast, we went over to the local produce market. It was extremely abundant, especially comparing with
what we could find down south. There we got avocados, tomato, onion, fresh lima bean, etc. and enjoyed some of
the best sopiapilla with spicy salsa for only 50 pesos each.
But we didn't do very well for lunch. After browsing through arts and crafts shops, we got suckered into a
food court and 8K pesos were chiseled away for two small bowls of seafood stew.
So, we decided to leave Temuco behind and head out to Puco, a resort town a short bus ride away.
Scenery by the road was much better than that along Pan-American. Our bus stopped at every small town on the
road and we were happy to have a tour like that.
Puco is indeed much more attractive. The streets are clean and buildings are nicely architectured. Nearby volcano
Villarica is probably the most climbed volcano in Chile. We could see it clearly on the way.
Several people from local hostels met passengers coming from the bus. It must be close to the end of tourist season
because the town was rather empty. We checked two hostels and still opted for a campground. After several days of
staying inside, I was actually really looking forward to camp.
At the campground near town, we were greeted by an elderly lady with her grandson and a dog so friendly and nice-looking
I fell in love with it immediately. They were kind of surprised to see us. The whole campground was empty. Even though
the temperature was quite mild in our opinion, it was probably not as summer-ish as people would prefer.
They showed us the big kitchen and other facilities. Their own house is on the side of the property. Later "papa" of the
kid came out, "you can stay anywhere you like," he said, "Lots of room here." We all laughed.
The town power went out just as we were about to cook dinner. "papa" and his son came in the kitchen to help us get
the gas stove going. The kid is quite sociable. While his "papa" was out putting a light bulb on our site, he chatted
with us in the kitchen. The friendly perro tried to sneak in the kitchen. I just loved his long ears with curly hairs.
The power finally returned and we set our smelly tent up under the light. Once in a while I could hear other perros
barking. We slept well nonetheless.