23: At Motocamp, in Pucon

Days 59 – 62 (22nd – 25th Jan.)

Day 59 (22nd Jan.) At Motocamp
We spent the whole day at Motocamp, sitting out on the huge decking area which looks down a steep, wooded slope over a river, and has several hammocks to relax in. It feels like being in a huge tree house when on the decking. We chatted to Cristian (the owner) for hours about his world trip on a BMW1200GS motorbike and the adventures he had experienced, and looked at many interesting photos of the trip. The day went by extremely quickly and all mundane jobs were put off till later!

Day 60 (23rd Jan.) At Motocamp and into Pucon
We are sleeping so well here in our tent so it was a struggle to get up for breakfast which ends at 10.30! We then decided to go into Pucon to get our new rear tyre fitted. We followed Cristian on his KTM990 into the town where he showed us the Gomeria (tyre shop). He then gave us a quick tour of the town, pointing out several good restaurants and bars. We then stopped at the lake (Lago Villarrica) which has a large stretch of beach covered with volcanic grey sand. Finally, we went back to the Gomeria to get the tyre changed.

The guys there were very efficient and we were soon off again. We decided to leave the old tyre there for them to dispose of and to buy a new tyre here in Chile as we’ll probably need to replace it again before the end of the trip, and is much cheaper to do this than in Argentina (plus our Temporary Import Permit into Chile states we must take a spare tyre out with us when we leave the country, so it might as well be a new one!)
After a supermarket shop we spent the rest of the day relaxing back at Motocamp reading our books and updating this blog. As the day progressed, more visitors began to arrive and it became much busier as they pitched their tents and ordered drinks at the bar. All the new visitors are Chilean and all are very friendly. Whilst here in South America we have met very few English people, but having a common interest with motorbikes means that any language barriers are easily broken and we manage to have conversations fairly easily now. These usually include where we have been, where we are going and where we are from!
Day 61 (24th Jan.) At Motocamp
Today is a day for jobs. Mark spent some time in the Motocamp garage changing the bike’s oil and oil filter and checking various things on the bike, whilst I washed some clothes in the Motocamp washing machine.

It’s much busier here today with more going on in the kitchen area and I guess they must have had a few easy days with only us being here up until yesterday afternoon.
In the early evening, we rode into Pucon – the traffic was very heavy with many tourists heading into the town. It’s funny how we don’t associate ourselves as being tourists which must be because we are constantly talking to locals and other travellers! We had a walk around the town and to the lakeside beach which was seething with sunbathers, with recliners and sun umbrellas everywhere. There were many local artisan stalls, all selling much the same things, and a plethora of restaurants and cafes. We found a place Cristian had pointed out to us the previous day, and had a very nice pizza and iced tea sitting outside in the evening sunshine, looking over towards the huge Volcano Villaricca in the distance.

Whilst walking back to our bike, we had our third huge co-incidence of the trip. When we were in Perito Merino (Argentina) some three weeks ago, we were in our hotel restaurant (having a pizza with chips and fried eggs on top!) and got talking to four Austrian guys on motorbikes. These same Austrians were staying in Pucon and greeted us loudly in the street – for a couple of seconds we wondered what on earth the commotion was! It transpired that we’d parked our bike outside their hotel, so we chatted for a while – they were off home in a few days so were heading towards Valparaiso where they were getting their bikes shipped back to Austria. How amazing to have met them three weeks ago, in Argentina, and then literally bump into them again in Chile…when we’re at home we can go for months without seeing near neighbours!

Back at the campsite we had a much-needed cold beer and chatted to some of the other guests and staff. A few of the Chilean guests had been at the river earlier that afternoon and had bought a huge salmon, which had been freshly caught by a local fisherman, and were cooking it on the Motocamp BBQ. They very kindly shared it with everyone. We realised then that we’d never eaten a fish caught the same day from a river a few metres away!

Day 62 (25th Jan.) At Motocamp

We spent the day lazing, including updating the blog drafts and reading our books in the hammocks with cold beers.

This is one of the two dogs who live at Motocamp – she’s sleeping under the huge BBQ.