Junín de Los Andes should once again be the last city in Argentina for us for now, because we wanted to go to Chile again. The Vierim4x4 suggested this route to us and indeed it was a dream. At first I cursed these truck drivers, who often didn't really notice how ugly a track might be for a car, but that changed relatively quickly. It went back through the National Park (NP) Lanín to thermal baths just before the border. We took a swim in a comfortable 37°C basin and stayed at the nearby campsite.
The next day we crossed the border. That in itself was no problem, but the Chilean border guard was very precise about the customs control this time. Polite, friendly, but firm, almost every compartment inside Zacharias had to be opened and presented. Luckily, we didn't have any fruit or vegetables with us this time. Then we went to Coñaripe on Lago Calafquén south of Villarica volcano to buy some greens again. We spent the night at the Laguna Pillingue and the next day we went to the Villarica NP.
The Villarica NP impresses not only with the volcano of the same name (which, by the way, was active just a week before our arrival) but also with the jungle of huge ancient southern beeches and araucaria. Unfortunately, we had to find out that the park is closed on Mondays, but we were then allowed to spend the night in the ranger's parking lot and, after a short morning walk, drove north on the small road through the park. After about a kilometer I ran quickly to a view point from where I could see both Villarica and Lanín and other volcanoes. When I got back to the bus, we drove back to the rangers, said goodbye and drove back again into the park.
The road through the park leads in about 3-4 kilometers to a small pass from which it then goes into the northern part of the park and you can leave it in the north. However, there are still a few hurdles waiting for the experienced four-wheel drive driver to get to the pass. Several extremely deep staggered holes made it quite difficult for Zacharias but we mastered them all. Without a differential lock, however, nothing would have happened and it showed once again: a Syncro without lockers is not a Syncro 😉 It was really exciting to drive the few meters up the pass and once again feel the limits of the T3. But that was probably the last big challenge for Zacharias.
In the afternoon, we drove to Pucón and stayed at a small campsite. Villarica was on the agenda for the next day, which offers a beautiful view of the volcano. After ice cream and some time for Luisa and Jonathan on a playground, we continued north-west – we wanted to go back to Argentina. But before that, we spontaneously decided to drive through the Conguillío National Park the next day. We learned from Carlos and his wife, with whom we stayed near Melipeucho, that the road through the park is public and you don't have to pay an entrance fee just to drive through.
When we got to the entrance, the park was closed (entrance is only open until 2 p.m.). But since we only wanted to drive through, it worked anyway. A bit grumpy, the ranger took a photo of our bus, said that we had to be through the park within an hour and opened the barrier. No photos, no stops, that was the condition. An hour is quite an announcement for the approximately 35 km, because the path is very narrow half of the way and goes through dense forest, so you have to drive very carefully. But over time we didn't take it that seriously and neither did the photos 😉
Then, we continued towards the Argentine border. The exit from Chile was completely problem-free. We were totally taken by surprise by the landscape between the border stations. We had already seen and experienced a lot, but here we saw a completely different side of Chile and Argentina. It was getting drier and went up to about 1700 m. Everywhere, there were isolated araucaria, which looked very much like dinosaur land, especially in combination with the mountain formations (mainly on the Argentine side). The Argentines at the border station were relaxed as always. However, this time they asked for an additional paper for the car. We had no idea what they meant and we felt a bit uneasy until it turned out that it was our own car and not a rental car. So everything was fine and when Luisa gave the last border official our routing slip with all the stamps, we were officially back in Argentina.
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