19th October: Visit to Mapuche village - Curarrehue

After two consecutive days hiking, we decided to have a relaxing day.  We started a bit later than usual with a delicious breakfast at the hostel.  After some shopping (looking for waterproof trousers for me), we caught the local bus to Curarrehue, which took approximately 45 minutes.  Thanks to John's orientation skills, we got off at the right stop right by the tourist office.  Unfortunately, we had quite a fruitless talk, and thus headed to the one attraction of the village: the Aldea Intercultural Trawpeyüm, the museum on Mapuche culture.  The museum involved lots of reading, all of which in Spanish.  The group of schoolkids that arrived shortly after us scared John off to the library on the second floor (to look at pictures).  I listened to the tour organised for the kids and heard interesting explanations on Mapuche culture, which complemented the rather sparse information on the museum panels. The guide was of Mapuche descent, and was thus very enthusiast to share elements of her culture.

We walked 20 minutes out of the village and arrived at Cocina Mapuche, where we tasted typical food, just before the same group of schoolkids invaded the small eatery.  The starter involved fried bread (Sopaipillas) with two sauces: one spicy mix of garlic, oil, cumin, and a red spice called merken, and the other made with olive oil, onion and a typical plant similar to rhubarb called nalca.  The main dish was a tasty dark quinoa and vegetables mix, together with a salad of the same typical plant, which was very acid unseasoned.

Sopaipillas with accompanying sauces

Vegetable quinoa with nalca salad

View of the river in front of the Mapuche eatery

View of the Mapuche eatery with the schoolkids' bus

The cook, the famous Anita, was very friendly. I wish we could have stayed longer to talk, but we were hurried out by the group of schoolkids. We took the local bus back to Pucon.  As we arrived closer to the volcano, we could see a great amount of smoke coming out of the crater.  However, everybody else on the bus seemed unimpressed.  We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at the terrace of a café.  

Last view of the smoking Villarrica volcano

In the evening, we had a really nice dinner in a Peruvian restaurant, called Viva Peru, and enjoyed THE avocado picked up by Carolina, Macarena's sister, in Santiago de Chile.  It was very creamy, extremely tasty, probably the best we ever had.

THE avocado