Day 18 - Cruising in our Fiat Uno banger round the many stunning lakes of, you guessed it.... The Lake District!
 
Today we took the easier option and decided to explore the area on wheels rather than our very sore feet! To add to this we both had serious sun and wind burn, so looking like haggard expedition hikers with a serious case of panda eyes we went to collect our luxury transport for the day ..... A fiat Uno / banger car with a bad white re-spray!!! Being on a budget this meant we needed the cheapest wheels in town and boy were they...
 
First things first, get your head round being on the wrong side of the road again then try and decipher the mad one way systems....no just go down a road the wrong way, it was a good start! Of course Ads was driving but I was the navigator supposedly...ooops! Soon though we were out of the town and cruising along the road so an attempt at a U turn was needed, at this point the accelerator pedal stuck, then released and catapulted us forward, and at the same time the jerk made my window handle fall off, by this point we knew the day would be interesting as then the plastic around my door handle also fell off!! This was now bringing back memories of being 17 again and our first cars....Mine being a Fiat 126 with pink windows and a clockwork key on the back and Ads a Fiesta of the Popular Plus variety, nice.
 
As we drove along the lake side, jerking at the accelerator pedal sticking, despite the banger (which was all part of the fun and probably what we will be driving when we can afford to buy a car at home!) it was great to not be on a bus and have the freedom again to do and go where we pleased . The weather today was a clear sky too and Lake Villarrica was glistening bright blue, a tad different to the rather bleak photos we took on our first day here. Heading into the town of Villarrica, we managed to get the one way system right this time and ended up by the lake. To the east was our lovely Volcano we had climbed with another to the west of the Lake, yet another stunning setting, we were so glad we'd hired a car, even if we'd just seen this only it would have been worth it!
 
Then heading south towards more of the lakes and through this fab national park, we drove with the Volcano in our view for most of the way and with the deep green valleys around it was a beautiful drive, again reminding us so much so of South NZ and at times Laos. Plus the sheep, cows and green fields were a tad like home! After 40 minutes we reached the slightly touristy town of Lican-Ray set on a peninsula on the north shore of Lago Calafquen. As we were out of season the town consisted of no tourists at all but us and was like a ghost town!
 
The place and its grid like nature with one main street reminded us slightly of America and as we headed towards the lake the houses that were here were stunning, huge Swiss style mansions which you would expect in Europe! The lake was beautiful, snow capped mountains in the distance, a small black beach and totally peaceful! So, out came the flask and coffee and like two old people sat on a bench with our sandwiches it was! An elderly guy (about our age now of course!) and his Scottie dog came up to us chatting away in Spanish . I didn't understand a word but thankfully Ads got the gist and managed some translation. He was such a sweet guy though and it hit home to us even more how lovely the Chilean people can be, so welcoming too. He took our photo for us, we had a few pats of his dog then he went on his way! Next after chilling near the larger beach admiring the lake view some more, we got back in the beast and headed further South.
 
Unsure though of the direction to take to get to our next lake, Lago Panguipulli, we headed west round the lake hoping that the 'unpaved gravel road' that links the two lakes and which reflects most of the Chilean roads off the highways would be driveable! We had been told we weren't allowed our heap on these roads (perhaps the owners were worried about scratches ha ha!) but at the 'paved end' it didn't look too bad when we reached it so we decided to risk it....Uuummm.
 
At first we bounced along the loose gravel seeing the odd wooden house and admiring the looming mountains/waterfalls all around. Passing over rivers with the volcano still in sight behind us it was beautiful and on we continued hoping our car would on route become a 4 wheel drive or perhaps fly!! A few cars passed us, all 4WD of course so we kept thinking we should turn back ....but didn't! By now this 35km track was already taking a hell of a long time and although weaving around the stunning Lago Calafquen was beautiful to be able to see it and the volcano backdrop from every perspective, yours truly and Adam knew we were off limits and with the car at one point not starting, we knew this was not a good idea! Plus if anything happened we had no insurance, eeek! Like idiots we carried on, bouncing all the way, feeling a tad sick at times and just missing some very fast 4WD's flying passed us on blind corners at speed. Such is the Chilean way of driving!
 
A good 3 hours later we finally hit a paved road and a sigh of relief was breathed, we had made it.... Just! Reaching Panguipulli it was yet another beautiful setting of wooded mountains and snow capped peaks plus the typical wooden swiss chalets overlooking the lake. The town is famous for its roses in the street, with 14,000 being claimed to exist, guess what we saw a fat zero. After watching some birds hilariously dive bombing each other in a 'territory attack' on the lake we headed back in the beast towards Villarrica, this time taking the paved option of course! Again with the volcano dominating every corner and vista it was a stunning return trip home .
 
Finally we had to do just one last lake and headed out past Pucon to Lagos Caburga, an extremely pretty lake in a wilder more remote setting than the rest, unusual in this area due to its white sand beach. Like grannies and granddads the final dregs of the flask were had whilst Benji the local stray dog joined us for a cuppa. It was hard to say which but this was probably our favourite lake of the day due to the remoteness and quiet, if it hadn't started to get dark we probably would have sat there for many hours......
 
Then we gleefully gave the beast back, grateful that it was done in the dark, then that eve did the usual supermarket shop ready for our journey to destination 19, Argentina the next day!