Huilo Huilo

The Mapuche Indians are the native people of Chile. Most of the names of places in this area come from their language, like Panguipulli, River Fuy, and Huilo Huilo, etc. In the Mapuche language, "huilo" means "crevasse", and saying it twice is to add extra emphasis. So the area of Huilo Huilo is named for a very deep crevasses in the mountains and carved by the rivers. 

Alberto used to work in Huilo Huilo as a guide, so we are joining him there as he visits his friends. Huilo Huilo is a hotel complex and adventure center located in temperate rainforest about 25 km from the Chilean-Argentinean border. The area is surrounded by ranges and ranges of the sharp Andes Mountains, and spotted with tall, snow-capped volcanoes. I'm hoping for good weather so we can see some of these volcanoes :)

And so begins the long day of transport to Huilo Huilo. We didn't think it would take very long... but it did.

Bailey and I jumped on the bus out of Cliffs after breakfast. We rode on the gravel road to the small town of Los Muermos, then got dropped off in Puerto Varas. We hopped on a minibus to the nearby Puerto Montt, where we then boarded a bus to Panguipulli. We were shocked to learn that this leg would take over six hours (and we almost missed the bus because it took forever to get our lunch at the Puerto Montt train station)! Haha it turns out that our sketchy bus likes to stop every hundred meters or so along the side of the highway to pick up hitchhikers. It also allows food vendors, bread makers, and guitar players onto the bus to sell/market their wears... Wow. So it was stop and go, stop and go, stop and go, back through Puerto Varas, to Valdivia where we connected on another bus, and finally to Panguipulli. We were happy to see Alberto waiting for us in Panguipulli where we boarded our final bus that took us (and hitchhikers) along the gravel road through the small town of Neltume and dropped us at the doorstep of Huilo Huilo's Baobab Hotel. By the time we arrived, it was nightfall. The best part of the day (besides the guitar player on the bus), was the sun setting behind a volcano over Lake Panguipulli during our final leg of the trip.

Bailey and I were quite cranky and extremely hungry when we arrived in Huilo Huilo. We followed Alberto in the dark to the staff housing area, which turned out to be a row of really nice log cabins. Sweet digs! We stayed with two of Alberto's friends, Gabriel and Raimundo, who work as chefs at the Huilo Huilo lodge. Alberto gave us a Snickers bar to split as Gabriel started a fire in the fire pit to cook some (a lot!) of meat. It was the best Snickers bar I had ever eaten. 


Well, it turns out that the firewood was wet, so there was too much smoke to cook the meat. So instead of removing the firewood and putting in charcoal, Gabriel spent TWO HOURS fanning the burning wood with a piece of cardboard to try to dry it. When the wood finally burned out (and I was so hungry I was about to eat my hand), Gabriel put in the charcoal, bag and all! So then while we waited for the charcoal bag to smoke and burn out, Bailey and I shared the best pack of M&M's I've ever had. Did I mention it was freezing outside during all of this? And I was choking due to smoke from the wood and the chain smokers sitting next to me. So... the meat eventually got cooked, and by 12:30am, I was eating the most delicious sausages and steaks ever! Wow Chileans sure know how to cook meat! (Even if it takes three hours).


During our first full day at Huilo Huilo, Alberto showed us around the main lodge. Built of wood and full trees, the lodge has a wilderness and outdoor feel. There are large windows, lots of natural ligut, and log cabin architecture and decor. It was so awesome! The details in the building's structure and decorations were fascinating. There was a mountain with a waterfall down the side that housed rooms for guests. There were many bars, a big restaurant, a spa, tons of sitting areas, an outdoor lounge with hot tubs, an outdoor and indoor pool, and a lookout at the top of a honeycomb of hotel rooms. From the lookout, we had a beautiful and clear view of the snow-capped volcano complex- Volcan El Mocho (dormant) and Volcan Choshuenco (active, last erupted about 100 years ago).


We hitchhiked to and from the closest town of Neltume for food for the next few days, and then used the rest of this beautiful sunny day to do some hikes in the cool temperate rainforest along the Fuy River. The river was so clear with bright blue water and a series of short waterfalls, two or so meters high. There were also lots of jumping fish, and I couldn't help but think how much fun Ben and Dad would have here doing some fly-fishing. The more interesting part was that the banks of the river is made up of cooled  lava flow from the volcanoes! The dark black lava made an awesome contrast with the bright blue-green water. In fact, the whole rainforest has grown on top of this cooled lava. Since the first thing to grow on lava flow is moss, can you imagine how many hundreds of years it took for an entire rainforest to grow on top of it?!