Vacations 2014 - Part II: Huilo Huilo!

Posted by Unknown at 9:09 AM 0 comments
Salto Huilo Huilo

This post if it is long overdue, because I was too lazy to edit the photos :P

It's is the second part of my summer vacation 2014, where I visited Arica and Huilo Huilo. You can find the post where I tell you about my trip to Arica here.

The Huilo Huilo reserve is located in the southern part of Chile, about 56 kilometers from Panguipulli, in the province of Valdivia. This sector has a rainy temperate climate, which is characterized by mild temperatures and abundant rainfall throughout the year.


Mapa base obtenido de Google Maps

In the map above, you can see the area of the reserve, which is within the red circle, and the black dot shows a nearby town called Puerto Fuy.

The purpose of this reserve is the conservation of flora and fauna found in this sector, which is part of the Valdivian Forest. This is because the Valdivian Rainforest is a "hotspot" of biodiversity, since in this area can be found species of animals and plants with unique characteristics and are endemic (not found naturally nowhere else in the world).

This makes that this reserve possesses an incredible landscapes and also has four hotels that have a very interesting architecture. The only bad thing is that the reserve is private and the hotels are quite expensive for the average salary of Chile. Many of the rides do not need to be hosted in some of the hotels, paying entrance obviously, but if you're hosted you have more access to areas of the reserve.

So for me, it was kind of a dream to go to this reserve, until one day, looking for hotels in Chile, I found an offer that reduced quite the price of accommodation. I decided to took the offer and get a bit into debt to fulfill one of my dreams :)

I stayed at the hotel Nothofagus, that belongs to the reserve. Here I show you some photos of the hotel.
Nothofagus Hotel. Photo from the reserve webpage

Giant tree found in the center of the hotel

 
Sunset from the balcony

Room Interior

Tempered swimming pool of the hotel

The greatest attraction of this place is the Salto Huilo Huilo, a waterfall of 37 meters in height.
Salto Huilo Huilo

Water color in the area of the waterfall

With my boyfriend, resting and taking photos

Copihues are the national flower of Chile.  We found them on the path to the waterfall

Another attraction of the place is the hatchery of deer and wild boar. I had never been near these animals, so I was very excited. How we went on a season with few tourists, we were very lucky and saw many of these animals.






Llama that was hanging out with the deers :P

Also we took a horseback excursion on a trail of the reserve. It was the first time I rode a horse :P
The horse that I rode.

With a funny face XD

Photo by Sebastián

Photo by Sebastián


Photo by Sebastián

The last day of our trip, we decided to visit a town near the reserve, called Puerto Fuy. It's located on the shore of Pirehueico Lake. From here depart barges that cross the lake and from there the road continues towards the border crossing Hua-Hum, located just minutes from San Martín de los Andes in Argentina.
Pirehueico Lake

Dock

Barge departing to cross the lake

And here I leave more cute photos taken during this trip:





Thistles are my favorite flowers!

Well, I hope you have liked the photos of southern Chile.

Hugs for everyone!

PS: Some of these photos were taken using my cell and edited with PicMonkey. Others were taken with my camera.

In Photos: November and December

Posted by Unknown at 5:48 PM 0 comments

Artic Monkeys Concert


Hello everyone!

Now it's time for the summary of what I did in November and December :D I was going to make a post of each month, but I had few photos of November, so I merged the months.


We are going to start with the pics of November, with this one of the birthday of my boyfriend. It is a little bit blurry, but I love it :)

In the first week of November was the Arctic Monkeys' concert, with The Hives as warm up show. It was awsome!! I ended up falling in love with The Hives, they were very entertaining in the show.
The Hives

The Hives


Arctic Monkeys


Arctic Monkeys


Arctic Monkeys

During november I had to work on a pumping tests in Los Andes. This city is really hot, we worked in full sun, with UV shield clothes, with nearly 40°C (104 degrees Fahrenheit). It was very interesting, I learned a lot, but the heat was unbearable!

I also finished Destiny! I am thinking whether to buy the expansion. Well, the photo shows what happens when you play alone in Destiny. 140 Kills !! Insane! You spend over an hour per mission XD


And here I leave you some pics of things that happened during november:

Gin "helping" with the laundry



Beautiful night of november


In late november, I received my Dalek dress . I love it: D

Then came December and raspberries began to appear! They are my favorite fruit and if there is something I like of summer, it's that summer is the season of red fruits! (in everything else, I hate the summer XD)
Yummy!

The first days of december, we took advantage of the nice weather and went to train beach volleyball with my volleyball clubIt was very entertaining but it was awfully hot!
I appear here! I'm roasting XD Photo by Clubvolley


Photo by Clubvolley

Few days before Christmas, I went with some friends on a mini trip to Viña del Mar (Viña is around 2 hours drive from Santiago). It was very relaxing and I slept everything that I wasn't able in the whole year! I spent more time sleeping than awake XD
View from the apartment of Pilar


And during the trip we went to a japanese cafe. I had never been in one and tasted very few japanese sweets, so I ordered a degustation of sweets, to find out what they taste like.

All of us complicated with the menu. No one knew what to order XD

In the next photo you can see the coffee that I had, along with peanut butter Mochis. Mochis are the round sweets that are behind the coffee cup. These candies are made with glutinous rice flour, giving them a rather chewy texture. I must say that I found these candies are a kind of acquired taste. I had tried Mochis previously, because I experiment making the ones that come stuffed with ice cream and initially I hated the texture, but as more I taste them, they have been "convincing me".
Coffee and Mochis

Koala cookie, that came with the coffee


In the next picture, you can see what came in the sweets degustation. I already forgot what each one was, but all these sweets had in common that they are actually a little dry. In Chile we are accustomed to European pastry, which is more "wet", so usually we do not find much "grace" in these type of sweets. It was very entertaining to taste something so different from what you normally eat and I suffered a lot eating up the sweet that was shaped like a rabbit! It was too cute and I felt sorry for "kill it".

Japanese Sweets... This rabbit is still in my conscience XD

Eating the Sweets

After the coffee, we ended up at a christmas fair, looking for gifts. 
Photo in the christmas fair: Pilar, cute christmas tree and me. Photo by Pilar

When I return of the trip, Gin was waiting for me ... it seems that she missed me.


And finally came the holidays of the end of the year. I didn't decorate much the apartment, I was very tired and the end of the year came very fast. Still we put up a christmas tree and we didn't have a star, so we use Patrick XD

Our Christmas tree is tiny but we decorate it with a lot of love. In the photo, you can see part of my collection of Caveys. At the top, along with Patrick, we have Christmas Tree Cavey and Vixen Reindeer Cavey . Below,  between the branches is Camo Cave, who use his skills for camouflage.

In the above photo didn't appear, but just one day before Christmas I got the cutest ornament that I have bought. I love the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, so just as I saw this Disney ornament, I bought it.


And as part of the tradition, the company where I work gave us a Christmas box full of things to celebrate Christmas and New Year. I tried to take pictures, but Gin was too curious and wouldn't let me XD


I spent the Christmas Eve at the home of one of my sisters and I could celebrate with my two sisters, their mother, Titín and my nephews. The dinner was a delicious barbecue with many salads. The celebration was very fun:D! A curious fact about Chile is that almost all celebrations are with barbecues, it is a kind of a habit of the country. 

Loooootttttssss of gifts! 

The men preparing the barbecue

The beautiful table prepared by my sister

Cute table decorations

Selfie with the tree XD

The house owners and organizers of the dinner, my sister Ximena and Titín


Finally came the new year celebration. I celebrated with a group of friends at Pilar's house. She made a very nice dinner and I prepared the Jelly Shots I showed you in the last post.
Waiting, hungry XD

The Dinner: The ever present Duchess potatoes

The Dinner:  Duchess potatoes and stuffed Chicken

It was a very entertaining celebration. It was a great way to start 2015!

Well, that's the summary of November and December. I hope this year will come good for you!

At Friday I should post the summary of the second part of my vacations of 2014! It's about Huilo Huilo, a really beautiful place. So stay tuned ;)

Hugs for everyone!


PS: Some of these photos were taken using my cell and edited using the Beautiful Mess app or PicMonkey. Others were taken with my camera.
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