My Very Many Things: Vacations 2014 - Part II: Huilo Huilo!

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

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.