Not too far from Talca, heading toward
the Cordillera, is a little community called Vilches Alto. It’s technically
within the town of San Clemente and is basically a collection of houses and
hostals strung out along the dirt road that leads to the Altos del Lircay
National Reserve (http://altosdelircay.cl/).
There are a few simple places to stay and a couple of rustic restaurants.

The first time we went, in the
wintertime (see my previous post), we stopped in a simple café (basically a
wooden shack with a couple of tables and drinks for sale) where the kind owners
served us a hot tea and let us feed our girls. We got to chatting and the man
who runs the place told us that in the spring and summer he works as a hiking
guide for all the gringos who come to this area. All the gringos? That was a
surprise. Sure, he said, all the UFO investigators. UFO investigators? That was
more of a surprise.

With no trace of irony, he explained
that Vilches Alto and the Altos del Lircay is a ‘UFO hot zone’ because there
have been so many sightings and abductions. He has seen plenty of UFOs – he
even demonstrated what they look like by turning a plate upside down and flying
it around the café – but unfortunately he’s never had the experience of being
abducted. I mean, what do you say to that?

Later we got some brochures from the
local tourist office that confirmed that, indeed, this is an important area for
international UFO research. Supposedly, there have been hundreds of sightings
over the past 20 years or so (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYyUK8CC9EGOvAP4RvJ-S8JVNPUA)
and Chile’s first UFO trail was established here to draw visitors. There have
also been conferences and other ‘international events’.

We haven’t actually seen any UFOs
yet (we’ll keep you posted on that), but we have enjoyed exploring the Altos
del Lircay park, even without the martians. More on that in another post.

Two days ago we recieved a fun group of rafters.  One of which, Hugo, had been with us last year so he wanted to come back this year and try his luck with an inflatable kayak.  Well, the raft run is too fast for the average person to jump in and navigate a kayak, so we threw Daniel (a.k.a. Raqueta) in the back to help Hugo have a successful run.   The rest of the crew jumped in the raft with Piri guiding.  Gonzalo in kayak, reaping the benefits of his seniority.  I was on shuttle and camera duty.

Water levels this week have been low.  The calm before the storm.  Today, while driving down to Curico, the river has noticeably changed.  The warm evenings seem to have begun in the high mountains and the high water season is about to begin.

The wood-fired hot tub at Hosteria Los Quenes.

When I first moved to Chile from Spain at the end of 2009, I looked online for information about what to do around Curicó and the Maule region. I’m still looking…. there’s not much info out there! So thanks, Todd, for starting the Chilean Adventures blog and for letting me contribute some posts about my own family’s adventures (and mis-adventures) here.
My husband and I love hiking and exploring in the mountains, so when we first moved to Chile we were really excited to be so near the Andes, and we figured we’d be out hiking, camping and fly fishing most weekends. It seemed simple: the peaks are right there, just outside my window, and I know there’s endless wild, virgin territory to explore. There aren’t many good maps to this part of the Cordillera though, and we didn’t know of any specific trails, so we asked around about where to go to see some beautiful scenery. Several people told us the same thing: go to Los Queñes. Perfect.
According to our Chile guidebook (the long and skinny ChileTur book you can buy at Copec gas stations, the most detailed guide I’ve found so far, though it’s only available in Spanish) Los Queñes is a ‘balneario’. In Spain, a balneario is a spa. ‘Cool!’ we thought. ‘There are probably hot springs or something.’ So we made the 40-minute drive up to Los Queñes, crossed the bridge over the Río Claro, where plenty of people were cooling off in the chilly water, and drove straight through town (which took about half a minute). We didn’t see anything like a spa or hot spring or anything. So we turned around and drove through again. We asked someone where the balneario was and he pointed to the other side of the river.
We must have driven back and forth 5 times looking for the balneario before we realized that the ‘spa’ we were imagining was simply some stone steps leading down to the swimming hole in the river. Mystery solved!
I was pregnant at the time and we had our toddler with us, so we ended up just walking around and taking some pictures instead of swimming in the river. It is a pretty spot. Afterwards we headed to the Hostería Los Queñes for a swim in their pool (which also has some gorgeous mountain views) and a yummy lunch – our first taste of the classic Chilean dish plateada (a very tender pot roast with thick gravy). Like so many things we’ve done in Chile, our first day in Los Queñes wasn’t exactly like we were expecting, but it turned out to be a really fun experience. Plus, we got to meet Todd and Marcela! Icing on the cake.

Natural hot springs at Termas de Azufre - across the Argentinian border from Los Quenes, Chile.

Is it a far-fetched dream I have about creating a winter hut-to hut- route in the Central Andes?  Is there a TRUE Andean hut-to-hut system in Chile?  What would you look for in a hut system in the Andes?

If you know the answer to these questions please post a comment.
As far as the first question goes, the stars might be in alignment.  We’ve got a good start on the first hut with help from Nikolas Lecaros.   Niko and I put our heads together and that resulted in what I believe to be the first of the huts for our

Los Queñes Hut-to-Hut System.
It is a basic hut but comfortable enough to shelter any outdoor enthusiast.
It is basically a tin roof with a platform with enough space to put two wall tents.   Currently we only have one tent placed as it is nice to have a covered deck as well.   As it gets colder and we have a group of folks eating lunch, we will raise the second tent in that space so all will stay warm while eating lunch.  Also, it doesn’t have the wood stove in it yet but the wall tents come with the tube flap, we just need to make the whole in the tin.

Location of the hut is probably even more important than the physical details and appearances.  What kind of terrain would you look for when placing a hut?  We think we found a pretty good place although I am most concerned about having enough snow.

The activities we are looking to have at the hut are snowshoeing, sledding, and skiing (randonnée, downhill and cross country).  So we need snow.  For safety and maintenance I have purchased a snowmobile which will get here next weekend.  Definitely need a lot of snow to protect the sled from random rocks.

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