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25/1/2018 Cucao beach, Huentemo, then Ancud and curanto

Late morning seems to be a rule last few weeks. It changes only when we have to get on a bus early morning. This day, we had a breakfast downstairs in our Hospedaje. Very simple as always when included in the accommodation. Bread and butter and some jam. There is someone else having breakfast with us, tall white man, clearly not Chilean. He starts speaking with us and we find out that we have a similar goal what to see here. His name is Patrik. Hes is from California and he is quite nice. So we offer him to go with us by car to the end of the road and then hike together to  Huentemo. 

Last maybe 1 or 2 km were pretty rough road and it ended in sand on the wide massive beach. I didn’t want to go on the sand with this tiny car and we asked in a campsite if we can keep the car there. A lady from the campsite house asked for 3000 pesos to park in their garden. It wasn’t really a campsite. It was just a garden of a remote house with a sign saying Estacimiento y Camping. 

From there it was only 4 minutes to get to the sand. There were the big annoying flies Tabanas Negro. (We learned later, that only females bite. This fly is about 2cm long and is very noisy and flies around you all the time. They also have an orange colour on their body. The bite hurts, but nothing crazy. They live close to beaches, they like hot and sun and black colour and they disappear in woods. They live only during the summer). 

We walked about 8km to Huentemo. All three of us, chatting and killing the flies all the time. Closer to the ocean, less flies around us. There were many seagulls, misty fog coming from the wild ocean and wide white sand beach. During the whole way, we met about 4 backpackers walking back from the remote beach and at the end of the beach, there were few houses (very basic ones) and cows relaxing next to the ocean. That’s Huentemo. Remote and empty, and bushy forest starts from there. It was hot and the direct sun was making the trip unpleasant but less than the flies. 

From Huentemo, Patrik continued on a private path to the remote beach called Cole-Cole. The locals asked for a registration and for 1000 pesos to continue on the path. We had to go back. In about half way back, a random herd of horses got on the beach. It was maybe 20 horses with young ones too running on the misty beach. We also met some off-road cars driving very fast on the sand. That would be fun I believe. 

Back in car and heading to the east. We decided to drive to Ancud, a town in the north and have local dish curanto there. It was perhaps not too wise decision as it was around 5:30pm and it is a long way to get there. Because of the potholes, I have to drive slower than I want until we get to the highway ruta 5. Towards Ancud, there are two places with roadworks and cars have to stop there for few minutes. So we reached Ancud about at 7:30pm. Luckily first hostal we asked the price in, we liked. Hostal Don Nacho. Clean big room with a private bathroom, 30000 clp per night. 


We rushed to get a shower and catch the sunset while dining out. Walking to the centre, realising that this place looks a bit dodgy. Dalcahue was much prettier. First restaurant we went to was Hotel el Galeón Azul. Stunning view of the bay from the hill. A lot of light in the restaurant. We should have stayed there. But we also wanted to try the local dish curanto. So we went back to the centre close to petrol station Copec to a restaurant called Restaurante La Pincoya. Another two couples dining there, upstairs with views of the bay. We ordered curanto (8500 per person) and white wine. In about 30 minutes the other two couples left and we had the whole nice restaurant and a private waiter only for us. Eating and watching the sunset... 

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