Once Colin and I got to Temuco on February 19th, we saw the Mapuche influence here as well – it was clear in the indigenous-looking faces of the working people in the city. Temuco is in the center of the Araucania region, and was considered a Mapuche stronghold before the 1881 occupation of the area by the newly independent Chileans, who were eager to expand their agricultural territory and exploit the abundant timber (including monkey-puzzle trees) in the area. They constructed a railroad to the area for easier assess, and the old trains still hang around Temuco in a museum. Since the town was now quite an industry town (and not too touristic) we were lucky to find a winner in the first hotel we came across right near the bus station. An elderly couple welcomed us in (after suspiciously answering the door by asking us our nationalities before letting us step inside) warmly and we got a decent room with good WIFI. Finally! Along with the room, they gave us an English ‘walking tour’ guide to the city which we used later that day when we went out.
After a quick detour to the CONAF office for some national park info, we wandered through some outdoor markets called a ‘free fair.’ We then used the guide and went to the main square Anibal Pinto. Interestingly, our walking tour brochure told us that the main square in Temuco is the only one in Chile without a central water fountain! We admired one of the large sculpture called the Araucania Monument in the square – this featured various figures surrounded by a ‘water pool,’ which I guess isn’t considered a fountain. We couldn’t get any great photos as kids were crawling all over the thing so we went into the art gallery inside the square to see a few paintings.
While in the park we decided to try another Mapuche-based Chilean treat especially made for the hot summer months: a ‘mote con huesillos’ which is a mix of mote with rehydrated peaches in a super sweet sauce. The drink was interesting to look at, but it wasn’t very tasty. It was sickly sweet… and not in that chocolate-goodness kind of way. Not for me!
The next day, armed again with our walking guide, we ended up at the Municipal Market for a nice fish lunch. The market was built in the late 1920’s, and in its cornerstone a metal tube was included which detailed the purpose of its building. Our bellies full, we worked off lunch with a hike up Nielol Hill for a view of the whole city.
Here we encountered Chile’s national flower, the copihue in both its red and white versions. I have a white one in my hair, but the national version is red. The Mapuche people have a love story about this flower:
“Many years ago, when the land of Arauco in Chile was inhabited by Pehuenches and Mapuches, a beautiful Mapuche princess, called Hues, and a vigorous Pehuenche Prince named Copih met. Unfortunately, their tribes were enemies. [They] loved each other, and saw each other in secret places of the jungle. One day their parents found out… they were enraged. Nahuel, Hues’s father and Copiniel, Copih’s father, found the lovers at a lagoon. Nahuel killed the prince by throwing a spear through his heart, and Copiniel killed the princess in the same manner. A year later both tribes met at the lagoon to mourn their losses, and two cross-linked spears appeared from the water. On these spears were vines with two flowers – one red and one white. The flower was named by a union of the lovers’ names: copihue” (Collected by Oscar Jano)
Next up was a trip to the Museu Regional Araucania, which was a great museum detailing the history of the Mapuche people. Unfortunately, the whole thing was in Spanish with no translations. So I’ll do my best!
The museum began by telling us a little about the archeological site, Monte Verde, which we already visited ourselves. They did have the mastodon molar tooth on display, and a few simple objects which were found on the site. (Why these aren’t in a museum at the actual Monte Verde site is a mystery which probably involves the family owning the land demanding a large payout.) There was some on Mapuche culture and their burial processes we already knew.
The final section discussed the history of Temuco and the region, including the creation of Christian missions and the immigration to the area by Chileans and the building of the railroad. These acts represented Chilean expansion into the last indigenous-occupied territories in modern Chile. Unlike the private-business led occupation of the southern Patagonian regions (promoted by the Spanish and led by powerful sheep farmers and whale/seal oil-seekers) this take-over of land from the Mapuche was government-initiated with a plan drawn up by colonel Cornelio Rodriguez which subdivided the land for Chileans and forced the indigenous people to “civilize.” During this “civilizing” period, known as the “Occupation of Araucanía” the population of Mapuche people dropped from 500,000 to just 25,000 in a generation – with most Mapuche living in poverty and being scammed out of their land. There was also a section at the end on Mapuche cooking – but we’ve already tasted those treats. 
On the 21st of February we caught the bus at 8:00 am 90 kilometers east towards the city of Melipeuco. We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived around two hours later, but luckily we met a German couple heading to the same park as us: Conguillio National Park, home of the oldest monkey-puzzle trees. The name of the park is another Mapuche word meaning “the place where there is water and monkey-puzzle seeds.” We were able to share the cost of a transfer with them, and ended up paying $20,000 ($40 USD) for transfer to and from the park. Before we set off we stocked up on some wraps for lunch, then took a drive through areas of volcanic activity. We passed the massive Llaima volcano (one of the most active volcanoes in Chile and climbable in a day, though a tough one) and drove to a walk named after beautiful red-headed woodpeckers.
Llaima volcano has exploded many times, frequently expelling “aa” lava up to six meters thick from its cone. Volcanic eruptions expel numerous types of stone including: basalt, pumice, breccia, granite, sandstone, and peridotite. Near the Llaima volcano we could see a lake created 320 years ago by a lava run (mudflow containing ash and rock) called a lahar. The lahar flowing off Llaima volcano during an eruption eventually clogged up the Truful Truful river bed and created Lago Arcoiris. The lake was beautiful and we stopped for a few photos and to admire the trees under the clear water from the former forest.
Thankfully the ‘Woodpecker’ walk we chose was super easy – it was almost completely flat which was a really nice change from our typical uphill ventures. There were tons of really tall monkey-puzzle trees of course. We were equally stunned by the massive lenga (30 meters tall) and coihue (40 meters tall) trees along the walk as well. We weren’t surprised to learn that this park was used by the BBC in their filming of the “Walking With Dinosaurs” movie – everything looked so impressive and massively prehistoric. Fantastic!
We chose this trail because we were eager to see the largest example of a monkey-puzzle tree in the park, known as “mother.” This 1,800-year-old tree was fantastically huge with a diameter of 2.1 meters and a height of 50 meters. We love our big trees and we were impressed.
At the end of the park trail we found an area with a lake named Laguna Captren where many people were having their lunch. Since we already eaten, we managed to catch a ride back to the start of the trails in time to do an additional short trailed called the Araucarias trail.
The Araucarias trail was another flat walk which took us to a little waterfall called the “Bride’s Veil.” While walking on the Araucarias trail we passed the turn-off for another trail, named the “Contraband” trail. We learned from our map that this path was used by Pehuenche hunters to smuggle animals to and from Argentina. During the walk there were lots of little signposts showing us where the Mapuche people lived, along with information about deformations of various monkey-puzzle trees.
The drive back was through the volcanic activity areas, and our driver stopped a few times so we could get out and take photos of the rock formations and rivers. It reminded me a little of Pali Aike and a little of Payunia – but Conguillio National Park is unique because of the bright blue lakes among the volcanic stones!
After our return to Temuco that evening we packed and purchased our bus tickets for the following day. Coming up: the copper mines of Lota… and Concepcion!
Francesca
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