Temuco

By morning I felt that I had solved all the problems of the world. It was simple, everyone should take 2 months holiday every year. That would mellow everyone and reduce aggression. In fact I was so mellow that I was bored. I took my clothes to the laundry and while waiting took another portrait of Villarrica volcano and wrote in the diary. (The sky wasn't really that dark, it's due to the polarising filter I used.)

It was 2 hours by bus to Temuco. It was a dusty and hot day. I had several false starts looking for the train office. Next I looked for the residencial I had in mind. Neither it nor the city looked interesting; the city is just a large regional centre; so I decided to not stay but skip the city and take the overnight sleeper to Santiago. At the time Temuco was the southern terminus of the service. I deposited my backpack at the station and went sightseeing.

At the mercado municipal I had a delicious lunch of corvina a la plancha (grilled on a hotplate). I didn't know what fish this was but I now know that corvina is croaker. Chileans market sellers were very persuasive. I was cajoled to buy fruits, shoes, even a shoulder bag. More Spanish words I picked up: plantino = plantian (cooking bananas), palomitas (de maiz) = popcorn. Palomitas literally means little doves. It's just one of a horde of Spanish terms for popcorn.

I found a dessert of gelato near the centre, on Bulnes, and rested at the central plaza. There were lots of young people in the city. Chileans doted on kids and I sometimes winked at the cute little kids. I didn't wink at the cute "big kids" though, they can get upset if you do that, hahaha.

In the evening, I found myself waiting for the train with an artistic looking Italian couple. We ended up in the same carriage. They had been to the north and south of Chile and were returning to Milan the next day. The sky was streaked with red at sunset. By and by a railway employee came along to pull down the beds. The carriage was ancient, with dark wood paneling. Only the toilet looked modern. (It seems that at the time of writing that this sleeper service is in limbo.)