Santiago to Talca was a relatively short bus ride for once. Our accommodation was old but in a great central location. We found a recommended steak house and decided it was too good not to return each night for dinner, especially as Adam has developed a taste for red wine and is now able to share a bottle at dinner!

After speaking with the helpful lady at the information centre in Spanish, we decided to take a trip out to a nearby National Park. Before heading anywhere these days, we have developed a habit of asking two to three people the same question, so that we can gather the most accurate and corroborative information. Too many times we have been sent on a wild goose chase. So, after collecting as much information as possible, we arrived at the advised bus stop only to be told we were not at the right terminal. In a bit of a panic, we ran to the other terminal, and after asking two more people for directions, we finally found our pick-up point. We eventually got on a small local bus, and travelled close to 2 hours along unmade, dusty roads to get to National Reserve Altos de Lircay Region del Maule. On arrival there was a park ranger who spoke English and gave us a very thorough run down of the park. ‘Don’t worry, you are in our care now, you will be safe’. On the ranger’s advice we set off down the path towards the Sendero Enladrillado trail. Conveniently for us, the reserve had multiple sites for camping available so the facilities along the way were fantastic. Well-made paths, clean running water to top up our bottles and flushing toilets. We walked along the gravel path, through pine tree forests and had views to distant, dry, grey coloured rocky mountains. The walk was pretty but not particularly remarkable until we climbed to 2300 mt and reached the basaltic plateau, then every step was worth it. From the viewing point we could see multiple distant volcanoes, some snow-capped, and even the lines where lava had been flowing and left a dark river line on the volcanoes edge. We could see distant villages, roads and flowing rivers. The sun was shining, and the vultures and littles wrens were ducking and diving in front of us. It was spectacular. Knowing we had a decent distance yet to travel, we stayed only 30 minutes before finding our way back to the trail. We didn’t initially intend to go for a long walk but 24 km later we arrived back at our starting point, completely exhausted and needing to run to catch the last bus of the day back into town. The ground was dry so as we ran, huge dust clouds built up around us. By the time we reached the bus we were covered from head to toe!
We had heard and read there were wineries in the area however, when in town, it appeared that in fact most were not open to the public.

After multiple emails and eventually the ladies at the hotel calling on our behalf, Vina Casa Donoso winery was prepared to have us. We didn’t realise until we got there that they were actually not open, they were simply doing us a favor by allowing us to visit. When we arrived into the beautifully manicured gardens, hedged with uniquely coloured hydrangeas, it took us a while to find someone to help. After some poking around, the girl we had spoken to via email appeared and gave us a brief tour of the family owned building and property. She had been out that morning, just for us, and purchased picnic items and set us up on the lush green lawn with a picnic rug and a bottle of Carmenere, a new variety we didn’t know about before arriving in Chile. From then on, we had the place to ourselves. There was a look-out viewing point over the vineyard, so we headed there, basked in the sun on the lawn and checked out the stylish function area. We were there through to close and were again impressed with our Chilean wine experience.