November 19: Rest day in Temuco
My hand isn't 100% so I took the day off today. The hour of riding after the accident was OK, and I'm sure I could ride today if I really had to: but I've got a spare day in the schedule and letting it heal seems like the best idea. If my hand doesn't work, I can't ride and the trip is over...
So I’m in Temuco for the day. It’s is the capital city of the Temuco province: and it's been under a state of emergency since 2022, due to conflict with the Mapuche, who are demanding the return of their ancestral lands. The Chilean engineers that I met were from Temuco and recommended staying in the city because the rural areas are where the conflicts happen.
Nevertheless, this information will appear when you go looking for travel advice for Chile. And it must mean tourists avoid the province. The prices are substantially cheaper here, which has got to be a consequence. The hostel I'm staying at is 24000 CLP which is the cheapest place I've stayed, by far: I expect to pay 40k-50k per night. It is cheap but it's well-run. The furniture and bedclothes are in good condition, no damage, everything works. (Except the hot water, sadly. The only time the shower has been hot was when I arrived.) I wouldn't be surprised to pay over 40k if it were in another city. Even with the water problems.
The cafe I was at earlier had waffles for 4000 CLP, which is exceptionally good. For dinner I chose a restaurant in my usual price range and it was unexpectedly upmarket: custom neon, blue LED lights, stylish display of 60 bottles of whiskey, more waiting staff than customers. But the bill matched what I paid for lunch in Pucón.
From left to right: this was painted on an electrical transformer box. Street art (not that great, especially in this company). More excellent street art - this was on the second story, it’s only the right half but I couldn’t get a picture of the whole thing. 4 euro waffles! And the cafe I got them.
One the other thing that stands out is that there's bars on windows and fences around houses, which is not a good sign. Most of the houses I've passed have them. All the downtown shops have roll-down metal barriers in front, with padlocks. It looks like they're built to survive a riot. However: I get the impression they're not new; and there were a handful of new buildings in the downtown that had unprotected windows, which does not happen by mistake. And on the way back in the evening I saw a scattering of young people walking through the streets, more intent on their cellphones than the world around them. Which wouldn't happen if the area had a reputation for trouble.
So maybe the problems are historic, and things are better now. I hope so. Temuco looks good to me.
