Villarrica and Park Huerquehue

I have completely lost track of time so I can´t tell you exactly when we arrived in Villarrica, but I think it was about a week ago.... Villarrica sits right on the shore of Lake Villarrica with the Villarrica volcano not far away. The beach was huge and gorgeous and stays shallow far into the lake. In the afternoon it is totally crowded with Chilean tourists. January and February is when the kids are off school and the Lake region of Chile is a popular vacation spot. We spent three days here during one of which we took a day trip to Huerquehue National Park.
Lake Villarrica was super calm in the morning. The town was practially empty in the morning too. I spent a lot of quality alone time on the beach reading, meditating, swimming or just gazing out at the mountains across the lake.
These fungi are in the National Park. The flora and fauna of Chile are amazing with such vibrant colours and character. These little guys are teeny tiny. The lens of my camera is almost touching them.
These adorable lizards were everywhere in the park and of all different colours. This one is exceptionally fat and lazy! That´s why I could get close enough to take a decent photo. Amelie had her heart set on catching one, but alas, they were all too fast and it wasn´t until after I´d taken this guys photo that she realized he would have the perfect one. I think she satisfied herself later by petting a snake we found on the trail.
We spent the day hiking in the park. The trail we chose was quite demanding. Straight uphill one way and straight downhill the other. By the end of the day we were both completely enhausted with burning thighs and calves. Here we are on the beach at Lake Villarrica again. We couldn´t resist the Helados (ice cream) at the Chocoaterie near our Hospedaje....mmmm....delicious!
Soon after this we packed up our stuff and headed to the bus station to catch the bus to Puerto Montt only to find that all the buses were full! We learned the hard way that we need to buy our tickets ahead of time.