LEBU - City of Winds

Accommodation

Accommodation with the (Super-)Host Héctor. He converted the garage in front of the house about two or three years ago and has been renting it for approximately 11 months. It had its own bathroom with an interesting shower head. It was an electric instantaneous water heater. Setting the water was a bit tricky at first, but it worked quite well after a few tries. There was also a small kitchen with everything you need. The location was great, there was a small grocery store around the corner and you could also get to the water in 15 minutes on foot. But, we were also in the tsunami zone. At night it was sometimes very cold and we warmed up the small hut with a gas heater before going to bed.

SIM Card

We were able to continue using the SIM cards we bought in Santiago.

Attractions

The fishing port, the Museum del Carbón, Cementerio de los vientos, devil's caves, a nicely decorated Christmas market square (with popcorn cannon), seals sunning and grunting on a half underwater fishing cutter in the harbor.

Transportation

Fortunately, everything was within walking distance, if not you could take a taxi (quite cheap). There were no buses. A friend of Héctor's also kindly took us to the beach and the caves by car.

Food and Drinks

Héctor invited us to Pisco Sour twice or just brought it over. Also, we could have lunch once with his mother and brother. There was a soup with various ingredients (pumpkin, corn, beef, potato). For Pascal's birthday we went out to eat and there was Pichanga Mar y de la tierra especial (Base of potatoes fried, mixed meats, tomato, parta, cheese findido, champingones, sauteed shrimp and assorted seafood) and a 2.5-litre bottle of Cola, which you get served in the restaurant when you order for two people (about 3500 Pesos). The food consisted of a plate with different kinds of meat, sausage, and seafood with a heap of fries, with melted cheese on top (18000 Pesos). Cool is something else, parts of it were still a bit cold. As we later learned from Héctor, the restaurant does not have such a good reputation - seemingly for good reason. We also went out to eat at another restaurant, where we had a Completo (nice) and a Marisco aka hake (even nicer). For ourselves we cooked a lot of lentils, pasta and soup with vegetables over the days.

Cafés and Restaurants

They also like to close on Friday and Saturday afternoon, when it is windy and no one will come anyway :P We ate at Hanga Roa, we forgot the name of the other restaurant. On Pascal's birthday we also got cake and hot chocolate at Café Nativo. As his birthday (08/12) was also a holiday, we could buy the cake, but for some reason we couldn't eat it at the café. Dubious, but well.

Plants and Animals

In thecity we could discover many plants: fennel, white-fruit wire shrub, true fig, rabbit tail grass and Eryngium humboldtii respectively mannstreu. We also saw many stray dogs again; one of them followed Pascal up Cerro del Carbón while hiking for an hour. In addition, we have "met" the neighbour's dog, which bit Pascal in the hand. After a visit to the local emergency room (only a five-minute walk from Héctor's house), everything healed well after a month.

Number of Germans in the City

0 observed cases.

Contact with Locals

We got to know Héctor's mother and brother; one of his friends also drove us to the "Cava de Toros". In addition a grandma in Lebu called me "mi niña".

People Met

Héctor (a great person) and his family.

Expenses

We spent money on cake, ice cream and two restaurant visits.

Standard Booth Offer

There were hardly any street vendors, as it was not tourist high season. But we could still discover a few stands with "Artesanías".

Laundry

Héctor washed our laundry for us twice.

Unsolved Mysteries

Aside from the fact that the cafes and restaurants were closed due to wind, there were no mysteries in Lebu :)

Currency

Chilean Pesos as before.

Bus to Villarrica

After many attempts, we had succeeded in and held a ticket to Temuco in hand. The bus there felt like the village bus that took everyone standing on the roadside in the five-hour journey (they then directly paid bus from Igi Llaima). It was, however, equipped like a standard tour bus. At Temuco, we were then completely confused and found by sheer luck a direct connection bus, which brought us for 11000 Pesos to Villarrica. We paid in the tour bus.