Explore The Central Valley
South of Chillán and the Itata Valley, Chile is intersected by the great Río Bío Bío, generally considered the southern limit of the Central Valley. One of Chile’s longest rivers, it cuts a 380km diagonal slash across the country, emptying into the ocean by the coastal city of Concepción, over 200km north of its source in the Andean mountains. For more than three hundred years the Bío Bío was simply “La Frontera”, forming the border beyond which Spanish colonization was unable to spread, fiercely repulsed by the native Mapuche population.
Today, the Bío Bío Valley, which stretches 400km southwest from the mouth of the Río Bío Bío, still feels like a border zone between the gentle pastures and meadows of central Chile, and the lakes and volcanoes of the south. While the valley floor is still covered in the characteristic blanket of cultivation, dotted with typical Central Valley towns such as Los Angeles and Angol, the landscape on either side is clearly different. To the west, the coastal range – little more than gentle hills further north – takes on the abrupt outlines of real mountains, densely covered with the commercial pine forests’ neat rows of trees and, further south, there are hints of the dramatic scenery to come in the Lake District, with native araucaria trees in their hundreds within Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta.
Cut off by these mountains, the towns strung down the coast road south of Concepción – such as Lota, Arauco, Lebu and Cañete – feel like isolated outposts. To the east, the Andes take on a different appearance, too: wetter and greener, with several outstandingly beautiful wilderness areas like Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja and Parque Nacional Tolhuaca.
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Concepción
Concepción
The sprawling, fast-paced metropolis of CONCEPCIÓN is the region’s administrative capital and economic powerhouse, and Chile’s second-largest city, sitting at the mouth of the Bío Bío, 96km southwest of Chillán. Surrounded by some of Chile’s ugliest industrial suburbs, Concepción’s centre is a spread of dreary, anonymous buildings. This lack of civic splendour reflects the long series of catastrophes that have punctuated Concepción’s growth – from the incessant Mapuche raids during the city’s days as a Spanish garrison, guarding La Frontera, to the devastating earthquakes that have razed it to the ground dozens of times since its founding in 1551. It does, however, have the energy and buzz of a thriving commercial centre, and the large number of students here at the Universidad Austral de Chile gives the place a young, lively feel and excellent nightlife.
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The Salto del Laja
The Salto del Laja
From Concepción, the southern coastal route makes an appealing diversion but if you’re in a hurry, take the direct 85km trunk road back to the Panamericana. Some 50km south from there, the first major town you reach is Los Angeles; halfway along this route, the Panamericana crosses the Río Laja. Until recently the highway passed directly by the Salto del Laja, which ranks among the most impressive waterfalls in Chile, cascading almost 50m from two crescent-shaped cliffs down to a rocky canyon.
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES is an easy-going agricultural town, pleasant enough but without any great attractions. At the north end of Colón, eight blocks from the orderly Plaza de Armas, is the colonial Parroquia Perpetuo Socorro, a church whose handsome colonnaded cloisters enclose a flower-filled garden. Otherwise, the town is really just a jumping-off point for the Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja.
