After our brief sojourn in Pucon, we headed to 2 spots recommended by our wonderfully helpful/thoughtful hosts Bev and Glen. Numero uno - the Laguna Azul y Los Ojos de Caburgua - beautiful waterfall. At this point, beautiful natural settings seem a bit ho hum (that sounds loco, no?). But, the find of the day was about to come upon us via serendipity.

As we drove to spot numero dos (the Thermal Springs of Huife), we were famished. When, out of the blue we spotted an intriguing sign for what appeared to be a French restaurant totally in the middle of nowhere. We looked at each other and said, 'yeah, let's turn around and check it out'. We drove down a gravel rutted road to a fork.. We went right - toward an intriguing looking edifice. Barbara got out of the car and peered in the window - nada. But, then, a woman and younger man appeared by the side of the house. It was 1:00, but in response to 'quiero comer', the young man asked if we could wait 30 minutes. We of course answered "si". We entered and were awestruck. We could have been in Provence. The room was muy muy bonita. We were the only patrons, but were treated to a wonderful lunch of "Bouef Bourguienon", fantastic sauteed vegetables from their organic garden and a delicious postre of 'papaya' (though not exactly like our papayas) filled with lemon mousse. This was our best meal of the trip so far and totally by accident!

We finally pushed ourselves away from our table at the Pimiento and drove on to Huife. This place was fantastic. 3 large pools of thermal water fed by a spring (many volcanoes in the area). One was 110 degrees, one was 104 degrees and one was 94 degrees. The water was so soothing. You could also opt for all sorts of different massages, but that will have to wait for our next trip. What a great way to end our days in the northern lake region! Next - on to Frujillar at the southern end of the lake region.