The short answer is “not much”, at least not on a Saturday afternoon. I joined Woody, Deborah, and Patricia for an afternoon exploration of a nearby town. The goal was threefold: 1) to enjoy the nice spring weather, 2) see what was in the town of Hualqui, and 3) to ride the “Bio Trein” commuter train.

Previous research by Woody and Deborah had found that the train travels at 0930 (too early) or after 1500 (too late), so we met around noon and found a bus to take us upriver to Hualqui. The ride was an uneventful one along the river, with a stretch through the town of Chiguayante. The bus was full most of the way, though plenty of people cycled on and off.

Our arrival at the main plaza in Hualqui caught us a bit off guard – the city was exceptionally quiet so we were not prepared and the bus blew past the plaza before we could get our act together. But we did manage to get off a block or two past the plaza, and we walked back to the mostly deserted square.

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Nearly everything on the square was closed, including this Simpsons-themed bar:

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Lacking the option of washing down lunch with a cold mug of Duff beer, we decided to see if we could get to the river. This turned out to be relatively easy; we managed to stumble across a train track crossing which put us close to the river.

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We had a false start down a road which soon ended in a gate, but after heading slightly upriver (and towards the train station) we found a road which lead to a small soccer field next to the river. We spent a few minutes looking at the river, but there wasn’t much to do, so we wandered back towards town and over to the train station.

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We had an hour before the next train left for Concepción, so we wandered back to the plaza. We picked up a “shadow”—a dog from the train station who thought we might have some food—that followed us for the rest of our stay in Hualqui. Deborah stopped for some snacks at one of the few open stores and we enjoyed the sunshine in the plaza while we waited for departure time.

Just before 1500, we returned to the station, bought tickets, and boarded the train. The ride was quick and smooth, with a few stops along the way. After arriving back in Conce, we had a nice walk from the train station to our original meeting place, stopping along the way for an afternoon coffee and dessert (mmm, nutella crepes).

I have a few more photos from Hualqui posted.