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Lago Lacar to the south and west of the city is best explored by combining boat or road trips with hiking. The unsurfaced RP48 runs for 46km along the northern shore of Lacar to Hua-Hum , at the far western end of Nonthue. Three kilometres further on is the Paso Hua-Hum , one of the most enjoyable of the Andean routes through to Chile, open all year round and leading towards the resort town of Villarica. Following the Rio Hua-Hum northwest brings you to the slender, gorgeous Lago Pirehueico, which can be crossed only by the modest car ferry (minimum of ten passengers: Jan-Feb daily 10am, 3.30pm & 8pm; March & April Mon-Sat 10am & 5pm, Sun 2pm; May-Oct Mon-Sat 10am & 3pm, Sun 12.30pm; Nov-Dec daily 10am & 5pm; 2hr; foot passengers, $1, cars, including passengers $20). A bus service connects San Martin with the ferry (2hr; $5.50) and there are various campsites along the route. To the southeast of Hua-Hum, 12km by dirt track, is the guardapargue 's post at Lago Queni . The area around this lake is one of the wettest places in the Lanin National Park, and is covered with Valdivian temperate rainforest and dense thickets of cana colihue . The star attraction here is the enchanting Termas de Queni - or hot springs, set in lush forest near the southern tip of the lake. The season for visiting the springs is generally from late September to early May: register with the guardaparque , and you can camp just past the post, on the other side of Arroyo Queni. You can walk to the springs on an easy route from the campsite (3hr), or on a two-day trek around the lake and Cerro Chachin to Pucara, a settlement on the southern tongue of land where lakes Lacar and Nonthue meet. From here a track leads back to Hua-Hum, past the Cascada de Chachin , a thirty-metre waterfall on the south side of Lago Nonthue. The Cascada de Chachin can also be visited on the Plumas Verdes boat excursion that leaves San Martin's pier and heads to Hua-Hum and back (leaves 8am, returns 6pm; some English-speaking guides; $30, plus $5 park entrance). Boats also leave San Martin's pier for Quila Quina on the southern shore of Lago Lacar (minimum of six passengers; 2.30-6pm; $10 one way, plus $5 park entrance). Quila Quila is an incongruous mix of agricultural smallholdings of the Curruhuinca Mapuche community and holiday homes. There's a beach and walks in the area, including one that runs west all the way to Pucara.
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