I recently traveled to Chile, and given the mountainous nature of the country, could not resist bringing my MUni. I didn’t get all that much chance to ride it, except in the resort town of Pucón, which is located in what’s referred to as the Lakes District. Pucón has a large, pretty lake (Lago Villarrica), surrounded by a number of volcanoes, notably the active Volcán Villarrica (2840m).
The town has a lot of infrastructure for outdoor activities, including a ski resort on the mountain, whitewater rafting and kayaking operations, and a number of mountain biking trails. After talking to some of the local bike shops in my broken Spanish, I was able to figure out that there is a competitive downhill mountain biking course on the mountain, and one of the local bikers offered to guide me up there just so he could watch me ride.
The terrain was very challenging, with shifting lava rocks and complicated, gnarled drop sections. I kept going back for sections, and managed to clean most of it, although there were a few sections which were too steep for me to contemplate trying.
Unfortunately, about halfway down the mountain I wound up pinch flatting on a particularly tricky drop onto lava rock.
I can definitely recommend Villarrica for anyone who happens to be in central Chile; it will kick your butt.