The Lakes District of Chile

Puerto Varas is a cute touristy town. It received a lot of German-speaking immigrants in the second half of the 1800's (as were a lot of towns in the Lake District) and still has such a German feel, mostly due to the architecture. We found a big, very old hostel, which used to be a house to an immigrant famil. It was massive, and the stairs were tilting to the left.. it definitely had a haunted house potential. Jesse watched the rest of the Packers game when we got in (they lost, first loss of the season). We then cooked soup for dinner and got to sleep early. The next day we did a walking tour of the town. All the German architecture makes it feel like it's not Chile! There isn't a veranda or adobe wall to be seen in the whole town. It's a very European feel, and the rain, clouds and green hills adds to it. The churches are all fashioned after German style churches as well. After the tour we took a micro to a small town called Frutillar. It is another very German looking town. It's very clean and pleasant and is also right on the lake. We just walked around and took pictures, then got back to Puerto Varas and made BLT's for dinner. 

Fruitillar

The next day we headed into the national park on a micro. We stopped at some beautiful rapids, which were crawling with tourists, but we found a small hiking trail that no one was on which took us to a beautiful river. Then we went further into the park and hiked up a trail which took us very close to a volcano. It was gorgeous scenery and there was not one other person on the trail. We got back that evening very tired, and made grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for dinner. We had planned on going to some more national parks to hike and camp but the weather was still cloudy and rainy and the forcast said it would be that way for a week. So we changed our minds and took a bus north to escape the rain, to a town called Valdivia.

In the bus station we met a Swedish kid called Stean, who was also headed to Valdivia. When we got there the three of us found a cabana style room at a hostel. It had a tiny kitchen and bathroom attached. Pretty luxurious!! We took off for the Kuntsman brewery after we ate, and Jesse and Stean got a “column” of the unfiltered. I got the taster. 

The next day we went to two of the Spanish forts in the area. The Spanish were pretty paranoid in this area and had tons of forts. There was a battle for independence here as well. We had to take a little ferry across the bay to the second fort, where there was a re-enactment happening at 4pm, so we hung around! It was pretty good. I've never seen a re-enactment. Then we took the ferry back. Jesse and I wanted to try to go to a museum, but when we finally found it it was closed. So we walked around a bit and went home.

The next day we took a 3 hour bus to Pucon. It's another town on the lake with a big volcano next to it. But this volcano was smoking! As in, there was smoke coming out of the top! Crazy, huh! The first day we just set up camp and walked around town inquiring about various buses and renting a car. We found a cheap car to rent for Christmas Day.  So on the 25th we headed up early to the National Park Villarica, which is where the volcano is.  We did a 3 hour hike around the base of the volcano and it was really beautiful..  We made it high enough to see snow, so we did have a white Christmas! Then we drove on to a small town about 30 miles away which is known for it's Mapuche heritage (local indigenous people), but everything was closed for the holiday, so we drove up to one of the lakes known for it's nice beach and sat there for a few hours.  We even went in the water because it wasn't that cold.  Then we head to the Los Pozones thermal baths, which are all naturally heated from volcanic activity in the earth.  We got there right at dusk and it was really relaxing!  We spent about and hour and a half going from pool to pool, then drove back to Pucon and crashed for the night!  

The next day we took a bus back to the village and saw the Mapuche museum and ate a traditional Mapuche meal, which was very good.  No meat, just a quinoa with vegetables and bamboo hearts.  At the restaurant we met another couple (the only other people there) who were from San Francisco! Then we headed back to Pucon and caught a night bus back to Santiago, arriving at 7:30am.

Now we are cat sitting in Santiago for a week. It is in the 90's here and there's no air conditioning!  It's our friend Michelle's cat, which is the cat I found in my apartment building lobby 6 months ago and fostered for 2 weeks.  Her name is Misha, and she is obsessed with food. So it's like having a dog almost!  It's so nice to have an apartment to ourselves. Our own bathroom, kitchen and internet access! Such luxury! 

Last night we went to our friends Joanna and Jorge's apartment for dinner.  We made shrimp spring rolls which were delightful, and I loved playing with their 1 year old daughter, Emma.  Joanna is from Seattle.  She did a study abroad program in Chile during college and met the daughter of an old co-worker of mine during it. So that is how I came to meet her.  And she introduced us to her friends:  David, Leslie, Pamela, Pablo, and we kept meeting more and more Chileans, so it's been all thanks to Joanna we've had such a great social life here!  

I am enjoying not having anything to do and getting to catch up on world events, read, upload my photos to Facebook, etc.  But then it's back on the road for another 5 months! Eek!

Happy New Year everyone!  Plan a vacation for 2012! :)