Deep into Patagonia
Trip Start
Sep 06, 2009
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27
36
Trip End
Dec 05, 2009
Puerto Varas, Lake District, Chile
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Today we took a bus ride from Pucon to Puerto Varas, a small town bordering Lake Llanquihue, one of the largest lakes in Chile. Puerto Varas has a colonial feel to it and is very similar to seaside towns in the north of Chile. We wondered around the town looking at the spectacular views of the lake and planned a trip to Chiloe Island for tomorrow. That night we went to one of the best seaside restaurants I have ever been to and I had a massive platter of every kind of shellfish... it was amazing.
The next day we headed to Puerto Montt (one the biggest dockyards in Chile) and took a boat to the island of Chiloe. The people of this island still live very simple lives and work the fields or fish in the pacific all day. We headed down to the beach and had the opportunity to try oysters that were caught that morning. Mark was not too keen on the idea as he doesnīt really like shellfish, especially if it hasnīt actually been cooked. But in the end I managed to persuade him and he swallowed it whole. He didnīt like it but at least he tried. I enjoyed mine and had them with a glass of wine at 11 in the morning.
The scenery of the island was very similar to home and we spent the next few hours wandering around the island. We were driving down a dirt track when two great massive oxen came walking down the path. They must have been 2 or 3 times the size of a normal cow.
Next we headed to another beach were we took a small fishing boat out to a small island to see the penguins that have settled there. The penguins were so cute and they all had there own personalities as they hopped and jumped down the rocks and dived into the sea. I had seen an island like this in Paracas but Mark didnīt come with me that day because he was poorly, so it was nice for him to get to see the same sort of thing. We were told we might see sea otters but the weather took a turn for the worse and so we couldnīt really see much through the rain. The boat started to really rock in the massive waves because the wind was picking up, so I started to feel really queasy, but suprise suprise, I wasnīt sick!!!
After our boat ride we visited a few handicraft markets and took a pleasant ride back to the main land. We needed an early night after a long 12 hour tour as we had to be up early for our border crossing to Argentina.
Blog you later
Kate and Mark
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