Puerto Varas - The Lake District of Chile
Trip Start
Jan 08, 2008
1
6
16
Trip End
Jun 11, 2008
Where I stayed
Puerto Varas, Chile
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I forgot to say that there are lots of really good chocolate shops in Bariloche - think Swiss!!
We had a six-hour bus journey to Puerto Varas - we left at 7.30 am - yes, I am on a holiday, but it is not the usual pampered type of holiday - it is for the intrepid traveler! Had to change money into Chilean pesos and had a very good late lunch. Did not do much the rest of the day as we were exhausted after the long bus journey.
The next day we had a trip to Osorno Volcano. We started at 9 am with a minibus to Todos Los Santos Lake - beautiful views - this is where the boat starts its journey to Bariloche - this boat trip takes 12 hours as it has to go by boat, road, boat, road, boat and road to get there via many lakes. There were huge horseflies at this lake which made a beeline for our tour leader - she was wearing royal blue and they obviously were attracted to that colour! They were a real pest.
We then visited the rapids of the Petrohue River and had a nature walk with a guide - he was very informative and really enjoyed his job. After lunch we went up a ski lift to the Osorno Volcano - it is 1400 metres up to the base of the volcano. The views were fantastic - we had a great walk around the area and saw red volcano craters and the peaks of other volcanoes. This area has a very Germanic influence from the early immigrants - lots of German food, restaurants, and house styles. On our return we had dinner in a lovely little place in the town.
