Puerto Varas on the edge of the Lakes District
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2008
1
18
22
Trip End
Mar 05, 2008
Puerto Varas,
Chile
Saturday, February 23, 2008
So our trip from Puerto Natalas to Puerto Varas did not get off to a good start. We woke up early to have our last breakfast at the Hotel Remota as we had to leave the hotel at 8:30am to catch our 1pm flight from Punta Arenas. Typical Chile, there is a small airport in Puerto Natalas, but the Punta Arenas airport does not allow flights to go in and out of the area as they want to keep their business, so we were to drive south for two and a half hours to fly north to Puerto Montt. It is so strange how things work in South America. Another interesting thing we found out was that the Hotel Explora, the premiere hotel in Torres Del Paine must close in 12 years as they only paid for a 30 year lease. So there you go, the most well known hotel in the area that has been open for 17 years will be closing in 2020, so go while you can, although I think that I would still recommend Remota to anyone going to the area, despite what I am about to tell you.
We had breakfast and went to the reception to catch our van to the airport. There was a large group from Spain that was at the Hotel, so many of the Vans were reserved for the day, all that was left was a tiny Hyudai Minivan to take us and 6 other passengers to the airport. There we were, 8 passengers that needed to get to the airport in this tiny van with all of our luggage... so Andrew and I climbed in the front seat that was made for a small woman and her child and the remaining 6 passengers climbed in the 2 small rows of seats in the back. We strapped a large container to our hitch that would carry our luggage and with that we were off.
About a minute into our ride the lady from France behind us starting coughing. Not your typical cough that you might have when you have a cold, but a whooping cough that sounded more like walking Pneumonia or possibly even something worse. There Andrew and I were, cramped in our tiny little seat in a cesspool of germs for the next two and a half hours. Our driver who didn't speak any English offered us a piece of gum and we watched the scenery pass by, hoping, praying and wishing for the ride to be over. Every time the woman coughed, I would bury my nose in Andrews sweatshirt and count to 30.
Upon FINALLY arriving to the airport after what turned into a 3 hour drive due to the sheer weight that was put on the vehicle, we checked into our flight to Puerto Montt and were off to our next adventure.
It was a good 30 degrees hotter in Puerto Montt which was a welcome change. A driver met us at the airport and transferred us to the beautiful Hotel Bellavista in the small neighboring resort town of Puerto Varas. Upon checking in to the hotel, yet again, we had the best room on the top floor in the right corner of the Hotel. We had a beautiful view of Lake Llanquihue and a spectacular view of the snow capped Osorno Volcano and the neighboring Volcano Calbuco.
We spent most of the afternoon walking around the small town, checking email and we made reservations at a small restaurant in the middle of town called Las Buenas Brasas, known for their delicious steaks and grilled fish.
Yet again, it was 8:30pm and we were the first people to arrive at the restaurant. We ordered a couple steaks with Papas Fritas, I had a Pisco Sour and Andrew his usual beer as we dined on our spectacular, perfectly grilled steaks and delicious roasted potatoes. We were in heaven. When we got back to our hotel the beautiful full moon was rising and I took a picture right before bed, not knowing that 10 minutes after taking the picture, the last lunar eclipse of the moon of the decade was happening right over the volcano in the distance.
Because it was unseasonably warm in the area, we didn't sleep very well, so we were a little groggy when we met our guide Nestor and driver Luis for a day in the island of Chiloe. We were picked up from our hotel at 8am and we made our way down Interstate 5, the same Interstate 5 that starts in Alaska, passes through Canada, California and Mexico and goes through Central and South America and ends in the town of Quellon on the island of Chiloe. We were not going all the way to Quellon, as it was pretty far from Peuerto Varas, but we got pretty darn close.
We soon found out that our guide was 34 years old and played in a tribute band to Tool! They were evidently pretty popular in the area and we spent much of the 45 minute ride to the ferry talking about music. He knew everything there was to know and was a huge fan of Metallica, Korn and Primus. It was pretty funny considering he was a pretty clean cut guy.
Our van drove right onto the ferry from the main part of Chile and we took the 25 minute ferry ride to the Island. Of course they had tried to build a bridge here once and when the private company that was building the bridge asked for some money from the government, the plans were squashed. The ferry service was great though. It was not anything like the time Nestor had to wait for 3 hours with tourists in his van to get to the Island, as we were on and off the ferry in a very short period of time.
So we made it to Chiloe, an old Spanish colony which remained a stronghold long after Chile gained its independence. The people of the island who are known for being very friendly still have very traditional beliefs that the Spanish Catholics passed along that were meant to keep the people of Chiloe from getting into trouble. There are all of these mythological creatures like Trauco, a repugnant forest gnome who can kill with a look and is irresistible to young virgins giving them impure dreams and a child out of wedlock and La Voladora, a witch messenger who vomits out her intestines at night so that she is light enough to deliver messages for the Brujos who corrupt normal people. By the next morning, she swallows her intestines and resumes her female form. It is pretty wild.
We traveled through the town of Ancud which we would re-visit in the afternoon. Our guide asked us if we wanted to visit the museums, churches and Pilifatos of Castro or visit the penguins and seals in Punihuil on the coast. Evidently he was not supposed to give us this option, but of course I wanted to see the penguins and because we were a private tour we were able to take the long unpaved road out to the colony.
We passed by many small farms with large bulls trying to get into the cattle enclosures, tiny piglets, Llamas, dogs, sheep, horses and so on. Upon arriving at the coast, our guide secured a private boat that would take us out to the colonies. Since we did not have much breakfast we grabbed some Empaniadas from the small restaurant on the beach. One of the empanadas was called Empenadas de Loco, which the waitress explained was like "pollo". So we ordered it, ate it all but did not like it very much. When our guide came to get us he explained that it was Abolone, something that Andrew nor I would eat under normal circumstances, but when in Rome...
We boarded our small boat with the driver, another guy, his son, our guide and our adorable driver Luis, who had to have been the best dressed guy who had ever been on the boats before. He was wearing Khakis, a button down, tie, vest and had his wellies on to get out to the boat. He was the last to get on as he did not want to get wet. I on the other hand opted for the cool waders and boots that the drivers wore. After getting over a few small waves we were off.
We approached two small penguin colonies with the boats and saw the babies who were much uglier, furrier and larger than their parents. There were two types of penguins residing there, the Magellanic Penguin and the shoot, I cant remember the other one right now, but I will. They were so cute, waddling around and basking in the limited sun. We then headed out to sea to check out the seal colony. They were pretty lazy seals, a few of them were swimming around and fighting, but most of them were just lounging. On the way back we visited more penguins and saw quite a few otters crushing shells on their chests and enjoying the contents as they floated on their backs. They were adorable.
After our fabulous excursion we headed back to Ancud for some lunch overlooking the water above the fort and went to the local market which sold fish, sea weed, local specialties and handicrafts. It was around 4pm when we started our journey back to Puerto Varas. Andrew and Nestor talked a bunch about music as I napped in the back seat.
We said goodbye to our great guide Nestor and Luis and took his advice and went to Restaurant Ibis overlooking the lake for a great dinner of Chilean Sea Bass. On our walk home at 9:30pm, the moon began to rise. It was the biggest, most beautiful full moon Andrew and I had ever seen. It rose directly between the two volcanoes and the view was just remarkable. Yet again we wished for a few more days in Chile, alas we had to make the crossing to Argentina. Sniff, sniff! Argentina would be our last stop on this great journey and I think both of us are not yet ready for it to end.
