Puerto Varas - The Lake District of Chile

Thurs 24th/25th  Jan - The Lake District

First view of Osorno on the bus journey there

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.

Our Group at Osorno Volcano

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.

Petrohue River Nature walk - the gang

Rapids for Kayaking on Petrohue River

Waterfalls at Petrohue, Puerto Varas