Chile – The Lake District

An Outdoor Lovers Dream Vacation

by Michelle Larson

Chile is a long and narrow country (2700 miles long and only 110 miles wide), known for its varied and vast terrain, from dry expansive deserts to the north and icy glaciers to the south. It’s difficult to see it all in one trip. So, with only a week to spend between Christmas and New Year’s Day, my boyfriend and I head to Chile’s Lake District in the center of the country.

We arranged for an English-speaking driver, to pick us up at the Puerto Montt airport and continue as our guide for the duration of the stay. Eduardo, our guide, learned to speak English many years ago when he had the opportunity, at age 16, to be an exchange student in the US. His home for one year was in Michigan. He still keeps in touch with his “American Momma” two or three times a month. They communicate through webcam. It is surprisingly modern here in Chile.

Puerto Varas, about 20 minutes drive from Puerto Montt, and The Licarayen Hotel will be our lake front home. The location is great, right on Lake Llanquihue with two snow-capped volcanos in the background. The room itself is pretty modest, although the view is stunning. While it is summer at this time of year in Chile, the weather is unpredictable, so layers are the way to go.

We decided to explore Puerto Varas on foot today and have a full day excursion tomorrow. This is a quaint little town and from our hotel we can walk anywhere. We were hungry so we asked for a recommendation from the front desk for a restaurant, The Chamaca Inn is two blocks away and when we arrived they were waiting for us with a prime table all set up. Nice touch. Seafood was a must-have, as it is the specialty in Chile...crab, salmon and trout. It was really delicious, fresh and served simply without a lot of sauces and seasonings. The true taste really shined through. It was lunchtime and the place was packed with locals, always a testament to a restaurant’s food quality.

While walking off our lunch, we came upon an artisan’s shop with beautiful Alpaca woven sweaters, handbags, wall-hangings, silver jewelry and more. Very exciting! Some wonderful handmade Chilean treasures will be coming home with us.

There is a big casino in this town, but we decided to hold on to our hard earned cash and walk on by. Tempting though. Instead, we took a stroll along the lakefront to take in this picturesque, and peaceful place.

Hiking is a favorite activity in this part of Chile. The landscape is lush and mountainous with many rivers, lakes and creeks to explore. Eduardo drove us to a beautiful area out side of Osorno. We picked up a small map that indicated the trails for hiking nearby. The area was thick with green, forested hills. The trail began at a rolling meadow shared with cows and horses. It then led us down a ravine where rushing water could be heard. A crisp and clean rocky river was hidden behind the trees. It felt as if we were the first people to discover it.  Soon there was a sign that said “cascada”, which means “waterfall”. And it was an incredible one at that. The trek was about two hours and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. It was so nice to be out enjoying nature’s beauty in Chile. There are hundreds of trekking opportunities in the area. If your boots are made for walkin’, this is the place to be.

On the way back south we stopped at a little lakeside town called Frutillar. You can definitely see the German influence here. It is interesting that from what we have seen so far there is no evidence of Spanish flavor to any of the architecture. Most homes are made of wood with shinges on the siding. Very much an English, German country feel. This is unexpected. We walked around Frutillar for a while. Not much going on here, just a sleepy little place to get away from it all and enjoy the views of the lake.

Toys and school supplies we packed in with our luggage in hopes of finding some kids in need. We wanted to give a backpack filled with goodies to Eduardo’s daughter Baita, who is 5. He wanted us to meet her and give her the gift in person so we drove by his house. His wife Jennifer and Baita were both lovely. Baita was so excited about the gifts. She was talking and talking and talking to us....in spanish. So cute. Her dad kept telling her that we didn’t understand, but she just had so much to say. The visit lasted about twenty minutes and then we all got in the car to go back to the hotel and Eduardo was taking the family by the super market after. Baita and I worked on a sticker book with addition problems on the way. She has learned a little English in school and with my little bit of Spanish we were getting along just fine. There were hugs all around as we got out of the car. This is the beauty of hiring a local private guide on a vacation in another country. You really get to know people and see how they live. We are always more alike that different.

The next day started early so we could spend the whole day on Chiloe Island. It was a two hour drive to the harbor where we drove our car onto the ferry and cruised thirty minutes across the canal to the island. Arriving on Chiloe, it immediately felt different from the mainland. This is a slower paced life, more traditional in nature. The island itself is lush and beautiful. There were rows and rows of bright yellow flowers lining the streets. Hills covered with many species of trees create a thick green texture that contrasts the deep blue sky and water. The colors are so vibrant. Even the homes are painted every color of the rainbow...purple, bright pink, turquoise blue, orange. The people of Chiloe are called Chilote if you are a man and Chilota if you are a woman. Chiloe is second largest island in South America, measuring 112 miles across. The homes along the coastline are called palafitos, built on stilts above the tidal waters. They are famous for creating a unique design of shingle that covers the home. Everyone has their own signature shape. There are over 150 churches and chapels on the island.

It was about an hour drive, on a mostly dirt, winding road to the city of Ancud. Passing only a few dozens homes and farms along the coastline it was hard to not dream of buying a piece of this paradise and build a home along the rugged cliffs, but if everyone did that it would look like California. The weather was clearing, turning into a spectacular crisp and sunny day. The highlight in Ancud is the penguins that reside only a few months out of the year on small islands off of Chiloe. We drove our car off of the dirt road onto the sandy beach where a small hut and two small boats waited for hire to take us on a guided tour. This is the only place on earth where the Magallanic and the endangered Homboldt penguins live together in harmony.

On with our khaki-green rubber overall waders, and bright-orange lifejackets, and into the boat we went. The excursion was shared with a family with two tween girls, who were incredibly excited to see the penguins. The Pacific Coast is stunning here and the sun was shining on the water, which made it sparkle like a blanket of diamonds. The puffy white clouds floated in the bluest blue sky. Awwww, this was perfect!

It was just a short 5 minute ride to the penguins. They are sooo cute! There were thousands of them covering the small island. They create their nests at the top and waddle down to catch fish for their meals. When they would get to the edge of the rocks the waves would pull them into the sea. It would seem impossible for them to get back out of the water, but somehow they manage. All along the hillsides of the island they would come down single file. Our guide motored over to two other small islands that were inhabited with penguins, sea otters and many exotic birds. We felt really privileged to be witnessing this rare sight. If this was all we experienced in Chile it would have been worthwhile. So Cool!!!

From Ancud we headed two hours north to the city of Castro, the island’s capital. We ate lunch at a lovely little cafe, the only one of its kind with a view of the water. Seafood was ordered all around, of course. The main industry of Chiloe is fishing. It was delicious! Next stop was the famous craft market built along the harbor made of rickety wood and compartmentalized for each vendor. The center room was very large and only had alpaca and wool woven goods. Each merchant had their own space laid out with colorful scarfs, blankets, pullovers, booties, hats and anything imaginable you could knit. They were all knitting away while they waited for the next customer. We bought a couple of souvenirs for the kids and headed out, but not before taking a photo of stacks of bagged garlic and potatoes for sale next to the live sheep standing on the sidewalk in front of the fishing boats. Not something you see everyday!

The rest of the day was spent driving around the island, admiring the rolling landscape and small fishing villages. We stopped at a famous church and saw a bunch of children playing in a nearby park. In the trunk of the car was a bag full of toys and school supplies that we brought hoping to find an orphanage to drop them off. We hadn’t been able to locate one so we hand out the toys to the kids at the park. What fun! They weren’t sure what we were doing, but Eduardo explained that we were from the US and wanted to give them presents. They were so happy! Little boys got Matchbox cars and Spiderman pencils and notebooks and the girls were given princess sticker books and hair accessories, backpacks and sparkle pens, lots of good stuff. As we walked away they all yelled, “Adios, Feliz Ano Nuevo.”

It was New Year’s Eve and we wanted to stay up late to celebrate. Dinner was early, 7:30, and it was a good thing because after 9:30 or so all of the restaurants were booked. This is a huge celebration day in Puerto Varas. We had prime seats in our room for the fireworks show over the lake.  Thousands of people began crowding in front of lake at about 10:00. There were two big screens and a commentator presenting a musical slide show of the year 2007 in Puerto Varas. A bottle of chilled champagne and fresh strawberries from a stand on the street, made for a nice celebratory duo. At midnight the fireworks started. It was a wonderful show, about 20 minutes long. We toasted to us, to Chile, and the New Year. This is will be a day not soon forgotten.

New Year’s Day, Eduardo planned our excursion with places that we must-see before leaving. From Puerto Varas we drove inland toward the Vincente Perez Rosales Nacional Parque. a beautiful drive into the mountains. So green. Our destination was the city of Petrohue and Lago Todos Los Santos, a breathtaking lake with the bluest water we’d ever seen. There was one very nice hotel at the lake that would have been nice to stay for a couple of nights. Next time. They offer a boat trip from this lake, down the river and over the border into Argentina. It takes two days to make the journey. Three or four days could best spent in this area alone.

The only downside to the stunning scenery here is the giant aggressive blood-sucking bees that irritatingly followed us. I’m sure it looked pretty silly the way we were swatting at them as we walked everywhere. They looked like they could take a nice chunk of skin from you if they wanted to. Down the road a bit is an area called Salto del Petrohue. It didn’t look like much from the parking area, but once crossing a wooden foot-bridge there was a truly spectacular sight, incredible waterfalls with heavy rushing water rolling down and through huge volcanic rock. The water has carved its way through the stone over thousands of years. The color of the water was the most magnificent turquoise blue. Where the water was more still we could see how crystal clear and clean it was revealing the rocky bottom below. This is something everyone should see. It is truly an amazing world.

From the falls we made our way up the switchbacks of the mountain to Volcan Osorno at around 9,000ft. Unfortunately, the clouds were getting thicker and lower, hiding the top of the volcano. At the base of the volcano we got on a chair lift that took us about half way up, where we got off and walked to the red crater.

The volcano is a mountain of black heavy sand. It is nearly void of vegetation. Fairly ominous actually, especially with the dark clouds hovering at the time. The peak is covered in snow. During the winter it is a ski resort. From the highest point we were offered a most expansive aerial view of the Andes Mountains and Lake Llanquihue below. Standing there and taking it all in it was so quiet and peaceful. Wonderful.

Back down the mountain we stopped for a nice lunch in Ensenada overlooking the lake. Salmon all around, and Eduardo introduced us to Murta fruit juice. A small red berry that resembles a blueberry, sweet and tart. It only grows in the Ensenada area and it was yummy!

This area of Chile is incredibly beautiful and the people are so hospitable. Eduardo was an amazing guide and so much fun. The next trip to Chile we want to go further south and do a trekking tour through Patagonia and experience the glaciers and the Antarctic. It is a wonderfully diverse country with so much to see and do.

“Just Go!” The more time you spend simply daydreaming about far off places, the less time you have to experience all of the many wonders of this incredible world.