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Posted on January 20, 2012 by angela
Things here in Frutillar, Chile have been great. We stumbled upon a great place to hang out while Jason’s gone. But we haven’t done much, sort of a little break from traveling I guess.
Our cabin is nice, pretty small but it has a toaster and a microwave so that seems really deluxe. The floor is covered with cars, legos and army men. We sleep in, we do some work, we go to the beach. We thought about going to the museum, but ‘the best museum of German colonial history in the area’ didn’t really grab us.
I also wanted to go see The Magic Flute, but Bode said he’d rather climb the rock wall and play chess. That sounds pretty good, too.
Posted on January 19, 2012 by angela
Once the sun finally came out, Bode and I found out why this lakeside resort was so popular. It’s beautiful.
From the lake, there are views of 3 volcanoes on a clear day. There is a long sandy insect-free beach that runs the entire length of town and enterprising hippies have found just about every distraction anyone could want. Trampolines, bouncy houses and Bode’s favorite- a rock wall.
Posted on January 17, 2012 by angela
Since it was raining pretty hard, we drove to Puerto Varas. It was billed as the next Pucon, so Bode and I thought we’d kick it here for week while Jason went back to the ole US of A. We tried, we really did. We drove around, we looked at hotels, hostels, cabanas and hospedajes. They were either all booked or way too expensive. I had a running list of reasons I didn’t want to camp for a week with Bode, and the rain was at the top.
And after a few hours, the sky cleared a bit so we just blew out of there and decided to keep going around the lake.
Frutillar was listed as expensive and the beach was packed with tourists on vacation. But without too much effort we were able to find a cabana for a couple nights, much cheaper than in Puerto Varas. It rained again for the next 2 days, so we were thrilled to have a little more space and shelter.
Frutillar is quaint and cute. But, the Über-German-ness seems a tad forced. It’s got a nice beach and a rock wall Bode has been eyeing, so this will be our home-base until Jason returns. It’s been 3 years since we’ve been apart. I’m kind of looking forward to it!
Posted on January 13, 2012 by angela
We seem to be losing in the game of outrunning the ash of the temperamental volcano Puyehue. We left Entre Lagos in search of clearer skies, but didn’t really have a destination. So, we followed the dusty path to the town of Puerto Octay… described as “quaint” and “German”. A bit of a stretch in our opinion. We stopped at the town square to pick up some empanadas for lunch and stumbled upon a big bike race that was going to start soon. Not exactly the weather I’d pick for a bike race. The day was still hazy so we decided to keep driving.
Out of town, we also passed by many overland bicyclists. Apparently this is a well-known route for them, too. But the ash and the enormous biting insects made their ride look unbearable.
We drove around the lake to Ensenada. Another town we thought we might stop at. It is summer vacation here in Chile, and the lake towns are packed with holidaymakers. Every one of them carrying a tree branch and swatting away the giant flies.
We drove up to the foot of Volcan Osorno thinking we could camp there. It was a beautiful drive, and Red Beard made it up with little problem. The area we were told had camping had a big sign that said no camping, so after a quick look around and some photos, we started down. When we reached town, the bike race participants from Puerto Octay were just starting the climb. Bugs were circling them as they climbed the volcano, and they all looked pretty miserable.
There are two campsites on the outskirts of Puerto Varas, the cheaper one being about $36 USD for 24 hours. When you pack a extended Chilean family in there for an all-day asada, maybe that isn’t a big expense. But when you arrive at 8pm and just really want to make some noodles and sleep it seems exorbitant. No discount for 12 hours.
We haven’t seen rain in a long time, and we have apparently come far enough south to start seeing green and wet landscapes again.
And then, the storm came. It was windier than Aunt Edna after 7-bean casserole.
Bode had zero interest in sleeping in the pop-top in the storm, so all three of us were down below, along with all our possessions (we did leave the bike outside). In the morning, we packed up from the inside and took off to explore Puerto Varas.
Posted on January 12, 2012 by angela
We successfully outran the ash falling around Lago Ranco when we made it to the town of Entre Lagos on Lake Puyehue. It was a beautiful day, and we had excellent views of the smoke and ash spewing out the top of Volcan Puyehue on the other side of the lake. this is the volcano that has been causing so much grief in this part of the world. As long as the wind is blowing away from us, all is good.
The town was cute and the city beach came complete with a huge rocket slide and rowboats for hire. And oddly, after seeing hardly any fruits and vegetables that looked edible for the last few towns, the small store here had everything…even corn (haven’t seen that in about 6 months). Our campsite, right on the lake shore was excellent, so we decided to kick it here for a few days.
But, another shift of the wind during the night, and the next day was a complete haze of ash. You couldn’t see across the lake and our mouths felt like someone had thrown dirt in them. We spent most of our second day watching movies in the bus. Even a quick walk to the store left me out of breath. Business as usual, I suppose, but time for us to keep moving.
Posted on January 11, 2012 by angela
On our way out of Niebla, we visited one of the old forts that used to protect the city of Valdivia nearly 400 years ago. The museum contained all sorts of cannon balls and weaponry, so it was a big hit with Bode. Our favorite tidbit was the ‘red hot ball’ – a Polish method of heating the cannon balls until they are red hot – used to set ships on fire. Cool stuff.
Next we headed to Lago Ranco. We were following signs to an off-the-beaten path camp site on the eastern side of the lake when we noticed a small mirador in the middle of the forest. We hoped out to take a look, and were stunned to see this beautiful waterfall and blue pool behind all the trees. Not really marked nor visible from anywhere other than this small landing. Totally incredible.
We made it to the campsite, where Jason and Bode ran off to swim in the lake. I stayed behind to set up camp, but 10 minutes later Bode ran back up to me and told me I HAD to come see something cool. We were running down to the lake when I saw Jason neck deep in what we had thought was a sandbar in the lake. Mud? Nope, floating volcanic rocks. They’d come down the river from Volcan Puyehue (the volcano blowing ash into Argentina and cutting short our lake district trip there). They ranged in size, the largest about baked potato sized, the smallest you could break in half with your hands. Swimming in it felt like a sort of spa-treatment. And later, when the wind picked up, the clacking of rocks sounded as if we were listening to waves at the ocean.
Later, three guys pulled in and started setting up their tent at the other side of the campground. Bode ran over to ‘show them the coolest thing in the world’. Turns out they were all English speakers (a Brit, American and Canadian) here studying the volcano. They are geologists and had gotten funding to fly to Chile and hike up volcanoes. So, to Sam, my nephew studying Geology at UT–keep it up. What a cool job.
The giant biting flies had been swarming us – not fun at all. The fire I lit to smoke them out wasn’t really working. So we had already decided to leave the next morning. too bad, as this is a really interesting area and there seem to be some interesting possibilities for exploring around nearby lakes and volcanoes.
Finally, the wind shifted and sealed the deal. By morning, white ash covered everything outside and we had a bit of difficulty breathing. You could feel grit in your throat. So we headed south to see if we could get away from it. They volcano guys, well, they decided to hike up the volcano again.
Posted on January 9, 2012 by angela
We headed out from Coñaripe along the southern edge of the lake and it’s really scenic. We stopped for a break at Panguipulli and hit the playground. Our world-tour of playgrounds continues.
For some reason, this area is the epicenter of steam engines in Chile. They are everywhere around here – in people’s front yards, parks, rusting out in fields. Jason had talked to someone the other day about them and they said they were used for threshing and the guy fondly remembered his 12 and 15 hp British models.
Afterward, we continued on to Valdivia.
Valdivia, Chile is known for, well… beer. Bode insisted we hit two breweries.
Kunstmann felt sort of like that pea soup place between LA and SF. The unfiltered lager was good, but we failed to finish the giant plate of meat we got on the side.
Salzburg was less of a tourist attraction, and a bit cheaper. But, the beer wasn’t as good.
Aside from the breweries, the town seemed to be shut down, so we continued another 20 km or so to the beaches near Niebla . That’s where we found everyone.
Niebla is a little beach town that has a few old forts, a few nice beaches, and lot’s of drunk locals. We managed to avoid hitting anyone staggering across the highway.
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