Patagonia - Puerto Varas, Chile

Puerto Varas was our first visit to Chile and we decided to take it easy and enjoy the town instead of going on more sightseeing excursions.  We had traveled 11 hours the day before and will have another extended travel day following so it was great to relax in the quiet town.  It was again intermittent sun and drizzle; we took advantage of the sunny periods to explore and took shelter in stores and cafés when it's raining. It was great to catch up on some people watching and food tasting.

We found a chocolate store in the morning - the brand store of Chilean choclatier Varsovienne.  The 85% dark was exceptionally good as was the dark chocolate ginger.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw on the box the warning label "Alto en calorias - Ministerio de Salud" (high in calories - Ministry of Health) when I got home.  The Chileans must be very health conscious people!  

The most visible landmark in Puerto Varas was the Church of the Sacred Heart at the top of the hill.  A wooden church clad with iron on the outside, a design based on German churches, it was declared a National Monument in Chile.  

At lunch we ate at Café Mamusia, where we saw lots of locals. It served Chilean specialties including the famous corn casserole "pastel de choclo".  It was delicious but very rich, with minced meat, chicken and egg besides corn - the corn was almost an afterthought! The place also had a bakery with all varieties of cakes and pastries. This being a town with a strong German presence, I knew we wouldn't be disappointed by the desserts and we were not.

We checked out some of the interesting houses in town with their scalloped sidings and managed to return to the hotel without having to open our umbrellas.  Dinner with the group at a restaurant near the hotel confirmed our guess that the Chileans enjoy food and are particular about their quality. It had been a good, relaxing visit.  


 

Puerto Varas waterfront

You can tell from the pavement we were in Puerto Varas!

Note the warning label!

Interesting buildings at the waterfront - note the thick carved pillars

Neat café truck

The Church of the Sacred Heart - we were surprised at the metal on the outside

 

Pastel de choclo (corn casserole)

Charming little girl playing with toy trucks - she entertained herself for more than an hour while her mom was on her phone

Some interesting buildings in town...

Note the scalloped sidings on these houses

The old style Hotel Cabana del Lago where we stayed

We were surprised to find quite a few birds around town!

A Southern Lapwing on the roof

A caracara lolling on the hotel fence

View of the town from the hotel

Good night, Puerto Varas!

Next post: Torres del Paine National Park

Patagonia - Andean Lakes crossing

We had two gorgeous days in Bariloche and were keeping our fingers crossed that the weather would hold for the much anticipated Andean Lakes crossing on our scheduled itinerary.  Unfortunately, that was not the case. It was dry when we set sail on Nahuel Huapi lake for the hour long ride to Puerto Blest, but as we approached Puerto Blest, it started to drizzle and continued on and off throughout the day.  To look on the positive side, rainy weather brought with it mist and fog which added another ambiance to the natural scenery.  And we still considered ourselves lucky as we were able to see a complete rainbow as we approached Petrohue and even a double rainbow when we got to Puerto Varas!  

It was a complicated journey, taking us eleven hours on three boats and four buses! It would have been a spectacular trip if it had been dry but we still tried to catch all the sights in the drizzle.  From Puerto Blest, the first stop, we boarded a bus for a short ride to Puerto Alegre.  We then hopped on another boat to cruise over Lake Frias to Puerto Frias where we departed Argentina and continued by bus to Peulla, where we entered Chile. The Chilean customs were very thorough checking everyone's luggage!  We walked from the customs house to the only hotel in town where we had lunch (the best Hake fish ever!) and then boarded another bus to the dock to set sail on Todos los Santos Lake.  The cruise on this lake was supposed to be spectacular with views of Mt. Osorno the beautiful symmetrical volcano, and also Mt. Tronado. As it was, all the mountain tops were fogged up and hidden.  We landed at Petrohue and took another bus to Puerto Varas. Petrohue Falls was on our itinerary but because of flooding and the subsequent landslide in the area, we had to bypass the falls. Well, at least, we were not caught in the landslide which was quite devastating from looking at what was left behind.

Puerto Varas welcomed us with a double rainbow - what more could we ask for!  We continued to hope the clouds would clear up the next day for a view of Mt. Osorno, but that was not to be.  It was a good thing this was the last of the bad weather and the rest of our trip was blessed with exceptionally amazing weather. 

View from the boat as we left Bariloche

The boat with our luggage in the back

First rainbow - Nahuel Huapi Lake

The gulls could tell there was food from miles away - all we had to do was raise our hand with a cracker in it and they will fly in pursuit of the boat

Got it!

Puerto Blest

The landscape reminded me of the cruise down the Yangtze river

View of the valley coming down from Mt. Tronador; when we caught a glimpse of Mt. Tronador, it looked very different from what we saw on the Argentinian side.

The guide called this a "mirthal tree".  I thought she might have meant "myrtle" but this tree has a huge trunk.

We got the intermittent blue skies in between the dramatic dark clouds and mist

Dramatic skies on the way to Peulla

A farm raising angus cows

The weather changed quickly from one minute to the next.  This is the same view looking out the hotel restaurant window

Cruising on Todos los Santos Lake towards Petrohue

A full rainbow with very intense colour on its foot

All we could see of Mt. Osorno

From Puerto Varas we could see the perfect conical base

A double rainbow in Puerto Varas!