Travel broadens the mind...

Continuing my tour of the Lakes District I arrived in Puerto Varas, a quaint little city (though claiming to be the tourist capital of Chile) on Lago Llanquihue. I had few plans of things that I wanted to do, but it did appear that this was a lake paradise and a great base for outdoor activities in the area.

I spent the first day in Puerto Varas walking around the city, taking in the sights, sounds and, though cloudy, beautiful view of the lake, hills, and distant mountains and volcanoes. The city/area lies in the valley between the Andes and the ocean and is loaded with agriculture and fishing industries. This “low lands” position is contrasted by spectacular views of three nearby volcanoes. On a clear day the view that of a postcard: an immense lake, sometimes with sailing, fishing boats and water activities in the foreground, framed by three snow-capped volcanoes in the background. After a day of wandering, I found myself in the downtown area, where the municipality had blocked off a street and was holding a free concert. The band, a talented group from Santiago, played a mix of Spanish and English funk/”groove” covers.

Day two found me wanting to explore the lake area, so I hopped on a micro bus and made my way to nearby Frutillar, another small town on the lake. I got off the bus in Frutillar Alto and after wandering around the area made the 3km walk down to Frutillar bajo and the lake. The town itself was very interesting: a mix of tourist draws (a big casino under construction on the water) and massive German influence (houses, cafes, food, layouts, etc. that appeared to me to be straight out of the Black Forest; or since I haven’t been to the Black Forest, rather only seen pictures, the town was much like I pictured the Black Forest area to be).

That night I met up with Jim Hunglemann, a friend of my dad’s from Boise. Jim worked for many years for the Simplot Corporation and several until years ago when he bought a potato company and moved to southern Chile. With Simplot Jim has traveled all over the world and seen a great deal in terms of people, cultures, and business and he is an intense outdoor activities nut. But with all this he’s still a very low-key, fairly humble guy. Needless to say we have gotten along pretty well and throughout my time in Puerto Varas he has been a very interesting guy to talk to on just about any topic.

After dinner with Jim I headed back to my hostel looking for a low key night so that I could get an early start for my adventure the next day. What adventure? As I was looking for views of and activities in the mountains, lakes, and volcanoes nearby, and the weather was and would continue to be cloudy and so-so for several days, I decided to chase the sun over to Bariloche, Argentina. There are generally two ways to get there: a bus north through Osorno or a series of buses and ferries through the Andes Mountains known as the lakes crossing. Since I was looking for a bit of adventure and wanted to get out into the outdoors I decided to find a third path, which was to be a mixture of hiring fishing boats, hiking, and ferries along the Andes Crossing trail to Bariloche. I would start out first thing in the morning, and on the way to the lake do a hike to a refugio on Volcano Osorno.

But of course, when I got back to the hostel, everyone was in the main room, sitting around drinking, chatting, and having a good time. And of course I had to join them. My low key night turned into three hours of “partying” at the hostel, and then wandering across the street to the bar where the Chilean couple from Antofagasta that I was chatting with insisted on buying round after round after round for me and the few other people in the group. All and all it was a good night, one that I wouldn’t have passed up, but as I would learn made a difficult start to the trek ahead the next day.