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Published: April 27th 2014
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Teahouses offering kuchen, shops selling dirndles and leiderhosen, enough elves to fill Santa's workshop--had I been transported to Germany? No, there was a huge lake backed by five snow-capped volcanoes--no volcanoes in Germany. Ah, yes, after a wild ride through the trackless fiords of Chilean Patagonia, I'd been deposited in the land of lakes.
The Chilean Lake District has picturesque lakes often overlooked by snowy volcanoes, rolling hills of green pastures dotted with cows, and 19c, German, wooden buildings constructed by the immigrants who settled the land. Two uber-charming towns, Puerto Varas and little Fruttiar, sit on the shores of the largest lake, LLanquihue.
Nearby, sits the bustling city of Puerto Montt, destroyed in the 1960 earthquake that leveled many coastal Chilean towns, and now rebuilt in a modern style. My next three blogs are their stories, but I'll start with most adorable, Fruttiar.
On a usual, cloudy, bone-chilling day, my roommates, Sabine and Tobias, and I boarded a little van from Puerto Montt, where we were staying, to Puerto Varas, hoping to see the famous five volcanoes floating above the lake. However, clouds obscured everything, so we continued on. Sabine and Tobias, from Frieberg, Germany, kept remarking how the buildings, the countryside and even the cows looked like the ones from home. We would soon learn why.
We arrived first in a very unpromising Fruttiar, but it was the upper, rather unattractive, Chilean part of town where workers lived. Lower Fruttiar, where we disembarked, was picturesque, touristy, German and spread along the lake.
Here, the painted, wooden buildings had sweet details, gardens were tourist perfect, and there wasn't a bit of litter in sight. We strolled these attractive streets, admiring the yummy looking kuchen, and along the lakefront with its gardens and sculptures.
I imagine the place would be hopping on a warm summer's day, but in the low season, it was perfectly quiet--we had the place to ourselves. Others might have described it as dead, but I prefer tranquility to the noise of cars and crowds. I would have loved to stay there, but there weren't any dorms or rooms even close to my price range even in the cold, cloudy, low season.
German Immigration and the German Colonial Historical Museum
In the 19c, both Chile and Argentina were keen to claim Patagonia, so they recruited European immigrants to settle there, offering them land and other benefits. Croatians, Italians and Slovakians went to southern Patagonia, while Germans settled the Lake Districts. Within thirty years, they had cleared the virgin forests around Lake Llanquihue and established towns and farms. Their heritage is evident everywhere and ties with the old country still strong.
A highlight of our visit was the Museo Historico Colonial Aleman, with reconstructions of a German colonial farm with the owner's mansion, overseer's home, a barn with bizarre tools and implements and a water mill for grinding wheat. The descriptive texts were in Spanish, English and German, so it was great fun being there with my German friends. The extensive museum was set among gorgeous gardens where we had a fine picnic and wandered the afternoon away.
Symphony Festival
For those loving classical music, Frutillar is known for its summer festival, and I'd long hoped to attend; however, it was autumn, so I'd missed it by a mile. Still, it was great to visit the impressive concert hall, built of various colored woods and jutting out over the lake. Then, I saw that there were concerts that very weekend.
I inquired about tickets and times and was disheartened to learn that the concerts began at 8, but the last bus left town at 9. Thus, those not staying in the expensive town would have to take an expensive taxi out of there. Rather elitist, in my opinion.
Fortunately, a year later, in a funky worker's hostel in Chillan, Chile, I had a TV that broadcast great classical concerts, including several from the Fruttiar summer festivals--all was not lost. I listened to Beethoven, sitting on my bed, but in my imagination, in the spacious, wooden concert hall. I did get to attend, after all!
My next blog will be about Puerto Montt, the ugly stepchild of the two lakeside gems, but which had a bit of magic and adventure if one took the time to look.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Traveling Chile
Chile has been on our short list for at least 3 years now. We've got to make a reservation. The lake with 5 snow capped volcanos sound lovely. Keep these jewels coming.