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Published: January 17th 2007
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Border crossings are sent to try us! This one added a good 2 hours onto our journey. We had to queue (that’s stand in line to some of my friends - you know who you are!) in seat number order and we were processed strictly in that order. Unfortunately some travellers didn’t seem to care about this (can you guess where they are from?) and tried to ignore the instruction. It didn’t work and we eventually got processed, STRICTLY in that order! Add to that the swarms of horseflies and it was all a bit irritating.
Once we got going the views were magnificent. Volcano Osorno is omnipresent in this region and it dominates the view with every turn. Wow, it is sooooo impressive. And once we arrived in Puerto Varas we were impressed to see this giant looking across at us from the other side of Lake Llanquihue. The beaches were packed and there were lots of people in the water, but glacial breezes and mountain lake swimming send shivers down my spine just thinking about them! Needless to say we didn’t join them.
The town of Puerto Varas is very German in style and has a nice
Damned Horsefly
And it wouldn´t even sit still long enough to be photographed! feel about it, a good place to relax and unwind after a stressful border crossing! We took a short bus trip to the nearby town of Frutillar which is even more German in style. The afternoon “café y kuchen” was excellent. A new theatre is being built out on the lake and the coming music festival dominates billboards. Along the lakeside path are reminders of Frutillar’s musical association as witnessed by the treble clef cum Christmas tree which was very unusual.
We tried to do some walking in the nearby National Park but were thwarted. The bus to Ensenada took about 40 minutes. No sooner were we off the bus and walking along the road when swarms of horseflies (similar to those at the border) descended on us. The guidebooks do warn that this can happen in December and January.
Instead we returned to Puerto Varas where we climbed the hill to Parque Philippi. At the top is a large metal cross which looks to me like a leftover teleferrico support or electricity pylon. A very strange monument to religion! From there we walked back down but it would have been possible to zip-ride canopy cables through the
A close up view
through the binoculars trees had we felt the need. Then it was off to see the church, built in a German style as a replica of the church in Mariankirche, in the Black Forest.
Back to the volcano then, and we were shocked in the mornings to find the skies overcast and the volcano completely obscured. Late morning sees the cloud breaking up and by mid afternoon there’s not a cloud in the sky and the beaches are full again. At sunset the snow cap reflects the golden colours and resembles an orange sorbet. Apparently a full moon at night also gives it an eerie glow but we missed out on that one!
Puerto Varas has been a nice break, but tomorrow we move on to Chiloe.
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nat
non-member comment
cute!
what a cute place!!! and oh my god, that volcano! p.s. i know what a 'queue' is!