The Lake District

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Valdivia

Kuche, anyone? What about a schop? Does anyone need a BischoffHaus? Yup, that's right... it's German country! Valdivia is known as the German capital of Chile, and I arrived on Hangover Day! It´s not an actual holiday... it's my way of saying that I visited Valdivia a day after the end of a 5-day Bierfest. In fact, the most popular - and maybe important place to visit is the Kunstmann beer factory, where allegedly the best beer in Chile is made. I walked the 4km to see what this place is all about and got there far too early. I didn't think it worth waiting around for, so I caught a colectivo back into town.

Valdivia is a large cluster of German-style buildings set around a wide river with it's own little port, complete with a fish market, gulls, and fat, lazy sea lions. Somehow it reminded me a lot of the Fraser Valley. Maybe it was the wild berries that populated the roadsides...

Puerto Varas

Another German town, but this one is set along Lake Llanquihue, a pretty lake nestled in between volcanos Osorno and Calbuco. Puerto Varas depends heavily on tourism both by locals and foreigners and benefits greatly from the fact that it is a cheaper place to stay at than the more interesting nearby town of Frutillar. The town center feels like what I would imagine to be a more European town, especially due to the architecture. Its setting is phenomenal - I went for a jog along the lake two mornings in a row and found absolutely no reason to pick another route the second day. In fact, the second run I did was the morning after a gloomy, rainy afternoon which left puddles everywhere. The sun happened to hit the puddles just right to make them perfect reflections of the sky above. It felt like I was running among clouds.

However, despite its beautiful location Puerto Varas has little else to speak of except for a smattering of artisan shops and a traveling hang player who was there at the moment.

Frutillar

Like Puerto Varas, a lakeside town with little more craft shops to draw tourists' attention. One week a year Frutillar transforms and puts on a very nice musical festival. I happened to stumble across Frutillar in that week. As a result I was lucky enough to attend a concert by a Chilean winds quintet who put on a stellar concert with pieces by Advis (Chilean) and Paquito de Rivera (Cuban). Adding to the mood were the waves crashing against the lakeside music hall and the gorgeous scenery showcasing mount Osorno.

I would like to watch more concerts, but traveling calls.

Isla Chiloe

This place is on the north tip of the island of Chiloe. Chiloe is an island in Chile that Chileans rave about and Argentineans slight. But I had to check it out. I based myself out of Ancud, where I took the cheapest hostal I could find. This hostal turned out to be a 25 min. uphill walk from the town center (which made it cheaper) but was situated on a mirador (island lookout) so it offered some excellent views of Ancud and the ocean. Ancud happens to be the last Spanish outpost in Chile, so I visited a couple small forts with old canons. As well, I visited the dock where a crowd had gathered. I saw nothing special that might attract so many people, so I just walked around. I was shown some sad and even sour faces which I thought were rather unfriendly. I even got the impression that I was being impolite or something... Only later I saw on the news in the hostal that a group of people who had gone out in a yacht during a procession disregarding the better judgment of the coast guards had drowned that evening. I learn more and more that water is absolutely essential to us but utterly deadly.

I arrived on a beautiful day but nightfall brought with it strong winds and heavy rain. The depressing weather persisted throughout the entire next day.

So it happened that I had to brave the rainy, windy weather to visit the island. I visited the towns of Castro, Dalcahue, and Achao. Not too many aspects of the island stand out except for a few notable sights. Castro, the capital of Chiloe, is of interest to the curious because of its stilt-houses, called palafitos. Not only are they entirely suspended on stilts, they are painted in very cheerful pastel colours. I ventured underneath one of these houses to scope out their construction which is, I guess, pretty sturdy. Also in Castro one can find one of the 13 heritage churches of Chiloe, all of which are made of wood. This, I guess, makes them special. The very first church, which is in Achao, doesn't even have nails. Instead the builders used wooden dowels to hold the church together. There are tours entirely devoted to visiting these churches which are considered heritages sites by UNESCO.

Chiloe also boasts a gastronomical curiosity called the curanto, which consists of potatos, meat, and shellfish cooked with hot coals in the ground. This is very similar to the Peruvian pachamanca and is a tourist magnet. Weaving is another tour de force of the Chiloeans who claim to have a unique way with the wool. I personally found their weaving to be different than in other places because it was such a coarse weave that artisans from other places wouldn't even try to sell such a thing. This is the impression I got from Chiloe: in their effort of attracting tourism to the area, Chiloeans have in a way patented the low quality of their products to market it as something unique to Chiloe. Maybe I am wrong in my amateur assessment of their churches and their woolen creations.

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