The sleepy towns of Puerto Varas and Chiloe Island...

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A fews days at the tip of Patagonia to rejuvenate was next on our agenda...we travelled to the German settlement of Puerto Varas (pop 32,000). It was raining when we arrived but the lake view from my room window was still pretty stunning! Our hostel was 5 older homes that had been connected by passage ways so we spent some time getting lost as we tried to find our rooms and then each other! I was in need of some tea and journal time so a few of us found a cozy cafe overlooking the lake and spent the rest of the afternoon sipping green tea, submarinos (a stick of chocolate melted in warm milk), and eating pastries. We chatted, played cards, read, and relaxed :) Wonderful day!

Our day on Chiloe Island was very cool. There are shingled homes resting on cement blocks (due to the moisture) and wooden churches dotting the island. These churches are around 200 years old and preserved as a Unesco World Heritage Site. It was the most rural location we had been to and it was interesting to see how the indigenous Chonos and Huilliche interacted with the Spaniards...they seemed to blend together better and more harmoniously than mainland Chile. We were able to have lunch with a local family who made us curanto which is meat, potatoes and shellfish smoked in giant leaves underground with hot stones. I´ve never had so many delicious things on my plate before!!

Back in Puerto Varas we headed out for more seafood for dinner...no complaints from me ;) I shared a seafood platter with crab, salmon, barnacle, abalone, mussels, and king clams...ummm, it was probably one of the best meals of my life! I´ve also been sampling the Chilean wine as we´ve been making our way south and I´ve been spoiled with so many delicious grapes - I think Carmenere is my favourite thus far...

Off to Bariloche, Argentina tomorrow for some much anticipated boarding...

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