Travel Blog » South America » Chile » Los Lagos

Los Lagos Travel Blogs

Background: Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its independence in 1810, decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. In the War of the Pacific (1879-84), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia and won its present northern lands. A three-year-old Marxist government of Salvador ALLENDE was overthrown in 1973 by a dictatorial military regime led by Augusto PINOCHET, who ruled until a freely elected president was installed in 1990. Sound economic policies, maintained consistently since the 1980s, have contributed to steady growth and have helped secure the country's commitment to democratic and representative government. Chile has increasingly assumed regional and international leadership roles befitting its status as a stable, democratic nation.

Chile

Map of Chile

Chile's Flag

Recommended Books:

Hostels in Chile
Latest Los Lagos Blog Entries
Los Lagos Photos

By cjfrank
March 30th 2008

Definitely not Kansas, Toto.

South America » Chile » Los Lagos

Po, estoy aquí, en Valdivia ¡por fin! I won’t bore you with the travel stuff, which really isn’t too exciting for anyone other than me; instead, let me list some of the impressions I’ve had of the South American continent so far. Oh, but I should warn you that I unfortunately have no pictures for you as of yet, since I never thought to bring the camera mount necessary from USBing my camera into the computer. So…soon. Trust me, they’re worth the wait! First impression: even though everyone keeps telling me otherwise, it’s very green here. You don&rsq [View Full Entry]

By Jono Dahna
March 30th 2008

Partying Puerto Monte... and climbing of course

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

Michael's didge
Even just seeing it makes me feel at home. I asked Michael who he knew that had been to Australia. Turns out his friend got it for him from Santiago, and I felt dumb. Then he and Jose realised that Jo... [more]

So, we made it out of Cochomo with all limbs in tack but plenty of scratches to show for it. Oh, and a pile of very very dirty clothes. My hiking pants will never look the same again, forever carrying Cochomo dirt in the pores of fabric, which is kind of nice or memory''s sake. Who needs photos when you can just collect dirt in your clothing instead. Scratch and sniff style. Haha. They do say that your memory is triggered by scent more than visual cues. I experienced this later, when I was washing my clothes at our friends place [View Full Entry]

By Ant and Jenny
March 24th 2008

Into the Wild

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

Empanadas
Empenadas are about the only Chilean food around. Most of the time people scoff Completos (hot dogs) of plates of chips, chorrizo and fried eggs which have a name but I can't remember it.

Consider the mullet. No dad, not the fish, the haircut. Like any rare breed, it has pockets of popularity, in the case of the mullet these are East London, Eastern Europe, Australia, the deep south of the United States and South America. In all but one of these places, the mullet succeeds only in making its owner appear to be a cretin. The mullet can reveal a good many things about the owner; inbreeding, a love of country and western music, low intellect or high radiation levels in the blood. It is only in South America where the mullet is worn [View Full Entry]

By Philandchloe
March 22nd 2008

Chepu kayaking experience - the untouched Chile (Chiloe)

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island

The river was crystal clear and there was silence literally all day

Ecotourism at its best Chepu - what a fantastic place! We hesitated to come to Chepu as we weren’t sure how easy it would be to get here but we’re so glad we did. We were picked up from the bus by Fernando, one half of the company ´Mirador do Chepu´. He and his wife Amory have set up a fantastic company running kayaking as well as trekking and penguin tours. It was very inspirational to hear how they’d moved from their life in Santiago to set up an eco friendly home in Chiloe. They’d managed to build their own home [View Full Entry]

By Philandchloe
March 19th 2008

Chiloe, Chile - The land of wool

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island

Some amusing wooly dolls in the market
The market sellers in Chiloe have lots of wooly objects!

The capital of Chiloe We arrived in Castro after a rather long and smelly 40-hour bus journey - not fun but hopefully the longest of our trip. Luckily we weren’t disappointed with our destination. Picture postcard houses, friendly people and good food greeted us here in Castro - the capital of Chiloe, an island just off the coast of Chile. We also felt like we’d got off the LP trail a bit as there were fewer gringos (tourists) around. We spent our first day wandering around Castro taking in: * the ´palafitos´ - houses on stilts which were generally a bit [View Full Entry]

By El Scook Y Natalia
March 16th 2008

¡Dude! ¿donde está mi coche?

South America » Chile » Los Lagos

Volcanoes and Waterfalls

Somewhat surprisingly for a region known for its generally vast expanses, Patagonia can feel like a bit of a small world at times! You tend to see the same faces on the same boats, buses, and trails. With this in mind, when Rob & Lindsay (an English couple we met on the Navimag) suggested hiring a car with the intention of getting off the ´Gringo Trail´, we jumped at the chance. The car in question was authentically Latin American, by which I mean to say totally knackered. Miraculously it survived the 7 day road trip, but not without incident, breakdown, and [View Full Entry]

By El Scook Y Natalia
March 10th 2008

Cargo

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

Floats my boat
The humble Navimag

The southern part of Chile is composed of hundreds of tiny islands, and only a small strip of mainland. One of the best ways of travelling up the coast is via the Navimag ferry, a big cargo ship that has been adapted slightly (and I mean slightly!) to allow tourists to make the trip too. Other cargo included food, scrap metal, mattresses, and sheep! We bid a fond farewell to my (almost) namesake town Puerto Natales (which has the attractions of the best pizza restaurant we've encountered so far in Latin America, and a dried fruit and nut shop blasting out [View Full Entry]

By Jono Dahna
March 7th 2008

Pause between adventures

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Varas

exhausted in Bariloche

We hung out in Bariloche for a night when we got back from the great cathederal of rock, then caught a bus to Puerto Varas the next day. We managed to find a hostel that was not too much of a back breaking walk from the bus station. It cost 5000 pesos a night each (about $11) just to camp in the backyard, so it was a little on the pricey side, but nice enough. I often sleep better in a tent then in a dorm, so I was looking forward to a good night. Except there happened to be a [View Full Entry]

Bariloche bathrooms as small as they come

By NickiG
March 7th 2008

Navimag and the Chilean Fjords

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

My C Class bunk
..which was actually really comfy!

Well we got to Puerto Montt on time with the Pachamamas and so we got tickets for the 4 day 'cruise' (to use the word in its lightest sense!) to Puerto Natales. The ticket included all meals (of which we got seconds most days), dorm-style bunk bed in lowly C class (they separated us from the A's in case we infected them with our low budgets!) and lectures or movies each day. On the way down, we passed glaciers and mountains and even saw dolphins and whales! We had talks on the local indigenous people and glaciation and they were only [View Full Entry]

By jasonwu
March 5th 2008

Chiloé Escape

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island

Church of Castro
This is a fine example of Chiloe's wooden architecture.

I went to the island of Chiloé (Chee-low-ay) hoping to find few tourists, peace, quiet, and time to read, write and meditate. Well, I certainly found it. After a 17 hour bus ride, I arrived to an island with beautiful landscapes and quiet seaside villages. As soon as I got there, I wandered around the city of Castro, Chiloé´s largest city. The island is known for its culture of wooden architecture, especially its churches. I visited Castro´s church and was very impressed how beautiful it was. It was definitely unique. Since I was alone, I had an amazing amount of liberty [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » South America » Chile » Los Lagos