http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Chile , Los Lagos en-us Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:01:42 BST Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:01:42 BST Nach den wunderschoenen Tagen in Chiles Hauptstadt verlassen wir am Samstagabend Santiago mit dem Nachtbus und fahren immer weiter nach Sueden. Durch die wunderschoenen gruenen Huegel und Seen wir fuehlen uns wie in Irland geht es mit Bus und Schiff weiter nach ca. 17 Stunden erreichen wir die Insel Chiloe eine Insel die ungefaehr so gross wie Korsika ist. In der Hauptstadt Castro ange http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-313743.html RossFrom Bariloche we caught an 8 hour bus over the border to Puerto Varas in Chile. Rumours had been flying around about poor road conditions over the Andes but after a 30 minute wait on the Argentine side of the border the authorities allowed us through. Heavy snowfall meant that the roads were fairly covered but we eventually arrived at the Chilean checkpoint of Villa La Angostura and headed o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-312520.html We hired a car and went to see the Saltos de Petrohue today. It is an amazing set of rapidswaterfalls. We spent quite a bit of time exploring the national park. It was pretty cold and windy at the waters edge but the rapids were amazing to see. I could have spent ages just watching them but it was too cold to hang around. There were lots of little paths through different sections of the park http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-311296.html We left Pucon early for a five hour bus journey to Puerto Varas. Managed to sleep quite a bit on the bus which was good as I was pretty tired. Puerto Varas was another smallish town with views of two volcanoes from the lake. I preferred Pucon though it just had a nicer feel about it. Luna and I walked around part of the lake in one direction and managed to pick up some friends along the way http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-311280.html Mandag d. 7 Juli ChileKrte gennem demarker og skove. Virkelig flot i grnselandet mellem chile og argentina. Hele vores bil blev checket igennem. S er det ogs prvet.Endte i noget som nok bedst kan beskrives som vrende Danmark. Grnne marker som var mindre end i argentina. Som om vi var kommet hjem hvilket ville vre meget kedeligt. Fandt et motel en times tid fra den chilenske grnse som http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-303790.html Our first bus journey from Santiago to Pucon was very comfortable and we arrived into the town early. Having slept almost all the way waking up and having to get out into the freezing cold wet weather was some wakeup call We had hoped for snow here and were a little disappointed that it was actually raining. Pulling ourselves and our brains into gear we realised that it was 8am on a Sunday mo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-288917.html The Chiloe archipelago is the northernmost part of the frayed edge of Chile that tattered jumble of islands and fjords that starts south of Puerto Montt and continues for nearly 3000km down to Cape Horn. The blending of local and Spanish traditions has resulted in an identity different from that of the mainland with the rural feel and beachfree nature of the islands keeping tourist numbers do http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-284755.html I'd heard that Volcan Chaiten had been depositing ash on a couple of places further south that I'd intended visiting so with no wish to look any greyer than I already do I went west instead. The journey across the Andes and down into Chile provided some views of the volcanoes that punctuate the landscape here with a menace not conferred on mere mountains. Volcan Osorno possessing a shape of w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-282559.html Hola AmigosHope everyone is well and enjoying the good weather back home. We made it to Chile after a bit of a monster flight from Auz and have been dossing around the Lake District for the past couple of weeks. First impressions of Chile Well it is a lot colder than any of the other countries we have visited wearing a pair of socks and long trousers again took a bit of getting used to but i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-281252.html Hola todos The Island of Chiloe saw us travelling in the company of Christian and Marij for much of the way. Amidst the grey skies we tried our hand at hitch hiking again this time with much more success. The local chiloteans were very accommodating and gave us quite a few lifts to various corners of the island. Chiloe was quite a different landscape to where we have been used to with few mount http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-272919.html Let me start by thanking everyone that was kind enough to remember my birthday. It was an unforgettable event in an incredible locale. I woke up at 5 AM which is 4 AM by my body clock on Thursday April 10th Happy Birthday Diane to get to the bus station in time for my 630 departure. Despite the early arrival of my cab there were a few moments of tension trying to figure out how to unlo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-270734.html Chiloe an island off the coast of Chile is promoted as being a tranquil undeveloped and beautiful island with a country feel and a very strong and interesting culture. One of the hostels we were looking forward to staying in was promoted in our lonely plant book and a travel brochure as being a seaside hostel in a beautiful coastal town Chonchi with a friendly host that took you on tours of h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-270580.html This is a second attempt at a travel blog the first having been accidentally deleted by me in late March. Without notes or a backup I have done my best to recount my travel and experiences though perhaps with slightly less enthusiasm this round. Lets call this experiment my way of putting out into the public domain the highlights of this particular tour to both avoid repeating myself in emai http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-268276.html Day 175 Arriving in the Chilean Lake districtAlthough not raining when I got up this morning the dark grey clouds outside didn't look too promising. I had initially thought that I'd stay a bit longer in Castro and visit the national park of Chiloe but what with the weather and the fact that there don't seem to be too many tourists around at this time of year I've since had second thoughts. I' http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-268100.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-267466.html Day 172 Buses Planes and Boats and the final destination well who knowsWe've gone on holiday by mistake Withnail in 'Withnail and I'So here I am in a random town called Ancud on the Chiloe islands in the South of Chile. To be honest I didn't actually mean to come here but was heading a couple of hours further south. Unfortunately things got a bit delayed earlier in the day and I did http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-267406.html 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 i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-262798.html Po estoy aqu en Valdivia por fin I wonrsquot bore you with the travel stuff which really isnrsquot too exciting for anyone other than me instead let me list some of the impressions Irsquove 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 USBi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-261122.html 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 inbr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-259284.html Ecotourism at its best Chepu what a fantastic place We hesitated to come to Chepu as we werenrsquot sure how easy it would be to get here but wersquore 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 inspiration http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-258688.html The capital of ChiloeWe arrived in Castro after a rather long and smelly 40hour bus journey not fun but hopefully the longest of our trip. Luckily we werenrsquot 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 wersquod got off the LP trail a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-258139.html 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 questi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-256727.html 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 dormstyle 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 pas http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-255764.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-254841.html I went to the island of Chilo Cheeloway 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 Chilos largest city. The island is known for its culture of wooden architec http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-253198.html I arrived in Puerto Montt mid afternoon and catch a bus straight to the small town of Puerto Varas about 30min away. Every summer this staid and manicured former German colony is besieged by visitors international backpakers and chilians alike. This quant little town is set on the shores of Lake Llanquihue and on a clear day you have arresting lake views of Volcan Osorno. While the town is rap http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-251143.html Liebe LeserWir haben wieder festen Boden unter den Fuessen und sind darueber nicht mal besonders gluecklich. Unsere kleine Kreuzfahrt war naemlich aeusserst angenehm und sie haette fuer unseren Geschmack sogar noch etwas laenger dauern duerfen.Am Anfang war jedoch vor allem eines langes Warten. Da sich eine Woche zuvor ein bdquoUnfallldquo auf der Faehre ereignet hatte eine englische Schausp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-250019.html Eilisiltana lahdin viela kaymaan lahibaarissa enka paassyt sen pidemmalle. Yhdessa poydassa pelattiin shakkia. Jain katsomaan pelia ja paasin sitten itsekin pelaamaan. Voitin useimmat pelini. Baari tuli valilla tayteen vakea ja juttelin myos muiden asiakkaiden kanssa.Eilen olin pohtinut sita olisinko ostanut 12000 pesolla pakettimatkan kansallispuistoon. En ostanut. Tuli nukuttua pitkaan ja vasta http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-247374.html Hyvin nukuttu yo. Runsas aamiainen leipaa ja lisukkeita riittaa. Majapaikkana on siis httpkolping.clindex.phppid12 Eilisen paivan olin ilman kahvia ja alkoholia. Kahvia tuli juotua taas tana aamuna. Eilisiltana oli hyva tilaisuus taas tarkkailla etelaista tahtitaivasta. Tunnistan jo Etelan Ristin Kentaurin Klin ja Purjeen tahdistot.Vein pyykit pesulaan. Poikkesin puukirkossa. Tulin kats http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-246938.html Fri 21508I canrsquot believe this trip is all but over. Itrsquos been as good if not better than I expected and though I originally thought it would be a onceinalifetime trip Irsquom pretty sure Irsquoll be back if Irsquom able to in a few years. Therersquos just so much worth seeing again and lots of things I didnrsquot have time for in one trip. Antarctica was of course specta http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-246649.html