http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Chile , Los Lagos en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:29:53 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:29:53 +0000 Vik's bitIntrigued by the sound of a place still steeped in legend and folklore as a result of its isolated status we set off on the ferry for the islands of Chiloe off the coast of mainland Chile. Our first stop was in the small town of Ancud a perfectly ordinary place with extraordinary seafood. But entrusting our choice to the Lonely Planet's wisdom we stayed here only one night before o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/Castro/blog-459564.html Here we are in Frutillar we have had two days here for a bit of bike and body maintenance.Below are blogs from Mike V Bones and Gerardo.Cheers RoscoHola aqu estoy otra vezPuerto Guadal to CoyhaiqueLeaving Puerto Guadal we were immediately into a bumpy dirt road which turned out to be a short cut onto Ruta 7 Carretera Austral which was actually not that much less bumpy. This was the route http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-457916.html Semaine 19 De retour au Chili par la CordillereApres avoir change de plans au moins 4 ou 5 fois quant a mon itineraire jai finalement decide de passer du cote Chilien. Pour passer la cordillere des Andes entre le Chili et lArgentine il y a plusieurs passages. Bien sur jai choisi le moins facile un trajet ou il faut prendre depuis Bariloche un bus jusqua puerto Pauelo puis un bateau j http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-455597.html We arrived in Osorno and walked to a hostel that we had found in the guidebook. We got all settled in before anyone asked how much it would cost. Some people were unhappy with the cost so we ended up leaving to find a different hostel. We checked into a different hostel. It was a bit cheaper and had a kitchen that we could use. We walked to the store to get food and drinks. We went back to the hos http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-454882.html From Castro we took a bus directly to Peurto Varas skipping Puerto Montt which is an unattractive place with little to see or do.Happily the weather was being kind to us again when we arrived it was cold but clear and dry we can live with that. Like all of the lakes and rivers in this part of the world the water here is beautifully clear and clean but very cold although amazingly we did see http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-452536.html At last it's stopped raining and snowing Esquel Futaleufu Bariloche and the first day on Chiloe were all washed or snowed out I guess it comes with the territory and explains why it's so green. Chiloe is the island we were trying to get to when we had to turn back from Futaleufu glad to say the road journey from Bariloche is easier and still includes a short ferry crossing. Chiloe remind http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-449567.html Back againafter a few days break and some intensive football watching with a spanish sporst journalist we meet in toorres del Paine we decided to take a boat up through the fjords of south chile.We were sailing on an 1972 tranpsort ship from Finnland. It normaly has up to 300 guest on board in high season but we were aprox. 25 tourists in total excluding the folk from Puerto Eden.As it turne http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-448630.html eine ruhige Woche nach dem gemeinen Rucksackklau....Direkt nachdem wir in Frutillar aus dem Bus gestiegen sind haben wir uns auf dem Weg zu Tia Clarita gemacht... eine Zimmervermietung.Die Adresse hatten wir aus dem Internet und es hiess das die Eigentuemerin sehr freundlich istihre Gaeste mit leckerm Fruehstueck versorgt und wirklich alles tut damit sich ihre Gaeste wohl fuehlen..Das stimmte... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-448613.html Public transport in much of Patagonia is difficult but once off the beaten track it can become almost impossible. We tried to get from Esquel in Argentina to Chaiten in Chile and then by ferry to the island of Chiloe it's doable but not practical at least for us. It all started well at Esquel we thought we were in luck the bus to the border runs only on Monday and Friday it was Friday resu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Futaleufu/blog-447964.html In order to have a Lake District one assumes they need rain. But did it have to happen for the entire time that we were in the areaWe headed off to the bus station in Bariloche to get ourselves on the next available bus to Puerto Varas in Chile. We found ourselves on a leaky bus with a grumpy bus driver who saw fit to bully every other car off the road. It was a long six hours watching film http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/blog-434988.html We are in Pt. Varas Chile right now. Just visited the most beautiful riverwaterfalls I have ever seen. Saltos de Petrohue...jet boat was closed because it has been raining A LOT and the river was raging. That means snow up high and so we are heading to Santiago on the night bus 11 hrs to try and catch the storm in Valle de Nevado. There is so much in Chile that we havent been able to se http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-428452.html Hola OK IM going to break it down for you real quick... I went to Ancud chiloe after Puerto montt for one night and it was awesome with cheap shellfish and beautiful sights including women and a regaeton party until sunrise and I almost got robbed becuase I knew the guys I was talking to were gonna try and rob me but they broke into my hostel and robbed the guys on the first floor and just miss http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-421181.html OK this is little Germany with the beauty the road the moto and the perros.. oh and the beautiful woman I left in Santiago to see all this.. but we are still talking CHEEEECK IT OUTTTT Puerto Varas Frutillar and Lago Llanquillue.......... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-416961.html I know my entries have been lacking in quality lately but on the road its just kina hard to sit wonder and worry about stuff. You doubt what you do at times inbetween curiosity and fright but little things keep you going like the slight peek through of sunshine in the middle of the day or the email from a beautiful girl you just got who you left in santiago but it makes it all worthwhile.. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-416931.html Castro on the island of Chilo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-415235.html Hi thereWell we arived in Puerto Varas on Wednesday morning after crossing over the scenic snowy Andes Mountains by bus. We left Bariloche at 8am very very sadly and crossed into Chile. The bus was supposed to take 7 hours but we arrived into Puerto Varas at around 12pm gaining an hour as Chile is one hour behind we suspect it didn't take as long as intended because they probably take into http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-405512.html How big is Chile Before this trip I had an idea that it was skinny and long with no real sense of size other than it was not too big. In actuality it is huge I ended my last post saying that there were 2 volcanoes just outside my hostel and around the corner. That is not entirely true sorry There are actually 4 volcanoes. Before we left we had a beautiful sunset view of all four of them at http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-403533.html I think a great way to sum up where we are is that I can not compare it to anything I have ever seen before. It's not really that different its just a conglomeration of other things like what I would imagine big Southern Plantations looking like if they were located in Northern Oregon near the coast that produced immensely dense SubTropic rain forest or something. I mean really it is crazy stuff http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-402853.html We left Argentina for Chile on a bus that crossed over the Andes in brilliant winter sunshine. As we got closer to the Chilean border grey clouds covered the sky and a light ran began to fall. The first place we visited in Chile was a small town called Puerto Varas which stands on a lake with a couple of volcanoes on the farshore. Unfortunately low cloud and mist covered the volcanoes. They http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-400498.html From Bariloche we crossed the Andes and the border into the final country of my trip CHILE. The Andes are beautiful and snow capped and apparently Chile is the Volcano capital of the world. Volcanos are everywhere including two near Puerto Varas our next stop on the journey.Puerto Varas is about six hours by bus from Bariloche. On rgw map it looks like a straight line but the roads obviou http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-399167.html