Lakes & Volcanoes

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Puerto Montt is a town about 1000 km´s south of Santiago. Our reason for heading there was mainly to work out a way down to El Calafate. We only planned to stay a night in Puerto Montt - mainly because we wanted to get to South and being holiday season getting buses could be a problem. (Everyone in Chile travels over 2 sets of 2 weeks and this was then!)

Our hostel in Puerto Montt had a tour desk and through this decided to splash out a little and book the horrendously expensive Cruce Del Lagos day excursion which would transport us from Puerto Montt to Bariloche on the Argentinian side of the Andes. This would be a day of travelling through the beautiful lakes and mountains instead of sitting on a bus going via the (amost) motorway.

The coach didn´t leave until the next day and Ann was adament about seeing volcanoes. Mario (tour guide and owner of hostel) suggested we hire a car from him and take a tour around one of the lakes close to Puerto Montt. We were a little jaded but figured what the heck. The hire car was only 30 chilean pesos so it would be cheaper and we could see more than a set tour.

Gordon checked the insurance excess....USD 500, as low as it could go. But that was ok, as Mario pointed our we wouldn´t need it! Famous last words........... our esteemed driver for the first leg - Eamonn Martin put the car in reverse and started to manouver out the garage whilst discussing matters with co driver Gordon......1 second.........BANG....the car rammed into the hotel wall (instead of through the gap!)....... a dented bumper (coming off) and smashed light left us safe in the knowledge that the maximum cost for the day couldnt get any higher. So we took to the road not worried about any potential further mishaps and followed the route suggested by Mario.

Eamo expertly steering us through the Chilean traffic and onto the lakeside road. The views across the lake were spectacular and before long we found the turnoff to take us to Volcano Orsono. The volcano is dormant having last erupted in the 19th century and is a budding Chilean ski resort. We lunched there and then decided to walk of lunch with a climb up the volcano...well ok we got the chairlifts up and then walked down. Having grown accustomed to the northern Argentina & Chile heat Eamo and Gordon didn´t see the ned for fleeces. On that Volcano and on the chairlifts they were both rather regretting this, wearing only t-shirts! Again the views of the valley´s and the lakes were spectacular and it is no wonder the lakes district of Chile and Argentia are so popular a tourist destination.

We headed down and continued our circuit of the lake making it safely back to Puerto Montt to face the storm which we expected Mario to unleash over his dented vehicle. Thankfully, to the contrary, he was most apologetic at having to charge us the excess. He even offered us whiskey to help calm our nerves, before driving us down to the waterfront restaurant he had suggested........the seafood platters made a welcome change from the Emapandas and steak diet we had become accustomed to.

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