Dos semanas con los papás

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On March 10th my lovely parents popped into Puerto Montt for two weeks of traveling through the Lakes District of Chile and Argentina. For me this meant two weeks of staying in rooms with my own bathroom and eating something other than empanadas de loco and fried salmón with papas fritas. We started our travels with a few days on the island of Chiloé to visit both historic wooden churches and Magellanic penguins. Chiloé defies the stereotype that Chile is too much like the States (a common declaration by Argentines, mind you). It's remoteness has preserved shanty fishing villages of houses mounted on stilts (palafitos), great seafood dishes such as paila marina filled with various degrees of unidentifiable local shellfish, and more than 150 wooden churches.

In search for drier weather, after a few days we left the island and headed north to the German-influenced Lakes District. After lunching in Puerto Varas with views of the Fuji-like Mount Osorno, we skirted Lake Llanquihue and headed for the tiny outpost of Petrohué, the site of the ferry crossing across Lagos Todos Los Santos into Argentina. Because the hotel was fulling booked with an elderly (+60) field hockey team from England, that evening my parents got their first taste of sleeping in a cabaña, which my father, after two weeks could finally properly pronouce. Given our utter remoteness and lack of moon, that evening the stars and Milky Way were unbelievably clear, making this one of the nicer places we stayed at.

The following day we decided to cross into Argentina (an interesting and beaucratic process to say the least) and spend the night in Villa La Angostura on the famous Lago Llao Llao (pronounced Shao Shao). We then spent the next two nights wandering northward on dirt roads through national park along the Seven Lakes Route up to San Martín de los Andes. Along the way we had many a picnic lunch and stayed in two beautiful cabañas.

Crossing back into Chile along Mamuil Malal Pass we then spent a few days at a wonderful hotel on Lago Villarrica, enjoying the region around Pucón. One day included a 20 km hike around the Huerquehue National Park to admire the Dr. Seuss-inspiring araucaría trees (see photos). On another day we slowly made our way around Lago Calafquén to visit the famed Geometric hot springs, which and likely the most tastefully developed springs I will ever soak in!

For the final days together we all headed back north to Santiago to visit with some family friends, which included staying at their gorgeous beach house in Zapallar and visiting an organic vineyard.

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Photos

Mt. Osorno
Often compared to Mt. Fuji for it´s near perfect stratovolcano shape.

All Saints Lake
Lago Todos los Santos is a famous crossing into Argentina.

Cabaña...
The interior of one of the many cabins we stayed in.

Dinner
Not finding an open restaurant in one of the national parks, we settled for a picnic dinner of wine, dried venison, olives, cheese, and homemade bread.

Huerquehue National Park
This is a gorgeous park outside of Pucón, Chile where we tricked Dad into doing a 20 km hike(!).

Wine tasting
Wine tasting at the organic vineyard of Matatic in the San Antonion valley.