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Published: February 14th 2006
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Volcan Osorno sunset with kayak
Another perfect sunset over Volcan Osorno Leaving Pichilemu
My Brother, Patrick and his partner, Kim, made a huge effort to make it down to Pichilemu from Ecuador in about a week on buses (Patrick's feet had swollen from sitting on a bus for over 70 hours). It was great to catch up with both of them and we also got some pretty good surf in the week we had together. Pat and I had a very nice afternoon at Infiernillo to ourselves for about an hour with excellent 4-5 foot waves. Anyway, after two weeks of spanish lessons it was time for Bec and I to venture beyond the easy living in Pichilemu and see some of the south of Chile. We left Pichilemu and spent one night in Santiago where we bought three "multi-city" flights with Lan Chile (Santiago to Puerto Montt, then to Puerto Arenas, then back to Santiago) for about US$730 total for both of us. Good value compared to the individual sectors and for some strange reason, it was actually cheaper to include the Santiago to P.Montt flight. Definitely worth playing around with different combinations of flights on the internet.
Peurto Montt to Peurto Varas
Flew into Peurto Montt airport, caught the
Volcanoes in Lakes District
Real volcanoes somewhere in the Lakes District between Santiago and Puerto Varas. big bus (ETM) just outside the terminal into the transit centre on the waterfront for $1200p each and then caught the little bus to Peurto Varas on the south-east corner of the transit centre for $2000p each. Takes about 20 min and then we walked all over town looking for accomodation, it is still very busy with tourist here, even during the week. Things probably change a lot in a few weeks time, but for now it's busy and a little pricey. We got a small, dark but clean twin room (shared bath) at Hospedaje Ellenhaus near the central plaza for $16000. A clean hospedaje with many rooms but it is an old timber building and a real rabbit warren, so the rooms down the back are a real fire trap. We got out of there the next day and found the very nice little family run Hospedaje Imperial (677 Av. Imperial), about 5-10 min walk out of town. $18000p for a very clean double, with bath and large, very nice breakfast. Peurto Varas is a nice clean town in a very pretty setting on the shores of the very large Lago Llanquihue with a very strong German influence in
Bec at top of Volcan Osorno
This is where we wanted to be. the architecture, beer and food.
Bus to Petrohué We caught the little bus (on Del Salvador outside Cafe Real) to Petrohue for $2000p each, about 1 hr. If the weather is fine, there are superb views of Volcan Osorno for most of the trip. Petrohué is little more than a fancy hotel, soivenir shop and ferry stop at the far western side of Lago todos los santos. It is the departure point for the very popular and quite expensive (about US$180) international crossing of the lakes to Bariloche in Argentina. A very pretty location between the snow capped Volcan Osorno and probably worth the trip on the cheap local bus if the weather is fine but by the afternoon there are hundreds of people there. An easy 15 min walk to a beach north of the big car park takes you to a good quite beach. We had a very brief swim in the frigid waters of the lake and then caught the bus back to P.Varas.
Kayaking from Ralún to Cochamó Bec and I paid the $50000p (US$100) each for a full day of sea kayaking (with simple but nice lunch and wine) down the Seno de
Bec kayaking
Bec kayaking down Seno Reloncaví Reloncaví from Ralún to Cochamó with the tour company 2Patagonia (corner San Pedro - Walker Martinez). It was just Bec, myself, our guide on the water (Max) and our transport (Javier). We had about 6 hours on the water and the weather was perfect until lunch time with no wind. After lunch it was a bit more difficult with a fairly stiff headwind but not so bad. The scenery was fairly impressive, particularly the snow capped mountains around us. There is a lot of salmon and mussel farms in the Fjord which appears to be fouling the water a little but it is still very nice. We had a good time and Max was a nice guy to spend the day with. Cochamó is a nice little village and the scenery further south in the Seno (Fjord) just gets better. It would be great to go further.
Cycling Peurto Varas to Peurto Octay As part of our endurance challage we jumped onto mountain bikes the day after kayaking (with very sore back) and rode 73km from P.Varas to Las Cascades around Lago Llanquihue. Again this was hiring the bikes through 2Patagonia but with the suggested iterinary from Stephan, which
Cycling around Lago Llanquihue
This after only about 2 of the 10 hours of cycling on the first day. Most of that stuff on the back just came along for the ride as we did not camp. as it turns out understated the difficulty of the ride. The first 50km are on a sealed road with great views of Volcan Osorno (if sky is clear) and it is not too bad, a couple of narrow sections with blind corners. However, the fun really started after the settlement of Ensenada when it turns into a gravel road. Unfortunately for us, it has not rained for about three weeks and it was Saturday so there was muchas traffic and muchas dust for the next 23km. The road surface is currently quite rough and very loose on the edges for most of that distance. Thankfully neither of us bit the dust in a big way but we could not find anywhere to camp for the last 4km where we thought (or were told) we could. This was because Chilenos love camping on a Saturday night. We rode on, and on and luckily found a couple of beds in a grotty little hospedaje in Las Cascades with a disco downstairs. Could not help thinking it was a bit silly carting about 9kg of tent, sleeping bags, and mattresses for 73km and then not using them at all (all part of the
endurance challenge). Next day, with very very sore backsides, we set of for about 15km on sealed road which was actually quite nice with virtually no traffic until about 11am. Then back onto dirt for another 20km and it became a blur of dust and sore bums until the final fast desent into Peurto Octay, from where we got a ride back to P.Varas. This would be a great ride without so much traffic and if the roads were not so cut up (rough) by traffic.
Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas
After a well deserved sleep in a comfortable, quite bed we caught the plane from Peurto Montt to Punta Arenas in the far south of Chile. The views of the mountains, fjords and lakes south of P.Montt were amazing and just made me really want to come back and get in amoungst them on the ground. Punta Arenas is at about 53 degrees south (probably as far south as I am ever going) and is really not that spectacular as far as large towns go but does have all the shops and supplies you need. We will probably get out of here tomorrow but we are undecided where
Church in Cochamó
Example of traditional architecture in the church at Cochamó we will be heading as it is probably still quite busy in Torres del Paine.
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Julia
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Beaut
Looks beautiful - glad you did the cycling though = I hurt for you!! Jule