Lake Crossing and Chiloe Enchantment
I'm now back in Chile, after a spectacular crossing of the lakes Nahuel Huapi, Frias, Todos Los Santos (Esmeralda) and driving alongside Llanquihue. This was probably the thing I was most looking forward to on my trip and just two days before I left, I found out there was some issues with availability as reported by two friends who wanted to cross via the Chilean side and also reconfirmed by my friends I'm traveling with who called the US contact before leaving. However, upon arriving in Bariloche and finding the Cruce de Lagos representative, he said there were no problems and there was space for the crossing. We were a bit surprised and even a little suspicious, but it all worked out.
Let me back up to Sunday though . . .Sunday morning it was very cloudy, and you couldn't see the mountains. This was unfortunate since we were planning to go up the chairlift to Cerro Catedral which apparently has a stunning view of the area. We did however go visit Llao Llao, the only five star resort in Argentina which is just a short 25 km from Bariloche. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the lake and is also next to a really impressive mountain view. The building itself is built to look like a Swiss chalet. We had drinks at their restaurant and then went on a tour we had planned earlier to the Arrayanes Forest on the Quetrohue peninsula and also to Victoria Island. This left from nearby Puerto Pañuelo. Quetrohue apparently means "place of the Arrayanes" in Mapuche, the native indian language. The arrayanes forest was really neat, it is the only such forest of arrayana trees in the entire world! The trees are a reddish brown color with leaves and they are about 30-40 feet tall. We celebrated our last night in Bariloche by going to this really good steakhouse, where the cook came out and took our steak order. I got the half portion of steak, which was still bigger than most steak portions in the US. I asked as well for a side of fries and was given a mountain of fries - literally.
The lake crossing ended up being spectacular in scenery, but we were not impressed at all with the organization (or lack thereof) of the company running the crossing as we had nearly 3 hours of dead time in the middle of the day and waited around in Bariloche for 3 hours before pulling away. I realize there are over 100 people to organize with luggage and all, but definitely it could be done more efficiently. The weather was better with clear skies all the way to Chile and then it got cloudy and unfortunately we couldn't see the tops of three volcanoes on the last lake which probably are the most spectacular of the whole trip. We finished the day with a trip to Petrohue falls an interesting area where the water from Todos Los Santos Lake (kind of a green color) runs through this area of petrofied lava rock creating a very beautiful contrast and above is the towering Osorno Volcano (which we couldn't see much of). Later we were dropped off at Puerto Varas, where we spent the night very tired from the day's journey. Some other Mapuche words I learned yesterday are - Petrohue which means "mysterious place" and llanquihue which means "deep place".
And now, I find myself on the enchanting island of Chiloé, the second largest island in Chile after a nice 4 hour bus ride from Puerto Montt. We are in the city of Castro. Tomorrow we are taking a tour to see several towns on the island and then visit Chiloé National Park which I guess has some great views of the Pacific Ocean. The island is famous for having these very uniquely constructed churches which are also brightly colored - so unique they are now UNESCO heritage sites. Today we also walked around and saw palafitos - or houses built on the waterfront on stilts. They are pretty interesting as they are also brightly colored. Thursday we are heading back to Puerto Varas, but are stopping in Ancud where we hope to organize a visit to Puñihuil, a small penguin colony off the coast of Chiloé where they have both Humboldt and Magellanic penguins (the only such spot in the world). I'm very eager to see all of this, since Chiloe is the one place on my itinerary I know nothing about.
Anyway, until next time . . .chau
Let me back up to Sunday though . . .Sunday morning it was very cloudy, and you couldn't see the mountains. This was unfortunate since we were planning to go up the chairlift to Cerro Catedral which apparently has a stunning view of the area. We did however go visit Llao Llao, the only five star resort in Argentina which is just a short 25 km from Bariloche. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the lake and is also next to a really impressive mountain view. The building itself is built to look like a Swiss chalet. We had drinks at their restaurant and then went on a tour we had planned earlier to the Arrayanes Forest on the Quetrohue peninsula and also to Victoria Island. This left from nearby Puerto Pañuelo. Quetrohue apparently means "place of the Arrayanes" in Mapuche, the native indian language. The arrayanes forest was really neat, it is the only such forest of arrayana trees in the entire world! The trees are a reddish brown color with leaves and they are about 30-40 feet tall. We celebrated our last night in Bariloche by going to this really good steakhouse, where the cook came out and took our steak order. I got the half portion of steak, which was still bigger than most steak portions in the US. I asked as well for a side of fries and was given a mountain of fries - literally.
The lake crossing ended up being spectacular in scenery, but we were not impressed at all with the organization (or lack thereof) of the company running the crossing as we had nearly 3 hours of dead time in the middle of the day and waited around in Bariloche for 3 hours before pulling away. I realize there are over 100 people to organize with luggage and all, but definitely it could be done more efficiently. The weather was better with clear skies all the way to Chile and then it got cloudy and unfortunately we couldn't see the tops of three volcanoes on the last lake which probably are the most spectacular of the whole trip. We finished the day with a trip to Petrohue falls an interesting area where the water from Todos Los Santos Lake (kind of a green color) runs through this area of petrofied lava rock creating a very beautiful contrast and above is the towering Osorno Volcano (which we couldn't see much of). Later we were dropped off at Puerto Varas, where we spent the night very tired from the day's journey. Some other Mapuche words I learned yesterday are - Petrohue which means "mysterious place" and llanquihue which means "deep place".
And now, I find myself on the enchanting island of Chiloé, the second largest island in Chile after a nice 4 hour bus ride from Puerto Montt. We are in the city of Castro. Tomorrow we are taking a tour to see several towns on the island and then visit Chiloé National Park which I guess has some great views of the Pacific Ocean. The island is famous for having these very uniquely constructed churches which are also brightly colored - so unique they are now UNESCO heritage sites. Today we also walked around and saw palafitos - or houses built on the waterfront on stilts. They are pretty interesting as they are also brightly colored. Thursday we are heading back to Puerto Varas, but are stopping in Ancud where we hope to organize a visit to Puñihuil, a small penguin colony off the coast of Chiloé where they have both Humboldt and Magellanic penguins (the only such spot in the world). I'm very eager to see all of this, since Chiloe is the one place on my itinerary I know nothing about.
Anyway, until next time . . .chau
Labels: arrayanes, Chiloé, lake crossing
posted by Jimmy Bollinger at
1:29 PM
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