Puerto Varas to Bariloche
Well, finally got to a reliable internet connection in Bariloche, so I thought I'd better update while I can!
We arrived OK, but it was over 30 hours due to a 6 hour delay in Santiago - setting the trend of things to come. On advice we packed all the electronic gear in our carry-on (Thanks Jeanette and Pat) and everythig arrived OK. We had to wait 3/4 of an hour to get our bags though, not sure why, but we were relieved when they arrived.
The flight to Puerto Varas, about 900km south of Santiago was fantastic. The weather was mostly clear and we saw lots of the Andes and many lakes. Some mountains had snow, but not as many as would further north, as they are higher there.
Got a taxi OK at Puerto Montt to go to Puerto Varas, and my Spanish was continuing to be useful (thanks Nancy), and I am enjoying tryong to use it. Everyone is SO friendly and helpful.
We arrived late and very tired, but had dinner an a fish restaurant above a fish market (El Mercado) and walked around the very small town and along the waterfront (of the lake). We saw the volcano Osorno in the distance, looking like a transplanted Mt Fuji, complete with a sprinkling of snow on top. It was lovely and peacefull gazing at it from our hotel room.
Next day we set off on the Cruce de Lagos which is the crossing of a few lakes on boats, and linking them with bus rides.
We didn't have much sleep as the alarm went off at 7am for our 8am pickup. There was a bit of argie-bargie as names and luggage was sorted out and then we set off. It was a nice drive along the lake to Petrohue and we were surprised to see quite a few gum trees, but no koalas. The houses were interesting and had a Swiss/German feel to them. Eva thought the German influence could be seen in the super-organised and maintained gardens.
The first lake crossing was awesome - the weather was clear blue sky and warm with views of the volcano Osorno and other mountains over the emerald water of the lake. We visited Vincente Perez NP with lovely waterfalls - and it was good to be free of the bus for a while. We arrived at Peulla by boat and went to our hotel, Natura, which is SO nice. Lovely architecture using lots of wood, with large open areas and an awesome dining room with partial glass ceiling looking out to the vally flanked by tree covered mountains with some snow on a couple. I tried to use the internet ther but ... well that's another story!!
That afternoon was free, so in true Rudi fashion we found a hill and headed UP. Boy, was it steep - much more so than the traing ground of Mt Ainslie or Black Mountain. We walked for around 45 mins looking for a track described to us in broken english, but we gave up. It was a nice walk thru the forest that was already showing some autumn colours.
When we got back we decided to go on "The Canopy" which consists of flying down a wire that is strung between trees some 50m above the forest floor. You are dress in a harness with a helmet and have a pulley on the wire and use a heavily gloved hand on the wire as a brake. There were 8 to 10 "stages" and a total distance of 900m. It was SUCH good fun, mainly due to the fun nature of the guys running it. They sang Eva Happy Birthday afterwards too. Nice touch.
The next day of travelling from Peulla to Bariloche was not quite so good. Maybe because we had a late dinner the night before (finishing around 11:30) with a bottle of wine and pisco sours and had to get up at 7am again. There was SO MUCH waiting - for boats, busses, customs etc etc. Not everything was translated and didn't pick up enough. The weather was excellent, and we had a walk by ourselves in the forest, lovely cruising on the lakes and a visit to the spectacular Cantadores Cascades where you walk up 700 steps to the falls and a lake. A VERY long day. And when we arrived at the end we had to hang around till everyone else left (why you ask? We did too!). The bus brought us in to Bariloche and then we had to find a taxi to the hotel which Eva organised. We found we had been upgraded in our room to a suite, which is huge. I'm glad I brought a compass! It's really nice, and a welcome surprise. We finally sat down to dinner at about 10:30pm and now I'm updating this blog at 1:45am and because I feel more shagged than a persian carpet on steroids, I'm going to bed after I try to also upload some photos.
I've put some photos up on facebook already (so much easier).
So, till next time - hasta luego!!
We arrived OK, but it was over 30 hours due to a 6 hour delay in Santiago - setting the trend of things to come. On advice we packed all the electronic gear in our carry-on (Thanks Jeanette and Pat) and everythig arrived OK. We had to wait 3/4 of an hour to get our bags though, not sure why, but we were relieved when they arrived.
The flight to Puerto Varas, about 900km south of Santiago was fantastic. The weather was mostly clear and we saw lots of the Andes and many lakes. Some mountains had snow, but not as many as would further north, as they are higher there.
Got a taxi OK at Puerto Montt to go to Puerto Varas, and my Spanish was continuing to be useful (thanks Nancy), and I am enjoying tryong to use it. Everyone is SO friendly and helpful.
We arrived late and very tired, but had dinner an a fish restaurant above a fish market (El Mercado) and walked around the very small town and along the waterfront (of the lake). We saw the volcano Osorno in the distance, looking like a transplanted Mt Fuji, complete with a sprinkling of snow on top. It was lovely and peacefull gazing at it from our hotel room.
Next day we set off on the Cruce de Lagos which is the crossing of a few lakes on boats, and linking them with bus rides.
We didn't have much sleep as the alarm went off at 7am for our 8am pickup. There was a bit of argie-bargie as names and luggage was sorted out and then we set off. It was a nice drive along the lake to Petrohue and we were surprised to see quite a few gum trees, but no koalas. The houses were interesting and had a Swiss/German feel to them. Eva thought the German influence could be seen in the super-organised and maintained gardens.
The first lake crossing was awesome - the weather was clear blue sky and warm with views of the volcano Osorno and other mountains over the emerald water of the lake. We visited Vincente Perez NP with lovely waterfalls - and it was good to be free of the bus for a while. We arrived at Peulla by boat and went to our hotel, Natura, which is SO nice. Lovely architecture using lots of wood, with large open areas and an awesome dining room with partial glass ceiling looking out to the vally flanked by tree covered mountains with some snow on a couple. I tried to use the internet ther but ... well that's another story!!
That afternoon was free, so in true Rudi fashion we found a hill and headed UP. Boy, was it steep - much more so than the traing ground of Mt Ainslie or Black Mountain. We walked for around 45 mins looking for a track described to us in broken english, but we gave up. It was a nice walk thru the forest that was already showing some autumn colours.
When we got back we decided to go on "The Canopy" which consists of flying down a wire that is strung between trees some 50m above the forest floor. You are dress in a harness with a helmet and have a pulley on the wire and use a heavily gloved hand on the wire as a brake. There were 8 to 10 "stages" and a total distance of 900m. It was SUCH good fun, mainly due to the fun nature of the guys running it. They sang Eva Happy Birthday afterwards too. Nice touch.
The next day of travelling from Peulla to Bariloche was not quite so good. Maybe because we had a late dinner the night before (finishing around 11:30) with a bottle of wine and pisco sours and had to get up at 7am again. There was SO MUCH waiting - for boats, busses, customs etc etc. Not everything was translated and didn't pick up enough. The weather was excellent, and we had a walk by ourselves in the forest, lovely cruising on the lakes and a visit to the spectacular Cantadores Cascades where you walk up 700 steps to the falls and a lake. A VERY long day. And when we arrived at the end we had to hang around till everyone else left (why you ask? We did too!). The bus brought us in to Bariloche and then we had to find a taxi to the hotel which Eva organised. We found we had been upgraded in our room to a suite, which is huge. I'm glad I brought a compass! It's really nice, and a welcome surprise. We finally sat down to dinner at about 10:30pm and now I'm updating this blog at 1:45am and because I feel more shagged than a persian carpet on steroids, I'm going to bed after I try to also upload some photos.
I've put some photos up on facebook already (so much easier).
So, till next time - hasta luego!!
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