Aline's travel blog: Nov 17, Thursday & Nov 18, Friday

Nov 17, Thursday & Nov 18, Friday

Traveling through the Lakes Region from Chile to Argentina

Nov 18, Friday

Late start this morning, the bus isn’t picking us up until 10:45, so I’m having a nice lazy morning for a change. Unfortunately, the tiny bit of sunshine that was visible early this morning is long gone and it is raining by the time we take off for our next jumping off point. The brochure says we only have 29 km to travel to get to Puerto Frias, but that it will take 2 hours to get there. Must be a typo right? Wrong. Although it only took about 1 hour to get there, the road was hard packed grave, and only one lane wide. Our guide this morning explained that this is a government owned road, it is only 29 km long and the only vehicles on it are trucks, buses and police vehicles. They all use radios to announce exactly where they are on the route, every 5 minutes, so that anyone else on the route knows exactly where they are. No accidents in 90 some years.

View from my hotel room

Road to Puerto Frias

There is that strange monkey tail tree again. And it's branches are lethal

Looks like a cactus, hens & chicks

Most of the road is quite good and we are clipping along at a good pace. There is only 8 km that are up the mountain and account for the long time to travel the short distance. We are driving through a rain forest. When we reach the highest point on the road, we cross from Chile to Argentina. It only takes us a few minutes to come back down the mountain and reach Puerto Frias.

More green water

Ferry at Puerto Blest

We wait about 30 minutes for the ferry to arrive (which allows us to go through customs) and another 15 for passengers to get off and for us to get on. Our luggage is automatically taken on board at each location. It is only a 20 minute ferry ride to get to Puerto Alegre where we switch to a bus for a 3 km ride to Puerto Blest. This is where we have lunch at 2 pm (salmon again today). They have a Céline Dion CD playing in the background, and I love her music, so it’s like a little part of home is with me here.

At 3:15 we can take the ferry for a short trip to the other side of the bay to climb partway up a mountain and see some waterfalls along the Frias River. The description of the trek was in “Portañol” so I did not get all the details, but it sounded like it was a climb of over 800 meters, 1 km long, and I was not sure I would be able to make it to the top. But I decided to give it a try and turn back if it was too difficult. Good thing I tried because the climb was on a wide wooden staircase with many stretches of flat areas. Averaging out 5 stairs per meter, that’s still a lot of stairs, but it was all worthwhile. There were 3 “miradors” along the way up, with great vistas for pictures. Gave new meaning to the name Smooth Rock Falls ! It was still raining but with the tree cover it wasn’t so bad; with my hoodie and rain poncho I was fine.

Falls at Mirador # 1

Falls at Mirador # 2

Me with the "smooth rock falls"

Lots of water & mist

The lake at the top of the falls

The millenium tree. See how tiny the people are at the bottom.

Staircase going back down to the ferry

At the top of the series of waterfalls we reach the high mountain lake and the surrounding area were the famous millennium tree is located. It is approximately 1500 years old.

Got back down to the ferry in plenty of time to have a nice hot chocolate with Cognac to warm up. {Actually I wasn’t cold at all, but who says no to Chocolate & Cognac !}

We went back across the bay to pick up other passengers and started out on our 1 hour crossing of an arm of Lago Nahuel Huapi towards Puerto Pañuelo. It rained the entire time and it was impossible to take pictures through the windows, so no pics of this portion. It was another 25 minute bus ride to Bariloche. No pics during these last 3 portions since it was raining and the windows were foggy.

Surprising occurrence here in Bariloche, all the ash spewing from that Chilean volcano is very evident here and around the lake. It is obvious on both side of the road, and because of the winds, we were advised to wear sunglasses to protect our eyes, and mouth dust covers so that we don’t breathe in the ash!

I did not have a hotel reservation in Bariloche, and since there was no wifi at the hotel last night, I could not research which were available. There were a few of us in the same situation, so they dropped us off downtown in proximity to lots of hotels. I crossed the street to the nearest one and booked a room for 3 nights. There are hills here as well, and there is no way I’m pulling this luggage up or down ANY hills. It’s a bit pricy, but very comfortable and close to everything.

After settling in to my room I went back out to roam the streets, exchange my Chilean Pesos for Argentinean Pesos and grab a bite to eat since it was already 8 pm. Bariloche is known for its chocolate and I counted 8 chocolate shops within a 2 block walk. I’m in big trouble!

I’m far enough south now that there is day light until past 9 pm, but this is as far south as I go since it gets colder from this point on if I venture south. Not gonna happen!

Nov 17, Thursday

Early departure from Puerto Montt, at 7:30 am, making our way to Puerto Varas picking up more passengers. Our 45 km drive East along the south coast of Lago Llanquihue is unfortunately accompanied by a heavy cloud cover. This lake, as with the others in this area, was formed when the glaciers retreated . Llaquihue means Deep Place, and its deepest point is 345 meters. We will be following a route across the Andes, more than 400 years old, which the local Huilliches natives used for their commercial transactions.

The scenery is very green, first rolling country hills, then surrounded by lush green mountains and snow covered volcanoes. Volcano Orsono (2,652 M) last erupted in 1835 and Volcano Calbuco (2,015 M) in 1961. Of the 6 recently active volcanoes in Chile, 5 are located in the south of the country, 2 of which are here in the lakes region. Flights are still not operating in the area because of volcano Puyehue to the north which is still spewing out ash and clouds. No signs of it in either Puerto Montt or Puerto Varas, or anywhere along the route today. Just before arriving at Petrohué (which means Lugar Brumoso, or Place of the mists: certainly living up to its name today), where we will board our first ferry, we stop to visit the Saltos del Petrohué, a series of cataracts / falls / rapids in Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park.

Puerto Varas

Drive along Lago Llaquihue

Volcan Orsono & Lago Llaquihue

The rapids at Petrohué

This is how the volcano should look like behind the falls.

The green of the river is the same that we will find in the lake, due to the mineral composition of the water. The rock formations around this area are all petrified lava. The waters are cold and incredibly fast since they are being forced through very narrow breaks in the rocks. Two days ago, two young men decided that they were going to try swimming, or surfing the waves here. One died and the other is in the hospital with serious injuries. Just one look at this water should have been enough of a warning.

We should have a beautiful view of the Orsono Volcano in the background, but the clouds are doing a good job of hiding it. I’ve included a photo of a photo to show you the difference. The weather predictions for this region were the same all week, so no point in postponing this journey in the hopes of it clearing up. PIC

There is another volcano lurking somewhere behind the cloud cover, Volcan Puntiagudo (2,190 M).

We reach the lake and board the catamaran ferry for our two hour ride to the town of Peulla (spring blossom) across Lago Todos los Santos, where I am supposed to be spending the night at the Hotel Peulla. Peulla means”. The pics are less than spectacular due to the weather, but still great.

Waterfalls along the way. Check out the size of the trees in the upper right hand corner, to give you an idea of the scope of this vista

We arrived in Peulla (population 120) with no shops and 2 hotels, one of which is closed. They keep mentioning the transfer to Hotel Natura Patagonia, but make no mention of my hotel, so I decide to ask and I get confirmation that the one that is closed is the one where I’m supposed to be staying! But not to worry, I’ll be staying at the Natura, which I am assured is MUCH BETTER. Turns out the guide was right; the hotel is incredible.

Talk about a gorgeous caribbean green in these lakes

Arriving in Peulla

Walking away from the harbour toward the hotel

The Natura Hotel

Too bad they had to cut down some trees to make these benches and table

During the ferry ride I spoke with Barbara, who is from Australia, who has travelled extensively and provides me with lots of advice on destinations. We ended up walking from the ferry to the hotel together and continuing our conversation during lunch. She returns to Puerto Montt on the ferry later this afternoon and is heading south on a 4 night cruise to the fjords of Patagonia. It was nice to speak English again, for an entire afternoon.

Since I had a very late lunch (we were still talking at 4 pm after dessert) I’m going to skip dinner and just enjoy the hotel and its grounds.

Need to find out what these are called. They looked like carved little balls