Monday Nov. 26
Last day in the South!
We woke up, made breakfast and checked out of the hostel. Susi was a little anxious all day to make her flight that afternoon – she wanted to be early to the airport. I, on the other hand, was a bit more relaxed, since my flight wasn’t until 9 that night.
We took a local bus from Puerto Varas to Frutillar, another German town on the lake with wooden houses, but smaller and known for its kuchen (pie). It was a cloudy morning, but we could still see Osorno clearly in the distance.
On the lake, in Frutillar, was a concert hall, one that was apparently world famous. We checked that out, saw the pier and also got some kuchen… it was okay, but a little overhyped for me. I wasn’t a fan of the custard filling in the pie.
We took a different bus up the lake to Puerto Octay, an even smaller town, with much less tourism. The drive was about an hour up, and the sun started to come out as I watched the hills roll along the lake, with Osorno always in view. Such a beautiful country side, with such sweet people. There seemed to be a stronger sense of community in the south – maybe due to the small-town nature of lakes region.
We had less than an hour in Puerto Octay because the bus that we needed only left every 90 minutes. If we missed the bus, Susi wouldn’t have been on time to her flight. With that strict time limit in mind, we walked around the town and tried to make our way to the beach. However, we didn’t end up going the right way and were running out of time. We asked someone for directions and they pointed up in the direction of a cross on top of a large hill. So, with 20 minutes left, we headed there. Upon scaling this hill, we came across a… cemetery. (I have never been in so many cemeteries in my life). Its location was prime, it was on a hill overlooking the lake, with a fantastic view. (Also, see dog on grave).
We made the bus back to Puerto Montt just in time, where we saw the hills roll again, I think I fell asleep a couple times on the hour + drive to Puerto Montt.
Upon arriving, Susi immediately got on a bus to the airport. I had 3 more hours to kill, so I walked around Puerto Montt again. I walked up the shore to the mall, where I saw the Chilean computer engineer from two days ago… that was weird. I then walked down the shore, back to Angelmo, the fish market from the other day. There, I bought my clay pots, another salmon empanada and some needle felt penguins. Still, with time to kill, I sat on a bench near the ocean and just chilled. It was cool to see sea lions barking and bathing below… cool until they hopped the gate to sunbathe in the fish market. A dog and his owner chased them back down into the water with a pallet cart. Now that was crazy to watch.
Once I had finally run out of time, I headed back to the bus terminal and caught a transfer to the airport. I got into Santiago just before midnight that night and had to take a transfer to the apartment… When it was all said and done, it was about 1 or 2 am. Luckily my boss left me come in late the next day.
