Sunday Nov. 25
This was a long day of tours, I was not expecting it, but it was fantastic.
We had booked a tour with an agency with much better prices that was near the hostel. They arrived on time – our guide’s name was Luis. He was older, so he referred to us as jovenes and chicos (young people, boys).
We first headed outside of Puerto Varas to a very tranquil lagoon. There, we took a boat through a tunnel of greenery and out onto the lagoon. It was very chill. On the boat, there was a baby/toddler that looked like a little marshmallow in her life jacket, so cute. I offered to take a picture for her family and at the end of the ride, they handed me their baby and took a picture of me with her. (It was weird, but kind of sweet)
Next we drove up the road to a farm/restaurant with an incredible view of the lake, and, of course, the volcano. There were llamas, sheep, and some dogs wandering around, which was cool. There were also some seats – and some swings – overlooking the lake. There, we could sit and take it all in.
After that, we started the winding drive to the national park and up the volcano itself. It wasn’t too bad of a drive, but I wasn’t feeling my best when we got to the top of the road on the volcano itself. Most of the passengers, including Susi, chose to go higher up on the mountain in a ski lift. I decided to stay where I was – but don’t worry – I didn’t regret my decision at all. While they were heading towards the snow in four-by-fours, I was walking around in much needed silence. It was such a nice break, especially because our tour guide, though he was great, never stopped talking and it was starting to get on my nerves. (I know that it’s his job, but he talked significantly more and had this microphone and it just drove me crazy). I admired the views, which were incredible from where I was. I could see out over the lake, down by the river, and even out to the sea, where we had been the day before. There was a trail that I could hike and that was nice as well. The colors blew me away – the blue of the lake and the sky, the red of the soil, the green of the fields and forests below. Stunning.
When everyone else came back from their excursion up the volcano, we headed back down the winding roads, toward Petrohué. We made our way down to a restaurant – again a little pricey – but we had learned our lesson from the day before. We packed our lunch. With a couple other people that had also packed, we headed out to the shore of the lake, the beach, and we ate our lunch sitting in the sand. I wasn’t feeling great after the drive, so I just played in the sand for a bit, which was nice.
After (late) lunch, we headed to the Saltos de Petrohué (waterfalls). This might have been my favorite place of the day, it was beautiful. (All of Chile is beautiful). The park was wooded – trees everywhere, and when we emerged from clearings, we could see the green-blue river rushing over dark rocks, framed by yellow flowers. Incredible. The pictures speak for themselves.
Within the park, we also walked the trail of lovers, which was cool. It was wooded and took us down to the river bank and to a waterfall and lake hidden by trees. Cannot overstate how beautiful this place was.
Next (because we kept going) was a trip Lago Todos los Santos (All Saints Lake). It was very close Lake Llanquihue, which we had been traveling around up until that point. Lago Todos los Santos, however, was a completely different lake, with even more mountains surrounding it. The two lakes were once the same, but volcanic eruptions had created a barrier of earth between them. On the other side, sat Bariloche, in Argentina. We got on a boat, but didn’t go all the way out to Argentina. From where we were, we could see the mountains at the border, as well as the other side of my favorite volcano, Osorno.
I thought we were done with the tour at this point, since it was already 7 pm at night, and we had stared before 11 am. I had forgotten, however, that we had one more stop. Laguna Verde (the green lagoon). It wasn’t a huge stop – it was a wooded area, like the saltos, but it led to Lake Llanquihue. We were incredibly lucky and were able to see a fox while we were there.
All in all, it was a good, long day.
We came back to our hostel, and using the same ingredients, and some herbs, made a pasta salad for dinner (and for lunch the next day).
