My last month in Chile: The Lakes District

 The months of January and February are "summer" in So America so most people take this time to travel, the schools are on a summer vacation break, and there is little demand for English teachers. My son, Peter, and his fiancee Kelly, came and travelled with me to the south of Chile from mid Dec-Jan 5. What follows are our travels that begin in Santiago and take us all the way down to the Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia:

A 1 1/2 hour flight from Santiago took us to the beginning of the Lakes District: Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas.
 
I had asked my students to suggest where we should stay, things we should do, etc. so I planned from a lot of advice and recommendations...

View from restaurant window in Puerto Montt=Low tide!

Wool at Angelmo Artisan Market

I think this "hat" is supposed to go around the neck! 

Driving around Llanquehue Lake

Little German Village of Frutillar

Sign in front of one of the many fruit/vegetable stands

Town of Puerto Oktay

We took a drive up to a Volcano along the way around the Lake

Next day we explored  Vicente Perez National Park in the less than desirable weather!

Peter and Kelly Petrohue River

Peter and I in the pouring rain

 Day 3 we drove our car onto the ferry at Puerto Montt heading to the island of Chiloe. An hour ferry ride took us to Ancud and from there we drove to little town of Castro. Many of my students advised me to go to this island...

On the ferry

At Ancud across from seafood restaurant

Some of my english students kept raving about a Chilean dish called Curanto and they insisted that when we went to Chiloe we had to try it!
Curanto is a traditional food of Chiloé Archipelago that has spread to the southern areas of Chile. It is traditionally prepared in a hole, about a meter and a half (approx. one and a half yards) deep, which is dug in the ground. The bottom is covered with stones, heated in a bonfire until red.

 The ingredients consist of shellfish, meat, potatoes, milcao (a kind of potato bread), chapaleles, and vegetables (sometimes including also specific types of fish). The varieties of shellfish vary but almejas (clams), cholgas (ribbed mussels) and picorocos (giant barnacles) are essential. The quantities are not fixed; the idea is that there should be a little of everything.

Ok, so we tried the Curanto and the best thing about  it was that it had a nice smoky taste but most of the shellfish had not been washed very well so there was a lot of sand! Almost every bite we took had sand so it was kind of gross being so gritty tasting! Way too many sandy, gritty clams for me in this dish! Needed more meat! But at least we tried it!

Lots of gorgeous wool handcrafts

We drove to Castro and Peter and Kelly were not enjoying  the town!

This pretty much sums up how Peter felt about Chiloe Island

(If I were to plan this trip again, I would spend 2-3 days more by going out to the islands off the coast of Chiloe and doing some hiking and kayaking trips)

From Puerto Varas, we drove a half day to the town of  Pucon also in the Chilean Lakes District. We did an awesome 10+ mile hike "Los Lagos" trail the next day in Huerquehue National Park.




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Lonely Planet review for Parque Nacional Huerquehue 

A gem of the area, Parque Nacional Huerquehue protects 12,500 hectares (30,888 acres) of rivers and waterfalls, alpine lakes and araucaria forests. It's easily accessible and has an array of trails.
The Los Lagos trail (one way 3-4hr; 9km/5.5mi) switchbacks through dense lenga forests with rushing waterfalls, then enters solid stands of araucaria surrounding a cluster of pristine and placid lakes.

The pictures that follow are from the all day hike we did in the park. Beautiful scenery and a gorgeous day!

Villarrica Volcano in the background

Mirador=Viewpoints

I had to insert this picture since I got terribly lost on this trail and this was just after we met up again! Kelly had gone on ahead and Peter was following her and I must have taken a wrong turn and ended up who knows where! It was pretty frightening since I was all alone, no cell phone, running out of water, etc. And we had done about 6 miles so I was getting tired also! I yelled out once...no answer...yelled out again...no answer. I went from frightened to REALLY frightened! I yelled out again as loud as I could and Peter finally answered a long ways away! We yelled back and forth until we got closer. Whew! That was scary.

 The next day Peter and Kelly wanted to climb Villarrica Volcano but my body was still tired from the 10 mile hike we had just done so I decided to go visit a couple waterfalls instead. I'm glad I decided not to go with them since it turned out the climb was VERY strenuous!

The summit!

Top part of Salto China

Pool at Salto China

This waterfall looked like it was on private property and the owners were charging everyone  to take a walk in their backyard! This house looked like where they lived and they had a little ticket booth on the left further up in this photo.

We loved the area of Pucon and  would have loved to have stayed longer here

Our cabana in Pucon with our friendly German Shepherd host