Chile’s lake district: a hidden gem

My first stop on my month long sabbatical was an island off the west coast of Chile in the Lagos district. This island was first inhabited by german immigrants and like the rest of the Lake District retains distinct features that set it apart from the rest of Chile. It is sometimes overshadowed by its more famous cousins, Patagonia and Atacama, but I feel the unspoilt scenery in this region of central Chile is well worth a detour.

Post landing in Santiago, I took a flight to Puerto Montt (PMC), the main airport serving the Lake District. From there your best bet is to rent a car to drive to Chiloe. Buses also provide cheaper alternatives to visit, but their frequency is low and you need to be reasonably fluent in Spanish to figure your way around (more on the importance of knowing a little Spanish later!). The scenery in the Lake District reminded me a lot of Western Europe and to some extent Scandinavia, particularly Norway. There are no bridges connecting the mainland to Chiloe so a car ferry (~12$ with car one way, every 30 mins till 11.30pm) is the only way across, something which I did a lot of when visiting Norway in the summer. The drive from the port of entry to Castro, the de-facto capital of Chiloe is pretty uneventful though beware of slowdowns due to road construction. 

My first night in Chile, was in the aforementioned town of Castro in a family run B&B. The warm hospitality of the Chilean people was evident from day one. I was reaching pretty late at night close to 2am, and the owner was very responsive and stayed awake to welcome me even at that hour. He even opened his own garage for me to park my car, talk about family style accommodation! The house was beautiful, with wood paneled rooms and a cozy dining room where I enjoyed a sumptuous Chilean style breakfast the next morning.

The host barely spoke any English, but with the miracle that is Google Translate, we were up and about chatting and getting along. Castro is a quaint little seaside town, famous for Palafitos, which are colorful stilted houses on the waterfront. I had half a day to explore Castro (which is more than enough if you are short on time, like I always am), and the best way to do it is to walk around the compact town.

Your first stop should be the UNESCO world heritage Church of San Francisco, which is as un-church-like as possible from the exterior. It’s a bright yellow and purple exterior which is like nothing I’ve seen before, and a stark contrast from the churches of Western Europe. Inside, the trend continues with rich wood paneling all around and colorful figurines adorning the walls. It’s such a departure from the intricately carved and painted, stained glass adorned churches you usually see in the rest of the world. 

After this, your best bet is to follow the walking path around town, and take in the colorful palafito houses on the waterfront. That being said, I found the rest of the town to be a riot of color as well, and some of the streets and markets were just as colorful if not more than the famous stilted houses. Chiloe is known for its excellent seafood, and given a chance do try the Curanto – which is their version of an underground seafood bake. Sadly, my lack of Spanish skills, meant that I made a mess of understanding the menu and went into a place that didn’t have it… ah well lesson learnt, i had to make do with a grilled salmon for lunch, value for money wise probably the best deal I’ve seen on seafood in a long time. Needless to say it was amazingly fresh!

Next, I retraced my steps back to the ferry and headed back to the mainland and onto the quaint little town of Puerto Varas situated on the shore of Llanquihue Lake. I was lucky to get splendid weather on the drive back and the snow capped twin peaks of the volcanoes Osorno (often called Chile’s Mt. Fuji) and Calbuco kept me company on my drive. The town of Puerto Varas is a lakeside resort town, popular with Chileans and foreign tourists in equal measure. It’s picture perfect promenade gives amazing views of the two volcanoes framed epically against the deep blue waters of the lake.

The drive around the lake is mesmerizing and it’s worth taking it slow as you soak in the gorgeous views! My plan was to head around the lake and go to the Petrohue falls in the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park (which is also Chile’s oldest NP). However with such mesmerizing scenery (and taking a short detour for some amazing dulce de leche gelato :P) and my frequent photo stops, I lost track of time and reached the falls 5 mins after its closing time, like seriously who closes the viewing area for a waterfall. Anyways, what’s done is done, so I trundled along the dirt road for another 7-8 kms, till I reached a dead end. Here you reach the southern shore of Lake Todos las Santos which I found strictly average, compared to the views you get from Puerto Varas. 

Headed back from there and after a long day’s worth of travel, I yelped and found a well rated Pizza place close to the hostel (Compass del Sur) I was staying at. There was a huge line out the door, but as I was alone I quickly snagged a place at the bar. The place is fantastic by the way, definitely check it out if you’re visiting, the pizza of course is amazing and they have $2 pisco sours!

One of my favorite parts of such trips is the interesting people you get to meet along the way. And here I met the first of many interesting people on my sabbatical. So along with chronicling my travels I am also going to write about some of the interesting conversations I had in my month long South American odyssey. The girl sitting next to me was writing a long letter on multi-colored sheets of paper. We got chatting and I asked her what she does for a living. She was a Norwegian who was a yoga instructor aboard cruise ships, and this allowed her to fuel her wanderlust on a shoestring budget. It’s amazing to know what unique careers people pursue especially if you’re stuck doing a mundane 9-5 job! Interestingly enough, prior to that she worked as a weather specialist on a remote island of Norway, where she spent the entire winter with a group of 15 people while collecting meteorological data. I’d seen documentaries where people spend winters in Antarctica but to meet someone in person who has done those kinds of roles is so cool! Her plans for Chile were also cool, she had a folding bike from Portland, Oregon (what are the odds!!) and was going to bike down the Carrera Austral and reach Ushuaia and hope to get on an Antarctic cruise ship! Biking down the Carrera is one thing, but to plan that on a foldable bike with no plan, that’s staggering! The things you can dream to do when you are not tied to a job and have the freedom to roam!! Beyond cool, I was very impressed, though I think doing stuff like this takes a certain mindset. I am more happy with my regular job and making strategies to get the most of my 3 week yearly vacation quota (it does go a long way if you plan well). At the end she mentioned she was writing those colorful letters to her boyfriend back in Norway, whom she had met for only 48 hours in the last year, and here I thought my long distance relationship was hard! 

A great conversation and a great start to my South American sojourn. Next stop, the iconic Torres del Paine and hiking in the gorgeous Chilean Patagonia!