We arrived in Puerto Varas last Thursday morning, and honestly the trip was so good I cried when I got home Sunday night. Embarrassing, and not kidding. It’s just the way I decided to reintegrate back to normal life.
The flight was short, and we didn’t want to cough up another 30 bucks for a taxi (after we spent 35 getting to the airport in Santiago…Thursday holiday and no metro at 8am), so we found a 4 dollar bus that took us to the bus station in Puerto Montt. I was totally prepared for a completely rainy weekend, but we pulled into the gate and it was clear with little puddles from last nights rain…so far so good. We made it to the bus station in Puerto Montt and asked someone where the buses were to Puerto Varas. The guy pointed to about 50 blue buses all saying “Puerto Varas”. I think we could have looked a little bit more like tourists if we had a larger camera bag.
Our hotel let us check in early, and we got all fancy and booked a suite because the hotel offered a 50% discount if we travelled with Sky airline. Sky gets a bad rap in Chile next to fancy pants LAN airlines, but hey, we got free breakfast. When was the last time anyone got a free breakfast on an USA owned airline? I think I was 5. The discount was 30% with a standard room, and the suite was cheaper with the discount than the standard room with the discount so hey, sure, I’ll take two bathrooms! I’m not sure how we found this hotel, as there are plenty in Puerto Varas that I’m sure are just fine, but we left satisfied and would definitely stay with them again. Breakfast was great, our view was great (though I’m pretty sure all the hotel rooms in this city have a view of the lake and volcanoes), and I could have stayed in that bed all day if there weren’t so many sights we wanted to see. And also, no hotel thinks about an “Amy breakfast” going until 12pm for those guests (me) who like to sleep a little later but still enjoy a hearty breakfast. So up at 9am I was, albeit reluctantly.
For some reason, all of our dinners and lunches cost almost exactly the same price. It was as if all of the restaurants had had a secret meeting and agreed on (overpriced) food to scam tourists because they were the only places to eat. Some of the restaurants were good. Good food, good views. But at least two of the places we ate were crappy with nonsense service and bland food that did not merit the price tag (I’m talking to you, “Donde el Gordito”). Maybe I noticed this now because it is the first trip we have taken together that wasn’t all inclusive (honeymoon), and every other vacation I have been on has been funded (graciously) by my parents. So maybe the same-price-at-every-restaurant business is totally booming in small tourist towns.
ready for din din
tasty bier
Thursday was cloudy, but Friday and Saturday were uncommonly clear for the Southern winter. The very cute old man at the spa at our hotel told us that in Puerto Varas it rains 200 days a year, and almost every day in winter. So no rain and clear skies two days in a row in winter during our long weekend was an extra-special surprise. We celebrated by spending Friday in Frutillar, an even smaller town 30 minutes north of Puerto Varas. We passed a million cows on our way there (Brittany!). I really think it was one million. I looked out one window and saw cows, and then looked out the other window and saw a volcano. It was my only indicador that we were not actually in Wisconsin.
so. many. cows.
we’re not in wisconsin anymore toto
Frutillar was populated by German settlers in the 19th century, and there was a beautiful outdoor colonial museum that we visited to be more edumacated. After about 2 hours though, Andrés only wanted to spin the wheels on the 150 year old wheat grinder and see if it still worked. I played the role of Mrs. Tightwad and told him that we’re not supposed to touch things in a museum. He continued to touch everything. I was positive he was one of those kids that climbed the dinosaurs on his 5th grade field trip to the Natural History museum. Luckily, no handles fell off anything so we were in the clear.
playing on museum property
walking around the outdoor museum
squishing the volcano in frutillar
us 3
Saturday we took an hour bus ride to the National Park and spent the good part of our afternoon there. We visited the Saltos de Petrohué (Petrohué falls) and took lots of pictures ‘interacting’ with nature. The national park (called Vicente Pérez Rosales) is über close to the Osorno volcano, and since it was such a clear day, we took an extra amount of nature pictures than what was originally planned.
God blessed us with some awesome views and awesome creation
happy in nature
We got a panoramic version of the volcano on Friday in Frutillar, and a up close and personal version on Saturday at the park. There were two small trails, and the first one we spent looking for little birds and Andres trying to “pave new trails” in an attempt to be the most adventerous tourist in the park. This mainly constituted us walking 5 seconds off the trail, running into a bush, and turning back around. We found a small lagoon, climbed some rocks, and found the end of the trail at a clearing that fed into the powerful rapids.
he’s so handsome
We found some not totally uncomfortable rocks to sit on and ate our picnic. This may have been my favorite meal of the whole trip. The view was unbeatable. Though, it was comical to me that Andrés was paranoid and weird about eating our lunch on the rocks because we might get into trouble because we were in a protected area, but he was fine with touching every artifact in the museum the day before. He kept looking over his shoulder like a squirrel that had found a really big nut and didn’t want it stolen.
raging rapids
Since the baby has discovered my bladder and has decided to use it as a hippity hop, I now have to pee 57 times a day. There is no rhyme or reason, I go to the bathroom and 5 minutes later I’m wetting my pants again, but other times I go and don’t have to pee again for 4 hours. Well, my picnic Gatorade was tasty and I stupidly drank the whole thing and had to pee 10 minutes back into our walk. We found one of our “secret trails” and I did my business while Andres was supposed to be on guard. He decided to take a picture of me instead. This will not be posted on the internets for the general public to see. Use your imagination.
climbing trees
paving trails
On Sunday we woke up to crazy winds and cloudy skies. It was safe to say Puerto Varas was sad that we were leaving. We ate our breakfast, checked out and walked to the bus stop and headed back to Puerto Montt. There is a famous area of Puerto Montt called Angelmó that has a craft market and good seafood. Andrés really wanted to go, and we had the whole afternoon before our flight in the evening. We left our bags with the attendants (custodia) in the bus station and walked to Angelmó. By the time we got there, it was raining sideways because it was so windy. This place is obviously a tourist destination, so we walked in and were hounded by 15 overweight 40-something women asking us if we had eaten lunch yet and inviting us into their “beautiful restaurant with cheap food and great views”. Andrés took care of them while I just wanted to shush them but kept my hood up and clung to my husband. We picked a place and didn’t like the view (their “great view” was of some trees and a rocky beach) and found a place that didn’t have crazy vulture women hounding us, El Chilotito Marino.
yum yum curanto
We ate a nice lunch and afterwards Andrés found some smoked salmon to bring home and a great warm poncho for the last of the winter months. It’s a very classy poncho and I think I might have to borrow it.
So like I said, I cried when we got home. It was so smogless there. I am also a very happy wife who enjoys spending time with her husband, so when we got back I had to go back to figuring out what days we will eat dinner together and waiting until Saturday to spend the day with him, when the entire four days we got to eat every meal together and laugh and see some really beautiful places. I’m also pregnant and the hormones are seriously brewing, and last night I was seriously distraught and in tears because I couldn’t get off the metro in time and had to backtrack to my station. It was traumatizing, obviously.
I especially like the above photo because Ignacio is hanging upside down and Maximo is giving some serious cousin love to Clara, which Diego and Martina are just observing the weirdness/cuteness.
She officially wins the happiest baby award. This kid was passed at least 50 times from family member to other family member and I never heard her cry once. I have a leery feeling that not all babies act like her, and mine may not fall into that category either. For now I can only hope.
she's back in chile 