Lakes, Volcanoes, and...Germans

Volcano and Lake district of Chile

4-6 Arrived very early morning into Puerto Montt. I then grabbed a but to Puerto Varas and then another bus to tiny Ensanada near Parque Nacional Vincent Perez Rosales. Ensanada sits right on the shores of lake Llanquihue. It was cloudy and misty, but I did catch a decnt glimpse of Volcan Osorno (the perfect cone shaped volcano) on my walk along the beach of lake Llanquihue. There is a heavy german influence here. The little town are very germanesque (you even see lots of signs advertising kuchen..german cake, and many bmws, audies, and vw's on the road). Unfortunately on my afternoon walk along the lake, I stepped on a rusty nail which went through my sole of my new shoes, but fortunately it didn't go through my skin). So I had to do a bit of shoe repair with some super glue...glue muy fuerte. I'm am staying at this cute little homestay place. It's just me, and I have my own room (a double bed and my first time to have my own room since I left!). The sweet man and woman that run the place are so nice and they only speak spanish, so I've been getting good practice with my spanish. They are probably in their late 50s to early 60s. For only 20 bucks I get the nice room plus a delicious breakfast and large and tasty dinner. For dinner tonight I had a garden fresh salad and then a salmon soup and then a salmon steak...the fish straight from the rivers here. Rained hard all night

4-7 I hiked into Parque Nacional Vincent Perez Rosales. I took a trail that started to go up the slopes of Volcan Osorno. There were thousands of blackberries and this other red berry, called Murta. Just tons of them. The berries, weather, forest, and even volcanoes reminded me a whole lot of Washington. Slow going on my hike bc I was feasting so much. I ended up hiking a trail called Camino Solitario which skirts the base of the volcano. Part of the trail was through temperate rainforest, and part was through volcanic scrub and areas washed out by floods of volcanic silt. At one point I could actually see the top of the perfect cone of the volcano before it went back behind the clouds. Hitch hiked backed to Ensenada. Today for breakfast I had home-made cheese and home-made coffee cake. Dinner was a salad with fresh fish in it from the lake and then tasty beef and the most delicious tomatoes I have ever had (straight from Sylvia's garden). That night I watched Chilean Idol with Sylvia and her husband Juan

4-8 Happy Easter! Woke up to a gorgeous Easter day! I went out to the lake and watched the sunrise on Volcan Osorno and Volcan Calbuco over lago Llanquihue. Unlike in the US where you can go to sunrise service or a multitude of other services, they only had one service at this small village and it was at 1130. I was fretting that the service was so late that by the time I got to the NP, the clouds would have come in, but I went nonetheless. The mass was held in a small chapel by the lake and I went with the couple I was staying with. The priest was late in coming, so the service didn't start until 1215. It was a bit hilarious seeing him rush in. He probably had gotten out late from a service he had done in a small town down the road. After mass, I took the bus to Parque Nacional Vincent Perez Rosales to the gorgeous turquoise Lago Todos Los Santos where I could also see crazy pointy Volcan Puntiagudo. I hiked up to Paso Desolacion on a saddle between Osorno and Cerro La Picada. It of course offered stunning views of the perfect Osorno. And it went through cool volcanic scenery and environs. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS blue sky day. From the pass, I could also see the giant massif of Volcan Tronadaor that shares the border with Chile and Argentina. Of course tons of berries again today. I hitched a ride back as I was too late for the buses. I got picked up by a french guy who has been living in Santiago for 5 years and his chilean girlfriend as well. He was funny and gave me a couple of memorable quotes "Only dangerous wildlife in Chile are the Chilean girls" and "Chilean volcanoes aren't dangerous compared to the girls" Amazing dinner again of chicken, soup, and salmon.

4-9 Sylvia and Juan were just so nice and their food and little house so nice, it was tough to leave. I think they were sad to see me go to as sylvia gave me a big hug and kiss and even blessed me. Juan insisted on giving me a ride into Puerto Varas instead of me taking the bus. He dropped me right off at the bus station where I took a bus to Osorno. Osorno is the first place I have really been in South America that is not a tourist spot and it is the first place that had a little more cultural flair with some outdoor markets and food stalls. My kind of thing. Actually felt a little more foreign here. They also had lots of shopping and big malls and supermarkets, which I took advantage of while wiating for my next bus in order to stock up on food and goods (like a sleeping mat) that I needed for camping. I even found that item that is like gold here for camping...peanut butter! It's hard to find and this was only the 2nd place I had seen it. PB is of course great for sandwiches while hiking bc it doesn't spoil or get smushed like vegetables and tomatoes and cheese nor is it too expensive to use like the meat here...or well at least the meat is too expensive for this budget backpacker. And pb is also great bc it has lots of energy and lots of protein.

Took the bus up to the tiny town of Anticura past lake Pueyhue and lots of tall waterfalls. Funny thing was at one waterfall was a mineral water bottling company. Hey, this bottling company actually had it's source just like the pictures always have of this beautiful forest with a waterfall coming out of it and glaciated mountains behind it. I stayed at this place called El Caulle on a fondo (farm). I had my own little farmhouse with a roasty toasty fire (it was cold and misty outside)