Though a source of contention between Argentina and Chile that is still not completely settled, their mutual border is generally taken to be the continental divide along the Andes Mountains. So to get from Argentina to Chile, one must cross the Andes, and we did this by bus on a day that provided particularly spectacular scenery. Settling in Puerto Varas on Chilean side, we found a land of lakes, volcanos, and enchanting people.
Below is a map that shows our point of departure, Bariloche, on the lower right and our destination, Puerto Varas, at the lower left. We took the northern route through Osorno, since the southern route requires multiple transfers between busses and ferries:
As our tour bus drove west and gained altitude, the scenery became snowier and snowier:
The sign above marks the highest elevation of our excursion. One thinks of the Andes as being very high, but perhaps you can read the altitude on the sign: 1321 meters or 4334 feet; not that high. It’s a beautiful area, particularly with fresh snow, and is a national park:
When we got to the international border, the bus let us out for a few minutes to romp in the snow:
It didn’t take long to get back down into warmer and greener realms where we stopped for lunch:
Such a contrast from where we’d been less that two hours before. The restaurant had some displays of antiquated farm equipment on its grounds:
But the big attraction was, of all things, an auto museum:
This one specialized in Studebakers:
What I’ve shown is just a tiny sample of a very extensive collection. They also had many interesting cars of other makes:
I liked the T-bird, can you tell? Next to it… I think this is a Chevy:
Avanti, who remembers those:
For Mini Cooper fans, here is its lowly progenitor:
Not Mercedes best styling effort. Just west of the restaurant was a commercial flower field, reminiscent of Encinitas, California:
By mid-afternoon we arrived at Puerto Varas, Chile. This is the iconic church in the town:
Having some time before dinner, we went on a walking tour of town; most of what there is to do is shopping:
There was even a bar that gave you the option of blending your own drinks:
We also passed some street performers:
That evening we went to a charming restaurant in town:
It specializes in seafood. On the recommendation of our trip leader, I ordered the lobster casserole:
It doesn’t look that great, but it was delicious and chock full of lobster.
The next morning we headed east out of town, which sits on the shore of a gorgeous lake:
That’s Alex, our local guide, showing us where we would be going that day. One attraction that’s impossible to overlook is Osorno Volcano:
It is dormant now, but last erupted in 1835; Charles Darwin witnessed that eruption and mentions it in his journals.
Further east we stopped at a park:
where we crossed a bridge over a river coursing through volcanic rock:
visited a waterfall:
and had an even better view of Osorno:
We took a walk through the forest and saw rare birds (too quick to photograph), beautiful scenery:
another waterfall:
and a raging rapids:
This river has Class 4 rapids. Nearby is a river with Class 6 that is used for international rafting and kayaking competitions.
(For an introduction to our tour group, see this post.) Everywhere we walked, the ground was covered with thick gray sand that was, in fact, volcanic ash:
Not from Osorno, but from another nearby volcano, Calbuco, which you’ll see in photographs below, that had erupted in April 2015. Calbuco was also responsible for the ash we saw around Bariloche.
Proceeding further east, we got in a boat to cross a river:
to the ranch house where we would have lunch:
As you can see, the view of Osorno was spectacular from here. The farm was also directly downwind of the Calbuco eruption, and what was once a lush green yard is now mostly gray ash. A few weeks after the eruption, a mudslide surged just yards away from the house as a dam of ash above the property gave way.
Our lunch was freshwater fish caught by the father of the family that morning, prepared by the mother, and served by the daughter:
After lunch, we crossed back over the river:
and began heading west. That’s when we got our first good view of the Calbuco volcano:
Though there are clouds around the summit of Calbuco, some of the white is steam still being vented. See the gray mounds by the side of the road? Those are volcanic ash that has been cleared off.
Our bus then started up a winding road that took us close to the summit of Osorno:
From there, the view back toward Puerto Varas and Calbuco is spectacular:
Calbuco’s eruption was videoed from nearly this same spot, which you can see here. We then started off on a hike across the slopes of volcano Osorno:
After an adventurous day, we stumbled into a restaurant in Puerto Varas that looked like just a hole in the wall. I was a bit intimidated when the seafood stew I ordered came out looking like this:
but it was the most delicious I’ve ever had. Also, you’ll be glad to know that walking back to the hotel, I confirmed that there are Patagonia clothing stores in Patagonia:
The next day we had a special treat: we visited a small country grade school. As we exited the bus, each of us was taken by the hand by one of the children as our guide:
Not surprisingly, none of them spoke English, but we were happy to see their classrooms:
and their treasured computers:
Without the teacher supervising, the kids went straight to their favorite music videos on YouTube. At the end of our visit, they put on a very cute dance demonstration for us:
About a mile away was a kindergarten for us to visit:
Each child had drawn a picture for us, and I got Martina’s:
I kept very few souvenirs from trip, but that drawing is one of them.
We were scheduled for lunch at another ranch. Along the way, we passed an ox cart:
When we arrived at the ranch, we wondered what we’d gotten ourselves into:
but the building on the right was well maintained and nice inside. Lunch, however, would be cooked out side. Sebastian, our trip leader, introduced the family:
And Alex explained the cooking process:
While that was cooking, the women helped out with meal preparation inside:
By the time the food was pulled out of the pit, our mouths were watering:
There was more than enough food for all of us. After lunch, we were given a demonstration of spinning wool into yarn:
and a few tried their hand at it:
A few finished goods were also for sale:
All the dyes were taken from local plants and soils.
Leaving Puerto Varas headed south, we saw a rainbow:
At the end of the rainbow was Chiloe Island, a cultural heartland of Chile.
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