The Lake District

A long drawn out journey by the bus and ferry back to Puerto Montt was followed by a relatively pleasant taxi ride back north to the picturesque location of the Chilean lake district. Here was our opportunity to head back to the area we'd passed through on the bus journey from Argentina, which was not something to be missed. Our cheery taxi driver took us for a supermarket pitstop in Puerto Varas, the largest town and popular base for exploring the lake Llanquihue before continuing on. As we drove along the lakeside we marvelled at the incredible view of two volcanic mountain crests, snowcapped and imposing. We'd chosen to stay in the tiny place called Ensenada, to be found at the last corner of lake Llanquihue under the gaze of the great volcano Osorno, and not 10km from the most beautiful lake in Chile, Lago todo los Santos.


We were introduced to our new cabana, which was just infront of the beach and the mountain itself, a truly spectacular location. And as ever, hardly a soul in sight. Not so impressive was the cabana itself, significantly less comfortable than our place in Chiloe, this cabana was a little tired and less equipped for holiday makers. None the less it was pretty cheap and with a little grocery shop nearby we were happy enough and settled in after taking a quick dip in the lake. Glorious. Soon we discovered the first peril of being in the country, how to aerate the room without letting in the swarm of little fruit flies into every nook and cranny. A tricky one. Obviously we didn't have the knack so before we knew it the place was swarming and each window was covered with a swarm sea of black. Nice. After a stifling night we were quick to get out into the open. After stopping for a few essentials like laundry and internet we wondered about the lifespan of the fruitfly and enjoyed being in this wonderful location. Peril number two of the country, allergies galore. Again we wondered whether it was our stuffy old cabana or the Chilean spring air that was the culprit, but swallowed the antihistamines down and hoped for the best. Leo had sprung out in a rash, and to eliminate all possibilities we rewashed all his clothes in the softest detergent we could find and doused him down in the shower frequently to make sure he kept cool, much to his great pleasure. Not. It would appear we were not as hardened to the 'great outdoors' as much as we would have liked.
To ease our pains we sought out a nice eatery for the evening. Ensenada is really a strip of road along the lakeside with various cabana sites and grocery stores on either side. Not much going on. Still we walked on unti we came across a sign for a restaurant within a lodge complex, and with grand statements such as 'best meal in Chile'(!) doing their best to entice us in we happily took the turning off the road to explore. YankeeWay lodge (ie LLanquihue for the Yankees) appeared a little plush complex for the rich middle aged tourist with a penchant for fishing. It's grounds were beautiful and it crossed our mind to enquire the price to take us out of our allergy misery for our last night. After enquiring we decided that our allergy hole was the preferable option (we don't even fish) but settled down for a sumptous meal. In the end we booked ourselves in for a night in Puerto Varas and contented ourselves with that.
For our last day in Ensenada we took the short trip to Petrohue, a port (of the smallest kind) on the Western bank of Lago Todo Los Santos. This lake was true to the word of the guidebook, beautiful, peaceful and again with the backdrop of the mountains, picture perfect. A guy with a boat offered us a little sail around the lake, but as we needed to feed lil Leo we were more interested in finding an eatery he kindly obliged us by taking us across the lake to someone's house (probably a family member) whose front deck served as a little restaurant.
The house was in a pleasant lakeside spot and the fish served was good. Though we baked in the greenhouse nature of the room we had fun showing Leo the animals in the yard, dogs (by now a definite favourite), ducks and a gobbling turkey, though I didn't explain to him that the turkey was probably a temporary visitor until his special guest appearance in the Christmas eve banquet.
Back on the boat we sailed around a corner of the lake and took in the view.

Blessed with yet another perfect day it was all we could do not to jump off the side and swim off into the horizon..! After disembarking we hung around the lakeside whilst Leo slept in the shade, and while Ari disappeared off to try and find somewhere to swim I moped at my inability to go swimming and busied myself by trying to keep the flies away from Leo. I had my chance later to have a solitary wander in the tranquility, considered swimming in my underwear but then noticed the boat guy sailing past with another group of tourists waving at me, and was grateful that I had not taken that moment to expose myself and merely contented myself with a paddle.
Back at basecamp we found the cabana free of flies! Someone had been busy with a can of something. But in aerating the room once more before we knew it the swarm was back, though not in full force thankfully. We took turns to take a swim in the lake, it's so big you have to keep reminding yourself that it's not a sea, that the water is fresh and clear and as ever at this time of year here in Patagonia, you feel like you're the only one in the whole place. It was one of those moments I really wanted to have ingrained in my brain, something to take back with me ready for the cold, dark and wet British winter. I hope I have succeeded, I'll have to wait and see.
The bus back to Puerto Varas was about a tenth of the price of the taxi so as we were travelling light (only a pushchair, baby sling, suitcase and two rucksacks holding us back) we did the obvious thing, hung by the side of the road like hobos waiting for the next bus. With no timetable or bus stop we hoped we weren't in for the longhaul but soon enough the bus turned up and we clambered aboard. There was another 9 month old baby on the bus who Leo greeted with interest, but soon we were thwarting his attempts at pulling the other baby's dummy out and grabbing indiscriminately at his ears and hair. I hope this is normal for his age..
We piled out of the bus once we saw by chance our hotel passing by and rocked up to the front door. It was so nice to be in a good hotel once more!


We spent the next day or so wandering around Puerto Varas, having a decent steak, wandering around the lakeside. The day that started out cloudy broke into sun, so while we lamented yet again forgetting our bathers Ari went for a swim in his boxers and I contented myself with the knowledge that I would go early the following day whilst playing with Leo on the stone beach. As it was the weekend the whole town was out in full force and people were out in their boats, windsurfs and beachtowels.

The following morning we headed to the beach with all our our neccesary equipment in tow. Unfortunately the sunshine of the previous day was hidden behind a vail of clouds, making the mountain backdrop invisible and more of more relevance the water freezing.
So this is me having my 'swim'. Yes we wussed out, but there's no point having an unpleasant experience for the hell of it. Just as we were preparing to leave Puerto Varas to head back to Puerto Montt, the sun came out again and we left a trail of sunbathers in our wake.

So we were back in Puerto Montt to be reunited with our mountain of luggage, have a repacking frenzy and get set for our next and let's say final leg of our adventure, Santiago and the middle district of Chile. From here on in we would be back in the arms of friends and family, and so I lamented our last days of being 'just us three' and yet looked forward to familiar faces and lively company once more.

Just a small problem of getting there. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to be informed that there were problems with our tickets, that the only one valid still was Leo's and that we had to wait until they investigated the problem. In intricacies of the problem are far too dull for these musings but suffice to say that an earlier missed flight meant they had effectively cancelled this one too. Aghhh. Never has a call been so close. I was at the point of tears, and with baby in arms and sufficient persuasion eventually they let us on despite really resolving the issue, LITERALLY 5 minutes before the plane was due to take off they gave us tickets for the flight. We flew through the airport and boarded all a fluster. Thank God it was a small airport. I was convinced something else was to go wrong and did not think us safe until we were airborn. But at last we were, and on our way to Santiago

Puerto Montt and Chiloe

A morning was spent pottering around Bariloche town before our bus (last long one folks!!) was due to depart. Once aboard we settled down for the journey. We took in the breathtaking scenery as we drove through the winding roads through the lakes and mountains in the border area of Argentina and Chile. There is an alternative and popular border crossing by boat, sailing through the lakes from Bariloche to Puerto Montt which we had considered doing. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and involves an overnight stay, so to make up costs from previous expenses (eg missed flight) we took the cheaper, shorter bus option, with the idea that the landscape would still make it worthwhile. And we were not proved wrong, it was stunning. What a shame to spend a beautiful afternoon on a bus. Our first stop was at Argentinian immigration, our second was at Chilean immigration. We had to annoyingly bequeath the majority of our packed lunch to the bins at this point as Chile allows no fruit, veg or animal products over the border, and waited around for the journey to begin again. I could see this one would drag out. Finally it was time to set off again, and we ventured into Chilean territory for the first time. Ari pointed out that Leo, not having turned 9 months yet, has managed to rack up 8 countries in this 8 months of life which, as well as being quite a feat, the only time in his life when he'll be able to say it (if he could speak, or infact have the cognitive capacity to give a monkeys) . A tribute to you then little one. As we drove on, now late in the day, the park became habited and small towns erupted in the views. It looked like on this side of the border there is more civilisation, for better or worse, and maybe more to do. It was very late by the time we rocked into Puerto Montt bus station, and quite an arduous journey all in all. Maybe because We'd spent a lot of Leo awake time travelling, and these days, as he gets older and more active, he gets more tricky to entertain. Thankfully it's our last long haul bus trip. Our new hotel was comfy and We hit the sack asap.
The next morning we bounded off to breakfast, to be met by the waitresses making a total fuss of Leo (it's been a while actually since he got this kind of attention) and whisked him off into the kitchen to meet the staff. Ari and I took the opportunity to wolf down some food and probably ate in 3 minutes flat to be free to tend to Leo and be off to head for town.

Puerto Montt was like being back in the city after weeks of country living. It's a sea port, and pretty commercial, and whilst a bit chaotic and not as pretty as the admittedly purpose built tourist towns we'd just come from, it was nice to be among the people once again. And everyone seemed particularly friendly too. I had my usual shopping fix by visiting a pharmacy and supermarket and lo and behold, baby food was now available at every turn! Hallelujah. Although on second thoughts, Leo may have learnt how to eat a more varied diet so we didn't feel so reliant on this stuff after all... We wandered into a shopping mall and grabbed a bite to eat in the food hall. The pre Christmas commerce drive was in full swing, which though expected as we were on the verge of December and I'm sure the folks back home have been subjected to Christmas songs, ads and such like since the end of October, this was our first taste and it seemed somewhat bizarre. More so because of the plentiful sunshine and warm weather outside. It's my first Christmas away from the cold and dark days of home and I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy it. I am actually deadly serious, I love the whole cosy on up by the fire in your woolies singing Christmas carols whilst watching 'The Snowman' kind of thing. (not that I've actually done all those things at once). Anyway, as I was wandering about I saw a big toy store and with promises that I didn't want to buy anything to Ari we mosyed on over. Toy stores are so much fun and I was happy browsing. Unlike Ari. He saw a cute little glo-worm and decided Leo had to have it, and I did nothing to stop him, it was just too darn cute and we're coming up to his 9 month birthday after all. We've managed to lose more toys on the way and it makes me sad pulling out the same old blocks for Leo to entertain himself with. Having said that, it has been clear that Leo's favourite toys are the following 1) his dummy holder 2) the lid to his beaker and 3) any spoon, preferably of the shiny metal variety. I really believe that you can make toys out of anything with a little imagination. So this was pure indulgence on our part. Leo did seem to be intrigued by the strange musical glowing thing and we left with Wormy already in arms.

The following day we organised ourselves to travel to the island of Chiloe for a few days. This island is just to the south of Puerto Montt, and has wildlife and lakes and parks to explore. We'd hired a self catering apartment for five nights and were looking forward to an extended period in one place, I might even unpack again, perish the thought. And we'd left most of our luggage in the hotel in Puerto Montt so we were light as feathers boarding yet another bus (only 3 hours this time), no need to plead with the coach staff to overlook the luggage situation, they didn't even bat an eyelid. The weather had taken a turn for the worse unfortunately, and the wind and rain howled against the windows. The bus journey includes a 20 minute ferry crossing, and the sea was wild and unsettled and I watched in both amusement and horror as the spray from the waves smacked the windows of the bus. Even more amusing was the surprise on the faces on the poor people who'd disembarked to see the 'view' as they received their drenching and hurried to find shelter. I couldn't believe Ari and Leo could sleep through all this drama. The bus journey continued for another hour on the island, and with the lack of dramatic snowcapped mountains and the vista of ramshackle houses at every habited place I was thinking that the whole place looked a little bleak and hoped that the weather was painting an inferior picture. We arrived at our destination in Castro, the capital town, Ari did a quick supermarket sweep whilst I waited with Leo and the luggage in the taxi and we were off to meet our new cabin for the next 6 days. The location of our cabana turned out to be beautiful, a lucky find on the back of advice from our travel book. A little way out of Castro on a hillside, we had a beautiful panoramic view of the sea inlet and hill behind, complete with rainbow and hazy sunshine as the rain had run its course.

We knew instantly we had landed on our feet. Leo instantly was happy to explore the floor, having been fully crawling a week his progress has been dramatic as he can now stand with support and cruise tentatively round furniture. We therefore needed a cunning way to keep him away from the fireplace. Oh new challenges at every turn!

Our new little home was to be our refuge for the next few days, providing us with the independence we need from time to time. The weather was cold the first night, trying to keep Leo well wrapped up in his travel cot proved a challenge with all his wriggling and squirming. But the following days grew warmer and brighter, until we had the opposite problem, how to keep Leo cool enough to sleep comfortably. Again, we felt the need to downscale operations, so much so we barely left our cabana for two days. And then we felt we really had to get out and about, so hired a car for a day trip to the national park across the island. In perfect weather we drove the hour long drive round lake to the little town of Cucao and sought out an eatery for lunch. Did I already say that Chiloe is a bit ramshackle? Well this place was no exception, finding the best place is kind of like trying to decide who has the best menu from who's front room looks the most inviting. A little drive on and we stopped at the place that looked most like a public establishment and sauntered in (we also spied a couple of tourists heading that way, safety in numbers). The menu was seabass or salmon, so we opted for both and settled down to a hearty meal. Success! It was all really lovely, we were in a quiet, beautiful location with practically only ourselves for company. After dinner we headed off into the National Park for some scenic walking, and a short trek to the beach (hello Pacific coast we meet again) was great for the beautiful sea view- marred only by a couple of nudies (man and woman, or is that two men? Rude to stare..) and with the strong sun we had to make an about turn to head for the shade of the forest and not long after, homeward bound.


Chiloe is famed for having maintained a unique identity from the Chilean mainland, which includes an architectural style of its own, the remnants of which are visible in many churches made entirely out of wood. I've got a picture of one of these here for you now, which was located close to our cabana.


We had a lovely relaxing time here in Chiloe, and as it turns out I think we were extremely fortunate with the weather, though usually wet and blowy we had mostly blue skies and warm, sunny days. Ari's daily mantra does indeed ring true: wonderful things are happening to us everyday.