Hiking in the Lake District

Hiking in the Lake District

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006, Puerto Varas, Chile

When I left the cyber cafe in Castro, I walked to the plaza where there was a live latin jazz concert being performed. A big crowd was there, so I joined them. It was quite good music. All the towns in this area are having regular entertainment since it is the main part of the tourist season here. This one as good as a professional concert.

I finished reading The Bone People by Keri Holmes before leaving Castro the next day. I gave it 3 stars out of 4. It was an interesting book from New Zealand with an unusual format. One of the turnoffs for me was all the drinking that took place in it; I think the main characters must have had about 20 alcoholic drinks per day.

I took the bus from Castro to Puerto Varas on Friday. It was about a 4-hour trip with a 30-minute ferry ride from the island to the mainland as a part of it. The ferries on this route about not much bigger than the ones at Port Aransas; they are probably smaller than the ones on the Bolivar ferry at Galveston. Anyway, my bus company owns most of the ferries, so the buses get to pass the long line of waiting vehicles and go to the head of the line. The crossing is nice with lots of sightings of pods of seals playing around and fresh sea air. We passed through Puerto Montt on the way here; it´s an alternative place (and bigger city) for using as a center for exploring the Lake District. I´m glad I chose Puerto Varas. Puerto Montt was crowded with people and didn´t look very nice. Puerto Varas, instead is a wonderful small city. It is clean and nice and more upscale. There are lots of galleries and higher class souvenir shops. Of course all the restraunts and shops are more expensive here because of it.

It took me a while to settle on a room. When I did, it was at the first place I went which was about 2 blocks from the bus station. When I went there, the room seemed small, and it was obvious that it was the son´s room with his clothes in the closet. I said I would look around. Well, I went to several other places, stopped at the tourist office, went to another side of town, etc. Either there were no singles available (meaning I would have to pay double price and stay in a double) or they were very expensive (almost $30 for a room that didn´t even have a TV). I returned and took the first room and am glad I did. I got the impression that the boy is getting the money from the room. He´s a nice young man. He asked me to sit downstairs while they prepared the room. They vacuumed, changed the sheets, he moved most of his stuff out, etc. He has been in charge of seeing after me. He had my breakfast ready the next morning. He has let me in and out when I have gone. He´s probably 16 or 17, and he has medals for playing volleyball. I hope I am right and that he will get the money for the room. I´d like to know what he will spend it on. It sould be about $50 by the time I leave.

This lake is surrounded by volcanoes. There are at least 3-4 for that can be seen from various points with at least 3 often visable at the same time. One is a perfect cone and snow-topped. Another has a dip int he top like a giant took a bite out of it. Another has an irregular top that must have blown off at some time and has quite a bit of snow on it, too. Anyway, it is fun to be near the water and look out and see these spectacular mountains.

People use Puerto Varas as a place to explore the district. I have done the same. Yesterday, I took a bus to Fruitillar. It is a town up the western side of the lake from here. It has German influences, but it isn`t kitschy. Everything is rather tasteful. It is probably the richest and the most expensive city in the Lake District. I heard lots of American English there--probably people on expensive tours to here. I wandered the waterfront, sat and read for a while, and eventually went hiking in a preserve operated by the Astral University de Chile. I walked from there to another small town where I ate lunch at a place more reasonably priced. I had caszuela de vacuña. It´s a dish on most menus and is a form of beef stew. It had flat noodles, two chunks of beef, an ear of corn, peas, a whole boiled potato, pieces of pumpkin, etc., in the broth. It was really delicious.

Today, I took a bus to Ensanada. It is more of a village than a town and is across the southern end of the lake from here. But it is the beginning of a national park. I walked into the park and hiked a trail in it. It passed beautiful green lagoons and offered very nice close-up views of the cone-shaped volcano. Some of the trail was difficult to hike, since it consisted for chunks of lava. The trail circled a hill with a dip in the middle, so maybe it had once been a small volcano itself.

Tomorrow, I will go a different direction. I may also make a stop in Puerto Montt just to say I have seen the town (and to try to find a cheaper lunch than I can get here). It will probably be my last day here. I plan to make a reservation to take the boat/bus trip that crosses 3 lakes and the mountains to Argentina on Tuesday if all goes well. One aspect of it is that the trip takes all day and I will not arrive in Bariloche until 8:30 or so in the evening. I´m trying to get a reservation there so I won´t arrive and have a problem with housing. It is so difficult, however, to get quick responses to queries about rooms. I have a feeling I will end up making the crossing with no guaranteed place to stay. Will see.

I´m hoping it will be warmer in Argentina. I´m tired of being cold each morning and night. The afternoons are fine, but otherwise it is rather cool. And the wind is blowing fairly hard out of the south right now, meaning that it is cool air at a fast speed.

I´ve removed the gauze wrapping from my hand/thumb. The doctor had said to do so after about 3 days. I was glad to get it off. He wrapped it so tight that it was cutting off the circulation. Now, I have just a patch over the two spots where the needles protrude through my skin. I take the patch off and clean the area and sleep with nothing on it each night. The next morning, after another cleaning, I put a new patch on the area. One more week, and I can have the needles removed. At least the soreness from my exercises went away rather fast. I´ve started to exercise again, but not as much as I did that day that caused all the soreness.