Day 10 Osorno and Puerto Varas...

Osorno is the capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. In 1558, the city was founded by the governor, Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, with the name of Villa de San Mateo de Osorno, in honor of his grandfather, Count of Osorno. Osorno sits in sight of Volcano Osorno, an active but minor volcano. The city's most prominent geographical feature is the Rahue River that runs North-South through its center. Located near the river front on the east side is the city's heart, the Plaza de Armas, a large, one-block park with fountains, benches, and tree-lined avenues. On the park's east side is the Catedral of Saint Matthew, one of the city's major landmarks, notable for its modern architecture.

On the way to Puerto Varas we were to visit a cattle ranch, but the owner had had a stroke and was in the hospital in Santiago.

We stopped at a cattle auction barn in Osorno instead. At the auction barn they were unloading cattle and getting ready for the auction while we walked over the catwalk to view the action. The cowboys wore heavy wooden stirrups to protect their feet. They also do not have saddle horns since they don't use ropes. Instead the horses are trained to handle the cattle by using their bodies to move the cattle along.

We stopped in Osorno to walk around the plaza and use the restroom at a café where Terry knew the owners. Jim and I went to the post office to get stamps, walked through the plaza and viewed the beautiful new church with a modern steeple and bell tower. Osorno was a town in central valley where all the ranchers came to do their business. It was busy the day we were there.

As our journey continued we drove through beautiful lake country to the home of a German/Swiss woman and her daughter. The road was gravel and Terry wasn't quite sure which home to go to. We were truly amazed when we got there. The home was huge and built in the early 1900's. It looked run down, but just had a weathered look. Inside it was beautiful and full of good old German smells.

We had lunch under a tent in the backyard. We had Pisco Sours again and a wonderful lunch with salmon mousse, steak and a yummy dessert and, of course, wine. Most of us toured the house and Jim and Jim walked around the farm over looking the lake. The woman's father and grandfather had the farm. She married and had recently divorced her husband. She rented the land out and turned the home into a B & B for people coming from Santiago on vacations.

Her daughter had been studying about the tourist industry in Switzerland and was home to help her mom. They were going to spend the winter in Switzerland. Terry knew the family as her youngest son had gone to school with the daughter. It was truly a delight to spend time with them and to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

After we left the B&B we drove to Puerto Varas and arrived rather late in the day. The city was busy and right on a huge lake, Lago Llanquihue.

Puerto Varas is a city located in the southern Chilean province of Llanquihue, in the Los Lagos Region. The city is well known for its German traditions, its food, its seafood, the scenery and its casino. Located on the shore of the Lake Llanquihue, one of the largest natural lakes in South America. The perfect cone of Osorno volcano and the snowcapped peaks of Mt. Calbuco and Mt. Tronador are clearly visible from the lakefront. The city, known as "the city of roses", was founded in 1854 by Vicente Perez Rosales. The city is named after Antonio Varas, minister of the interior during the presidency of Manuel Montt, when the city was founded.

Unfortunately our hotel, Hotel Bordelago, was about 3 or 5 miles outside of the city and there wasn't anything to do. The hotel was new and partly under construction and although clean it was not what we had been used to. There were a lot of complaints. A few of our group took a taxi into town and went to the Casino for the evening. We did have a wonderful view of the lake and two inactive volcanoes outside our window.

Day 11 Vincent Perez Rosales National Park... Vicente Perez Rosales National Park is located in Los Lagos Region, Llanquihue Province, of Chile. This national park covers about 2,530 kms2 and is almost entirely in the Andes mountain chain.

The adjacent Vicente Perez Rosales and Puyehue National Parks in Chile; and the Nahuel Huapi and Lanin National Parks in Argentina, provide a continuous protected area of close to 15,000 kms2. The park protects the body of Todos los Santos Lake. The outlet of the lake gives rise to the Petrohue River, which flows through the Petrohue Waterfalls. The Park also contains the eastern slope of Volcan Osorno.

This area of Chile is known as "Switzerland of South America" and was it beautiful. We headed out for the park and stopped at a waterfall along the way. It was beautiful with crystal blue water and a view of Osorno volcano. The walk was about a quarter mile back to the falls, but the path was cleared and there were clean restrooms. The water was from Lago Todos Los Santos and wound around the mountains and out to the sea. There were a lot of tour buses there from cruise ships near by. At a tourist stand, I purchased several alpaca scarves to bring home. We drove on through the park to Petrohue, which is a resort near the lake. We had lunch there in the hotel and it was wonderful again. We had salad, salmon, and a yummy pudding like dessert. We had water instead of wine for lunch. In Chile they try to serve water "sin gas", meaning carbonated water. We all wanted regular water instead.

After lunch we got on small boats and toured around the lake. This and connecting lakes is a way to get to Argentina. It's a long way as they cross the Andes and have to get on a bus, then on a boat again. It takes all day. Our boat tour was about an hour. We passed Mt. Osorno and it was beautiful. Over half of the group went on a hiking tour and were picked up at another location on the lake. It was fun to watch people being transferred from one boat to another.

Jim went on the hike and I went back to the dock and shopped for jewelry at a small stand. Then I stayed down by the water and waited for the other boat to come back. They were gone about two hours and Jim said the walk was up and down and somewhat strenuous.

By the time the two groups got all together, the crowds at Petrohue had really grown and it was hard for the buses to get around. It was a Saturday and many people came out for the day. Plus the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. On our way back to Puerto Varas, we stopped at a dairy farm and had high tea. This was one of the local farms that had been given to German or Swiss immigrants many years ago.

Most people think that the German population in Chile arrived during the last century; however, the Chilean government in 1845 started a program of attracting foreigners to Chile's southern lake district. Many of these German communities work small dairy farms.

The land was a narrow strip and ran back from the lake about 6 kilometers. In the early days, the only access to the outside world was by water. It took a lot of work to clear the land and make it as beautiful as it is today. Naturally, being German or Swiss the land was clean and neatly kept. The farm was unique and in order to continue to make a profit, the owners have turned it into a family gathering and entertainment place for children in the lake country. Many people stop on their way back from a day at the park.

There was a zip line for children as well as many animals. Parents can sit and watch the scenery while the kids run around and have a good time.

The tea was something else. We had dessert first, with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Then we had fresh baked bread with butter, salmon spread, jelly, a relish, sausage, and other things. It was lovely there with mountains and lakes all around. None of us wanted to leave to go back to the hotel which we didn't like. It was also windy and cool. When we got back to the hotel, Jim and I walked down a steep path to the lake. It was very calm and the view was beautiful. There was a line of smoke across the lake and it looked like smoke from a volcano.

We thought we would tease everyone and say it was an active volcano. It wasn't. Though it was just smoke, it made for a good picture. Back in the room the two volcanoes were beautiful with the setting sun shining on them. This was our last night as a whole group. Sixteen of the 35 were headed back to the U.S. in the morning, while the rest of us were flying on down to Punta Arenas in Patagonia.

Terry Reagan left us and headed back with those returning to Santiago. She was a wonderful tour guide and knew a lot about Chile. She is a U.S. citizen and had married a Chilean she met in college in California. They moved to Chile and after two children divorced. She later married a Chilean farmer and had one son. Two years ago her husband was killed in a farm accident. She has been a tour guide since and makes her home on Easter Island. She knows a lot of people and places, and makes sure her clients have the best of the best on tour while in Chile.

PATAGONIA: Day 12 Patagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Mostly located in Argentina and partly in Chile, it comprises the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateau and low plains to the east. The Chilean portion embraces the southern part of the region of Los Lagos, and the regions of Aisen and Magallanes. It excludes those portions of Antarctica claimed by both Chile and Argentina. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagon used by Magellan to describe the native people who his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 5'11" compared to the 5'1" average for Spaniards of the time. Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas...

Puerto Montt is a port city in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncavi Sound in the Llanquihue Province. The city's economy is based upon agriculture, forestry, fishing and salmon aquaculture in the surrounding islands and fjords. It is the fastest-growing city in southern Chile and has one airport, El Tepual, where three airlines have regular flights. On this day, 19 of us left Puerto Montt and flew to Punta Arenas.

The rest of the group, and Terry, headed back to Santiago and on to the US. We had a two-hour flight delay because of fog in Puerto Montt. Our flight was about 2 hours and it was raining in Punta Arenas when we arrived. We drove through Punta Arenas and on to our hotel and got our rooms. The hotel was an old building converted into a beautiful hotel in the heart of the city. Our room was large with a sitting area and a homey look, and over looked the river that ran through town. We had time to go out for lunch with Jim and Ruth Goldman and went to a local pizza café. We had a fun trying to communicate with the waiter while ordering our pizza. The other patrons in the café laughed at us as we tried to order in our broken Spanish.

Punta Arenas, meaning Sandy Point, is the most prominent settlement on the Strait of Magellan and the capital of the Magallanes y la Antartica Chilena Region. The city, located on the Brunswick Peninsula, is the southernmost city of its size in the world. It is roughly 880 miles from the coast of Antarctica.

Our new guide in Punta Arenas and Patagonia was RosaMaria, a 27 year old whose family owned a sheep ranch on Tierra Del Fuego. She had been leading tours, but on a limited basis, and her English was pretty good; however, she still had some problems with certain words. We had a smaller bus and the driver had to take some of the back seats out to fit all our luggage.

We left the hotel about 3:00pm and went on a tour of the city. The clouds broke up and the sky was a beautiful deep blue. It was in the 50's and some breeze, but comfortable. Rosa insisted we go to the cemetery, which none of us were too interested in, but we went anyway. The huge cemetery is a main attraction in the area and it is beautiful. Sculpted evergreens line the walkways around the mausoleums. I think Rosa wanted to go there to show us her family's tomb. It is a custom in Chile for relatives to visit their ancestors' graves on a regular basis and to keep them decorated.

After the cemetery we went up on the hill and saw the whole city and the Straits of Magellan. The roofs of the houses are all different colors and it was beautiful against the blue sky and the blue ocean. We could see Tierra Del Fuego in the distance.

Rosa asked us if we wanted to go to museums or go to a horse-breaking event. None of us wanted to go to museums, so we drove out of Punta Arenas about half and hour to a horse arena. There were a lot of people standing around the arena watching the gauchos, dressed in their traditional attire, having a horse breaking contest. They would tie up an unbroken horse, saddle him, and a gaucho got on and tried to stay on as long as possible.

It was fun and the crowd whopped and yelled for their favorite riders. It was a real event with barbeque and other things, though some had a bit too much vino.

We left and went back to the hotel for a wonderful crab and salmon dinner, and a Pisco Sour and plenty of wine. The restaurant was at the top of the hotel with windows giving us a wonderful view of the city and the Straits. Very full, we went to bed and slept well.

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On to Days 13-15

Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine National Park and home