After leaving Argentina's Lakes District, we drove across the Andes Mountains in our motorhome Vdos, to enter Chile. Once in Chile, we drove around Lago (Lake) Puyehue and into the southern end of Chile's Lakes District. Our first stop there was near the town of Entre Lagos, where we spotted a stunning field of yellow.
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| Tulips and Volcano Puntiagudo near Entre Lagos, Southern Lakes District, Chile |
Further exploration showed thousands of tulips in full beautiful bloom. What made the picture more impressive, was the gigantic Volcano Puntiagudo behind, standing proud at 2,493 m.
We'd heard that many of the lakes in this area are accompanied by volcanoes, but this one surprised us seeming to be so close.
Driving south, we soon arrived at Lago Rupanco.
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| Lago Rupanco and Volcano Osorno, Southern Lakes District, Chile |
This lago has beautiful clear water, and from its shores we could see the Osorno Volcano (2,652 m). This volcano is one of the most famous in Chile and often called the "Fujiyama of South America," because of its similarity to the conical Japanese volcano, Mt Fuji.
From there, we continued south toward Lago Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile. It was a lovely drive, and we were able to see another volcano beyond that lago too. It was Volcano Calbuco.
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| Lago Llanquihue and Volcano Calbuco, Southern Lakes District, Chile |
Calbuco is a rugged-topped volcano that is still quite active. The most recent activity was in April 2015 when it erupted with no warning, sending an ash cloud 15 km into the sky.
On this route, we soon arrived at the quaint village of Puerto Octay sitting on the northern bank of Lago Llanquihue.
This whole area was settled by German families as a part of Chile’s drive to increase its population, at about the time of the German revolution of 1848–49. Its German heritage is reflected in the interesting architecture in Puerto Octay, such as its 2-storey wooden buildings.
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| Wooden architecture of Puerto Octay and Puerto Varas, Southern Lakes District, Chile |
Leaving there, we continued south to Puerto Varas on the southwest bank of Lake Llanquihue. The architecture of Puerto Varas also reflects its German roots. This town dates back to 1853.
In Puerto Varas we found Camping Playa Niklitschek and planned to stay there for the night. It was right down on the lake front, but unfortunately for us, it was in a state of mayhem as they prepared for summer. There were pine trees being cut down, tree roots everywhere, and earth churned up.
With the facilities not cleaned after the weekend of campers and picnickers, we were again thankful to have our own bathroom.
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| Puerto Montt, Chilean Patagonia |
It was not a peaceful place and we couldn't bring ourselves to stay more than one night, so continued south to Puerto Montt the next day. Puerto Montt is a port city with a population of around 200,000.
We stopped for a good look around, then decided that, instead of turning around and going north to the other Chilean lakes, we would visit Isla de Chiloé (Chiloé Island).
Chiloé is known for its scenery, seafood and UNESCO World Heritage churches. It sits in the southern Patagonian area between the landmass holding the Southern Andes, and the Pacific Ocean, and is separated from Puerto Montt by the Chacao Strait. It is Chile's second largest island after Tierra del Fuego (at Chile's southernmost tip).
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| Car ferry to Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
So we drove to Pargua near Puerto Montt, to get the car ferry to the island. The ferry took about half an hour to get there, and we disembarked at Chacao, a wee village of around 450 people that began life as a Spanish outpost in 1567.
Staying in the north of the island, we drove from there to Ancud, a fishing town that is now the second largest on Chiloé. We stopped at a very friendly and helpful tourist office there, and picked up some maps and addresses of campgrounds in the area, planning to stay a while.
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| Fishing boats in Ancud on Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
We decided to stay at Hotel Arena Gruesas which has camping attached to it. We had to drive up some steep narrow streets to find it, and although the ground was very muddy from recent rain, we managed to park on a flatish-dryish site.
Finding a level site is always a challenge and we often spend quite a bit of time going backwards and forwards so that the dining table, stove, and bed are fairly level. Also, our water pump seems to throw a hissy-fit if the slope is too bad!
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| Shingle-clad houses in Ancud on Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
The next day we explored Ancud, with its old Spanish fort, traditional shingle clad houses, and fishing boats.
A few days later, we drove southward down the coast to Punihuil to see a penguin colony. Inconveniently, it started to rain heavily just as we were arriving.
Once in Punihuil, we discovered that the road took us across a creek, then along a soggy beach where we would have to get a small boat to see the penguins.
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| Descent to Punihuil before the rain, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
But the rain had transformed the creek into a raging river. After assessing the depth and speed of the river, we decided we did not want drive across it, and also did not want to risk getting bogged in the sand on the other side. So we called it quits and drove further south to see more of the island.
There are lots of little fishing villages all along the eastern coast. Finding a turn-off toward the coast, we decided to drive down the narrow road to see what was there. We ended up in the lovely little fishing village of Dalcahue.
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| Colourful fishing boats in Dalcahue, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
This is a very tidy and well cared for village with an interesting waterfront, and many brightly painted fishing boats tied up at the wharf.
The rain had not ventured this far south, so we enjoyed a lovely walk around in the warm sunshine.
Dalcahue has a lovely wooden church, Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Los Delores (Church of Our Lady of Sorrows), which dates back to 1893 and has a unique nine-arched portico.
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| The wooden Church of Our Lady of Sorrows (UNESCO), Dalcahue, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
There are many such beautiful and different churches on the island. They were built in the 18th and 19th centuries when the island was still part of the Spanish crown possession.
They are classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their cultural significance, amalgamating native and Spanish beliefs into the churches. They certainly were different and very interesting.
We then drove further around the coast to the very small fishing village of San Juan.
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| Drive down to San Juan fishing boats, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
As with several of the other fishing villages we explored, San Juan is small, and fairly isolated. They are all off the central road of the island, and down long narrow unmade roads to the coast.
It was a lovely part of the island in which to mosey about.
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| San Juan fishing boats, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
We carried on exploring, down more interesting narrow and unsealed side roads, never quite sure where we were going. Over a few hours, we found several little settlements usually founded on fishing. Often there were only a few houses and they were perched right on the waterfront.
The views throughout were fantastic, being a mix of emerald-green rolling hills, beautiful natural blue-water bays, multi-coloured fishing boats, and colourful wooden houses. We loved it.
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| The wooden Church of Our Lady of Graces (UNESCO), Nercón, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
Toward the end of the day, we ended up in Nercón, a tiny village in the hills that had an ancient wooden UNESCO listed church.
In the Nercón area, we found Camping El Chiloé. The camp was a lovely and we had it all to ourselves. It was a peaceful stop with clean facilities, and wood-fired hot showers.
The next morning, we headed south again to further explore, and particularly liked the wee town of Chonchi, another fishing village, with a lovely waterfront area and UNESCO wooden church.
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| The wooden Church of Chonchi (UNESCO), Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
The Chonchi church, unlike many of the others we had seen, was colourful in pale blue and yellow.
After that, we headed back up north to Castro, the capital city of Chiloé. Although bigger than the other towns and villages on the island, it still had a ‘village’ feel with narrow streets winding down to the water’s edge, a range of architecture, and a lovely UNESCO church.
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| Castro street, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
In Castro we saw palafitos, traditional wooden-shingled fishermen’s houses built on stilts over the water. Apparently, the idea was that you could moor your boat at the back door and walk into the street via the front door – love it!
Originally, they would have been built to help protect the inhabitants from unfriendly animals and neighbours.
Leaving Castro, we drove back to the top of the island to catch the car ferry to return to Puerto Montt on the mainland.
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| Palafito houses in Castro, Isla de Chiloé, Chilean Patagonia |
More rain was threatening but we felt very happy with our decision to explore such an interesting place as Isla de Chiloé.
Back on the mainland after leaving the island, we drove north to see more of Chile's Lakes District.
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