puerto varas

On Friday, I arrived in Puerto Varas, a stylish vacation town on Lake Llanquihue surrounded by beautiful mountains and volcanoes. I was planning on taking it easy on Friday since my back was aching thanks to both lugging a backpack around AND the horrendous sunburn (that's what I get for not having a travel buddy to put sunscreen on places I can't reach), but those relax plans changed quickly. The women at the hostel told me I should go to the Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales that day because the weather looked like it would be the best of the weekend, so I did! I dropped my backpack off and hopped on the first bus to the park. These pictures are of Lago de los Santos and Volcan Osorno...unfortunately I haven't seen the volcano in its entirety yet because it's been overcast, so I can only imagine what it looks like in the summer's blue skies!!


On Saturday I told myself, today is for sure my take it easy day... but instead I walked a ton around Puerto Varas and then went to the other side of the lake to Frutillar, another town known for its quaint German-ness, and walked around there. But there's nothing I love more than exploring places on foot, while catching up on some NPR podcasts on my iPod. I also bought DELICIOUS alfjaores...if you know me, you know these biscuit cookie delicacies are more of a weakness of mine than peanut butter. :)


Today (Sunday) I rented a bike from the hostel and FINALLY rode around after not having been since Ecuador. I biked for over 30 km roundtrip....SO wonderful. It's still overcast, but I took some pictures...I wish it weren't so grey, because the pictures don't do the landscape justice...the green farms and volcanoes and lake.

Anyway, so I've been in a great mood after all these outdoor activities! Tomorrow I cross the border to Argentina. I'm going to miss Chile so much!!! I feel like there's so much I haven't seen (there truly is, Chile is enormous), but, as one fellow American traveler told me, leaving some things unseen is just one more reason to come back. Nos vemos, Chile.