We spent a good portion of our Chile research on figuring out which were the top regions to visit. One often mentioned area was the Lake District. Though not as well known as Patagonia to us internationals, sources said it’s where many Chileans go vacation. They described luscious green forests, waterfalls, volcanoes and obviously lakes. While that’s all a true story, we feel the area is not much different from the natural resources we can easily access in the U.S, aside from the volcanoes. And maybe a geothermal bath, but it’s a far way to go just for that. It’s probably worth saving your money and PTO on something you can’t already experience at home. Of course we only found out by already going, but hey it’s still a pretty place.

Pucon

We flew into the Temuco airport at night and drove the hour and a half to Pucon, quickly packed our bags and went to sleep. The next day we got up at 6am to get ready to hike up Volcan Villarrica. It was one of the common adventure activities that required a tour guide. From where their shuttle dropped us to the top it’s 1400m in vertical height, but we were lucky the chairlift could operate that day (depends on wind conditions), which saved us 400m. 10k pesos well spent.

It was easier than expected… until it suddenly wasn’t. My initial thoughts were oh this pace is so much slower than Victor’s usual crazy hiking pace, we’re like crawling here I can do this. But after the second break for lunch, I suddenly could not keep up. I don’t think the pace changed but my muscles suddenly told me they were done with this. It was quite the struggle from there on up. Eventually we stopped to put on crampons, first time using them. Not long after we started again I told the guide I don’t think I can do this. He said just 20 more min so I held in there. Before I knew it we were at the top. Why before I knew it? Because it was 100% cloudy and you could not see anything at all from the top. Only the suffocating sulfur fumes assured us the guides were not kidding us. Within 3min we started going back down. Didn’t really get the gratification I was looking for, but at least the knowledge that I did it.

To go down, it was scary having each foot slip down snow one after the other, so the guide took my hand and we shuffled down one foot in front of the other. Then came the fun part. We slid down on our butts using these plastic butt plates, with Victor the speed demon occasionally bumping into the more cautious me lol.

The tour ended much earlier than advertised so we went to Termas Geometricas, a set of natural but maintained thermal baths. Quite nice after a long tiring hike up a mountain. The pools were endless, each with different temperatures, all labeled, varying across the whole spectrum from freezing to super hot. We practiced acting, different ways to dramatically die and fall into the water, from getting shot to poisoned. Then it rained, which was a nice serendipitous touch. All the pools were connected by these wooden walkways, so bright red, and the surrounding foliage just as brightly green. There is a waterfall at the end of the walkway so ice cold, but I wouldn’t know; only Victor would, for 5 sec to take his modeling under the waterfall shot for his nonexistent insta account.

The next day what do we do? We go hiking again lol omg. Because we have a full day to kill so the long trip/ hike made the most sense to do this day. This hike was in Huerequeque NP on the 7mi. Los Lagos trail. It was hella uphill for lots of time until we get to the first nice viewpoint. On this hike, the short version that is, you see 3 lakes: Laguna Chico, Laguna Verde, then Laguna Toro. We chilled for too long at Laguna Verde so practically had to run down the mountain at the end of the day to make sure we made it out on time. Oh, make sure to make the side trips for the 2 waterfalls on the way, each 400m. Even boyfriend the waterfall connoisseur, who has “seen a lot of waterfalls back in [his] day” approves of them. They were powerful, one was long and wind-ey, and you might even describe them as “buttery”- no wait, that’s the wine. The whole thing from parking lot back to parking lot took 6 hours.

On the last day in town we went hydrospeeding- or rather, boyfriend went hydrospeeding. I went down 2 or 3 rapids before I called it quits and chilled on the raft 😀 Basically this activity is just boogie boarding down the river. Like rafting down, but without the raft, just a triangular foam block you try your hardest to keep upright. Cool concept right? However it is not a good idea to do this activity after 2 consecutive days of hiking. Who would’ve thought? I figured we would just be floating down like woohoo, but no it is constantly kicking your flippers left and right to follow the leader down the correct path. Goodness I was already too tired for this. Excuse me, can I get in the raft please? Perhaps for the better.. some rapids later on I thought how the heck do you get down this on a board? I liked my boat.

Not much to do in the town of Pucon, no restaurants you really have to eat at. Some craft stores that all sell the same thing. But what was nice are some brand name outdoor stores, so it’s a decent place to go gear shopping.

Puerto Varas

We feel it is a nicer town to visit than Pucon, not just a tourist hub for adventure sports. In fact, I recall reading that it’s a popular vacation spot for Chileans.

One thing I remember the most about this place was that our airbnb apartment felt modern, and thus luxurious. It was such a welcome contrast to the god-awful airbnb we stayed at in Pucon. When we met the owners to get the keys, they just felt well-off. They were about to head on vacation? The keys also had a Vegas keychain attached. Anyways, these are silly things to mention but it’s a relevant reflection on the vibe of this city.

First thing we did next morning was go to the Angelmo seafood market in Puerto Montt. Puerto Montt is clearly where the working class stay and not for the tourists. Driving there from Puerto Varas, we saw the run down towns on the side of the highway. We saw many people walking on the side, or even hopping the highway divider to get to the other side. It’s strange how I’ve kind of considered a car almost a basic human right. We noticed the police with their speedometers were all on the other side to catch people driving into Puerto Varas, the rich ones. It was all pretty interesting to see.

The fish market itself is quite a letdown. When we walked around, it seemed like it had so much potential. Fishing boats right on the side, fresh fish being cleaned everywhere in the market. We tried a cup *full* of fresh uni, and the taste was just kind of weird and quite sandy. Helped us realized how spoiled we are in our food availabilities. We ate seafood stew at a restaurant and the things in there were just too exotic, couldn’t stomach it. We tried buying some shrimp and the lady tried to rip us off when we went to pay, saying it was 500CLP instead of 400CLP as the original lady had quoted us. The oopsies face of the original lady was very apparent. Boyfriend was so salty and it left a very bad taste of the place. The shrimp we later bought was also poor, bad taste. Nothing we had in the market was good – except for the blueberries! Those were big and sweet.

We went biking after, along the east side of the lake. I enjoyed it, but turns out it’s along the road so you don’t really see the lake. You see lots of farmland and cow parties. I like flat biking. We went for a little over an hour before we decided we could just drive this and there was not much point.

Then we drove on the west side of the lake to the town of Frutillar. Not much to do here. People come because there’s supposed to be more German influence, which is unique since we’re in South America, but meh, not impressed. We went to check out their nice Teatro del Lago but when we went, they surprisingly offered us 2 free tickets to see the Nutcracker ballet, which took much effort on their part due to language barriers. I felt almost embarrassed to be on the receiving end of such labored acts of generosity, them running to find staff who knew slightly more English and all, but of course I felt also very grateful. Sure, might as well.

But then we had to leave at intermission so we could get to dinner at Espantapajaros in time. The buffet was good, nothing amazing, but you come here because the view of Volcan Osorno is right in your face. Victor really enjoyed the petting zoo next door, well not a petting zoo but actually a farm with a sign that said “no molestar los animales”. Facepalm. But he made cucumber offerings. And the sheep came running. When he teased them, one of them headbutted him haha. Man, sheep so cute. Anyways, I was no animal whisperer unfortunately, but then again I was less aggressive in molestaring. They all largely ignored me.

Next day we drove up Volcan Osorno. From where the cars could get to, we then took the chairlift up for like $25 each, quite a hefty price. But nope I did not want to walk anymore. View was okay. Made him really appreciate what we have in the US more. I’ve always admired the natural beauties in the US 😀

Went to Saltos de Petrohue, the well-known waterfalls in this area and took some pictures, cool. Went to Lago Todos los Santos, parked our car by the lake for a bit, tried sitting in the back with the trunk popped open but wind blew up too much sand, cool. Headed back to Puerto Varas and walked around the shops for a bit. Had a grocery store dinner with some Stranger Things before bed.

Last thing I want to mention was my strong memories of Caffe El Barista for some reason. It was the first place we ate on that late night we arrived, enjoyed some cake, me a smoothie cuz I had been really wanting one, and him a hot chocolate that came via a glass of hot milk with a bar of chocolate inside! This place was it all, cafe, bar, restaurant, whatever you needed it for, early morning to late at night. Well dressed, well off Chileans and tourists alike, all people seemed to come here to have a good time, was fun to observe. It was our last meal as well, breakfast before flying out.

Coming up next on our tour around Chile was Easter Island.