Best Spots Yet!

On Wednesday, November 11, we woke to clear blue sky over Puerto Varas. We jumped on a bus only to sense it was heading the same direction as the day before when we visited Fruitillar so I quickly asked the bus driver if he was going toward Ensenada, our destination. He quickly stopped, gave us back our $400. Chilean Pesos each (just under a buck) and pointed us to the correct bus. Everyone in Chile, especially bus drivers, seem to be determined that you find your way without frustration. They will stop anywhere on the highway to pick up or drop off passengers and a bus is never too full! The more people squeezed in the bigger the party atmosphere!



The ride took us right alone the lakeshore and at one point we could see three volcanoes. It was lush green with deciduous trees as well as evergreens with spring wild flowers blooming everywhere. The mountainsides were steep against the two-lane highway in some places and wide with lake on one side and fields full of cattle on the other. It really was a beautiful hourlong trip to Ensenada where we disembarked for a walk in a national park, Vicente Perez Rosales Park which borders Lake Llanquihue and Volcan Osorno. We hiked past a 'Green Lagoon' that had beautiful tiled walkways, very lovely. We even spotted two foxes cleaning up after a group's picnic!



We decided to get back on the bus and travel further down the road when we saw that Lago Todos Los Santos was at the end of the route. We had no idea when the next bus might come along but knowing that any bus will stop for any person willing to ride we took a chance and sat down on the bus bench and waited. We waited probably thirty minutes before any transport came our way and when it did we hopped on.



The bus traveled on paved highway for about 10 miles before the road turned into a volcanic gray unpaved road which ran alongside the rivers flowing from the melting mountaintops, the water was rushing much too fast for even the most experienced rafters, incredibly powerful. The bus driver stopped so that we could take a photo, again very accommodating considering this wasn't a tourist bus, just the community's public transport system.





Lago Todos Los Santos had been described in the guidebooks as one of the most beautiful in the Lake District and it was! Surrounded by rocky mountains, at the base of the volcano we had enjoyed from the front in Puerto Varas and with bright turquoise water, it is awesome; the most beautiful sight yet in Chile! Cooking dinner when we returned we shared some travel conversation with a young couple from Paris who, after 10 months traveling literally around the world, agreed that Lago Todos Los Santos was their favorite scenic vista of their journeys!





Following breakfast and time to reorganize our packs we left the Ellenhaus Hostel in Puerto Varas, walked ten blocks uphill to the bus station and settled into finishing books while we waited for the 11:05 bus/ferry.


The bus boarded a ferry to cross the channel to Chiloe which is the southernmost part of our trip thus far. We are staying at our best hostel yet, Mundo Nuevo, in Ancud on the northside of the island. The 'New World' hostel sits on the edge of the bay facing west. The sun will be enjoyed tonight from a sunroom shared space that faces west. The cloudy skies of today are clearing now; hopefully tomorrow will be the perfect day for visit the penguin colony at Punihuil about 30 minutes away.