Across the Andes

Ok, prepare yourself for a feast of photos. Crossing the Andes was the peak, both in terms of altitude and metaphorically, of my trip.

I got up early to walk to the travel agency where we were put in a bus to Puerto Pañuelo which is the port of Llao Llao. There we boarded a catamaran.

The catamaran headed west on the western arm of the lake called Blest.

Except for the throb of the catamaran, there was perfect silence, with the majestic peaks watching us impassively.

The catamaran dropped us off at the small village of Puerto Blest (page in Spanish) at the western end.

From there we were taken by bus to Lago Frías (page in Spanish), an isolated lake, where we boarded a small ferry.

Here the silence was even more profound, and the turquoise cloak over the scenery made us feel like we had intruded upon a slumbering icy world.

We chugged across the lake to Puerto Alegre. This was our last stop in Argentina.

There we said goodbye to Argentina at the customs checkpoint. A beautiful white cat was glad of a little excitement from the tour group of the day. By the way it's not a gleaming holy cat, just the slide film being intolerant of whites.

From there we were taken by bus 29 km through the pass to Peulla (page in Spanish). This is looking back towards Argentina.

And a few metres away, this is the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park of Chile welcoming us. Naturally some of the passengers couldn't resist making snowballs.

At Peulla we cleared immigration and had a break for lunch at the eponymous hotel. The food was rather expensive, I suppose they have a monopoly, so I was glad that I had brought my own lunch.

There was also free time to walk around the area and admire a small waterfall nearby.

Then we boarded a catamaran that took us west across Lago Todos los Santos to Petrohué.

We were now west of the continental divide and the weather was sunnier. Note the Chilean flag at the stem.

We also had a commanding presence towering over us now. We were in volcano country and this is the near perfect cone of Osorno.

Can you tell that I was sufficiently impressed by it to take a second portrait?

Along the way we were treated to waterfalls.

There was a group of travellers with us, comprising 3 English girls, 2 New Zealanders, 1 Australian, 1 Swiss, 1 German and a Dutch tour guide. Apparently their travel arrangement was semi-flexible; members could join the group for parts of the tour and go solo for others. At this juncture, the Dutch guide had her back to the waterfall. She looked around and said irritably oh the f**king waterfall. I suppose she was jaded as it wasn't her first time.

I also bumped into a traveller I had met back at Puerto Valdés. There were also a NY resident with an Argentinian parent, and two Spanish couples, one from yesterday's excursion. The catamaran was full, as there were many USAn tourists and their guides.

Lago Todos los Santos is comparable in size to Nahuel Huapi so this cruise took a couple of hours.

The lake waters leave via the Petrohué River, but not before tumbling down Petrohué Waterfalls, which is dammed by basaltic lava from the Osorno volcano.

It was getting late in the day, hence the gloom.

We arrived in Puerto Montt about 2000. It was on daylight saving time so it was still light. I got some cash from an ATM and then walked to the Residencial Urmeneta. Who should I bump into there but the group of 9 from the catamaran.

I checked in then went for dinner. I found a meal of Paila Marina (seafood stew) at the La Nave. It had a chorizo on top, was delicious and cheap but a bit salty and there was grit in the mussels. In general meals were cheaper in Chile compared to Argentina.

I bought some groceries before calling it the end of a marvelous day. I found that fruit was also cheap.