We had plans of flying back to Santiago early Monday morning, but saw on the news that the airport had major damages and no flights would be able to land for 72 hours or so. It took us three days to change our flight (long hold on the phone with LAN...and even longer wait at the office in Puerto Varas), and by then, the earliest flight to Santiago would be Monday, March 8th. Since we had no choice, we booked our flight, and decided to wing the next week in the Lakes Region...
For us, our trip was not affected by the earthquake (except for the flight change), and we really had a good time. A short day-to-day chronicle (with pics!) of our trip:
Friday, Day 1: We visited Saltos de Petrohué, Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales, and Lago Todos los Santos. The Osorno volcano (and the smaller, less-majestic but still worth mentioning Calbuco and Puntiagudo volcanoes) was truly spectacular!
Osorno volcano is the backdrop for the beautiful Petrohué waterfalls.
Saturday, Day 2: Despite the early-morning earthquake, we went to the Isla Grande de Chiloé and visited Ancud, Castro, the UNESCO World Heritage churches in Castro and nearby Nercón, and spent the night in Ancud.
Houses on palafitos (wooden sticks) in Castro.
San Francisco cathedral in Castro. One of the 16 UNESCO world heritage churches in Chiloé, and one of the hundreds of wooden churches built on the island!
Sunday, Day 3: Saw penguins in Puñihuil, about 30 minutes west of Ancud. The beaches were beautiful!
My first time seeing penguins in the wild! Islotes de Puñihuil, located off the coast of Chiloé, and meters from beautiful, secluded beaches. It's the only place in the world where Magellanic penguins and Humbolt penguins coexist.
Monday, Day 4: Waited a long time at the LAN office, toured around Puerto Varas and went to Puerto Montt in the evening to spend the night.
View of Puerto Varas from the look out point in Monte Calvario hill. German-style church with a beautiful lake and three volcanoes in the backdrop? Yes, please.
Tuesday, Day 5: Woke up bright and early and took a ridiculous local bus through the Cochamó valley, past Rio Puelo and on to Lago Tagua Tagua...and then immediately took the same bus back to Puerto Varas. The scenery was spectacular...and the total 8 hours in the bus was slightly more than tolerable.
Wednesday, Day 6: Visited Puerto Octay, about 20 minutes northwest of Frutillar, and also on Lago Llanquihue. We made it back to Frutillar in time for tea (we do love this town! and its kuchens mmm).
A typical Once completa, featuring tea, kuchen (delicious cake/pie like dessert introduced by German immigrants in Southern Chile), cake, and some baguette pieces with meat, cheese, avocado, and eggs.
Thursday, Day 7: Visited Osorno, a city an hour and a half north of Puerto Varas. It had some nice, old houses and handicrafts, but nothing more. We took a bus to Entre Lagos, a little town 30 minutes east of Osorno, then took a bus to Termas de Puyehue, famous hot springs close to the Chile-Argentine border about 30 minutes east of Entre Lagos. There were no more buses running east toward Parque Nacional Puyehue, so we hitchiked to the park entrance. We managed to hitchike back to Osorno after we took a small hike through the park to see Salto del Indio and Salto Anticuro.
Salto del Indio in the national park of Puyehue, about a 10 minute drive from the Chile-Argentine border.
Friday, Day 8: Visited Valdivia, a city two hours north of Osorno, in the region of the rivers (IX Región de los Ríos). The city was rocked by the biggest earthquake recorded in the world couple decades back (magnitude 9.5). It was a nice city nonetheless, and we celebrated Jenny's 25th birthday by going to the Entre Lagos chocolate factory!
The city straddles three rivers populated by obnoxious colonies of sea lions, vultures, and other animals.
Saturday, Day 9: Bussed back to Frutillar, where we spent the night at a nice, family-run hospedaje. We visited the Teatro del Lago, whose tagline is that it is the "southernmost opera house in the world."
The tell-tale trebel clef in Frutillar, on the shores of Lago Llanquihue with Osorno volcano in the background! Every year, Frutillar holds a music festival in the summer, and is known as the city of music in Chile.
Sunday, Day 10: Spent the day shopping in Frutillar and visiting the Museo Colonio Alemán. Went back to Puerto Varas and got ready for our last night in southern Chile!
Monday, Day 11: Upon arrival at the Puerto Montt airport, we were told that our confirmed flight actually did not exist (wait...what? why do we have a confirmation page then?). After slight arguing with the LAN lady, she shoved us into an earlier flight that departed that day for Santiago.
When we got to the Santiago airport, we were told that passengers are not allowed in the airport itself, due to damages from the earthquake. There were large white tents placed in the parking lot, and passengers (and personnel) went in and out without much (or any) security. Even bathrooms were lacking (a few port-a-potties here and there).
Valparaíso and Viña del Mar didn't sustain too much damage. Some buildings were in bad shape and have to be demolished, and people were a little worried. Over the next week, there were more aftershocks, with the biggest one around a magnitude 7. Last weekend, we experienced a Chile-wide (is that even possible? over 3,000 km...) power outage that lasted couple hours, as well as a false tsunami warning that had people frantic and running up the hills.
Hopefully, everything settles back to its normal state soon!
