Day 4: Puerto Varas
Our last day and a half in the lakes district was slightly more relaxed, which was a welcome change after our active first few days of travel. Up early Thursday morning, we hopped on a bus from Castro back toward Puerto Montt and headed slightly further north to a town called Puerto Varas, our destination for the fourth and final night of vacationing.
The town is small but charming, and reminded me a lot of a Colorado ski village like Breckenridge. With boutique shopping, many tourists, and breathtaking lake and volcano views, Puerto Varas draws both permanent residents and travelers alike. The town is specifically known for its German architecture, which holds a strong physical presence throughout the city.
We spent our afternoon (despite the map, the bus took about 4.5 hours) exploring the beach on Lake Llanquihue and hiking up a small "cerro" (hill) on the edge of town, taking in the incredible dual volcano views and exquisitely blue lake.
For dinner, we tried out a few of the local food trucks positioned near the beach (definitely catering to the tourists) and spent the evening watching the sun set over the lake and relaxing in the sand.
Day 5: Saltos de Petrohue
For our last morning of vacation, we ventured out to one of the main tourist attractions of the lakes district - Saltos de Petrohue. We got on the 7:30 am bus that took us toward the other large lake nearby, "Lago Todos los Santos", but got off about an hour into the drive at the Saltos (waterfalls). Because we were able to get there early, we nearly had the park to ourselves and spent a few hours just wandering around, enjoying the serene rivers and beautiful water - I've never seen so many natural shades of blue in one place. I cannot adequately convey this region's raw beauty, but hopefully the pictures give you a slight clue as to how lucky we were.
Afterwards, we headed back to Puerto Montt where we caught our afternoon flight back to the city. Having spent a week on an island, the smog felt a little extra oppressive as our plane touched down in Santiago. Sad to leave but happy to be "home", we could not have asked for a more perfect week of exploring.
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