Lake Destrict and Puerto Montt

Completely frozen I reached the Chilean border crossing. On the pass it had just three degrees and ordinary wind. At the entrance of the border I picked up the paperworks for all individual stations from: immigration, food control and customs. Everywhere you had to take a stamp. When leaving the premises had to have all, or else you went back again. In bad weather I went in Anticura to a Hostel, a cabana. Small cabins for rent. Prices in Chile were significantly higher. From here I wanted to hike the volcano Puyehue. This one is still active and broke out last in 2011. A large part of the region at that time was affected. Large-scale forests were destroyed by the eruption. Nowbody knows exactly what the trees had died. There is the theory that they could not stand the heat. Others claimed turn the ashes on the ground would have led to an abundance of nutrients, leading to die.
Unfortunately the weather forecast was still bad and I waited a day. The cabana was heated with wood interior, so it was not too bad. Also I had the society of a Czech tour group. Despite the rain, I tried my luck on the next day and first went to a small hut below the volcano to stay. There was no one there and I had the whole place by my own. Late in the day two Chileans came. Now they enjoyed the warm hut, they were also completely soaked and frozen. So it was still a funny evening with many political issues. However, the volcano did not want to show the next day. I was a little bit frustrated. There was no sense and I could wait longer. In rainy weather, I went through the Chilean Lake area. Around Lake Llangquihe to the foot of the famous volcano Mt Osorno. He is compared with the Japanese Fuji, also with a classic volcano shape. An impressive sight. On a driveway, you can wind up the 1200 meters at 12km to the valley station of the chairlifts. A sporty affair with the fully packed bike. When ‘ascent’ smelled constantly after coupling, the cars and the decrepit buses had their problems with the slope. The lift station was completely surrounded by fog. I hiked to the border of the glacier from the ski lifts through the lava fields. The Chileans are generally quite lazy guys, so I was obliquely viewed when I inquired about the hiking trail. At the top, it tore up briefly and the summit came to the fore! Unfortunately, the valley was still completely covered with clouds. Until Puerto Varas I tortured myself even along the busy road along the lake. Lots of Germans were settled in the 19th Century. The area was left to the former emigrants from the Chilean government. They made the land arable and operated agriculture. Climate and the landscape was very similar to Germany. So there was everywhere ‘Kuchen’ as it is also called in Spanish. German names were displayed here and there on the ‘Fundos’, the farms and often people also spoke a few words of German. There were neat tidy front gardens with cut hedges, flower beds and small vegetable gardens. But it all seemed a little bit cheesy. Puerto Varas in Chile was one of the main tourist spots and prepared accordingly. Also founded by Germans, the tracks were everywhere to see. But like San Martin des los Andes in Argentina it seemed artificial. So I stayed in a German runned hostel. It was extremely clean and: everything was working! There are probably a few differences between the cultures so far , :-). Since I was still in high season on the road, beds were scarce and pretty booked. My former Dutch bike partners Hans and Maarten reached the same day the tourist trap. One reason to celebrate the reunion with the, founded by Germans ‘Kunstman’ beer. The next day we did a detour northwards to search a quiet place by the lake. The village Frutillar with a nice beach was also completely full of people. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a few laps to swim and then we took of to the largest city in southern Chile – Puerto Montt.
On the shoulder of the four-lane highway we cycled right after ‘Downtown’. We needed something to stay for eight people. Friends of Maarten will arrive and they wanted to cycle down to Ushuia also. Puerto Montt was a port city. Container ships cleared their goods here, then distributed by truck over the country. Here and then big cruise ships were arriving and the city were ‘flooded’ with tourists. I liked it here, the place had something original. People were a little bit rough, often connected only briefly and not effusively friendly such as in Puerto Varas. The houses, all a little run down with a special charm. The interiors of the stores (or even our accommodation) had something special. I stayed two days with the now grown group of cyclists. But still had a lot to do and went back later solo from the city. Another highlight of the tour was coming: The famous ‘Carretera Austral’!