For this year's austral summer vacation we went south, to Osorno and Entre Lagos in the Los Lagos region, for a little relief from Santiago's heat and to see an part of Chile we hadn't previously visited.Here's the obligatory geography and history lesson:
Osorno, about 1000 km (600 miles) south of Santiago, has a climate like the US Pacific Northwest; mild summers and winters and lots of rain, 1350 mm (53 inches), a year on average. January is the driest month--we had only sprinkles--and also the warmest with average highs around 21 C (70 F). For us the weather was close to perfect.
July, the coldest and wettest month, is not perfect. Rain averages over 200 mm (almost 8 inches), it's winddy and highs average 11 C (51 F). But it seldom freezes.
The city was founded in 1558, at an indigenous village site where Rio Rahue and Rio Damas meet, but was destroyed by the Huilliche, the southern Mapuche, in their victory over the Spanish in 1602. It was reestablished in 1792, but there wasn't significant population growth until the mid 19th century after the Mapuche were subdued and some 6,000 German immigrant families arrived and regional agricultural development, especially cattle ranching, began. Cattle are still the major industry; the regional slogan is La Patria de la Leche y Tierra de la Carne (roughly "the land of milk and meat").
Today's city, with a population of about 150,000, serves as the commercial center of an agricultural region of some 230,000. It was bustling with activity while we were there. The streets were busy with foot and car traffic, stores were full of customers, fruit vendors were on the corners, the central market restaurants were full and so on. Overall a very pleasant city, even if, as one of the guests at our hotel said, "all they talk about is cows."
We arrived from Santiago, on a short hour's flight, and after some confusion (another hotel's courtesy van picked us up and took to the wrong hotel) we arrived at the Santuario Patagonia Hotel Boutique, a lovely home built in the 1940s and now a small hotel. The owing family, descendants of German and Italian immigrants, still live upstairs in the family quarters--when not in Santiago at their other home.
(click on photos to enlarge)
View from the rear of the hotel. Our room was upstairs, second from the left. Below are the living and dining rooms.
Breakfast: Good coffee, local cheese, home made bread and jams, fruit and always kuchen (!).
And lovely bedrooms, unfortunately this one wasn't ours. Somehow we missed taking a photo.
Behind the house was a large lawn and gardens.
And next door, a parilla restaurant serving the best of local beef. It is owned by the family but operated by one of the best know Chilean chefs, Jorge “Coco” Pacheco. Unfortunately it was open only in the evenings when eating a big meal was beyond our capacity.
In spite of the rural ambiance of the hotel, it was actually very close to the city center. The H on the map is the hotel's location and down the road there was a trail and foot bridge (visible on the map) over the river Damas that led to town, 15 minutes away.
And across the bridge, Osorno:
The Plaza de Armas
Loungers in the plaza
The cathedral
In front of the public market
and fried fish almuerzo inside.
Good (not great), but cheap and filling
Historic immigrant neighborhood and tourist shops.
We walked all over town and saw the sights, but wanted to see more of the region so on Saturday we took the bus to the coast, an hour or so west, at Bahia Manso.
We left from the rural bus terminal, a few km west of the plaza. It was clearly another town center, devoted to supplying the rural population with everything needed, as well as an informal market to sell their produce. And Saturday was market day.
The road to the coast rises from Osorno, in the central valley at 20 m. to over 300 m (1000 ft). In the costal mountains the valley grain fields and pastures give way to plantations of eucalyptus and Oregon pine, and drop abruptly to the coast at Bahia Mansa (Gentle Bay).
The area, actually two beach areas ( Maicolpue) and a fishing village Bahia Mansa), is a popular spot for summer homes, and even for Argentinean tourism, as it's the closest beach to Bariloche, 230 km (140 miles), over the Andes at the low Samoré pass.
We had almuerzo at a pleasant Mapuche restaurant, Kumeyal. I made my meal from fried seafood empanadas. They were bigger than I expected.
Near the beach was a statue of Lonko (leader) Anselmo Pallamanque Silva, "tireless defender of his ancestral territory" and an active participant in the recovery of indigenous lands after the return to democracy.
The next morning, Sunday, we went to the other side of Osorno to Chuyaca park for a Mapuche fair, but not much as going on--we were there too early. The lamb asado was a long way from done and there weren't many people. So we had a coffee, and went to plan B.
Plan B was another bus ride, this one to Puerto Octay, just off the map above to the south east. We saw a lot of Los Lagos through bus windows. It was an inexpensive and comfortable way to travel, with an hour's trip costing $2-3 US.
We especially saw a lot of cows, mostly mixed Holstein cross herds like this that produce milk and meat.
Puerto Octay is a village settled by German immigrants, now well known for it's cheese. The buildings below are the cheese shop and general store.
We took a taxi down to the lake to have almuerzo with a lake view, but the restaurant was closed so we had to call the taxi back and eat in the village. Alejandra had the Chilean classic cazuela, a boiled dinner. I had pasta. Mistake: when in rural restaurants order the local favorite.
On Monday our stay in Osorno was over and we took another bus east 50 km (30 miles) to Entre Lagos on lake Puyehue. On the way we saw Volcán Osorno and Volcán Puntiagudo (sharp pointed) and took these shots from the bus window.
After finding that the reservation I had made turned out to be a bust, we canceled it and went walking to find something better. We did: The Hotel and Restaurant Entre Lagos. Clean, comfortable, economical with views of the lake.
Dining room where we had breakfast every day--with kuchen.
A down stairs lounge, near our room.
The view from the terrace.
We spent a lot of time walking around town. It was very pleasant, the weather was perfect and the flowers (see below) were beautiful, but there wasn't too much else to do.
We had coffee here, in the village center, and walked along the lake.
It was a relaxing stay. We had two good meals at the restaurant, salmon from the lake and steak, and a couple more, here and there, that were not memorable.
In the afternoons while I napped and had a whisky, Alejandra went walking to the nearby bakery. We first stopped in because it was named the Paslelerá Celeste. Celeste is Alejandra´s oldest grand daughter.
On later visit she made friends with the owner and learned all about the local ¨news¨ and social life. There was a lot to hear since she was born and lived most of her life in the village and, of course, knew everybody.
And on one visit Alejandra helped make bonbons.
At the east end of the lake is an area of hot springs, called appropriately, Aguas Calientes, and the Puyehue National park.
The park headquarters included a very good small educational display of the flora and fauna, and across the Río Chaleufu there was a very well done nature trail.
But there were Tabános!
These large horse flies come out in swarms in January in this part of Chile and they bite. Fortunately they are slow and can be swatted if they land on you, but some prefer to try to wave them away.
Fortunately too, they like to be in the sun. Once in the forest they disappear, so it was a very pleasant walk after all.
Afterwards Alejandra went for a dip in the hot springs pool, then we swatted flies and waited for the bus back to Entre Lagos.
.Overall, a very nice vacation. No problems, no drama. We especially enjoyed two products of the climate and volcanic soils: the cheese and the flowers. Below is a round of 2 kg we bought (very inexpensively) from one of the hotel maids. Her sister made it.
And below that, the flowers. Alejandra loved the exuberance and variety of the flowers and took lots of photos. Click on the photo to enlarge.
