Puerto Varas
Puerto Varas is a small town on the edge of a lake, with two volcanos on the other side of the lake. A hotbed of outdoor activities in the summer, somewhat subdued now. It’s a quaint town, with a good amount of nice 19th century buildings from German colonization.
I didn’t get to see much of the volcanos though, since they were almost completely covered in clouds the whole time I was there.
I basically chose to spend a day here because it was the closest place to Osorno (where the bus from Argentina stopped) that sounded interesting. I have noticed some differences to Argentina immediately.
Firstly, there is no change shortage! Tienen cambio aca! Unlike Argentina, where a 1 peso coin was seemingly worth more than gold dust due to the lake of coins and certain things (such as some local buses) requiring change, and breaking a 100 peso note (what you inevitably get out of an atm) was not an easy proposition. Here, I have broken several 10,000 peso notes (what the atm gave me here, worth about 70 arg pesos) at various places with no problem at all.
Things seem less frantic here, and here’s a big thing, cars stop for people! Though some of this may be because I’m in a small town in the offseason for traveling here. Also, the empanadas are much bigger here, better value for money but the two I’ve had weren’t nearly as tasty as the Argentinean ones. Less choices of fillings as well.
Tags: Chile, Travel
Adam
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