PUERTO NATALES, TORRES DEL PAINE, AND EL CALAFATE

January 27,2026
Magic House
Puerto Natales, Chile

We called an Uber to take us to the airport in Puerto Montt. It was a small airport and we had no trouble checking in and finding our gate. We had time to get coffee and a protein bar before our flight.

Flying Over Parque Nacional Glaciares

The flight was spectacular. We passed over a region of snowy mountains and glaciers that we would be visiting later from El Calafate. We arrived at the very small airport in Puerto Natales that seemed to feature two gates. The area was cold and windswept. Snowy mountains were visible in the distance.

Puerto Natales Airport

The town of Puerto Natales is centered around tourism, but doesn’t have the plastic feel of Puerto Varas. We ate a very nice late lunch in a restaurant near the square. The meal was expensive, but tasty. Then we walked down to the waterfront and gazed at the boats anchored on the other side of the channel. It looked like a cold place to be with snowy mountains in the distance. The latitude was nearly 52 degrees south. We were at sea level and the snow line was very low.

The Plaza in Puerto Natales

After our late lunch/early dinner, we visited a number of tour agencies, seeking something to do on our second full day in the area. It had been suggested that we take the catamaran to the Grey Glacier. Boat excursions were running a whopping 160,000 pesos (about $175.) Even if we took a bus to the catamaran that crossed the lake, it would have cost us 54,000 pesos for the boat. Reviews mentioned that the boat service was often canceled and people reported having had to walk 21 kilometers back from the glacier. We decided that was a bad idea. It seemed that taking a bus to Torres del Paine and finding some sort of day hike was our best option.

Our House in Puerto Natales

It stays light very late during the summer in Puerto Natales. It was nearly warm by 19:00 and people were outside doing chores as we wandered around, looking for a grocery store. We wanted a loaf of bread to make toast and had to go to four or five stores before we found one selling bread. People must buy bread at bakeries, but bakeries close early. It did not get dark until after 22:00. It was hard to go to bed while it was still light and we stayed up longer than normal.

January 28,2026
Magic House
Puerto Natales, Chile

We had booked a tour to take us to Torres del Paine, but they weren’t due to pick us up until 10:30, so we spent a lovely relaxing morning in our cozy house. While the house was decidedly funky, it was comfortable and warm. We reveled in the comfortable mattresses and soft couch cushions. My right buttock was still very bruised and sore, so I was exceptionally appreciative of soft cushions.

Prehistoric Animal Silhouettes

Our tour picked us up at the house. Our first stop was the Mylodon Cave. A mylodon was a giant sloth that lived in the area of Puerto Varas 14,000 to 10,000 years ago. No one really knows why they became extinct but possibilities include climate change, volcanic activity, and over-hunting by early humans. Remains of mylodons were first discovered by Charles Darwin in a different part of Chile in 1832. In the late 19th Century, remains were discovered in a huge cave near Puerto Natales. Subsequent excavations haven’t discovered much and most of what was discovered is housed in the British Museum.

The Mylodon Cave

The real interest in the Mylodon Cave is the cave itself. Two hundred meters deep and thirty meters high, the cave was formed by wave action from an ancient lake.  It is essentially a sea cave.  We clambored around, inside and climbed up to take pictures with the replica of a mylodon.  A recent rockslide had temporarily closed the rear of the cave, but we could see holes from earlier excavations.

Excavations in the Mylodon Cave

Sally with the Mylodon

Torres del Paine is made up of a single massif of igneous rock separate and newer than the Andes.  Day hikes are limited to out and back trails threading between glacial lakes or up and down valleys.  Even the "W" trek is only a series of these hikes strung together.  The catamaran that takes people to the Grey Glacier, is unreliable because it is often cancelled due to wind, requiring those in a hurry to walk 21 kilometers back out.  We met a veteran of the "W" who had nearly been stranded at a completely full refuge because the wind was too strong to take the catamaran to the next leg.  Maps of the park never seem to include the surrounding area, which makes orienting oneself difficult. 

View from Mirador Grey

Our tour entered via the Serrano Ranger Station, where we checked into the park. I am good with maps, but I found every map of Torres del Paine completely baffling. As near as I could tell, we went up the road to Lago Grey to a lookout called the Mirador Grey, although it was not the one shown on the map because that one is accessed only by a trail.

The Grey Glacier in the Distance

Paine Grande in the Cloud

From there, we had a view of the summits of Paine Grande, the westernmost peak in the massif. We backtracked and then headed up the road to Lago Pehoé. There, we saw the catamaran that goes to Paine Grande, struggling a bit with the waves. The lake was impossibly blue. From there, we had a good view of the “horns”, the middle peaks. We could see the waterfall of Salto Grande in the distance.

Lago Pehoé

Salto Grande & the Catamaran

The Horms

Somehow, which remains a complete mystery to me, we ate lunch at a restaurant near Lago Grey. We were forbidden to walk down to the lake because of high winds. After driving a long way and finally getting to see some guanacos, we arrived at the Administrative Center for the park and stopped to use the restrooms. Then we headed north to Salto Chico and the Condor Lookout, although we didn’t see any condors. We did see some geese and a couple of rheas in the distance.

Herd of Guanacos

We stopped again to take pictures at Salto Chico. 

Salto Chico

Beyond Salto Chico, we started to see the towers. Lago Sarmiento was impossibly blue. We also stopped at Lago Amargo to see some stromatolites. You know you are in a windy place when viewpoints offer glassed in shelters.

The Towers

Viewpoint Shelter

Sentinel Guanaco

Family of Rheas

Our drive back to Puerto Natales was actually a highlight, as we stopped to photograph herds of guanacos and family groups of rheas. Guanacos appoint a sentinel who stands in a place with a good view and watches for predators. Consequently, they often seem to be posing for pictures. Rheas are an ostrich-like bird native to South America. The females lay the eggs and then they are done. Males incubate the eggs and raise the chicks. We saw a few different families, scratching for food in the grass. It was difficult to capture a picture of one with his head up.

Lago Sarmiento

We passed the border of Argentina where we would cross to go to El Calafate on our way back to Puerto Natales. We were returned to our house by 20:30. It might not have seemed so from my description, but it had been a full day and we felt like we had been afforded a thorough overview of Torres del Paine. Between the wind and the long bus journey to a park where we could only do a short hike, we agreed that we would rather spend the next day in our cozy house in Puerto Natales. Sally had travel arrangements to make for her onward journey and the rest of our travels together were dependent on those plans. We needed a day to catch up on administrative tasks and I needed to work on my blog.

January 28,2026
Magic House
Puerto Natales, Chile

The Artisan Market in Puerto Natales

Having decided to have a lazy day, I slept until 8:00. I goofed off for most of the morning and finally finished a blog post in the early afternoon. Then we walked downtown, stopping for Chinese food along the way. The food at Polo Sur was nothing to write home about, but it didn’t taste bad. We both wondered at the absence of onions from everything we ordered. Still, there was more than enough to provide us each with lunch and, later, dinner.

Board Game Café Cat

After lunch, we continued into town and had coffee and dessert in a board game café. We spent a couple of hours drinking coffee, playing Rumikub, and watching the resident cat make himself comfortable. It was a surprisingly warm afternoon and everyone was outside, enjoying the weather. Groups of teenagers roamed the streets, eating ice cream. On a Wednesday evening, the square was crowded. Children played in the fountain and a band blasted cumbia music. In the long evening, 18:00 seemed like mid-afternoon. I felt like I was in Alaska.

Party in the Plaza

We strolled home and stopped at the grocery store for snacks for the next day’s bus journey. Then we went home to pass the evening making travel arrangements and working on my blog. I had been quite behind due to trouble uploading photos. It was nice to reduce the backlog a bit. At dusk, it suddenly started to rain. The weather had been very unpredictable.

January 29, 2026
Departamentos Mawer
El Calafate, Argentina

We slipped out of our cozy house in Puerto Natales about 7:15 and trundled my suitcase to the bus station. We got there quite early, but there were double-decker buses leaving for El Calafate at 7:30, 8:00, and 8:10. This meant that there were over 200 people trying to check in at one window. We were on the 8:10 bus, but didn’t leave until about 8:30.

Waiting to Check Out of Chile

We headed out across the Patagonian steppe for half an hour until we reached the border between Chile and Argentina. There was already another bus ahead of us and we waited for an hour or so before we could check out of Chile. Apparently, we had received what looked like a receipt when we entered Chile and we were supposed to have saved it, although no one mentioned this at the time. Neither of us were able to produce the document, but they stamped us out, anyway. They did tell me to hold onto the next one I received when we reentered Chile. I figured I might have to pay another visa fee, although I didn’t remember having paid one to begin with.

The Border of Argentina

After a short drive across the no-man’s land, we came to Argentinian customs and had to wait, again, while the other bus was processed. This went more smoothly and I don’t think they even stamped our passports. It was 11:00 by the time we cleared the border. We were supposed to have arrived in El Calafate before 14:00, but didn’t get there until after 15:30. This was alright, since we couldn’t check into our apartment until after 15:00, anyway.

Our Apartment in El Calafate

We took a cab to our apartment and our landlady, Lily, was waiting for us. The weather was very warm. We soon changed into summer clothes. Then we walked into the center of town and got some lunch. I had the strangest Caesar salad I had ever seen and Sally had shoestring potatoes. After lunch, we went to the grocery store and then tried to walk down to the lake, but couldn’t get close enough to see it. We finally gave up and went back to our apartment, not wanting to drag our groceries on a journey of exploration.

January 30, 2026
Departamentos Mawer
El Calafate, Argentina

Cafetería Don Luis

Our ride to the Perito Moreno Glacier wasn’t due until 10:10, so I had time to stroll over to a neighborhood coffee shop for a cappuccino. Sally had suddenly received word that she needed to be in Panama earlier than expected, which meant that she would have to leave me at Ushuaia. I would miss her, but this finally allowed me to make plans for the rest of my journey. I spent my time in the coffee shop planning the next leg of my trip as far as Rio Gallegos.

Lago Argentino

Our van arrived before 10:30 and we took a beautiful drive along the shore of the impossibly blue Lago Argentino, past large flocks of rheas, to the entrance to Parque Nacional Glaciares. While it was easy to pay for our park passes with a credit card, this park was even more expensive than the ones in Chile. The bus fare cost 38,000 pesos per person and the park entrance another 45,000. If we had taken the boat trip to the face of the glacier, that would have been an additional 72,000 each.

Icebergs in the Lake

The drive through the park was spectacular. Fantastically shaped icebergs floated in the surreal blue water of the lake. While the color of the lake was gorgeous, it was the sediment in the water that gave it that color and the water was not especially clear. We could not see any of the icebergs below the waterline.

The Perito Moreno Glacier

The Canal de los Tempanos

High Water Mark on the Left

Until four years ago, the Perito Moreno glacier was the only one in the world not retreating. It has since begun to retreat a bit, although it still terminates quite close to the viewing platforms in the park. It calves into a narrow part of Lago Argentino called the Canal de los Tempanos (Iceberg Canal.) Further to the left, there is the Brazo Rico, another arm of the lake. In the past, the ice would sometimes reach all the way to the peninsula housing the park facilities, creating an ice dam that would raise the level of the water in the blocked arm as much as 30 meters. The high-water mark is quite visible along the shore of that arm. Eventually, the water would rise to the point where it would melt the dam and the water would come bursting out. The last such rupture was in 2019. The glacier has now receded to the point where this no longer occurs regularly.

Sally on the Gangway

Our driver dropped us off at the lower parking lot and we then took a free shuttle up to the “pasarelas.” We wondered at this name, since “pasarela” means “gangway” and that wasn’t where the boats landed. The park has built a wonderful network of raised metal pathways from which to view the glacier. We explored the central loop and then took the coastal pathway which led along the lake shore back to the lower parking lot. There, we stopped for coffee and soda and shared an apple tart. The views of the glacier and the icebergs it had spawned were spectacular. Ice regularly split off of the glacier and crashed into the water with a sound like thunder. Sally and I had elected not to take the boat ride, as we had both been close to the faces of glaciers in Alaska. Still, we found the scenery impressive, perhaps more so because the day was quite warm and pleasant, although the Patagonian wind kicked in now and then and the temperature would drop precipitously. We found the park facilities all that we could have asked and felt better about having paid so much to enter.

Shark Fin Iceberg

Face of the Glacier

Our driver collected us at 15:40 and returned us to the center of town, dropping us off in front of a bank. Sally wanted to check out the ATM fees and, there, we learned that foreign ATM cards are basically not accepted in Argentina. Credit cards are widely accepted and U.S. dollars are easy to exchange (if they are in good condition.) We had dollars and some Chilean pesos to exchange, so it was not a crisis for us, but I would have to be careful about where I decided to stay because I would not be able to pay for my accommodation in cash and had already learned that none of my banks would allow me to make a transfer to an account not denominated in dollars. This was curious, as Argentina was swarming with foreign tourists.

We shared a small pizza for dinner and took advantage of the happy hour two for one gin and tonics. After dinner, we wandered around and stopped for ice cream. It was still quite warm out. On our way home, we had passed a large crowd enjoying a beach along the lake. The previous day had been the hottest day recorded in El Calafate during the 21st Century. Of course, we packed all kinds of warm clothing in anticipation of visiting glaciers. Our driver remarked that the locals were out enjoying the hot weather because tomorrow could bring sudden cold temperatures.

January 31, 2026
Departamentos Mawer
El Calafate, Argentina

Ibis on His Way to the Coffee Shop

Our goal for the day was to visit the Glaciarium outside of El Calafate. They didn’t open until noon, so there was no rush. We spent a couple of hours at the very pleasant cafetería Don Luis. About 11:00, we set off to walk the 8.5 kilometers to the museum.

First, we stopped by the currency exchange, hoping to exchange dollars or Chilean pesos for Argentinian pesos because we couldn’t get any cash out of the ATMs in Argentina. Unfortunately, our apartment in Usuaia would accept only cash. Of course, the currency exchange was once again closed.

Horse/Goose Staring Contest

We walked through town, past the golf course and eventually reached the shore of the Humedal Calafateño or Calafate Wetlands. We walked for about three miles along the shore of the wetland. Horses were staked out to graze and some of them were running loose in the road. We saw all kinds of birds. Earlier, we had seen several black-faced ibis strutting around our neighborhood and ignoring us completely.

Common Tagua

We saw common taguas, both black-necked and coscoroba swans, and upland geese.

 

Coscoroba Swan

Highland Goose

Black-Necked Swans

Escort Dog at the Calafate Wetland

Random dogs kept us company. We passed some beautiful lakeside homes. Then Sally’s map program and Google Maps diverged. Her way looked shorter, so we took it. I’m not sure that was a good choice. Google Maps would have taken us along the paved highway. Sally’s route led us up steep dirt roads, first through a neighborhood and then across the steppe. The road became a track and then came to a wire fence. We could see the museum, by then, so we squeezed between the strands of wire and continued up a trail until we reached the parking lot.

Path to the Museum

The museum was a modern building designed to look like a jumbled glacier. It had clearly seen sited there because, while it was still in El Calafate (sort of) it had a view of the snow-capped mountains on the other side of Lago Argentino.

The Glaciarium

It was a good museum, teaching visitors about the formation and behavior of glaciers, as well as describing the local glaciers and those who had first explored them.

When we had been at the Perito Moreno Glacier, we had heard how it used to form ice dams that would raise the level in the Brazo Rico Sur until the damn collapsed explosively. I had really wanted to see that, but the glacier had receded far enough to make that unlikely in the near future. The museum showed a film of the last collapse, which was very interesting. We also got to try out virtual reality goggles that allowed us to experience walking through an ice cave. The weirdest part was not being able to see each other. It made us hesitant to move much. Still, it was a cool experience. It turned out that there was a free shuttle between the museum and town. We took that back.

The Collapse of the Ice Dam

View from the Glaciarium

In town, we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner. Sally had spinach ravioli and I had a guanaco burger with carmelized onions and pancetta. Honestly, the guanaco was dry, but onions and pancetta make anything tasty. We wondered why it was easy to pay for restaurants and attractions with credit cards, but lodging providers would take only cash or bank transfers. I came to the conclusion that Bookings.com was charging Argentines outrageous fees to accept credit cards. This was problematic because we were unable to get cash anywhere. We resolved to try to send ourselves money via Western Union once we reached Ushuaia.

We went home and I tried to plan my further travels. It was nearly impossible to get out of Rio Gallegos with luggage. I determined I would have to return to El Calafate and travel north along the Andes by bus as far as Bariloche before I could get a flight to Buenos Aires. I was starting to understand why no tour operators offered tours of Patagonia. It was just too hard to get around.

TEMUCO AND PUERTO VARAS, CHILE

January 20, 2026
Departamento Nuevo
Temuco, Chile

Terminal Rodoviaria in Santiago

Monday morning, we called an Uber to take us to the Terminal Rodoviaria in Valparaiso in order to catch our 8:45 bus to Santiago. We took a Flix bus. This was not a luxurious bus, but it was only a two-hour ride. It was foggy and we couldn’t see much along the way. We transferred to the bus for Temuco at the Santiago Terminal Rodoviaria, also known as San Borja. That bus terminal was immense with something like a hundred gates. The place was packed with people weaving in and out and dragging their suitcases through the throng. We had to fight our way to the Flix counter to determine which gate we needed and then fight our way back to the general area because we knew only that it would be somewhere between gates 39 and 43.

Fields in Chile's Central Valley

Finally, the bus for Temuco arrived. It was a double-decker bus and much more spacious and comfortable than the short-distance bus. It took us over eight hours to get to Temuco. Driving down Chilean Route 5 was only slightly more interesting than driving down US Highway 5. We were driving through the Central Valley of Chile and, like the Central Valley in California, it was all agricultural. We passed orchards and fields of vegetables. There were lots of eucalyptus trees. I slept and read. The bus never stopped. Fortunately, we had brought snacks.

Our Apartment in Temuco

We arrived at the much smaller and less hectic bus terminal outside of Temuco. A taxi tried to charge us 9000 CLP to go three kilometers. We called an Uber for under 3000. Our apartment was new and very nice. There was just one big problem. The owner had informed us the day before that the only form of payment he would accept was a transfer to his bank account. This was probably quite normal in Chile. It is a very normal means of payment in Mexico where I live. It is not, however, an easy thing to do internationally. Between Sally and me, we had accounts in four banks in three different countries and the best we could do was to pay him in four days. That was not acceptable. We had to wait until the next morning, go to the ATM, withdraw cash, take it to his bank, and deposit it in his account. Of course the bank didn’t open until 9:00. By the time we did all of that, ate breakfast, and picked up the rental car, it was nearly noon. We still had to drive for 90 minutes and we knew that the last entry to Conguillo National Park was at 14:30.

Sally at the Closed Park Gate

Short on time, we chose to use the north entrance to the park, which was an hour closer. It was a pretty drive and we could see the volcano in the distance. Our primary reason for going to the park was to see the Chilean national tree, the araucaria. We didn’t see any before we reached the park gate. The gate was closed. We had already tried to buy passes online with no success. While I had had luck using the website with the Chrome browser at Cerro Pintados, it would not work this time. We figured we would have to negotiate with the ranger, again. There was no ranger. At least we had not paid. We were not the only car trying to get into the park. One car was bold enough to raise the closed gate and drive through. The rest of us turned around.

Volcan Conguillo

Knowing we were going to be too late to get into the park, we still elected to drive back to Melipeuco and drive the 29 km on a gravel road to the other entrance, hoping to see an araucaria tree. We stopped in Melipeuco for lunch and I finally got to try pastel de choclo, a sort of cross between shepherd’s pie and a tamale. We didn’t see any trees, but we did get some stunning views of the volcano and a big lava flow. The ranger was leaving when we got to the closed gate. We followed him back down the mountain and returned to Temuco.

Lava Floe at Conguillo

I spent the entire evening trying to buy park passes for Parque Nacional Villarrica for the following day. I managed to buy them on my computer using Microsoft Edge as the browser, but we needed to have them on our phones and the only options they offered were to show them on our phones or print them. We had no printer. I got the bright idea of printing them to a .PDF, thinking I could send that to my phone. No dice. Not being willing to buy Adobe’s software, I could not save the file. Next, I copied the .PDF to OneNote, but I couldn’t access the file from my phone. Finally, I was reduced to taking a photograph of the tickets on my computer with my phone.

January 21, 2026
Departamento Nuevo
Temuco, Chile

Queltehue in Coñaripe

Determined to have better luck getting to Villarrica than we had getting to Conguillo, we left the apartment at 7:30. Google Maps didn’t know where it was, but AI said to drive to Coñaripe and look for the park signs. Traffic was heavy and we didn’t make it to Coñaripe until almost 10:00. We hadn’t seen a single sign, so we stopped at the tourist information office to ask how to get there. They gave us a couple of maps and highlighted how to get out of town and then told us to follow the road.

After zigzagging through a neighborhood, we finally saw a sign for the park that pointed us up a gravel road. That was the last sign we saw for 25 kilometers. The map suggested that a certain hot springs was inside the boundary of the park. When after 20 kilometers of gravel road, we came to a fork, one way was not marked and the other pointed to the hot springs. We followed that road. We got hopeful when we saw several tour vans and a big parking lot, but that was just the hot springs. We asked the woman in the ticket booth and she told us the park was up the other fork. Fortunately, she warned us not to try to drive the last part of the road.

We Parked at the First Sign

When, after another five kilometers, we came to the first park sign, we parked the car and continued on foot. Not long after that, we came to a section of road with very deep holes. We would never have made it. A kilometer or so past where we parked, we finally came to the park entrance. The park ranger who greeted us was very helpful. He helped us pick an appropriate hike and identified some birds we had photographed. He looked at the pictures of my tickets, but didn’t try to scan them. Finally, we were in!

Me with the Friendly Ranger

Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle) Trees

We decided to climb up to the Mirador Los Volcanes, a spot above the treeline where we could see five volcanoes. The first section was gradual and we were able to appreciate the grove of araucaria or monkey puzzle trees that are Chile’s national tree. They are funny looking trees that grow straight up with no branches until near the top. The branches are spiny and the bark of the trunk is divided into sections that look like puzzle pieces when not covered with moss. Not far beyond the ranger station, stands the Millennium Tree. It is a very large araucaria with a platform around its trunk. We admired the tree and continued up the path. Eventually, we came to the turnoff for the Mirador Los Volcanes.

Millennium Tree

The path climbed over a small hill and then dropped down to a river. The river was fed by snowmelt, but looked muddy from all the volcanic silt it carried. We crossed a bridge over the river and then began to climb in earnest. The path was very steep, with lots of steps. We climbed through the araucaria forest for an hour or more and finally came out onto a barren volcanic landscape of black cinders. We continued to climb until we reached the summit of a small hill. The view from there was stupendous. To the north, we could see Volcanes Mocho and Choshuenco, although they were somewhat obscured by the smoke from forest fires. Close by, we could see Villarrica. Just south, we saw Volcanes Quetrupalan and Lanin. All were capped with snow. There was a chill wind blowing at the mirador, but we stayed long enough for me to eat most of a sandwich and take some photos.

Volcan Villarrica

Volcan Lanin

Mocho and Choshuenco

Our descent was much quicker than the ascent and we were down by 16:00. Our ranger friend was a little surprised that we had made it to the mirador and back so quickly. We didn’t see more than a dozen people the whole time we were in the park. The town of Coñaripe was swarming with hundreds of tourists, but they clearly had not come to visit Parque Nacional Villarrica. We joked that it was because they could neither buy passes nor find the park.

Where the Ranger Got Stuck

While we were walking back to our car, another friendly ranger came along in a 4-wheel-drive SUV and offered us a ride, which we gladly accepted. When we got to the spot with the deep holes, he got stuck. It took him about four tries to escape. We were about to get out and walk. It felt like the bottom of the car was balanced on a high spot and the wheels were just spinning. Finally, he got loose and delivered us to our car, glad that we had left it where we had.

It took us a few hours to drive back and put gas in the car. Then we returned to the apartment and dined on the leftovers from the previous day’s grocery run.

Sally's New Friend

January 22, 2026
Hostal Brisas del Sur
Puerto Varas, Chile

The rental car agency didn’t open until 8:30 and our bus wasn’t until 10:00, so we had a leisurely morning. We returned the car shortly after they opened and took an Uber to the bus terminal. The Terminal Rodoviaria in Temuco was quiet at that hour. We killed an hour playing with the dogs inhabiting the terminal. One of them tried hard to adopt Sally.

The ETM bus that we took to Puerto Varas was very professional and quite comfortable. We arrived as scheduled at 14:45. The bus dropped us off at the town gymnasium, which was a little odd, but it was easy enough to get an Uber from there to our hostal.

The hostal proved a disappointment. We had reserved a quadruple room, but were given a triple room. Towels were not provided, although Sally helped herself to some she found in the laundry area. The room was small, beds not very comfortable, there were only a couple of electrical plugs, and nowhere comfortable to sit. We had waited too long and failed to find anything up to our usual standards. We had booked this place, despite the shared bathroom, because it looked OK online, but many of the proffered amenities were not as they seemed. Perhaps worst for Sally, there was no coffee before 8:15 and we were not allowed to use the kitchen before noon. We couldn’t bring our own food, either. The location was a couple of miles from restaurants and shops. We were stranded.

Hotels in Puerto Varas

We checked in and set off to walk to the center of town, hoping to find food, cash, and a tour agency. It was a long walk and I was so hungry and grumpy by the time we reached the edge of downtown that we ate in the first restaurant we saw. This turned out to be a very elegant Persian restaurant where we had a nice meal. That improved my mood, briefly, until we got to the center of town and found it full of high-end shops and hotels swarming with tourists on vacation. It was not our scene at all. The ATMs were closed, by that time, so we couldn’t get cash. The tour agencies were about to close and we felt rushed. We were too frustrated to make a decision. We admitted defeat, decided to blow off the following day, and took an Uber back to our hostal.

Volcan Osorno

January 23, 2026
Hostal Brisas del Sur
Puerto Varas, Chile

As we had no other plans for the day, we waited around until 8:30 to have breakfast at our hostal. It was a pretty good breakfast, over all, with abundant fruit and plenty of butter, jam, and avocado for our toast. There was even milk for the coffee. Of course, Sally couldn’t wait until 8:15 for coffee and had to illicitly use her own electric kettle to make coffee in our room while we waited.

The Marina in Puerto Varas

After breakfast, we walked down the hill to see what was available along the lake on our end of Puerto Varas. There were a few restaurants and we sneaked through a gated community to get a look at the private marina. On our way back, we realized that the path we were following was on the wrong side of a rustic three-rail fence from the road we needed to take into town. As I would have had to shed my backpack to squeeze between the rails, I elected to climb over the fence. It was about five feet high, but was constructed on a downslope. When I got to the top, I noticed that the substantial post was a bit crumbly on top. I grasped the other side but, as I started down, the entire post split in half, the rail on which I was standing gave way, and I tumbled backwards onto the path at the bottom of the slope, bonking my head on a fence that fortunately prevented me from sliding into the roadway. My head was okay, but my weight had landed on the bony part of my right buttock. It smarted a bit.

Beach in Puerto Varas

Museo Pablo Fierro

We walked another couple of hours, went to the bank, arranged tours for the next two days, and then decided to stop in a café for coffee and a snack. I discovered that my right buttock was so swollen that I couldn’t sit on it.

We strolled up to the Iglesia Sagrado Corazόn de Jesus, the one notable building in Puerto Varas, to take a look. Of course, it was closed. While architecturally interesting, being clad in dirty corrugated metal siding didn’t improve its appearance. We took a few shots and then did some shopping for food for the next couple of days’ tours. We took an Uber back up the hill.

Sagrado Corazόn de Jesus

I really wanted to work on my blog but, as there was nowhere comfortable to sit, it was difficult to do without putting pressure on my poor bruised buttock. I lay on my side and pecked away at my laptop. I hoped the swelling would go down before the next day’s bus ride to Chiloé Island.

January 25, 2026
Hostal Brisas del Sur
Puerto Varas, Chile

Car Ferry to Chiloé

Our tour guide picked us up at 7:20. We had to make special arrangments to get out of the hostal at that hour, since no one was up. It was chilly and drizzling a bit. We picked up the other passengers and then drove south for an hour and a half to the port of Pargua where we took a car ferry across the Chacao Channel to Chacao. Chilean Route 5 includes this car ferry and terminates on the island of Chiloé.

Church Interior in Chacao

Chacao was a small town that had become a tourist hub. There, we saw the first of the wooden churches covered with metal siding for which Chiloé is known. During the seventeenth century, the Jesuits established churches at each indigenous settlement and would visit them annually, arriving by sea. After the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, the Franciscans took over their mission. Most of these churches have two bell towers and simple wooden interiors. Chacao was home to a large population of black-necked swans and even a few flamingoes.

Black-Necked Swans

From Chacao, we drove down the eastern side of the island, through the countryside, until we came to Quemchi. Quemchi was distinguished as the home of the Chilean writer and explorer Francisco Coloane. Vendors were selling authentic local handicrafts, such as carved wooden items and all kinds of things knitted or felted from local wool. There was a nice boardwalk leading down to the beach, but the high tide covered it and it was too slippery to negotiate. We barely had time to stick our heads into the Coloane museum before it was time to go.

Chiloé Tractor

Quemchi Waterfront

Bridge to Aucar Island

The local industry in the area was salmon and mussel farming. At low tide, it was easy to see the mussel beds. In 1837, an earthquake and tsunami altered the coastline and separated Aucar Island from Quemchi on Chiloé. A long wooden footbridge was built in 1885. The island is home to a chapel and a cemetery. We took the bridge over the mussel beds and walked around the peaceful island. It was easy to see the pontoons of the mussel farms from there and we could hear the sea lions.

Mussel Farm

Cemetery on Aucar Island

Vendors in Dalcahue

Church & Plaza in Dalcahue

Our next stop was Dalcahue, a slightly larger town, which features a neo-gothic church built on the site of the original mission. Dalcahue attracted even more vendors. The majority of our group ate lunch at a restaurant on top of a hill in Dalcahue. We declined lunch, since they did not have a vegetarian option for Sally and we were never hungry enough to eat a three-course tourist lunch. We sat outside, ate our picnic lunch, and enjoyed the scenery, although it was chilly on that windy hilltop.

View from the Hilltop in Dalcahue

After lunch, we drove further to reach the capitol city of Castro. The coast of Castro is lined with palafitos, the traditional stilt houses. These former homes are now a popular attraction and many house restaurants and businesses. We looked around for coffee, but ended up having to go up the hill to find anything other than seafood. Castro also sported beautifully carved statues depicting local myths.

Palafito in Castro

Church in Castro

After visiting the palafitos, our guide took us to the main square where we visited the Iglesia San Francisco, the largest of the wooden churches. Built in 1910, it replaced an earlier church that burned down and the first attempt at replacement was also destroyed by a wind storm. Today, the church is sunshine yellow, but older photos show it with a red and blue color scheme.

Pincoya, the Marine Fertility Goddess

Interior of Church in Castro

From Castro, we returned to the ferry at Chacao and crossed back to the mainland, returning home about 20:00. It had been a long day.

Car Ferry to the Mainland

Petrohue Falls

Sunday, we took an excursion to Peulla. We left even earlier to meet our bus in downtown Puerto Varas at 7:30. The bus drove us out of the city and stopped at the Petrohue waterfalls. Here, the Petrohue River tumbled through contorted lava flows. The river, fed by water from Lago Todos Santos, contains minerals that give it a lovely light blue color.

Water at Petrohue Falls

After a brief visit to the falls, we returned to the bus and continued on to Petrohue where we boarded the CruceAndino catamaran to take us across Lago Todos Santos to Peulla. Highway 225 is an international route that links Bariloche in Argentina with Puerto Varas in Chile. The traditional road ends at Petrohue and the route then continues by catamaran as far as Peulla, where the road resumes. Buses ferry tourists back and forth across the Andes via this route. There is a Chiliean customs office in the tiny town of Peulla.

Volcan Osorno from Lago Todos Santos

Pudu at the Peulla Petting Zoo

Crossing the Peulla River

The Rio Negro

We took another excursion from Peulla which loaded us into a 4-wheel drive bus and took us to a petting zoo before crossing the Peulla River and then driving us to the Rio Negro where we took a short jaunt on a pontoon boat. We didn’t see much wildlife, but the scenery was spectacular. The area was part of the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park. There were a few volacanoes in the area, but they mostly remained hidden in the clouds. We never got a clear view of Volcan Osorno, but we did get to see the glacier on Cerro Tronador.

Glacier on Cerro Tronador

International Hwy 225 to Argentina

Once we returned to Peulla, we were encouraged to eat an excessive and expensive lunch at the new hotel. We declined and instead grabbed a sandwich at the original Peulla Hotel. We then had time to walk back to the catamaran dock and relax for an hour before reversing our journey.

Our Ride Back to Petrohue