Weekend trip to Puerto Varas

It's a shame that during an internship you don't have the student freedom to decide which courses to attend and which to skip. So during the week, I'm bound by my working hours and don't have much time to explore or travel far by bus. But hey, welcome to the everyday life of an adult ;D.

But since we are still young, dynamic, vital and above all curious, we make the most of our weekends. What does that mean?! Party hard until 5 o'clock in the morning.. no joke. This is how it really is:

On Friday evening, we took a bus to Puerto Varas, spent 2 days in a hostel, always got up at 7 to make the most of the day and returned to Valdivia late on Sunday around 10 pm. Sounds stressful, it was, but positive stress :).

Puerto Varas is located on the second largest lake in Chile, Lake Llanquihue, and is one of the "most German" cities in Chile. Many cafes with "apple strudel" and "German houses" in the style of the 19th century. When you visit the waterfront, you have a view of 2 volcanoes, Osorno and Calbuco. Both covered in snow and you can even go skiing on Osorno. Beautiful.

We stayed in one of the most renowned hostels in Chile and I have to say, it was really nice. This time we stayed in shared rooms with bunk beds, but it was so spacious and the atmosphere was very cozy. (It's almost sad that hostels are always warmer and more comfortable than our own accommodation.) But my highlight was a luxurious coffee machine. (When I earn money, I will invest in something like this too. The coffee was sensational and necessary when you get up so early ;).

However, we didn't want to spend the days in the city, but rather out in nature! So we visited the Petrohue Falls. Impressive waterfalls. You could literally see the power that a stream of water can have and gained a lot of respect for it. Then we drove on a gravel road to the town of Petrohue. It's actually just a dead end with a roundabout, a hotel and three restaurants where you can enter the national park. After registering with the national park ranger (always with ID and emergency cell phone number), we decided to take the "Desolation Trail". It led to a viewpoint of the Osorno volcano and another adjacent lake, Lake Todos los Santos. I think the pictures speak for themselves here.. The path was very sandy this time, so it felt a bit like a beach hike, quite exhausting. Also, on the way back, we missed the trail a bit and had to climb over some rocks on the shore of the lake to catch the last bus. But luckily everything worked out and we rewarded ourselves with pizza, beer, and Pisco Sour. Because we walked 26 km according to our step counters on our phones and we could feel it :). Finally, we watched the sunset over the volcanoes.

Since we liked the national park (once again) so much, the next day we did another trail that was a bit more remote. Between the volcanoes, in bright sunshine, in early spring. Wonderful! Unfortunately, the way back was just a big road, but such a "road" also has its charm. Another highlight was the Laguna Verde. A small pond with a depth of 12 meters, in an indescribable green. The cause of this is special tiny algae that live below the surface. Again, our phones showed 15 km, where do these numbers come from?! :D On Sunday afternoon, we calmly enjoyed cake (the BEST passion fruit cheesecake in my life) on the beach promenade of Puerto Varas before it was time to pack up and go to the bus. All in all: A very exhausting and perfect weekend!

Frieda (18.10)