Back in Chile

After 2 days and 1 million calories, we said goodbye to Bariloche and crossed the border at Pass Cardenal Samore back into Chile. Don't let anyone say the Germans are bureaucratic... on the Argentine side, you need 3 stamps to leave, on the Chilean side, you need 4 to enter again. The Chileans also search every piece of luggage, you have to open and show everything. After 2 hours, we made it through. The border stations are about 20 km apart, it's not as close together as we're used to. You drive through a very interesting area because a volcano erupted there in 2015 and the traces are clearly visible. Some green has reestablished itself, but for at least 10 km, you can only see dead trees and ash on the right and left. Our travel guide says that the ash flew around the world and then arrived in Chile, over Australia and various other countries. It's amazing what nature can do!

After things went so smoothly at the border, we treated ourselves to a sumptuous lunch at a modern restaurant with fresh cuisine and a lake view. That has to be done sometimes 😄

Now we have arrived in Puerto Octay. In a very nice hostel where they also speak German. It is located in the region of the huge Lago Llanquihue. It doesn't sound very German, but this area was made habitable by German settlers about 160 years ago. There are many German cafes, farms, and hostels. Many Swiss people also ended up here. This makes the whole area naturally look clean and tidy, which we quite like. Here at the hostel, you can also have dinner in the evening, an excellent menu, a mixture of Chilean and German cuisine. On the first night, we were a very nice group, 2 French, 2 Americans, 2 Swiss, and us. With a colorful mix of German, French, and English, we all had a great conversation and sat together for even longer.

The next morning, we set off on a round trip to the Petrohue Waterfalls and the Osorno Volcano. It's all a bit touristy, but beautiful. We were already wondering about the busloads of older American tourists until it occurred to us: of course, they are cruise ship passengers from Puerto Montt. The sea is not far away from here.

Then we drove up to the volcano by car, of course, we couldn't go all the way up, only up to about 100 meters below the snow line. On top, we took a ride on the cable car. Unfortunately, only the first part was open, they are currently doing some construction on the second part... It remains a mystery why they schedule these works during the peak season... we have noticed this several times here.

We can only upload a photo occasionally, the internet is very bad. We will deliver when possible 😎