What’s in a Name? Pedro de Valdivia
Names of cities, buildings, and streets can give you a glimpse into a region’s past. Why was a town in southern Chile given the English name, Cochrane? How did Pedro Montt become immortalized in street names across the country? And who…Continue reading→
The Time Has Come to Talk of Geology
How can sites of incredible beauty – massive snow-topped peaks, conical volcanoes, forest-bordered lakes, and ghostly thermal springs – also be connected to events of great tragedy? The answer lies in geology. Zona Sur: Chile’s Zona Sur (one of five distinct…Continue reading→
Back across the Andes
Glad we were returning to Valdivia in a more straightforward manner, Astrid and I spent the next morning in Bariloche exercising, strolling along the costanera, window shopping the leather, sweater, and chocolate stores on Avenida Mitre, and returning to breakfast at…Continue reading→
San Carlos de Bariloche
With 120,000 residents, the city of San Carlos de Bariloche is the largest in the Patagonian Andes. Homes with a distinct European look crowd together with larger modern buildings, all sloping to the edge of Lake Nahuel Huapi. A conventionally attractive…Continue reading→
The Route of the Andean Lakes — Part II
When our catamaran pulled in at Peulla, we were slightly less than halfway across the Route of the Andean Lakes. Peulla: A tiny port at the eastern edge of Lago Todos los Santos, Peulla is little more than a dock, a…Continue reading→
The Route of the Andean Lakes — Part I
Early in the morning, Astrid and I boarded a large bus in Puerto Varas for the first leg of our CruceAndino tour, a 12-hour slog over land and lakes to reach Argentina’s Patagonian city of Bariloche. Skirting the vast blue waters of…Continue reading→
Puerto Varas and the Elusive Osorno Volcano
For the first evening of a four-day journey across the Andes mountains, Astrid had booked us a stay at the Hotel Bellavista in Puerto Varas. The large picture window of our room, which has a comfortable lodge feel about it, faces Lago Llanquihue…Continue reading→
Beer, Food, and Rain in Valdivia
Valdivia’s weather in March compares to September in the temperate U.S. — an erratic time of warm sun, cool rain, and everything in between. When my older daughter Astrid visited me for a week in Chile, we had two days to…Continue reading→
An Idyllic Day in Lago Ranco
Standing ankle-deep in transparent water, I feel an almost mystical appreciation for the lake. It’s off-season, and I’m the only tourist in sight. The large, round body of water is nestled at the western edge of the Andes, its mountain ridges…Continue reading→
Back to the Rain Forest
Perhaps fittingly, the day I visited a patch of Valdivian temperate rain forest, it was raining cats and dogs. As we passed the north shore of Lago Ranco, the lake appeared little more than a vision in gray — leaden water,…Continue reading→