I loved the lakes district (aka Bariloche and Pucon) so much that I decided to visit another one of the towns in Chile: Frutillar, a little further south, next to beautiful Lake Llanquihue.
Frutillar was settled by German immigrants on the shores of Lake Llanquihue in the 19th century. The perfectly-conical Volcan Osorno, which according to my guidebook has been featured in Samsung commercial, completes the view.
The bus driver dropped me by the side of the road at 7:30 am. No businesses open - wandered around and asked five people for help before I was able to hitch a ride in a colectivo (taxi that will pick up multiple people at once) to Frutillar Bajo, the touristy section of town, down the hill from Frutillar Alto, where the locals live.
The tourist info center didn't open until 10:00, so I wandered around looking for something, anything, open so I could use the bathroom. Finally found a sleepy-eyed mini-mart attendant to sell me a tea and "waffle." It started to pour as I sat down on a park bench to eat, and I began to discover why March is no longer tourist season in the lakes district.
At the TI, a surprisingly young girl talked me through the accommodation options, and I realized I would have my pick because the town was all but deserted. I walked in the downpour to Hospedaje Bosenjurvanhauser (or something along those lines that I'll never be able to pronounce), a fantastic, creaky old German house with paint peeling outside but very cute and comfortable rooms inside. The redheaded teenage boy who opened the door listened to my "Busco una habitiacion," and then took off like a shot up the stairs, telling me to follow him. He showed me all of the rooms and let me choose. I picked one with a beautiful, fluffy queen-size bed, warm peach walls, and its own private bathroom and a view of the surrounding countryside, all for just 10,000 pesos ($17 USD) a night - including breakfast!
My affordable, friendly German hospedaje. Shoulder season is great!
Very comfortable, private room with private bath, plus a lovely breakfast - all for just 10,000 pesos.
View from bedroom
I got the feeling over and over that tourist season was over - all the places deserted, my hostel owners doing renovations, school kids in uniform everywhere, and miserable weather. I also realized that Frutillar is a major destination for retirees. It's tranquil, tiny, there are few (if any) outdoor excursions for sale, and on the tourist web site, many of the hotels were offering discount price schedules for 65-plus. All of the heads at the restaurants and the museums were white.
Museo Colonial Aleman: this open-air museum has full scale reconstructions of buildings used by the original German settlers, including a watermill.
Frutillar is also known for its Teatro del Lago, a live performing arts venue that is open year-round. They happened to have a performance scheduled the night I was there. Free and open to the public, the event was attended by what seemed like the entire Frutillar community (and me, the one tourist).
Featured that Wednesday was a group of Thai dancers traveling around South America in an attempt to drum up tourism for Thailand, and they gave a fantastic show! We received gift bags stuffed with a decorative fan, a tourism booklet, info. about Thai dance, and basic travel phrases translated from Spanish to Thai. (Hint, hint.)
I wasn't expecting much, but the performance was impressive, with some gorgeous Thai dancers, high-quality costumes, interesting descriptions of the dances read by the Chilean event coordinator (I know that feeling), and some genuinely funny bits breaking up the serious/beautiful. Somehow they managed to pack in a half-woman-half-fish, a monkey, marionettes, sword fighting, flirting, battle drum sequences, umbrellas, candles, coconuts, and my favorite...a cock fight!
They kept the whole crowd entertained for two hours, even the small children. Although the two blonde toddlers "sitting" next to me were squirrely, and managed to kick me, fall on me and finally ended the performance sitting in my lap. Some of the locals in Frutillar look very German - it's funny to hear Spanish pouring from their mouths!
I had more photos posted but darn blogger.com made them disappear! Pooh...perhaps I will re-post when I'm back in Seattle next week. (Yipee!)
More soon.
Frutillar was settled by German immigrants on the shores of Lake Llanquihue in the 19th century. The perfectly-conical Volcan Osorno, which according to my guidebook has been featured in Samsung commercial, completes the view.
The bus driver dropped me by the side of the road at 7:30 am. No businesses open - wandered around and asked five people for help before I was able to hitch a ride in a colectivo (taxi that will pick up multiple people at once) to Frutillar Bajo, the touristy section of town, down the hill from Frutillar Alto, where the locals live.
The tourist info center didn't open until 10:00, so I wandered around looking for something, anything, open so I could use the bathroom. Finally found a sleepy-eyed mini-mart attendant to sell me a tea and "waffle." It started to pour as I sat down on a park bench to eat, and I began to discover why March is no longer tourist season in the lakes district.
At the TI, a surprisingly young girl talked me through the accommodation options, and I realized I would have my pick because the town was all but deserted. I walked in the downpour to Hospedaje Bosenjurvanhauser (or something along those lines that I'll never be able to pronounce), a fantastic, creaky old German house with paint peeling outside but very cute and comfortable rooms inside. The redheaded teenage boy who opened the door listened to my "Busco una habitiacion," and then took off like a shot up the stairs, telling me to follow him. He showed me all of the rooms and let me choose. I picked one with a beautiful, fluffy queen-size bed, warm peach walls, and its own private bathroom and a view of the surrounding countryside, all for just 10,000 pesos ($17 USD) a night - including breakfast!
My affordable, friendly German hospedaje. Shoulder season is great!
Very comfortable, private room with private bath, plus a lovely breakfast - all for just 10,000 pesos.
View from bedroom
I got the feeling over and over that tourist season was over - all the places deserted, my hostel owners doing renovations, school kids in uniform everywhere, and miserable weather. I also realized that Frutillar is a major destination for retirees. It's tranquil, tiny, there are few (if any) outdoor excursions for sale, and on the tourist web site, many of the hotels were offering discount price schedules for 65-plus. All of the heads at the restaurants and the museums were white.
Museo Colonial Aleman: this open-air museum has full scale reconstructions of buildings used by the original German settlers, including a watermill.
Frutillar is also known for its Teatro del Lago, a live performing arts venue that is open year-round. They happened to have a performance scheduled the night I was there. Free and open to the public, the event was attended by what seemed like the entire Frutillar community (and me, the one tourist).
Featured that Wednesday was a group of Thai dancers traveling around South America in an attempt to drum up tourism for Thailand, and they gave a fantastic show! We received gift bags stuffed with a decorative fan, a tourism booklet, info. about Thai dance, and basic travel phrases translated from Spanish to Thai. (Hint, hint.)
I wasn't expecting much, but the performance was impressive, with some gorgeous Thai dancers, high-quality costumes, interesting descriptions of the dances read by the Chilean event coordinator (I know that feeling), and some genuinely funny bits breaking up the serious/beautiful. Somehow they managed to pack in a half-woman-half-fish, a monkey, marionettes, sword fighting, flirting, battle drum sequences, umbrellas, candles, coconuts, and my favorite...a cock fight!
They kept the whole crowd entertained for two hours, even the small children. Although the two blonde toddlers "sitting" next to me were squirrely, and managed to kick me, fall on me and finally ended the performance sitting in my lap. Some of the locals in Frutillar look very German - it's funny to hear Spanish pouring from their mouths!
I had more photos posted but darn blogger.com made them disappear! Pooh...perhaps I will re-post when I'm back in Seattle next week. (Yipee!)
More soon.
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