After yesterday’s whirlwind tour, we are starting to realize just how much driving may be involved in getting to all the spots we want to see. I don’t want to spend all day behind the wheel, so despite going outside my travel coordinator’s comfort zone, we’re going freestyle from here, booking one night at a time as we work our way around the area.

Today’s destination is Puyehue, another national park a few hours north famous for its hot springs. After the long drive and a short hike, a good soak is pretty relaxing, and we let the afternoon slowly drift away until we are pretty close to cooked.

Ou accommodation for this evening is an eco-resort on a lake. The “eco” part I think just refers to the fact they don’t use any kind of machinery to maintain the rutted gravel road to the property, and “resort” seems to be some sort of local word for basic two-story house with a bedroom for rent. Walking down the narrow hallway to our room at the end of the hall, it feels like I’m visiting relatives somewhere.

The nearest town is about 5 miles away, so we figure we can run our little rental car through the pothole gauntlet a couple more times in search of dinner. We find a few food stalls and make short work of some papas rellenas, empanadas, and salchipapas, but the Holy Trinity of starch leaves my better half in need of some meat. We remember seeing a little old man waving a sign for his restaurant back on the main road and figure we can probably stop in and split an order of chicken.

It’s clearly low season here as we are barely out of the car before someone rushes out to greet us and walk us all the way from the parking lot to a nice table in front of the fireplace. There is no menu, but we gather the specialty of the house is wild boar, served up with potatoes. They are clearly very proud of their food and we’re up for giving it a try, so “two plates, please”.

What hits the table looks like something out of the Flintstones. The two gargantuan slabs of meat alone are more than I could ever hope to eat (even if I hadn’t starched up beforehand) and unfortunately for her, those are matched by what has to be at least a half dozen potatoes, sliced up, fried and piled into a small mountain on Angela’s plate. I think if she eats it all she must get an Old 96er t-shirt.

The food is delicious, but despite giving it the old college try we both come up short.

Despite a raging case of meat sweats, looking down, our plates aren’t much different than when they came out of the kitchen. Our server, who is almost certainly the chef’s wife, seems a touch insulted by this and refuses to acknowledge us for the rest of the evening. It takes some effort, but We finally manage to get our bill and commence our sheepishly head back to the car. Time to call it a night before we do any further damage to Canadian-Chilean relations.

We’re hitting the road today, and after a bit of debate, decide to head north towards the mountains. We have one more night booked here in Puerto Montt, so don’t want to get too far away a leave ourselves with a long drive back, and fortunately, there is a good spot about an hour away. The road to Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales takes us along the shore of Lake Llanquihue, and before long, we see Volcán Osorno off in the distance. In the winter this is a local ski resort, and while we’re a bit too late in the season for that, the smooth, snow capped peak calls out for some fresh tracks.

Our first stop is Saltos de Petrohué, which is just a short hike off the main road. The views are spectacular and the crystal clear water the most amazing shade of green.

A bit further along the road (pretty much the end of it really) is lies the tiny town of Petrohué. It’s not much more than a hotel and a beach with boats offering tours of Lago Todos Los Santos. Given how many are lined up waiting for passengers, summer must get pretty busy here, but at this time of year, a couple of pasty Canadians look pretty darn good.

Along the shore there are a lot of summer cottages accessible only by boat, and picking up every third word our captain tells us, I gather most of them are owned by people from Santiago, who use them for only a couple of months a year. This one looked particularly appealing to me given it’s awesome views and complete lack of neighbors 🙂

Heading back towards Puerto Montt, I have the burning need to drive up the volcano as far as the road will let us. Close to the top, we find the ski lift still running, taking tourists on a 15 minute ride part way up the mountain.

From there, a few trails head off through the fine sand to different viewpoints. At times it is like walking on a deserted beach, only 8,000 feet up from the nearest body of water.

Our final stop is the town of Puerto Varas, the main town for tourists on the lake and, according to our guidebook, a wonderful parilla, where we can put a local steak to the test against those just across the border in Bariloche. It’s a tasty challenge and almost too close call, but I have to give this one to Argentina, if only because here a one pound rib-eye clocks in at an eye-popping $12 (a whole $2 more).

Bonus points for the most delicious churros ever though. Joey, this one’s for you buddy 🙂

We’re a little tired by the time we finally check into the hotel (although one of us has managed to sneak in a few naps along the way).

Puerto Montt isn’t as much of a destination as it is central to other areas to visit, so we’ve booked two nights here to get our bearings before moving further afield. The great news is that I still have some status at the Holiday Inn Express (from years ago when I racked up stays there to score free nights at the Intercontinental in Istanbul), so we’re pleased to find that we can choose from a free bottle of water, or a package of two, yes two, cookies. Membership does have its privileges.

After settling in, we wander around town a bit in search of dinner. Apparently they roll the streets up pretty early here and the few places that are still open are packed full of people watching the Chile v. Columbia soccer match. Fortunately, we do stumble across a french fry stand and suddenly, all seems right with the world.

Overall, a pretty unexciting day, but after a good night’s sleep in a real bed, we’ll be hitting the road in search of adventure.

It seems like a pretty good day to leave the country given the election and all, so for the next few weeks, while many of you are busy clicking through the Canadian Immigration website, my trusty sidekick and I will be stomping around Patagonia, checking out giant stone heads, and speaking really bad Spanish.

Having done a lot trips like this, you’d think we’d have the process mastered, but for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, we seem less prepared than ever. Nevertheless, the flight is leaving with or without us, so whatever we’ve forgotten (and there is definitely going to be something), we’ll have to deal with it from afar.

The next 24 hours or so are going to be spent in the air, with our final stop in Puerto Montt, which is part of the Lake District in central Chile. Angela has taken the lead on setting the itinerary, so while I know we have about a week planned in the area, I’m not really sure doing what. A little adventure is good for the soul though I suppose.

In general, from central Chile the plan is to head down to Punta Arenas, at the southern tip of the country, then to Easter Island, and finally, a few days in Santiago. It’s a lot of flying, and there are still a few spots we just aren’t going to make it to, but for what looks like such a small country on the map, places are really, really far apart.

Even more stressful has been the near absence of beloved Sheraton and Hyatt hotels. My travel companion does enjoy her perks of status, and it remains to be seen how her system will react to no name accommodation found on TripAdvisor. Please pray for her.