The Lake District of Chile (1) - A Vacation Destination for many Chileans and Argentinians

The Lake District is located south of Santiago, between Temuco in the North to Puerto Montt in the South.It stretches 340 kms. It is a region of lush farmland, dense forest, snowcapped volcanoes and clear lakes. We spent a few days in Pucon and a few days in Puerto Varas. We got a chance to hike in a remote forest located close to the Argentinian border, with monkey trees and papyrus. The volcanoes in this area are beautiful. One of them, the Villarrica volcano, is still active and emits some smoke.

Pucon: a major tourist attraction and a popular ski resort. It is located on the East shore of Lake Villarrica.

An example of a monkey tree

The beach in Pucon

View of volcan Villarrica from Pucon

December....cherry and raspberry season in Chile!

Des bugnes! My family used to make some each year in February :)) Great memories.

 The guesthouse where we stayed was owned by a German family.
Many Germans settled in the Lake District. of Chile

We drove to the ski resort and hiked to the top of the ski lift. It is summer here, no snow.

And once again...."apres l'effort, le reconfort", a nice chilean (or italian?) completo 

"plein de mayonnaise"...yumm!

Hiking in the monkey tree forest south east of Pucon

Moving south towards Puerto Varas through the Lake District

You may wonder what happened to my lama sanctuary. My lamas are with us! They have been enjoying green grass (a first for them!) in Chile. Look at them, Don't they look in excellent shape?

A stop to try the "pastel de choclo", some kind of an english corn pudding well appreciated by Chileans. 

Oh-oh, Piggy on the road!

Amazing views from this restaurant

"Not every lake dreams to be an ocean"