Day 51
Puerto Varas, Chile
Well....the upside to independant travel is....if you don´t like where you are.....high tail it out of there! And that is exactly what we did on Chiloe. One more lovely ferrry ride,

and we were back on the mainland. We then drove a quick hour and a half to the town of Puerto Varas. We read in the guide it was the "next Pucon" and since we love Pucon....we figured this was a good bet. And indeed it is cute. Not as cute as Pucon mind you.....larger and a bit more commercialized....but much better than Chiloe! This town seems to have a German influence which leads to charming wooden buildings, cheese shops and craft markets.

We found a great lodge right on the Lake, called Hotel y Cabanas Del Lago. They had no rooms, but they had an adorable little cabin with one bedroom and three beds in the living room.

After Chiloe and our cramped Hostel.....we decided the cabin was heaven. The resort also has great views of the lake , an indoor swimming pool.....and Bryce´s favorite a playground right next to our cabin!




Rich also found his favorite toy here...
Life is good again and everyone is happy. Our cabin even has a little kitchen which after two months of eating in restaurants was a grand surpirse. Its a tiny kitchenette with no stove...but I managed to make a dinner of spicey corn chowder and beer steamed mussels with lemon butter. It seemed very appropriate with the cloudy and cool weather that continues to haunt us here in Northern Patagonia! Everyone deemed dinner a wonderful change from the local fare.
Good news from my parents. My mother was able to convince the embassy that missing Christmas with your only grandson IS a life or death emergency. They should have the passport today and be able to fly back tomorrow in time to drive to Argentina with us. They have certainly beeen making the most of their detour. They are staying at the Plaza in Santiago and when we finally reached them they were on a wine tour and planning a lovely dinner. I was feeling very happy for them that they were doing such a good job of turning lemons into roses .....until I remembered their only access to money is MY credit card, that I gave them with strict instructions it was "To Be Used For Emergencies Only". Uhmmm......is this how my Dad felt the day he handed me HIS visa as I headed off to college??