Beautiful drives

Once Martin had collected the hire car we set off to drive to a fjord. The scenery was gorgeous and the car was practically new, the sun was out so we were enjoying the drive. We had a late lunch and a short walk in Cochamo. Unfortunately the tarmaced road finished and we were onto gravel roads. It got quite hairy. Some bridges had collapsed and the temporary bridges were almost just planks with very steep extremely rough tracks down to them and up the other side. I'm so glad it was Martin driving.

At the end of the fjord we waited for the car ferry for the 30 minute ride across. When the ferry came in two petrol tankers were boarded. Because of the dangerous load no other cars nor foot passengers were allowed on. It wasn't too long a wait though as they had 4 boats going back and forth.

Thankfully the road all the way back was tarmac. It was even more beautiful up the other side back to Puerto Varas. Along the way we saw pelicans flying in formation but because of the wind they looked like they were just hanging there. It didn't look real - more like something out of Finding Nemo.

In the evening we chatted to a Canadian couple (our age) who had booked into our B&B for 2 nights. They were in the middle of a 4500km bike ride through Chile. They were having a few rest days away from the bikes but also awsy from the rest of the group! We discussed the dog situation. In Argentina they had visited a gun store to buy pepper spray as defence against dogs. They were told they were not allowed to buy pepper spray but could buy any size of gun!

On our second day with the car we drove out to a fishing town an hour and a half away which I don't think many tourists visit. Again the journey had superb views. In the town square there was a group of children dressed up. From what I could gather it was a boy's birthday and the theme was recycling. They had a karaoke machine too.

Our final stop was Frutilla back on the lake, north of Puerto Varas. This town had been colonised by Germans which showed in the architecture and it was very well kept.

When we stopped for a cuppa we ordered a hot chocolate for me and a cup of tea with milk for Martin. My hot chocolate was delicious - they put chunks of dark chocolate in hot milk. Martin put his teabag in the cup and poured from the pot..... it was hot milk! It was the weakest tea he had ever had but he drank it.