Pulled into the scenic town of Puerto Varas, several hours south of Pucon.
Looking across the 20 mile wide Lago Llanquihue, one sees the glacier-capped cone of Vulcan
Osorno. Somewhat reminiscent of the Puget Sound and Mount Raineer in Washington State. Had
dinner in a
german restaurant. Definitely more european feel down here. Camped in a campground on the
lake 10 miles out of town. Back to town in the am for breakfast and internet access and then
on to the Rio Petrohue. A little rain was moving in. The river pours out of a large lake,
Lago Todos Santos. Warm water. A bit low, but still some fun rapids and falls. Nathan
took a swim in Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). It's a gnarly looking falls with a
large rock splitting it, creating a hole mid-way down. There is a sneak far left over an
easier falls. You have to skip across a turbulent eddy line to avoid the garganta. Nathan
missed it and went for the meat. He was surfed and endered in the hole in front of the rock
and couldn't get out. He swam. I portaged the eddy line, ran the sneak and paddled down to
get his boat out of a large eddy below the falls. We portaged the big falls. It was an easy
hike as there are maintained trails to view the falls. A couple more rapids and we were out.
Camped out on the volcanic sand near the river. I caught my first Chilean trout (a brown) that
evening. A little rain. Ran the Petrohue again the next morning and then on to the hot
springs near Entre Lagos. Nice campground, a little dissappointed in the hot springs--a
fenced in swimming pool beside a small river. On to the Rio Gol Gol. Put in at the Chile/
Argentina border and paddled back into Chile. A lot more big waterfalls on this run than
we anticipated. Didn't have our waterfall game face on. Portaged several of the falls.
Nathan ran a couple that I did not. Really impressive river! We came back here after paddling
the Futaleufu. It was the last river we paddled before returning to the USA. Ran all but
two falls then. One 30+ footer had many undercuts and a cave after the falls and the other,
Salto del
Indio, where the water funnels together from several angles and drops 45 feet. Nathan ran
the Salto del Indio. On to Bariloche. Didn't quite make it--camped on a dirt road off the
highway. Nathan and Marta awoke to the local ranch owner asking what we were doing camping on
his land. Nathan explained that it had gotten late and we were too tired to make it to
Bariloche. When the dueno left, he grabbed a rifle out of the back of his truck and put it in
his cab. Maybe next time he finds someone camping on his land he'll shoot first and ask
questions later! Had lunch in Bariloche, another beautiful lakeside city, and then on to the
Rio Manzo. Arrived there just as a rafting trip went out. Paddled with the safety kayaker,
Hector, and got a ride back on top of the river gear in the back of their van. We ran a
section that ended at the Chilean border. Beautiful forest and peaks veiwed from the river.
Nice camp. Had an Indiana Jones style suspension bridge, missing a few foot boards. Camped
on the sand at the edge of a large eddy on the river. Awoke to children playing nearby
speaking gently in spanish. On our way to the Rio Futaleufu!
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