A flavour of Germany

Moving on from a life of luxury, at our next stop, Puerto Varas, we returned to earth with a bit of a bump. Unfortunately, the owner of the hostel we had booked didn't know we were arriving; neither did he have the double room we had reserved available; and neither was his hostel in the best of states, being as it was low season and the hostel was (I think) technically closed. That said, he let us stay in a dorm room on our own, dropped the price and was keen to make us feel welcome. But sadly, it wasn't the best of starts to a day that continued to be a bit of a let down.

I had been told marvellous things about Puerto Varas; about its quaint German architecture and stunning view of the near-perfect Volcan Osorno. The one thing you can't organise though is the weather. And this was the view:

Believe it or not, there's a massive volcano behind those ships

Nonetheless, we ploughed on through a freezing cold afternoon/evening to take in a walking tour of the town. Starting off by scaling Cerro Philippi (you'll find out who he was once we get to Valdivia) and then navigating the town via the tourist circuit marked into the pavements. This took us past various Germanic churches and wooden-structure houses built by German immigrants at the end of the 19th century.

Sacred heart church, Puerto Varas

Darkness had fallen before we finished and the air was thick with wood smoke. Shivering, we went in search of dinner and came across a funky cafe with the most awesome food - Cafe el barrista. Tempted inside by the $5000 peso (£6.50) deal, we enjoyed squash soup, the most delicious salmon and roasties soaked in wine, plus mineral water from Puyehue. It was that good we went back the next night.

The following morning, the skies looked promising and in the early morning light and with the hazy sunshine beginning to break through the fog, my spirits lifted. We finished off the circuit and popped into the artisan marketing before hopping on a micro to nearby Frutillar...

Comes the light, the spirit lifts