Saturday 1st December

After finally getting to bed at 3am thanks to SKY airways we opted for a lie in till 9.15, in order to still get some breakfast before our rescheduled biking tour. We had asked for the 8.30 pick up to be postponed but had no further news.

The Guest House is quite a remarkable place - a large mansion built in 1926 as a city home, it is now a national monument, with mist of its original features, including the cast iron bath in our room!

Breakfast consisted of pancakes filled with dulce de leche caramel, granola, some fresh fruit salad, soda bread and coffee. Over breakfast we chatted to a young couple who turned out to be from Lichfield and are touring for 4 months. They passed on some useful tips about Puerto varas
A call from the travel agent announced that the bike company were on their way to collect us, to which we expressed surprise, but willingness to be ready! However, within 3 mins this arrangement had been amended to 3.30 pm!
We finally caught up with the hotel proprietor who spoke excellent English and welcomed us. Apparently the agency had failed to notify her that our flight had been delayed so they had been expecting us at 6pm yesterday, and were somewhat concerned by 10.30 pm when we had still failed to show up...
We revised our schedule and headed into town for a walkabout.
There’s s good reason why Puerto Varas is known as the City of Roses - the streets are all full of rose bushes in full bloom - beautiful yellow, reds, pink and a host of blush coloured petals adorn rose bushes along every street throughout the town. It was a gloriously sunny morning and we marvelled at the snow capped volcanoes - Osorno(2652m) and Calbuco (225m) on the other side of the massive blue Lago Llanquihue.
A few small sailing dinghies were making rapid progress in the stiff breeze, and lots of Chilean families were out promenading and perusing the craft stalls along the path at the waters edge on this glorious Saturday morning.
We were unable to resist the draw of Casa Mawen, where we sat outside to enjoy some excellent latte and berry fruit crumble cake in the sun.
We ventured on up the hill in search of a craft market which was unfortunately closed, but, on the way, passed a restaurant that had been recommended to our us by some fellow travellers - Humedal - so all was not in vain and we booked a table for 8pm.
Back in town we tried a glass of local beer on the sunny balcony of a waterfront bar, whilst writing postcards, and returned to our hotel to consume yesterday's airport empanadas while trying to decide what to wear for biking from our extensive luggage. Our itinerary suggested that we would be cycling for 40km sling the main road snd smaller roads to visit a ‘teatrico’ and culture centre in Frutillar. What exactly is the dress code for that?! Bedecked in a bizarre combination of cycle pants, shorts, a long sleeved top and approach shoes we emerged on cue to meet Carlos our driver. He was in fact an architect from Santiago who was helping his son build up a cycle business.
He took us to their shop on the edge of town, where we were introduced to his wife and 2 sons - Daniel (11) who was at school locally and his elder brother Juan Pablo, who had just qualified as a commercial pilot.
JP had a route planned which was nothing like the one on our itenary, but we decided to go with the flow. Duly kitted out with helmets and water flasks we mounted the orange mountain bikes and set off down the side of a busy main road using the cycle lane for 10km. At last we turned off and pedalled down up a tough track and then down quiet dirt roads to Tranqueros Park. Here a 6 km off-road track for hikers and bikers runs through the woodland over many tree roots, wooden branch bridges and deep muddy swamp pits. Daniel was a typical 11 year old with a bike slightly too large for him, and arms and legs made of India rubber. He acted as trailblazer and shot off ahead making it look so easy. We pedalled, pushed, gasped, skidded sweated, slipped, squelched and slid our way behind him, careering down steep slopes over tree roots and narrow bridges, with Juan Pablo and his girlfriend Rosaria bringing up the rear. Manoeuvring was not helped by the fact that the brake levers are mirrored to what we were used to in the U.K., so just when you thought you were in control your front wheel would lock up nearly causing an undignified exit over the handlebars!
Nevertheless we had a great time and completed the 6km unscathed apart from a few bruises and plenty of clingon mud! As we returned via the main road cycle path we were delighted when Juan Pablo piped up that every tour came with a free craft beer at the brewery. We stopped at the Chocolate Malt Cerviceria and enjoyed some great ale whilst chatting to the guiding team and Rosaria in particular regarding their bike business and her new online enterprise selling kimonos.
We got back to the rental shop at 8pm - just at the time our restaurant reservation was due. They kindly called ahead for us and put it back by an hour. Carlos drove us back to our hotel where we hosed the mud off in the shower before walking across town to the Humedal.
On our way there, we passed a gathering in the square of children singing and playing instruments and dancing on a stage in the market area - with proud parents looking on, and tourists and locals stopping to listen and support them. This seemed to have been going on for most of the day.
Humedal was a lovely small restaurant situated on slope above the west end of the town, with beautiful views overlooking the lake. There was an oriental feel to the menu and we started by sharing a plate of crispy seafood wonton followed by seafood curry and hake with tomatoes and olives.
Our return journey to the hotel was interrupted by a stop to watch some of the stage acts in the market square. A young girl wearing an enormous white sombrero with an excellent voice, four crooners wearing tasteful peach shirts and finally a band of gaucho musicians wearing white Stetsons, red velvet jackets and pointy toed sparking boots belting out toe-tapping dance numbers in Spanish to the assembled crowd of about 500! Between acts two comperes would work the crowd, and award certificates to the previous performers while a technician frantically wire up mikes and speakers. The crowd of all ages watched from plastic chairs scattered around the square. A toothless drunk in a faded red baseball held the dance floor and was the musicians’ greatest fans children waved balloons snd adults danced - it was a real party atmosphere!
We returned to the hotel exhausted after yet another fun filled day.