A Drive to Ensenada

Saturday, December 13:  

Marlene invited us to go to lunch at a special restaurant in Ensenada.  We walked the three and a half blocks to her house from our apartment, and she drove from there - north out of the city on Ruta 5, then turn off at the north entrance to Puerto Varas, where the famous Casa de Los Ganzos commands the hilltop, and the big white geese form clouds here and there against the green slopes below the house.  I had just met Cristina, maker of goose down comforters and pillows, at the English Speakers Book Club the week before.  She has actually offered to host the next meeting at this lovely house!

Marlene knows all about Cristina and the House of Geese because there was a television special just recently.  The house was built some thirty years ago by a couple of Chileans from nearby Nueva Branau, which was settled by colonists from Germany in the 1860s.  (By the way, last winter Marlene took us on a tour of Nueva Branau.  I can't believe I didn't share photos from that trip with you yet!  We enjoyed the German Museum very much.)
The family who built the House of the Geese owned a huge parcel of land around the house, long before Puerto Varas had begun to grow.  The family ceded some land for development of the national highway, Ruta 5.  A daughter, Cristina, educated in the US and working there as an engineer in the Annapolis area, returned to Chile a few years ago when her parents died.  She "snowbirds" like we do, but when in Chile she is managing the goose down business.  Casa de Los Ganzos

From Casa de Los Gansos website:  view down to Puerto Varas, w. Volcan Osorno across the lake.

Onward!  Marlene drove down the long hill into Puerto Varas, and onto the Costanera along the edge of Lago Llanquihue.  The day was as glorious as in the photo above, and Marlene regaled us* with stories from her business life, in which she sells marine supplies to boaters and boat-building businesses, fishermen and cruisers.  She orders supplies from the US sometimes, and Richard has helped her with that process when the supplier does not speak Spanish.  Recently, a certain supply from a dealer in Maine, was shipped via the US Postal Service ... and that turns out to be a nightmare because the package must then transfer to the Chilean Postal Service.  The item traveled from Maine to Santiago in three days, but had been awaiting movement in Santiago for almost three weeks already.  Our Marlene is a persistent, intelligent woman, and she has been speaking with the postal officials.  Woe betide them if the thing is not delivered soon!  

(* Marlene told her stories in español, if you please!  We are understanding better every day.)

The road out past Puerto Varas is very beautiful, with vistas of the huge lake, great stands of eucalyptus trees, rolling meadows full of cows or sheep, bridges over deep ravines or roiling rivers, and always the glimpse or the grand display of Osorno.  Only one small part of the road was still under construction.  

Three of my fellow book club members live out this way, but I don't know just where:  Antje, who came to Chile in 1953 and worked as a secretary for many years for Phillips Electric, is the grand matriarch of the book group, keeper of the little crystal bell that might one day have to be used to call order;  Diana, who is my age, and new to the club this year, comes from London and Singapore, though she also lived for a time in Florida ... Boca Raton ... a name she delights in translating for us; and Wendy, a few years younger than me, transplanted from the Oregon Coast last year at this time.  She and her husband are renting now, with a great view of Osorno, and looking for a piece of property, or a house, with just as good a view.  These Ensenada women usually ride in together for the every other Friday book club meetings, and now that I see how LONG the ride is, I appreciate even more their regular attendance.  

Probably 40 minutes or so on that beautiful road brings us to the town of Ensenada, not much more than a scatter of restaurants with a gas station and a few stores.  Marlene comments on two of the restaurants that were once good, but no longer.  Don Salmon is the one she has in mind.  She was here with her daughter, La Nino, two weeks ago for a celebration.  Don Salmon is a Tenedor Libre ... a Free Fork ... which translates really to Smorgasbord.  

from his website:  www.donsalmon.cl

Yes, the salmon is pretty good, but the cordero, lamb, is special - slow-roasted on a spit, tender and full of flavor.  Every variety of salad and vegetable side dish is displayed beautifully.  The grilled eggplant was delicious.  Marlene twisted my arm to take a second dessert plate, but she did agree to share it with me. 

Dining with a view of Volcan Osorno is spectacular in itself.  And this view offers one shoulder of the volcano swirling toward us, the ridge descending to the lake, so close, so inviting.  Wouldn't it be grand to climb that slope one day?

 

Don Salmon, himself, spoke with us just before we left, in answer to Richard's questions about what the cost of property in this area might be.  Don Salmon happens to have a few parcelas for sale, some with large trees.  He tells us that the cost to put solar on a house is very cheap ... only something like $500 per house.  Hmmm.  We always have to second guess ourselves when translating these financial details.  

The long drive home included Marlene's descriptions of the wind-surfers' beach outside of Puerto Varas, and then we all gasped in surprise to see a lot of people swimming off the beach right in Puerto Varas.  It IS almost Midsummer's Eve here, but that water must be cold.  

At home on Avenida Ramon Munita, the next day, I walked about six blocks from the apartment to the road that overlooks the Valle de Volcanes.  You can see the cone of Osorno on the left.  Calbuco is closer to us.  

  The Valle de Volcanes is filled with small houses, like so many cobblestones fill a street.  Ah, it was nice to get out of town for the day!