February Concepcion to Frutillar

 

The trip continued along the edge of the Andean Mountains through beautiful farmlands and the goal of the Day was to reach Frutillar a well-known holiday destination with old german history.

 

Frutillar is a city in southern Chile’s Lake District, with views of Osorio Volcano. It sits on the western edge of vast Llanquihue Lake, and has black sand beaches. German-style wooden buildings characterize the town, reflecting its colonial past.

 

The city of Frutillar was founded by Vicente Pérez Rosales in 1856, after a period of clearing up the land and upon the arrival of German settlers from Hamburg in 1852 and other cities of Germany in sailing ships to the ports of Valdivia and Puerto Montt.

Vicente Perez Rosales on a later expedition towards the south of Valdivia changed the course of the incoming colony to Lake Llanquihue.

Rosales was searching for more land for the German settlers, south of Valdivia, as many sailing ships were arriving to the port of Valdivia from Germany sent by Bernardo Philippi under the official colonisation program of Southern Chile.

This program was granted by President Manuel Bulnes and executed by president of Chile Manuel Montt naming officially Vicente Perez Rosales the head of the German colonisation of Llanquihue, as a continuation of the initial efforts done by Bernard Philippi.

 

The german influence in this area was present all over with farmhouses and residential houses showing clearly some german architectural influence and the boys were looking forward to possibly some great german food and beer.

 

On arrival in town they however realised that the german of the years gone by is only reflected in buildings and the german language has long been lost and hardly anyone in this town could even speak English but every now and then some german signs popped up and the old german settlers must have loved their cakes as every second shop advertised “Kuchen” (the german word for Cake) with big exhibits of all sorts of Cakes.

 

German architecture can be seen all over Frutillar

 

Lots of names which must have originated from the german settlers
Traditional german cakes and great tasting german beer

 

German settlers started coming to this area in the 1800s. It started with nine families at the bank of the Bueno River. The man behind the growth and development of Frutillar was the German-born Bernard Eunom Philippi. He was a sailor, military man, and traveller. Frutillar main street is named after him.

Most immigrants who came to this region were farmers, craftsmen, and merchants from the Hessen, Schlesien, Wurttemberg, Bohmen, Westfalen, Brandenburg and Sachsen regions in Germany. They settled along Lake Llanquihue and in Frutillar.

 

From Frutillar one can have a clear view of the volcano Osorno

 

Osorno is one of the most active volcanoes of the southern Chilean Andes, with 11 historical eruptions recorded between 1575 and 1869. The basalt and andesite lava flows generated during these eruptions reached both Llanquihue and Todos los Santos Lakes. The upper slopes of the volcano are almost entirely covered in glaciers despite its very modest altitude and latitude, sustained by the substantial snowfall in the very moist maritime climate of the region.

 

 

Day 41 – 25nd February – Concepcion to Frutillar