January 16, 2012
When we were in the South of Chile to shoot Vale and Stanley’s destination wedding (which AHHH, I haven’t even blogged yet even though they’ve had their photos for like…a million years now) we took some time to explore the area a little bit. We rented a car and buzzed around Lago Llanquihue, in search of volcanoes. Actually, that’s a lie. It’s the South. You can’t throw a stone without hitting a volcano. We didn’t really have to search, we saw three on the drive from the airport to the hotel in Frutillar.
One of the days that we drove around exploring, we passed through the tiny little town of Puerto Octay. It’s so picturesque and just has that South of Chile feel to it. The colors and textures of all the houses really reminded me of Chiloe — though maybe not quite so beaten down by the wind and rain.
So on our way to the volcano we stopped at a little lookout by the lake. It had a sign telling us that we were getting near Puerto Octay. Not only that, but they have had a Rotary Club since 1956. Does anybody even know what a rotary club is? Or why they would be in a town with a population of 3,494 people?
Seba stopped at a conveniently located tourist information booth. He spend a solid 30 minutes chatting with the woman manning it. People in the South are chatty. So Ashley, Leo and I got out and stretched our legs. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to snap a few shots.
Pretty sure this church probably made out of tinfoil. Whenever I see that material in siding it always looks fragile to me for some reason.
The Chilean flag always makes me feel patriotic. Wait, except I’m not a patriot of Chile.
The town seemed fairly deserted. There weren’t many people walking around on the streets, even during the middle of a beautiful summer day.
I loved the colors. The blue sky, the bright roofs. The South of Chile always reenergizes me.
But after a quick stop for gas it was time for us to leave Puerto Octay behind and move on!
January 3, 2012
While we were in Frutillar we decided to head down to check out the little town of Puerto Varas. It’s a bustling metropolis compared to Frutillar’s two main streets. Puerto Varas has a population of almost 40,000 people, according to Wikipedia, and the best Italian restaurant in all of Chile, according to Seba.
Ashley, Leo, Seba and I, had gotten our hopes up when we heard a little birdie speak of a magical place called PASTAGONIA.
Though it turned out Pastagonia was not actually in Puerto Varas. Thus, we made due with our second choice — a delish pizza and pasta joint called Something Something Blah Blah Alessandri. Loved it.
We ate our fill and then headed out to explore.
Ok, I was wrong on the name. Da Alessandra Pizza and Pasta. Something Something Alessandri is close enough, right?
One thing I like about this devilish Ambirge character, is that she’s not afraid to have a few glasses of champagne with me…even during the early afternoon 
The food was divine. We left absolutely stuffed. Seba had to roll me out.
While we walked along the beach, we saw the most miraculous thing — a dog training for a triathlon. Sadly, I don’t have any photos because we were all so in awe of this furry beast that I forgot to snap any.
When we first saw him I actually called out to Seba in panic, “Seba, that dog is committing suicide!” I wanted to go in and save him. He looked like he was headed straight out for the middle of the lake.
But then he turned. And began to swim parallel to the shore. And he kept going. And going. And going. And never stopped. We probably walked at least a half a mile parallel to him on the shore…and we were all power walking to keep up with him. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen a dog swim for exercise. Maybe he ate too much over the holidays. Or just really likes to swim. Either way, it was entertaining.
I like these people swimming. Right by the “No Swimming” sign.
Ash is so pretty!
We had to take a few pictures of her doing her thing. You know, licking the fence, and the like.
The main plaza of Puerto Varas was decked out for the holidays. They had a bunch of trees decorated by different business. For the most part, the tree decoration wasn’t anything to write home about, but it did add to the festive atmosphere of the quaint little town.
I was amazed that I could get away with taking photos anywhere in Puerto Varas — nobody ever kicked us out of anywhere in the South. In Santiago I’m used to being chased and yelled at. I took this shot in the pharmacy just because I could.
I love the shingles that they use as house siding in the South of Chile. They make me nostalgic for Chiloe. I can’t wait to go back there one day.
Our stroll was ending as it started to get dark but we saw one more interesting sight along the water’s edge.
This Puerto Varas native was practicing his gymnastics skills on the beach. Actually it wasn’t gymnastics, he said it was some kind of separate sport.
He was amazing.
I asked if I could take some photos as he jumped over me. So I laid down and pointed my camera up to try to get him in the air, but every time he jumped I couldn’t control my automatic reflexes making me shy away and try and get out of the way. I made the poor guy jump over me about six times and I could NOT keep myself looking up at him and keep the camera pointed at him. I’m such a fraidy cat! But Leo took some WAY better pictures from up above so check out his travel blog and hopefully he’ll post them there soon.
December 25, 2011
Happy holidays to all! I hope you’re enjoying this time of year as much as I am. While I’m not one for religious celebrations, I do appreciate any good excuse to hang out with people I love dearly and tell them how much they mean to me.
I am a cheese MACHINE and I adore writing to my friends and family and getting a little sappy. So much so, that sometimes they write back in response to me pouring out my heart, “Kyle, were you drunk when you wrote this?”
No. No I was not. I just love you, get over it.
Speaking of people I love. Seba, of course, and Ashley Ambirge and Leo Druker. In July of this year I traveled with Ash and Leo to Paris to photography Claudia and Manu’s adorable city hall wedding and it was an all around amazing trip. So much so, in fact, that I gave them a permanent standing invitation to accompany us anytime, anywhere. You’d think I would’ve learned after the first time around, that they’d take me up on that offer! And I’m happy they did People who say yes to life make this world so much more fun.
So the four of us hopped on a few flights and met up down in Frutillar, in the South of Chile.
Our first day, we took our tiny rental car out to explore the area, over the river and through the woods…
I absolutely adore the South of Chile. It’s beautifully idyllic in the Frutillar region — we were told that the main exports from this part of Chile are agriculture and salmon so we passed by a lot of farms.
I believe it was Ash who said, “I wouldn’t mind being one of those cows.”
These ones certainly had some amazing views of one of the many volcanoes around these parts.
I thought it was absolutely hilarious that Ash was on vacation with three professional photographers and she followed us around taking pictures with the camera on her cell phone — not even a point and shoot, not even an iPhone camera!
Seriously, how gorgeous is this place? This is a view of Lago Llanquihue and I believe that’s the tiny town of Puerto Octay and Volcan Osorno that we’re overlooking here.
Going on a road trip with me is a NIGHTMARE. A. I have to go to the bathroom constantly — yet I continue to drink massive amounts of water. And B. I want to stop every second that I’m not already stopped to pee, to take pictures.
We drove by this little beach area and I asked Seba to pull over.
We would’ve been idiots not to take advantage of this little chunk of peace and quiet in this crazy world we live in. I felt serene looking out over the water. I never feel serene. I am the opposite of a serene person.
I’m sorry if your retinas were temporarily blinded by my white legs. They don’t see the sun too often and when they do, they wear SPF One Billion.
I’d like to draw your attention to Ash trying to jump the stream. It was a wide stream. With rocks on the other side.
This is what you get when you do something stupid on vacation with photographers Your major wipe out is not only recorded, but then blogged about — probably in multiple places, I’m assuming Leo will post about this as well.
Even though the water made my toes turn into icicles, I still stand by the fact that my way was the way to go.
Seba always looks mean in pictures, no matter where we are or what we’re doing — but I promise, he’s actually enjoying himself here, immensely!
This was our last stop as we made our way up closer to the giant volcano so we could take a ski lift up it to get as close to the top as we were going to get.
The views were already breathtaking and we still had several hundred feet to go!
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