It was a two way road, very nicely blacktopped, somewhat bumpy in patches (volcanic rocks underneath) and pretty much uncrowded.  We saw a very nicely painted wooden church on the way.  There were plenty of resorts all along the way - mostly for vacationing families and sports fishermen.  Fishing lodges were especially fancy closer to where the Rio Pescado ran into the lake.  Coming to the `lake area´ in summer is the thing to do and the season is to start after the new year.  There were also many German restaurants on the way.  Very frequently we saw signs for ´Kuchen´ with an arrow pointing at the restaurant on the side street.  There were signs for where they were selling fruits and preserves as well.  The sky was a little overcast and the big mountain on the left side (volcan osorno) was mostly covered at the top.  We saw some smaller peaks with snow on top.  After about an hour´s drive, and passing uneventfully through the small town of Ensenada we stopped in the white water area of the river Petrohue.  There was an admission charge to the `saltos de petrohue´ $1000 per person. Very reasonable for the well maintained overlooks and walks.  There were a bus load of English speaking senior citizen tourists and many in small groups who have come in private cars and minivan type tourist taxis.  We went on the walks and enjoyed the sound of the water and the scenery very much.   Some of the walks are longer and the trails were well maintained with wooden steps in various places.  A good place to hike and picnic.  The sun was out now, but the top of Osorno was still covered with clouds.  The mountain was perfectly Fuji-shaped and we can guess that the snow cover must be on about half of the mountain.  After about an hour, we went back to the car and ate a picnic meal of Ensenada, cookies and water.   Throughout this outing, the temperature must have been in the pleasant high teens (°C).
 
 

Kuchën at Petrohue
     Then we continued on eastward on the  same road.  Just beyond the tourist spot of the `Saltos de Petrohue´ the road got rougher, no longer a blacktop but just gravel.  In one or two spots it looked like the white water , that was to the right of the car the rest of the way, may have shifted course and washed the road off.  After about 30 minutes of driving at 25 to 30 kmph we got to the town (it had a hotel, a boat pier and a post office ! ) of Petrohue.  The road simply ended in a large corral for buses and cars at the pier on the lake `Todos los santos`.  The pier had severl small and colourful boats with pilots seeking sightseers to come on board.  There were only about six or so drifters including us.  There was also a very large docking area with a wide wooden drive for vehicles.  Lonely planet guide said that this lake goes close to the border so that people can disembark , drive over and get on another boat to Bariloche, the Argentinian `swiss`type resort area. 

     After generally messing about the pier, poking a bit in the gift shop (embroidery by the natives as well as german immigrants in the form of bags, hats, doilies etc.) we went to Hotel Petrohue for tea.  This hotel is a huge Chalet ? but for the spanish signs about it could have been in Germany or Switzerland.  They served (of course ) Küchen.  The Kuchen was also extremely well presented on its plate.  It turned out to be a layered, pie like dessert with a very rich brown sugar crust on top and a thick (less sweet) floury base.   The hotel seems to be a ski-lodge and a eco-tourism center.  An outhouse we can see through a window in the restaurant had several large whitewater rafts hung on the walls.  There was a horse corral on the back.  There was a large group of diners in one table and a few other couples having tea.  We later learned that oncé is teatime that comes around between 2 and 3 pm. 

    After our once we went on the return drive.  At the town of Ensenada we decided to take the southern detour and go along the river and see where it leads.  Accoring to the guidebook there were hot springs in the area.  We found many, but most of them looked primitive.   When we finally reached what looked like the estuary of the Petrohue river, the road turned into gravel of very large size and we decided to take some photos and turn back.  While taking some photos we saw  a woman with two teenage boys on the road approaching us.  We waited and after some conversation, found out they needed a ride to a crossing down the road about a couple of kilo meters.  We cleared the backseat and got them in the car.  They got off after about 5 minutes at a turning in the road.  There were minibuses on the road, but they did not seem to be frequent.  We drove back to Puerto Varas and got  back well before sundown.  The 3 pm kuchen was pretty filling, so we decided to take a hot shower and went back to the grocery store for some Enpanadas and fruits.  We came back, shared the sandwich and got to sleep.  None of the hotel rooms had television, but they had one in the common lounge close to the dining area.  We did not watch any TV until we got to the apartment in Santiago.