I slept reasonably well but was woken around 03:00 by the man in the next room on his phone, I could even hear the woman on the other end of the line through the thin walls. We had a basic breakfast of scrambled egg, two small rolls and a small piece of torte and set off at 10:00. Initially our progress was slow, up and down steep hills and we didn’t feel too safe with articulated lorries on the narrow road. Soon the gradients eased and we were at Frutillar before noon. We passed Hospedaje Mitchell where we’d booked for the night, the neighbourhood of Frutillar Alto was rather scruffy, perhaps booking in advance was a mistake.
We carried on down a long steep hill into Frutillar Bajo by the lake, by which time we’d lost the sun and it was much cooler. We decided to have our main meal at midday and our sandwiches in the evening as all the dining options were in this part of town and the hill was a strong disincentive to returning later. We had a reasonable lunch of ravioli and vegetables and visited the Teatro del Lago which comprises the 1,178 capacity Espacio Volcán Tronador concert hall, an amphitheatre seating 270 and a range of other multipurpose salons and foyers, exhibition areas, rehearsal spaces, conference rooms and congress halls. There’s also an excellent café where I finally got a good coffee as well as cake. The Teatro del Lago was inaugurated on November 6 2010 after 12 years of works. Every year, between late January and early February, it hosts its main event, the biggest Chilean classical music festival, the Semanas Musicales de Frutillar.
The rain started again so we visited the museum of German settlers, it’s in a series of reconstructed buildings so we had to dash between them in the downpour. Luckily it ceased in time for our slog back up the hill to Frutillar Alto. Our kind hostess provided boiling water so we could make ourselves a drink.