We rented bikes today from the cabins that we are staying at. It is about $18 per day per bike. They have pretty decent bikes (15 speed mountain bikes in reasonable condition). We set out about 11am to ride all the way to the Petrohue and Lago Todos Los Santos... about 19 KM one way, with lunch in our backpacks.
We first rode to 'Salto Petrohue' (Petrohue Falls). We got off our bikes and paid $2 each to get into the park. There was a cruise ship in Puerto Montt today and so there were tons of visitors in big tour buses.
It was fun to wander through the people and try to guess what nationality they were... from skin color, clothes, and mannerisms. But really you can't tell any more. Chile has a lot of European heritage people (Germans and Croatians, we know for sure) besides the Spanish. And everyone has cross populated, so an Oriental-looking person could be from San Francisco, UK, or Japan. Plus everyone in the world is copying each other's fashions, so it is really hard to tell from clothes and hair anymore. You just have to wait til they open their mouth.
The ride to the falls was easy... all on nice paved roads, not too many cars, and not too hilly. Once we got beyond the falls though, the pavement ended, so we were riding on gravel/dirt road. It wasn't a lot of fun. Especially later in the afternoon (on Good Friday) when all the locals started zooming past to get to the lake.
But we finally made it out to the lake. It was a nice improved park, but they wanted about $5 for a picnic table, so we just ate our lunch in the parking lot.
The lake was beautiful. You could take a ride in a small tour boat on the lake for about $20, but we passed on that.
The ride home was a lot easier, as there was a gentle grade almost all the way back to Ensenada. We only had to ride up 2 small hills, and the rest was coasting downhill.
When we got back, sore butts and all, we were treated to the most spectacular sunset over the lake.
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