Germans in Chile?

Germans in Chile?

There are sixteen districts in Chile, numbered from north to south, 1-16, which are like our states.  We’ve traveled 600 miles south to #10, the Lake District, and what a difference!  Most noticeable is the change of weather to cold and rainy!  The bad news is it’s raining; the good news is there are lots of lakes and it’s very green.  They actually get 220 days a year of rain.  Two of of three days it rains and this is one of those days.  So we will be freezing for the next day since most of our luggage is sleeveless shirts, sandals, and shorts.

Puerto Varas

Our new city of Puerto Varas was founded in 1850 when 300,000 Germans immigrated here and set up the city.  They still have two German schools here.  That may go a long way to explaining why so many Chileans look European, as does this town, and why our tour guide’s name is Andreas, the same name as one of my good friends from Germany.

Wood siding and tin roofs

The town is made 95% of wood with tin or shingled roofs and hasn’t changed its style since the 1850s.

Church of the Heart of Jesus…all wood
Church of the heart of Jesus…also all wood

Their number one industry is farming salmon, producing more than 800,000 tons of salmon a year.  Number two is producing 65% of the country’s milk, and number three is tourism.

I have to say, it looks a lot like little German towns we saw when traveling through Germany.  It’s delightfully charming…we just wish the sun was out.

We will be seeing a lot more of the lakes tomorrow…starting at 6am!!

Guess what’s on the menu for dinner tonight?  What else but salmon!!

7 thoughts on “Germans in Chile?

  1. Monie,
    Check out a winery in Conception, a professor I knew in AZ (he taught Aerospace Engineering) has family in Conception that has a winery; their family name is Heinrich.

  2. Great pictures! Very interestng abot the German dwellers.
    Did you hear some people speaking in German or in Spanish with a German accent?

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Monie Thompson