Puerto Varas was founded in 1854 as a lake port and outlet for the district's products to Puerto Montt. It is a thriving, beautiful, well-kept city with roses on the streets and a privileged view across lake Llanquihue towards Osorno volcano. A tour through the streets with its historic buildings made around the turn of the century and rosebushes is already rewarding. The parish church was built by German immigrants in 1917. A climb up to the look-out and park on Cerro Phlippi will give you a superb view of the city, the lake the volcanoes Osorno and Cal uco and surrounds.

The construction of the Carretera Austral was started in the seventies and was intended to connect the southern part of Chile by land with the rest of the country. This objective was conceived in 1988. Now the Carretera Austral, over all its length, allows to get to almost untouched and overwhelmingly beautiful places dominated by lush vegetation. The first section from Puerto Montt to Caleta la Arena is asphalted and opens path to the shady and always damp National Park Alerce Andino where you can see thousands of years old trees of the redwood species Alerce (Fitzroya Cupressoides). At Caleta la Arena cross by ferry to Caleta Puelche. Following the dusty single track to the south you pass by beautiful landscapes and get to Río Negro / Hornopirén where the homonymous national park waits for your visit. In all costal villages you can try and by different types of fresh seafood fished in the nearby sea.

During the centuries the formal archetype remained the same, but nowadays it perishes and many of the new chapels have just a few or any of the initial elements. This archetype consisted of two main elements: the explanade or the outer court and the church. In the middle of the XIXth century the cementery was added, which did not have a definite position towards the rest of the elements. Furthermore, the "Casemita" or the house of the hermit made for the respective missionary was added which does not have a definite position, either.

In the area of Puerto Montt prevail beautiful forests of the valdivian type. In this section you can find a description of this ecosystem copied from Flora Silvestre de Chile - zona araucana, fourth edition (1997), published by the editorial Fundación Claudio Gay:

Chile's lushest ecosystem is the valdivian forest, rich in biodiversity, very dense and with its' different strata well developed. The western winds from the cost deliver abundant rainfalls which, together with the moderated costal climat, allows the trees to grow very high (50 to 60 meters of height). The trees are evergreen and mostly form pure groups or areas of just one species. The principal species are the following: roble, coigüe, lenga olivillo manío, laurel and tineo.

The medium stratum is composed by secondary specimen of trees and bushes which include notro, chin-chin, quila, chilca and otros. The lower stratum is composed by abundant farns, mosses and herbal plants. The most frequent farn species are: Lophosoria quadripinnata, Blechmum chilense e Hymenophyllum spp.; and the typical herbal plants of open sites Loasa acanthifolia, Phytolacca bogotensis, Viola capillaris, Oxalis valdiviensis, etc.), parasites and bromeliaceas underline the lush look of the forest. Where the forest has been removed for extensive cattle farming you can find many native and exotic herbal plants.