Chile Guide
The Lake District
Lago Todos Los Santos
The volcanic rock in the area was part of a tongue of lava sent this way by Volcán Osorno in 1850, an eruption that diverted the Petrohué River from its old course into Lago Llanquihue. As you drive alongside the river, areas of regenerating forest are clearly visible, and every Spring sections of the road are washed away when rain and snow-melt pour down the flanks of the volcano. At the end of the road lies LAGO TODOS LOS SANTOS, deep green and stunningly clear, one of the most beautiful in the Lake District – it's also known as Lago Esmeralda (Emerald Lake) because of the intense colour of its water. The lake and the forests that crowd its shores are protected by the Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales. On the other side of the lake is a road that leads to the Argentine border. This route was first used as a border crossing by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century, in their attempts to convert the Tehuelche Indians on the pampas. The lake's now a twisting, turning, flooded valley, with forested banks and a sense of isolation in the jagged, pine-forested hills.