Swiss Chalet?

cone under the moon

MichaelStephenWills

A user commented on a Chile Lake District post of mine asking for more photos of Germany. This is striking, because German traveler who visited have made note of parallels between this area and Europe. In this series I will share photography taken from the tour bus window as we traveled to the Lake District and returned to Puerto Montt. I used a handheld Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III SLR with the Canon lens EF 70-300 f 4-5.6LIS. This is the first post of this series. Click me for “Orsorno Volcano and Tourists,” the first post in that series.

Click any photograph for a larger view.

House on a Hill

Wood is a building material the German pioneers had in abundance. They went to work clearing the forests, tilling the land and building structures such as this, the steeply sloping roof to shed snow, gabled dormers for more living space on the top floor.

This has a tin roof, but many roofs are shingles made from magnificent Alerce trees. The government banned the export of Alerce wood in 1976. It is a slow growing tree, the fine grained wood is in demand. I believe the tall tree towering over the roof is a Monkey Puzzle, scientific name Araucaria araucana, an ancient evergreen, the national tree of Chile and one of the unique differences the early Germans came to recognize and love as their own South American identify.

I will have some great examples of shingled homes in a later post. The roof of this restaurant is Alerce shingles.

The Orsorno Volcano, somehow reminiscent of the Alps and very different. Here a half moon, high above and shining brightly on a summer evening, February 2016. These are some of the touches European travelers name “Chilean Swiss.”

20 thoughts on “Swiss Chalet?”

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  9. In South America there are many colonies. For Example, Finns have “Little Finland” in Penedo, Brazil. There You can take Sauna bath, dance old Finnish dances and maybe meet Santa. Of course, You can meet Santa even in summer at the Arctic Circle every day. Also, You can visit first Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s log cabin.

    Here:

    Reindeer rides and Santa

    Happy and safe travels!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Hello Michael.

    It is no ha ha, it is true. My habit is not to tell lies, but the true. Because You do not know Finns, You do not have any idea how we cherish our traditions. Most known is our Sauna! We have many kinds of Saunas and one of the most awesome tradition is once in a year gathering of mobile Saunas. I have made two post about this happening and here is the first:

    Holy smoke – Gathering of mobile Saunas

    Another tradition is washing carpets in the sea or in the lake:

    Traditional carpet washing

    Another is once in the year to air national dresses. Do You have this tradition?:

    Airing national costumes1

    In this post I have told about Penedo and I have left links at the end of the post. I visited there twice in the 70s. At those days there were no digital cameras, I do not have any digital photos.

    At both times I went to Sauna, Finnish Sauna. After bathing it was a great joy to swim in a pool in the tropics. Most known thing there in addition is the Club. There held dances, old Finnish traditional dances. It is a great joy to see how Brazilians dance Polkka, Jenkka etc.

    This link tells simply about Penedo:

    https://www.visitbrasil.com/attractions/casa-do-papai-noel-de-penedo-santas-house-of-penedo.html

    This link is in Portuguese, shows photo of Santa:

    http://aquiacontece.com.br/noticia/penedo/26/12/2010/papai-noel-da-penedo-fm-realiza-sonhos-durante-o-natal/24855

    More photos of Santa:

    https://www.guiaviagensbrasil.com/galerias/rj/fotos-da-casa-do-papai-noel-em-penedo/

    https://www.guiaviagensbrasil.com/galerias/rj/fotos-da-casa-do-papai-noel-em-penedo/Imagem%20da%20sala%20do%20Papai%20Noel%20em%20Penedo-Rio-de-Janeiro/

    So, Santa lives in Brazil and of course at the Arctic Circle.

    If You cannot visit Finland, then visit Penedo! Go for dancing, Sauna and have a photo with Santa.

    Happy and safe travels!
    Matti

    Liked by 1 person

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