Fundo Los Guindos - a unique and stunning B&B

Our accommodation on the edge of Lake Llanquihue deserves a special mention.

Fundo Los Guindos is the magnificent ancestral home of Gloria Weisser, our host for two nights. Gloria spent 3 decades living in Switzerland before returning here 8 years ago. She speaks Spanish, German, and a little English so we got by. She is an accomplished artist, a lover of nature, and a superb cook. Gloria lives here alone with her 4 dogs, and 3 llamas, but her neighbours lend a hand with the management of the place.

The home is amazing, full of character, there is wood everywhere, and the rooms are big with high ceilings. We took one of the two large double bedrooms available in the main house. It had a beautiful sloping wooden floor and a vaulted ceiling. Gloria proudly told us we had the biggest bed in Chile and it was dwarfed by the size of the room. It was also extremely comfortable. We walked down the track to the lake and private beach and discovered a delightful cottage tucked away in the woods that Gloria occasionally lets out to guests. The dogs accompanied us on the walk there and back. The lake itself is enormous. You can barely see from one side to the other, and such is its influence, that the region has its own micro-climate. It never snows here, and the average winter temperature is 9 degrees.

Gloria treats her guests like family. Breakfasts were a treat. Freshly squeezed fruit juice, home baked bread, eggs, cheese, ham, homemade jams and honey, real coffee and a range of teas. We were treated to an aperitif of pisco sour each night. Dinner was cooked on the large wood burning range that also supplies heat to the house. The first night we enjoyed a green salad with avocado and ingredients from the garden, local beef with ratatouille and new potatoes also from the garden, and Panna Cotta served with physalis (cape gooseberry) freshly picked from the greenhouse. On the second night we were served a creamy tomato soup followed by chicken in a white wine sauce with mushrooms, mixed veg and tagliatelle. On both occasions Gloria joined us and we shared conversation and laughter over a bottle of excellent Chilean wine.