Puerto Montt, Chile

Puerto Montt, located, in the Lake District on the western coast of southern Chile is considered to be the capital of northern Patagonia province at least economically if not politically. The city was founded in 1853 after the government sponsored immigration brought Germans here to populate and develop this remote region.

We had hoped against hope last night for good weather today, but it was not a happy looking day at 7:30 am as the ship backed into its birth. Overcast and heavy rain as we made our way from the ship to the bus for our tour to Emerald Lake for a catamaran sightseeing cruise. On the way, we drove by Chile’s second largest lake, Lake Llanquihue, which the literature says, "is watched over by the snow-capped volcanos Osorno and Calbuco, creating one of Patagonia‘s most picturesque vistas". Because of the rain and fog we could see virtually nothing and got soaked getting on the boat. With about 150 people on board, we circled the lake for about a half an hour, saw little and got soaked again getting off the boat. Our next stop was at Petrohue Falls. On the 250 yard walk out, we got even more soaked. While the falls were not very high, they were certainly very powerful and picturesque as they carved their way through the volcanic rock.

Our next stop was at the village of Puerto Varas where we had quite a delightful lunch. On entering we were served Chile’s famous national drink the Pisco Sour. It was much sourer than the rendition we had in Peru. That was followed by wine and a fantastic lunch of poached salmon followed by a dessert of Kuchen which is a German cake but looks more like a pie. By the time we had finished lunch, it had stopped raining and was looking like it might clear up. We had some time to explore this pretty town and browse around some of the many craft and souvenir shops. Puerto Varas is known as the city of roses which Lee’s pictures will confirm. After a half hour drive, we got back to the ship.

Along the way we learned the following
-The area has an abundance of eucalyptus trees which they ship to Japan for making paper.
-The Panamanian highway which runs through this region is 17,000 km long and runs from Alaska to Chiloway Island in south Chile.
-75% of the country’s milk production comes from this region. The most common cows are Jersey and Holstein.
-This area, also known as region number 10, produces large amounts of berries. Blackberries, strawberries and black currents which are shipped to the United States and South Africa.
-Chile produces 220 different types of potatoes.
-Chile is the world’s second largest salmon farm producer next to Norway.
-Sheep farmers use Llamas to protect the sheep. The Llamas can whistle and thereby warn the sheep of predators.
-The reason that this area was so populated by Germans is that Chile needed more workers to do farming and at the same time Germans needed more work because the industrialization put them out of farming jobs in Germany. Some of the areas south of where we were had a large Croatian population for the same reason.

As we walked along the pier to the ship, we could hear loud and lively music. Almost all of the ship's crew were on the pier singing and dancing to greet us on our return. They also served us another pisco sour. The weather changed so unbelievably better in such a short period of time that we continued on to our room and sat out on the veranda in 26c temperature and watched the entertainment until the ship cleared port.

We had reservations at the Chef’s Table at 8:00pm. It was possibly one of the best meals we’ve had on board. The Chef‘s Table is a set menu but changes every three days, so you have no decisions to make except whether you want to go or not. It is essentially a three-course meal with two palate cleansers in between. The first one was a cold Amuse Bouche and the second course was a chili soft shell crab that was different but extremely delicious. The next refresher was called Red Lotus consisting of lychee, guava, cranberry juice and lychee liquor. The main course was Thai spiced, rack of lamb. The lamb was cooked to perfection and outrageously delicious. Near the end of our dinner since we were on the first deck level and beside the window, we could see that the waves were getting to be pretty significant and the ship was starting to rock ‘n’ roll a bit. We were afraid that might make for a bumpy evening but when we went up to our cabin it didn’t seem as rough.

Back down for the entertainment at 9:15 which was by a mezzo soprano who sang many upbeat songs as well as some opera. We were a bit late in arriving, so Lee got one of the last seats available and I ended up sitting on one of the steps in the aisle. On the way back to the cabin Lee wanted some hot water so we stopped at the main piano bar in the lobby and enjoyed some quiet time and a drink.Read more