October 25-27, 2024 Patagonia’s National Parks – Cities of Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas

All trips begin with Tara occupying as much space as she can while we’re packing. She’s now at Camp Hermann, i.e., good friends of ours, 2 and 4 footed, who spoil her as she deserves to be spoiled.

Flight path:

San Francisco – Panama City – Santiago – Puerto Montt

Our luggage was misplaced but did arrive in Puerto Montt.  Note the extra tags on our bags.

Before boarding the ship, we went went on a short bus tour of Puerto Montt, a fishing center and Puerto Varas, our hotel location and a tourism center that reminded us of Switzerland, about a 30 minute drive away.  We subsequently found out that some woodworkers from Switzerland introduced the use of shingles on homes and it became a common practice. The hotel is situated on the shore of Lake Llanquihue with views of the Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes. Osorno is on the left and is known for looking like Mt. Fuji in Japan. Calbuco is on the right and last erupted, without warning, in 2015.

View from our hotel:

Spring has sprung here: rhododendrons, lilac, gorse, buttercups, fruit trees and endless green – something like 200 inches of rain a year.  The weather gods are smiling – no rain yet. The roses will take another week or so to bloom.

Our hotel is the brown building on the right.

A typical house in Puerto Varas

In Puerto Montt we took pictures of the vegetables, the sea lions, the vultures, the swans and the dogs at the (primarily fish) market.

A restaurant in the area:

This is an algae that’s used in cooking and given to babies when they’re teething.

Back at the hotel, a lovely server at the welcome reception – notice her name badge. She kept bringing us wonderful appetizers.

View from the ship just before leaving:

A small representation of the locals who had gathered to take pictures of us when we sailed away while we took pictures of them.

Sunset taken from the ship – we’re ready to go!