Puerto Montt, Chile

 

The tendering process started at 7:30 am or so at Puerto Montt, after we saw a beautiful rainbow over a near island. As we are only here until 5:00 pm, the majority of people on the ship wanted a tender off early in the morning. It took some time to board the 6 tender boats that each carried approximately 80 people at a time. The tender boats came off the Carnival Splendor and in an emergency can carry more people, then they carry for tenders. It was a rainy, overcast day and as we got on the tender, we knew that seeing the top of Osorno Volcano, (which has snow on top year round), was not going to happen today.

Once in the terminal our backbacks/bags were checked by Chilean government staff to ensure we were not carrying fruits or vegetables onto shore. They also sometimes have dogs checking the bags, but not this morning. Then onto the buses or vans for a tour. We were not far from the terminal entrance or from town.

A number of people went to Frutillar, a community settled by Germans and continues to have a strong German influence. Others went river rafting on the Petrohue river or horseback riding in the Lake District. Most of the ship, it seemed went to tour the Lakes District, Puerto Varas, Lake Llanquihue (South America's third largest lake), the Petrohue River falls, and to try to get a glimpse of snow capped Osorno Volcano.

We had a number of SASA tours that showed the Lake District, and Petrohue Falls. It takes about 1.5 hours to get to the Falls. We did not see the top of the Osorno Volcano, as it was clouded over. Our guide informed us that Puerto Varas is known as the city of roses. It has been around for approximately 150 years and is a tourist mecca for skiing in winter and lake sports in summer. It was great to see and walk around (wearing raingear), and we saw a lot of stores selling skiing equipment/hiking equipment, nevermind the tourist treasure type items.

Puerto Montt has an open air market about 2 blocks long on one side of the street which offered every kind of alpacha item known to man, it seemed, as well as all the treasures that can be taken home as gifts for friends and family. (warning family and friends)

Tomorrow we will cruise down through the Chilean Fjords to the Darwin Channel.