(Puerto Varas, Chile)

After a couple of days in the Santiago area, we flew down to Puerto Montt, the “capital” of the Chilean lake district.  Our first stop was the market in the Angelmó district:  while originally a fish market, it has grown to include cheese, meat, vegetables, and various other edible sea products such as barnacles and seaweed.  Now that cruise ships occasionally call at Puerto Montt, it also has more tourist-oriented items such as wood carvings, ponchos, and wool gloves, socks and toques.

While Puerto Montt is one of the fastest-growing cities in South America, nature is still very prominent here.  We were entertained by sea lions in the harbour; we suspect that they were asking for food.  They seemed quite playful until one suddenly lunged forward and barked at us:  it was quite loud and we all took a few steps back from the shore. We also saw lots of pelicans:  if you haven’t seen one fly before, it is very odd to see an airborne bird with such a large beak.

From Puerto Montt, we drove to our home for the next two nights:  the resort town of Puerto Varas, on the shores of Lago Llanquihue (pronounced somewhat like “Yon-Kee-Way”).  This town has a rich German-speaking history that is reflected in the family names, the architecture, and the “Kuchen” (cakes) for sale everywhere.  Most of the original European settlers here were from Germany, Switzerland or Austria:  they were attracted here in the 1800s by offers of free land.  Our Spanish-speaking bus driver was named Helmut.

While the Andean lakeside setting is beautiful, Puerto Varas is probably best known for its (weather-permitting) stunning views of Volcán Osorno…the Osorno volcano that last erupted in 1869.  It is seen from the Puerto Varas harbour, in the photo at the top of this post.  I’ll be writing more about this volcano later!

For lunch, we went to a private home for a very typical dinner from this part of Chile:  curanto.  While it was originally cooked underground, it is now more frequently prepared in a large conventional pot.   It is a collection of many ingredients, most notably a huge amount of mussels and clams.  However, it also contains potato dumplings and regular (albeit colourful) potatoes.  While it also used to contain sea lion and seagull, these are now generally replaced by pork and chicken.

After taking so many photos of Volcán Osorno, it would be a shame not to pay it a closer visit.  Stay tuned for the details!