Day 27 Feb 8 – Puerto Montt, Chile

Puerto Montt is the capital of Chilean Region X (Los Lagos) and was founded by German colonists in 1853. It is one of southern Chile's most important cities. It features middle-European architecture, with shingles, high-pitched roofs and ornate balconies. The redwood cathedral (Iglesia de los Jesuitas) on the city's plaza is the city's oldest building. Puerto Montt is the transport hub and access point to the southern Lake District, the nearby island of Chiloé and Chilean Patagonia.

The city is at the southern end of the 29,800 miles long Pan American highway, which starts off up in Alaska. Puerto Montt is not only the end of the road, but the beginning of the fabled land of fjords, canals, islands, snow-capped volcanoes, fertile agricultural fields, green forested hills and the enchantment of Southern Chile. The famed dirt road called Carratera Austral begins here on its rough route south through Patagonia.

Originally the site was covered by a thick forest and was called Melipulli, meaning Four Hills in Mapudungun. It was selected as an entrance to Lake Llanquihue when its proximity to the open sea was discovered. In the summer of 1851, an expedition arrived from Chiloé to begin the clearing of the area and the building of houses for the new inhabitants. The city itself was founded on February 12, 1853, after government-sponsored immigration from Germany that began in 1848 populated the region and integrated it politically to the rest of the country. It was named after Manuel Montt, President of Chile between 1851 and 1861, who set in motion the German immigration.

On March 4, 1969, approximately 90 landless squatters decided to settle on otherwise unoccupied farmland belonging to an absentee landlord. The squatters received advice from Socialist member of parliament Luis Espinoza. The local Police Chief reassured the squatters that they would not be disturbed and could proceed with their home construction. However, new orders received from the Ministry of the Interior the following day led to a change of plans.

At midnight on March 9, Espinoza was charged with breaking the law and arrested. At dawn, 250 policemen launched an assault on the squatters, following direct orders from the Interior Minister. The final result was that all newly-built homes were burned to the ground and 11 squatters were shot dead.

The massacre of Puerto Montt and the public outcry that followed were major factors contributing to the fall of Eduardo Frei's government, which was succeeded by the left wing Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular Party in the next year's elections.

The city, with a population of 185,000, has an economy now based upon agriculture, forestry, fishing and salmon aquaculture in the surrounding islands and fjords. It is the fastest-growing city in southern Chile, mainly because of the explosive growth of salmon culture. Puerto Montt is also the gateway to Chiloé Island and the many other smaller islands in Chile's inland sea.

I was awake very early probably because I had had an extended afternoon nap yesterday. This meant that not only was it still pitch black when I went on deck but nobody else was in sight. Thankfully the fresh coffee machine is available on board 24/7 so that was a big help. In the distance I could see the lights of what I thought must be our destination – Puerto Montt.

Within a few hours it was possible to see the landscape of the Puerto we had anchored at and witness the tenders from the ship being launched. There was no docking here just tender boats from the ship to the port area.

Today we were met at the dock gates by members of the Stein family (G & V Tours), husband and wife team Gail and Veronica with their daughter Annie, pictured in the photo, who was our guide for the day. They are organisers of tours round this beautiful region.

Again all business was conducted on the 'net after glowing references were provided by others.

Just prior to this, as we were leaving the port, I had a quick chat with Frank Buck-ingham who was standing there 'on duty' to advise passengers who might have any last minute questions about the town or its surrounding countryside. He looked and sounded the real English gentleman which of course he is!

We were joined from the ship for this privately arranged tour by Lorraine and husband Lee plus Lin and the two Canadian based couples led by those delightful sisters Rosalyn and Jennifer plus husbands George and Robin. In fact the same basic group that we had when we toured around Arica a week or so ago.

Once we all met up we travelled down the Pan-American Highway into the rich agri-cultural part of the region where there are many farms and ranches rearing a variety of livestock including Llamas and Emus. In fact later we visited a farm that reared both these animals plus sheep and this proved a wonderful photo opportunity for our party. We don't often get the opportunity of seeing these species of animals being reared together.

Our first stop was in the Bavarian-styled village of Frutillar. Here we saw one of the oldest German built house of the region that is now being preserved as part of a museum. It was well over 150 years old. The town overlooks the country's largest lake, Lake Llanquihue, with the near conical snow-capped Mount Osorno in the background.

Unfor-tunately the weather today was very overcast with low cloud and it was not yet possible to see the snow covered peak of the volcano mountain. It was also quite chilly with a strong cold wind blowing from the south.

Also on the lake we visited Puerto Varas, known as the city of the roses. This whole area was settled by people from Germany and is still very Germanic in nature today.

Our next stop was then on to a restaurant for lunch which over-looking the lake and Mount Osorno. Unfort-unately the weather didn't improve and the scenic countryside we thought we would enjoy was just not there for us to see. What a shame.

After this break we headed into the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park to see the Petrohue Falls and Rapids. This unique site is very close to the Andes mountain range and is renown as a peaceful and relaxing natural phenomena and today was crowded with many visitors.

Close by are the usual shops selling memorabilia and handicrafts of the region. It started to rain once we arrived and this coupled with the general dull 'wintry' type weather we were experiencing meant that the real beauty of the place was not fully appreciated by us today.

It was at this time we got our best view of the snow covered peak of Mount Osorno the volcanic mountain that had last erupted in 1960 causing much damage to the towns in the surrounding countyside.

Time was now not on our side, so we headed back to the port, a journey time of over an hour to pick-up a tender boat back to the Prinsendam. It was raining so we all missed-out on the opportunity to visit the many shops offering everything from wine, Pisco Sours to handicrafts that surround the port area.