Southern Chile

Sunday, March 12

Up at 5:15 AM, bags out at 5:30, and we left the hotel at 6:15 to go to the airport, where we found a very Latin, very tumultuous scene at the domestic terminal.  But ultimately we checked in and flew to Puerto Montt, on the coast of southern Chile.  We are in the Lake District, a part of Chile with spectacular Andes scenery backing up many large freshwater lakes, very close to the sea.  There’s a heavy German presence here dating back to the 19^th century when immigrants were needed and many Germans came and settled.  We had lunch at a restaurant named Kiel, which has a sign saying “Willkommen.”  The schnitzel was very good!

We drove along the coast and were able to see the extensive salmon farms which are a major industry here:

 We then explored the very large market which has many stalls selling fish as well as other edibles.  There was local fresh cheese:

 Crabs:

This man was packing sea urchins:

And there were many markets selling all kinds of fish and cephalopods:

We saw yummy sea lettuce cakes:

The back of the market looked out on a small part of the harbor, where a whole family of sea lions waited for the scraps which were thrown into the water here:

Finally we drove a short distance to Puerto Varas on the shores of Lake Llanquihue, one of the largest lakes in South America, and checked into our hotel.  Here is the view from our room:

The weather is distinctly cool, with highs in the low 60’s and lots of clouds.  We were told a full week of torrential rain stopped yesterday, and we can see the puddles which testify to it.  But the forecast is good for tomorrow when we’ll cross three lakes as we enter Argentina and end the day at Bariloche in the “Switzerland of South America.”