Up early for quick breakfast & long taxi ride to airport. Check-out was like a scene from Fawlty Towers with the Manuel at the desk swiping the credit card several times & generally stuffing around trying to get the machine to work. His English was non-existent: I knew more Spanish than he knew English which is a first in South America so far. (Although the girl on the desk yesterday when we checked in was similar, she made a much more competent ‘fist of things’! And her assistance with regard to the sights around town were spot on because we had a great day here).
Punta Arenas is a very interesting place, especially when you consider the history including the ships that passed through this area. We were reminded of the famous expeditions we learned about at school such as the HMS Beagle captained by Robert FitzRoy (the name given to the mountain we tried hard to see in El Chaltén back on 10 November) and who was accompanied by Charles Darwin who famously chronicled this journey; also the navigator Magellan; and the many ship wrecks around Cape Horn.
So we have a 2-hour flight to Puerto Montt & then we transfer to Puerto Varas, 20 kms away.
Puerto Varas is located on the shore of the Llanquihue Lake, the third greatest natural lake of South America. It is known as “the city of the roses” and was founded by German settlers in the middle of the 19th century.
So we say goodbye to the far south now & go north up the Pacific coast to the area known as the Andean Lakes.
The flight took us over Torres del Paine with the 3 peaks of Las Torres shrouded in huge cloud formations like layers of cotton candy; the glaciers striated & streaked blue & white stretched out to the lakes beyond.
We had a maddening driver from the airport into Puerto Varas: he spent half the journey on his mobile phone. We were pleased to get in safely. We are at Casa Kalfu which is where Erika & Knud stayed, I think.
With half a day here, we opted for another day of wandering, starting with a nice coffee & lunch at a cafe at the end of the street, run by a girl from Seattle. We whiled away a nice time here relaxing & chatting to her about how she came to be in this part of the world. She is the same age as our Kathryn, has a 2-year old, met & married a Chilean who she met when on assignment in Shanghai (as you do). He is in the wine business so they have combined her pastry-making & marketing skills with his wine know-how in this business.
We walked on down into the main part of town along the promenade by the lake & marvelled at the Osorno Volcano completely clear of any cloud rising up (2652 m high) out of the lake 60 kms away.
It might be the city of roses but the rhododendrons are wonderful.
We checked our tickets were OK at the office for the cruise across the lakes in the morning - back into Argentina. Went to the supermarket for some lunch provisions for tomorrow. Was sent back from the check-out twice because I had to weigh the fruit & vegies & put price stickers on them (which was a challenge working out the Spanish names on the pricing scales). A few people (an employee & fellow shoppers) came by and assisted; and then again for the bread rolls. When I bought the cheese (queso) the man behind the counter insisted on counting out each slice in English much to the great mirth of his fellow workers. Hilarious!
Then we walked to the pretty parish church Sagrado Cirazón sanctified in 1872, then destroyed by fire & subsequently rebuilt in 1918.
On we went via some of the back blocks of town: some of the houses are pretty interesting & reflect the German influence.
We climbed up to the Parque Philippi high on a hill overlooking the town. It was pretty but somewhat neglected.
We found another way down making it a circuit & arrived at the far end of the port from where we had started after lunch with magnificent views of the volcano.
Stopped at a bar for a wine (first white one in South America for me - a nice sauvignon blanc - Chilean: Reserva Petirrojo DOC) & una cerverza for My Friend; you should know what this is by now - a beer.
We are having cheese & biscuits & an early night we hope.
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