Suzi Travels

Puerto Mott, Chile

Happy St Patrick’s Day

Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound, 655 miles to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spans an area of 646 sq miles, had 16 regions and has a population of about 300,000. It is a rugged, long, thin strip of land with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes mountains to the east. This area is known for their erratic weather.

Founded as late as 1853 during the German colonization of southern Chile, Puerto Montt soon outgrew older neighboring cities through its strategic position at the southern end of the Chilean Central Valley being a gateway city into the Chiloé Archipelago, the Llanquihue and Nahuel Huapi lakes and Western Patagonia. Many of today’s fundos (farms) are still owned by German descendants.

Puerto Montt has gained renown and grown significantly through the rise of Chile to become the second largest salmon producer of the world during the 2000s.

The other exports are copper and lithium. Ulmo meil (honey) is also special to this area.

The city itself is very walkable and a lot of mosaics and so welcoming.

A collection of lakes, woods and volcanoes create a stunning visual symphony. There are about 2500 volcanos, with 92 considered active. Osorno Volcano, a stratovolcano, can be seen from as far away as 20 miles south of Puerto Montt and from the town of Osorno, some 150 miles to the north. It stands 4,000 feet above sea level.

We took the somewhat bumpy road to Osorno Volcano, which is located in the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park, establish in 1926. This park was the 1st national park in Chile and established with the help of American President Teddy Roosevelt. At the parking area, we had some free time to enjoy the glorious panorama of lakes, snow-covered volcanoes and wooded valleys. The weather was perfect !!! (I haven’t been able to say that most of this voyage). We had spectacular views of Osorno, so lots of pictures.

Next to the wild Petrohué River Rapids — a wild splash of color and sound with a surprising air of serenity. They were breathtaking. I did nothing to enhance the color on the pictures.

Lastly, we stopped in Puerto Varas, the City of Roses, at Lake Llanquihue. We had lunch at the Wyndham Hotel. A beautiful restaurant with views of the lake. Lunch started off with Pisco Sours, pumpkin soup, followed by the best salmon (this from Patrick who only eats salmon occasionally). I had to agree with him, probably the freshest salmon I’ve had, including Alaska. The red wine was excellent. Dessert was a blueberry kuchen. After lunch we strolled through the town square and the Artisan’s village.

Our guide, Javier, is a descendent of one of the 10 indigenous tribes of Chile. There are about 1 million indigenous people left (out of 10 million population of Chile). Almost half of the indigenous are Mapuche, which is Javier. He is very proud of his heritage and his culture. He shared a great deal of information.