It was pouring rain as we arrived in Puerto Montt this morning. The city was founded in 1853 by German settlers and is in the lush, green lake district of southern Chile. Our 7 hour tour today turned into 8 hours and was titled, "Osorno Volcano, Petrohue Falls, and Puerto Vargas". Our bus headed down the Panamerican Highway. The Panamerican Highway starts in Alaska and this is where it ends, of course the Chileans say it starts here and ends in Alaska. Our first stop was to view the Petrohue Falls. A small river running down the mountain has some interesting cascades (I would not call it falls) over volcanic rocks. Next we drove about half way up the 8700 feet high Osorno Volcano to what is a ski area during the winter months called, La Burbuja. All that was there was a cafeteria and few souvenirs. There was no snow and it was raining and blowing so hard that we did not leave the bus. We could not see the top of the volcano as it was in the clouds so it was mostly a waste of 2 hours. Our guide said it had been sunny and dry here for a month and that they needed the rain we were experiencing today. Not good for sightseeing and photos. I took a picture of a postcard so maybe you can see how beautiful it can be. Next back down the volcano and we stopped at Hotel Ensenada, old hotel filled with antiques, for a nice lunch. We were served empanadas, soup, grilled salmon with vegetables, apple strudel, and wine. After lunch we drove to Puerto Vargas which is a nice resort village on Lake Llanquihue. We shopped and walked around there so about an hour before returning to the ship. It is now 5pm and we are about to sail. What could have been a very beautiful day was spoiled by almost constant showers and clouds shrouding the mountain tops. Oh, well, we had been lucky weather-wise up until now. The Captain just said more rain is forecast for tomorrow. We will be arriving in Puerto Chacabuco tomorrow at 11am.
