land in sight

Day 16: Arrived in Puerto Montt at 8 am, anchored in the bay and awaited our call to depart by tender boats to shore. It was the same procedure as in Punta Arenas – coloured stickers, times etc. and as many people having signed up for various excursions on land too. This time we weren’t delayed by customs officials but by the sea!! There was a high swell and strong winds so that it was not safe for the tenders to take us ashore. So we waited – another 90 minutes before getting the all clear and go ahead. The 10 minute ride to the pier was still very wobbly, and I did not like it at all!!! Once on land we found our blue stickered bus #10 with guide Loreto and driver Oskar. Soon we made our way into the quite run down city of Puerto Montt (130000 pop) which is situated beautifully on hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean but has suffered economically. Most houses are in dire need of a coat of paint, there seems nothing flourishing, not even the gardens which were yellow and brown instead of the usual lush green because of a prolonged dry spell. After a sightseeing tour through Puerto Montt we drove inland towards the towns of Varas and Frutilla. Both are located on the biggest lake of Chile, Lake Llianquihue, surrounded by many snow-capped volcanoes of the Andes mountains. The most famous of them is the “Osorno”. Varas and Frutilla have a rich German history since many Germans immigrated to the area in the mid eighteen hundreds to make the dry undeveloped land arable. The Chilean government of the time sought out these German settlers and gave them each a parcel of land to plow. It took the Germans only about 10 years to develop the land and be able to raise their large families there. Today many hotels, cabanas, stores and restaurants still have German names, and in the famous café “Chocolate” in Frutilla you can buy real German “Kuchen” with Streusel on top…
Going back to the ship in early afternoon was a far smoother ride than the one in the morning. We ate lunch in the Lido and enjoyed a quiet afternoon in our cabin and walking the deck outside, taking many pictures of “volcano alley”. Dinner was superb again, and the nightly entertainment provided us with some great operatic music by the Italian composers sung by a tenor and soprano, accompanied by the HAL CATS and their great conductor and pianist Matthew. We enjoyed the music and a glass of wine after the show. At 11 pm we all congregated again in the showroom at sea to watch the “Indonesian Crew Show”. We were supposed to see this earlier during the cruise but it was cancelled then due to very stormy weather (think Cape Horn!!). Now we were dazzled by the various acts and costumes worn by the HAL staff who wanted to show off the traditions and customs of the Indonesian Islands. The theater was packed, and all had a GREAT time! Lots of fun and laughter!!!
Day 17: Our last full day at sea. We got the disembarkation instructions for tomorrow from Michael, the cruise director, after breakfast and are now all set to enjoy the last few hours on board. There will be a “Master Dinner” tonight (we can’t think of getting even better food than we had so far) and more entertainment. Unfortunately our suitcases will have to be packed tonight, and this is always the least fun part of any trip.
As of tomorrow morning we will be back on “terra firma” and later at our hotel where we hopefully are able to connect fast and easy via wireless internet to our blog and post these comments and many more pictures. See you then…