Day 19 – Puerto Montt, Chile

---

We woke up this morning and found ourselves in Alaska! Temperature in the middle 50’s, a few snow-capped peaks of the Andes in the foggy distance, and a hard rain falling. Many of the people were going on long tours today, but we decided to take a pass on ours because of a potential lack of communication and the fact that once we leave Puerto Montt, the only way to find us is at sea or amongst the glaciers and fjords of Terre del Paine National Park, and that’s a hard find!



Puerto Montt is a beautiful city that we did not have enough time to hang around in and explore. Surrounded by pine trees and the smell of home fires for warmth remind of our home in Pollock Pines. It was great to smell that once again after two weeks in the tropics. We had a very short window of walking the city today because it is Christmas Eve, and on top of Siesta (lunch) from 1400 – 1500, all of the stores will just remain closed for the Holiday tomorrow, which is totally fine with us. In addition there are two other large cruise ships in port today, and given this is a “tender” port, the traffic has been crazy on the water and at the loading dock all day long. Take a look at the photos we shot in the downtown mall here. We are guessing this picture is taking place in Sacramento as well today. It is obvious that the further south we travel, the better the standard of living. Puerto Montt is a bustling city, with people running around in the rain carrying dozens of brightly wrapped Christmas gifts. People are very shy here, but if you take the first step to engage them, they are extremely friendly and approachable. Everyone is full of Christmas spirit here, and we were “Feliz Navidaded” everywhere we stopped. Fuel costa keep going up, and fuel here is about $7.50 per gallon.

Have not seen a final score for the Niner game, but when I lost interest it was like 21-0, so not expecting anything positive. It was after midnight when things got to that point, so shut off the T.V. and went to bed.

The entertainment tonight was interesting, with a marionettes show, followed by Lenny Windsor of Benny Hill fame. We saw his opener night-before-last, with children present, and it was MUCH tamer. For you older folks he reminded Steve a lot of Don Rickles.

---