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Published: June 22nd 2017
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Geo: -41.4725, -72.9395
Woke up to a view of Ponte Montt town from our balcony. We've anchored in a bay surrounded by low lying hills with lots of houses and shops and a snow topped mountain in the distance. There's a beach scattered with small fishing boats and a church on a hill with a huge crucifix. The water is like a mill pond. Can't hang about taking in the view as our tender to shore departs in an hour and we have to pick up our obligatory sticker from the excursions team which shows we've signed up for the Rainforest hike and Petrohue Waterfall visit. Quick breakfast and a green tea ( we've abandoned the breakfast tea which has no colour despite left to brew for 10 mins or more!) and then off to catch our boat - we know how sardines feel (tiny tender carrying 120 passengers) We showed our agricultural customs form which all Chilean ports require to confirm that we are not carrying fruit. The fine is huge for doing so. Caught the coach and travelled for 40 minutes through Porte Montt town up a steep hill. There was a mixture of housing; some flats, wooden shacks with
Volcano
Erupted March 2015 tin roofs, but mostly very ordinary family homes - there were a number of round or unique shaped buildings. We came to a large lake, essentially the Chileans Lake District and a big tourist region - through a very attractive town (Ponte Varas) on the banks of the lake which has a beach stretched all the way along the roadside. We stopped to take a photo of an active volcano (last erupted 300 years ago) which was snow capped and overlooked the lake, along with some alpaca's that were in a field nearby. We were to get very near the base of the volcano later in the day! Arrived at the 6km hike starting point - it was very hot (up in the high 20's) and the ground was loose ash which was like walking on sand. We walked up hill for a kilometre or more though trees which gave us shade - but once we got to the top of the tree line it was more exposed and we were bombarded by flies the size of marbles - we'd been warned about them, but they were relentless in their attack - they were attracted to dark colours - regrettably
Volcano
Erupted March 2015 We both wore navy!! The view from the clearing where lava had created a valley was spectacular - we were standing at the base of the volcano we'd photographed earlier and could see a second volcano that erupted unexpectedly last March. Having erupted for a few hours it has experienced no activity since. The walk was completed in two hours - a very annoying American lady complained about the heat, the ash, the flies, the coach aircon (or lack of it), the sandwich lunch, being tired (the Chinese man behind her commented that she couldn't be that tired as she still had the energy to complain!) Once the stragglers arrived we continued to the site of some rapids and a waterfall. Although the water was a striking blue, it was an unspectacular waterfall. Short drive back to port and the return bag check and tender ride. Safely back on board - had a welcome burger and fries snack followed by a much needed shower. Departure delayed by an hour due to a medical evacuation of a lady needing hospitalisation. We watched a female suprano, Colleen Williamson at the theatre followed by a movie, The Longest Ride on the rooftop terrace.
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Mum & Dad James
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Enjoying your blog. Look forward to next one.xx