2025_26 Oosterdam, Puerto Montt, Chile...

Another early morning for some sail in photos before taking the first tender to the pier. We hired a taxi driver, made our arrangements as where we would like to go and negotiated the price.  Our first stop was to be the Puerto Montt’s Angelmo Fish and Craft Market…the driver waved this stop off being a Saturday and the congestion at the market.  Leaving Puerto Montt, we headed to Fruitillar along Lake Llanquihue with the Orsono Volcano in the background.  The weather was bright and sunny for our drive to Frutillar.  Frutillar is situated on the shores of Lake Llanquihue and is characterized by its German colonial heritage, reflected in its architecture and traditions. This town’s key attractions include the Lake Theater and views of the snow-capped Osorno Volcano.  We did a quick walk around the beautiful theatre, stopped at the bakery and walked alongside the clear waters of Lake Llanquihue.  Following the Lake route we arrived at the charming town of Puerto Varas, also known for its German heritage, stunning natural scenery, and adventure tourism.  Puerto Varas is also known as the City of Roses that features a unique blend of European-style architecture and Patagonian landscape.  As we walked around the town, we saw why it had this name. We walked along Lake Llanquihue with the glaciers of Osorno Volcano in the background, around the town square and back to the car.  That was it for our tour…no waterfalls or market today and by the time we were back in Puerto Montt our negotiated 3-hour time frame was up.  This taxi driver took us literally for a ride, he scammed us by not living up to his tour routing …he had his own agenda.  Thankfully this does not happen to us very often…in our world travels, the majority of people are honest!   On our future visits we will look at other alternatives for visiting this area.  In closing, this beautiful lush region of Chile is an opposite contrast to the semi-arid areas of Coquimbo and Santiago.  All in all, we had a very scenic day with great views of the surrounding landscapes.  The icing on the cake, was the spectacular views of Orsono and Calbuco volcanos on our sail away from Puerto Montt.