Petersontravels

Our last stop on the cruise was Puerto Montt, Chile.  One of our travel partners, Kenton, was able to get this beautiful shot of Mount Osorno as we arrived, one of the benefits of always waking up before dawn.  Pyscho!

We had a private tour set up with Trip Advisor that was excellent!  This tour takes you to several vantage points to view the gorgeous volcanoes of the region.  First up was this shot of Mount Osorno (8,701′) across Lake Llanquihue.  While still considered an active volcano, it hasn’t had any activity since 1869.  Interesting factoid, that was the year the transcontinental railroad was completed!  The lake here looked to be as large as Lake Tahoe!

As we headed east and closer to Mount Osorno we also got this excellent view of Mount Calbuco (6,611′).  Calbuco recently erupted back in 2015, so she’s up for some rock and roll!

We then explored a quite busy Vicente Peres Rosales National Park (say that 3 times fast) which has incredible views and rolling waterfalls with brilliant blue glacial waters.  The flat light didn’t do the setting justice!

More stunning views of Mount Osorno from the park.

There are some nice short hiking trails with viewpoints throughout the park.

Look at Tony in shorts on a chilly day.  Our guide took the photo, so not sure what happened to Julie!

We passed a couple of spots marked as “Areas of Contemplation”, so these two had to ham it up!

Yet another vantage point of Mount Calbuco.

One more photo of Mount Osorno as we got to our closest point to the most famous volcano of the region.

One of our last stops was walking along Lake Todos Los Santos, another huge lake in the region.

We were able to view one more volcano across the lake, Mount Tronador (11,453′).  This volcano is extinct and is a popular mountaineering destination.

We had some lunch at the excellent Las Buenas Brasas in the beautiful town of Puerto Varas, after which we did some shopping around town.  This little city even has a small beach on the lake.

Our guide dropped us off in a shopping district in Puerto Montt before heading back to our ship, as we needed to find a gift for Fletcher.  That was pretty much the only part of Puerto Montt we saw, but it appeared quite industrial, so if you visit here I’d definitely get out of the city!

The last day of the cruise was another “at sea” day, Valentines day no less!  We were all able to get a reservation at my favorite restaurant on the ship, Toscana.

The next morning we got up early, like pre-Kenton early, as we needed to get off the ship ASAP so we could catch a ride to the airport to make our flight to our last stop of the trip, Easter Island.  Thanks as always for reading!

 

 

 

Our next stop on our way up the Chilean coast was the city of Castro, which is situated on rather large Chiloe Island.  We had some beautiful skies as the sun rose while we were still en route to Castro.

There have been so many great photo opportunities on this cruise it’s been hard to keep track!

Once in Castro we had an excursion with Turismo Pangue, a local operator.   We originally were going to book via Viator but we worked out a deal by booking them direct and paying in US cash.  Our guide was Magdalena and she was excellent!!  Our first stop was the gorgeous Tocoihue waterfall.  There are two very short hikes to get the view from the top of the falls…

…and then the bottom of the falls.

We then ventured to a long boardwalk that leads to tiny Aucar Island, known as the Island of the Sailing Souls.  It was named by a local writer that compared it to a ship who’s dead sailors await to set sail.

It was surprisingly crowded, and it wasn’t even a weekend.

Here is a shot looking back from the island.  Yet another gorgeous day in Chile!

On the island is this gorgeous church which was unfortunately closed.

These buzzards were lurking on the cross of the church, which gave it a rather foreboding feeling, like a setting of a Stephen King story.

One last shot as we departed the island.

On the way to our next stop we ran into a little bit of traffic.

We then stopped at another church, this one the Church of Colo, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.  Note the buzzards on the cross.  WTF?

The interior is quite colorful, and the ceiling is said to mimic  the hull of a ship.

We’ve seen a lot of these small ship models hanging in the altar space of the churches in South America, a tribute to the local fisherman.

Guess what we visited next….another church!  This is the Church of Tenaun, yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  A total of 16 churches on Chiloe Island were declared World Heritage Sites in 2020.

Once again the ceiling is said to mimic the hull of a ship, a trend here on the island.

The final stop of the excursion was in the small town of Dalcahue, where we had plenty of time for lunch and a little bit of shopping.  Be cautioned, there isn’t a lot of English spoken here, but our guide helped us translate like a pro.  My first impression when we arrived was “they have their own version of Pier 39 here”.

The town has it’s own UNESCO World Heritage church, and best of all, no buzzards!  I will say I was unimpressed with the church interior, to the point I didn’t even take a photo.  This town needs to up their game!

We had the tour guide drop us off in downtown Castro, which was only a 10 minute walk back to the tender dock.  Just off the central square is our last church of the day, the UNESCO World Heritage Church of San Francisco.  Built in 1912 completely out of native wood with no nails and using only traditional carpentry techniques.

The wooden interior is stunning!

Coming up, we visit out last excursion port of the cruise, Puerto Montt, Chile, where instead of churches we see plenty of volcanoes!