Puerto Montt - Rapids, Lakes and Volcanoes, Oh No!

Travel Quote:  "If we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet."  -- Anonymous


I first visited Puerto Montt waaaay back in 2003, while on my first South America cruise with my friend Jim.  On that first visit, he and I opted to go river rafting down the Petrohue River, and we had a blast!  

The second time I visited was in 2016, on my second South America cruise (and my first Antarctica visit).  A small group of us from my Cruise Critic group took a private tour out to the Petrohue River, along Lake Lanquihue and to the city of Puerto Varas.  That day was sunny and clear and warm and I remember it fondly.  

This time, I ended up doing the same tour.  If I remembered properly, I would not have done it again, although we had a really beautiful day and the weather was as sunny and clear as it was in 2016.  I could have done something different, but I didn't.  I took more pictures this time, but my post from 2016 probably has very similar pictures as this one does.  Oh well!

Puerto Montt is a port city that is located in Chile's Lake District, and is considered to be the gateway to the Andes.  The nearby city of Puerto Varas sits on the shore of Lake Llanquihue, it's size is larger than that of the entire city of Santiago.  It's a beautiful vacation spot and in the summer you can find many families and travelers camping and staying at lakeside inns and camping grounds.  The water is cold, though!  In the 50's, I'm told.  Alrighty then.  I saw many brave souls in that water as we were driving along the lake on our way to the Petrohue River rapids.

Puerto Montt is the area's commercial fishing hub, seeing as there are hundreds of salmon farms in the calm waters off the nearby coast.  Salmon is one of the country's top exports these days, lagging behind only those of copper and wine.

We started our day by tendering in to the port, while the ship sat out in the harbor at anchor.  We had an almost full day tour planned - first stop after a 90-minute drive out to the Petrohue River, past Lake Llanquihue.  The scenery is beautiful and the drive went quickly.  We had a great view of Osorno volcano (you'll see the pics below), as well as the other volcano, the "bad boy" Calbuco, which last erupted in 2015.

The rapids of the Petrohue are fun to see, especially against the backdrop of Osorno.

Later in the day, we then drove about an hour to the city of Puerto Varas, where we had time to have a lunch and a walk around the lakeshore, before heading back to town.  Before they dropped us at the port dock, we stopped in the city at a nice overlook of the city and the bay.

Another nice day!

Petrohue River

One of my favorite pictures of the day.  I captured this sailboat on Lake Llanquihue as it passed by Osorno.

City square in Puerto Varas.

Can you see Snort in the picture below??  He came along for the ride today.

City overlook

Puerto Varas has some interesting pieces of "street" art....

Below is a picture of when the big bad boy volcano called Calbuco erupted in April, 2015.  It happened in the morning and caught many people completely off guard, as the warning system just detected it when it erupted.  Can you imagine looking out the window of your home or office, or being in the car driving when this happened?  

Another view of Petrohue rapids

Stay tuned for more Pig Tales!