7. Midsummer snow.

First of all, an apology for anyone who missed my Sunday posting, but yesterday proved to be a very busy day indeed.

Our port of call was Puerto Montt, a reasonably sized town and very much a working fishing port. The town was originally founded by settlers from Germany and retains a distinctly alpine feel in both architecture and culture. However our excursion took us a little further inland and to a large national park containing rivers, lakes, and volcanoes, along the way passing a small number of fields which were full of grazing llamas.

The first stop was Petrohue Falls, where the glacial mountain meltwater cascaded through deep gullies and carved weird and wonderful shapes through the lava flows. It was not quite as spectacular as some waterfalls we have seen, but certainly with the high, snow covered mountains and conifer forests in the background, worthy of a chocolate box cover.

We then journeyed onwards to the Mount Orsono volcano, currently classified as dormant, which is just as well seeing as it is a centre for all kinds of winter sports. We climbed up to around 4,000 feet, just at the point where the snow line lay. Unfortunately there was a small but persistent layer of cloud which covered the summit and it was impossible to gain a view of the crater although we are assured that it is well known for being one of the most perfectly shaped volcano cones. 

The views of the valley and lakes below from such a height were impressive, to say the least. It was definitely rather cold, but that did not deter from the throwing of snowballs and while we were up there we experinced a couple of light snow showers. Snow on the first day of summer....now that has to be a first!

Once descended from the mountain we drove on for a very late lunch. This proved to be a very tasty and alcoholic affair, starting with pesto sours, then local specialities of cheese pies, spicy vegetable soup, a generous portion of freshly poached salmon, kurchen (a kind of cake/crumble mix) for dessert and all washed down with a very agreeable Chilean white.

There was just time for a quick look around a craft market of one of the towns on the lakeside before having to return to the port and making the last but one tender back to the ship.

So there was just time to get out on deck and watch the sailaway before getting ready for early evening drinks and dinner, although having had a late lunch I was not up to the usual four courses.

Then to round off the day we went to the theatre to watch the late night performance of "The British are Coming", an energetic song and dance routine. This was highly enjoyable as all the songs were English 60's and 70's pop classics and (l'm showing my age now), I knew all the words!