Puerto Varas, Chile

The first ports call after the departure of the cruise ship from San Antonio is Puerto Montt. Puerto Montt is the gateway to a region called Patagonia, a region at the southern end of the South American continent comprising the southern territories of both Chile and Argentina.

Puerto Montt and the nearby area has significant Chileans of German descent. These people are the descendants of  Germans brought in under state-led immigration to populate and to develop this area in the mid-19th century.

We didn't spend much time in Puerto Montt but went straight to another nearby town, Puerto Varas which is 22 Km north.

Map captured from cruise ship TV.

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Puerto Varas is often being referred to as a German town in Chile. It is famed as a picturesque small city by the shore of Lake Llanhuique. Its beauty is amplified by the towering snow-capped active Osono Volcano at the far end of the lake and this has become the iconic scene of this town.

Unfortunately, it was a cloudy morning during our visit.
The faint profile of Osorno Volcano was hardly
noticeable through the frame .

Puerto Varas is a fusion of German and Chilean culture. The architecture is evident of the influence of its past German "colonization". Many buildings which are made of timber with shingles distinguish them as of German architecture.

Shingles commonly used for building construction.

We were fascinated by the street vendors selling an array of local fruits and smoked mussels and clams. The ladies in our group went cuckoo when confronted with such abundance of cheap (even converted to Malaysia Ringgit) strawberry, raspberry, grapes and other exotic fruits!

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Being in a region once dubbed a German "colony", it was no surprise that we were taken to the German Colonial Museum of Fruitillar before we returned to the cruise ship.

This 3-hectare museum site within the township of Frutillar is located to the west of Lake Llanhuique, a 30-min drive from Puerto Varas which is at the south of Lake Llanhuique.  The museum is more liked a mini park and is modeled to showcase the lives of early German settlers. This mini park has a Bell Tower, Water Mill (under renovation at the time of our visit), Country House, Workshop of the Blacksmith and a landscaped Garden. Items on display are collected from homes of early German settlers.

Display in the Country House.

A typical house in Frutillar.

We had expected to see Osorno Volcano from the western shore of Lake Llanhyuque. Again, the thick cloud prevented us to have a distinct view.

Typical Osorno viewed from the shore at Frutillar.

Courtesy of Cristian Alcazar C's photo..