March 8 Day 21
We managed to get out of our room by 4:45 am and our taxi was waiting properly for us. At the airport was had to pay for our checked bags but everything else went smoothly.
When we arrived Puerto Montt we immediately noticed that the temperature had gone from 25 degrees to 5. The transport into town was a shared taxi and traffic was pretty gummy but we got to the Holiday Inn Express where our fellow ferry passengers were gathering. We chatted with some of them and the vibe was good, very friendly people all up for the journey. We signed in, dropped off our backpacks and had 3 hours or so to explore Puerto Montt before we got our shuttle to the ferry.
I first heard about Puerto Montt from a travel article in the paper referring to it as a place where many backpackers reported being pickpocketed. The travel guide also mentioned escalated danger there as well as stating that the cathedral was one of the few attractive buildings in the city.
We walked around the busy commercial centre of the city and visited a gallery in the Diego Rivera arts centre. They had one room of landscapes and portraits but had a nice cafe with excellent orange juice and red current jam. We tried to find Meg rugged sandals but failed and settled for lunch at a cafe with okay food and nice beer. Our waitress had decent English and was Venezuelan, having escaped here with her family and managed to get a job.
Our shuttle took us to the ferry and we hauled our bags to our room. There were various levels of room, we had the second lowest with no window and a shared bathroom but a door to separate us from hallway foot traffic. We had 4 bunks so lots of space to spread out our stuff and the beds were surprisingly cosy.
We napped a bit after our early morning and then went up for the mandatory instruction session. We found out that there would be activities during the day as well as the basic safety instructions around fire and evacuation. The ferry had no alcohol of wifi and advertised itself as a digital cleanse. The literature also recommended that you bring that long book you've always meant to read along with you. The cafeteria was nice and the upstairs bar (mocktails and 0.5% beer) had cosy couches and picture windows.
There were many large outside decks with benches, a foosball table and a giant chess set. Everyone was very friendly and from talking with people we heard that the ship was only at half capacity (100 instead of 200 people) and the forecast was excellent. We were to have a less crowded and relatively smooth crossing and the crew seemed really friendly. We also got the information that school was in (March is their September) so high season was effectively over so places and activities were unlikely to be fully booked and deals could be had.
We didn't get going until 6 pm but the views in port were still wonderful in the bright sunlight. People were taking pictures, lounging, enjoying the view and reading their books in the sun. We watched as the ropes were cast off and a tug helped to push our ferry in the right direction. We also saw a sea lion surfacing and diving as it made its way into port.
The view of Puerto Montt as we were leaving was quite scenic as in the distance were a dormant volcano and a snow covered peak. Also we progressed the view became more regular with water and land in the distance and we retired inside.
We were almost constantly talking with our fellow passengers who were very well travelled and great sources of information. Dinner was tasty salmon with interesting but not tasty seaweed stuff. Water, coffee and tea were there 24 hours if we wanted it.
We had an evening talk about the route we would be taking. Our guide was still working on his English and many of his statements weren't really clear, it felt like is first time doing this. He did inform us of the scenic and tricky bit along our route, where to take nausea pills and where to look for whales. After the talk there was a movie that no one knew the name of but it was almost 10 and we had sleep to catch up on.
We managed to get out of our room by 4:45 am and our taxi was waiting properly for us. At the airport was had to pay for our checked bags but everything else went smoothly.
When we arrived Puerto Montt we immediately noticed that the temperature had gone from 25 degrees to 5. The transport into town was a shared taxi and traffic was pretty gummy but we got to the Holiday Inn Express where our fellow ferry passengers were gathering. We chatted with some of them and the vibe was good, very friendly people all up for the journey. We signed in, dropped off our backpacks and had 3 hours or so to explore Puerto Montt before we got our shuttle to the ferry.
I first heard about Puerto Montt from a travel article in the paper referring to it as a place where many backpackers reported being pickpocketed. The travel guide also mentioned escalated danger there as well as stating that the cathedral was one of the few attractive buildings in the city.
We walked around the busy commercial centre of the city and visited a gallery in the Diego Rivera arts centre. They had one room of landscapes and portraits but had a nice cafe with excellent orange juice and red current jam. We tried to find Meg rugged sandals but failed and settled for lunch at a cafe with okay food and nice beer. Our waitress had decent English and was Venezuelan, having escaped here with her family and managed to get a job.
Our shuttle took us to the ferry and we hauled our bags to our room. There were various levels of room, we had the second lowest with no window and a shared bathroom but a door to separate us from hallway foot traffic. We had 4 bunks so lots of space to spread out our stuff and the beds were surprisingly cosy.
We napped a bit after our early morning and then went up for the mandatory instruction session. We found out that there would be activities during the day as well as the basic safety instructions around fire and evacuation. The ferry had no alcohol of wifi and advertised itself as a digital cleanse. The literature also recommended that you bring that long book you've always meant to read along with you. The cafeteria was nice and the upstairs bar (mocktails and 0.5% beer) had cosy couches and picture windows.
There were many large outside decks with benches, a foosball table and a giant chess set. Everyone was very friendly and from talking with people we heard that the ship was only at half capacity (100 instead of 200 people) and the forecast was excellent. We were to have a less crowded and relatively smooth crossing and the crew seemed really friendly. We also got the information that school was in (March is their September) so high season was effectively over so places and activities were unlikely to be fully booked and deals could be had.
We didn't get going until 6 pm but the views in port were still wonderful in the bright sunlight. People were taking pictures, lounging, enjoying the view and reading their books in the sun. We watched as the ropes were cast off and a tug helped to push our ferry in the right direction. We also saw a sea lion surfacing and diving as it made its way into port.
The view of Puerto Montt as we were leaving was quite scenic as in the distance were a dormant volcano and a snow covered peak. Also we progressed the view became more regular with water and land in the distance and we retired inside.
We were almost constantly talking with our fellow passengers who were very well travelled and great sources of information. Dinner was tasty salmon with interesting but not tasty seaweed stuff. Water, coffee and tea were there 24 hours if we wanted it.
We had an evening talk about the route we would be taking. Our guide was still working on his English and many of his statements weren't really clear, it felt like is first time doing this. He did inform us of the scenic and tricky bit along our route, where to take nausea pills and where to look for whales. After the talk there was a movie that no one knew the name of but it was almost 10 and we had sleep to catch up on.
 |
| The tugboat captain does some squeegeeing while waiting to help us. |
 |
| Sunset from the ferry. |
No comments:
Post a Comment