Flight to Puerto Montt

Another red eye flight. Cons of booking low cost tickets was that we will have to fly at untimely hours. After this flight, we realized that it is unwise to book flights at odd hours. Our flight was at 5.30 am, we got ready at 3am. Since it was very early we had to take a cab to the airport because there was no public transportation. And the cab cost 25,000 CLP. And as usual, baggage cost an additional 18$.

We reached the airport, completed our formalities. By now, we have become a pro at checking in. After taking a couple of domestic flights, we realized that the airlines allow us to check in our bags at no extra cost if the bag weighs less than the weight we bought irrespective of the dimension. We dropped the bags, cleared security and got into our lounge. In Chile, we saw Salones Pacifica lounge in the majority of the airports. Once we had what we could have in the early morning, we got into the flight and slept off. Our flight duration was 90 minutes, we landed at the Puerto Montt, El Tepual airport at 7.30 am.

If we see the map, Puerto Montt is in the southern part of Chile. The place is famous for lakes and volcanoes. City is named after Manuel Montt, ex-President of Chile who tried to build the economy by bringing German colonization in the 18th century. It is also the gateway to the Andes in the north and Patagonia in the south. I always wonder how Chile’s land border was formed, because it stretches from far north to the south. A similar landscape is shared with Argentina. The part of the area in Argentina is called Bariloche.

Pacific Club Lounge

Good part is we could see our boarding gate from here

Our ride back to Airbnb

Our Airbnb check in time was 3pm. We requested an early check in though and the host asked me to come after 10am as the previous guest needed to vacate. We spent some time in the airport browsing through the internet with free airport WiFi. And then we booked a shuttle to the city center. It cost me 3000 CLP per person and I paid by card. Bus leaves based on the flight arrivals, for each flight there was a bus scheduled to take us to the city center. Since we didn’t take the bus corresponding to the flight we landed, we had to wait for the next flight to land so they could fill the seats. After waiting for an hour, we got into the bus and it was a 20 minute ride to the city center. As soon as we landed, we saw one of the bus stations with a jaw dropping view. With the Chilean flag flying high, lush blue water on the other side and the buildings on the other side of the road we thought it was worth the early morning flight. From the bus station, our Airbnb was a 15 minute walk. So we decided to walk only to realize that the 15 minute walk was uphill and it took almost 30 minutes with our bags

View from bus Station

Airport bus ticket counter

On reaching the Airbnb, we saw a lady waving at us checking whether we were looking for Airbnb. We said yes and she asked us to come in. Our room was ready, we dropped our bags and decided to take a look around the house. Until now, we stayed at only commercial properties. We never stayed with the host. This was the first time we were staying with the locals. They rented out their couple of rooms. They asked us to use their house as their own. Since we were damn tired after our red eye flight, we went into our cozy beds. As soon as we got into the quilt, all one could hear outside our room was snoring. We slept the entire day and got up at 6pm to have lunch.. na dinner.

View from the road where we stayed

Brown house was the Airbnb we stayed

In Chile, in February, the sun sets at 9pm. So we had ample sunlight, it looked as though it was 2pm when we stepped out. After Medellin, we again got back to our dilemma of what to eat. Meals were very expensive, the minimum we could eat for was 5,000 CLP with less vegetarian options. First, we went to “Lider” , a supermarket chain to buy basic groceries like milk, cereals for breakfast. Then we thought of buying pizza, but saw only dominos. We were trying to boycott as many US brands as possible because of their support to Israel on the Gaza issue. We decided to skip it and go for something local even though it was expensive. We saw a grocery store and they had dinner options as well. By the way, it wasn’t our first choice, the place we googled wasn’t open and we just walked into this store called “La bodeguita”.

We saw another travel couple seated next to us. There was only one old gentleman who was cooking and handling the customers, so he asked us to wait until he finished attending them. He walked in and asked us what we wanted. With my broken Spanish, I told him that we want something with no meat, chicken. I missed telling fish at the beginning and when he asked “pescado” (fish in Spanish) I said no. He gave a big “uff” sound and asked what we would eat then. I told him to keep lettuce, eggs and potato fries. With his expression, it looked like he understood his job and went to prepare our meal. After 10 minutes, he came back to us with an egg burger, he tossed in capsicums, eggs, tomato and onion and fried some potatoes (frozen one though). We gave a thumbs up to him and finished our meal. It cost us 7,000 CLP. While we were paying he asked us where we were from. When we told India, he told Hindu, Hindu. I told him No, we are Muslims but from India, didn’t think he understood it. He tapped my shoulder and waved us goodbye and closed the shutter of his shop. Looked like he had enough for the day 😅

Angelmo, Plaza de Armas - Tourist attractions in Puerto Mont

We went back to our airbnb and retired to bed. We woke up at 11am, this time a gentleman was there to greet us. He asked whether we needed coffee, and he poured it for us. Realizing he was the owner of Airbnb, he talked about Puerto Montt and started giving us recommendations to do day trips - volcan Osorno, Chiloé, Puerto Varas. He also told me it will cost 15,000 CLP per person and told me where the tour agencies will be. We were glad to have this conversation because the same tours online were 45,000 CLP. As suggested by our Airbnb host, we went to Angelmo which was the first place he told us to see within Puerto Montt. It was a market with some roadside shops. We wandered around and went into the first tour agency where we saw “Turisma Real”. We asked for volcan Osorno day trip and booked for the next day for 15,000 COP per person. After walking around further, we had our first empanada (cheese) in South America, and moved on to see some sea lions sunbathing at the far end of the road . It wasn’t like a big tourist spot, in fact none bothered about the sea lions.

Angelmo signboard/p>

Sea Lions sunbathing

Cheese Empanada

Roadside shop

Fish salad

Oysters read to buy and eat

After taking some photos, we came back to the main road. We waited for the bus to take us to the city Centre but we didn’t find anything. So we took a shared taxi. It is called collective and it has number boards on top of it to show the route number. They charged 1,000 CLP for the ride and we got down at the city center. From the city center, we walked into the mall to use the restroom. After that, we went to a nearby burger place called “Klassen burger” for lunch. It cost 5,000 CLP and then we walked around the city centre to see plaza de Armas, flea markets, and roadside performances. On the way we stopped at a bakery to have Roscas, a local delicacy.

Couple statue in the center area

Statue of German and local person

We walked back to our Airbnb, cooked our dinner. By now, we became a pro in exploring dishes with eggs and break. We cooked Shakshuka and had the local bread. Our Airbnb host also had a bakery (panaderia) so the breads were fresh. We served the bread with Shakshuka and wrapped our dinner. Everytime we saw our hosts, they tried to make sure we were okay and also gave us two bodyguards - Coco and Sophie. They were the cats in our Airbnb. Coco became my favorite, it played with us, and was with us throughout our stay.

Day trip : Volcán Osorno, Petrohue waterfalls and Lago Todos Los Santos

As soon as we decided to sleep, I got a WhatsApp message from the tour agency saying whether I booked for volcan Osorno or Chiloe. When I told Osorno, they told me they were fully booked and there was some miscommunication. After getting frustrated and telling them that I didn’t have any other option and leaving the next day out of puerto Montt, they confirmed the tour that I booked. All of this happened at 11pm and over WhatsApp

Being unsure of whether the tour was still on, we reached the pick up point at 9am. But we couldn’t find any vans close by, I tried calling the WhatsApp number but no answer. After moving around the bus station, we realized our pick up van was parked up front. It was a 12 seater van. When we tried to confirm our names, my name was completely misspelled, questioning whether it was me. Luckily, we were the only ones from India so guess it was us.

We were the last but one to arrive. As soon as we got in, they started the van. They moved around, but realized 3-4 vacant seats. However they went around in circles till the next set of people came. It looked like we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t find the van. We officially got started, and on our way. Our next stop was at Puerto Varas, a 30 minute rite, where we picked up a couple of other folks.

After one hour of riding, we stopped at La Poza. It was a small stream where we could go boating, however we didn’t opt like many others. We had a coffee meanwhile for 1,000 CLP, some snacks we bought at Lider supermarket and took some pictures. It looked beautiful in the early morning sunlight. Our tour guide completely spoke in Spanish and I asked the couple seated next to us to explain in English however they also didn’t know English. But with them, I practiced my Spanish skills. When they asked whether I can understand or talk in Spanish, I told them I could speak with simple Spanish words and also can understand if people speak slowly because it was hard for me to catch the accents. At the end of the conversation, they told me my Spanish is decent and I could manage with this. They also helped me break the sentence down in simple language, whenever the tour guide said something.

After a couple of hours of riding, we reached Volcan Osorno. This volcano is one of the biggest attractions, it was named after the town Osorno and was considered an active volcano, however there were no volcanic eruptions after 1869. We relished the Volcano at every angle and at every distance. Once we reached the Volcano, we could either take a cable car to go up closer or a short hike. We chose to hike. Based on my research, the view was somewhat similar so we decided to save 10$ entry fee. After a steep, slippery 30 minute hike we came back to the meeting point. By now, we were all hungry and stopped at a nearby restaurant.

Our tour group consisted of 12 of us. There was a couple from southeast Asia (I guess Korea), a couple seated next to us, a family with two kids and a grandma, and another two elderly couples. The family with the kids and an Asian couple decided to skip lunch or have it separately, the rest of us sat at one table. Each one of us placed their order, we tried asking for vegetarian options, all we could get was salad🥗. We ordered and then came the bread with a dip, we were not sure whether it was for the table or for the individuals. I decided to break the ice and ask them “Puedes Tomar”/ “Can I take it?”. And then they said “Si Si Por favor”

For the entire duration of the lunch, everyone was asking about India, about our culture, what I do, where I am from. When I told the elderly gentleman next to me that I was planning to travel for 4 months, he said “Mucho dinero” means “more money” in Spanish. I was glad that I could have this conversation. When my wife said she is a homemaker, they were pleasantly surprised to hear it. And then they themselves told each other and tried convincing that being homemaker is tough and more work.

Salad that we had

After a good lunch and a nice conversation, we started to our next destination on this tour, Petrohue waterfalls. We were given an hour to wander around. When we entered, we were supposed to pay an entry fee and the fee for foreigners was 2.5 times the local ones. Petrohue waterfall is located in a national park and we need to buy an entry ticket to the park to see the waterfalls. Since we befriended the entire gang now, the couple seated next to us offered to take the tickets for us without telling us we are foreigners helping us save 5,000 CLP. We paid them by cash once we crossed the ticket counter, and we started exploring the waterfalls

National park dates to ancient times during the ice age, and formed due to a mix of volcanic eruption from Volcano Osorno and the ice during the ice age. This river joins the lake Lago Todos Los Santos which was our next stop to visit.

Petrohue Waterfalls

After relishing the beauty of the waterfall, we moved to our final pit stop of this tour - Lago Todos Los Santos. When we reached, the tour guide asked everyone whether we wanted to go boating. At first, I did not understand, so I said no, thinking everyone would say no like our first stop at Lake Pozo. But it looked like everyone agreed to go boating. We were the only ones left out which I did not understand because the entire conversation happened in Spanish very fast. So I suddenly changed the decision and sheepishly told them that we were also joining. The boat had an upper and lower deck, since we were the last to go, everyone occupied the upper deck and we sat in the lower deck. But in 10 minutes, we moved to the front outside of the captain's cabin. The lake may appear green, blue or silver depending on the weather and we could see the turquoise blue since the weather was sunny. During our boat journey, a kid dropped her jacket, however before we could go to the area to pick it up, the jacket submerged. At the end of the boat journey, we paid 12,000 CLP to the captain in charge and got into our van to get back to Puerto Montt.

Final Touch with the local dance parade

The next two days, we decided to chill. We could have done another tour “Chiloe Lake”, but we wanted to keep it light. We walked to the center, spent some time soaking in the beauty of the coast, and watched some local performances. To our surprise, on the final evening, we saw a dance parade by different dance schools in Puerto Montt. We had a good time at our Airbnb, so we decided to cook an Indian dessert for our host. We tried cooking Carrot Halwa with limited ingredients, it did not taste as we expected but looked like our host enjoyed it. We never expected Puerto Montt to be an exciting destination, but it definitely surprised us.

The only regret we had in Puerto Montt was that there was neither mosques nor halal restaurants so we had to eat vegetarian food and do our prayer at our Airbnb.

Dance parade of different schools, looked like a tradition here