Puerto Montt, Chile 1/24/2010

Arrived this morning at Puerto Montt. The m.v. Deutschland, a German passenger ship had arrived just before us, having left Valparaiso about an hour before us. Anyway, she grabbed the only berth here (isn’t that always the way with the Germans, they grab all the sun loungers and they grab the berth in ports too!! First come first served I guess. We anchored outside the port and the weather was quite windy with a nasty chop on the sea. The crew had quite a job getting the tenders organized and the platform from which the passengers embarked on them rigged. It took until about 10 a.m. until the first passengers on the tours got away. We waited until about 11.15 a.m. and then they let the ‘independents’ (those not going on organized tours go. The boat ride ashore was quite bumpy but without incident. We decided not to go on a trip with some others in a taxi to the volcano but just to wander around the town. The town was full of people, some from the Deutschland but many locals who, it seemed, had come in from the country side as it was Sunday. We reviewed the craft fair and ended up at the fish market which was very busy and colorful. As it was lunch time we then had a great seafood lunch in a very tiny little restaurant where you ordered the food and they went below to the market to buy the fish, brought it upstairs and cooked it in a miniscule kitchen. We had oysters, clams, mussels and a really wonderful piece of grilled wild salmon. We then wandered into the small town and Michele found what she believed to be the hotel she stayed at here 35 years ago!!!! It had been modernized since but she was almost sure it was the place. Then it was a cab ride back to the pier and into the tender for the trip out to Insignia. The weather which had started off rather unpromisingly perked up and we were able to spend some time around the swimming pool aided and abetted by some cold beer.
This evening there is a wine tasting and also many people are glued to some so-called football games which will decide who will play in the Stupid Bowl. Tonight we sail south again and tomorrow we will arrive in Port Chacabuco also in Chile.