A Tale of Two Puertos: Parte 2, Puerto Montt

February 9, 2019 Puerto Montt, Chile — Sometimes my ‘bus notes’ threaten to overwhelm me... these are from our 8-hour excursion on Saturday. Maybe I’ll let you figure them out for yourselves. There’s a backside as well.

This was a funny tour. We started in the down-at-the-heels port city of Puerto Montt (population 220,0000), founded in 1853 when the government promoted immigration from Germany...

But before I get too far upstream, here’s more background on Chile and some about the Puerto Montt area...

Of the 22 native tribes that were here when the Spanish arrived (plus one more, on Easter Island), there are descendants of only 5 tribes left. (Magellan put his pata on the soil in 1520; the conquistadores came down from Peru in 1535, in search of el dorado.)

Our guide said, ‘Many Chileans have less European blood than they would like to believe.’

Before independence in 1818, Chile was in the hands of just 7 European families, who owned vast tracts of land where cattle and sheep grazed. When Salvador Allende became president in 1970, he broke up the large family-owned land trusts and parceled out small farms to the people. This didn’t work: herds need vast expanses of grazing land without regard for who owns what land.

This region experiences the second-highest tides on the planet, after the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. From 8 to 24 feet in 6 hours. And climate change is causing flooding.

When the Germans arrived, they cut or burned most of the forests for wood to build and heat with and to clear the land for farming — including dairy, especially the German Holsteins they brought with them. The trees they cut were a type of sequoia and cousin to the California redwood. Since 1976 it is a protected species, and more are now being planted. Yet the people still prefer to heat and cook with wood, even though there is gas, because that’s what their ancestors have always done.

As in Puerto Chacabuco, aquaculture is big here. Chile is #2 in world salmon production after Norway. They also export canned mussels, especially to Galicia.

It rains at least 200 days a year, which leads to depression and bi-polar disorder. Illiteracy is low. Alcoholism is high. All this is according to our excellent guide, Gabriel. He was born in Santiago but after the massive earthquake there in 1985 moved to Puerto Montt, which he prefers. He was trained as a car mechanic — one who studied English, German and French in school. Not finding work as a mechanic, he used his excellent English to get into tourism. Chilean children start studying English at age 4, plus German (in this region) and Spanish. The Puerto Montt area has a German School, which costs twice what a non-German school costs in tuition. Some 64% used to say they were Catholic; in the last 3 or 4 years, due to what’s going on in the church, that number has plummeted to 16%.

In WWII, Argentina allied with the Axis. Hence, many Nazis took refuge there after the war. Chile allied with the Allies. Gabriel’s wife’s family was originally from Germany and they spoke German at home but, while she does cook German dishes, because of the war, she refused to learn German. Gabriel told us that Chile is a matriarchal society.

First stop was Petrohué Falls within the Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales. Besides beautiful scenery, the area has puma, foxes, rabbits and 117 bird species.

There were a few open-air shops within the parque, guarded by these attack chickens.

The Osorno volcano (below) is still active. Nearby Calbuco volcano erupted in 2015, causing locals to evacuate and stay away for three months while the 2.5 feet of ash was removed and the damage it caused was repaired. They’ve had 3 earthquakes and 3 volcanic eruptions between 2010 and 2015 — which has hurt tourism.

Chile’s second largest, Llanquihué Lake, was discovered in 1842 by a German explorer. He liked what he saw and asked the government if he could bring German settlers there. The government said if they cleared the land, they would be given land that they would own. The main immigration rush began in 1852 (Puerto Montt was founded the next year) and lasted until about 1867. The gov’t had assumed the immigrants would be Catholics: The first church I spotted was Baptist.

We walked around the German-influenced lakeside town of Puerto Varas... and on to Frutillar, where an annual music festival attracts performers and visitors from around the world. Nestlé is a big local employer and, from the sign, I guess they are also a festival sponsor.

Frutillar also boasts a cozy Museo Colonial Alemán (German) that shows how immigrants lived in the mid-1800’s. The building on the left is the mill; on the right, the blacksmith’s shop and home.