Week 6 Valparaiso and Puerto Montt, Chile

 After 7 days at sea, we arrived in Valparaiso, Chile. This city was established in the 1500s but has seen good times and bad. The bad times have seen the city shaken by strong earthquakes which occur about every 7 years.  Luckily, the last one was five years ago. It has faced attacks in numerous wars including a major battle during the American/British War of 1812. It was the capital of the nation and still has several major government buildings located there including the Congress Building and is the site of the Naval Command. In 2019, the city, along with the capital at Santiago, was the cite of political unrest. The results of that unrest is seen there in the shells of buildings burnt, graffiti everywhere, broken windows, and closed shops. None of this was helped by the impact of Covid19 causing the city to lose 4/5ths of its tourist income. The nation has risen to the challenge with almost 100% vaccination rates AND booster rates.  The businesses require weekly Covid PCR tests for their employees and testing is usually done on Saturdays for free all around the city. The tour guides were very proud of their city but are currently hesitant as the newly elected president is 36 and of the Communist Party. He officially takes office the first week of March. 

We were in port for 2 days so we did the Panoramic City Tour (included) and the Villa Victoria & Heritage Sites tour. The tours showed the two sides of Valparaiso-the poor inner city and the wealthier Vina del Mar. The city has over 40 hills each having its own name and at one time had over 50 funiculars shuttling residents from the base of the hills to the top. From the Plaza Sotomayor to the impressive Naval Headquarters visitors see the influence of German, Italian, Spanish, British, and other immigrants impacting architecture and food. The city has at least 3 major museums emphasizing art, culture, and history. 



Great number of murals but way too many
graffiti paintings on buildings. City is trying to correct this art/political form in the city.






Funicular to Historic Mansion now Art Museum








Easter Island Carvings


Our next city was Puerto Montt. The city was founded mostly by German immigrants and this can be seen in the architecture of the city and the number of German restaurants. We travelled to the "City of Roses", Puerto Varas 12 miles away. The city's major streets are lined with rose bushes at least 5' high and just loaded with blooming roses of various colors. They were awesome to see. This city is located on Emerald Lake (Lake Llanquihue) the second largest lake in Chile. Teddy Roosevelt said it "was the most beautiful lake" he ever saw. The view from the city is spectacular as across the lake are 3 major volcanos, one of which erupted about 15 years ago. We were bussed to the national forest and were able to view the major volcano, Mount Osorno, and the beautiful Petrohue Falls. The centuries old volcanic rock formations are amazing by themselves but add the volcanos, falls, blue sky, and sun, we had a perfect day.














Comments

  1. Jody EckFebruary 6, 2022 at 5:46 AM

    Wow, gorgeous shots of the scenic views! I am now going to go look up how a battle associated with our Civil War ended up in Chile! Got to be an interesting story!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jody EckFebruary 6, 2022 at 5:47 AM

    Oops, make that the War of 1812!

    ReplyDelete

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