Friday, 21 January 2011 – Puerto Montt

FRUIT OVERBOARD!

Today our CC Antarctic Bound group of 13 were on a tour organised by Paula and Glen with South Excursions. We were picked up at the tender dock and were driven in a very clean and comfortable minivan to Petrohue Falls. These falls are in the shadow of a volcano but there was a lot of cloud cover so we couldn’t actually see the volcano.



Petrohue Falls



The cloud in the background hides the volcano



These kids were 'offroad' but shows the need for good footwear.
This is a narrow concrete path


Two days ago when the Infinity stopped here there was absolutely torrential rain and the passengers were all drenched. Though overcast, we were all dry and able to take photos. The path out to the observation areas is over fairly rough ground, some parts are very smooth but uneven volcanic rock, and I was just about to comment to someone that you really needed good footwear to go out there when I turned and saw a local visitor in stilettos!

Back at Puerto Varas, the City of Roses, on the shores of the lake, we had lunch then visited the small local handicraft market and watched some children perform  local traditional dances.



Showing the German influence along the lakeshore





Detail of the spurs - similar to what the gauchos wear
but a cut-down version for the younger boys



Talk about a tough audience! Just because the clouds didn’t clear and give us a good view of the Osorno volcano, at lunch it was suggested that I be demoted from god to demi-god, from the good weather fairy to the tooth fairy. I tried to explain that I didn’t promise clear skies, only no rain but some people (Ken) weren’t very sympathetic! I’m thinking of hanging up my wings.

The last two days when we’ve gone ashore in Chile we have had to take with us a signed declaration that we are not taking any fruit, meat or other plant or animal products ashore. They are particularly concerned about fruit but I don’t know why. If we could have got our hands on any fruit the last few days it wouldn’t have made it off the ship (although there was a small supply of melon at breakfast today). This morning we had a cursory inspection of our bags at the dock but no-one asked to see our forms.

Returning by tender to the Veendam this afternoon, we saw a vessel going out to the ship stacked with produce boxes on the deck so some of us speculated what they could contain – vegetables, pineapple, cherries – our mouths were watering. Once on the ship I went straight to my cabin and put my watch on the bedside table, looking out the window as I did so. Imagine my horror then when I saw all these boxes floating away in the current. Somehow they had gone overboard!!!



Fruit overboard - taken through a less than spotless cabin window



It took about 10 minutes for the boat, now with the crew with life jackets on, to go out and try to fish them out of the ocean. Unfortunately they moved out of my view as the current pushed them away so I didn’t see what happened next.



Search and rescue!

At dinner we wondered if we would be served briny vegetables because with Chile’s view on plant life coming in, I’m sure they wouldn’t accept the produce back! We still didn’t have a lot of variety but now the dessert menu describes dishes as having ‘a colourful array of fruit’ or ‘a splash of berries’. Who writes this stuff? The ‘colourful array of fruit’ looked suspiciously like SPC’s Two Fruits with a little diced watermelon added.

PS Many thanks for your comments but unfortunately internet connection is too slow for me to do much more than just post and add some photos but I do read them all.