Peurto Varas and Peurto Montt

Visited a Friesian Dairy farm and cheese factory this morning. Really interesting operation and tidy farm. Originally established by German settlers in 1890, the owner has been there 30 years and is trying to preserve all the old buildings yet modernise practises etc. Tried a product they make called manjar which is like sweetened condensed milk caramel. Apparently most housewives would have made it years ago but now there is a market for it. Oh yum...

Lunch was near the lake - a form of Chileam hangi- sausage, potato, mussels, pipis and bacon bones. What a feast!!

These boats were by our bus pick up. They cart people and goods all over the lake like taxis. Look a bit over laden at times.

Fish markets in Peurto Montt - eels and hake. Not sure whose hand is in the fruit and vegetable pic. Bye for now. Off to cross the border into Argentina tomorrow. 😎

Osorno to Peurto Varas

Two farm visits today. The first was to Manuka Farms - a huge enterprise owned by New Zealand investors. 19000ha. Called Haciedna (ranch) Coihueco. Chris (kiwi who's been here 16 years) and Riccardo showed us a presentation and answered questions whilst showing us a couple of the 16 farms under production. It's a massive operation. Staff walk most places as they have destroyed vecihles and the mountain bike idea was a disaster too - lots of instant xmas presents for relatives.

The road was too narrow for bus and tractor...

Spit roast dinner. Very popular solution for one family and some better income than the farm. Use their own product. Now open all year round. The pork and mutton were perfect!!

Sheep milking unit. The llama and alpaca are with the flock to help deter Puma who enjoy a tasty sheep more often than desired by the farmer. Most milk made into tasty cheese. 

Our view from Hotel Bellavista over Lake Llanquihue. Staying a couple of nights in Peurto Varas. Lovely resort style town, geared for tourists. La Orsono ( volcano) is almost visible...

Osorno

Cooprinsem was founded in 1968 and today has over $170 million in sales with 26 branch offices and owned by 450 farmers with over 30000 members. If you are farming in Chile you most likely will have some association with them. We saw milk testing and soil sampling in the labs.

Travelled through lovely countryside with lots of native and exotic trees. Everywhere there are lovely big specimen trees in the paddocks. We visited the Schmitt family Hereford and Angus stud and fattening unit. Melanie (daughter) was running the property and had a superb eye for stock. Great to see horses used by the Gauchos.

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Well fed yet again - in the family bbq room. Most farms here have them.

Ruth and Bernardo Eggers owned this lovely property. Calves beautifully cared for and so cute...

Marco runs the farm and here we are learning more about Bernardo's passion apart from his lovely wife of 47 years ... His auto museum!!

Studebaker heaven!!

Inside a bottle store near our hotel. Beautifully displayed!!

South to Peurto Monte

Delicious view from the plane as we descend into Peurto Monte. It's 90 minutes south of Santiago. Staying on Osorno which isn't a tourist town but services the area. Settled by Germans many years ago so the influence is definitely obvious. Lake Lanquihue was our lunch spot and this amazing opera house seemingly in the middle of nowhere!!

Lake shore sculpture - Martin was a terrific entertainer!!

Dairy farm in the afternoon. We loved seeing the cows on grass. BErnadette was a farm advisor out or Masteton several years ago. Now back in Chile has helped organise the farms for us to see down here.

There are large areas of bulbs - these are lily bulbs but there are also tulips - similar environment to Southland or the West coast.

Heading out west to Valparaiso 24/4

Today we headed towards the Pacific Ocean. Our first stop was in the Curacuvi Valley - a dairy farm owned by the Barrows family for a number of generations. The family milk up to 800 cows housed in open barns with concrete floors - not a blade of grass in sight. All food grown on farm or brought in. The milk is processed mainly for soft cheeses with some milk sold to a larger Chilean firm for bottling. Unusually they keep all their steers to 300kg - the family are keen rodeo riders and supply stock to the rodeo. Out guide Terri is seen here talking to the son who runs the property.

We passed through a lot  of vineyards and vegetable growing areas. The vegetables grown in this valley have to be ones you cook due to the water quality. We visited the shed of a family operation growing cauliflower, broccol, corn and squash. Beautiful vegetables all packed for the supermarket to fill a daily order. Chileans wouldn't consider eating any of those raw.

On to the coast. This view is looking south towards Valparaiso where the port is situated. Lunch ( 3 courses and Pisco sour...) was overlooking the ocean. Boats waiting out to sea as the port is quite small - only 6 cranes/ berths. In context - a cruise ship could take up 3 of the berths.

Our drive back to Santiago took 2 hours with traffic heavy at times - 2 tunnels through the hills. The longest was 3.5 km. Joke of the day.. What is the national bird of Santiago? - the construction crane. 😀

Santiago - a city sight seeing day

Pisco Sour - national drink is really like Limoncello. Quite delicious... Enjoyable meal last night and a chance to get to know more of our crew. There are 20 of us on thr tour + lovely Terri our guide.

  This morning we had a leisurely pick up at 9:30. Very little traffic as Sunday is quiet and largely for family time here with most shops shut. They also close one of the long central avenues by the river every Sunday for cycling. So many people on bikes -from racing to Mums and Dads out with kids. .super idea.

Above is a Franciscian Cloister - one of the oldest pre colonial buildings in the city. Made of stone and a kind of paste that seems to hold up well in earthquakes.  Below is the main government building. It used to house the mint hence it's name La Moneda ( not " the government building") lol.

The Museum of Pre-Colombian art was a treasure. Very modern and well set out, it is the site for much conservation work in this area. My fav 2 pieces are below : Quipu was an ancient method for recording information consisting of variously coloured threads knotted in different ways. This is the best example in existence. They are not sure exactly what they said but think they are a record of births, deaths, crop success, visitors to villages etc.

And the pottery was very sophisticated. these. Amazing civilisations did not use the wheel - no evidence at all, however their pottery, jellery and metal ware were amazing, as were the textiles and dying processes,

Lovely 3 course lunch at Villa Real and a snooze for most on the way to our next destination. This side road also closed for cyclists.

 An example of some of the downtown buildings. Slum areas and dwellings made from discarded junk and rubbish are prevalent too as are the seemingly stray dogs and cats - although they appear well fed.

Our final stop for the day was in the Las Condes district. It is the church of the Apoquitndo run by the order of the Dominicans. The church grounds and grounds are closed and private but there is a maze of small shops and craft galleries. Spent a coupe of hours wandering around. Apparently there is an avocado tree in the church grounds that is over 400 years old.

Bienvenido a Chile - 22 April 2017

 Fascinated by the big hunks of power lines all tied together- looks like a giant mess of noodles.

Another view from the bus as we headed into town

Great flights on LATAM Airlines from Auckland yesterday and arrived @ 1:35 on 22/4 - before we'd left! Have been relaxing in our hotel room at Four Points Shereton in the Providencia area. Martin went on a recon mission while I snoozed. 

Santiago is made up of many towns/ villages which have merged into a city with a larger population than all of NZ. We have a walking tour tomorrow which will give us some perspective. 

Off to try the national drink - Pisco Sour - at a welcome to Chile cocktail party & dinner :-)