Navimag

I arrived in Pucon to grey skies and light rain, so not the best conditions for the Volcano climbing tomorrow, but its brightning a bit so it might be on. Will be good to get some exercise after lazing for so long on the boat.

I wasnt sure what to expect from the Navimag ferry, I had heard some great reports and some so so ones, but it sounded like a bit of a laugh and it certainly turned out to be. The start wasnt great, we were delayed boarding for 7 hours as the ferry couldnt dock due to high winds, so passed the time having dinner with the Danes from TDP.


When I eventually got on board I recognised I had the first symptoms of travellers diarohea so was glad I plumped for a room with a view and a loo. As you can see from the pics, things in cattle class were a bit more crowded.


Much of the first day the clouds hung to the shoreline, and the dramatic scenery didnt realy materilaise. I spent a lot of it in my bunk anyway. By evening it had cleared a bit, and as we reached the main glacier in the evening light it really was magical, with chunks of ice floating by, you could almost be on the titanic. Next morning was beautiful weather and the scenery really was excellent under blue skies.

The ferry docked at the tiny village of Puerto Eden, the only stop in the 3 days, which was a cute little place. I spent most of the trip out on deck enjoying the sun and shelterning from the wind, and spotting Whales (including Blue) Dolphins, Seals and countless birds. I had missed out on the big brother style bonding on day one due to my illness, so endeded up talking with some of the more quirky people, including Phil from Nottingham who had gotten here via a really long meandering motorcyle ride from Canada, and Gasper from Paris who had sailed from Senegal to Brasil and hitched mostly from there. After too much Concho Y Toro I accomponied Anita from Holland in a wonderful rendition of Radioheads creep and climbed onto the bow of the ship to do the "im the king of the world" titanic bit. The excellent weather also meant that the notorious Golfo de Penas (the open ocean part) was as smooth as a milkpond.


I left the boat in Puerto Montt with the intention of going straight to Pucon, but all buses for the day were full, so stayed the night and visited Frutillar, a cute little German looking village on the lake, where you could swim, walk in the forest and enjoy Kaffee und Kuchen.

Back in the Hospedaje I bumped into John from Mayo, who it turns out was on the boat but I hadnt met him. He is very kindly sending on my phone which i left behind this morning. One of theses days Ill get my act together.