Hey guys, it's @rigaronib here! My tiny family and I went into the city today to shop, so I decided to take some pictures along the way.
I thought it was only fair to share you a quick glimpse into the largest city near us.
Puerto Montt is also the capital city of Chile's region x. According to the 2012 census, it has a population of almost 219,000 people (remember, Chile has a small population of around 17m people). Puerto Montt isn't the prettiest city, by any means, but it is a fun place to visit. It also has many more large stores, a mall and a larger variety of commodities, than here in our little town of Puerto Varas. While I do plan on making a post about our little town in the future (when the sun comes out), Puerto Montt will have to do for today.
We parked in the main underground parking garage and headed out on our little adventure. Here is a dropped point on Google maps that shows where we were.
All of these pictures that I am sharing with you today were taken in that general vicinity.
In the picture above you will see the Costanera, which is the road that runs along the coast line of southern Puerto Montt. If you look to the right of the picture, you will see a larger building with two towers -this is El Mall Paseo Costanera. It is a large mall, with 4 department stores, a Holiday Inn and many small stores and kiosks.
Puerto Montt, founded as late as 1853 during the German colonization of southern Chile, is just over 1,000 km (≈620 miles) south of the nations capital, Santiago. It has1 an area of almost 1,700 km² or about 650 mi².
Chile is one of the largest salmon producers/exporters in the world, and much of the salmon that is caught or farmed is shipped worldwide from many areas beginning in Puerto Montt and heading south.
The above picture was taken facing the west coast of the bay.
On September 18, 1810, Chile gained independence from Spain. Every year on September 18th, Chile commemorates this date and celebrates with many festivities such as asados (don't you dare call them a barbecue...bad idea.), drinking, traditional dancing, traditional clothing, drinking, parties, rodeos and drinking...lots of drinking. The traditional holiday cocktail, apart from pisco sours and piscolas, is a mixture of cucumber wine, grenadine and pineapple ice cream. The Chilenos call this a Terremoto or Earthquake.
As you scan through these pictures, you will see many Chilean flags and decorations. This holiday, usual referred to as Dieciocho or Fiestas Patrias, is very important in Chilean culture - the same way that July 4th is important to the U.S. for the same reasons: Freedom....Yeeeaah, I feel ya, you're sitting there wondering, "How is it freedom if you are breaking away from one corrupt government and then deciding to appoint someone else to build a new corrupt government to control what you do?"...Is it considered freedom because you get to choose who runs your life for you? Don't feel bad, I don't get it either.
Aaanyways, the top left picture is of the massive flag and flag pole on the Costanera and the top right picture is of several families who had bought kites from the kite vendor. Way in the back of the picture, if you squint and hold your tongue just right, you can see him and his kites just hanging out on the side of the street next to the bus stop.
Ok, so this statue is called "Sentados Frente al Mar" or "Sitting Waterfront", it is also referred to "The Two Lovers" by tourists. Before I make any jokes, heres is an excerpt that I found about it's meaning:
Sitting Waterfront is probably the most famous monument of Puerto Montt. It is a sculpture of 10 meters high , located near the coast in the city center . The sculpture is the work of Robinson Barria, and was made to commemorate the 149 years of Puerto Montt and consists of a couple in love sitting on a bench , watching the Reloncaví gulf that begins the Chilean Patagonia. The work was inspired by a famous song that tells the story of a couple who is sitting by the sea. Sitting at the Sea draws the attention of visitors with its colors, its meaning and its size . It is one of the postcards of Puerto Montt and can not leave there without your photo taken with the picturesque partner.
That being said, isn't this the strangest statue ever? It's just so...what's the word I'm looking for...Oh yeah, ugly. Even Travel and Leisure included it in their "World's Strangest Statues" post. Don't believe me? Check it out here.
In many larger cities, you will always find street vendors (the amount quintuples in the summer during tourist season) selling everything from wooden spoons and batteries to smoked shellfish and dried aji strung up with twine. It is very obvious to me that Chile is very pro "do what you want to do to make a living", as long as it doesn't put anyone in danger or cause damage...and of course it has to be "legal" by the government's standards.
In the above picture on the left, you can see this guy selling pots, stickers, spoons, flags, toys, socks, etc. On the right, you can see the dried fruits, nuts, spices, ginger, cheese, garlic and seeds that this vendor is selling.
Here you can see a government building with decorations for Fiesta Patrias.
This is a quick street shot that shows the popular golden arches in the background....yes, they are everywhere.
The two largest corporations that seem to have taken Chile by storm are Nestle and Coca-Cola. You can't even go into backwoods Chile without seeing some kind of sign provided by these monster corporations. It is funny, really.
This is a shot of the fountain at the center of Plaza de Armas with a backdrop of El Mall Paseo Costanera that I mentioned earlier. Take note that they also managed to plant the Chilean flag on top of the right tower.
So there you have it, a tiny glimpse into what Puerto Montt, Chile looks like. We had a great time walking around and taking pictures to share. Like every city in the world, Puerto Montt has it's good parts and bad parts, but all in all it is a safe place and has many hidden shops and tourist attractions.
I found this super awesome aerial video of Puerto Montt that I came across on youtube that was uploaded by user MAV Drone.
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Be sure to check out my recent post with original poetry -here
