Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 28th Jan

Puerto Varas is on the south end of Lago Llanquihue. A large and beautiful lake in a popular tourist area. On first sight the name looks welsh, but in Spanish the double l is pronounced like a j but softly as in the French name Jean. So you say "jancoohee". The town we are heading to for our lunch is called Fruitillar (pronounced froot ee jar) and is about 20 kms north of Puerto Varas and another town colonised by Germans in the mid C19. We catch the local bus there. I promised you a rival to the Sydney Opera House, it's called Teatro del Lago. It took an amazing 12 years in the making and cost 25 million US$. It is a world class performing arts centre that single handedly put Fruitillar on the global cultural map when it was opened in 2010.

This is the front and it is very hard to do it justice.

The back facing across the lake. Behind the glass is a small concert area in which the performers play near the glass and the audience sit facing it,so the backdrop for the music is the lake and volcanoes.

The main auditorium is behind the glass apse. The building is a striking copper roofed design with multi coloured wood cladding. It is a star in itself, but the context of the lake and the snow peaked picture postcard volcanoes that stand sentinel over it raise the building to another level. This is how I justify the Sydney Opera House comparison. I also read that it is acoustically the best theatre in the Southern Hemisphere. (Haven't I heard that at least twice before.?)

Just one shot of the star,who I'm afraid wasn't performing at her best today as she kept her skirts on and only popped her head out.

On nearly maximum zoom here. 

The coffee and cake also went down well. We can't stop too long because we plan a boat cruise on the lake at 5.30 and we have a meal booked for 9.30 at Casavaldes, the best  (according to Lonely Planet) restaurant in town. Both of these activities are back in Puerto Varas. 

Above Captain Helen on the lookout. Below shows a hotel ashore which I find vaguely reminiscent of the old Colwyn Bay Hotel. 

Here's the view that we had of the Osorno Volcano.  Its height is 2600ms and is strikingly similar to Mt Fuji. It last erupted in 1869 and is an example of a conical stratovolcano. The summit is always covered with glaciers, not because of its height but more a reflection of the maritime environment giving rise to a very high precipitation. It is a magnificent sight and has an almost magnetic effect on onlookers for a 100 km radius.

So finally the meal and the fish restaurant proved to be as good as anticipated. I had a dozen oysters followed by roasted red peppers stuffed with king crab meat and Helen chose Spanish ham followed by a super vegetable risotto. The service was top rate and with drinks the bill was less than  £45.