The shape of Chile is a distinctive ribbon of land 4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide, stretching from the world’s driest desert – the Atacama in the north, to the ice fields of Patagonia in the south. With the Pacific ocean off it’s west coast and the Andes on the east, seafood is a prime part of the diet.
There’s something fishy going on in Chile!
Arriving from the icy cold glaciers of Patagonia, we spent 3 days aboard the good ship NAVIMAG ( a cargo ship converted to carry passengers) with our destination of Puerto Montt in Chiles Lake district. The harbour town is famed for it’s seafood, caught fresh each day and brought in to the fish market. A wander round there was certainly an experience! Lots of weird and wonderful shellfish, crustaceans and fish. The stallholders keenly give you samples as you go round, so we braved some (others we politely skipped!!)
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| Quite a selection of shellfish! |
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| Giant mussels |
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| King Crab |
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| What on earth is that?! |
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| and look what comes out the middle!! Dry it, string it up and there you have the local delicacy - Picorocos |
Curanto
One of the local specialities of Puerto Montt is a seafood dish called Curanto. It is traditionally made by digging a big hole in the ground and adding heated stones and then layers of mussels, cockles and other seafood, covered with a huge leaf on the plant Nalca, then a layer of chicken, sausage, another layer of leaves, then vegetables and cakes of sausage and seaweed. Covered over with more leaves it is than cooked away for hours to make a tasty soup. Served with lemon and bread, it was a pretty hearty lunch!!
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