All day breakfast in Puerto Montt

Staying in a hotel overlooking the bay, with excellent views of all the shipping coming and going, so the Brother is happy. The Other Brother will be moving in today, also a mechanophile, if that's the word, and fraternal happiness will be unbounded. The boat trip from Punta Arenas which I eschewed (ardent followers will recall my earlier comments on the subject) ends up here, and we saw it leaving on the return journey the evening we arrived. The restaurant where breakfast is served is on the tenth floor, and our day began yesterday with a leisurely breakfast considering a few clouds in an otherwise blue sky. Thence to la cuñada's mother's house, where a second extensive breakfast was waiting - well, it would have been rude to refuse - and then to Puerto Varas, a town about half an hour away on Llequihue Lake with stunning views of the perfectly conical Volcano Osorno, sugar frosted with snow. It had been fully 45 minutes since we last ingested, so a leisurely coffee was then taken while contemplating whether we could bring ourselves to engage in any activity. Feeling somewhat guilty at our sloth up to that point in the day, we drove to the ski station on the volcano and set off on what was billed by friends of the Other Brother (who are also of our now enlarged party) as a "gentle bimble". I am not sure what a bimble is, but gentle it was not, largely because we somehow ended up going rather dramatically off piste (literally, given the area's winter sport) and slipping our way up a steep slope of ash and other igneous material until we found what seemed to be the path again. I should point out in fairness that the friends of Other Brother took a far more strenuous path, walking from halfway down the road leading to the ski station, so we were shamed into silence by this more impressive feat. Nonetheless, we felt somewhat justified thereafter in tucking in heartily to the extensive board at which we found ourselves seated on returning to la cuñada's mother's, and a very enjoyable evening. With temperatures around 24 degrees, and full sun all day - those clouds moved on - and mercifully no wind of note, this has been a pleasant change from the more extreme conditions further south. While Puerto Montt has little to recommend, Puerto Varas has beaches, beautiful greenery, and two volcanoes dominating the skyline, plus a wealth of outdoor activities to choose from. I am very much hoping that the Other Brother and la cuñada do indeed end up buying a retirement home here...they would have no dearth of visitors, and my annual escape from UK at the end of the year would have a clear destination. I forgot to mention in my entry for Punta Arenas that we paid our now obligatory visit to the cemetery. This has wonderful mature yew or macrocarpa avenues, and is stuffed with the graves of the early colonists, thus many foreign names, and some monumental grave architecture. In the more modern section, through which we passed on entry, there are concrete blocks with small windows onto memorials for the departed, each a little shrine with photos, plastic flowers, and, this being Christmas, reindeer, Santas and electronic devices playing tinkly carols. Quite surreal. Also a touching memorial to the "disappeared" of the seventies, so many and mostly so young.