我临时抱佛脚，行途上恶补旅游常识。智利长得像“鞋带”一样，堪称世界上地形最狭长的国家，其长度是宽度的24倍，最宽处不过150英里／241公里。整个国家幅员辽阔，南北纵跨2,700英里／4,345公里，沙漠荒地干涸少雨，海岸平原肥沃湿润，热带雨林浓密繁茂，高山苔原寒冷萧疏，峡湾冰川终年积雪。 

      As I learned along the way, Chile is nicknamed "the Shoestring Country"  for good reason; 24 times longer than its average width, and in no place wider than 150 miles/241 kilometers, it stretches nearly 2,700 miles/4,345 kilometers, a span of latitude that encompasses parched deserts, fertile coastal plains, dense rainforests and, finally, continental ice-caps, fiords and glaciers.

      Puerto Montt is settled by German colonists in the mid-19th century and a city of the gateway to the Lake District in the central southwest where Chile's narrow coastal plain sinks into the Pacific, and the ice-carved wet slopes of the Andes form the islands and fiords and Archipelagic Chile, a remote region of appalling weather that stretches southward 1,000 miles/1,609 kilometers to Cape Horn.

    十九世纪由德国人创建的蒙特港位于智利中部西南，是一座通往著名旅游度假胜地“湖大区”的前哨城市，狭窄富饶的沿海平原由此深入太平洋，冰雪覆盖的安第斯山脉从背后穿过。它东连内陆，南接岛屿，跟1,000英里／1,609公里天涯以外的合恩角遥相呼应。这里德国文化根深蒂固，德国后裔、德国村落、德国饮食、德国建筑、德国风情……“日尔曼”无处不在。

      Our morning was a mess in Puerto Montt! We woke up and wolfed down some snacks just to catch the tenders or shuttle boats that took us from our cruise to the shore. The seaport was too small to have a big cruise line like Princess docked. Star Princess floated in the mist of the Pacific Ocean close to the bay. Here we ran into Infinity Celebrity again.

      初到蒙特港，我们手忙脚乱！一大早，我们随便吃些零食垫一下肚子，匆匆赶去乘坐区间快艇，准备上岸游览当地风光。蒙特港码头很小，像“星辰•公主” 号这样大型游轮根本无法自由停泊，因此我们只能定位在海湾附近，改乘游轮自备的小船辗转登陆。不独有偶，“无极•精致”号游轮也在不远处水域与我们再度相逢。

      Once landed at the port authority, we tried to find a tour guide who spoke English instead of Spanish, a local as well as the national language. After interviewing one another over quite a long time, we decided to select a suitable young gentleman who visited Florida, USA twice during the past decade and did NOT have a break on Christmas Eve.

      对我们来说，登陆后当务之急便是雇用导游。智利的官方语言是西班牙语，英语并不普及，想在蒙特港随意找到会说英语的朋友好比大海捞针。我们运气不错，几经询问终于巧遇一位过去十年里曾经两度来访美国佛罗里达州的年轻小伙，他宁愿放弃圣诞前夜休息时间跑出来挣点外快，我们很快一拍即合。

      We headed for Vincente Perez Rosales National Park and stopped to see an amazing sight over Lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile! I thought that sea would be a more suitable name. It resembled pretty much of mountainous Switzerland. No wonder that "Chilean Switzerland" was given out to this part of Chile.

      在去文森特•佩雷斯•罗萨莱斯国家公园的路上，我们顺道游览了香奇味湖，这是智利第二大湖！我觉得称它为“海”更恰如其分。香奇味湖被安第斯山脉环绕，犹如阿尔卑斯山拥抱瑞士，所以该地区常被视作“智利的瑞士翻版”。

      Unlike the last year, there was too much rain during Christmas and holiday season. When we were trotting to Petrohue Waterfalls in Vincente Perez Rosales National Park, to my disappointment, it started to drizzle. As we approached the falls, the rain became much heavier. We soon realized that it was the spray of the water crushing against the hard, black rocks and basaltic lava boulders splashing back to every single place it could reach. The falls seemed more like chutes and rapids ran though Petrohue River. Every once a while, the water would surge up to the banks and retreat back. The roads were the worst. They were so muddy and slippery that I could have thought I had been walking in bubble-gum without attention. By the time we got back, we were no doubt dripping water from head to toes.

      与以往不同，今夏圣诞节期间蒙特港地区经常阴雨连绵。我们出发的时候，天已经开始下起毛毛雨；等抵达文森特•佩雷斯•罗萨莱斯国家公园内的佩特罗胡瀑布，雨下得越来越大。豆大的雨点劈里啪啦打在岩石上，溅起了无数水珠，水珠再混同瀑布下落时产生的雾气向四面八方弥散。实际上，佩特罗胡河与香奇味湖之间由奥索尔诺火山切割后形成的佩特罗胡瀑布落差很小，水道两旁山势陡峻，河床狭窄，因此水流湍急，如同万马奔腾。过往瀑布的人行通道泥泞，步履其上好比不小心踩到了又黏又滑的泡泡糖。总之，我们观赏归来，个个被淋成落汤鸡。

      Next we continued to climb all the way up to the Osorno Volcano standing 8,700 feet/2,652 meters in height over Temperate Rainforests in the Austral Andes. Because of iconic snow-capped landmark, it surely qualified as the "Mount Fuji in South America". Back to 2007, this area was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. I had never been such high up before, excluding airplane! My ears popped from the pressure upon the elevation. At La Burbuja Ski Resort, the wind was blowing so hard even for the Osorno Volcano that it made our blizzards at home felt like a breeze. If I let go of my mom, I probably would end up in a tree elsewhere.

      奥索尔诺火山高约8,700英尺／2,652米，巍然挺拔于安第斯山以南大片温热带雨林之上；整个山顶被冰川覆盖，外形极似日本富士山，因此又享有美洲富士山的美誉。早在2007年，这里就被联合国教科文组织列为世界生物保护区。我以前从来没有登过这样的高度(当然乘飞机除外)，耳膜承受不住气压变化，老是外翻。站在拉•伯布哈滑雪度假胜地，风力大的足以叫奥索尔诺火山发抖，在宾州我们住的地方绝对称得上风暴水平，可在这里如同阵阵微风，不足挂齿。要不是当时紧紧抓住妈妈，我现在不定会倒挂在哪棵大树上。

(相片来自网络)

      At the foot of the Osorno Volcano, we visited Fundo Olguita, a traditional Chilean ranch that had sheep-like Llamas (Ya•ma•s) by the lakeside. These animals sometimes really would annoy me because they spit grass.  

      绕回奥索尔诺火山脚下，我们专门拜访了香奇味湖边方度•欧尔圭达──智利传统农场，并见到长得像绵羊模样的美洲驼，这些动物有时令我不爽，草地上满处都是它们的粪便。

      An abandoned Teutonic church of Iglesia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus located in Puerto Varas, the biggest town on Lake Llanquihue. After reading the sign I was gaping open mouth at the wooden structure to the maximum height possible without metal supports. The church was used by Catholic priest as a to-scale replica of a church in Germany's Black Forest about 130 years ago. But then a fire burned it down and was rebuilt in 1912. It was one of the oldest churches in Chile!

      位于香奇味湖边另外一座城市瓦拉斯港内的德国式天主教堂别有特色，目前虽已失修，但其内部结构令我赞叹不已。整个建筑没用任何金属材料作支撑，全部因地制宜就地取材，按比例模仿130年前德国黑森林一教堂建筑而成。不幸的是，该教堂因失火而被烧毁，眼前这所则是1912年在原址的基础上重新复制的。

      At last, we drove back to the cruise ship and said farewell to the guide who always had time for a smile as the other friendliest Chileans.

      到此为止，我们结束了全部行程，终于告别这位面带微笑热情好客的当地导游。

(二O一二年十二月廿四日，平安夜)