Travel Guide Puerto Octay

Created as a municipality on December 22, 1891, under the government of Don Jorge Montt Alvarez, Puerto Octay was formerly called Muñoz Gamero in honor of a Chilean explorer who traveled through the south and southern part of Chile, from the tenth region to Punta Arenas. When it became common, the city grew, especially in terms of trade and port. Medium sized industries of sausage, beer, machinery and spare parts were created, and even a small shipyard building medium sized boats for Lake Llanquihue. But it was also as a supply and storage centre that the town would emerge, at a time when the famous Route 5, the Panamerican Highway, did not yet exist. The railway was the only means of transport for the goods that were initially stored in Osorno, Puranque and Río Negro. As it soon became insufficient, goods from these three cities were transported to Octay where they were shipped by boat to Puerto Varas. Octay, which had become the nerve centre of the region, had a flourishing port; it could now be called Puerto Octay. The economic development led to a strong demographic growth of the city, which then had more inhabitants (15,000) than today (Puerto Octay 4,500, the whole municipality 13,000). The construction of the Panamericana from 1961 onwards will brutally slow down this growth and many inhabitants will emigrate.