On the road again...S America and Antarctica

Wednesday January 15, 2020.
It’s 6:30 am and I’m sitting in the virtually empty buffet restaurant with a cup of tea, typing this email and watching the Andes Mountains slip by in the morning fog and rain. The sun’s up but we can’t see it. The mornings have all started like this – cloudy, rainy, windy, cold (10-12°C) but then it becomes sunny and warm – up to 25°C.

It was a long, long day getting here starting out at 5:30 pm for our ride to the airport. Checking in for a 9:20 boarding which happened. But the 10:15 takeoff became 11:15 pm and we didn’t get into Santiago Chile until 11:30 am the next morning. An hour or so through baggage, immigration and customs and then another hour and a half to the port. We needed a vacation from the travelling!
The ship was delayed in leaving. It’s fueling by bunker barge didn’t happen and the ship had to be refueled by truck from around the area. So instead of leaving at 5 pm we left at 2pm the next day. And that upset the itinerary. Leave it to say that by now it’s worked out okay.

The seas have been a little rocky at times and at times very calm and last night we were getting thrown around pretty severely.

Our first stop was Puerto Montt (Puerto being port). And we took a local tour off to see the Petrohue Rapids; they call them falls but they are rapids cut by the fast moving waters in the lava deposits. There are three volcanoes here: Orsorno is the ideal image of a volcano, much like Mt. Fuji with its perfect snow topped cone, Calbuco which looks like an ordinary mountain but it blew in 2015 depositing tons of ash on the western side and lava on the eastern side. Don’t worry about the third one...it’s way off in the distance. After the rapids we visited the little tourist town of Puerto Varas which was settled by Germans in the late 1800s. Chile was looking for settlers and made a deal with the German government. So there’s a heavy German influence here.

Our second stop was Puerto Chacabuco further south down the coast. Remember we’re heading to Antarctica. A really long gravel road led to a spectacular waterfall; I don’t know if it has a name. And then the same road back out. Into a little town for a break and then out across the local “Golden Gate” bridge to yet another long gravel road running through typical Chilean Patagonia to a lake (which wasn’t that interesting or photogenic). And back again. A car ferry across the river. And then a quick lunch of BBQ lamb, cold boiled potatoes, salad and a local fried bread with a salsa type mix. Oh…and a Pisco Sour, the local cocktail that’ll knock your socks off if you aren’t careful.

We have two days of sailing the fjords of Chile; it was glaciated and we’re starting to see the glaciers as we sail along.

Hope all is well at home.
Take care.
Bob and Elizabeth

p.s. Here are the links to the first photos
01 Puerto Montt
02 Chacabuco