Ushuaia, Argentina

 We went by several glaciers this morning and then dropped anchor in Ushuaia, Argentina. it is absolutely a beautiful town.  It is really quite a tourist town because it is the last stop before Antartica. It is in a breath-taking setting at the end of the Andes mountains. 

When we got off the ship the wind was blowing about 20 miles per hour with gusts of 30 mph. It was 40* but felt like 30.  We could hardly stand up until we got off the dock and into some protection of the buildings.

Our first stop was the pharmacy to help our friend find a thermometer.  It was hilarious.  We were trying to tell the pharmacist what we needed.  We were doing hand gestures and saying everything but "thermometer'. Finally I said "Thermometer" and she said, " oh, thermometer".😂

We saw our friend back to the dock and then headed out to see what we could see.  Ushuaia was once a prisoner  destination.  Lo and behold there was an old prison train turned bus waiting to take us around town. We hopped on out of the wind and had a delightful tour.  The guide spoke both Spanish and English He was very good except he kept saying Iceland instead of island. I thought;"I didn't know there was another Iceland, and why is he pointing to all these different Icelands."  Terrific guide.

Then we walked around town in the shopping district. Everything was certainly geared toward the explorer.  There was Patagonia, North Face, Garmont and the likes everywhere with astronomical prices to match.

LUNCH ANYONE!   I believe its lamb

So Beautiful!

Valentina with Evita and Juan 

 

The Volendam next to a mega Carnival ship.  I hope to never cruise on a mega ship

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Our little ship nest to a Carnival mega ship. I hope to never travel on a Mega ship!

5:00 am wake up call this morning.  We had to be on the bus at 6:30 for a 1/2 hour ride to the airport, the a 1.5 hr. plane ride to a 2.5 bus tour of Torres National Park.

          Guanacos, wild llamas.  Their fur is not very good so they are mostly used for food.

The other side of the mountains where we had lunch

 We are cruising the fjords today. We saw a couple of Glaciers but the scenery is beautiful.  Puerto Arenas tomorrow.

Puerto Chacabuco

Another rainy day. We strolled around the town for a couple of hours until we were sufficiently wet.  There were no people out. We found three churches, but they were all boarded up. I think everyone was in their warm home watching footbol. There was a very nice city park.

A very different kind of evergreen

We are in Castro, Chile. It was raining  off and on and we walked around town.

There was a huge artisans market.

 

There are many old railroad engines. Ron Rassmussen would be  in a happy place here.

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Puerto Montt

Today a group of us hired a van for 16 and headed for the Orno Volcano and the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park where the Petrohue Rapids are, then Puerto Varas and Lake Llanquihue.

As you can see the volcano was cover with clouds except for the few minutes where I caught this view. There is a ski lift to the top however we did not have time to take it. But there is a ski hill here in the winter.

Sorry you can't really tell, but during the winter everywhere you see black there are gushing waterfalls. The  Petrohue volcano in the background has a glacier that feeds the Petrohue river.

 

Robinson Crusoe island. 400 miles off the coast of

Chile

We spent a wonderfully rainy day on Robinson Crusoe island.  There  really was a guy stranded here for 4 years.  Alexander Selkirk.  Ten years later DeFoe wrote Robinson Crusoe.

There are about 800 residents today.  It was rainy, but everyone we met was very friendly and happy to have us invade their little paradise.

 I was trying to find the post office so that I could send my Visiting teacher (mentally challenged) some postcards.  Small island, one road, easy to find the Post Office right? Oh no, I walked past it twice and stopped at the police station to ask (no one spoke English). Anyway it was a tiny container car painted white.  😂 But I got international stamps for only $1 each.  Mission accomplished. 

Kyle had deserted me in my determination to find the post office.  He and our friends took off to  finish the road.  After finding the post I went back to the little shopping area and waited for them to come back.  Saved myself at least a mile of drippy walking. Mission accomplished again.

On the sail away I told Kyle it was kind of sad to leave. Such a sweet place.

 Today we are at sea on our way to Robinson Crusoe island.  The seas are pretty rough and all the decks have been closed.  Hopefully the sea will be calmer by the time we get to the island. They canceled the disaster drill for this afternoon, and the "Glampng party" for this evening. We are very glad that we do not get sea sick.

Santiago, Chile

 

Today we hired a driver and guide to take us into Santiago.  It was a lovely 1-1/2 hr drive. We then toured the cathedral. which was magnificent.  

Tthe President's residence and some government buildings.  The architecture of Santiago is beautiful.   

We drove to the old fort which has been turned into a park.  Someone decided to plant a lot of trees and flowers and make it a place where everyone could come and enjoy themselves. The guide said come we will climb about 30 steps and we will be at the top for a spectacular view.  105 narrow stone steps later we reached the top.  There was indeed a view of the city. We then had to descend those 105 narrow stone steps. Kyle and I got separated and I was so worried that he would fall.  Thankfully we made in down with no mishap.

Next we went to a wonderful restaurant.  We had the Poor-man's special, which was fries, carmalized onions and two over easy eggs on top.  That is the side dish you have with steak or chicken.  The guide raved about how delicious it was going to be.  Well the meat was delicious, but the eggs and fries were pretty normal tasting. But, it was a very authentic meal which we loved.

We rushed back to the ship to meet the 4:00 all-aboard only to find the all-aboard had been changed to 9;00pm.  We could have stayed in Santiago another 3  or 4 hrs. Apparently the ship had been waiting  all day to refuel.  And they didn't get started until about 4.  Cruise ships do not have much pull in Commercial harbors. 

 Well today we were supposed to dock in Antofagasta, Chile. However, last night about 11:00 the Captain found out that they expected this ship to port on the side where we do not have a gang way.  The captain told them he could back in but the Port master said "No".  A lot of the ports we stop in are commercial ports and they really could care less about a cruise ship. The people in the little shops who were preparing for our arrival are probably not happy as we were the only cruise ship docking this month.

Anyway we are heading to Santiago and will arrive a half day early. So a. little extra time there.

 Arica, Chile

This little town was gearing up for Carnival this weekend. So many shops, block after block. You could tell it is a time for family reunions. The streets were pretty busy and everyone was happy!!

They have a lot of artists who like to paint buildings. Remarkable!

We visited the museum where they have uncovered some graves.  The bodies have been preserved because it is so dry here.  Actually not the bodies but the bones and the clothing they were buried in.  Of course there were the customary burial items of potterybowls and whatever else you may need in the after life.  Most of the bodies (bones) were sitting up and wrapped in several layers of ponchos and mats. They have not decided how old these bodies are yet. Interesting.

Strolling along the restaurants and shops

This church was designed by Eiffel. Lots of metal.

Bye Bye Arica

 Feb. 10 Lima, Peru

To day we took the shuttle to the MiaFlores district in Lima.  It is ocean front for miles.  There were several small parks along the way. They really have put forth an effort too make their city beautiful. There were workers in every park trimming, watering, and raking.  There were street sweepers everywhere. When I say street sweepers I mean people with a broom and a trash can.

We stopped by the mall which sits on the side of a cliff.  The restaurants were cliff side at least 100 feet above the sea. I heard a guy complaining to his buddy that this mall has all the same stores we have back home.  A Peruvian gentleman stopped and said, "we feel so privileged to have these stores available to us." 

One guide told us that there is only 4% unemployed.  During the 80s and 90s there was an economic downturn.  The Government had no money to help people. So everyone learned that if they were going to survive they had to find a way themselves. So everyone became creative and developed their own way to make enough money to feed their family. They made crafts, bread, became food vendors etc.

There is a statue in Miaflores park. It's a giant kissing statue.  The Park of Love.

The mall is carved into the cliff side

I don't know who this guy is but I thought it was a nice statue.

 Sunday, February 9.  Lima Peru

We took a tour of the Highlights of Lima.  It takes 45 min to go from the port to downtown Lima.  That made a very interesting drive.   We toured the Presidents Palace. This is where the government works and also where the Presidents family lives.

 Right next to the palace is a home built in the mid 1500's. This family must have had ear of the palace because they were so near.  It was a grand home with beautiful inlaid floors and ceilings.    A magnificent Coat of arms was displayed many times.  There is no doubt that no expense was spared on this place.  

There are several buildings near the palace that have Moorish (from when the Moors ruled Spain) second floor verandas and railings around the top.

 

We then drove across town to the beach area where the more wealthy live.  We visited a home that was built by family from Denmark.  The house has stayed in the family for many generations.  Through the years the family has collected nativity scenes from around the world. Somewhere around 2000 nativities are on display. they also have story boxes. These boxes have miniature carvings in them depicting Christ's life.  The boxes are what the missionaries took with them when they were teaching Christianity to the natives.