11. Puerto Montt, Chile

Puerto Montt

This is the Los Lagos region, the Lake District of Chile on the edge of the Patagonian wilderness. We are now just over a thousand kilometres south of Santiago, our final destination.

centre/left where the solid white line 

becomes dots is Petrohue Falls, our destination

The Osorno is one of twelve active volcanoes in the region. It dominates the landscape from a very long way off.

Lake Llanquihue is the largest lake in Chile 

Osorno Volcano

8,700 feet above sea level

Lady of Puerto Varas

We did a half-day excursion on a nice small bus with about a dozen fellow passengers, guided by a young local Chilean woman. 

Maria's English was terrific. She was just completing (on scholarships) her Master's Degree in Linguistics and will be starting her doctoral programme in Germany in the fall.

the dozen buses reserved by 
the Marina for shore excursions

We pre-booked online with ViaTour for about one-fourth the price of the Marina's excursion.

Our tour was like a Sunday outing with some new friends. 

Lunch was a picnic.

(more on that below)

 mingling with 

sleeping dogs and sleepy-eyed alpacas 

some of us rubbed noses with the alpacas

In the mid-1800s Chile's President Manuel Montt opened up this remote, heavily forested region of the country with immigration and resource development, bringing in a wave of German settlers. Their influence remains today. Following the cleanup of a  cataclysmic earthquake in 1960 Chileans from around the country began to relocate here.

Petrohue Falls

Frutillar was settled by German colonialists. The Teutonic flavour of the town was reported in the brochure to be rather Bavarian. We did not see anyone walking around wearing lederhosen and grey wool sweaters with pewter buttons, but there was some decidedly Deutsch architecture. Having been to the fatherland many times I left the photos of the "Bavarian" buildings for other tourists.

 On the bottom floor of this old wood frame building, there is a delicatessen that keeps some of the German food culture alive. We chose to forgo the  Würstchen, Sauerkraut, the Kuchen and the Strudel for the empanadas that were waiting at our next stop.

Puerto Varas, on the shore of Lake Llanquihue, is known as the Rose Capital of Los Lagos. The temperate climate, abundance of rainfall, and fertile land support important agricultural industries in this region. 

While the city rose gardens were near the end of their bloom, they were still stunning and I managed to preserve some of them in photographs.

Our picnic of empanadas and wine was waiting for us. Our small group feasted at the lakeshore amongst the wildflowers. It was T-shirt weather. 

our guide, Maria served us
white and red wine

This Cabernet Sauvignon is also available at home with a different label—great picnic and everyday table wine. Of course, the price is much higher in BC. Concha Y Toro is a big wine producer in Spain. One of the Iberian sons took the family label to the new world and made a success of it in Chile.

On our return to the ship, Maria dropped just the two of us off a few blocks from the dock so we could buy some of the same CabSav at a local corner store. Not a place for tourists. All the better. We bought the litre and a half for our cabin for just a few dollars: what the locals pay.  

last tender back to the ship

I was having fun in the small tienda (store), standing room only amongst the local favela residents, and I wanted to linger, to shop for some more wine, engage the locals by stretching my few words of Spanish,  performing some appropriate body language, and miming an assortment of facial expressions but my partner dragged me out of there, worried that we might miss our sailing or worse ...

Adib, Barista extraordinaire

Safe and sound, we were back on the mother ship in time for my daily cappuccino prepared by Adib, our Barista extraordinaire!

Then, I seem to recall opening the vino tinto ...

...ooo0ooo...

The next blog post is: about Santiago

www.noordinaryseaman.com for more photography and writing 

8. Puerto Arenas, Chile

Puerto Arenas

Punta Arenas is advertised in the sign below as the Gateway to Antarctica. I guess it is that, though unlike the town of Ushuaia, this really is a city, as the photos below will show. The differences between Chile and Argentina, where we were yesterday, are not immediately apparent to a first time visitor or the average tourist.

Overlooking the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas is the southernmost city on earth (Oceania Cruises "Currents")

The language is still Spanish, the locals look the same, the currency is still pesos, but this is the Pacific Coast not the Atlantic. As we move north we get a flavour of Chile. We like what we see.

for the southernmost city
in the world this is still planet Earth

Our ship arrived in a rain shower, a cool 12C. We walked around to explore the city, hence the photos of the urban landscape

wonderful old buildings that are well-maintained, the city feels vibrant - busy and alive

Speaking of currency, one thing that did jump out at us was the exchange rate. One US dollar gave us about 38 pesos in Argentina, but in Chile we got 665 pesos. Centavos? forgedaboudit ...

I call this photograph
One Man. Guess why? Hah!

As a traveller, one is always doing mental math on the fly: you want to buy something and the cost is important to you, especially if there is a third currency in your head, e.g., the Canadian dollar. For an ADD-innumerate kind of guy this is a tricky business, but my partner is sharper with numbers, so that's good. 

Um, it's also confusing that these pesos use the $ sign. To travel is to learn so many trivial little things like a dollar does not always mean a dollar.

this was
 in Argentina

Plate + drink + dessert for  $280!

(at today's exch. rate, that's just over $7.26 US or $9.63 CDN - a smoking' deal anywhere!!)

Jo assumes statue pose
when she sees the fuzz

Policemen/Carabineros  on the beat, just like any other city.

This is the statue of Ferdinand the Magellan, Portuguese explorer who many of us learned about in school.

The woman in the colourful parka is rubbing the brass toes. Why?

lots of people been rubbing these toes
(picture is out of focus 'cause the foot moved)

Legend has it that if you rub the toes, you will return to the city. Or is it, he will return to the city? Who will come back? Magellan? I don't think so. He was not Jesus, after all.
Then again, a legend is a legend.

Hmm ... This baffles me. Maybe Jo will come back here. Without me.

top arrow not pointing to
Cristobal and Colon, Panama

Just down the street was the intersection of  Magallenes and  Avenue Cristobal Colon. Translation: the M word is Spanish for the explorer's last name, which appears everywhere around these parts; Cristóbal Colón is Spanish for Christopher Columbus. 

Here is a trivia gem: readers who have done the Panama Canal may remember (but probably don't) the two small cities at the  southeastern point of Limon Bay. On your starboard side (for landlubbers that is on your right as you face the pointy part of the ship - the bow), as your ship enters the Atlantic Ocean, are the cities of Cristóbal and Colón. I don't think cruise ships stop there much. I hope not.

quite a juicy story in Ch 15,
and Chs 7, 8, 29, 30, 33 ...

If you have not yet read the amazing memoir, No Ordinary Seaman, you are very likely to remain  uninformed about such important historic and geographic information as described above. More detail about the subject can be found in Chapter  15: CLUB 61 IN CRISTOBAL

weaving around street lamp?

And I thought we were really far from home. For non-Canadian readers, this is one of our banks. A wee surprise. 

This poster promotes a local New Years Eve bash that would probably have been a spectacular way to blow out the old year and bring in the new. Only $12,000 for a couple.

...ooo0ooo...

next blog post is: Chilean Fjords

www.noordinaryseaman.com for more photography and writing 

7. Ushuaia, Argentina

Ushuaia

Ushuaia is sometimes called "The End of the World".

Ah, it's not so bad. Actually, it's pretty cool, I mean, a very interesting place, to visit.

Port of Ushuaia at the base of the Andes, the southern tip of the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego

The map display is a large scale view of our route. Ushuaia is the small dot at the tip of the continent. Just north of Cape Horn, it is the southernmost town in the world, about 60,000 residents. We are still in Argentina here. Ushuaia is on the western border with Chile. 

For centuries this was an important supply  and service port for whaling fleets. There was a large penal colony here in the early 1900s (more on this below). Today it is a major port of departure for voyages to Antarctica, for scientists and tourists.

National Geographic's Orion 
for modern day Antarctica-bound explorers

The Orion was at the dock besides us to pick up passengers and provisions for its cruise south. What fun that would be. 
Ah, for the price of a ticket ...

Christmas on the streets of Ushuaia 

Ushuaia is a calm, safe port in the Beagle Channel, way protected from the wild waters of the Strait of Magellan, that passage named after Ferdinand, the first to navigate around Cape Horn, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Remember in 1520 he was the first to circumnavigate the world?

La Cantina Fueguina for fresh seafood.
Notice the stack of boxes by the door?

Charles Darwin came to Ushuaia through the Beagle Channel, eponym of the British ship that brought him here, probably on his way to the Galapagos Islands, during which time he was reputedly making notes on what was to become "survival of the fittest". (check it out)

Note the varieties brewed

Cape Horn and Beagle beer are not to be missed. Not only does Argentina make great wine, but the beer is also terrific, thanks to the German immigrants, we were told. 

Strategically located at the end of the dock for all foreigners entering Ushuaia by sea, is the sign below.

Not sure what is sticking to the sign,
maybe some English toffee gone green?

The casual tourist or the uninformed foreign national  may use the words, Falkland Islands, in a casual conversation with a citizen of Argentina. Be prepared for a quick, perhaps unexpected response; for example, "There is no such place. Perhaps you men the Malvinas!" For a very lively engagement in a bar, bring up the subject, especially if you are British. Be forewarned. Argentinians are very passionate about their claims, and about Thatcher's 10-day butt-kicking in 1982. To use contemporary non-speak, to some locals, that event was just fake news.

Ask an Argentinian seagull if she
has been to the Falkland Islands
and you might get your eyes pecked out 

Ask a Chilean about the Malvinas you will probably get a shrug of the shoulders and some grunting about the Argentinians, who have purportedly claimed some Chilean islands too. There is no love lost between the neighbours on either side of the Andes Mountains. Foreign relations between Argentina and the UK have been on again, off again since 1982. 

   

did not eat the moustache here

the southern Andes above Ushuaia 

We are going to catch a train now for an excursion into Tierra del Fuego National Park. A toy train - El Tren del Fin del Mundo - well, small gauge anyway, meanders alongside the Rio Pipo at zero grade. The tracks for this, now tourist train, were laid by prisoners in the first decade of the 20th Century. The purpose was to transport the murderers, thieves, recidivist n'er-do-wells, from the prison on the edge of town, into the river valley to harvest the forest.  

Her throat or my camera
- what was more valuable?

At the estación we were accosted by a couple of big jailbirds who unhanded us after fleecing me for 10 bucks for the photo (not over- priced actually).

I felt I was in the land of Lilliput (Swift), the trains were so small, as were the engineers.

In the  ancient, but well- kept coaches we rubbed shoulders - literally with the other Brobdignagians, many of whom spoke our northern language.

Engineer Zubieta's Engine

the controls

All aboard!

Lots of well-worn brass and patina, and smoke and whistles

Engineer Porta's machine

Back at the ship now and one last shot with my telephoto lens. 








This  towering Matterhorn-like peak makes me thirsty just thinking about the gruelling climb to the top.

It's December 27. At 5 pm and we sail away. The sun will not set tonight until 10:15. Temperature is about 52F/12C. The Patagonia Amber Lager sure goes down well.

...ooo0ooo...

next blog post is: Punta Arenas, Chile

www.noordinaryseaman.com for more photography and writing