The Environs of Santiago, Chile

Vinavar Winery

We were kicked off the ship about 6:15 AM at the port of San Antonio. Since our flight wasn’t until 9:45 PM, we took a tour of the area. Our first stop was the Vinavar Winery. The valley where the grapes are grown is only 20 miles from the ocean, keeping the climate cool. The best grapes to grow in this area make good sparkling and white wines as well as Pinot Noir. We arrived about a month before the harvest normally begins. At the head of each row of grapes are roses, the early warning sign of insect infestation. We sampled our wine about 9 AM in the morning.

Vineyard in the morning mist

Next, we visited a ranch, where they train horses for the Chilean Rodeo.  They men and women were dressed in traditional costume and after a morning beef choro, we were treated to traditional music and a horse show. These horses are really well-trained for 7-8 years, doing side steps and stepping off intricate patterns in the corral. After our show, we had a delicious lunch with more local wine.

Then we headed off to Santiago (after a nap on the bus). Here we had a city tour by bus. It was a little strange: we saw most of the major neighborhoods and architectural highlights in the city, but never got off the bus, until we reached the park with a view of the entire city below. From there, we headed to the airport, arriving about 5 PM, just in time to wait for the Pope who had just landed at the airport. Our guide suggested immediately getting in line for our airline, even though it was 4 ½ hours before our flight. The counter didn’t even open for an hour. It took another hour to get to the front of the line. By then, Mary was stuggling. We got her a wheelchair, which got us through passport control and security in minimal time to get to the gate. For the rest of the trip, we had wheelchair assistance at each airport. That almost made up for the crowded conditions on the American Airlines 777. There was almost no leg-room and after serving us dinner, we never saw the attendants again until breakfast – leaving us with little water during the night. No more international American flights for us.

To see more pictures and videos of this trip, there is a 16 minute narrated video on youtube. 

So how was the trip? We had done this trip 15 years ago but hadn’t gone to Iguazu Falls. The Falls were the highlight of the trip – everything we expected from the pictures, with the thrill of being there. I’m glad we stayed at the hotel in the park, it gave us the freedom to do the trails on our own time and pace. The steaks in Buenos Aires are still amazing, and the city does remind one of a European capital, but we forgot to try out the gelato. As we headed along the coast, we could see that Argentina had greatly increased their accommodations for tourists. Last time, the buses in Puerto Madryn were not air-conditioned and had come in from every town within 600 miles. Now the roads were in better shape, the park had new facilities for tourists, and the buses were air-conditioned. Our biggest disappointment was not seeing the Pius XI glacier, I think our ship was too big to handle that channel. We felt fortunate to again land at Stanley on the Falkland Islands, the port most likely to be skipped because of rough seas. All in all, we had a good sight-filled trip.

DaVinci Code Lecture

Lascaux Cave Painting

We spent today at sea. The most fascinating part of the day was a lecture titled “Decoding the DaVinci Code”, given by the violinist we had heard a few nights ago. The title was meant to capture your interest, even though the lecture itself only briefly touched on DaVinci. He started by pointing out some recent findings from the painting of animals and hunters discovered in Lascaux Cave in southern France. This cave was created by a hunter/gatherer clan over 19000 years ago. The recent discovery is that the dots and stars around the animals had meaning! They appear to mark the solar and lunar times that animals migrated to the area, mated, and give birth – in other words, it told hunters when to hunt! On our trip, we had seen pictures of the Cave of the Hands in Southern Argentina with similar dots and star patterns, could this be similar? Another recent discovery is Turkey’s Gobekli Temple, which predates Stonehenge by 6000 years. It seems to be a solar observatory, marking the solstice and equinoxes and key stars. This implies that the hunter gatherer societies were much more sophisticated that we previous believed.

The Code

The second part of the puzzle are the Gnostic gospels found in 1945. These gospels seem to have many passages that just don’t make sense. But recently, someone suggested that these gospels make sense if you look at various terms that are opposites God-Man, Heaven-Earth, Immoral-Mortal, Light-Dark. If you equate the ‘good’ side of these terms (the first ones in my example) with Hunter-Gatherer and the ‘bad” side with “agricultural society”, the gospels make sense. Several universities have now concluded that statistically this appears to be a code. This code also appears in several even older documents like the Instruction of Shirrupak, the first know document. In general, as you read these documents after translating the code – they talk about the hunter-gatherers having knowledge that the agriculturalist don’t have (the behavior of animals based on the seasons) and that the hunter-gatherers should keep this knowledge from them. Why? Just like the American cattle ranchers versus the farmers, farming threatens the way of life of the hunter/rancher.

The Hymns of Enheduanna

What has this to do with the DaVinci code? Well, here is the stretch in my mind. Water in the code means knowledge. If you look at the Mona Lisa, could her smile be a smirk? Did Leonardo understand this code? If you look at the background of many of his paintings, water is in the mountains and higher ground (knowledge is possessed by the hunter-gatherer), but the valleys are dry (the farmers don’t have the knowledge).

Puerto Montt

Darwin's Voyage on the Beagle

Yesterday’s lecture was about Charles Darwin and the voyage of the Beagle. Charles studied Botany at Cambridge and joined Captain Robert Fitzroy on the Beagle’s second voyage around the world from Dec 1831 until 1836. This was a survey voyage, and Charles, prone to sea-sickness, spent as much time as possible ashore, studying the fossils, plants, and animals of the world. He spent 5 weeks in Galapagos and noted the wide variety of beaks on the finches, leading him to believe that there were separate species on the different islands. Today, we know that the beaks of these finches actually can change year to year based on the food sources. Thirty years after the voyage of the Beagle he published the Origin of Species.  He was hesitant to publish because he knew it would upset the church teaching and science of the day, including his very religious wife.

Orsono Volcano

Puerto Montt was settled in 1853 by German settlers. It is considered the entry to Patagonia. The town has doubled in population in the last 20 years since Salmon Farming was introduced in 1980. Today, Chile is second to Norway in Salmon exports. This is the Lake District of Chile with lots of rain, but no snow. The salmon start in hatcheries, then are moved to the Lakes as fingerlings, and finally to the sea. There are over 120 active volcanoes in Chile. The most beautiful here is Osorno, 8700 feet, almost a perfect cone, but it hasn’t erupted since 1863. Nearby is Calbuco volcano, 6670 feet, which erupted in ash three times in April, 2015. The volcano eruptions caused large evacuations, but little damage. But when the rains came after the outpouring of ash, roofs collapsed, rivers were re-routed, and landslides occurred. Everywhere we looked as we approached the Vincente Perex Rosales National Park, there were large piles of ash along the side, same when we came to the river. We took a 45 minute cruise on Lake Esmeralda the sun came out, and the view of the volcanoes and mountains were magnificent. 

Petrohue River

Then we took a short hike to the Petrohue River to see the rapids come down the river. It was impressive. This was the same river that I had rafted (a little further downstream) when we were here 15 years ago. Then we went to Puerto Varas, the city of roses, along the Lake Llanquiehue where we had a delicious lunch, including Pisca Sour, before a little time to wander the town square.

Puerto Varas

Amalia Glacier

Amelia Glacier

We were a disappointed at today's sights. Our primary stop was near the Amalia Glacier, and it was a rainy, foggy day, so there wasn't much to see.

Our visit in 2004

It was quite a contrast to our trip in 2004 in a smaller ship. We again had fog, but we came out of the fog to brilliant sunshine and had a gorgeous view of Pius XI glacier and the continental divide only seven miles from our ship. I'm not sure if the change in itinerary was due to the ship being larger, or the desire of the passengers to spend an extra day in Buenos Aires. But, if you get a chance visit the Fjords just north of Punta Arenas.

The Continental Divide

Punta Arenas

Wandering Albatross, Salesian Museum

Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) is the southern most city on the mainland and is just off the Strait of Magellan. The geography here is a little confusing. We’re in Chile, but this city faces East, not West. Across the strait is Useless Bay, which has over 100 shipwrecks. Ships that took shelter find that they often hit bottom, hence the name: useless. We toured the Salesian Museum, which gives a lot of information on the region. There are four distinct natural areas here: the pampas, which were settled by farmers/ranchers, the forest areas in the Andes, settled by hunter/gatherers, and the seacoast, settled by fishers/divers who lived their life in a canoe, and finally, Tierra del Fuego, with the Patagau people. The museum also displayed the penguins, birds, and animals of Patagonia. Finally, we had displays on the key industries here: whaling and the sheep. We visited the local cemetery focusing on the Grave of Jose Menendez, who was born poor in Spain, but became a rancher making his fortune from sheep here. Today, the family is still the richest in South America. The cypress trees make for an imposing sight throughout the cemetery. 



We had lunch on a sheep station. They have 7000 sheep, a small station. After lunch, we had a demonstration of sheep shearing. The shearer maintains control of the sheep by keeping it off balance. He sheared the sheep in about 5 minutes, yielding about $20 worth the wool. 

Fort Bulnes

We then headed to Fort Bulnes, the southern most point of the mainland and the place where Chili claimed this part of Patagonia in 1843. They landed one day before a French ship landed, and the French yielded to their claim. They have built a re-creation of the Fort including the stables, church, watch tower, barracks, and jail. Eventually, the settlement moved to Punta Arenas, because the weather proved too extreme on this point. It was a forested area because it was higher than everywhere else. Here we saw a tree unique to Patagonia, the Arokera Anokano, related to the Monkey tree.


We returned to the city to visit the central square with its statue of Magellan and a viewpoint above the city before heading back to the ship. We were exhausted - this proved to be an 8 hour tour. We had pizza, ribs, and a hamburger on the Lido deck since we were too late for our early-sitting dinner.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia, the End of the World

Ushuaia means the bay that penetrates the sunset. The city itself has the mountains of Tierro del Fuego surrounding it on three sides creating a picturesque scene. We did a scenic cruise in the Beagle Channel, primarily to spot the wildlife. Our first island was a large colony of Blue Eyed Cormorants (though they look like black and white penguins from a distance). They lay 3 eggs in November which hatch in December. We also saw Kelka and Dolphin Gulls. On another island we had South American Sea Lions. The alpha males were very evident, being about twice the size of the females, with a large mane, similar to lions. They can dive up to 50 meters deep. The guide warned us not to worry if we saw red on them, they eat so much King Crab that their excrement turns red. A little further along we saw many Southern Great Petrals, ending up at the Lighthouse at the End of the World. After returning to town, we took a short walk through the city.

Around Cape Horn

Magellan's Journey

Our lecture today was on Magellan; whose ships were the first to circumnavigate the world. He was born into a noble family in Portugal and sailed several times to the Southern Pacific via the Eastern route through the Red Sea and then along the coast of Asia. He thought that it might be a shorter route to the Spice Islands by heading West, rather than East. At the time, most people believed the world was flat, but Magellan felt it was round because he had seen the round shadow of the earth on the moon, when there was a lunar eclipse. The King of Portugal wouldn’t fund his trip, so he went to Spain and gave his theories and facts to the royal court, who funded the voyage. They left with 5 ships and 260 men in 1519. The king insisted that he could have only 5 Portuguese on the trip: he had a few more, but 3 of the 5 Captains were Spanish. The maps of the world at that time, only went as far South as Rio de Janeiro. He had explored the libraries at the time and heard that some people felt there would be a Western passage at the Rio de Plato (near Buenos Aires). They sailed along the along the coast of Africa and then headed West to Rio de Janeiro. They explored the Rio de Plata for 2 weeks before realizing they that it was not a passage west. They wintered at the Bay of St. Julian, where one of the Spanish Captains mutinied and was imprisoned. Heading further south they came upon the Patagon (big foot) people for which Patagonia is named. These people usually were naked only using furs (with the fur facing out) to protect from the wind. One of the ships was put in the lead, but it sailed into rocks and sank, but all the sailors were saved. They eventually found the Strait of Magellan and spent almost 2 months exploring its many bays and channels to finally emerge in the Pacific. Another ship deserted and headed back to Spain, so with 3 ships they crossed the Pacific in 98 days. Arriving in the Marshall Islands. Magellan himself was killed on Sabu, trying to conquer the island and convert the natives to Christianity. They lost 2 more ships in this region. The last ship finally made it to the Spice Islands. That ship would sail back to Spain with only 18 men surviving. But they returned with 381 sacks of cloves which made the journey profitable, worth more than the
five ships that had originally sailed.

Lighthouse on Cape Horn

A little before 5 PM, we sailed around Cape Horn. The weather was moderate, so we had time to take lots of pictures of this Southern most point of the continent. Here is the Southern most Lighthouse and weather station. Last time, we were here, pictures were difficult with 6-meter swells, strong winds, and rain.

Rounding the Cape

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

Christ Church Cathedral

We arrived in Port Stanley about 8 AM. The British established this port in 1845 and it specialized in repairs for boats traveling through the Straits of Magellan. Though there are some 20 hulls of ships destroyed by the Atlantic's storms. The town's landmark is the 125-year-old Christ Church Cathedral with a Whalebone arch in front made from the jaws of two blue whales. Most of the town consists of colorful houses with metal roofs and lots of gardens with flowers.  

Port Stanley

The island looks very barren - almost no trees, land mostly suitable for sheep and cattle grazing. Last time, we were here we drove to Bluff Cove to see the penguins. This time we took a 4-wheel drive vehicle to a Gentoo Penguin colony. We watched them for about an hour. Trying to figure out why suddenly two penguins would get into a fight and chase each other around the colony. Most of the time, there were making constant noise, until a small engine plane approached the colony, and then everything got quiet. The other excitement was watching groups of 3-6 penguins head off to or from the ocean to feed. We also had one King Penguin, among the colony, sort of sitting like a monarch above the others. On the way back, we saw UplandGeese and a large flock of Southern Giant Petrels. 



For evening entertainment, we had a ventriloquist, who was quite good and then Ye Old Pub Night, always a fun interactive experience. 

Ye Old Pub Night

At Sea: Shakleton

Endurance trapped in the ice

Today, we had a lecture of Shakleton's journey into the Antarctic, considered to be the epitome of a survival story. There goal was to cross the entire Antarctic continent, but their ship, the Endurance, got stuck in the ice during the winter of 1915. It approached within a mile of where they were to set out on their trek across the Antarctic, but then the ice started shifting father and farther into the sea. Eventually the ship was crushed and sunk, stranding its 28-man complement on the ice. After months spent in makeshift camps as the ice continued its northwards drift, their ice float almost melting to nothing, the party took to the lifeboats to reach the inhospitable, uninhabited Elephant Island. 

Elephant Island to South Georgia Island whaling station 

Shackleton and five others then made an 800-mile (1,300 km) open-boat journey in the James Caird to reach South Georgia. A storm almost had them miss the lone island, they almost wrecked trying to find a place to land the boat, and  then they had to climb the mountains of the island to reach the whaling camp on the other side (and feat which had never been done before.) From there, Shackleton was eventually able to mount a rescue of the men waiting on Elephant Island and bring them home without loss of life.

James Caird Launch

Puerto Madryn

Yesterday was a sea day as we went down the Eastern coast of Argentina. The day just went: between the meals, trivia games, shows, conversations, and a little reading. 

Today, we have an all-day tour to Punta Tombo, home to Magellanic Penguins from September to April. They come here to breed, nest, and molt their feathers. After leaving the city of 100,000 people, we're in a desert. Before the Andes rose, this was a lush area filled with tropical plants and dinosaurs. Today, they receive only about 200 mm/yr of rain. Most of the towns in this province of Chubut are on the Chubut river, the only river around in the region that reaches the sea. The water from wells is too salty to drink, so everyone is dependent on the river. We stop near the Welsh town of Trelew to see a life-size model of the skeleton for a Titanosaur that was unearthed here. The largest dinosaur yet discovered. The skeleton is now in New York, but other tours visit the local paleontology museum which is quite renowned. 

Titanosaur

We drove for 2 hours to Punta Tumbo. Here the penguins build their nests under bushes or in holes to be sheltered from the sun. The penguins generally go back to the same nest they had last year, which allows a male to find the same female year after year, unless another penguin has stolen the nest. There are over 210,000 nests here, or about 800,000 penguins. Besides the nesting pairs, juveniles come here before they reach sexual maturity, primarily to moat toward the end of the season. After the eggs, are laid, the male and female alternate at keeping the eggs warm, they have a patch between their legs without feathers to pass their body heat to the eggs. An interesting factoid, the adults can't recognize their chicks, they recognize the nest, and come back to feed the chicks that are in the nest. Usually at least one adult stays with the nest, while the other gathers food. But some of the nests are a 2-3 hour walk to the sea.

Montevideo, Uruguay

Independence Plaza

We sailed overnight to Montevideo, Uruguay. The channel was congested between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, so we ended up being about 2 hours late, arriving at 10 AM. We had time to play trivia and won a simple Princess backpack.

Bolas

Last time we were here, we took the city tour and didn’t find the city to be especially interesting. So this time, I walked into the center of town (about a mile) and then I visited Independence Plaza. Here they have preserved one gate of the former walled city and have a statue of independence here, Jose' Artigas in the center of the plaza. I decided to visit the Gaucho Museum. Unfortunately, everything was explained in Spanish. But what they displayed was pretty obvious: water storage horns and glasses, lots of regalia for cowboys and horses: bits, spurs, stirrups, knives, guns, bolas. Most of these were silver and gold plated. The museum was in a former mansion, now owned by a bank, who sponsor the museum. The museum was okay, still fitting with my perception of Montevideo.  

Mate for drinking tea

Tigre River

Yesterday, we were picked up at 9:00 from our hotel, so we arrived at the port at 9:30, way too early to board the ship. But they started the check-in process at 11:00 and we were on the Emerald Princess by noon. We just enjoyed our afternoon reading.

Ornate House on the Tigre

Today, we took a tour to see the Tigre river. The Rio de Plata where our ship is located in a wide river, over 85 miles wide. We took a bus to the end of the Rio de Plata and then took a boat to tour the delta of the River Tigre. Here people live on the islands of the delta. The housing is highly varied from really nice homes to some simple houses which are little more than shacks. Today, most of these homes are for the weekend and summers. We saw quite a few people since it is summer. Everything is boated in – we saw several grocery boats with large supplies of bottled gas and water as well as food. There is electricity and some running water, but the water can only be used for washing, they need bottled water for drinking and cooking. The gas is used for cooking. It was a pleasant little trip through the many small rivers in the delta. We had chosen this tour to get out of the city and see something different and it worked out.

Groceries Boat

That night we left for Montevideo, Uruguay.

Emerald Princess leaving Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

We spent most of yesterday, sitting in the airport or traveling to Buenos Aires. Our hotel is the Hotel Recoleta, just a few blocks from the famous cemetery. We went to a Tango Show that evening in a small restaurant, the Restaurante  y Gallo en el Tango. I was a little nervous on how good the show would be – but they had 6 dancers, 2 singers and the standard 4 piece band (Piano, bass, concertina, and violin). The put on an excellent show on the history of the Tango from 1910 or so to the present day.

El Atneneo Bookstore

In the morning, I went venturing out to see the central city. My first stop was the El Atneneo Grand Splendid bookstore. I realized once I stepped in the door that we had visited this store on our last visit to Buenos Aires, it is unforgettable. The bookstore is housed in a former theater – the box seats line the walls all around the main floor, but now instead of patrons they are filled with books. I walked on to the Colon Opera House – supposedly the fifth best opera house in the world, based on its acoustics. I arrived at 10:45 AM and managed to snatch the last ticket to the English tour at 11:00 AM. The building has been renovated between the years 2002 and 2010, so it was much more bright and cheery since our last visit in 2003. The floors, walls, curtains, and furniture have all been restored to look like they did when the theater was built in 1908. Electricity was used to light the chandeliers from the beginning and they were spectacular. The bottom floor was primarily marble walls and columns with tiling on the floor. Then when you ascended to the second floor the walls became much more ornate with gold leaf used on the columns. The main auditorium is also quite ornate. The acoustics are excellent because of the materials used everywhere. In fact, the wood floor is hollow underneath to add to the acoustics.  Cloth and wood to absorb sound on the main floor, with metal and stone above to reflect sound. After my tour, I did a quick walk to the main square of town to see the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, and the Casa Rosada, the office of the President.

Colon Opera House

In the afternoon, we did a 3 hour private walking tour with Don (from North Carolina) who has been living in Argentina for the last six years. We started touring Recoleta cemetery which was established in 1822. Most of Argentina’s historic figures are buried here in family tombs. The tombs go down about 10 meters as well as tower above you. We learned a lot about Argentine history and the constant conflict between the Federalists and Unionist parties. Of course, until Peron came along, the warring between these factions was among the rich – how much power should the state government have versus the federal. Some of the unique graves included Tomas Guido’s grave. He was the right hand man to General San Martin and his jumbled tomb is made from stones from the Andes. A beautiful statue of a young girl with her dog marks the tomb of Lilian Crociat de Szaszak who died a young bride in a 1970 Austrian avalanche. Sarmiento, a former president has a monument with a Condor on top. And, of course, Evita Duarte, the wife of Peron. After the cemetery, we walked the streets down to the Plaza St. Martin. Along the way, are many buildings with various European style architectures, many of these former homes have been turned into hotels and embassies including the Vatican embassy, Brazilian home of the ambassador, and the French embassy (which is where the Avenue de 9 Julia narrows because they couldn’t remove the embassy). Finally coming to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We ended our day having a great steak at Fervor and ordered Pastel de Pompas as a side dish – a delicious mixture of Potatoes, meat, and egg.

Recoleta Cemetery