Through the Straits of Magellan

Through the Straits of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, Glacier Alley and Cape Horn

Really not a whole lot to say about this leg of the trip.  We can only hope that the pictures can do it justice, which is unlikely.

We boarded our small ship, the Via Australis at the Chilean port of Punta Arenas at the southern tip of the continent.  The Australis is one of the few ships licensed and permitted to ply the shallow waters of the Straits-she draws only three meters which according to Gary, our source of all things nautical, is very low for a ship so big.  But it allows us to sail the narrow channels inaccessible to the bigger cruise ships. Our boat accommodated about 120 people, mostly comprised of 4 or 5 tour groups but also a few small groups and couples traveling on their own. 

The seas can get pretty rough down here (Ask Magellan.  Seafaring lore has it that during his 1520 transit he was so hopped up on Dramamine that he commanded his small fleet through the Straits all the way to the Pacific in drag, dressed as Carmen Miranda).  So all of the travelers we met had some sort of antidote for seasickness, like drugs and patches and bracelets and amulets and charms of various kinds.  As it turned out, we needed none of it.  Smooth sailing.  The staff was very informative—lectures and presentations on where we were and what we were doing (useful information always) and the level of service was surprisingly good. The open bar didn't hurt either.

Hot chocolate and scotch...surprisingly good.

The Via Australis and one of several Zodiacs.

But the scenery!! We cruised through the beginnings of the Straits of Magellan, stopping at islands both naturally and  historically important, where we went ashore on Zodiacs.  After our hike we returned to the beach to reboard the Zodiac.  The ship staff were waiting at the make-shift dock where they had set up a linen-draped table, dispensing hot chocolate and scotch whisky.  We exited the Straits into open water, then re-entered into the Beagle Channel, where Darwin had sailed in 1832.  There it got REALLY amazing as we entered the narrows of Glacier Alley, a series of five magnificent glaciers that we passed just before sunset in the span of about an hour.  They are named for various European countries, and as we passed the Romanche (Swiss) Glacier the ship made the announcement and suddenly the waiters appeared with Swiss wine and trays of cheese hors d’oeuvres. And so it went, the spectacle repeated.  Ten minutes later it was the German Glacier, where they served German beer and sausages; then France (champagne and brie), Italy (pizza and chianti), and the Netherlands (Heineken and pastries).  And so it went, all accompanied by music from the countries, of course.  We are thankful the glaciers were not named in this age of commercialism; then we’d have the Jiffy Lube Oil Change Glacier, the Fifth Third Glacier, etc.

Swiss Glacier, first of five in the narrow channel that forms Glacier Alley

Waterfall cascading down the Germany Glacier, the most spectacular

  

On the afternoon of our last day on board we approached the bottom of Tierra del Fuego and neared the true tip of the continent.  We were told the weather was unpredictable and we would be allowed a Zodiac landing only if weather permitted.  The day was gray but the water calm, and at about 6:30 we landed and hiked on the southern tip—Cape Horn!   What an experience. We found out later just how lucky we had been. The ship ahead of us by several hours could not land at Cape Horn due to high winds. It turns out that we were blessed throughout this cruise with unseasonably warm, mild weather that rarely occurs here. Nelson, our guide who has done this trip many times, commented that he saw some waterfalls and mountains for the first time on this trip.

After landing, we used the landscape as
a coat rack for our life vests.

Over-excited travelers.

The next morning we awoke dockside at the Argentine city of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.  It is therefore known for holding the record for the southernmost everything—southernmost city, southernmost Catholic Church, southernmost laundromat, southernmost strip club, etc.  It is also the site of a war memorial for the 1982 war over the Falkland Islands, which the Argentines insist on calling Islas Malvinas.  What a waste of lives. (More about that in another post)

Zodiacs stored on the top deck, ready for action!

Crewperson Monica announces her support
for J.B. Grose's bid for Allen Park city council.

And so back to Buenos Aires and the end of our tour and the beginning of our independent hippie backpacking adventures to Iguazu Falls and the Uruguayn coast.  More to follow!!

Buenos Aires to Patagonia

The Trip to Patagonia Finally Begins...
After our low-impact introduction to Argentina, we traveled to the Big City (Buenos Aires, 13 million) with Señor Lopez, a cab driver we hired through the helpful Draghi family.  The four of us paid a whopping $65 for the 80-mile thrill ride from the B&B to our hotel. Although he spoke no English and we understood limited Spanish, he gave us a running commentary as we careened through traffic on Avenida 9th of Julio, the widest street in the world. We met up with our group, and began the trip in earnest.

The group consists of 23 of us and Nelson, our leader. We had arranged this group with Eric and Debbie whom we met on our Peru trip. Between the four of us and Gail, we managed to get 20 travelers; Jim Holubka, Chris and Gary, Bill and Betsy, Lenore and Bill, Tina and Rory, Lynn and Barry, Don and Margie, and John and Susan. Nancy, Mary, and Bill also joined in, not knowing that the rest of us were connected. What good sports! Everyone was excited to be here and friendly, so we were off to a good start. Our trip leader, Nelson, is an open, funny, skilled guide. He set the stage for "Learning and Discovery", OAT's favorite catchphrase, and for a positive group experience.

Michigan Mafia (left) and the     Group Shot near Calafate

We spent two days seeing city sights, eating red meat and ice cream, and sweating profusely (like a Nixon appointee on the witness stand!) as Nelson ushered us around town. The city is very big and VERY European in appearance. Peru and Ecuador were populated by people who blended European with indigenous ancestry, and we expected to see the same in Argentina. Not the case. The indigenous population here was wiped out,quickly, and with Argentina devoid of both riches to plunder and people to enslave, the Spanish lost interest for a few hundred years. Had Spain taken an early interest and preserved a few Indians for slave labor, this place would be Mexico.  It is not. So Argentina was populated by European immigrants, mostly in the 19^th Century. Seventy percent of the people here are of Italian ancestry, with Spanish running a close second. Pasta and pizza are as common as steak in the restaurants. Who knew? I guess we could have figured it out if we had paid closer attention to the travel information Overseas Adventure Travel sent us. It isn't the first time we've been a little lazy with our research.

The people here are very open and willing to share their ideas and opinions. Elena, our hostess for a home-hosted dinner, dissed President Christina and talked very frankly about the political turmoil and it's effect on daily life. People who want to buy a home must do so with American dollars, and must pay the full price in cash. Mortgages do not exist. They also distrust banks for very real reasons, so they must save this money in safe deposit boxes or at home. Salaries are low, so it's hard to imagine how anyone manages to buy a home here.

We Were There!!

After this brief intro to Buenos Aires, our group flew to Calafate, Argentina, to begin exploring Patagonia. This was the real meat of our trip, and it was a real challenge to prepare for it. Our instructions suggested strongly that we bring waterproof hiking boots, hiking poles, warm clothing, waterproof pants and jackets, waterproof gloves and long johns. They say that you can experience all four seasons in one day in Patagonia, and some of us want to be comfortable. Our problem was that after the Patagonia experience we were heading for the near-tropical beaches of northern Uruguay. Consequently, packing for this trip in a back-pack was a bitch.

Calafate’s reason for being is that it is the gateway to the magnificent glaciers.  Twenty years ago it had a local population of a few hundred.  The sheep ranches in the neighborhood ran to millions of acres.  Now it is tarted up like Banff ; it has a permanent population of over 20,000, and a transient nightly tourist population of 6800.  Like Banff, lots of people walking around in fashionable hiking clothes who look like they haven’t climbed anything more arduous than the stairs to the second floor at the REI outfitters store.  Kind of like us.

But the Glaciers!! We headed to Los Glaciares National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to hike and see the Perito Moreno Glacier. 

Perito Moreno Glacier

On the way we stopped whenever something interesting caught our eye. Examples? A fox chasing a hare up a hill (the hare got away); a female gaucha on her horse, looking for a lost cow (she was Swiss, the gaucha, not the cow); condors, or any other large animal. The glaciers in this area are part of the largest continental ice after Antarctica, and they are spectacular. We saw the glacier calving; sending chunks of ice the size of garbage trucks thundering into the pristine glacial lake below. It was a thrill!

Pagan Saint answered all our prayers!

We crossed the border into Chile the next day en route to Torres del Paine, a remote, beautiful national park. On the way, local guides shared vast quantities of information with us. We stopped at a shrine for a local folk hero, Gauchito Gil. Locals venerate him as a popular saint, and leave offerings of beer at his shrines. We wanted all the good fortune possible, so we stopped and left our offering for him. Why not? The Patagonian wind made our hike exhilarating. We saw a few condors and many guanacos, which are camel/llama-like animals that were uncooperative with our attempts at photography.  The next day, we visited another area of the park, where we hiked in very different terrain.  We hiked over a very swingy suspension bridge (a maximum of six people at a time please!), through forest, and over the gravel terminal moraine of the glacier before we headed uphill. The view made the work worthwhile, as we hope you can tell from our photos.

Single guanaco lookout protects herds from pumas

NEXT POST…Cruise through the Straits of Magellan

San Antonio de Areco and a Tattoo in the Pampas

Four days of wanton indolence, great food, and South American Orientation
Now that we're retired and we have way more time than money, we have the luxury of padding the travel itinerary with a few extra lazy days here and there.  It is a great way to get oriented.  So we traveled Detroit-Atlanta-Buenos Aires, where we met up with Chris and Gary, who had flown Phoenix-Dallas-Buenos Aires for our pre-trip we cobbled together months ago.  We researched possible candidates for a lazy orientation and we did good.  Real good.  Muy Bueno, as they like to say down here.

Our B&B

Our Room

San Antonio de Areco is a lovely colonial town about 80 miles north of Buenos Aires in the agricultural ranch country known as the pampas, home of the gaucho culture that Argentina is known for.  We had booked a great B&B run by a wonderful local family--sisters Valeria and Lucila did the heavy lifting, but matriarch Marta and sculptor brother Marcelo were there for local color.  They ran a silver museum that faced the colonial plaza, and the beautifully sculptured grounds housed the B&B.  Charming as hell.  It included a wonderful breakfast and we know it's not about the money but we spent more per night at the Motel 6 in Youngstown last summer (a trip we chose not to include in our BLOG chronicles!)

What will Dr. McCord say?

We just enjoyed the town, adapted to summer and Argentine culture, brushed up on our Spanish, rode the hotel's bikes around the town and the countryside and had some great typical meals, which mostly consist of the famous Argentine beef.  Roger was tempted to email a photo of some of this fare to his cardiologist so they have something to talk about when we return.




A Tattoo in the Pampas

Roger has always thought that if someone didn’t want him to gawk at her tattoo, she wouldn’t have had her body inked in a spot where he could see it.  And he has always thought tattoos were terrific conversation starters: “Oh, I see you have a portrait of Charles Manson tattooed on your kneecap.Was he a zany character, or what?”

So he became interested in striking up a conversation with a tattooed young woman poolside at our B&B in San Antonio de Areco, about 80 miles north of Buenos Aires.  We can’t say they were particularly attractive, the tattoos, but they were numerous; she had more tattoos than the Taylor homecoming court.We knew she spoke only Spanish, so it caught Roger's eye when he saw English writing wrapped around her leg, pretty high up where the panty line might be, were she not in a bikini. 

He tried discreetly to scarf an eyeload of text, moving ever closer to bring the words into focus.  And Linda's like, "WTF!! Get your head out of there!” And Roger's like, “But I’m only trying to read her thigh!” Which only served to get the Argentine girl agitated, further obscuring the text.

When he finally got the thing deciphered, it turned out to be:

Who wants to live forever

When forever is Today?

That’s a lot of philosophy for a small thigh.  She explained that it was from a Queen song.

That’s why we like to travel. Because it’s so enriching.

*****************************************************************************

Yanqui Go Home!!!


                                         Chris and Gary
                                            reconnoitre

Malbec wine-US$1.60 in the market

Next in the upcoming BLOG: Patagonia, the Chilean glaciers, the Straits of Magellan, and cape Horn!