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CHILE
(Chile Flag)
(Chile Map)
WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 25, 2009:
Wednesday evening about 3 hours after we left Ushuaia, Argentina we entered a breathtaking part of the Beagle Channel.
We were now in Chilean waters and the sun had almost set and the water was calm and peaceful.
We passed four spectacular glaciers that were all named after European countries.
I sat on my balcony and enjoyed the beautiful setting until it was too dark to see anything anymore.
7 minute video of the beautiful glaciers on the Beagle Channel. Click on the player above to watch on ©YouTube. |
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2009:
Thursday morning we sailed into Punta Arenas, Chile. As usual, the weather was great.
Punta Arenas (literally in Spanish: "Sandy Point") is the most prominent settlement on the Strait of Magellan.
Punta Arenas is the southernmost city of its size in the world.
11 minute video of Punta Arenas, Chile. Click on the player above to watch on ©YouTube. |
Thursday afternoon we drove out to the Otway Sound Penguin Colony.
It was pretty much a waste of time. We saw very few penguins due to it being late in the season.
9 minute video of my journey to the Otway Sound Penguin Colony in southern Chile. Click on the player above to watch on ©YouTube. |
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Hello from Patagonia! We spent all day today in Punta Arenas, Chili. We got here about 90 minutes late this morning due to being late leaving Ushuaia late yesterday afternoon. It was a spectacular sail out of Ushuaia last night. I'm not sure if it was still the Beagle Channel we were sailing through or some other fjord but it was beautiful. It was a nice clear night as we sailed down the fjord with the mountains towering above us. When we were about three or four hours out of Ushuaia and the sun was setting we passed by five breath taking glaciers all named after countries. I think the time of day added to the beauty of the place. It was so peaceful and quiet as we sailed past these huge glaciers and towering mountains with the sun setting behind us. I sat on my balcony for hours until it got completely dark and I couldn't see any more. The attached picture is of the first of the five glaciers. I think this one is the Holland Glacier, but I am not sure. It was a beautiful morning when we sailed into Punta Arenas about 8:30 this morning. The local dolphin community was in the harbor to greet us. There must have been a hundred of them. They were everywhere. Later when we were tendering to shore there were dolphins swimming by the tender just inches from the window I was looking out. When I got to shore I took a tour of the city. This city claims to be the southern most city in the world also. They say Ushuaia is only a town and they are a city with more than 100,000 people. Anyway, on our tour we visited a couple museums, the most beautiful cemetery I have ever seen, the town square and a nice vista point overlooking the city and the Straits of Magellan. The this afternoon I went out to Otway Sound Penguin Colony. That was a big disappointment. Took 90 minutes on gravel roads to get there and only saw a few penguins. Not nearly as nice as Gypsy Cove in the Falkland Islands when we saw thousands of them. This was our last port before the end of the cruise. We have three sea days now sailing north to Santiago. We will cruise through the Chilean Fjords on the way. More later, Tim |
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2009:
Friday was the first of three sea days before the end of the cruise in Valparaiso.
Today we sailed through the Chilean Fjords. The weather was gloomy the entire day.
3 minute video of the Chilean Fjords. Click on the player above to watch on ©YouTube. |
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Hello, I wouldn't have written today except for the fact that I purchased 250 minutes of Internet time and I only have 3 days left on the ship to use it up. Gloomy and rainy this morning as we sail north up the coast of South America. Have been in the Pacific Ocean overnight. At 11:00am as I am writing this the Captain is just now pulling the ship into the inner passage of the Chilean Fjords to get out of the rough seas for a while. He says we will remain inside until about 8:00 this evening when we will once again go back into the Pacific. If some of these clouds lift he says it will be scenic, but it's doubtful that the weather will improve much. Tim |
SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2009:
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Hello, This is the last day of the cruise. Last night was the farewell party and the champagne waterfall. The captain gave his farewell speech. Tomorrow morning we dock in Valparaiso, I am scheduled to get off the ship at 9:15 and join my land tour to Machu Picchu. It is about a 90 minute drive to Santiago from the port. We are supposed to tour the city before retiring to the hotel for the evening. Tuesday we fly to Lima, Peru. It is a 3 or 4 hour flight. We tour Lima and spend the night. Wednesday it is back to the airport for the third day in a row for our flight to Cusco. The plane doesn't have to descend much to get into Cusco. The town has an elevation of about 10,000 feet. We spend Wednesday night in Cusco. Then Thursday is our scenic journey to Machu Picchu by train. It's an all day excursion, takes about 15 hours round trip. Friday I fly back to Lima for my final night of the trip before flying home Saturday. Tim |
MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2009:
Monday morning our cruise ended and we disembarked the ship in Valparaiso, Chile.
All we got to see of Valparaiso was from the bus window on the way to Santiago.
4 minute video of Valparaiso, Chile as seen through a bus window. Click on the player above to watch on ©YouTube. |
We arrived in Santiago around 2:00 P.M.
We took a funicular to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal for a nice view of the city.
Santiago is the capital and largest city of Chile with a population over five million people.
9 minute video of Santiago, Chile. Click on the player above to watch on ©YouTube. |
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Hello, Last we talked was the day before I got off the ship. I has not been a whole lot of fun since then. Sat in the lounge on the ship for three hours before they finally let us off the ship. Got off the ship in Valparaiso, Chile. Met up with the group which is taking the Machu Picchu post-cruise tour. There are only about 30 of us, a much smaller group than the pre-cruise tour. The first thing we did was drive around Valparaiso for what seemed like forever and then finally headed toward Santiago, a 90 minute drive. We got to our hotel in Santiago around 3:00. At 4:00 we had a city tour of Santiago. Again most of that was spent on the bus. We only got off twice and one of those stops was at a jewelry store. And the guide spoke almost no English, so most of the time we had no idea what he was saying. Went to dinner at 8:00, got back to the hotel at 10:00. And then came the good news. We had to meet in the lobby at 4:30 A.M. to goto the airport. Today's flight to Lima, Peru went smoothly except for the ungodly hour we had to wake up. Got to our hotel here in Lima at 11:00 this morning. This city is huge, over 8 million people. We are on our own until tomorrow morning when it is back to the airport again for the flight to Cusco. Then Thursday is the all day trip to Machu Picchu by train. It better be a spectacular trip to be worth the 3 day travel ordeal it took to get there. I attached a picture of Santiago. It was taken from the one of the stops on the tour, not the jewelry store. Sorry, I know you probably wanted to see that. We rode the funicular to the top of a mountain for a nice view of the city of Santiago. That is the picture. I will write from Cusco if I have Internet, if not I'll be home soon and you won't have to read any more boring emails from me until China in October. Tim |
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