Puerto Arenas, Puerto Chacabuco and Chilean Fjords
We are winding out way through the small island passages into blessed calmer waters. We are now in the strait of Magellan. He was killed by the native Indians and this statue memorializes him. This is a shortcut through the very south of the continent that was safer than going around the Horn. This harbor area was crowded with sailing ships before the Panama Canal was built and now only a few cruise ships. This is their late summer and it has been cold and rainy and the decks have been closed due to the winds.
end of the Pan American highway which goes
into northern Alaska.
We drove to a lookout on the tour to get a view of all the painted red, green and blue metal roofs and the straits of Magellan.
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We did a bus tour here that included a cemetery that was very unusual. If your mausoleum has an upright cross--you are Catholic. If it is sideways, you are not. Many of the burial sites had pictures of the deceased. The bathroom there was tricky--you had to get your toilet paper BEFORE you went in the stall. If you missed getting it on the way in--well that was a dilemma! Used toilet paper was put in a basket--not down the toilet as expected!
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| Graves stacked high |
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| Unusual trees in cemetery |
The on-board lectures by Peter, who has made the trip around the Horn 56 times, are absolutely great! No one misses them. We are now going in and out of channels as we work out way north through the Chilean Fjords.
Chilean Fjords
This area was amazing and would have been even better if sunny. Fjords are deep valleys cut by long gone glaciers that fill up with water. The mountains go right down to the water line with high glaciers visible. We watched the scenery from the comfort of the all window Horizons lounge as we were served Afternoon tea. Everyday we would swear only to drink tea but they kept coming around with carts full of sweets and little crustless sandwiches that were so tempting! There is also a string quartet playing that relaxes our normal good sense!
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If we are allowed outside on the deck, it requires all our warm clothes even for a short time. You can see the glacial ice floating as we near the Asian Glacier. The captain decided to sent out a life boat to bring some of this 100 year old ice on board. It was suggested it would complement 100 year old Scotch nicely!
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| Glacial Ice |
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| Collecting glacial ice |
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| Fjords Chile |
Today the sun is shining as we tendered off to this little town. Not much to see here except beautiful scenery! There are 360 degrees of mountains all around with some glaciers. Don't know how the captain managed to get us such a great viewing spot.
They are taking the tenders (little shore boats) back up into the ship--they double as life boats so want to made sure they aren't left behind.
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| Lifting tender back onboard |
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| Harbor at Puerto Chacabuco |
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