After the cruise

We debarked (nautical for got off) the ship in Valparaiso, Chile and took a coach to Santiago, Chile for our flight to Las Vegas.
Valparaiso is a city of hills - built on 44 of them according to our tour guide. Funiculars are used extensively by pedestrians but the many sets of steps are another option.

Funicular is the yellow cabin on the rails

Funicular rails far right of picture

Between Valparaiso and Santiago we passed through a very fertile valley where significant agriculture is evident. We saw acres of sweet corn, many types of vegetables, grapes being grown for wine and eating, sugar cane, almonds, flowers, and many other agricultural products.

 

 

We stayed over night in the financial district of Santiago - a very modern and dynamic part of the city.

The Hard Rock Cafe was an easy choice for dinner.

Our waiter (Chilean) had just returned from working several months in Canmore, Alberta. He really looked after us and made some good recommendations for local beer - Cristal. Sleep well - Copa Airlines tomorrow - Las Vegas via Panama City

We arrived without incident in Vegas and picked up a rental car and headed for our hotel.
Christine got tickets to a game show - the free booze was flowing - plenty of snacks were available - and a great time was promised. Christines' name was drawn - up on stage and do your stuff lady. She won her game, her team won the event and each team member came out with a couple of hundred dollars in prize money. Yeah!!! A great night.
The following morning we headed south for Laughlin, Nevada. Ed needed a good walk so he completed the almost 6 mile round trip to the Davis dam.

We then headed further south to Havasu City - London Bridge was relocated from London, England to here in the desert. A canal was created to allow water to flow from Lake Havasu - only in America!

A drive to Oatman, Nevada on the old Route 66 was our next excursion.

 

The history of this town is centered around gold mining and was quite prosperous in years gone by. Now it is a tourist trap but many of the old mining shacks and mine sites remain. Also there are numerous wild burros in the area and they have learned to wander into town around lunchtime and be fed carrots by the tourists.

We passed this small group on the way into town - they followed us

Hedging - we might run out of gas

Oatman post office

We returned to Vegas for a few days before heading back to Calgary and took the opportunity to see Red Rock Canyon.

 

 

This is a great location for climbing and hiking

Ed on a mini scramble

Dream on buster

 

While in Vegas we took in a couple of shows - Penn & Teller and Dancing Queen. Ed enjoyed the magic of P & T and both of us enjoyed the dancing, singing and high energy of Dancing Queen - long live ABBA

 

See you in Calgary

Sea Days & other stuff

There are some days when no port is visited and  the whole day is spent at sea. These days present a great opportunity to catch up on some reading, do nothing, or explore the ship.

A great way to relax Christine - a pot of tea while listening to live music

or watching the Tango

 perhaps a swim - indoors

or an outdoor swim

and later in the evening watch a movie under the stars on the "big" screen

watch/listen to some of the presentations and seminars - this fellow did an amazing job of creating table decorations from fresh fruit

and once in a while the ship needs to be refueled as well as the passengers - the tanker tied up beside us in one of the ports and pumped directly into the ships tanks

take in some of the many live entertainment options

this was a full production show of the "British Invasion" rock music era in the 60s

Motown anybody?

or meeting people and making new friends - Ed and Noel (Australian)

wrapped up for a cold day in the far down south heading for Cape Horn.

Christine & Ed teamed up with Noel and his wife Lorraine to win a trivia quiz game - the prize - a bottle of champagne -Yeah!!! 

Just looking out over the rail and watching the ocean pass by can be quite soothing and sometimes exciting - we saw flying fish, whales and dolphins, an albatross and numerous other sea birds. While passing through Drakes Passage and the Straits of Magellan we were entertained by seals.
We sailed over 10,000 nautical miles during our 32 day cruise. We passed through numerous time zones, experienced  drastic changes in weather from very hot and sunny to the complete opposite where Calgary appropriate winter clothing was required.
We crossed the Equator where generally the seas are calm and rounded Cape Horn which is considered one of the most stormy places in the world.

we are now "certified"

Our visit to Ushuaia, Argentina was eventful because the ship was registered in the Bahamas, had a British captain and some of the crew were also British. Argentina is in dispute with Britain over the Falklands (referred to as Islas Malvinas  by Argentina). The Argentinian port officials  allowed our ship to almost tie up to its assigned berth before advising that we should anchor out in the bay and tender all passengers ashore. Fun and games with a very serious undertone. Comes across as kind of petty but when you have fought a war and lost maybe this is the way to feel a little better about it.

 

We love the many sunrises (Christine saw many more than Ed) and sunsets - very appealing to the eye and a great way to start or end your day

Almost the end of a great vacation and adventure but we have a couple more weeks of fun on land before returning home. Join us for the dash to the finish line.

Puerto Montt, Chile



As we continue our journey north the weather is beginning to become warmer but it is still a cool 15C at noon in Puerto Montt.

This small fishing town is the gateway to the Chilean Lake District - an area popular for climbing, hiking, camping, fishing and many other outdoor pursuits. The town buildings are very rustic and visually interesting. The row of general stores in the picture below have the family living quarters above. The stores are jammed with all kinds of general supplies and it is almost impossible to navigate through the narrow aisles between the goods.



This cute little girl was hanging handicrafts onto a peg board outside of her parents store. She was perhaps three years old at most.

Fishing boats

Street dogs choose the most unusual places to hang out - there are 5 or 6 on this tin roof

Local salmon - mostly farmed

Local artisan cheeses

Mostly local fruit and vegetables are sold in the small market stores - large variety and excellent quality - the strings in the top centre of picture are smoked mussels. Smoked and dried shell fish was available in many of the stores and blocks of dried sea weed were also commonly seen for sale.

Cathedral built from local red cedar - copper cupola - very impressive

Smiling Llama - take a picture - cheap!!

Sail away - Mount Osorno (height 2650m) in background is often compared to Mt Fuji in Japan because of its similar shape. Osorno is one of the most active volcanoes in the southern Chilean Andes - it is snow capped year round.

Punta Arenas, Chile

Since leaving Ushuaia we have sailed almost continuously through fjords and channels while being surrounded by high mountains, glaciers and rugged islands. The area is unbelievably beautiful but the weather is very inhospitable and has ranged from a few degrees above zero C to 12 or so. Also, the weather changes frequently from sun to cloud, calm to wind and rain - not at all pleasant.

Glacial ice flowing into the ocean

Hanging glacier

Hand of the Devil - peaks at right of picture

 



Punta Arenas is in a sheltered location in the Straits of Magellan. The strait, is a safe passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It was discovered in 1520 by, and named after, Ferdinand Magellan the Portuguese explorer.
Punta Arenas' glory has faded from being a busy port (prior to opening of Panama canal) to being mainly a supply station for Antarctic explorers and the entry point for tourists visiting Chilean Patagonia.

We took the opportunity to visit a local Magellanic penguin colony - most were  out fishing but the few that were home were more than happy to pose for pictures but not too close please

Cute little guys about 16" tall

 

After returning to town a leisurely stroll and wandering took up most of the remainder of the day

City Hall

Cathedral

Town Square park

 Street dogs are seen in almost every town and city in South America. Although the dogs do not belong to anyone, they are not at all vicious and appear to spend all of their day either sleeping or scrounging for food.

This was not a warm day and the dogs were taking full advantage of the suns' rays.

Don't bother me "I'm busy"

One of the few cats (perhaps because of the many dogs) we have seen and this one took a real fancy to Christine. Aww, can I take it home?

Mural remembering the busy port up to the early 1900s