Patagonian cruise, circum-Andean drive and a Pacific island hop back

[RooFlyer]

More from the ice in the lagoon ...

 

[RooFlyer]

The ice is thousands of years old, we were told. So, being a miner, I saw the value in getting out the ice axe and carving off a chunk ...




Especially when its mixed like this:




Cheers...



Refills enthusiastically given ... followed by coffee and Baileys ...

 

[ExpeditionCruiser]

Cheers...

View attachment 92405

Refills enthusiastically given ... followed by coffee and Baileys ...

Ha, fantastic!

 

[RooFlyer]

A bit about the food on board. 11 English speakers were put at one table and we had an excellent server, Marcello, to ourselves. Greatly added to the experience with humour and efficiency.

Me: Your English is really good!
him: Hey, so is yours!

These aren't in any particular order (and more later). Oh, did I say it was open bar the entire cruise? All day (well, we didn't try breakfast), all types (didn't ask for Champagne ). So wine at dinner kept coming as we asked for it, lunch as well (a bit of self control exhibited, however), then spirits in the lounges.

All Chilean wines of course and mostly very nice - a couple which were OK, but nothing special, but most were very enjoyable.

Our table, and we had lots of crab the first couple of days.




Listening to the safety demo via translation headphones (the only time they were used, outside the Captain's address). Not one which gave much confidence - no mention of bells / evacuation signals just lifejackets through crackly headphones. Probably the weakest aspect of the trip - all else was handled very well.




A couple of entrees:




Some of the wines (always a red and a white, and different every day)





The desert spread (entrees and mains were served to us, desserts on the table)

 

[RooFlyer]

The bridge was always open. On the right is the chart of the entrance to the glacier lagoon (of course they actually navigated electronically, but good to see a chart there too). At the bottom the lagoon, and the toip the fjord .. and the little channel in between ..





The glacier on closer approach:




Display of the ship's position on TV screens ... and on the right, a leopard seal, presumably after eating a penguino or two ..




More of that crystal coloured ice ...

 

[RB]

View attachment 92405

Refills enthusiastically given ... followed by coffee and Baileys ...

Looks like your fellow travellers had not heard about the open bar?(certainly not wearing win grins). Sure looks like a pretty good way to get around. Fantastic photos again!

 

[RooFlyer]

There was quite a bit of calving activity at the head of the glacier; hard to snap it breaking off, but then there is the splash, and the rebound out of the water:






The front of the glacier and the lagoon:





And that incredible blue colour of the ice:

 

[RooFlyer]

We had about an hour anchored in front of the glacier, then sailed off, back through the channel into the main waterway.




We sailed all night to reach the end of one of the fjords, at a hot springs location owned by the cruise company. We woke to find ourselves birthed at a dock




But although the weather was still overcast, we discovered some beautiful still conditions and wonderful reflections:



This is the barbeque lodge or 'asado' that we would have lunch at. Yum to come!




The hot baths were nothing to write home about, but the water clearly leaked into the lake:

 

[RooFlyer]

The monkey puzzle tree Araucaria araucana continued to fascinate. Endemic to central Chile and western Argentina, its the national tree of Chile. It can grow >1,300 years. We came across groves of them in western Argentina, a very different environment to here.





Some nice reflections on a boat trip we did around the upper fjord, and we disturbed a small colony of sea lions.

 

[RooFlyer]

Lunch at this stop was to be a highlight - and it was.

WE gathered in the asado (Chilean bbq house, pic above), which was heated by a fire in an old steam engine - brilliant!



Outside, we admired the asado parado where lamb is stretched across a frame and barbequed by an open fire.




The regular bbq handled the steaks, pork and chicken.



It was all delicious, and washed down by some fine reds.




... followed by the drinks trolley. We were well satisfied.

 

[RooFlyer]

During the night we again traversed the Gulf of Corcovado, 3hrs where the fjords are open to the Pacific Ocean, but a much smoother ride this time.

Morning dawned foggy and our first stop was a small island off the larger island of Chiloe, which forms the bulk of the western side of the large waterway. The island was hoist to a colony of Magellenic penguins ("penguinos"), who first met us as we motored in small boats towards the island.





This artistic effort was an accident, when I set my camera to take a burst of shots:





Last, a pair of flightless ducks ( I mean, what's the point?) ... and another penguin.

 

[RooFlyer]

That afternoon, we cruised further up the coast of Chiloe island and docked off a small village of Dalcahue. Options were to take taxi tours to a couple of destinations we chose to the close island of Achao which hosed one of the unique World Heritage Jesuit churches in this area.

The ferry to the island specialised in sideways docking:



The town of Achao is pretty quaint, and has access to the archipelago of course:




This is the church there - the oldest in the archipelago (completed 1770) and of a typical design and clad by wooden shingles. More of shingles in the district, later



Inside was both plainly decorated, with some flourishes in wood on the ceiling

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm sure most, if not all on this forum thinks about shingles from time to time (the construction one, not the medical!!); as in 'why don't we see more pictures of wooden shingles on AFF'? Well, wonder no longer. The shingles of Dalcahue and Achao are the final word:

 

[zig]

I'm sure most, if not all on this forum thinks about shingles from time to time (the construction one, not the medical!!); as in 'why don't we see more pictures of wooden shingles on AFF'? Well, wonder no longer. The shingles of Dalcahue and Achao are the final word:

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I was in Dalcahue and Achao last year and thought I had taken a lot of photos of shingles, but you beat me Beautiful part of the world.

 

[RooFlyer]

We returned to Dalcahue ...



And visited the church there ..




... with some reminders of the local lifestyle and dangers. A massibe 9+ earthquake in 1960 caused an equally massive tsunami along the southern Chilean coast, killing thousands.




.. and of course the local crafts. I had my eye on the number on the right for my niece back home in Tasmania, to ward off those winter chills (but thought better of it).

 

[drron]

What a shame.It would really suit you.:shock:

 

[RooFlyer]

.... ANYway ...

The cruise ended and I bade farewell to the 2 friends from Tasmania I was traveling with, for a bit over a week. They were off to Peru to do Manchu Picchu and JohnM and I were ff to western Argentina by road!

The map doesn't show the whole journey of this day, it leaves out the first bit. Unfortunately 'the condor' mis-timed his swoop so we failed to meet juddles in ether Puerto Montt or later. Next time, mate!!



The countryside was green and lush. We passed many trees with this flower, which looked all the world like leatherwood (as in honey) to me. I'll have to check if its related(Gondwana and all that).




Some interesting farm houses and a small town with a church we fuelled up in.





We passed through Chilean exit immigration on the road with little difficulty, then started to ascend the low pass to Argentina. Miraculously, near the border, the clouds parted and blue sky appeared for the first time in a week! We sailed across the pass and continental divide into Argentina.



Some galoot was occupying the exact border position. An eroded volcanic plug then appeared and this began poor JohnM's 10 day lesson in geology and volcanic geomorphology. He was very patient as I rabbited on about spatter cones, andesitic lava flows, scoriatic explosions and so on.

 

[love_the_life]

So the condor was in fact more like a penguin and didn't manage to swoop?

 

[RooFlyer]

Ymwstm,icpc.

 

[RooFlyer]

We drove down the mountain, buoyed by the great weather and mountain scenery. But THEN ...

... we went round a corner and was met by 50-75 cars lined up at the Argentine border station.




Not so bad, except for the first half hour, no cars moved, at all. Oh oh! I walked down to assess the situation and it appeared that after you made it to the car park, you joined one and/or a second and/or a third queue. The reason for the separate queues was not apparent.

After 30 mins, a few cars started moving forward, and then some more. Eventually we made it to the front of the queue and parked, and made our way, with all our ID and the car ID, and the permit to take the Chilean rental car into Argentina, with us. We milled about for a minute, then some official motioned us to a desk, where passports were checked, and permit STAMPED! OK, were we done? No! Pointed to another line, a long-ish one. Stand there for a while, and then a lucky break. Very efficient lady border guard walks by and asks us something in Spanish. Of course we don't understand, merely saying 'Australiano' and showing passport. She beckons us towards near the head of a queue and others join us. Past others who have been queuing for a bit ... she had started a NEW queue, and installed herself in the booth in front of it.

Way to go, lady!! A rare example of a border guard who was trying to help and move things along quickly.

Anyway, we got the Permit STAMPED!! again, and then on our way. The RH pic above shows the road - pretty good, and the lush vegetation on this side of the Andes.

We had entered the Argentine Lake District, and beautiful it was.





A Google map to show typical topo - lake after lake set in great mountain scenery.



Later we approached out destination, San Carlos de Baraloche, seen here across the lake.