Ports of Call:
There is so much diversity in just the two countries I visited.
Santiago is a beautiful city located in a valley surrounded by the Andes. The architecture is beautiful and the city is exceptionally clean. I toured a vineyard just outside the city called Conch Y Toro. The grounds were fabulous, having been designed by a French landscape architect who had worked at Versailles.
Puerto Montt, Chile is in their Lake District, an area settled by the Germans. The architectural style is very Bavarian and the area is reminiscent of Switzerland. I had lunch at a German restaurant and visited Petrohue Falls (which we would probably call Rapids, as there was no drop, but the rushing water was lovely) We also stopped in a neighboring town Puerto Varas. The local handicraft "mall" there had the best buys on Alpaca sweaters and Lapis jewelry, but since it was the first port, I didn't buy as much there as I should have thinking there would be more places to look. The sweaters started at $10 US and in other ports they started at $25 US and up.
Puntarenas, Chile is near the entrance to the Straits of Magellan. The fjords in this area remind me of Alaska. I saw glaciers there and a few penguins at the beginning of their summer migration, as well as rhea, red foxes, llamas and alpaca.
Ushuaia, Argentina is another town that looks like it could be in Switzerland. While there, I hiked in Tierra del Fuego National Park where we saw the beaver dam you'll see in one of the pictures. 45 pairs of beaver were brought to the area in the 1960's for a fur development project that never succeeded and they now have a severe deforestaion problem with over a million beavers now living in the park area. I then took a catamaran ride through the Beagle Channel where I saw thousands of cormorants and hundreds of sea lions.
Puerto Madryn, Argentina is in the heart of the Patagonic region. I took a 3 hour bus ride from there to Punto Tombo where there is a breeding ground for penguins. I saw thousands of them very close up and actually saw a few babies break shell! An hour there was not enough, but we had to get back to the ship and sail before low tide kept us there.
Buenos Aires is known as the "Paris of the South" and when you see its broad avenues and French/Italian architecture, you understand why. Sadly, there is a lot of political grafitti marring the buildings. The Argentinian Peso has been devalued 3 times this year. It used to exchange equally with the US dollar, now 3.55 Pesos buys one US dollar. The banks have frozen the accounts of all residents, and each household is permitted only 300 pesos in cash per week. Due to the devaluation, I did quite well on shopping in Buenos Aires (leather goods and cashmere sweaters). I also visited an Estancia(ranch-the name comes as an adaptation of the New Zealand and Australian "stations") for lunch and a demonstration of Gaucho horsemanship. The events reminded me of the Jousting tournaments at the Renaissance Faire.
The temperatures ranged from 75-80 in Santiago, 55 in Puerto Montt, 45 in Puntarenas and Ushuaia, 60 in Puerto Madryn, and 88-95 in Buenos Aires. This was in November (their equivalent of May). Ushuaia never gets above 60 degrees even in midsummer, and the glacial and fjord areas can be cold and windy when you are out on deck.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Kathy Biancalana
Cruise Expert, Vacation Planner
Cruises International
kathy@cruisesinternational.com
1-800-255-7447 ext 122
www.cruisesinternational.com
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Kathy Biancalana
Cruise Expert, Vacation Planner
Cruises International
kathy@cruisesinternational.com
1-800-255-7447 ext 122
www.cruisesinternational.com
