Here is our tail of
our dream cruise around part of South America. It’s our greatest
vacation… since the last one. Truly, it’s one that we had very
much been looking forward to for a very long time. As with all our
travels, the anticipation has been every bit as enjoyable as the trip
itself. And also as with all travel, the joy is in the journey.
In the case of the
Oceania Marina 17-day cruise from Buenos Aires, Argentina to
Valparaiso, Chile, the entire itinerary is, of course, the journey.
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| Our Itinerary |
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Buenos
Aires is a huge and wonderful city, but the port area where we're
parked is awful. It's all big-time stacks of shipping containers
being loaded, unloaded and moved around. It's impossible to simply
get off the boat and walk
anywhere;
one must take a bus about a mile through the maze of shipping stuff,
over to the terminal. Once we did
that, we walked five miles and saw lots of neat stuff.
Plaza
San Martin was a very pretty and well-shaded park. The shade was
appreciated in the summer-solstice heat (it was December 20). The
Retiro area was extremely busy and bustling, with buses and people
everywhere. Plaza de Mayo was the coolest, and most historical,
square of all. There is always something political going on there,
and we saw some people getting ready to protest something or other.
Calle
Florida is the main shopping district; it’s about a mile and a half
of shop after shop with no traffic except for a few cross streets. It
was great for people watching, and a great cultural experience.
Cultural experiences are only just starting.
Montevideo,
Uruguay
If
you want tourists to think well of your country or region, you can’t
do much better than to take them to a winery. Yes, the Lady
Adventurer and I were duly impressed with Uruguay. Actually, from
what the local tour guide said and showed us of the capital city,
Montevideo and it’s surrounding area, we were already experiencing
positive vibes. But the wine helped as well.
Montevideo
is a much toned-down version of Buenos Aires. It’s still a big
city, with 1.3 million personas, but it’s not what you’d call
huge. The word, ‘Manageable’, comes to mind.
After
stopping at the main square and some monuments in Montevideo, we went
to the Juanico Winery, where we spent most of the day. The Uruguayan
food (barbecued meat, of course) and wine were excellent. Happy
thoughts. And Happy Summer Solstice!!
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| Juanico Winery |
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| Juanico Winery |
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| Tango |
Punto del Este,
Uruguay
You say you would
like to go to the southernmost point in Uruguay? Uruguay’s garden
spot? The place where the rich and famous Uruguayans (not to mention
Brazilians and Argentinians) go and spend their holidays? The
Miami/Vegas (rolled into one) of Uruguay? You’re talking about
Punto del Este. It is truly a pleasant resort beach town, with more
than its share of casinos and beaches. They seem proud that
President-elect Donald Trump is building a tower. The Lady Adventurer
and I were able to experience some of the sights and attractions as
we walked a couple miles back to the ship after “experiencing
nature.”
The Experience
Nature excursion was better than expected. After seeing some of the
highlights of the city, we drove about an hour to Indegina, a private
nature reserve. Our guides led us through the woodlands, pampas and
wetlands to view the rheas, capybaras and other wildlife. Afterwards
they treated us to empanadas, kuchen and local herbal tea.
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| A capybara up close |
Puerto Madryn,
Argentina
The main reason to
travel to Puerto Madryn is to use it as a base for the wildlife
viewing areas of Peninsula Valdes and Punta Tombo. We chose to spend
the day at Peninsula Valdes.
It was a long
two-plus hour bus ride, about half of which was on bumpy, dusty dirt
roads. And the scenery was as unremarkable as it could be. I’ll try
to make a remark anyway. It was flat, dry and very boring. The
vegetation was entirely scrub. There were almost no homes or
habitation of any kind. We were informed that the land was mostly
used for sheep ranching.
But the goal was to
view the wildlife, and view it we did. We spotted several guanacos,
some with little ones, as we approached the sea. Then we got to see
the sea lions and elephant seals on the beach. Only the male sea
lions were around; we got to see a couple of them fighting over some
turf. The elephant seals co-mingled with them, but those animals were
of the younger variety.
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| Fighting male sea lions |
A few hairy
armadillos, hares and lizards later, we came to the penguin beach.
These were Magellanic penguins, and there were tens of thousands of
them on the beach and a little inland. We could walk right up to
them, even touch them, if we wanted. The walking trail weaved in and
out of their nests, and they often walked right in front of us to get
across. They were every bit as cute and friendly as advertised
especially the chicks.
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| Debbie and her penguin friends |
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| Thousands of magellenic penguins |
At Sea Onboard the Oceania Marina
Six days of our
17-day voyage are at sea. they’re nicely scattered between the
various ports of call, and they included Christmas Day and New Year’s
eve. Spending Christmas Day on a cruise ship, away from home and
family was surreal. Everyone, crew and passengers alike, was super
nice, wishing everybody they bumped into a Merry Christmas. We had
the Grand Brunch Buffet in the Grand Dining Room, and later went to
Jacques’, the specialty restaurant dedicated/devoted to Jacques
Pepin, where we dined for three hours with some newly made friends,
all from Canada. The enrichment lecture was about the 1982 Falkland
Islands war. We saw Santa handing out gifts to the few boys and girls
onboard. And were able to stay up, for the first time, for the show –
the string quartet playing Christmas music.
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| Christmas on the Marina |
Yes, life onboard
the Oceania Marina is pretty darn good. The food and service are
outstanding, even for a premium ocean cruise. Of course we pick our
cruises based on the itinerary first. But such world class luxury at
a decent price is nice as well. We will keep coming back to Oceania.
Port Stanley,
Falkland Islands
Do you remember the
1982 Falkland Islands war? Neither did I, at least until I was
reminded about it from our enrichment speaker, Terry Bishop. It came
back to me how Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher would not accept
Argentina’s attempt to take over the Islands. The Argentinians felt
that the Islands (they call them the Malvinas) belonged to them based
on their location, but the British had claimed them first, and also
had a small settlement there. The war was limited to the Islands’
vicinity, and the British prevailed.
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| Falkland Islands |
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| Falkland Islands |
The settlement is
larger now, but it’s still quite small. The windswept Islands are
beautiful in a stark sort of way. Most of the visitors are interested
in the history or the Islands’ penguin colonies. The Lady
Adventurer and I decided not to venture far, since we’d recently
gotten cozy with several thousand of the short tuxedo waddlers. On a
cold, blustery day, we saw the old cemetery, the Anglican church
(southernmost in the world), and walked to a couple war memorials
(the Islands played a part in World Wars I and II as well). Our
greatest impression, however, is that the British want you to be
completely sure to understand to whom the Islands belong. Period.
Sailing out and then
west of the Falklands turned out to be interesting. The swells were
as swell as swells can be, and we were rocked to sleep forthwith.
Ushuaia, Argentina
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| Ushuaia, Argentina at 4:00 AM. It's the southernmost city in the world. |
I began the day at 5:00 AM with a run through the city – the southernmost in the world – to try to find Glacier Martial. The city isn’t that big, but I didn’t know where I was going, so it took a while to avoid the wild dogs and eventually get my bearings. But by the time I got close to the glacier, it was time to head back. It was okay; I’d seen glaciers before. Besides, we had a hike to do.
The Lady Adventurer
got her fall out of the way very early on during the hike. Luckily,
it was on a peat bog, so it was like falling down onto a sponge. In
fact, a decent portion of the hike was through this bog. It was quite
bouncy and fun. We later climbed several hundred feet, ascending the
foothills of the nearby mountains. We returned through a forest that
hadn’t yet been destroyed by the invasive beavers that we stupidly
introduced several decades ago.
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| Our hike |
Our guide was very
good at pointing out the terrain and general geography of Tierra del
Fuego. But he set the pace a bit too speedy for the majority of us
hikers. Lady Adventurer and I (barely) managed to keep up, but many
did not. I enjoyed the hike, but it would have been better for all,
had we moved slower and occasionally stopped to smell the peat bog.
Sailing out of
Ushuaia, back through the Beagle Channel, and then up into the Strait
of Magellan was pretty amazing. We saw glaciers, snow-capped peaks
and waterfalls.
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| We made it! |
Punta Arenas, Chile
Although Punta
Arenas appears to be just around the corner from Ushuaia, it took
quite a while to get there. There were plenty of islands, channels
and straits to go around and through.
Today’s adventure
would be … wait for it … another hike! From Punta Arenas, they
drove us up to a ski resort, where we got on a rickety chair lift to
the top. Then we hiked back down the mountain. It was cold, windy and
sleeting at first, but we warmed up as we got moving. The sun helped
by coming out as well. We could often catch views of far-off scenery,
like Punta Arenas and the Strait of Magellan in the distance.
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| Punta Arenas hike, looking down on the city |
Even though it was
downhill, it was still technical, muddy and difficult. But not as
difficult as yesterday’s hike.
Chilean Fjords,
Chile
For the next two
days, we cruised in and out of the fjords of Chile. There were at
least two very spectacular scenes: (spectacular scene one) – The
Amalla Glacier was really cool. It looked like the Hubbard Glacier in
Alaska. (spectacular scene two) – THE most intense rainbow anyone
has ever seen. It was right after the glacier, and the weather was
gloomy… except for a seemingly small area that was lit by some rare
rays of sun. That’s where the double rainbow was. Every time we
thought it was done, it changed its mind and became more intense
again. It looked almost solid.
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| Amalla Glacier |
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| Rainbow! |
Puerto Chacabuco,
Chile
These Chilean fjords
are not to be trifled with. Puerto Chacabuco is in the middle of one,
and it’s a spectacular setting. What? You’ve never heard of
Puerto Chacabuco? It’s near Puerto Aysen. So now you know. We
hadn’t heard of it either (it sounds like a Star Wars character),
but we will remember it now.
Lady Adventurer and
I went on a Patagonia Nature in Depth tour. It certainly was. We
walked a couple miles in a couple hours on a wooded trail alongside a
river, until we came to a good-sized waterfall.
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| Nature Hike and Falls |
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| BBQ in Chacabuko |
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| Flowers by the lake |
After the hike, we
had a ‘typical Patagonian barbeque’ (lamb, and a lot of it),
along with some typical Pategonian dancing. The appetizer was
empenadas. Empenadas are pastry dough pockets filled with meat,
cheese, spinach, etc., and then deep-fried. These particular ones,
however, appeared to be filled with air. Debbie said she detected a
small amount of cheese, but that was hardly noticeable. Everyone at
our table laughed when I called them ‘empty-nadas’.
It was all great,
but I couldn’t help thinking that they make some of this ‘typical’
stuff up. This part of the world is extremely sparsely populated, and
the indigenous people were wiped out entirely. I wonder whether the
European settlers even have any ‘typical’ dancing, but for the
occasional bunch of cruise ship passengers that come through.
Okay, I’ll turn
the cynicism back off. At least for a while.
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| Port Chacabuco |
Puerto Montt, Chile
It wasn’t one of
the smartest things Lady Adventurer and I have done. In fact, and I
don’t say this lightly, it was downright stupid.
Debbie and I were
halfway up Vulcan Osorno, a quarter-mile or so along the lava path
that curved up and around the side of the mountain, when we
discovered that we wouldn’t be able to get back. We almost couldn’t
even stand up.
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| It didn't seem so bad going up the mountain with the wind at our back |
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| Trying (very hard) to turn around and come back down |
But Lady Adventurer
held onto me, and we did eventually get back. Somehow. Otherwise, as
you may surmise, this account would not have gotten written.
This was part of an
all-day excursion from Puerto Montt. We also saw Petrohue Falls and
walked around normally scenic Puerto Varas during a deluge. Vulcan
Osorno itself looks a little like Mount Fuji. We’d caught a glimpse
of it from the falls, but clouds were moving in. Those clouds should
have been another clue that walking up there wouldn’t be totally
smart.
Valparaiso and
Santiago, Chile
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| Valparaiso |
Our flight was the
next day. But wait a minute. They were booting us off the boat at
8:00 AM, but our flight wasn’t until 11:30 PM. To fill the time we
booked … wait for it … another tour! This one would take us to
see more of Valparaiso, nearby Vina del Mar, and some of the same
parts of Santiago as the previous day. More smog, and more cultural
experiences.
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| Vina del Mar, near Valparaiso |
...
And that’s it. For
an account of my running during this vacation, please see my running
blog post, Running and Cruise Ships Don’t Mix.
