Patagonia: Land of Big Feet and Big Ice

Osorno volcano in backdrop near Puerto Montt

As we made our way down the length of Chile, our first two ports were Puerto Montt and Puerto Chacabuco, both in the vast southern area known as Patagonia. The word Patagonia comes from two Spanish words “pata  grande” which means big foot.  The name came about because Magellan and his men discovered giant footprints in the sand and from one encounter with the footprints, conjured up embellished tales of monster-like inhabitants roaming the region. Little did they know that the natives wore animal skins on their feet, somewhat like snowshoes, to facilitate walking in the sand. 

Lake Llanquihue near Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a rather nondescript rural town, but it is the gateway to the Chilean Lakes District, an untouched area of natural topographical features such as volcanoes, mountains, and lakes. Surprisingly, this area was first settle by German immigrants, and the German influence is still readily discernable. In 1853, the Chilean Government, anxious to populate this isolated area, offered free land to anyone who would come to live here.  All they had to do was build a farmhouse, till the soil, and the land became theirs scot-free. We’re not sure why the Germans got the bug to come to this desolate place (maybe the offer appealed to their innate frugality, ha, ha), but the Germans jumped at the chance, and the rest is history. German is still spoken here, and the influence of the Germans can be seen in the architecture, the language, and flower gardens of the region.

Curious llama checks us out

Today the area is big on tourism with hiking and camping around lovely Lake Llanquihue which is overlooked by the imposing snow-covered Osorno Volcano. While Osorno is considered dormant, another nearby volcano erupted last March spewing out tons of volcanic ash that we could still see piled along the sides of the roads. Our small tour group took us around the lake area with stops at Petrohue Falls (where the water is an unusual green color from all the volcanic ash), a llama farm, and the German town of Puerto Varas, known as the “city of roses.” Although the scenery was beautiful, there was not a lot to see here, and the region is more appealing to outdoor adventurers like hikers, kayakers, and rock and mountain climbers.

Two Patagonia pioneers

Puerto Chacabuco

We pushed deeper south into Chilean Patagonia to the town and region around our second port of call, Puerto Chacabuco.  The town of Puerto Chacabuco has a population of only 20,000 people, and yet it is the capital of the Aysen Region.  The town resembled more of an encampment to us, with many small corregated tin-covered houses. Out in the countryside, life has changed little in the last 50 years. Many of the small, self-sustaining farms have no electricity, phones, or other modern amenities.  Forget TV, cell phones, and microwave oven; it’s all done the old fashioned way! 

Tranquil farmhouse in Patagonia
(check out the row boat)

Our Puerto Chacabuco private tour took us through the Simpson River Valley surrounded by serene, tree-covered mountains and graced with gentle, ribbon waterfalls. This area is very lush (rains almost daily) and with few signs of man’s encroachment, there is a feeling of tranquility and timelessness.  A few small farms are located along the scenic Simpson River and usually have a row boat sitting nearby to cross the river in order to go in to town. With few roads and many of them unpaved, horses remain a reliable means of transportation. With such a sparse population, the kids go to public boarding schools where they live at the school during the week. Many times, Dad will deliver his kids via horseback on a Monday morning and return on horse to collect them on Friday afternoon.

Lush area in Patagonia

Each town might have a working central shortwave radio to receive messages from other communities and a dispatcher to pass the messages onto the citizens.  For example, the shortwave message may say, “Clara Jones can pick up her new dentures at the Puerto Chacabuco Hardware Store tomorrow after 2:00 PM.”  Sometimes, a message is sent over the radio that is much more cryptic.  For example, the announcement may say, “A package for David McGill will be delivered on the last day of the month, to the usual spot, at the usual time.”  Nobody but David knows what’s being delivered. And so on, and so on.

Wildflowers near Puerto Chacabuco

In this isolated part of the world, community is everything, and people really look out for each other. Crime is pretty much non-existent. A local girl named Gabrielle told us she can ride her bike to the grocery store and leave it outside with no worries about it being stolen. Since everyone knows each other, when someone dies, the entire community comes to the funeral to support the family in their time of grief.

Here is one less than appealing aspect to living in Puerto Chacabuca. Every 7 or 8 years, the region is inundated with mice. This plague of mice is so bad that the mice cover everything.  In each town, firefighters stand at the ready to hose down cars and other things as the mice enter the town.

Pisco sours anyone? Yes and yes!

Our private tour group headed for a farm outside the town to give us a taste of the Patagonian lifestyle.  The farmer family greeted our van-load of 21 people with the popular pisco sour (an alcoholic beverage) commonly served in various parts of S. America.  Our generous homemade meal included wine, and sopapillas served with various salsas. The main course for Frank was beef and lamb for Anne, all made in traditional regional style over an open fire. After dinner, we all danced to some energetic Spanish music, as a pair of award-winning Spanish dancers shared their unique moves of the region with us. What a fun event!

Frank cuts a little rug with a little Chilean

Anne gets up and struts her stuff too

El Brujo glacier

El Brujo

Continuing further south, our route became a bit more difficult. The Pacific Ocean is quite rough down here because of the frigid winds coming from Antarctica. During the day, the Captain followed sheltered routes among the 5,019 islands that comprise the Chilean fjords. But at night, we ventured out into the churning waters of the open Pacific to make better time. With 17-foot waves out there, we had some heavy-duty rolling and pitching. Frank had to go around the stateroom securing closet doors and drawers that kept banging open and shut with each of the side-to-side motions.

Ice floes at the base of El Brujo

Soon we entered the Messier Channel, and the ride became glass smooth again.  We meandered thru the fjords among the tall mountains and dramatic rock protrusions pervasive throughout these waters, observing the natural beauty of the surroundings.  Over the P/A system, our very knowledgeable location guide and naturalist “Brett” pointed out various forms of wildlife including a pair of Orca whales, some sea lions, and many large aquatic birds.  We also viewed the wreck of the “Capitan Unitas,”a vessel that was purposely scuttled as part of an insurance scam about 50 years ago. Now, the wreck serves as a marker in the channel, almost like a lighthouse, to keep passing ships away from the shallow shoals.

Stunning scenery along Messier Channel

On the morning after Thanksgiving (BTW, Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends/family!!), we woke early in the morning to see a flotilla of ice chunks bobbing alongside the ship. These mini-icebergs surrounded the cruise ship in an ominous fashion reminding us of the Titanic and its tragic sinking in the waters of the North Atlantic over 100 years ago.  On the bow of the ship, we were able to get great views of the “El Brujo” Glacier as our ship pointed its bow and basically parked in front of the massive blue-colored ice heap. Brett talked to us over the P/A system, pointing out the “calving” process of the glacier -- the shearing off of large pieces of glacial ice from the main mass, then dropping into the water below. These glaciers are a remarkable source of fresh water which makes you wonder about a future when water is scarce; this part of the world could become a much coveted resource. Brett also told us that if the Antarctic and Arctic ice packs melted at the same time, all the oceans of the world would be raised by 70 meters (about 215 feet).

The deck at the bow of the cruise ship where we primarily observed the glacier was very wet and very slippery.  Two passengers fell with chilling thuds as we stood there in disbelief; one was hurt seriously when she hit her head on some of the cast-iron infrastructure that protrudes from the deck.  We realized the danger and cautiously measured our every steps accordingly, trying to stay vertical and not fall ourselves, while still enjoying the rare treat of these unique natural surroundings.

Wreck of the Santa Lenora

That afternoon, we spent time outside on the bow, as the ship nudged its way slowly thru the Summer Pass (Paso Summer), the most challenging part of the cruise from a navigational sense.  The ship had to “thread the needle” by passing between some tightly-placed marker buoys, and at the same time, avoid scraping the bottom of the channel, which was a mere 1-1/2 meters (about 4-½ feet) below our ship’s keel.  That’s a tight fit.  As we stood on the bow, we experienced the icy Antarctic wind stinging our faces, promising even colder weather as the ship moves further south over the next few days.  And then it began to rain and sleet.  The weather degraded rather quickly as Brett pointed out the rusting wreck of the Santa Lenora, a ship lying on its side on a shallow reef in the channel. The poor Lenora sank on her maiden voyage in 1968 just one of many ships to sink in these treacherous, unpredictable waters.   

More pics:

Puerto Montt

Souvenir shopping in Puerto Montt

Our cruise ship The Zaandam

Colorful houses of Puerto Montt

Patagonian countryside near Puerto Chacabuco

Jeanette and Ray join us for lunch at the farm

Sopapillas anyone?

Anne with the llamas

Hiking the lush Patagonia countryside

Crossing a footbridge in Patagonia

Flotilla of colorful fishing boats on Aguas Muertas
(Waters of the Dead) in Puerto Chacabuco

Bye, Bye Valpo; welcome aboard the Zaandam!

Just a few words about that earthquake in Valpo the other night.  We discovered that it was a 5.5 magnitude quake at a depth of 24 km beneath the earth.  Also, Frank felt another quake early in the morning the following day. The shaking was not very severe but noticeable if you happened to be awake.

Champagne welcome!

We boarded the MS Zaandam, and were immediately invited to the Mondriaan Theater to meet the Captain and the crew.  The crew greeted us with a champagne toast since we have sailed with Holland America Cruise lines before.  Nice welcoming touch but we realize this works kind’a like frequent flyer miles on airlines; the more they throw out the accolades for us “frequent sailors,” the more we keep signing onto their cruises.  Haaaa!!  The old wine ‘em and dine ‘em trick!

The Zaandam is not a terribly big ship as cruise ships go, but perfect for going thru the narrow fjords and straits that make up the mish-mash of interconnecting waterways at the southern tip of South America.  We attended a tutorial in the auditorium, our 1^st sea day,  where the crew discussed our next Ports of Call.  The thing that mostly got our attention was the treacherous seas that we will encounter as we round the Horn.  When we were in grade school, we were taught that the turbulent ocean currents at the Horn were due to the difference in sea levels between the Atlantic and the Pacific.  Not true. The crew spokesman informed us that what makes the sea so rough here is the wind, which is created when the super-cold Antarctic air hits the warmer waters around the South American coast.  Many ships of the past have gone down in these nasty waters; this is one reason why the Panama Canal route looks so attractive to modern ships.  When we reach the tip of S. America, we’ll give you a full report on weather/water conditions.

Sunset from the promenade deck

We took a walk on the promenade deck the other evening.  We were told that there were some whales showing their faces on the port side of the ship. We must have missed them but already the weather is noticeably colder, and the need for coat, hat, and even gloves is becoming apparent. 

  

Frank learns to tango

One day, we decided to get a little crazy, as we were simply riding on the high seas for a day, biding our time, waiting for our 1^st port docking tomorrow morning.  So to fill the gaps, we took a class in how to speak Spanish and then it was off to Tango class.  Arriba, arriba!!  By days end, we were pretty light on our toes with the tricky dance moves of the tango.  The MS Zaandam had hired a professional Tango couple to teach lessons onboard. They had won a tango competition in Colombia last year; so we were in good hands with these young instructors.  We can’t wait to reach Argentina in about two weeks so we can show off our new dance moves to those Argentine tango-ers in Buenos Aires!  Heh, heh.

Cheers from somewhere in the Pacific!

In Praise of Valparaiso

Welcome to New York!

Our big adventure began with a flight from JFK in New York City to Santiago, Chile, and it was a pleasant one for several reasons. We used LAN, a highly regarded South American Airline that we had flown before. This flight was an especially good one with seats that were actually somewhat roomy – but it was good mostly because we were flying with an empty seat between us!!  Yesssss!!  That never happens to us anymore.  Wow, imagine all the extra room we had in economy class to spread out for this long flight.  Plus the crew was extremely polite and attentive, offering us multiple drinks (including decent free wines) and constantly looking for ways to make everyone more comfortable. We had to ask ourselves why aren’t all airlines (United, we are talking to you!) like this? We flew on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, something that we’ve never done before.  Frank was a little nervous about that since he was aware of the 787’s major battery problems just within the past few years and wasn’t sure these problems had been corrected.  Obviously they were, because all was OK.  It was a 10 hour flight, and we arrived intact, 4 days ahead of our scheduled cruise departure, all in one piece.  Yes, in 4 days, we will board a Holland America Cruise ship (MS Zaandam) right here in Valparaiso and head for the “Horn” at the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic!

Michael, "The German Pirate"

We hired a superb driver who calls himself “The German Pirate” to get us from Santiago airport to the coastal city of Valparaiso, only about 1-1/2 hours (100km) west of the inland city of Santiago. “The Pirate,” whose name is actually Michael Arnold, was a lot of fun and provided a relaxed and safe ride, along with an introduction to the area.

Casa Blanco, blanketed in early morning fog

Santiago has a dry inland climate, but once we crossed over the coastal mountains, the air became cooler and the vegetation changed from parched brown to lush green. This coastal area is often compared to San Francisco, and just like in that city, the morning fog was only beginning to burn off as we drove into a valley called Casa Blanco. Casa Blanco is known for its delicious wines, and the whole valley is covered with row after row of vines in the many vineyards.

Wall mural that welcomed us to Valparaiso

Valparaiso, or Valpo as it is often called by the locals, is one of the more interesting cities that we’ve visited thus far.  In Spanish, they call it “La Perla del Pacifico” (The Pearl of the Pacific).  It starts on the water at the harbor (sea level), and rises abruptly to about 1500 feet, with homes, streets, and businesses built on the rising hillside to give the city a “terraced” effect.  Any of you who have ever visited Santorini in Greece can best envision this situation; but this is on a larger scale, since Valpo has millions of people and homes where Santorini is much smaller.

Harbor and terraced homes of Valparaiso

In its heyday, Valpo was a major port for ships sailing around the tip of South America (known as the Horn) from Europe. European immigrants came here to run lucrative shipping and mining operations and built majestic European-style mansions.  The two big commodities at that time were shipping and mining, and especially mining of saltpeter (Potassium nitrate), a major component used in explosives. The city unfortunately suffered a major economic collapse after the Panama Canal was built in 1914, since all the ships preferred the shorter canal route to the long, dangerous trip around the Horn.  All the wonderful hillside homes that were built here during the “golden years” were vacated and left to rot (and become home to squatters). When the money and commerce left, so did the people. But about 30 years ago, young people (backpackers and hippies) started to move in and bring the neighborhood back to life.

Shantytown shacks on the Valparaiso hillside

Today the city is a chaotic mix of faded elegance and shantytown poverty. The city’s down-at-heels Bohemian charm is often missed by tourists, as Valpo seems a bit rough-looking in places at first, and is possibly the underbelly of the region with severe poverty. We were told that Valpo is now the poorest city in all of South America.  It has mucho petty crime in certain districts, but the historic center is very attractive and very safe for all. For us, the ramshackle, diamond-in-the-rough quality of Valpo is part of its charm!

Looking up the steep incline of the
Concepcion Ascensor

As the city grew in the golden years, the people moved up the steep hillsides so that everyone could have a view of the bay. Fortunately, there are 15 old-fashioned elevators or funiculars (called ascensores in Spanish) around the city that will whisk you up the hillsides for only about 300 pesos (less than 50 cents American) for a one-way ride.  We watched the locals and discovered that they do NOT use the ascensores.  They all hike up the steep steps and trails to wherever they are headed, carrying groceries, packages, children, etc. as they go.  

Cable cars on the hillside of Valpo

We, however, convinced ourselves that while we could hike to the top if we wanted, we were old enough to have earned the right to spend 50 cents to ride to the top!  And besides, we were only here for 4 days and couldn’t waste precious time every time we needed to hike to the top of the hill; so that ended that argument for us.  Give us the ascensores – heh, heh!!  

Single ascensor with the port of Valpo
 in the background

We loved these old ascensores. Originally, there were 29 of them, but now the number has dropped down to 15. We found these creaky, aging wooden cable cars to be a real treat for getting up and down the hilltops quickly. And once we arrived up on the hillsides, it was a different world. Many refurbished ramshackle homes dot these hills now, while many others are still in the throes of decay. Burned-out homes, termite infestations, and just plain old erosion from age has taken its toll. 

Colorful restored town houses
on Concepcion Hill in Valpo

Valpo has been declared a UNESCO sight, and as such, rebuilding is a tricky business. Certain codes must be adhered to such as corregated tin siding to cover outside walls and roofs so that the outward “look” of each home & business conforms to the original color/appearance standards. One unifying factor in this hodge-podge of a city is COLOR!  Valpo is one of the most colorful cities anywhere on the planet with townhouses painted in sparkling pastels of yellow, blue, purple, and green and street art on display everywhere. 

Valpo mural on the wall of a home

You might consider some of these murals as graffiti, but these hand-painted murals done in brilliant colors cover the sides of houses, businesses, walls, and even the cement steps on the hillsides causing an incredible visual overload to the onlooker! People pay big money to have artists do a mural on their door, or if they can afford it, on the side of their house.  

The distinctive style
 of street artist "Mena"

One famous artist named “Mena” charges upwards of $500 to put his mural and signature on your home’s front entrance.  And there are many more.

At lunch with new friends Michael, Marianne, and Regula

To help us make sense of this crazy but wonderful place, we spent a day with our German Pirate exploring the many hidden nooks and crannies that Valpo has to offer. Our 6-hour tour flew by as we wandered by ascensor and private car, but mostly on foot (over 5 miles of steep terrain!) across the hillsides. We were joined on this tour by two delightful women from Switzerland, Marianne and Regula (aka Pia), making a fun walking group of five. 

We are not hippies. We are happies.

What a day we had!  Frank took so many pictures he ran down his camera battery and had to use his back-up. Every block held new wonders. One favorite of ours was a gorgeous pedestrian-only street lined with brilliantly painted houses and featuring a garden of colorful, flowering bushes where the road used to be. A row of cement seats (like bleachers) at the top of the block displayed these words, “We are not hippies. We are happies!” Maybe this whole town appeals to our latent “hippiness,” but we have fallen in love with Valpo.  It is an artist’s paradise!

Frank bonding with a local street guitarist

Frank loves to chit-chat with the people we meet; he says it is just because he wants to learn how to speak the Spanish street language from the locals, but we all know it is mostly his personality. The locals of Valpo are probably all wondering about this friendly dude “Frank” from the USA running around yakking it up with anyone who’d kibitz with him.  Anne and the tour group thought this was pretty funny.

Wall mural in Valpo

BTW when you travel in South America and someone asks where you are from, it is very important to say that you live in NORTH America, not just “America.” It’s an important distinction because these people live in America too.  If you aren’t careful, you risk leaving the impression that you think the United States is the only important country in the Americas.

Snow-covered Aconcagua is just faintly
visible on the left

We were lucky enough to have such a clear day that we could see Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of Asia, from one of the viewpoints above the city. Our German Pirate told us that the weather is clear enough to see Aconcagua from Valpo only about five days a year!

Frank checks out some of the funky art

Another day, we visited the Naval Maritime Museum. Just another museum and no great shakes, but we did learn that passengers who go around the Horn are dubbed “Cape Pigeons” – a sad comparison with a ship’s captain who gets the honorary title of “Albatross!” If all goes well, in a few days, we will circumnavigate the Horn and become a couple of Cape Pigeons ourselves!

Frank with school kids at the
Naval Maritime Museum

We arrived at the museum at the exact same time as a horde of literally hundreds of schoolkids. You would think this would be a big annoyance to us old codgers, but it turned out to be a highlight of our visit. The kids were very polite, well behaved, and anxious to talk to us. The boys especially gravitated towards Frank. Anne took a picture of a group of them gathered around Frank, and as we said our goodbyes, one little boy yelled, “I love you, Frank!” Haaaa…..  Everybody including Anne cracked up laughing. So cute!

Pretty Vina del Mar

On our last day, we took the Metro along the coastline to Valpo’s sister city Vina del Mar. Vina, as the locals call it, was clean and pretty but felt more like San Diego than Chile. The town was loaded with shops and restaurants, and we enjoyed wandering around. However, Vina felt pretty soulless compared to our vibrant Valpo!

Fountain in the main square of
Vina del Mar

One note of interest before we end this blog: we discovered that gasoline prices here in Valpo run about $4/gallon. It always amazes us that poor countries such as this are paying almost double what we are paying in the USA.  Makes you wonder what actually drives the prices of a barrel of oil. 

Tomorrow we board our ship, and the around-the-horn adventure begins!

P.S. As we were preparing to publish this blog, we’d like to report that at 8:05 PM on 21 November, here in Valpo, we felt the whole Ibis Hotel shake for about 30 seconds.  We are sure we just experienced an earthquake (or at least a tremor), and sincerely hope that it has finished now with just a bit of shaking.  Kind’a glad we’re boarding our ship tomorrow morning!!

More pics of Valparaiso:

Musical mural in Valpo

Street artists Ella and Peter specialize
 in painting grandmas!

More Valpo murals

Brilliantly colored steps

"Monkey Mansion"

Frank always gets a kick out of the non-code
wiring of other countries

Faces of Valpo

Gorgeously decorated walls and door of Valpo home

View of Valpo, the harbor, and one of the cable cars