Around the Horn on a South America Cruise: 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.

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