Blogs from Chile, South America

Chile is an extremely long country, apparently as far from top to bottom as from Scotland to Nigeria (thanks Barney), so before we faced another long bus journey, we decided to take it easy with a short hop to Valparaiso. The city was an important port during the Gold Rush, used by European and American ships on the route from Cape Horn to California, but fell out of favor and fell into disrepair early in the last century. However, the city has now been revived as the cultural capital of the country and is certainly a unique place, with 42 cerros (hills) surrounding the city center and port area, full of colorful houses and beautiful restored mansions, with chaos still in between. dilapidated.We forgot that it is also the second largest city in Chile, so when ... read more

How do you take a vacation that includes a lot of things you've always wanted to do but never expected to be able to do even better...? Do another one!Convinced by the author of Footprints Chile that we really shouldn't miss it and Lan Chile is a good deal, we decided to go back more than 4000 km. From the Pacific Ocean to Easter Island (Isla de Pascua as the Chileans know it). I didn't even realize it was Chilean territory until recently.As a tourist destination it is quite a remote place...nearest neighbor is the Pitcairn Islands about 2000 km away...how would a Polynesian or European explorer ever find this that place (not the idea of ​​going back home) is incomprehensible to me.I imagined since I was a child that I would see this place one ... read more

The last few days of the cruise were relatively uneventful - as we headed north among the fjords on the Chilean coast, the weather steadily warmed to a comfortable 20C which allowed everyone to lounge outside in the sun and fresh air. The sea conditions were somewhat rough with some large swells but by now we were used to it. The one change due to the higher than usual waves was that we could not port at San Antonio and, instead, headed for Valparaiso. I will start with a short review of the cruise itself. The boat itself, the Sapphire Princess, is a large and fairly modern ship. The rooms were relatively large compared to other cruise ships and comfortable. We did not have a balcony, however, it was really not necessary. We were only one ... read more

I feel better today but not 100%. I join our group on a hike to a waterfall. We have a buffet breakfast in the hotel then head out for our hike. We try to drive to the trail head but it is so windy the rangers have closed the road to the trail head. Our bus parks and we decide to walk to the trail head. It is an easy (except for the wind) slight uphill hike. The waterfall is beautiful. There is a lot of water in the park, glaciers, rivers and lakes. There is no swimming allowed in the park, which is not a problem because it is summer now and too cold to swim. We were given box lunches and after our morning hike our bus takes us back to our hotel. Those ... read more

We wake up this morning with our fingers crossed. Today if the weather cooperates we will go to Cape Horn. We are told that 40% of the time the waters are too rough for us to land on Cape Horn. Cape Horn is located on Hornos Island in Chile. It is surrounded by wild seas where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans meet. There are powerful currents, frequent storms and narrow passage makes it a dangerous route. A memorial on the island commemorates the 800 ships that sank and 10,000 lives of seamen who died trying to sail around Cape Horn. The weather looks good and we are told to get ready to go. I wear long underwear top and bottom, travel pants (designed to keep pickpockets out of your pants), rain paints, hiking thick socks and ... read more