Advertisement
Published: February 18th 2010
Edit Blog Post
South America: 17th - 31st January 2010
Santiago was our first stop back on the road. We flew down from Houston with the intent to work our way through South America to catch our return flight from Buenos Aires. Having been so busy in Houston, we did little to plan how we would get from Santiago to Buenos Aires, deciding that “we'll figure that out when we get there.” When the time came to start planning, we played with a few ideas.
Option 1: Drive from Santiago to Buenos Aires. Ahh, the open road, the Andes, las pampas....and onerous paperwork, extra insurance, and big money. What worked so well in Europe was not (yet) a possibility for a trip from Chile to Argentina.
Option 2: Take a bus across the border to Mendoza and THEN rent a car to explore Argentina. Memories of our bus trip from Perpignan to Barcelona were still a little fresh, though: standing on a street corner with 150 lbs of luggage divided amongst 6 different bags, and on my 40th birthday no less...when one might be acutely critical of one's progress in life given that one is standing on a street corner
waiting for the bus with 150 lbs of luggage divided amongst 6 different bags on one's 40th birthday. (Fortunately, my malaise was broken by a call from friends wishing me a happy birthday.) For the trip from Santiago to Mendoza, the ride would be 8 hours with 3 of those hours spent at the border waiting in line. This option was nixed as well.
Moving right along.
Option 3: Fly to Buenos Aires and then rent a car from there and do a circuit around Argentina. This would be like flying to New York, driving to Seattle and then back to NY via Atlanta. And with 3 weeks to cover such mileage, this option had the quality of being the most brain damage.
Maybe we did this all wrong.
Option 4: Go back to the US and watch reruns of John and Kate Plus Eight for the next 2 months while simultaneously assisting the brewers of the world. But, that's really not the spirit, now is it...
Tighten thinking cap. Let's review: no cars, planes, or trains. What's left?
Option 5: Cruise ship. And with the serendipity that has characterized our trip to date,
there happened to be one leaving exactly one week later bound for Buenos Aires via the Strait of Magellan. Perfect. The economics were not horrible, either, as long as we avoided the casino, significant quantities of alcohol and any tee shirts commemorating the passage around Cape Horn.
Also, let's face it, the prospect of “staying in one place” for two weeks while seeing Patagonia and Tierra Del Fuego, amongst other destinations, was extremely appealing.
Nonetheless, perhaps the task of finding a way to Buenos Aires had blinded us to the experiences the cruise would afford us outside the dining room and theatre: Chilean fjords, glaciers flowing to the sea in the Beagle Passage, Cape Horn, and towns perched on the edge of the habitable world: Punta Arenas and Ushuaia. Until we'd seen these places, we could not begin to appreciate our good fortune at having found hands down the most comfortable mode of seeing them all. In addition to a cast of musicians and entertainers, the ship also included scientists on board (each with a sense of humor) to explain the upcoming stop and the significance of what we would be seeing.
Unlike other modes of travel,
a major aspect of cruising is meeting other people, which is a great part of the experience. We happened to have been placed at a great dinner table with two other couples who were interesting and well traveled with plenty of ideas about upcoming stops. It was fun meeting up with Geoff, Joyce, Madeleine and Don at the end of the day to trade stories about the day's events over dinner and talk about plans for the next port of call.
Probably the highlight of the trip was a chance to dive with sea lions in Puerto Madryn, which is mid-way up the coast of Argentina. It was a little pricey, but who could resist? Well...most people were able to resist, except for 4 other folks on the cruise. I was a little apprehensive, though, since I hadn't been scuba diving in 4 years. Also, I had a mild cold, so I was worried about equalizing at depth, but I had some decongestant with me to manage that issue. In the end, I was fine on all fronts.
At the time I booked the trip, I assumed that the dive was simply a local attraction pioneered by some
entrepreneurs, with little to no oversight by game wardens or park rangers. But it seems I was wrong. The government has sponsored a 5 year project to review the impact that small groups (mandated at 15 or fewer) of divers have on the sea lion colonies that occupy the coast just south of Puerto Madryn, and the project is in year 3. There are no treats or inducements to call the animals - they just come on their own with no apparent reward. Each dive is conducted under the supervision of a park ranger who documents the behavior of the animals, and whether the animals that came were cows, calves or bulls.
The event was unforgettable, with sea lions (probably cows) circling around and tasting snorkels, nudging tanks and generally checking us out. They always seemed to approach each diver from behind. When they swam by, they were often very close (less than 1 foot), and they moved the way I imagined phantoms would move in a haunted house. But these phantoms were anything but scary, with large, curious eyes framed by expressions that seem to say “how on earth do you make so many bubbles?”
Most of
all, we saw some beautiful places that reaffirmed how amazing South America can be. Punta del Este in Uruguay is a beautiful seaside town with wide, clean streets, and gorgeous beaches standing out as a shining example of the potential in the region, and hopefully its future. We felt the same about Zapallar, Chile. The best part is that it's all (still) very affordable, and a nice change from...well...every other destination we'd visited previously!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.259s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0527s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Matthew
non-member comment
Fantastic story
Guys, I dont get to read all your blogs but when I do I cant stop laughing from the humour and amazed by the photos and sooooooo jelous of the expereince you are sharing together! Fantastic blogs.. so pleased you are doing this so that others can live vicariously through you all in the hope that we too will make decisions on our own travels based on your tales. Life in Hong Kong is good, albeit cold, was just in New York last week during the storm and coming back here where we are not used to the cold was a surprise. Take care and continue onward and upward (or downward if you are where I think you are). Matthew.. P.S. Happy 40th..no addiitonal comments required.