Blogs from Punta Arenas, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 9

Actually just off Puerto Montte but not list here. 7th January Brian was at an all day conference so a chance for me to acquaint myself with shipboard life. This is a floating palace – Very Titanic and then some. Amazing food on tap all day long at several venues, a gym, spa and all that entails, swimming pool and whirlpools, a couple of theatres, endless live music bars two with dance floors, a casino, a very well equipped library to name but a few facilities. Add to that an itinerary of talks shows films, camera workshops and much much more. You name it and you will find it. There are 1500 people on board, mainly American, who are housed in ‘staterooms’ of various sizes. Ours is rather modest but spacious enough and overlooks one of ... read more

Day 21 - Tuesday 1st November We have enjoyed the last two days so much that we kind of let our heads run away from ourselves a bit last night and had just a teensy bit too much to drink. The small shop across the road sells litre bottles of Quilmes beer for 9 pesos (about $2.20) and a reasonable bottle of Argentinian red wine for 20 pesos (about $5) so it is quite easy and cheap to get drunk here, providing that you don’t mind doing it back in your hotel room. We sat up to nearly 1 in the morning going back over some of our photos and we may have had a bit too much, because we were both feeling a little seedy in the morning. A very slow start to the day ... read more

So the adventure ends for some………. But may be the beginning for others…… Leaving La Rioja, we headed down to check out Parque Ischigualasto and the Dinosaur Museum, some people really enjoyed it, others, thought it was just another pile of rocks….. Leaving San Augustin, bright and early, well some of us did, but Alan, discovered a flat tyre as he was about to leave the car park, but he had his pit crew with him and was soon back on the road. I caught up with Robin, Diane, Wim and Paul as the lunch stop, as Paul and I were texting each other about Wim’s back pack that he had left at a coffee stop during the morning ride. I waited here for an hour to see if String and the others were going to ... read more

Pali aike vulcano today! Great hiking together wirth Beatrice and with many guanacos (lama-like), ňandus (the emu-like ones), a fox, and many other birds. The day was great and the weather beautiful, meaning that I felt comfortable wearing 2 shirts, 2 pullovers, a warm jacket, a jacket against the wind, a cap, 2 paires of trousers, 2 pairs of socks, warm shoes, and gloves :-) but the sun was shining and we had a nice day. Tomorrow the 24h trip to puerto madryn, warm north, yeah! Pictures follow (I have about 50 guanaco pics). ... read more

Let's start with the present: I'm in Chile, in punta arenas, which is directly at the Magallanian street. It's quite different from what I've seen so far, and it's quite cold. When we crossed the Argentinian border in rio turbio it was snowing...I hope there's no Argentinian reading this blog, but the Chilenos are calmer, better organised, and politer...which isn't necessarily better, but nice for tourists. Within 4 weeks I experienced hot+humid, hot+dry, warm+humid, cool+humid, cold+dry, cold+wet...which is quite tough for the body, especially the skin. Calafate is a growing city, which is surprising since it's in the middle of nowhere, and as far as I know there's no industry, no agriculture, no university...what do people do there?? And it isn't very well reachable by bus...which brings me to aerolineas argentinas. You know I'm not a ... read more