Collingwood
22 Disember 2019, Kanada ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
After the three hour flight to Toronto, we used a wheelchair all the way through the baggage pick up area and Customs and right to our car that David, thankfully, had driven down from Collingwood to pick us up. He then drove us back to his house in Collingwood, jumped out, and we continued on our own back to our house.
When we walked into the house, we had a great surprise; David, Kate, Lilah and Callie had decorated the house with our Christmas decorations, including our tree. How they found all the decorations is a mystery but a real feat. We were so thankful.
It was a wonderful way to come home and to end our trip.
The next day, on December 23rd, Lee got another most welcomed Christmas surprise. She was advised that the surgery for her hip replacement was scheduled for January 9th!Baca lagi
Santiago, Chile
21 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Santiago, Chile
21 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C
Santiago, Chile
21 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C
Valparaiso . Santiago. Toronto
Today is debarkation day and essentially, everyone gets off the ship at the same time but peoples’ flights to go home leave at various times even late into the night. like ours. We had arranged a tour in the morning and paid a bit extra to be able to stay at a hotel until our flight leaves at 8:15pm.
We left the ship around 9:15 in Valparaiso and started our hour long bus drive to
Santiago. The countryside looked a bit like desert at the beginning but, as we drove north, it became greener and we saw lots of irrigated vineyards with the mountains surrounding the valleys, very pretty.
A brief history of Chile: Nomadic hunters and gatherers wandered here as early as 10,000 BC. In 800 BC Mapuche settlers began to populate the area. During the Inca period this area became a major hub on the 2500 km. north/south road network. In 1541 Pedro de Valdiva founded the city of Santiago. Although the Mapuche people tried to oust him, the Spanish remained, and Santiago began to grow. Santiago declared Chile’s independence from Spain in 1810. There were many dictator/Presidents, and dark years of executions especially under Augusto Pinochet until 1990. Democratic government was restored under Patricio Aylwyn. However, the gap between rich and poor widened and riots continued through the 1990’s. There were five presidents of Chile during the transition to democracy (1990–2017).
On 17 December 2017, Sebastián Piñera was elected president of Chile for a second term. In October 2019 there were violent protests about costs of living and inequality, resulting in Piñera declaring a state of emergency. Apparently, there was no money in the budget for things that matter to the citizens. -Trams have been stopped due to no funding. Workers were fired at the end of the day and rehired the next day to avoid having to pay benefits. As a result, the core of the city was a hotbed of turmoil with hundreds of protesters in the streets. The worst time for protests was from 6pm and on into the night. Box stores like Walmart, banks and major businesses were the targets for the protests. Graffiti was rampant with messages of discontent, blackening and defacing beautiful buildings everywhere in the central core of the city. Income gaps are part of the reason for the protest. as well as the sense that the government claimed to be right, and the people were not, all added fuel to the fire. We heard all about the riots as we travelled around South America and wondered if we would be able to see anything of Valparaiso and Santiago once we got there.
On the 15th of November 2019, most of the political parties represented in the National Congress signed an agreement to call a national referendum April 2020 regarding the creation of a new Constitution. This brought calm to the country and only time will tell what happens next. As of the writing of this book (in March 2020), the date has now been moved to October 25, 2020 due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Our entry to the downtown centre showed lots of people out walking and going about their business in a normal way. They did not seem to be concerned about the riots that had ravaged the city for 2 months. There were over 200 large murals defaced with black spray and they even sprayed marks on private houses to tell others how good the house is to rob. We learned that there is a major drug problem in Santiago, also they used to have 8 hospitals but now only have one.
The city is routinely subjected to earthquakes and there is little to no money for damage repairs. They are worried, but resigned, about the certainty a major earthquake will come in the future, the last of which was in 1906. In the meantime, they often have minor quakes on an average of every 7 years. Of course, earthquakes often cause Tsunamis, but they haven’t had one since 2017. Not a lot of comfort there! It was such a beautiful city and so disappointing to see the downtown area badly covered in graffiti and subject to riots and demonstrations.
When our bus got close to the City Centre in Santiago, our guide, worried about our security, he said that we could stay on the bus to take pictures or perhaps take a cautious walk around the square. Don was probably the first to say, we are walking. It was weird to walk around a beautiful square with lots of lovely looking people and constantly trying to be aware of our environment from a safety point of view, due to pickpockets. At one point, when we were about to cross the street, there were 3 men dressed rather shabbily in black, with headbands, close to our group. There were also two rather scruffy dogs near us and as soon as we all started walking, the dogs went nuts, running over to the 3 men, barking incessantly and trying to chase them away. They succeeded. I asked our guide if the city had trained them to try to protect the tourist, he said no, they just do it on their own. Whatever, it was sure amazing.
Surrounding the plaza there are several old buildings, Correos Chile (central Post Office), Royal Court Palace, built in 1804 for the Home of the Courts of Justice, now the Chilean History Museum. We also saw the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral built in 1753, a stone monument created to honour the Indigenous People. Also, a statue of a man on a horse to honour Don Pedro Valdivia the founder of Santiago. We boarded our bus and continued to tour the downtown area. We passed the Academia Diplomatica, the Chilean Embassy. We drove out alongside the Mapocho River that flows from the Andes and divides Santiago in two. We saw miles of artwork painted on the walls along the river and also a lot of graffiti. Lots of modern high rises along the river both apartments and office buildings.
We drove up into one of the many hills and saw a lovely residential area overlooking the city.
We then drove to a Chilean Traditional and Contemporary Crafts Center with 140 workshops representing all regions of Chile with their fabrics, stones, lapis lazuli (Chile’s national stone), wood, natural products, copper Mapuche art, Chiloe art, (very vibrant colours) on wood and clay pottery, also wickerwork, jewelry, antiques, wooden toys, weaving and more. It was a great center with good quality crafts, Lee bought a necklace and earrings of Lapis Lazuli (the Chilean sapphire blue stone), and an Alpaca woven shawl.
After our tour, we had a very pleasant lunch at the hotel and then Lee wanted to go for a walk to a nearby shopping plaza. Well it turned out not to be that close and it was very hot. Once we found it, we browsed around for a while and then found a shady spot to rest. Well, Lee rested, and Don fell asleep!
We returned to the hotel and waited until it was our turn to board the bus to the airport. After leaving the customs area we started walking to our gate which was a really long way. I noticed that Lee was lagging behind. I didn’t realize that, because of her hip, she was really in a lot of pain. It only became obvious to me when she stopped a customer service gentleman who was returning from the boarding gate with an empty wheelchair and asked him for help. He took her right to the gate area where I took over and wheeled her right to the door to the plane. She loaded herself up with pills and somehow survived the flight (8 hours) to our stopover in Houston. Lee slept for much of the time in Houston in another wheelchair. We were able to upgrade to the last two business class seats to Toronto, in the hope that Lee would be more comfortable. Because of all the pills she promptly fell asleep until we arrived in Toronto.Baca lagi
Valparaiso, Chile
20 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C
Valparaiso, Chile
20 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ⛅ -3 °C
Tours of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar
We set the alarm for 6:00am and the ship landed at the dock at about 7.30am. We had time for a leisurely breakfast overlooking the sunbathed city of Valparaiso. It looked like we were going to be blessed with fantastic weather. There were large buses waiting for us at the bottom of the gang plank which took us to the cruise terminal where we got off and back onto the correct bus for the tour that we had selected for the day.
Some general information about Valparaiso
-The population of Valparaiso is 400,000. Valparaiso is a very busy commercial port and we were docked right in the middle of it so there was a lot of activity to watch from the ship.
-There are ski areas in the Valparaíso Region, with an estimated 20 kilometres of slopes, served by 14 ski lifts. The highest ski mountain is Portillo at 3310m
-The hills of Valparaíso (Cerros Valparaíso) are the predominant geographical features of the city. There are 42 separate hills, and, in most cases, the name of the community is tied to the name of the specific hill.
-There are Tsunami warning signs all along the coast.
-The language spoken is Castilian. They drop letters at the end of words and speak very rapidly.
We took a funicular, (El Peral) to the highest lookout point to overlook the city. The funicular was originally built in 1902 but upgraded (thankfully) several times since then. There used to be 10 funiculars, but they have been rendered unusable because of earthquakes, and no funding to restore them. From there, it was an easy walk to the 2000sq meter Palacio Baburizza built around 1916 by one of the most important families of Valparaiso, the Ottorino Zanelli family who came from Italy. He built it for his wife Margarita, with whom he had 7 children, but they lived in it for only one year before he died. After Ottorino died, she sold the building to Pascual Baburizza in 1925 and went to Italy with her family.
Pascual Baburizza made his fortune as an investor in the saltpetre trade in Chile. He devoted his fortune largely to philanthropic works. He never formed a family, so he did not have direct descendants. It is said that Baburizza felt lonely in Chile, which was his second home, so he returned to his native country Croatia. Since he was a huge admirer and collector of art, he willed his entire art collection to the city of Valparaíso. The government acquired the Palacio Baburizza in 1971 and turned it into the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Valparaíso. We toured the huge house with its many rooms displaying an incredible number of fine paintings. After descending on the funicular, we took a trolley car to Villa Victoria, a 19th century mansion, home to one of the wealthiest women of the city, Dona Blanca Vergarad. It was not a great tour and far too long. We had to finally leave in the midst of it as we had to be ready for our afternoon tour. We returned the ship for a hasty lunch.
For our next tour, we headed out towards Viña del Mar and saw the university along the way. Vina del Mar is a region within Valparaiso known as the Garden City, its most famous sight being an enormous working clock, the Reloj de Flores (Flower Clock) made of flowers that bloom throughout the year. It is set on a sloping lawn at the foot of Cerro Castillo and is a masterpiece of landscape gardening making use of an abundance of colorful flowers. This botanical landmark is an actual working clock and was inaugurated in 1962 as part of the FIFA World Cup, for which Viña del Mar was one of the host cities. The hour hand is 10 feet long, and guess what? Vandals stole the hands of the clock and it will cost $35,000 to replace them. Not going to happen anytime soon!
Our tour concluded with a drive by of a stunning 1930 casino (didn’t go in) and then stopped at the Fonck Museum which had exhibits from Chile and Easter Island.
We returned to the ship for a multimedia show at the pool deck on the big screen, depicting the musical culture and dances of Chile.
Dinner that night was at The Chef’s Table for a French themed 5-course dinner with wine parings. The menu was called Anthony’s Bistro.
After dinner we started the sad necessity of packing up our suitcases for the next day’s debarkation.Baca lagi
Enroute Puerto Montt to Valparaiso
20 Disember 2019, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
Puerto Montt. Day at sea. Cruise the Pacific. 14 degrees C.
Today we will be sailing through the last of the Fjords out to the South Pacific Ocean towards Valparaiso. Our Viking Daily brochure outlined some of the early statistics of Viking explorers. While other Viking explorers in the eighth and 11th century discovered Iceland, it fell to Leif Erickson the son of Eric the Red, with a crew of 35 in a 42-foot boat to discover L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland in the year 992. Hard to imagine!
The lecture this morning by Dr. Mark Callaghan, was on the Age of the Inca, the people, cultures and beliefs.
Some of the points made during this lecture were as follows:
-The Incas, a South American Indian people, were originally a small tribe in the southern highlands of Peru near Cusco, around the 12th century.
-In the 1400’s an Inca ruler, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui led a campaign which conquered the Chimú and in less than a century he and then his son, Topa Inca Yupanqui built one of the largest, most tightly controlled empires the world has ever known. The capital was in Cusco.
- Tawantinsuyu, (Quechua for 4 parts) was the name of the state they governed that spread North, South, East and West over parts of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina that by the 1460s, was all part of a single Inca state.
-The Inca reign covered only a brief 100-year span between 1438 and 1533
-Their skill in government was matched by their feats of engineering.
- around Cusco it is said that the Inca Empire constructed 25,000 miles of roads and switchbacks in only 100 years.
- there are 348 known sites of Inca origin with religious significance all around the area of Cusco.
-The area under the Inca influence stretched 2500 miles north to south and encompassed geographic levels from sea level to 22,800 feet.
-as the Incas took over increasing areas, the new people under their empire were not subjugated. They could remain living with their own cultures and traditions but men between the ages of 15 and 50 years old were compelled to do farm work and other duties.
- At the height of their rule only 60,000 Inca people controlled 12 million people.
It is amazing to think that their successes and accomplishments were executed without a language or even an alphabet and the largest animal they had for physical labour was the Llama.
-For communication they had a system called Quipu (also spelled khipu), or talking knots. Recording devices fashioned from strings historically used by a number of cultures in the region of the Andean South America. Knotted strings consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings. The Inca people used them for collecting data and keeping records, monitoring tax obligations, properly collecting census records, calendrical information, and for military organization. The cords stored numeric and other values encoded as knots, often in a base ten positional system. A quipu could have as few as 10 or thousands of cords. The configuration of the quipus has been "compared to string mops. Archaeological evidence has also shown the use of finely carved wood as a supplemental, and perhaps a sturdier base to which the color-coded cords would be attached. A relatively small number have survived.
Objects that can be identified unambiguously as quipus first appear in the archaeological record in the first millennium AD. They subsequently played a key part in the administration of the Kingdom of Cusco and later Tawantinsuyu, the empire controlled by the Inca ethnic group who flourished across the Andes from c. 1100 to 1532 AD.
As the region was taken over under the invading Spanish Empire, the quipu faded from use, to be replaced by European writing and numeral systems. However, in several villages, quipu continued to be important items for the local community, albeit for ritual rather than practical use. It is unclear as to where and how many intact quipus still exist, as many have been stored away in mausoleums.
We had a relaxing lunch by the pool and made some progress on our blog.
At 4:30 we attended our last Planetarium presentation and the subject was exploring deep space using the most modern telescopes on earth. The most current one is called the ALMA on a site, some 50 km east of San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, it is in one of the driest places on Earth. There is now a future one called the James Watt being built that will enable even more distant explorations almost to the end of the universe. This will be a similar format to Hubble and will be launched by NASA when it is ready.
After dinner we went to the Star Lounge for a performance by the Viking Vocalists, a musical journey through the decades of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.Baca lagi
Puerto Montt, Chile
18 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
Puerto Montt, Chile
18 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
Puerto Montt, located, in the Lake District on the western coast of southern Chile is considered to be the capital of northern Patagonia province at least economically if not politically. The city was founded in 1853 after the government sponsored immigration brought Germans here to populate and develop this remote region.
We had hoped against hope last night for good weather today, but it was not a happy looking day at 7:30 am as the ship backed into its birth. Overcast and heavy rain as we made our way from the ship to the bus for our tour to Emerald Lake for a catamaran sightseeing cruise. On the way, we drove by Chile’s second largest lake, Lake Llanquihue, which the literature says, "is watched over by the snow-capped volcanos Osorno and Calbuco, creating one of Patagonia‘s most picturesque vistas". Because of the rain and fog we could see virtually nothing and got soaked getting on the boat. With about 150 people on board, we circled the lake for about a half an hour, saw little and got soaked again getting off the boat. Our next stop was at Petrohue Falls. On the 250 yard walk out, we got even more soaked. While the falls were not very high, they were certainly very powerful and picturesque as they carved their way through the volcanic rock.
Our next stop was at the village of Puerto Varas where we had quite a delightful lunch. On entering we were served Chile’s famous national drink the Pisco Sour. It was much sourer than the rendition we had in Peru. That was followed by wine and a fantastic lunch of poached salmon followed by a dessert of Kuchen which is a German cake but looks more like a pie. By the time we had finished lunch, it had stopped raining and was looking like it might clear up. We had some time to explore this pretty town and browse around some of the many craft and souvenir shops. Puerto Varas is known as the city of roses which Lee’s pictures will confirm. After a half hour drive, we got back to the ship.
Along the way we learned the following
-The area has an abundance of eucalyptus trees which they ship to Japan for making paper.
-The Panamanian highway which runs through this region is 17,000 km long and runs from Alaska to Chiloway Island in south Chile.
-75% of the country’s milk production comes from this region. The most common cows are Jersey and Holstein.
-This area, also known as region number 10, produces large amounts of berries. Blackberries, strawberries and black currents which are shipped to the United States and South Africa.
-Chile produces 220 different types of potatoes.
-Chile is the world’s second largest salmon farm producer next to Norway.
-Sheep farmers use Llamas to protect the sheep. The Llamas can whistle and thereby warn the sheep of predators.
-The reason that this area was so populated by Germans is that Chile needed more workers to do farming and at the same time Germans needed more work because the industrialization put them out of farming jobs in Germany. Some of the areas south of where we were had a large Croatian population for the same reason.
As we walked along the pier to the ship, we could hear loud and lively music. Almost all of the ship's crew were on the pier singing and dancing to greet us on our return. They also served us another pisco sour. The weather changed so unbelievably better in such a short period of time that we continued on to our room and sat out on the veranda in 26c temperature and watched the entertainment until the ship cleared port.
We had reservations at the Chef’s Table at 8:00pm. It was possibly one of the best meals we’ve had on board. The Chef‘s Table is a set menu but changes every three days, so you have no decisions to make except whether you want to go or not. It is essentially a three-course meal with two palate cleansers in between. The first one was a cold Amuse Bouche and the second course was a chili soft shell crab that was different but extremely delicious. The next refresher was called Red Lotus consisting of lychee, guava, cranberry juice and lychee liquor. The main course was Thai spiced, rack of lamb. The lamb was cooked to perfection and outrageously delicious. Near the end of our dinner since we were on the first deck level and beside the window, we could see that the waves were getting to be pretty significant and the ship was starting to rock ‘n’ roll a bit. We were afraid that might make for a bumpy evening but when we went up to our cabin it didn’t seem as rough.
Back down for the entertainment at 9:15 which was by a mezzo soprano who sang many upbeat songs as well as some opera. We were a bit late in arriving, so Lee got one of the last seats available and I ended up sitting on one of the steps in the aisle. On the way back to the cabin Lee wanted some hot water so we stopped at the main piano bar in the lobby and enjoyed some quiet time and a drink.Baca lagi
Puerto Aguirre, Chile. Cruise Fjords
17 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
Scenic Cruising in the Chilean Fjords.
Second day in a row of cruising at sea. Off to a bit of a late start (getting into a bad habit) so grabbed some muffins and a banana and headed for our 9:30 lecture by Dr. Richard Bates, on the oceans and the effect they have on climate. Well let’s just say that it’s very complicated. He outlined the global wind directions and the effect that they had on climates all around the world. Another factor is ocean currents, and the effect that they have, as well as circulation of sea water from the bottom to the top, and how that changed ocean temperatures which led to changes in the direction of the trade winds. Cold water at the bottom of the ocean can take upwards of 1000 years to rise to the surface and begin to effect changes. He also pointed out that 50 million years ago North and South America began to separate from the Pangea, which led to changes in ocean levels and ocean currents and thus enormous climate change.
And on a larger scale, about ten million years ago, due to tectonic plate movement, Antarctica began separating from South America and 5 million years ago Central America began to form.
All of these changes affect global temperatures which can cause melting of glaciers. 10 % of the earth’s surface is covered by glaciers and 85% of that is in Antarctica. Glaciers store 75% of the earth's fresh water which, when they melt, changes the salinity of the oceans which change currents which change climates etc., etc. It gives me a headache!
-Oh, and did I mention that the subduction of one plate under another plate creates heat which changes land and ocean temperatures and causes the creation of mountains which on their own, cause changes in local, if not continental climates. My headache is getting worse. Thank goodness he was such a good lecturer.
Last night was a bit bumpy and we are now sailing outside the fjord area but should soon be cutting back into the fiords which will result in calmer seas. It is a rather miserable day today. The temperature is about 12°C, waves approximately 12 to 15 feet high, pouring rain and visibility of only several hundred yards because of the rain and the fog. What a shame as this is supposed to be the most awesome part of the cruise for scenery.
In the early afternoon, we realized that we would probably come close to Gary and Karina on their sailboat. They were supposed to be sailing southward past us as we were sailing northward to where they had just left. After many e-mails and text messages back and forth, we were finally able to contact them by cell phone using WhatsApp and had a really fun 15 to 20-minute conversation with them. As it turns out they were docked in Puerto Aguirre and our ship was passing within five nautical miles of them. Had the weather and other conditions been more appropriate Gary said that he would have sailed out to see the ship. It was great to know that they were safe and sound, they narrowly avoided yet another, in their seemingly endless, disasters. As they docked at their berth in high winds the throttle cable broke. All is well notwithstanding cold and rainy conditions. They are hunkered down with winds of about 30k and sideways rain but are happy and feeling upbeat. Really? Apparently, by Gary’s description, Karina has everything she owns on. He said the door/hatch is still open but said if it gets cold, they can shut the door and he might even turn on the heat!!
They are hoping to receive the necessary parts to fix the throttle cable shortly.
The chef and 40 people in his department have been working for over a month to make a large gingerbread village which is now on display in the main social area, the Atruim, on deck one.
We sent the following e-mail to Lilah and Callie.
Hi girls,
The chef and 40 helpers made these gingerbread houses and put them out two days ago. The windows are even made from clear candy.
Also, when you walk to school the next time think about the length of our ship. It is almost as far as from Birch street to Cedar street. Almost two blocks!
Lots of love
Grampa
One of the options for dining tonight was a special fish and chips dinner on the patio deck which turned out to be pretty good. After that we went to the show, but Don was tired and left early. Tomorrow, we are supposed to go on a 7-hour tour when we land at Puerto Montt, including a catamaran tour around Lake Emerald. Hope it clears up.Baca lagi
Amalia Glacier, Chile
16 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ 🌧 2 °C
Viking Jupiter. Amalia Glacier. Day at Sea
Sunrise 5:25 and Sunset 10:10 PM. Cloudy raining 10 Degrees C.
Nautical Term of the Day. As the Crow Flies. When lost or unsure of their position in coastal water, ships would release a caged crow. The crow would fly straight toward the nearest land, thus giving the vessel some sort of navigational fix. This is also why the tallest lookout platform on a ship came to be known as the “crow’s nest”.
We woke later today and then realized we had a 9:30 lecture on the making of the fjords. Quick breakfast and hurried down to get good seats in the Star Theatre.
The lecturer was Dr John Rennie Short who is Scottish and very good with a great sense of humour. He told us he was going to talk about Plate tectonics, the Ice Age and Post Pleistocene (ice age)
He talked about the geology of the world, that the earth is made up of the molten boiling core then the mantle full of minerals, and the crust on top which has cooled and is deep in some areas and very thin in others. 5 miles in some areas and 200 miles thick in others. Heat from the mantle makes the crust break up so it is constantly moving. The crust as it is breaking up creates parts to move, called tectonic plates. In South America there are 2 major plates the Nazca and the South American Plates. They move like bumper cars and grow at the same rate as our fingernails. These are subduction plates that push against each other and one slides under and pushes the other up to produce mountains hence the Patagonian Mountains. Volcanoes are eruptions of the mantle as the plates move. The ice Age was 2.5 million years ago. The ice sheets started to form and got thicker. During the Post Pleistocene period the ice sheets shifted, they opened up and created deep V-shaped fissures. Glaciers entered these V-shaped valleys and carved out, U-shaped valleys and filled it with water quite often creating hanging valleys and hanging rivers. When the ice age stopped and the glaciers started to recede and melt, the sea levels rose and rushed into the U-shaped valleys. The result is the creation of Fjords. The walls of the valleys are precipitous with rock outcrops and the bottom of the valleys are now very deep-water channels. Dr. Short called them “drowned” u shaped valleys.
We decided to get lunch at the World Café and took it to the pool deck so we could watch the land as we cruised along. At 1:30 we started to see the Amalia Glacier and Lee went out on deck to get some photos. It was still drizzling but not too bad. She came back in to have lunch by the window and waited until the ship turned around the corner to enter the channel towards the Glacier. It took about an hour to get close and then Dr. Richard Bates gave a running commentary from the bridge about glaciers. We were all out on deck to watch as we slowly moved forward. He said that they are always on the move pushing the base under it in front like a bulldozer. He said that where the glacier was coming down from the mountain it is now calving into the water and the debris that it is bringing down from the mountains is dumping into the water. Cruising past the Amalia Glacier, part of Bernardo O’Higgins national Park, you cannot help but marvel at the power of nature. This massive Glacier skirts the northern rise of the recluse volcano located directly behind it, slowly eroding the hulking mound’s slopes. Amalia’s ice flow journeyed here millennia ago from the heights of the Andes mountains – a fractional segment of one of the world’s largest continuous ice fields, the southern Patagonian ice field. This sheet of ice covered the entirety of southern Chile during the Ice Age. We had hoped to see some forms of sea life but nothing at all. A bit anti climatic but still very interesting. We heard from several people that you see much more spectacular glaciers on the Alaska cruises and see a lot more calving as well.
We spent part of the afternoon in the fitness room and spa which have very extensive facilities. In addition to the usual stem and sauna rooms, hot and cold tubs and swimming pool, they even have a snow room where you can lie on the snow to cool down
We had dinner in The Restaurant Don had a mushroom Risotto and Lee had a Norwegian Salmon and Lump Crab Gratin. We were a bit late leaving the restaurant but were able to see the last part of the entertainment, the assistant cruise director, Corinne Bach who was a very accomplished Opera singer, singing Jazz, Broadway Musicals, Pop, and music from “Popera”.
As we headed out of the theatre and came into the atrium, we looked down to the 2nd floor and saw that the first Christmas decorations were out, including a display of gingerbread houses made by the kitchen.Baca lagi
Puntas Arenas, Chile
15 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Punta Arenas, Chile
15 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ 🌧 9 °C
Punta Arenas, Chile. Viking Jupiter
Calling for rain later in the afternoon. 4 degrees Celsius.
Sunrise 5:15 AM and Sunset today will be 10:16 PM
Founded as a penal colony by Chile in 1848 Punta Arenas’ grew by virtue of its location. It is nestled amid spectacular mountain vistas on the Eastern shores of the Brunswick Peninsula. It played host to Mariners crossing the continent by ship via the Strait of Magellan. Europeans followed searching for newly discovered gold and establishing vast swaths of sheep farms locally and throughout the surrounding region of Patagonia. Over time Punta Arenas became one of Chile’s most important ports as, before the opening of the Panama Canal, it lay on the northern most transcontinental shipping route. Today this frontier city is a rich and enticing land of Croatian, German, English, Italian and other European influences imported here with 19th century immigrants. It is a city near the tip of Chile's southernmost Patagonia region
We have a form that we filled out to allow us to enter into Chile every time we leave the ship. We didn’t have to show it as we passed through security this morning, but we have to have it all the time we are on land, right up until we go to the airport.
We left the ship around 10:20 to walk to the terminal and the wind was so strong it was blowing us in all directions. We boarded our bus and headed off to an observation area called Cerro do la Cruz to see panoramic views of the city, the Strait of Magellan, the port area and the Tierra del Fuego island. The railings had personal padlocks like we have seen in many European cities, placed there by “lovers”. Don bought a Llama sweater that he took a shine to. From there we drove down to see Monumento al Overjero, (Sheepdog Monument), a memorial dedicated to the ranching wealth and rural traditions of Chile’s Magallanes region. It depicts a rural worker engaged in the harsh activities that contributed to the wealthy livestock industry of southern Chile. Designed by Chilean sculptor Gérman Montero Carvallo, it stretches for about 30 meters, at the rear of the monument is a shepherd with a horse and his faithful sheepdog. Walking in front of them is a herd of nine sheep.
From there we walked to the Pioneer Cemetery founded in 1894 by Sara
Braun, (1862 – 1955). A Chilean businesswoman born in Latvia, who became one of the principal employers in Patagonia. She emigrated, at the age of 12, with her family from Latvia (Russian Empire) to escape persecution, because of their Jewish heritage, and settled in Punta Arenas, in 1874.
Sara joined her father to help administer the naval warehouse of the Portuguese shipping magnate José Nogueira, whom she married in 1887. The two worked together to build a business empire. When Nogueira died in 1893, Sara took over his leases for land in Tierra del Fuego and took control of his commercial, industrial and shipping interests.
She along with business partners from the wealthy Menéndez family established the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego in 1893 to engage in sheep farming. She was granted pieces of land that reached one million hectares in the area of Magallanes The Society's development of the sheep industry in Patagonia displaced the original inhabitants of those lands.
The building of fences created obstacles for the nomadic life of the Selk'nam people and introduction of sheep herds displaced their main food source, the guanaco. Facing starvation, they began to steal livestock. The Exploitation Society asked and received permission from the Chilean government to remove the indigenous population from the area. They did this by killing off most of the indigenous population. When we toured the cemetery the monument to the Menéndez had been painted in blood red due to the riots in Chile over wealthy owners of businesses and land.
We then walked to the other end of the 4 Hectares cemetery land to see a tribute to the “Indio Desconocido”. Everything started in 1930 when an Indian died on the Island called Diego de Almagro. The Indian was buried in this cemetery due to a donation from the administration of the same place. After twenty years, someone discovered several candles and coins around the grave. The years passed by and around 1968 there started to be letters demonstrating gratitude for being helped by the Indian. Moreover, a woman named Magdalena Vrsalovic decided to donate money, in order to help a Chilean Institution that helps the community in case of difficulties. Magdalena and other people felt that the Indian had brought them good luck. They agreed to build a monumental grave with the figure of the Indian made by Edmundo Casanova. The theory is if you rub his foot or hand it is good luck. People drop coins in a box to keep his grave kept properly.
We saw several places where the flags were at half-mast. This was because, on December 9 2019, a Chilean Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft crashed in the Drake Passage while enroute to a Chilean military base on King George Island in Antarctica.
Our tour continued on to the centre of town to the Plaza Muñoz Gamero, Benjamín Muñoz Gamero was a Chilean naval officer, senator and governor of Punta Arenas We saw a memorial to explorer Ferdinand Magellan which commemorates the discovery of the Strait of Magellan on October 25, 1520. Magellan stands on a cannon at the top of the monument, with his hat in his right hand. On one side is a bronze sculpture of an indigenous Patagonian, and on the other side, a sculpture of a young woman with her arms raised. An urban myth from the city of Punta Arenas tells that a few years after the monument was inaugurated, a Spanish sailor approached it and, being impressed by the size of the foot of the Patagonian Indian, decides to rub it. Within a few years, the sailor returned with good fortune. From that moment, it is said that whoever passes through the Muñoz Gamero square and does not kiss the Patagonian toe, will not return with good fortune to the city of Punta Arenas. The foot is polished and very shiny from all the people rubbing and kissing it.
Our guide said that we would stop here for about a half hour to allow people to browse the souvenir stalls. We decided that we would walk back to the ship on our own. We passed many colonial mansions which are now embassies and museums. It was still very windy and cold and starting to drizzle as we walked along the pier. At the port entrance there were a number of shops, so we bought 2 bottles of wine. We decided we would not take the afternoon walking tour as it sounded like we had seen much of it already. Besides, it was really cold. We enjoyed our lunch on the pool deck which was lovely and warm because the glass roof was closed.
The ship set sail at 5:00pm. Tonight’s’ entertainer was Anne Martinez a beautiful redheaded vocalist. She had trained as an opera singer but now headlines in multiple shows in Vegas. She was a good friend of our Cruise Director Heather Clancy who was also a fabulous singer.Baca lagi
Ushuaia, Argentina
14 Disember 2019, Argentina ⋅ 🌧 10 °C
Ushuaia, Argentina
14 Disember 2019, Argentina ⋅ 🌧 9 °C
Ushuaia, Argentina
14 Disember 2019, Argentina ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Ushuaia, Argentina. The End of The World
14 Disember 2019, Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We arrived at “The end of the World” this morning, the nickname for Ushuaia, Argentina. Argentina is 5000 km long and has 23 provinces. Ushuaia is the capital of the most southern province, Tierra del Fuego and the last mainland civilization before the Antarctic.
It was 6 degrees but lucky for us it wasn’t raining or snowing. This is their summer and it doesn’t get much warmer than today. Sunrise 4:51 am and Sunset 10:05 pm The setting for this town is beautiful but they are snowbound for 9 months of the year. In port there were several ships preparing to head to the Antarctic and we also saw a group of hikers going to hike in Patagonia. Ushuaia is 300 km. from Buenos Aires and has a population of 80,000.
We had a tour of Tierra del Fuego National park on the Argentine part of the island. Within Tierra del Fuego Province is the eco-region of the Patagonia Forest and Altos Andes, a part of the sub Antarctic forest. Established on 15 October 1960 and expanded in 1966, it was the first shoreline national park to be established in Argentina. Tierra del Fuego National Park named by the Spanish, means Land of Fire. This was because the Yámana native population kept fires going all the time to keep warm, even using coal in their canoes.
The park contains mountains, lakes, rivers and valleys. It is bounded on the west by the Chilean border, on the north by Lago Fagnano and Roca lakes, and on the south by the Beagle Channel, which forms the shoreline. Both Chile and Argentina share the management of this park. It encompasses an area of 63,000 hectares and represents two eco regions: the Altos Andes and the Patagonian Forest. While the former eco region is made up of hills and slopes, the latter has high and jagged mountains, glacier valleys and semi-deciduous forests. The landscape of the park is the result of glacial erosion, which has created bays and beaches against a backdrop of rugged mountains and valleys. Forests of Antarctic Beech, Lenga Beech and Coihue in the lower elevations of the park are home to many animal species. An orange, golf ball size, fungus growing on the trees is called Indian bread which you can eat right off the tree, but not after it falls off the tree.
Argentinian President Juan Peron introduced Canadian beaver to the park hoping to create a fur trade, but the fur was not good. There are no predators, so the increasing population of beavers has created a major problem because their dams and the creation of bogs kills off the trees. Both the Chilean and Argentinian governments are cooperating to get rid of the beavers but have not been successful.
The park is the southern terminus of the Pan-American Highway that runs from Alaska to here.
The Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego National Park is named after the British ship HMS Beagle, which sailed with the naturalist Charles Darwin aboard in 1833–34. The channel separates Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from the islands of Nueva, Picton, Navarino, Hoste, Londonderry, Stewart, and other smaller islands to the south. The biggest settlement on the channel is Ushuaia in Argentina followed by Puerto Williams in Chile, two of the southernmost settlements in the world.
Humans inhabited Tierra del Fuego as far back as 10,000 years ago. The Yámana (Yaghan people), living in the harsh environment, survived on the natural resources of the sea. They lived on its beaches and made voyages into the sea in canoes made of Lenga Beech, hunted sea lions and collected shellfish. They lived in huts made of tree branches and trunks and clothed themselves with leather made from sea lion pelts. They smeared their body with the fat and grease of these animals to waterproof their skins as they were always in the water fishing.
The southern group of the Yaghan people (also known as Yámana), occupied what is now Ushuaia, living in continual conflict with the northern inhabitants of the island.
Waite H. Stirling, an Anglican missionary, settled here in 1870 and started to convert Yaghan tribes.
Trouble for the Yaghan people began in 1880, when European missionaries entered the area accompanied by gold prospectors, following rumors of large gold fields, which proved to be false. European settlers brought diseases such as measles, causing a rapid and nearly complete extinction of the Yaghan people. The Yaghan tribe was reduced to 3,000 people in 1880 and to less than 100 by the 1990s. Many of them were killed by European settlers' "shoot exercises" and deliberate poisoning of the sea lions, the staple of the Yaghan diet. Following the death of 84-year-old Emelinda Acuña (1921 – 12 October 2005), only one native speaker of the language remains, Cristina Calderón of Villa Ukika on Navarino Island, Chile who was 91 on May 2019. What can be seen of the Yaghan people and their settlements today are mainly relics in the form of piles of mussel shells overgrown with grass near the seashore.
The Boundary Treaty of 1881 stated that Argentina would be entitled to the eastern portion, while Chile would have the western part of the Tierra del Fuego A dispute, started which almost resulted in war between the two countries in 1978. However, with the intervention of the Vatican the issue was resolved. on 2 May 1985. Under this treaty, Chile retained control of all the disputed islands and Argentina was entitled to the navigation rights and maintained their limited presence on these islands.
Effectively, the island was divided between Argentina and Chile.
We visited a museum/restaurant and gift shop called Alakush. Excellent display of the life in the area.
The buses were late leaving the museum because everyone wanted to buy souvenirs and they had only limited internet and had to do most transactions by cash which left the group scrambling.
This afternoon we had a rather pathetic bus tour around town. Don and I hopped off the bus and did our own tour of a former prison, now a museum, that was really interesting.
Argentinian President Roca established a penal colony in 1902, on nearby Staten Island, which resulted in its development. Then followed the establishment of a prison in Ushuaia. In late 1909 and early 1910 a railway line called the Southern Fuegian Railway, or the End of the World train was established as a narrow-gauge steam railway, replacing an old wood track railway drawn by bullocks. The steam engine driven railway was built over a length of 25 km from Maipu Avenue on the waterfront into the Tierra del Fuego National Park. The line connected the prison camp with the forestry camp. The primary purpose of the railway was as a freight line to serve the prison of Ushuaia, and hence was known as the "Prison Train," As well, it was used to transport prisoners to the camps and transport the logged timber from forests. The prison was built to hold 350 prisoners but ended up holding 750 or more. Interesting that they paid the prisoners and if they actually were allowed to leave, they received that payment. The prison was closed in 1947, and the railway was finally closed in 1952, following the reduction in forest resources and an earthquake that damaged the tracks.
40 years after it had been closed as a Prison train, it was revived, refurbished with modern amenities and claimed to be the southernmost functioning railway in the world. It now takes tourists to the Tierra del Fuego park.
Tonight, we had a big barbecue extravaganza under the cover of the closed glass roof on the pool deck with dancing. It was billed as an Argentinian Asado ( BBQ) and Dancing under the setting sun.( It couldn't be under the stars since the sun doesn’t really set until 10:05), The music was great but unfortunately, Lee was aching badly due to her hip and we took a pass on dancing. If you know how much Lee likes to dance, you can imagine the discomfort she was in.Baca lagi
Enroute to Cape Horn
13 Disember 2019, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C
Viking Jupiter. Day at sea . Cape Horn
When we woke this morning at 8:00am, we were just drifting in the ocean off Puerto Williams where we were being cleared through Chilean Customs and immigration. No action was required on our part as the ship has all our passports. The process was supposed to take an hour, but I think it took 2 hours.
We are now in Chilean waters and have a Chilean navigator on board. We were advised that we won’t make it to Cape Horn until 4:30 or later this afternoon. The weather is cloudy and temperature between zero and 5 degrees. We had a leisurely breakfast and went back to our room to catch up on notes, laundry, and watched some of the previous lectures on television.
Discovering Cape Horn
An old maritime saying claims that: “Below 40 degrees latitude, there is no law. Below 50 degrees, there is no God”. Cape Horn, which lies at 55°56’ south latitude and 67°19’ west longitude, certainly fits the sentiments of this adage. Sudden, violent squalls called williwaw winds are common: gusts resulting from the cold, dense air from ice fields of coastal mountains in Patagonia being forced down by gravity to the sea. These winds can strike ships with little warning and are one of the reasons why it is notoriously difficult to round the horn. Waves can also reach heights of over 30 m. while an average of 270 days of rainfall per year, including 70 days of snow, can restrict visibility.
Explorers had been navigating the southern seas around the South American continent for over a century before Cape Horn was officially discovered. Further north, the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego had been discovered by Portuguese Captain Ferdinand Magellan in 1520.
Later in the century, Francis Drake and his crew were blown off course in 1578 and discovered the Drake Passage, refuting the belief that Tierra del Fuego was part of the great, impassable continent of Terra Australis Incognita that was believed to stretch to the South Pole. However, until the early 1600s, no ships had yet sailed the entire Drake Passage or encountered Hornos Island and the Hermite Islands where Cape Horn is located.
The Dutch East India Company held the monopoly on all Dutch trade through the only known routes to the Indies: The Straits of Magellan and the Cape of Good Hope. A previous shareholder in the company, a Belgian-born Amsterdam merchant, Isaac Le Maire and veteran Dutch sailor, Willem Cornelis Schouten financed a voyage to find another route to the Pacific Ocean and thus end the Dutch East India Company’s trade monopoly.
On January 24, 1616 the crews crossed and named the Strait of Le Maire before rounding the horn on January 29, 1616 and calling it “Kaap Höorn” after Schouten’s town of birth.
Well we were so lucky as we had completely clear sailing the night before and the day of our visit. I am glad I didn’t know about the possible size of the waves, or I would have been totally freaked out. We approached Cape Horn in completely calm seas and were excited that we were here, seeing it rising like a pillar above the point where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans converge. It is part of the Hermit Islands archipelago. This remote stark and treeless place is often considered the continent’s southernmost point, though the lesser-known Diego Ramirez Islands are father south. The highest point of the Cape soars from the Hornos island a massive prehistoric -looking volcanic rock dating back to the Jurassic period. We sailed right into the bay and around the area and then turned around and sailed slowly back out. The commentary from the bridge advised that this was one of the very best days to see the Horn because of the weather. Many times, the cruise ships can’t even get here.
Lecture on Antarctica
-Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent in terms of total area.
-There is 800 KM between Cape Horn and Antarctica via Drake Passage.
The continent of Antarctica makes up most of the Antarctic region. The Southern Hemisphere encompassed by the Antarctic Convergence. The Antarctic Convergence is an uneven line of latitude where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the warmer waters of the world’s oceans. The Antarctic covers approximately 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere.
The ice surface grows dramatically in size from about 3 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) at the end of summer to about 19 million square kilometers (7.3 million square miles) by winter. Ice sheet growth mainly occurs at the coastal ice shelves, primarily the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ronne Ice Shelf. Ice shelves are floating sheets of ice that are connected to the continent. Glacial ice moves from the continent’s interior to these lower-elevation ice shelves at rates of 10 to 1,000 meters per year.
-If all the ice covering Antarctica, Greenland, and the mountain glaciers around the world were to melt, sea level would rise about 70 meters (230 feet). The ocean would cover all the coastal cities and land area would shrink significantly.
-There are seven sovereign states that have territorial claims in Antarctica: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
-The Antarctic Treaty puts aside the potential for conflict over sovereignty. It entered into force in 1961 and has since been acceded to by many other nations, but the provisions of the Treaty do not allow them to make their claims while it is in force. They are Brazil, Peru, Russia, South Africa and the United States.
Some important provisions of the Treaty
-Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only.
-Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end.
-Scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available.
-The Australian Antarctic Territory covers nearly 5.9 million square kilometers; about 42% of Antarctica. Norway’s territory is next in size and the rest of the countries have smaller territories. There is still a small section not designated to any country.
After this lecture Lee went up and made a plate of sushi at the World Café and brought it down to the Theatre.
The next lecture was by our resident Astronomer; Aurora -Lights in the Sky.
Our sun is 93 million miles away. But its effects extend far beyond its visible surface. Great storms on the sun send gusts of charged solar particles hurtling across space. If Earth is in the path of the particle stream, our planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere react.
When the charged particles from the sun strike atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere, they excite those atoms, causing them to light up.
-What does it mean for an atom to be excited? Atoms consist of a central nucleus and a surrounding cloud of electrons encircling the nucleus in an orbit. When charged particles from the sun strike atoms in Earth’s atmosphere, electrons move to higher-energy orbits, further away from the nucleus. Then when an electron moves back to a lower-energy orbit, it releases a particle of light or photon.
-What happens in an aurora is similar to what happens in the neon lights we see on many business signs. Electricity is used to excite the atoms in the neon gas within the glass tubes of a neon sign. That’s why these signs give off their brilliant colors. The aurora works on the same principle – but at a vaster scale.
This was another fascinating lecture that added the overwhelming information we are trying to absorb about space.
We went for dinner at Manfredi’s and sat next to and chatted with a lovely couple.
As we were quite late eating dinner we decided to just wander around the Atrium and then headed off to bedBaca lagi
Cruising towards Cape Horn
12 Disember 2019, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
Viking Jupiter. Day at Sea
Oh dear, another day at sea. I wonder what we will do today.
First off for a walk on the 2nd deck before breakfast. Don is enjoying all the breakfast specials, eggs benedict, waffles, French toast, lots of bacon, sausages, as well as having his fruit and yoghurt each morning. Lee just sticks with fruit, yoghurt and granola, I save myself for the fabulous dinners each night.
Our cruise director, Heather Clancy, is an opera singer so this is her day. At 1:30 we will see a “Live from the Met” Presentation of Aida from 2012. At 10:30 Heather will give a lecture about the Metropolitan Opera, Giuseppe Verdi (the composer) and the opera Aida. Have to fit lunch in between 11:30 and 1:30. We have an afternoon break after 3:30 until 5:15 when there is a lecture about Sir Ernest Shackleton and his daring exploits exploring the Antarctic. We will go to the next lecture “A look at the Night Sky” at 6:30. Dinner is booked in the Chefs Table at 7:30. And we will catch a bit of the performance by Reuel on his piano at 9:15.
Not much worrying about what to do.
Here is the Nautical term of the Day: Go for the Pig and Whistle. This term was used in the early sailing days of the English Navy. Once a week, the sailors were allowed a ration of rum (known as the “pig”). A young sailor would be sent down to the cargo hold to get the rum and told to “get the pig and whistle.” If he stopped whistling while he was out of sight, he was believed to be drinking the rum and so was lashed.
Don went to the first lecture about the opera and agreed to go to the presentation but only lasted until intermission and then he left to go to the pool deck.
The lecture about Shackleton was fascinating. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Irish explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. Shackleton's first experience in the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition of 1901–1904. The 2nd was the Nimrod expedition of 1907–1909. He and three companions established a new farthest south record by reaching latitude 88°S, 180 kilometres from the South Pole. It was the largest advance to the pole in exploration history. Also, members of his team climbed Mount Erebus, the most active Antarctic volcano. For these achievements, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.
In December 1911, Roald Amundsen's was the first to reach the South Pole and ended the race to be the first. Shackleton then turned his attention to the crossing of Antarctica from sea to sea, via the pole.
In 1914 Shackleton set off on an expedition consisting of 27 men on board the sailing vessel Endurance. His hope was to become the first man to cross Antarctica. Due to an unusually thick ice pack and a freak wind shift, they were trapped in the Weddell Sea not far from their planned Antarctica landing, where they drifted frozen in the ice flow for many months until the ship was crushed by ice and finally sunk. The men eventually made their way to Elephant Island in 3 lifeboats, but given that there was no hope of rescue, Shackleton set off with 4 other men in a makeshift 23 ft sailboat with a mostly open deck. 16 days and 800 miles later they arrived on the desolate west shores of South Georgia, where due to the poor condition of their boat, Ernest was forced to cross the mountainous spine of the island on foot. 36 hours later, despite the lack of any surveys, they managed to find their way to the small whaling station of Stromness and were then taken to Grytviken where Shackleton mounted 3 rescue attempts to save the men on Elephant island. The 4th (the first major Chilean Navy rescue mission) was successful and miraculously, every man survived the ordeal. They returned to England in 1917. In 1921, he returned to the Antarctic with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition but died of a heart attack while his ship was moored in South Georgia. At his wife's request, he was buried there.
The lecture on the night sky was about the Southern sky and Lou Thieblemont was hoping we would be able to go out on deck that night to see the skies. Unfortunately, it was a thick cloud cover so no go.
Our dinner tonight was a 5-course dinner, complete with wine parings was called La Route Des Indes designed to feature a variety of spices. The Silk and Spice Road existed in the 3rd century BC running from China though modern-day Iran and Iraq through to Europe. Other goods also came with the silk; including cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, mace and long pepper and they were worth a fortune. The lure of the spices spurred the age of exploration, colonization and discovery. This led to new previously unknown edibles and plants like vanilla, chocolate and chilies. Another gourmet dinner, we love eating here, and will try and book more times.
The performance by Reuel was excellent. Another busy day at sea!Baca lagi
Stanley, Falkland Islands
11 Disember 2019, Kepulauan Falkland ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Stanley, Falkland Islands
11 Disember 2019, Kepulauan Falkland ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Stanley, Falkland Islands
11 Disember 2019, Kepulauan Falkland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
Falkland Islands. Penguins. Private Guide, Carlos.
We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and got on the tender for a 20-minute ride to the port city of Stanley which is the capital of Falkland Islands. The tender held 150 people and was modern and comfortable. When we got off, we saw lots of guides holding signs offering private tours. It was only 11 o’clock, and we realized there really wasn’t much to see right at the port and we would have a long wait for our included tour scheduled at 3:00. We decided to choose a private tour guide, Carlos. He took Lee to a bank to get some money because the guides don’t take credit cards and only accept The Falkland Pound. While I was waiting for Lee to get the money, I saw across the bay, white stones spelling out the names of ships. Endurance, Protector, Beagle, Clyde, Barracuda and Dumbarton. It turned out that these are the names of ships that have provided prolonged periods of protection for the islanders and are still in action.
Carlos was born in Chile and stayed there until he was about 16 when he moved to New Jersey in the States. He returned to Chile when he was 20 and fell in love, married and had 2 girls. He moved to The Islands about 6 years ago when his girls were 12 and 10. When we asked him why he liked the Falklands so much he said it was very safe and secure, free of crime and drugs. Education is paid for including University off island, if the student elects to go to a university. In this case, the government pays the base rate and the student tops up depending on their choice of university.
He gave a lot of random information along the way. Remarkably there are about 200 sheep for every person in this starkly beautiful archipelago, yet the Falklands are also known for their biological diversity. Five penguin species call the islands home, from the King penguins that waddle along Volunteer Beach to the Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins on further shores.
-There is only one bank in Stanley, two supermarkets, five bars and two churches.
-With the soil being clay, it’s hard to grow much of anything and he gave us some examples of pricing at the grocery store. One avocado cost 3/1/2 Falkland pounds, ($6.10 Canadian ) I litre of milk costs 1 pound and 3 pence.($2.26)
-He told us that if he hits a sheep on the highway that he has to take it to a vet. The vet by virtue of tags knows how to contact the owner and the owner will tell him how much he needs to pay and then you can take the sheep home and eat it if you want.
-They don’t use the water in the lakes but rather collect and recycle water from the mountains and rainwater.
-They have one horse racetrack in Port Stanley, but betting is illegal in this country. However, they open the racetrack for special holidays including over Christmas and New Year’s.
-Windmills provide about 60% of the hydro power for the island.
On our 1-hour drive to see the penguins at Bertha's Beach, we passed through one of the largest farms on the island called Fitzroy. It was named after Captain Robert FitzRoy of HMS Beagle that Darwin sailed with in 1833. It is now owned by Luciano Benneton owner of the Italian clothing company Benneton. He owns several farms totalling 2,220,00 acres. The Spanish name for sheep farms is Estancias.
We also passed by the military base, RAF Mount Pleasant, which has its own school as well as the islands International airport. Just the day before, a Chilean Hercules plane crashed somewhere in the ocean just off the coast of the Falklands and all 32 people on board are feared lost. We saw the rescue planes searching for floating debris. We saw where the cargo ships dock at Mare Harbour necessitating all goods to be transported by truck for an hour before reaching Stanley. Currently, the harbour at Stanley is too shallow for ships to dock, (which is why we had to tender in).
Once we reached Bertha's Beach, we walked about 300 meters towards the beach and saw hundreds of sheep with their newly born lambs and hundreds more Gentoo penguins hopping up towards three separate large nesting sites, about 300 meters from the ocean. They all mill around with each other, sheep and penguins, neither bothering the other. These penguins grow up to three feet tall and are a riot to watch. Their eggs are just now hatching, some have one chick and others have two. They are very organized in caring for their young and one parent does not leave the chicks until the parent takes over and moves onto the nest. In this way, they keep the eggs warm and safe from predators.
The drive back was over the same route and Carlos graciously took us to Gypsy Cove, the destination of the tour we would have otherwise taken. It was fairly close to the ship. The location was a very expansive beach and there were maybe a thousand Magellanic penguins moving back from the beach to the burrows that they dug for a nest (rather like Groundhog holes) up on the hills. These penguins are shorter than the Gentoos at about 2 feet. How they hop up the steep cliffs back to their burrows is hard to understand but they do. They will get to within about 15 feet of humans and just wait till they move, to continue their trip back to their burrows.
Known as the Islas Malvina's to Argentines, the Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory comprising 770 small islands. The population of the Falklands is only about 5,000 people. The islands were uninhabited when discovered by Europeans. France established a colony on the islands in 1764. In 1765, a British captain claimed the islands for Britain. In early 1770 a Spanish commander arrived from Argentina with five ships and 1,400 soldiers forced the British to leave Port Egmont. Britain and Spain almost went to war over the islands, but the British government decided that it should withdraw its presence from many overseas settlements in 1774. Spain, which had a garrison at Puerto Soledad on East Falklands, administered the garrison from Montevideo until 1811 when it was compelled to withdraw by pressures resulting from the Peninsular War. In 1833, the British returned to the Falkland Islands and had sovereignty. The government of Argentina continued to have a hard time accepting this.
At a time when the president of Argentina was experiencing problems at home with low approval ratings, he decided that declaring a war to reclaim the islands would bolster his approval rate. Argentina invaded the islands on 2 April 1982.
At the same time Margaret Thatcher was experiencing the same problems in the UK and it was a perfect opportunity to take action and retaliate. The British responded with an expeditionary force that culminated in Argentina surrendering. It was a nasty war, lasting 10 weeks, taking the lives of 649 Argentine military and 255 British and 3 Falkland citizens. And the casualties for both sides to military aircraft and ships was extensive. One of Argentina’s strategies to protect the Falklands from the inevitable British invasion, was to plant up to 30,000 land mines along the shores where they expected the invasion to land. Some of the mines were cleared after the war and those areas that were still not cleared were fenced off. While we were watching the penguins, we saw a party of 6 men on the beach in yellow suits, all from Zimbabwe, who were searching for land mines left behind and still not discovered from the war between the UK and Argentina in 1982. Partway through the production of the mines, they changed from metal to plastic, so are very hard to detect. There are 5 more areas to clear at this time, but they expect to be finished by next year.
On the final leg back to the ship we passed by the wreck of Lady Elizabeth, a cargo ship carrying lumber from Vancouver. On the 4th of December, 1912 it encountered severe weather halfway through the voyage and was damaged just off Cape Horn. The Captain ordered the ship to the nearest port for repairs. Lady Elizabeth altered course for Stanley, Falkland Islands. 24 km outside Port Stanley, Lady Elizabeth struck a rock. The ship began to sink but was able to get to Port Stanley for repairs. She was declared unseaworthy and converted into a coal hulk. February 17 1936 her mooring lines broke during a storm and she drifted to where she now lies on her side in Whalebone Cove in Stanley Harbour rusting away.
Our final stop was to buy a copy of the local weekly newspaper, called, appropriately, The Penguin News!
We thoroughly enjoyed this private tour and definitely saw a lot more than if we had been on the ship’s planned tour.
Tonight, the entertainment was Beatlemania, a fun hour long program led by the ships vocalists.Baca lagi
Puerto Madryn to Falkland Islands
10 Disember 2019, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Day at Sea. Basically, a lecture day. Before breakfast, Lee did 10 laps (4 km) on the promenade deck, again battling the wind on the port bow. We met for breakfast and then off to the 11:00am talk to outline tomorrow's Falkland Islands tours.
At 12:30 we went to the pool deck for lunch. The cover was over today, and it was a very warm 29 C. We had a light lunch and then Don went to the cabin to edit some notes and I stayed on deck editing some of our earlier notes. I debated whether to go for a swim but ended up just basking in the sun.
At 4:00pm we headed to the Star Theatre for a talk on the Hubble Space Telescope. It was an informative talk with lots of humour included.
We had a half hour break and the next talk was on the history of the Falkland Islands and how Argentina and Britain fought over the islands. In 1982. Margaret Thatcher sent 124 vessels along with 3 aircraft carriers to take back the islands. The war lasted for 74 days and there were a lot of casualties on both sides. There is still much discussion on the Argentinian side about wanting the Falkland Islands back, but the inhabitants of the Falklands do not want to be taken over; they want to stay as British residents.
We had another ½ hour until the next lecture about Darwin, so Lee went up and got a plate of sushi and Don got 2 glasses of wine. We ate this in the theatre while waiting for the next talk. Gord and Vickie thought this was such a clever idea that Gord also went and got a plate of sushi.
The lecture by Dr. Richard Bates was about Darwin and the HMS Beagle. Charles Robert Darwin was born February 12, 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England and died April 19, 1882 at Downe, Kent. His mother died when he was 8. Darwin stood in awe of his overbearing father; whose astute medical observations taught him much about human psychology. He hated the rote learning of Classics at the traditional Anglican Shrewsbury School, where he studied between 1818 and 1825. His father sent him to study medicine at Edinburgh University. There was no better science education in a British university. He was taught to understand the chemistry of cooling rocks on the primitive Earth and how to classify plants by the modern “natural system.” At the Edinburgh Museum he was taught to stuff birds by John Edmonstone, a freed South American slave, and to identify the rock strata and colonial flora and fauna. The young Darwin learned much in this rich intellectual environment but didn't learn much about medicine. His father transferred him to Cambridge in 1828. In 1831 he placed 10th in the Bachelor of Arts degree.
Darwin jumped at a suggestion of a voyage to Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America, aboard a rebuilt brig, HMS Beagle. Darwin would not sail as a lowly surgeon-naturalist but as a self-financed gentleman companion to the 26-year-old captain, Robert Fitzroy, an aristocrat who feared the loneliness of command. Fitzroy planned to survey coastal Patagonia to facilitate British trade and return three “savages” previously brought to England from Tierra del Fuego and Christianized. The Beagle sailed from England on December 27, 1831.
The circumnavigation of the globe would be the making of the 22-year-old Darwin. Five years of physical hardship and mental rigor, imprisoned within a ship’s walls, offset by wide-open opportunities in the Brazilian jungles and the Andes Mountains, were to give Darwin a new seriousness. As a gentleman naturalist, he could leave the ship for extended periods, pursuing his own interests. As a result, he spent only 18 months of the voyage aboard the ship.
His fossil discoveries raised more questions and fossil extraction became a romance for Darwin. It pushed him into thinking of the primeval world and what had caused giant beasts to become extinct.
The land was evidently rising; Darwin’s observations in the Andes Mountains confirmed it. After the Beagle surveyed the Falkland Islands, the ship sailed up the west coast of South America to Valparaíso, Chile. Here Darwin climbed 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) into the Andean foothills and marveled at the forces that could raise such mountains. The forces themselves became tangible when he saw volcanic Mount Osorno erupt on January 15, 1835. Then in Valdivia, Chile, on February 20, as he lay on a forest floor, the ground shook: the violence of the earthquake and ensuing tidal wave destroyed the great city of Concepción, whose rubble Darwin walked through. But what intrigued him was the seemingly insignificant, the local mussel beds were all dead because they were now above high tide. The land had risen, the continent was thrusting itself up, a few feet at a time. He imagined the eons it had taken to raise the fossilized trees in sandstone (once seashore mud) to 7,000 feet (2,100 metres), where he found them. Darwin began thinking in terms of deep time.
The Beagle left Peru in September 1835 to continue their circumnavigation home. First Darwin landed on the “frying hot” Galapagos Islands. Those were volcanic islands, crawling with marine life, iguanas and giant tortoises. Darwin and the crew brought small tortoises aboard as pets. Contrary to legend, those islands never provided Darwin’s “eureka” moment. Although he noted that the mockingbirds differed on four islands and tagged his specimens accordingly, he failed to label his other birds—what he thought were wrens, “gross-beaks,” finches, and oriole-relatives—by island. Nor did Darwin collect tortoise specimens, even though locals believed that each island had its distinct race.
They continued home via Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. By April 1836, when the Beagle made the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, Darwin already had his theory of reef formation. He imagined (correctly) that those reefs grew on sinking mountain rims. The delicate coral built up, compensating for the drowning land, so as to remain within optimal heat and lighting conditions.
On the last leg of the voyage Darwin finished his 770-page diary, wrapped up 1,750 pages of notes, drew up 12 catalogs of his 5,436 skins, bones, and carcasses—and still he wondered: Was each Galapagos mockingbird a naturally produced variety? Why did ground sloths become extinct? He sailed home with problems enough to last him a lifetime. Darwin formulated his bold theory in private in 1837–39, after returning from the voyage around the world aboard HMS Beagle. It was not until two decades later that he finally gave it full public expression in On the Origin of Species (1859), a book that has deeply influenced modern Western society and thought.
Darwin shocked religious Victorian society by suggesting that animals and humans shared a common ancestry. His nonreligious biology appealed to the rising class of professional scientists, and by the time of his death, evolutionary imagery had spread through all of science, literature, and politics. He had a seizure in March 1882 and died of a heart attack on April 19. Darwin was laid to rest with full ecclesiastical pomp on April 26, 1882, attended by the new nobility of science and the state
We had dinner with Vicki and Gord and then we decided to skip the Magician, tonight’s entertainment and called it an early night.Baca lagi
Puerto Madryn, Argentina
9 Disember 2019, Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Viking Jupiter. Puerto Madryn. Tour to Gaiman.
After a bit of late-night dancing, we slept in. We had breakfast in the Mamsen’s lounge because we were too late for all the other breakfast locations. Breakfast consisted of a fancy waffle with caramelized cheese curls, berries and maple syrup.
We changed our itinerary to go on today’s five-hour tour to visit Gaiman, one of the first Welsh settlements about an hour away from Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is in the state of Patagonia, has a population of about 100,000 people and is nestled on the sheltered harbour facing the Gulf of Nuevo, Argentina’s second largest fishing port during the mid 19th century. (Currently, most of the fish caught are exported as Argentinians do not eat much fish.)
The Argentine government encouraged European immigration to settle in the remote Patagonian territories promising them land at a very cheap price. In 1865 approximately 150 Welsh immigrants arrived in Puerto Madryn, led by Viscount Madryn settling 100 square miles of land along the Chabut river, including Gaiman. Puerto Madryn was the name for the estate of Sir Love Jones-Perry one of the colonies’ founders. Italians and Spaniards soon followed surpassing the Welsh in numbers, but the heritage of the original immigrants lives on in the region’s distinctive windmills and chapels. Several towns have retained their Welsh names. The river that flows through this area is called the Chabut river. The area is also known for its cherry production and as soon as we pulled into town, we saw lots and lots of cherry trees in full fruit mode. We saw many examples of the original Welsh homes that were made of stone which is a rarity in Argentina.
Our tour took us to a special Welsh tea house offering, among other things, homemade scones, sweet squares and welsh cake. The cake looked like our Christmas cake, dark colour, but very little fruit, lacking the rum and actually, lacking any sign of moisture. At the end of our visit a choir of about 12 people entertained us with 6-7 songs in both Welsh and Spanish. One was what I assumed was the Welsh national anthem plus several hymns. The harmony was sensational.
The children going to public schools wear white uniforms and those going to private schools wear coloured uniforms.
Another factor that led us to change to a shorter excursion was that the geography of the area was described as totally boring and it certainly lived up to that. Millions of years ago a volcano spewed about 5 feet of volcanic ash and spread it on the steppes or plateau-like landscape that used to be the bottom of an ancient sea. Basically, it’s a flat desert. Part of the road was quite rough but then smoothed out a short bit later. Our guide Nora pointed out a highway that was supposed to be finished 10 years ago but corruption and misdirected money put an end to the construction. On the way, Lee saw a couple of 5 Guanaco which look a bit like Llamas, only taller. There was the possibility of seeing some pumas but no luck. Dinosaurs have been found in this area, among them one claimed to be the largest Dinosaur in the world named Argentinosaurus. Wikipedia advised the length ranges from 30 to 39.7 metres (98 to 130 ft) and weight estimates from 50 to 100 tonnes. It was a member of Titanosauria, the dominant group of sauropods during the Cretaceous period. (The smallest were the size of Hummingbirds!) They found more than 100 skeletons.
One of the most popular drinks in Argentina, is, as in Ecuador, Mate. Leaves for this popular drink come from a tropical tree which grows to approximately a metre and a half. The mate tree grows in only one area of Argentina and in fact in the world. The area is called Missiones near Iguazu in the very northeast of Argentina by the border of Brazil. It’s from this area that they export Mate leaves to Brazil to Uruguay and Paraguay. The drink is said to help the liver plus keep you from becoming thirsty and importantly for bus drivers it helps keep them awake. As a result, most bus drivers suck this down all day long.
The drive back to Port Madryn was uneventful. In the 1970s the city was very prosperous because of the aluminum plants and then, in the 1980s, it became a significant whale watching town. We passed by large spectator stands where people could view the whales in the bay as close as several hundred meters away. During the breeding they can be frequently seen breaching and swimming with their newborn calves.
The beach in Puerto Madryn runs for about five or 6 km. It is very wide and unfortunately, at low tide, the beach is left strewn with a lot of seaweed which turns the beach green and rather stinky. However, they have tractors with drags that clean it up in the morning so people can enjoy the beach. The temperature got close to 30°C by the afternoon so there were all kinds of people on the beach.
We spent a very enjoyable afternoon by the infinity pool on the back deck with a pleasant temperature and no wind. It was a lot of fun to be in the infinity pool looking out the back of the ship.
We attended the 6:30pm lecture by the resident astronomer on the topic “How Big is Space”. Quite mind blowing and difficult to follow but hopefully we will remember a few of the facts.
After dinner we went to hear Andy Hackbarth a classical Guitarist and comedian. He entertained us for an hour.Baca lagi
Enroute Montevideo to Puerto Madryn
8 Disember 2019, Río de la Plata ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Viking Jupiter. Day at Sea.
A “sleep in” day, had breakfast and then a walk on the promenade on Deck 2. Very windy especially at the bow on the port side. Don decided he would go up to the 8th deck to see how it was up there, but it was far too windy, and they had all the furniture tied down.
At 11:00 we went to the lecture about the tours to Puerto Madryn for tomorrow. We learned that the tour we had booked for tomorrow to see Magellan penguins, was 8 hours long and that 5 of those hours would be on a bus on gravel roads and very bumpy, with no toilettes on board. The penguins are named after Ferdinand Magellan who originally founded this area. There were supposed to be over 1000 with new chicks, however we decided to cancel. We booked instead a 5-hour tour out in the country to a Welsh town called Gaiman to have a Welsh Tea and then a tour of Puerto Madryn on the way back. We decided to go for lunch to the bar/restaurant, “Aquavit”, at the rear of the ship on Deck 7. It was a lovely sunny day and they were serving Caesar salad with shrimp and salmon, with a delicious barbeque and the deck was packed. We ended up eating inside the sliding glass door as there were no tables available outside. We sat with a couple from Washington DC. And had a lovely chat.
After lunch we spent some time out on the pool deck and then at 6:30pm we went to a lecture about “The Sun “which was very confusing even though the lecturer tried to simplify it for us. It was all about the atoms in the sun and how it produces Earth’s lifegiving energy.
For dinner we met up with Gordon and Vicky in The Restaurant and had another lovely dinner. With glasses of wine in hand plus a plate of cheese that Lee assembled from our dessert, we headed for the evening entertainment at 9:15 by a “classical cross-over pianist”, Reuel, who played his arrangements of popular songs from Adele, Frank Sinatra, Bon Jovi and many more. Partway through the performance he played a rather romantic tune and suggested that we reach out and touch the leg of our loved one sitting next to us, which Don did…… and promptly stuck his finger into the plate of cheese in Lee’s lap. We sure had a laugh over that.
Since we didn’t have to get up so early the next morning, we decided to go to the late-night bar called Torshavn to see what it was like. A very cozy room with a small dance floor. When we arrived, there was a girl rather quietly singing folk music. Then at 10:00 the Viking band and Resident vocalists Judith and Arvin took over. They played some popular tunes and then they livened it up to play 60’and 70’s music. Great dancing and then back to some slower tunes. We left around 11:30 and by then there was just one other couple there.Baca lagi