10:05 PM, 10 Feb 08, MS Nordnorge, Puerto Natales, Chile
PUERTO NATALES
With posterior pain
And views through our window pane,
We made much travel
Over roads of gravel
To see the Towers of Paine.
The Horns of Paine
Are another attraction main.
We took many a photo,
Saw a lot of guanaco,
And ate all we could contain.
It was a grand day
To see Salto Grande,
A waterfall
Sure to enthrall
With snow white spray.
We had a very good day with very nice weather today which, we’re told, is a rare occurrence here. Cool to warm, started about 55 F, rose to about 65 F (my guesses). Partly cloudy. No rain.
Puerto Natales (meaning birth port) is a city of about 20,000 and the capital of its Magellan administrative district.
It is surrounded by fenced cattle ranches and, generally farther out, fenced sheep farms. A typical estancia (ranch) is about 10,000 acres. It is dry grass land, sometimes with sage brush, and with occasional scrub tree forests (called preAndean forests). It is hilly, and Andean mountains are usually in view.
Puerto Natales is the jumping off point for Torres del Paine National Park. “Paine” means “blue” in a native tongue, and the lakes and sometimes the ice are blue. Also, I think I recall reading that a Paine family was one of the donors of land to the park. The 242,000 hectare park contains a whole lot of beautiful mountain peaks (not just the towers and horns but several others too) plus several scenic lakes and rivers, and at least one beautiful waterfall. It is home to many species of wildlife including guanaco (llama-like critters), gray fox, puma, condors, eagles, and upland geese. It is a very nice park.
We set out at about 8 AM for the park. Leaving town we saw cormorants and swans on the Ultima Esperanza (meaning last hope) fjord where the MS Nordnorge is docked. We drove to the park, through the park, and back to town for a total of at least 300 KM (180 miles), most of it on gravel roads. We had a nice indoor barbecue lunch (choice of chicken, salmon, or steak) at noon and several sight-seeing stops along the way.
We saw a heck of a lot of guanaco, surely well over a hundred, in small groups and in large herds. We saw a couple of eagles, a few foxes, and some nandu (wild ostriches) outside the park. A couple of condors were seen, but I didn’t see them.
On the way back, we saw two horsemen and several dogs moving a large herd o sheep.
There were a lot of tourists in the park.
We got a lot of good information from our guide, Carolina, both spontaneously and by answers to our questions. Here is some of it:
Magellan’s visit to the region was in 1520.
Patagonia, which does not include Tierra del Fuego and the western islands, was named for the Patagon Indians. It’s where they lived. They are no more. They were named by Magellan. The name maybe meant “big foot.”
A giant sloth (the milodon) once lived in the region.
Most of the lakes are natural glacier lakes. Outside of the park, fish farming is done in these lakes. And also in the fjords.
This was a surprise to me. I thought the region must be very harshly cold in winter. Carolina said the winters are not all that different from the summers. Afternoon highs in winter run -4 C to + 2 C (25 F to 36 F). “Not many days are below freezing.”
Chilean independence is said to date from 1810. But this is when the first movement toward independence occurred. Real independence came after the war for independence ended some eight years later.
There has been no war over boundaries between Chile and Argentina. However, both countries originally claimed the southern end of the continent. Boundaries were finally settled peaceably by negotiation in 1881. Chile was successful in its insistence on claiming the Magellan Strait and the lands adjacent to it.
There are public, private, and Catholic schools. Catholic schools are segregated by gender. The other schools are coed.
There are public and private universities in Chile. The public universities are more expensive because they are considered to be of better quality. To attend a public law school costs $7,000 per year, which is considered expensive.
Rainfall in the area we visited is 600 to 1000 cm per year. (240 to 400 inches). (Sounds high to me.) In the pampas, dryer, 400 cm/year (160 inches).
Current value/cost/price of ranch land: I know an acre wouldn’t support much, but I was so astounded at this as to suspect a mistake. But this is what Caroline said: A 25,000 acre ranch would sell for less than a million dollars. I calculate just $40 per acre!
Puerto Williams, where we are headed (we set sail in the morning), has only about 1500 people.
Porvenir is a town of about 3500 people (not an island) on Tierra del Fuego directly across the Magellan Straight from Punta Arenas (meaning sand point)..
San Martin was the hero of Argentine independence.
Independence for Chile and Argentina from Spain came only a few years apart. Likewise for some of the other countries. Independence for Brazil (from Portugal) came later. Warfare was involved in all cases.
Bernardo O’Higgins, whose name I’ve seen on such places as street names, was “director of Chile” and “responsible for Chilean independence.”
We got back to the ship just in time for 6 PM buffet dinner on board. After dinner Helen, Leona, Aileen and I went souvenir shopping in the city. Then I walked two miles in the city for a total of three miles walking for the day (guestimated, of course). There was still a little twilight when I came back aboard about 9:45 PM.
-----------------------------------------
OLD TRAVELERS
Travel can be sublime,
And it’s not a crime.
But for trips you’ve desired,
You need to be retired
To have the time.
And the other factor involved
Is more likely by then resolved.
Of course there are a few,
Those folks very clever who
Have that matter earlier solved.
As we’ve found in the past, almost all the people on adventures such as this are older folks. Most are retired. A few are near retirement. A few rare exceptions are seen. There are just a handful or younger people among the 300 on our ship but none among the 146 in our Vantage group (who are among the 300 on the ship).
Some of our group are in their 80s and doing well. There is a remarkable lady, Leona from Florida, of 88 among us, traveling alone, doing very well.
Cheers!
Bernie
Monday, February 11, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
PUNTA TO PUERTO
9 PM, Sat, 9 Feb 2008, MS Nordnorge, at Sea
SATURDAY'S LECTURES
On Patagonia there is less conjecture
After Franz Gingle’s learned lecture.
Manuel Marin was our informant
On the much maligned cormorant.
From Stefan Kredel we got the drift
About consequential continental drift.
Last night and today we have been entirely at sea. We’re due to land at 1030 PM at Puerto Natales. Tomorrow we will visit Torres del Paine National Park from there. We have to start early. Breakfast at 6. Get on the bus at 7:30.
We had to go the long way around from Punto Arenas to Puento Natales. It is about 1200 miles by water (vs. 150 miles by the road). This is one of the most desolate places on earth. In that 1200 miles there is one community of 300 people, and that is all. We’ve seen a few only very few other vessels en route.
Today was lecture day. Helen and I attended three optional lectures. One was on Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (many aspects); one was all about cormorants, and one was about plate tectonics. The speakers were very informative, enthusiastic, and humorous. I was awake and alert for the first two, but I lost it during the plate tectonics lecture and so didn’t get much out of that. Franz and Stefan are Germans with excellent English but German accents.
The cormorants lecture was the most interesting of the three to me. I took a lot of notes. A cormorant is an amazing bird – the ultimate fishing machine. Fantastic divers. Can’t walk or fly very well. Working together, they herd fish. They eat 1/3 of their weight each day. Fishermen (except Asians who used them to fish) hate cormorants. The anchovy industry hates them and has decimated them (by removal of the anchovies). A very subordinate subject is the industry that once flourished (1840 to 1915) in cormorant poop. Exported to England. Nitrates for gunpowder. Phosphates for fertilizer. Some men got filthy (excuse the pun) rich on the poop of one particular species of cormorant. Many laborers died young in the industry: First Chinese slaves, then black salves, then prisoners were used. Cormorant poop even figured as the cause or a cause of the war of 1879 of Chile with Peru and Bolivia that I mentioned in an earlier posting. A single bird produces 11 KG of poop per year.
The food served on board is very good and the servings are generous. If today is typical, it is buffet except for the evening meal.
I thought I would have time to do a lot of deck walking on board, but that’s not been the case so far. I did do 3 miles of walking around the deck today.
The days are very long. Still some light at 9:10 PM.
The weather, I guess is typical for summer. Light rain. Dark. Windy. Cool. Comfortable walking in a long-sleeve running shirt topped by the light water-proof jacket they issued.
It’s been a frustrating day in two ways. But the problems are solved now. Our power adapter wouldn’t adapt to the particular plug arrangement here with their 230 volt, 50 Hz AC system. We couldn’t borrow, rent, or buy the correct adapter. Fortunately there is a place to plug in 115 volt AC in the bathroom. It would be nice to have an extension cord for 115 volt AC, but that’s not available either. But we’ll get along. My computer cords are long enough to reach to the little table in our small basic cabin.
It was even more frustrating and quite time consuming to learn how to cope with the wireless system for which we payed good money to connect my computer to the Internet. First for a long time I couldn’t get on. It was due to my own stupidity or bad memory. I have to activate my wireless from a button on the lower right of my screen. The other problem was in logging off. We had been warned and given some information, but left with confusion as to exactly what to do. If you don’t log off properly, you keep getting charged minute by minute after you have exited the Internet. It turns out that, after you get to your screen saver, you have to go to a particular URL and log off. In addition to frustration, the learning curve involved nearly half an hour’s worth of charges prior to doing any useful work. But now we have it down and can do it smoothly. And what I do is prepare a blog entry off-line and cut and paste it onto my blog, thereby minimizing my time on-line.
Two items from earlier, not having to do with cruising:
Chile has a 99% literacy rate. Education is compulsory through 8th grade. A bill in congress would make it compulsory through 12th grade.
A few times I have seen a mechanical system which interests me. I’ve seen it on big buses and once on a truck. A tube comes down from the body of the vehicle to the hub of each wheel. It has to do with tire pressure. Apparently it measures tire pressure so the driver can monitor that just like he monitors oil pressure in the engine. Maybe it also puts air in to maintain a set pressure.
It’s 10:10 PM. We have docked at Puerto Navales. I’m going to deck 4 where the wireless is hot and post this entry. (Our cabin is on deck 3.)
Bernie
SATURDAY'S LECTURES
On Patagonia there is less conjecture
After Franz Gingle’s learned lecture.
Manuel Marin was our informant
On the much maligned cormorant.
From Stefan Kredel we got the drift
About consequential continental drift.
Last night and today we have been entirely at sea. We’re due to land at 1030 PM at Puerto Natales. Tomorrow we will visit Torres del Paine National Park from there. We have to start early. Breakfast at 6. Get on the bus at 7:30.
We had to go the long way around from Punto Arenas to Puento Natales. It is about 1200 miles by water (vs. 150 miles by the road). This is one of the most desolate places on earth. In that 1200 miles there is one community of 300 people, and that is all. We’ve seen a few only very few other vessels en route.
Today was lecture day. Helen and I attended three optional lectures. One was on Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (many aspects); one was all about cormorants, and one was about plate tectonics. The speakers were very informative, enthusiastic, and humorous. I was awake and alert for the first two, but I lost it during the plate tectonics lecture and so didn’t get much out of that. Franz and Stefan are Germans with excellent English but German accents.
The cormorants lecture was the most interesting of the three to me. I took a lot of notes. A cormorant is an amazing bird – the ultimate fishing machine. Fantastic divers. Can’t walk or fly very well. Working together, they herd fish. They eat 1/3 of their weight each day. Fishermen (except Asians who used them to fish) hate cormorants. The anchovy industry hates them and has decimated them (by removal of the anchovies). A very subordinate subject is the industry that once flourished (1840 to 1915) in cormorant poop. Exported to England. Nitrates for gunpowder. Phosphates for fertilizer. Some men got filthy (excuse the pun) rich on the poop of one particular species of cormorant. Many laborers died young in the industry: First Chinese slaves, then black salves, then prisoners were used. Cormorant poop even figured as the cause or a cause of the war of 1879 of Chile with Peru and Bolivia that I mentioned in an earlier posting. A single bird produces 11 KG of poop per year.
The food served on board is very good and the servings are generous. If today is typical, it is buffet except for the evening meal.
I thought I would have time to do a lot of deck walking on board, but that’s not been the case so far. I did do 3 miles of walking around the deck today.
The days are very long. Still some light at 9:10 PM.
The weather, I guess is typical for summer. Light rain. Dark. Windy. Cool. Comfortable walking in a long-sleeve running shirt topped by the light water-proof jacket they issued.
It’s been a frustrating day in two ways. But the problems are solved now. Our power adapter wouldn’t adapt to the particular plug arrangement here with their 230 volt, 50 Hz AC system. We couldn’t borrow, rent, or buy the correct adapter. Fortunately there is a place to plug in 115 volt AC in the bathroom. It would be nice to have an extension cord for 115 volt AC, but that’s not available either. But we’ll get along. My computer cords are long enough to reach to the little table in our small basic cabin.
It was even more frustrating and quite time consuming to learn how to cope with the wireless system for which we payed good money to connect my computer to the Internet. First for a long time I couldn’t get on. It was due to my own stupidity or bad memory. I have to activate my wireless from a button on the lower right of my screen. The other problem was in logging off. We had been warned and given some information, but left with confusion as to exactly what to do. If you don’t log off properly, you keep getting charged minute by minute after you have exited the Internet. It turns out that, after you get to your screen saver, you have to go to a particular URL and log off. In addition to frustration, the learning curve involved nearly half an hour’s worth of charges prior to doing any useful work. But now we have it down and can do it smoothly. And what I do is prepare a blog entry off-line and cut and paste it onto my blog, thereby minimizing my time on-line.
Two items from earlier, not having to do with cruising:
Chile has a 99% literacy rate. Education is compulsory through 8th grade. A bill in congress would make it compulsory through 12th grade.
A few times I have seen a mechanical system which interests me. I’ve seen it on big buses and once on a truck. A tube comes down from the body of the vehicle to the hub of each wheel. It has to do with tire pressure. Apparently it measures tire pressure so the driver can monitor that just like he monitors oil pressure in the engine. Maybe it also puts air in to maintain a set pressure.
It’s 10:10 PM. We have docked at Puerto Navales. I’m going to deck 4 where the wireless is hot and post this entry. (Our cabin is on deck 3.)
Bernie
PUNTA ARENAS
8 February 2008, 11:20 PM, MS Nordnorge, At Sea
PUNTA ARENAS
It didn’t at all strain us
To fly to Punta Arenas
Where, with hardly any glitches,
We found wild ostriches.
But we didn’t meet Jimenez.
This morning we flew three hours and ~1280 miles from Santiago to Punta Arenas on the south end of Chile, arriving about 1 PM. Punta Arenas is a city of ~100,000 population.
There was the possibility of walking around town on our own or taking one of three optional tours. We decided against the penguin tour. We took the tour to Estancia Olga Teresa, a ranch some 36 miles out in the flat, open, endless, nearly deserted dry-grass-and sage-brush fenced desert first on a narrow two-lane paved road, then for a long time on a gravel road. It was a bus ride of more than an hour.
I was extremely disappointed on the way out because the young lad acting as guide was hopeless, terrible. His English was terrible. And if you ever finally got him to understand your question, he usually didn’t know the answer.
But things really picked up when we got to the ranch. We had understood it was to be an ostrich farm. Not so. Its is a sheep and beef cattle farm. But we did see a few wild ostriches, called nandu, on the way out. As well as a few sheep, very few cattle, and a few of what I think were wild geese.
Sheep are very important there.
The farm was fun. Lots of us tourists. Family farm. We were given a demonstration of horsemanship including the trick they do in Chilean rodeos. We were given a demonstration of sheep shearing and a sheep dog demonstration. And we finished with a big picnic including lamb which we could watch being cooked in halves over an open fire.
This family has French, Austrian, and Croatian heritage. They bought the land in 1920. The mother and aunt of the present owner were Olga and Teresa.
A lot of the farmers, we were told, have “Mac” names. (They game from Scotland.)
There is a big green field. Oats, I was told, irrigated from wells. Not threshed. Used like hay as feed in the three winter months. They do the same with alfalfa.
It’s always very dry through the summer months.
There are few trees. Especially few naturally occurring trees. Those you do see are scrubby.
It was after 7 PM when we got back to town and boarded our ship. We did all the usual things. Orientation. Life boat drill. Unpacked. I ate a second late light dinner from the ship’s buffet while Helen watched.
It turns out that the ship does have wireless connection for passengers, for a price of course (6hrs for $40), much cheaper than their Internet café. However, there is some confusion involved. And there is this big problem. We brought power adapters/converters, but we are unable to convert the power. A lot of grief trying to work that out. Burned out Helen’s hair dryer in the process of trying. No, we haven’t plugged the computer in yet. I am running on my battery right now and hoping the electrician can help us solve the problem in the morning.
Many of the ship’s employees are Philippinos. Waiters. Reception desk clerk. Helen (and I too) really enjoyed meeting four of them so far.
The ship has free cookie and cake snacks available for free all the time.
We set sail at 9 PM. Tomorrow some time we arrive at Puerto Natales. Driving from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales is ~150 miles.
We’re in the Magellan Straight. It is a long way across the straight to Terra del Fuego.
Cheers!
Bernie
PUNTA ARENAS
It didn’t at all strain us
To fly to Punta Arenas
Where, with hardly any glitches,
We found wild ostriches.
But we didn’t meet Jimenez.
This morning we flew three hours and ~1280 miles from Santiago to Punta Arenas on the south end of Chile, arriving about 1 PM. Punta Arenas is a city of ~100,000 population.
There was the possibility of walking around town on our own or taking one of three optional tours. We decided against the penguin tour. We took the tour to Estancia Olga Teresa, a ranch some 36 miles out in the flat, open, endless, nearly deserted dry-grass-and sage-brush fenced desert first on a narrow two-lane paved road, then for a long time on a gravel road. It was a bus ride of more than an hour.
I was extremely disappointed on the way out because the young lad acting as guide was hopeless, terrible. His English was terrible. And if you ever finally got him to understand your question, he usually didn’t know the answer.
But things really picked up when we got to the ranch. We had understood it was to be an ostrich farm. Not so. Its is a sheep and beef cattle farm. But we did see a few wild ostriches, called nandu, on the way out. As well as a few sheep, very few cattle, and a few of what I think were wild geese.
Sheep are very important there.
The farm was fun. Lots of us tourists. Family farm. We were given a demonstration of horsemanship including the trick they do in Chilean rodeos. We were given a demonstration of sheep shearing and a sheep dog demonstration. And we finished with a big picnic including lamb which we could watch being cooked in halves over an open fire.
This family has French, Austrian, and Croatian heritage. They bought the land in 1920. The mother and aunt of the present owner were Olga and Teresa.
A lot of the farmers, we were told, have “Mac” names. (They game from Scotland.)
There is a big green field. Oats, I was told, irrigated from wells. Not threshed. Used like hay as feed in the three winter months. They do the same with alfalfa.
It’s always very dry through the summer months.
There are few trees. Especially few naturally occurring trees. Those you do see are scrubby.
It was after 7 PM when we got back to town and boarded our ship. We did all the usual things. Orientation. Life boat drill. Unpacked. I ate a second late light dinner from the ship’s buffet while Helen watched.
It turns out that the ship does have wireless connection for passengers, for a price of course (6hrs for $40), much cheaper than their Internet café. However, there is some confusion involved. And there is this big problem. We brought power adapters/converters, but we are unable to convert the power. A lot of grief trying to work that out. Burned out Helen’s hair dryer in the process of trying. No, we haven’t plugged the computer in yet. I am running on my battery right now and hoping the electrician can help us solve the problem in the morning.
Many of the ship’s employees are Philippinos. Waiters. Reception desk clerk. Helen (and I too) really enjoyed meeting four of them so far.
The ship has free cookie and cake snacks available for free all the time.
We set sail at 9 PM. Tomorrow some time we arrive at Puerto Natales. Driving from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales is ~150 miles.
We’re in the Magellan Straight. It is a long way across the straight to Terra del Fuego.
Cheers!
Bernie
Thursday, February 7, 2008
PORTILLO
Thursday evening, 7 February 08
Buenos Noches!
And Happy Lunar New Year Day!
Today`s all-day tour took us 100 miles up in the Andes to Portillo, which is just 3 miles shy of the Argentine border. I expected a little village, but Portillo is merely a nice old hotel, ski resort, single-building ski lodge that can only house 450 guests. The mountain scenery up there is FANTASTIC. The elevation is 9,000 feet vs. 1,500 feet in Santiago. You look out the back window over a heated outdoor swimming pool, then Lake Inca, then Mt. Aconcagua, which rises to 21,000 feet.
Most of the drive up there was on a narrow, paved, winding, slow, two-lane road. The last stretch of maybe four miles is up the darndest system of very slow switchbacks I`ve ever seen. This is an international highway connecting Chile and Argentina and, by extension, other countries. So there are a lot of big trucks on the road. If you keep going, you come to Mendosa, Argentina, in another hundred miles or so.
We had dinner in Hotel Portillo. Huge dinner. Big salad, main course, desert. Ate way too much. Delicious. Pleasingly presented. There were two choices. Helen had salmon. I had steak. Huge steak and good, better than last night`s. We sat with two ladies, Barbara Smith of Alabama, and Aileen Mackie of California whom I had helped with her luggage on the plane. Then we saw a video advertising Portillo`s skiing. It looks like you have to be an expert to ski there. One option is to take a helicopter to ski down from the summit of Mt. Aconcagua.
Passed through a lot of very dry countryside before reaching the mountains.
Sole remarked that rodeo is the national sport of Chile and a real big deal. But their rodeo is very different than the rodeo we know. Different competitions. Not the same rodeo competitions we know at all. She said horses are very important in Chile. There are a lot of horse racing, polo, and horse jumping events.
I made these observations about the big tractor-trailers on the road: We are used to 18 wheelers, and these are seen here too. They also have 20 wheelers and 22 wheelers. These have six instead of four on a side in back. Sometimes the front set is well ahead of the other back wheels, sometimes immediately ahead. Sometimes the front set are off the ground except in case of a heavy load. I never saw a sleeper type of road tractor.
Through part of the mountain passage there is a picturesque narrow gauge railway alongside that goes through some narrow tunnels. Higher up there is the remains of a former narrow gauge track. Sole said the old one phased out in the 70s and the new one came in in the 70s. (But it doesn`t seem to me that they cover the same territory.)
We passed a couple of copper mines on the way up.
We passed a police gate before the final steep climb. It is closed when the conditions are real bad in the winter. Also, in the winter drivers are required to use chains from there up. The weather, Sole said, changes very suddenly in the mountains.
I mentioned earlier Chile`s California-like control of agricultural products. I think I failed to mention that the authorities get quite upset if you carry fruit over the border and impose heavy fines -- like $80 for an apple. One of our tour members got caught up in this.
I feel I`m losing touch with the news. No English language newspapers available. News in English is available in the evenings on TV in our room, but I haven`t been taking advantage of it.
We had pizza this evening down the street with a couple from near Philadelphia.
Tomorrow morning we leave Santiago by air for Punta Arenas, Chile.
SANTIAGO
We´ve been to Santiago
And the winery de Martino.
We´ve sat in a yarda
Munching our empanada
While sipping on our pisco.
We`ve been way up in the Andes
Where the views are quite outstanding.
We`ve dined in high Portillo
Where rich folks go to ski, oh.
Everything`s been fine and dandy.
Six million isn´t small.
We´ve been to the cathedral.
We´ve seen the palace presidential
And fine districts residential.
Yet we haven´t seen it all.
Santiago was founded by Valvivia.
Baquedano fought in Bolivia.
We´ve ridden round the city.
From San Cristobal she is pretty.
´Twas a shame to take leave of her.
:-)
Bernie
Buenos Noches!
And Happy Lunar New Year Day!
Today`s all-day tour took us 100 miles up in the Andes to Portillo, which is just 3 miles shy of the Argentine border. I expected a little village, but Portillo is merely a nice old hotel, ski resort, single-building ski lodge that can only house 450 guests. The mountain scenery up there is FANTASTIC. The elevation is 9,000 feet vs. 1,500 feet in Santiago. You look out the back window over a heated outdoor swimming pool, then Lake Inca, then Mt. Aconcagua, which rises to 21,000 feet.
Most of the drive up there was on a narrow, paved, winding, slow, two-lane road. The last stretch of maybe four miles is up the darndest system of very slow switchbacks I`ve ever seen. This is an international highway connecting Chile and Argentina and, by extension, other countries. So there are a lot of big trucks on the road. If you keep going, you come to Mendosa, Argentina, in another hundred miles or so.
We had dinner in Hotel Portillo. Huge dinner. Big salad, main course, desert. Ate way too much. Delicious. Pleasingly presented. There were two choices. Helen had salmon. I had steak. Huge steak and good, better than last night`s. We sat with two ladies, Barbara Smith of Alabama, and Aileen Mackie of California whom I had helped with her luggage on the plane. Then we saw a video advertising Portillo`s skiing. It looks like you have to be an expert to ski there. One option is to take a helicopter to ski down from the summit of Mt. Aconcagua.
Passed through a lot of very dry countryside before reaching the mountains.
Sole remarked that rodeo is the national sport of Chile and a real big deal. But their rodeo is very different than the rodeo we know. Different competitions. Not the same rodeo competitions we know at all. She said horses are very important in Chile. There are a lot of horse racing, polo, and horse jumping events.
I made these observations about the big tractor-trailers on the road: We are used to 18 wheelers, and these are seen here too. They also have 20 wheelers and 22 wheelers. These have six instead of four on a side in back. Sometimes the front set is well ahead of the other back wheels, sometimes immediately ahead. Sometimes the front set are off the ground except in case of a heavy load. I never saw a sleeper type of road tractor.
Through part of the mountain passage there is a picturesque narrow gauge railway alongside that goes through some narrow tunnels. Higher up there is the remains of a former narrow gauge track. Sole said the old one phased out in the 70s and the new one came in in the 70s. (But it doesn`t seem to me that they cover the same territory.)
We passed a couple of copper mines on the way up.
We passed a police gate before the final steep climb. It is closed when the conditions are real bad in the winter. Also, in the winter drivers are required to use chains from there up. The weather, Sole said, changes very suddenly in the mountains.
I mentioned earlier Chile`s California-like control of agricultural products. I think I failed to mention that the authorities get quite upset if you carry fruit over the border and impose heavy fines -- like $80 for an apple. One of our tour members got caught up in this.
I feel I`m losing touch with the news. No English language newspapers available. News in English is available in the evenings on TV in our room, but I haven`t been taking advantage of it.
We had pizza this evening down the street with a couple from near Philadelphia.
Tomorrow morning we leave Santiago by air for Punta Arenas, Chile.
SANTIAGO
We´ve been to Santiago
And the winery de Martino.
We´ve sat in a yarda
Munching our empanada
While sipping on our pisco.
We`ve been way up in the Andes
Where the views are quite outstanding.
We`ve dined in high Portillo
Where rich folks go to ski, oh.
Everything`s been fine and dandy.
Six million isn´t small.
We´ve been to the cathedral.
We´ve seen the palace presidential
And fine districts residential.
Yet we haven´t seen it all.
Santiago was founded by Valvivia.
Baquedano fought in Bolivia.
We´ve ridden round the city.
From San Cristobal she is pretty.
´Twas a shame to take leave of her.
:-)
Bernie
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
¨SANTIAGO BY NIGHT¨ TOUR
Santiago, 11:05 PM, 6 Jan 08
Buenos Noches!
I did a walk for an hour and a quarter, took photos of statues, buildings, and such. One was the equestrian statue of General Manuel Baquedano. I asked Sole, and she told me he was a sort of acting governor as well as the general in charge of the main Chilean forces in a war with Peru and Bolivia that started in 1879. Prior to that time, she said, Peru was part of Chile. General Baquedano´s statue is in the middle of a prominent grassy roundabout which is only a few hundred yards from our hotel, both being on the main drag through Santiago.
We went on the expensive optional tour ¨Chile by Night¨ with the approximately 70 who chose to go, being among the 146 in our total tour group. We sat on chairs in a park outside a nice restaurant and were served pisco saurs and empanadas. But I drank a nonalcoholic cantalope juice drink. Pisco is a specialty of Chile and Peru made by fermenting and then distilling grapes. It runs 30 to 46 percent alcohol. Lemon juice is added. Empanadas are a folded pastry with various stuffings. We had some empanadas, a little different, also at the winery luncheon.
We left that park and at another place rode a funicular to high on a hill called San Cristobal which overlooks the city and is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Then we went to quite a restaurant, ¨Como Aqua Para Chocolate,¨ for quite a dinner. Very Spanish. Quaint. Very crowded. Some of the food was ¨different,¨perhaps ¨exotic,¨ pleasingly presented. We each had prechosen from a menu. I didn´t like my appetizer and can´t say really just what it was. I had steak, which was very large and OK. My flan desert was delicious and large. Pisco saurs were again served. I drank bottled water and a little bit of white wine.
It was our second chance to get aquainted with some of our traveling mates. I chatted a lot with, next to me, a very interesting old gent from southern California who had a long military carerr as an aviator (pilot), followed by other careers and who, like me, has four college degrees but in diverse subjects.
And here´s an amazing small world story. Helen´s high school for all four years in San Francisco was Mission High. A man at the table was at Mission High part of the same time Helen was there though he later transferred to another high school. He was two years behind Helen. They didn´t know each other. The school had about 200 students per class. Ed Cook was HS class of ´56. Helen was class of ´54. I was class of ´55 in Albany, OR.
We saw cyclists. Some utility riders. Some who had ridden for sport up San Cristobal on mountain bikes. Don´t know if they came up a road or a trail. Had to have been steep.
In the park where we started out, we saw some runners. About eight in all. One group of four men and one woman in high-class matching running outfits, rather middle aged, very trim.
Responding to a question in the bus, Sole said it´s hard to answer about apartment rental costs because they vary a lot. A rather nice but small apartment might be $400 per month. Renting a room involving sharing a bathroom down the hall might cost $200 per month.
I took an interest in a statue in the park where we started out after Helen pointed it out. Helen had asked Philippe and he didn´t know who it was. I took the name, etc. and asked Philippe (not knowing it was he whom Helen had asked), and he must himself have learned from someone in the meantime. Commodore Arturo Merino Benitez, 1880-1970 was an important figure for many years in the navy, maybe head of the navy. He was a friend of Pinochet, helped Pinochet in his coup d´etat of Allende. So we know who was in charge when his statue was placed.
Tomorrow´s all-day tour will take us east up into the andes and feature a ranch where we can watch cowboys demonstrate their skills.
:-)
Bernie
Buenos Noches!
I did a walk for an hour and a quarter, took photos of statues, buildings, and such. One was the equestrian statue of General Manuel Baquedano. I asked Sole, and she told me he was a sort of acting governor as well as the general in charge of the main Chilean forces in a war with Peru and Bolivia that started in 1879. Prior to that time, she said, Peru was part of Chile. General Baquedano´s statue is in the middle of a prominent grassy roundabout which is only a few hundred yards from our hotel, both being on the main drag through Santiago.
We went on the expensive optional tour ¨Chile by Night¨ with the approximately 70 who chose to go, being among the 146 in our total tour group. We sat on chairs in a park outside a nice restaurant and were served pisco saurs and empanadas. But I drank a nonalcoholic cantalope juice drink. Pisco is a specialty of Chile and Peru made by fermenting and then distilling grapes. It runs 30 to 46 percent alcohol. Lemon juice is added. Empanadas are a folded pastry with various stuffings. We had some empanadas, a little different, also at the winery luncheon.
We left that park and at another place rode a funicular to high on a hill called San Cristobal which overlooks the city and is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Then we went to quite a restaurant, ¨Como Aqua Para Chocolate,¨ for quite a dinner. Very Spanish. Quaint. Very crowded. Some of the food was ¨different,¨perhaps ¨exotic,¨ pleasingly presented. We each had prechosen from a menu. I didn´t like my appetizer and can´t say really just what it was. I had steak, which was very large and OK. My flan desert was delicious and large. Pisco saurs were again served. I drank bottled water and a little bit of white wine.
It was our second chance to get aquainted with some of our traveling mates. I chatted a lot with, next to me, a very interesting old gent from southern California who had a long military carerr as an aviator (pilot), followed by other careers and who, like me, has four college degrees but in diverse subjects.
And here´s an amazing small world story. Helen´s high school for all four years in San Francisco was Mission High. A man at the table was at Mission High part of the same time Helen was there though he later transferred to another high school. He was two years behind Helen. They didn´t know each other. The school had about 200 students per class. Ed Cook was HS class of ´56. Helen was class of ´54. I was class of ´55 in Albany, OR.
We saw cyclists. Some utility riders. Some who had ridden for sport up San Cristobal on mountain bikes. Don´t know if they came up a road or a trail. Had to have been steep.
In the park where we started out, we saw some runners. About eight in all. One group of four men and one woman in high-class matching running outfits, rather middle aged, very trim.
Responding to a question in the bus, Sole said it´s hard to answer about apartment rental costs because they vary a lot. A rather nice but small apartment might be $400 per month. Renting a room involving sharing a bathroom down the hall might cost $200 per month.
I took an interest in a statue in the park where we started out after Helen pointed it out. Helen had asked Philippe and he didn´t know who it was. I took the name, etc. and asked Philippe (not knowing it was he whom Helen had asked), and he must himself have learned from someone in the meantime. Commodore Arturo Merino Benitez, 1880-1970 was an important figure for many years in the navy, maybe head of the navy. He was a friend of Pinochet, helped Pinochet in his coup d´etat of Allende. So we know who was in charge when his statue was placed.
Tomorrow´s all-day tour will take us east up into the andes and feature a ranch where we can watch cowboys demonstrate their skills.
:-)
Bernie
WINE TOUR
Wed, 6 Jan 08, 3:10 PM
Buenos Tardes!
Today we met the other couple from Lynchburg and got a bit aquainted. Tom Sydnor is the father of Dr. Robert Sydnor whom I`ve known for ages. His companion, Josephine Woods, is a retired Specil Ed teacher, and she and Helen were surprised they had never crossed paths before.
We`re just back from our wine tour. Helen went up to take a nap, says she didn`t sleep a wink on our redeye flight. I`m pretty refreshed after a good night`s sleep. But I nodded off on our ride back from the tour, as most of us did. Our guide, Sole, talked on the way down, let us sleep on the way back.
On the 35-mile drive south to the winery, we saw a field of celantro, a spice-lke vegetable. Helen says there was some in her fish soup last evening. Sole spoke of Chile`s fruit and agricultural products control, which we already knew about. Sort of like California`s but more so. Very careful to not let fruit, cheese, etc. into the country. The land right around Santiago is flat but with buttes sticking up. The Maìpo Valley further south is flat with the coast range of mountains visible. Every kind of fruit is grown there except bananas and pineapples, she said, and she listed many of them. Sole said it rains in the winter, May through August, and is otherwise pretty dry, and if it`s especially dry they irrigate some. It was comfortably cool today. There are fruit stands along the way, and Sole said the prices are cheap. Chileans like to eat fruits raw. It`s just certain valleys in Chile that produce wine, that have the right climate for it. All types of wines are produced. Wines are exported to 100 countries. Both wine grapes and table grapes are grown. Table grapes are grown on taller vines than are wine grapes, and the table grape vines differ by forming a sort of canopy with grapes hanging from it. Chile has succeeded in protecting its wine grapes and their high quality rootstocks from viruses which have been devastating elsewhere.
We rolled into the town of Isla de Maipo. We could see many of the modest homes people live in but didn`t have a chance to photograph any of them. Utility bicycles in use were common.
We visited the Santa Ines de Martino winery. de Martino for short. This is a very large winery producing wines, I would say, of the highest quality. Our guide gave us a grand tour. I didn`t get his name. We were served three different wines, very generous, each in a differnet location. I liked the Chardonnay. Next was Carmenere, the red signature wine of Chile. Sole said you either like it or hate it. I didn`t like it. The last was a Shirax, a red wine I wasn`t crazy about either. But to the extent that I like wines at all, I like white wines.
After the tour, we were served lunch in a nice outdoor setting surrounded by grape vines. It was the first chance we`ve had to socialize with some of our tour group. Besides Tom and Josephine, we chatted with Eric & Bridgett from Maine and Ed & Gigi from Kansas. All around this huge grape area is a gated fence with three strands of electric wire, not barbed, above it. I asked Sole about it as we drove away, and she hadn`t known of it. I asked if it might be for deer, and she said they essentially don`t have deer -- just a few occasional domesticated ones.
Wine making is a very refined art. Hearing is a big problem for me. I`m sure I missed much of what our winery tour guide said. The quality of the wine depends on the climate (perhaps mostly) and the type of soil (also to the a large extent). Sole had said it also depends on the root stock. The wine guide said in his experience it doesn`t depend much on the age of the vines. The quality of many of the wines also has a lot to do with aging in wooden barrels. White wines other than Chardonnay are not aged in barrels. Chardonnay is aged in barrels but unpainted barrels. Red wines are aged in barrels with a wide red stripe painted on them. The barrels are only used twice. The barrels are oak. The oak (the barrels actually) come from France. The oak comes from different forests in France, and the barrels bear different trade marks. The oak that is best for one wine comes from a particular forest and that for another wine from another forest.
The type of wine grape that does best varies with climate (temperature) and therefore with locales in Chile. Wine grapes are grown over a certain north-south range. Farther north it is too cold. Farther south it is too warm. In Chile the wine producers had to learn fast as the industry grew fast. They didn`t have the benefit of centuries of experience as in France. The orientation of the grape vine rows in relation to the path of the sun is important to the quality of the grapes. If the rows are perpendicular to the path of the sun, the grapes will be "sunburned" (my word), and that is harmful. The rows need to be aligned parallel with the path of the sun so that the leaves can protect the grapes. I`m not positive I have the following correct, and maybe it varies some with wine type: Cold prematuration is six days. Fermentation is ten days. Maturation is twelve days. Residence in barrels is 12 to 22 months, and generally 20 to 22 months is best.
I have almost two hours until our evenng tour at 6 PM with dinner. I hope to do a little walking both for exercise and for sightseeing in that time.
:-)
Bernie
Buenos Tardes!
Today we met the other couple from Lynchburg and got a bit aquainted. Tom Sydnor is the father of Dr. Robert Sydnor whom I`ve known for ages. His companion, Josephine Woods, is a retired Specil Ed teacher, and she and Helen were surprised they had never crossed paths before.
We`re just back from our wine tour. Helen went up to take a nap, says she didn`t sleep a wink on our redeye flight. I`m pretty refreshed after a good night`s sleep. But I nodded off on our ride back from the tour, as most of us did. Our guide, Sole, talked on the way down, let us sleep on the way back.
On the 35-mile drive south to the winery, we saw a field of celantro, a spice-lke vegetable. Helen says there was some in her fish soup last evening. Sole spoke of Chile`s fruit and agricultural products control, which we already knew about. Sort of like California`s but more so. Very careful to not let fruit, cheese, etc. into the country. The land right around Santiago is flat but with buttes sticking up. The Maìpo Valley further south is flat with the coast range of mountains visible. Every kind of fruit is grown there except bananas and pineapples, she said, and she listed many of them. Sole said it rains in the winter, May through August, and is otherwise pretty dry, and if it`s especially dry they irrigate some. It was comfortably cool today. There are fruit stands along the way, and Sole said the prices are cheap. Chileans like to eat fruits raw. It`s just certain valleys in Chile that produce wine, that have the right climate for it. All types of wines are produced. Wines are exported to 100 countries. Both wine grapes and table grapes are grown. Table grapes are grown on taller vines than are wine grapes, and the table grape vines differ by forming a sort of canopy with grapes hanging from it. Chile has succeeded in protecting its wine grapes and their high quality rootstocks from viruses which have been devastating elsewhere.
We rolled into the town of Isla de Maipo. We could see many of the modest homes people live in but didn`t have a chance to photograph any of them. Utility bicycles in use were common.
We visited the Santa Ines de Martino winery. de Martino for short. This is a very large winery producing wines, I would say, of the highest quality. Our guide gave us a grand tour. I didn`t get his name. We were served three different wines, very generous, each in a differnet location. I liked the Chardonnay. Next was Carmenere, the red signature wine of Chile. Sole said you either like it or hate it. I didn`t like it. The last was a Shirax, a red wine I wasn`t crazy about either. But to the extent that I like wines at all, I like white wines.
After the tour, we were served lunch in a nice outdoor setting surrounded by grape vines. It was the first chance we`ve had to socialize with some of our tour group. Besides Tom and Josephine, we chatted with Eric & Bridgett from Maine and Ed & Gigi from Kansas. All around this huge grape area is a gated fence with three strands of electric wire, not barbed, above it. I asked Sole about it as we drove away, and she hadn`t known of it. I asked if it might be for deer, and she said they essentially don`t have deer -- just a few occasional domesticated ones.
Wine making is a very refined art. Hearing is a big problem for me. I`m sure I missed much of what our winery tour guide said. The quality of the wine depends on the climate (perhaps mostly) and the type of soil (also to the a large extent). Sole had said it also depends on the root stock. The wine guide said in his experience it doesn`t depend much on the age of the vines. The quality of many of the wines also has a lot to do with aging in wooden barrels. White wines other than Chardonnay are not aged in barrels. Chardonnay is aged in barrels but unpainted barrels. Red wines are aged in barrels with a wide red stripe painted on them. The barrels are only used twice. The barrels are oak. The oak (the barrels actually) come from France. The oak comes from different forests in France, and the barrels bear different trade marks. The oak that is best for one wine comes from a particular forest and that for another wine from another forest.
The type of wine grape that does best varies with climate (temperature) and therefore with locales in Chile. Wine grapes are grown over a certain north-south range. Farther north it is too cold. Farther south it is too warm. In Chile the wine producers had to learn fast as the industry grew fast. They didn`t have the benefit of centuries of experience as in France. The orientation of the grape vine rows in relation to the path of the sun is important to the quality of the grapes. If the rows are perpendicular to the path of the sun, the grapes will be "sunburned" (my word), and that is harmful. The rows need to be aligned parallel with the path of the sun so that the leaves can protect the grapes. I`m not positive I have the following correct, and maybe it varies some with wine type: Cold prematuration is six days. Fermentation is ten days. Maturation is twelve days. Residence in barrels is 12 to 22 months, and generally 20 to 22 months is best.
I have almost two hours until our evenng tour at 6 PM with dinner. I hope to do a little walking both for exercise and for sightseeing in that time.
:-)
Bernie
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
MORE ODDS AND ENDS
I´m back from our dinner in the hotel dining room. Looking at the menu, we thought it was going to be unusally cheap. Must have miscalulated. Total for two meals was over $40. Still that was not unreasonable. Very nice restaurant. Tasty food, well prepared, pleasingly presented. Courteous waiters in black vests and ties.
The excursions are not cheap. An upcoming all-day tour is about $200 apiece.
Don´t recall seeing any utility bikes. Or scooters. Some light motorcycles. Mostly cars. Small cars. Seems like every make from everywhere is represented. Chevrolets, Japanese cars, Korean cars. Chile does not manufacture cars.
We were told gasoline is about $4.50 per gallon (lots of tax in that).
We´re riding in really first class buses.
Santiago has lots of parks and green spaces. Nice boulevard with grass in the middle.
One section of a main street is all-one-way just over a certain distance and just at certain hours (rush hours), otherwise 2-way. The direction markers painted on the streets remain 2-way.
We´re told it´s safe to walk the streets in daytime but we should use a cab after dark. And we should take precautions against pickpockets. For one thing, take photostatic copy of passport and leave the real passport in the safe in our room. Things are said to be safe in our rooms.
There are four of these computers for guests and a heck of a lot of guests in the hotel. Yet it seems easy to get on one of the computers. At worst its been a ten minute wait till one frees up.
I´m supposed to use and always have used dstilled water in my CPAP machine. Tonight I will use tap water. Interestingly, I was told you can´t buy distilled water in a grocery store but you can buy it at a gas station. (Gas stations use it for batteries and radiators.) I was told there is a gas station some eight blocks from here. Certainly not far for me to walk. (In the daytime.)
Maybe I already remarked about drinking water. The tap water has been treated, and some or most of the locals drink it. Toursists are advised to use bottled water for drinking and tap water for tooth brushing.
I was unable to stay alert during the orientation this afternoon. But I´m doing very well considering recent sleep deficits. We expect to get a lot of sleep tonight.
;-)
Bernie
The excursions are not cheap. An upcoming all-day tour is about $200 apiece.
Don´t recall seeing any utility bikes. Or scooters. Some light motorcycles. Mostly cars. Small cars. Seems like every make from everywhere is represented. Chevrolets, Japanese cars, Korean cars. Chile does not manufacture cars.
We were told gasoline is about $4.50 per gallon (lots of tax in that).
We´re riding in really first class buses.
Santiago has lots of parks and green spaces. Nice boulevard with grass in the middle.
One section of a main street is all-one-way just over a certain distance and just at certain hours (rush hours), otherwise 2-way. The direction markers painted on the streets remain 2-way.
We´re told it´s safe to walk the streets in daytime but we should use a cab after dark. And we should take precautions against pickpockets. For one thing, take photostatic copy of passport and leave the real passport in the safe in our room. Things are said to be safe in our rooms.
There are four of these computers for guests and a heck of a lot of guests in the hotel. Yet it seems easy to get on one of the computers. At worst its been a ten minute wait till one frees up.
I´m supposed to use and always have used dstilled water in my CPAP machine. Tonight I will use tap water. Interestingly, I was told you can´t buy distilled water in a grocery store but you can buy it at a gas station. (Gas stations use it for batteries and radiators.) I was told there is a gas station some eight blocks from here. Certainly not far for me to walk. (In the daytime.)
Maybe I already remarked about drinking water. The tap water has been treated, and some or most of the locals drink it. Toursists are advised to use bottled water for drinking and tap water for tooth brushing.
I was unable to stay alert during the orientation this afternoon. But I´m doing very well considering recent sleep deficits. We expect to get a lot of sleep tonight.
;-)
Bernie
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