We wuz robbed

Our last morning in Santiago was to be spent looking at museums and art galleries using the metro to get around. We used the metro to get to our first stop and had a good look around the Pre- Columbian Art Museum then decided to walk to the next gallery. We were only a walking for a few minutes when a man stopped me and pointed out that there was some yellow sticky and smelly substance on my polar fleece vest. We stopped to clean it and two passers-bye offered to help with tissues at the ready. It was so bad that I had to take off my vest to clean it. One of the "helpers" said it must have been a bird so we both looked up and before we knew it they had all dissapeared and so was my wallet (It had been in the top zippered pocket of the vest, a safe place from pickpockets) I quickly realised that the wallet was gone and gave chase but soon lost anyone in the dense traffic both vehicular and pedestrian. We found a caberinos (policeman) who took us to his HQ so we could formally report the theft. We lost about US$150, two credit cards and our drivers licences, so with no money we had to call the hotel to pick us up. We did manage to pay the hotel from a photocopy of the card before we cancelled both cards. What a scam and what an exciting end to our holiday. See you in Australia in a couple of days.

Santiago - Mon & Tues

It is a lovely city but plagued by fog and mist at this time of the year, it is so close to the mountains that they have a very strong influence on the cities climate. Monday we had a city tour and when we were up on the loookout over the city we could only see a small part of the 6,000,000 inhabitants because of the mist. When we got to Constitutional Square the police had it all cordoned off because the President of Paraguay was visiting for trade talks. We got a good view of the ceremonial parade by the army horses with security provided by tough looking Chilien caberinoes, great fun and lots of photos. Tuesday morning we had a trip up into the Andes mountains. The weather started misty with very poor visabilty and our guide asked us if we really wanted to go, we all said yes as the weather had not let us down for the whole trip. Well as soon as we started the climb up the mountain we came out of the mist and had a beautiful sunny day until our return to the city. The trip up the mountain was scary, a narrow two lane road with a sheer drop on one side, we did it in two legs the first had over 40 zig zags and the second about 20. Our hearts were in our mouths but the driver knew what he was doing so we had no problem. When we got to the summit (10,000ft +) the air was thin but the view was brilliant.

The end of the cruise and on to Santiago

Saturday was our last full day on the ship so it was a quiet day sorting out all our things and getting ready to leave the ship on Sunday morning. We docked early and were all on the road by 9:00 am it is about 100km from the port of Valperaiso to Santiago so we were checked into the hotel by about 11:30 and quickly caught a cab to the Cathedral. We knew it was Easter Sunday but did not know when the services were, we were so lucky to catch the main mass at 12:00. It was led by the archbishop and was being televised; the atmosphere was awesome with a divine choir, a magic moment even though we could`t understand any of the words. The pedestrian mall was converted to a street market so we happily spent the afternoon browsing before returning to the hotel wacked but happy.

Puerto Montt Fri 6-4-07

Today we arrived at the lovely town of Pueto Montt, we had chosen a tour called "Nature and Traditions" It first took us to the resort of Puerto Varas on Lake Llanquihue, a lovely little town with a German influence. The day started cloudy and we could not see the snow covered volcanoes on the other side of the lake. We then drove to a ranch "Fundo Olguito" to soak up some of the Chilean traditions. We were met by a team of huasos (cowboys) mounted on their horses and were led to a large stable were we sat on bales of hay to watch a troupe of young dancers performing the shaque (courting dance) while we drank Chilean wine and ate empanandas! This was followed by a Chilean rodeo where the huasos showed off their skills on the horse - they were remarkable. A big traditional lunch followed the rodeo with moredancing, this time the youngsters got some of the group up to join in the dance - Terry was one of the first up!! Great fun. Before we went inside the mist lifted and we saw the snow covered volcano, but while we were eating it came down again and started to rain, This was our only bad weather on the whole trip and we were inside!!

Puerto Chacabuco Thurs 5-4-07

We arived at the port early in the morning and went for a coach tour of the surrounds. The port itself is very small but it serves as the entrance to a large area that can only be easly be reached by sea. The scenery inland was very rugged and very pretty, we also found a good outlet for the local produce and bought a few gifts.

Chilean Fjords Wed 4-4-07

Today was a day at sea, we cruised nothwards through the fjords and at some places you felt that you could touch land on both sides of the ship. Very dramatic scenery.

Magellan Passage Tues 3/4/07

Today was just going to be cruising through the Magellan Passage with no special events, but the captain decided that we had time to visit another glacier. If we thought the glaciers in Alaska and Argentina were dramatic this one beat them all. A huge wall of ice coming right down to the sea. We spent nealy an hour there with the ship turning so that everyone managed a good view and a good photo. Then back to cruising the Passage before we entered the Chilean Fiords. We finished the day with a fun murder mystery then slept for 91/2 hrs.

Puerto Arenas Mon 2/4/07

We left Ushuaia early in the afternoon and visited a number of spectacular glaciers, lots and lots of photos. We continued cruising through the Beagle Channel for the rest of that day. Waking up in the morning we found ourselves at Pueto Arenas our first stop in Chile, a city that also claims to be the most southern in the world, however their claim is based on the fact that they are part of the American mainland and that Ushuaia is on an island. We had a long shore excursion that included ths highlights of the town before we went into the country for a wonderful Chilean lunch and a display of horse breaking. It was fun to watch but the wind was strong and straight off the Antarctic so it was rather cold. (Chile lived up to its name) We then visited Fort Bulnes the original setlement that only lasted 4years before the lack of fresh water forced the settlers to re-establish at Pueto Arenas. Never been so cold, even terry in her fur coat - which everyone wanted to buy off her that day.

Ushuaia Sun 1/4/07

We woke to find ourselves in Ushuaia the southern most city in the world. It looked very cheerful with the houses all painted in different colours. We were told that this comes from the early days when the only paint available was from the ships and this was all strong colours. Ushuaia is a lovely city with towering snow capped mountains behind and all the development strung out around the sheltered bay. We took a train trip to "the end of the world", it was a restored logging train with one of the smallest gauges in the world. It finished in the Tiera del Fuego National Park with beautiful views over the Beagle Channel.

Cape Horn Sat 31/3/07

After leaving the Falkland Islands we encountered strong winds that delayed our arrival at the Cape. We finally got there after dark and all we saw was the light of the lighthouse. It was a little rough but managable, later we found out that the winds were over 130 mph equating to over 12 on the Beaufort scale. The lighthouse advised our captain that these had been the strongest winds recorded at the Cape for over 7 years and the captain had not experienced such strong winds in his 50 roundings of the Cape. Soon after we left the Cape we were in sheltered waters and it was calm again. Very exicting!!!!!