Sunday, January 12, 2014
Another beautiful day with sunshine, no rain, and deep blue skies. We traveled all night south through the Chilean Archipelago and docked in the majestic small port of Puerto Chacabuco. It lies nestled in a setting very much like Port Alberni, B.C. where we live. In fact, the region is very similar to that of the Barkley Sound and the Alberni Inlet. The only difference is that the Andean Mountain range is at its closest point to the Pacific Ocean here, hovering directly over this small port city. We tendered by small boat over to the port and boarded our buses to take a spectacular journey high up in the Andes Mountains and the Patagonia Plateau. We went all the way to the remote, beautiful, and charming Andean city of Coyhaique (pronounced Coy-high-ee-kay), which is just a few minutes from the border of Argentina high up in the Andes.
We finally found a spot with some real authentic Chilean handicrafts that caused us to pull out the wallet. Things are not very expensive here, and the quality, if genuine Chilean, is hard to match. Marla found a beautiful hand woven long-sleeve hooded Alpaca wool sweater that will come in real handy next week during our 5 days in Antarctica. I found a couple of delightful wood carvings, and of course we could never leave Chile without adding a polished rock egg to our world travels collection of rock eggs.
We experienced some of the most beautiful and pristene mountain vistas we've ever seen, and huge raging rivers. We also stopped in at the Cascadas de Virgenes (in English - the Waterfall of the Virgins). We returned to the boat in the late afternoon to gather for a Fireside with Dr. Michael Wilcox addressing us on the majesty of God's creations and how we should appreciate and take care of them. He is an incredible speaker and a delight to have on board as one of our tour guides and the guest lecturer.
Dinner tonight consisted of Chilled Rhubarb soup, (it was heavenly), garden salad, grilled halibut with steamed veggies, and fruit sundaes for dessert. And the food just keeps on coming!
We've departed Puerto Chacabuco and are working our way through the Darwin Channel and then south through the Chilean fjords and glaciers for the next two days. Our next scheduled port is at the southern tip of Chile, known as Puntas Arenas. If all goes as planned, it is there that we take a day long excursion for our first of several encounters with Penguins. These will be Magellanic Penguins, which are smaller, and live on the South America mainland rather than in Antarctica. We're all kind of looking forward to a couple of days to kick back and get caught up with ourselves, as this entire week has been a frenzy of activities both on land and sea.
Hoping all is well with everyone. Take time to look out on God's creations and appreciate what He has given us to enjoy in this world. We love you all.
Tom and Marla
Another beautiful day with sunshine, no rain, and deep blue skies. We traveled all night south through the Chilean Archipelago and docked in the majestic small port of Puerto Chacabuco. It lies nestled in a setting very much like Port Alberni, B.C. where we live. In fact, the region is very similar to that of the Barkley Sound and the Alberni Inlet. The only difference is that the Andean Mountain range is at its closest point to the Pacific Ocean here, hovering directly over this small port city. We tendered by small boat over to the port and boarded our buses to take a spectacular journey high up in the Andes Mountains and the Patagonia Plateau. We went all the way to the remote, beautiful, and charming Andean city of Coyhaique (pronounced Coy-high-ee-kay), which is just a few minutes from the border of Argentina high up in the Andes.
We finally found a spot with some real authentic Chilean handicrafts that caused us to pull out the wallet. Things are not very expensive here, and the quality, if genuine Chilean, is hard to match. Marla found a beautiful hand woven long-sleeve hooded Alpaca wool sweater that will come in real handy next week during our 5 days in Antarctica. I found a couple of delightful wood carvings, and of course we could never leave Chile without adding a polished rock egg to our world travels collection of rock eggs.
We experienced some of the most beautiful and pristene mountain vistas we've ever seen, and huge raging rivers. We also stopped in at the Cascadas de Virgenes (in English - the Waterfall of the Virgins). We returned to the boat in the late afternoon to gather for a Fireside with Dr. Michael Wilcox addressing us on the majesty of God's creations and how we should appreciate and take care of them. He is an incredible speaker and a delight to have on board as one of our tour guides and the guest lecturer.
Dinner tonight consisted of Chilled Rhubarb soup, (it was heavenly), garden salad, grilled halibut with steamed veggies, and fruit sundaes for dessert. And the food just keeps on coming!
We've departed Puerto Chacabuco and are working our way through the Darwin Channel and then south through the Chilean fjords and glaciers for the next two days. Our next scheduled port is at the southern tip of Chile, known as Puntas Arenas. If all goes as planned, it is there that we take a day long excursion for our first of several encounters with Penguins. These will be Magellanic Penguins, which are smaller, and live on the South America mainland rather than in Antarctica. We're all kind of looking forward to a couple of days to kick back and get caught up with ourselves, as this entire week has been a frenzy of activities both on land and sea.
Hoping all is well with everyone. Take time to look out on God's creations and appreciate what He has given us to enjoy in this world. We love you all.
Tom and Marla
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