Still Mar 04
Our expedition ship approaching Punta Arenas.
In Punta Arenas port, we deboard our ship, collect our luggage and board a bus that drives us about 100 feet where we get off the bus and go through immigration. Insanity in the name of bureaucracy!
Pipo is our local guide for the Chilean land portion of Patagonia.
This horse was just grazing away not tethered down.
Scenic overlook above Punta Arenas.
Compass orientation.
Magellan's statue in the middle of town. It has become controversial because the Native Peoples are seated below Magellan.
Palace of Sara Braun, one of the first business women in Patagonia (land leases, sheep ranching, etc). Though she immigrated from Latvia, many immigrants to this area
came from Croatia.
Goleta Ancud Monument, installed Sept 21, 2014, to commemorate the effective takeover of the Strait of Magellan on September 21, 1843 by Chile.
We saw some Peale's Dolphin on our way out of town.
There have been difficulties in the past between Chile and Argentina. Remnants remain.
Along our 3 1/2 hour bus drive to Porto Natales, we get our first sightings of guanacos, South American camelids (closely related to the llama).
Rhea birds spotted! Pipo gives nice explanation about how the males are sole caretakers of their young.
Sign on a small restaurant we stopped at for a bathroom break:
"Here we open when we arrive
and close when we leave,
If you come and we are not there,
we are not meeting."
Inside the restaurant.
The restaurant dog must be looking for more customers.
Our hotel in Puerto Natales.
Our hotel room faces this view.
Monument to the Wind (Monumento al Viento) inaugurated June 1, 2012 celebrating the 101st anniversary of the founding of Puerto Natales.
They had a lot of these types of artwork around the central part of town some with trash cans attached.
Celebrating James's birthday at our hotel restaurant.
Sunday Mar 05
As we check out of our hotel we spy this dog napping on a luggage cart!
Sheep grazing on the Patagonian steppe.
Southern Crested Caracara.
On the way to Torres Del Paine we pass colorful Lake Amarga.
Another view of Lake Amarga.
Our bus in Chilean Patagonia. Marcello, our driver cleaned the bus every night inside and out!
We stop in Cero Castillo at a well provisioned store. Martin said it was a good place to buy things and we found several things to buy at resonable prices. Such a remote location, the only other building around is an immigration office.
We enter Torres Del Paine National Park.
At the Park's entry center, Martin and Pipo get our entry permits while we take a restroom break.
Tincho hands out TP from the men's side to the the women!
On our first walk in the park.
Martin looks at the skeleton of a guanaco.
Ben gets a bit closer.
Tada! On a clearer day there'd be a better view behind us.
We bus to our next stop and take a short walk on the Salto Grande Trail.
The Salto Grande waterfalls.
Happy to be here!
How the Massive was formed.
The falls.
From Salto Grande we take a trail to an overlook.
Most of our group completed the trail to Mirador Cuernos (lookout to the famous horns of the Paine Massif) which are not visible due to cloud cover.
Across the lake there are campsites for the W trail.
While Emerson and others went on up to the overlook, Jan and Linda stayed at the falls and enjoyed moments of Zen!
As we head to our next hotel, we pass an area where a fire did a lot of damage to the park several years ago.
One more look at the Salto Grande from across Lake Pehoe.
This plush baby guanaco, purchased grandson Ellis in Cerro Castillo, enjoys the view from the bus.
Our first glimpse of the Serrano River Village.
Seated for our first meal at the Rio Serrano Hotel, Tincho initiates a toast with some of our group at the table behind ours. Emerson and Ann in foreground.
A traditional soup.
The dining room of the hotel had big picture windows looking at the Paine Massif, which can be barely seen here (around 7pm), but luckily we get to see it over the next 2 days!
After dinner Emerson and Linda explore hotel amenities. Here's the beautiful entry to the spa.
Unfortunately we left our swimsuites in Buenos Aires.
While at the spa and pool we start to see the Massif "come out"!
Mar 06
The Paine Massif from our hotel, early next morning.
Oh what a beautiful morning!
Breakfast and another view of the pretty dining room. Ann, Mary, Pierre, Steve, Lucy and Carol (lt to rt).
A view of our hotel that faces the Massif range.
Before we head out this mornig to Grey Glacier, we review a 3D model of the park at the hotel.
An overview of the park.
Before heading for our hike near Grey Glacier, we stop for the view from the road above where we are staying to survey the area. We see Grey Glacier in distance and the winding Serrano River in the foreground. The morning starts out sunny.
Group photo this day (without James who stayed back due to foot issues).
Interesting rock formation across the visitor center at Grey Glacier.
Pipo tells us about another Patagonian mammal El Huemul (pron:way'mule), a South American deer, difficult to find as they stay hidden in the woods.
Before heading down for our hike out to view Grey Glacier, Pipo stops along the way to tell us about the Lenga Tree.
Heading down to hike along the thin penisula strip of terminal remain (in upper third portion of this photo) that juts out into the southern part of Grey Lake.
Walking along this terminal moraine of the Grey Glacier, our sunny morning turns as grey as the Glacier and lake we visit!
It was cold and windy with light rain but it felt wonderful to be out there.
Best view of Grey Glacier that day.
Some in our group hiked up to another viewpoint.
Crossing back over the Rio Pingo on the way back to our bus.
After we returned from Grey Lake, we had lunch and then went horseback riding. This gaucho was in charge.
We're all mounted up!
Our gaucho on his trusty horse is ready for us to head out.
We more or less stayed in a line throughout our hourlong ride.
Our heavenly ride! One of Linda's highlights on this Patagonian adventure!
Enjoying the ride.
Heading back but not wanting it to end yet!
After our ride it's the other half of our group's turn.
We take this time to walk around the grounds near the hotel. So peaceful and idyllic!
Another nice view.
This dog came out and was almost guiding us around on our walk.
Mar 07
Our second and last morning here we're greeted with another spectacular sunrise.
Group shot as we leave the Torres Del Paine area (our whole group this time!).
Another view of the mountains. Did we say it was windy?
Well it is.
Last look at the Paine Massif with Lake Toro in the foreground.
A condor. We had several condor sightings.
Not the best road on the way out.
A fox.
The actual border(between Chile and Argentine control points). The road also changes from paved to gravel.
There are several miles between the Chilian Control point and the Argentinian control point. So we drive a bit farther down the road.
Pano view of the Chile/Argentina border. Not much out here.
The immigration office. No passport stamps for Americans going into Argentina, it's all electronic.
We say goodbye to Marcello, our very cool Chilean bus driver!
We meet our Argentinian guide Sylvia. She tells us about Mate and we all get a sampler size Mate.
The Mate cups after we had finished.
On the way to the Estancia (ranch) Martin spots something.
We stop at a sheep ranch, the Estancia Chali Aike (which means grassy place).
They are cooking some lamb for us. The estancia has a facebook page and even some YouTube videos.
Inside the farm house.
Gonzalo Sanchez talks about the history of his estancia. It was started by his great grandparents and is 68000 acres (106 sq miles). He used to raise 8000 sheep but now can only raise 3000 as the climate gets drier. Somebody asked him how often ranches sell and he said they are usually just abandoned. A hard place to now make a living but you just felt he loved it there.
He also trains working dogs and seems to be good at it.
A man and his dog.
A hearding demonstration. His dog was so excited to get into action hearding sheep.
Some cool down needed.
Big building where sheep are penned before shearing. Sylvia and Gonzolo explain the process.
Before photo of sheep that's to be sheared.
He demonstrated shearing and this is the fleece he just removed. Our local guide Syliva translates.
Wool just off the sheep.
A poster on humane handling of sheep.
A fiesta of the sheepdog.
Behind the windbreaks it was pretty calm. Gonzolo says there was less dust in the air today as there had been a bit of rain recently.
Back on the bus as we drive to El Calafate, we see more of the Patagonian Steppe region - arid land due to the Andes Mountains blocking the moisture from the Pacific reaching this area.
More of the Steppe.
Birds eye view poster of El Calafate.
In Calafate, we stay two nights at the Hotel Kosten Aike (which means windy place) while we visit Los Glaciares National Park area.
Mar 08
Emerson was takes the day off from visiting Perito Moreno glacier (not feeling too good) and takes a short walk around town. Interesting mural.
Along the way to the glacier Martin noticed some gouchos riding in a field. Our driver stop the bus and Martin calls out to them.
One goucho rides over and agrees to meet the group.
This is an authentic working gauco
Earlier Martin had explained how the traditional goucho beret can be moved around to protect their face from winds.
On the road we see the Perito Moreno Glacier from a distance.
A good close up view of Glacier.
Group photo.
Linda in front of the Perito Moreno glacier.
Jan and Linda
Another pretty view.
Emerson at least got to see a beautiful photo from today.
On our way back to the hotel, we stop at a shrine to Gauchito Gil, an unofficial patron saint to the region. There are other shrines along the roads but Gauchito Gil's are predominitly red. An offering of beer.
Tincho carries this card of Gauchito Gil in his billfold.
Jan, Ben and Linda for our final Patagonial meal - dinner at El Cucharon Restaurant in Calafate.
Later that night a group of us meet at our hotel's back patio and Martin uses a green laser to point to and discuss the Southern Cross which ancient mariners used to navigate the southern hemisphere.
Mar 09
Martin makes more mate at the El Calafate airport.
We fly out of El Calafate in the morning.
We arrive in Buenos Aires around 1pm and head for our bus outside the airport.
We are back in Recoleta Hotel for 2 more nights.
Jan and Linda at the bookstore (she and Ben missed seeing at the beginning of this trip because of flight delays).
We bus to the Puerto Modero district of Buenos Aires for our farewell dinner at this authentic Argentinean grill.
Tincho talks about Frigata Presidente Sarmeinto.
The Puente de la Mujer (The Women's Bridge). The streets in this area are named for famous women. While we were there, a famous female singer was performing that night on this bridge.
Mar 10
We visit Recoleta Cemetary, a major tourist attraction.
Near the entrance.
A small but nice mausoleum. The stairs can lead down 7 stories.
Liliana Crociati de Szaszak. She died in Austria in an avalanche and her dog Sabu still in Argentina died at the same time.
The mausoleum where Evita Peron is entombed. Her maiden name was Duarte.
The story here is that young 19 year old Rufina Cambaceres, depicted in this statue was buried alive. A few days after the funeral, a cemetary worker found the coffin had moved within the crypt and the lid was broken in places. Fearing robbery he removed the lid to find scratch marks inside the coffin and Rufina dead with bruised hands and face from trying to break out.
Our last morning with the entire group before half head back to the states, we bus 45 minutes north to the town of Tigre near the Parana Delta where we enjoy an hour-long boat ride in this scenic area which is one of Latin American's unique environments.
Martin is devoted to his Mate!
Aruncaria Pine (aka Monkey Puzzle tree).
A primary school for this delta region. The school buses are boats.
Museo Casa of Domingo Faustino Samiento, a popular social reformer and past Argentine president.
As we deboard, we see boats that are double parked. There was a pretty long line of people with belongings waiting for their bus (boat).
Still in Tigre, we shop and catch a bite before heading back to Buenos Aires.
Dinner out on our last evening in Buenos Aires- Jan and Emerson.
Linda and Ben.