Day #2 on the Strait of Magellan

But first, last night.  Nice dinner of fish or steak, then Karaoke in the lounge.  Mostly younger Spanish speaking kids but one old guy from Austrailia got up and sang Highway to Hell.  Neatly wet my pants! This morning 44 degrees and raining - hard.  Took an hour long trip on the Zodiac to view glaciers.  Lots of ice in the water.  Pretty miserable, even in full rain gear.  Do not read South about Shackleton's voyage before doing this,
This afternoon we went to see elephant seals.  There had to be at least 40 of them lolling around on the beach and fighting with each other.  An amazing sight.
Tonight at dinner I sat next to the couple from India,  If more people would travel they would be no more war because WE ARE ALL THE SAME!!!  Their son is 22 and still comes home and raids their refrigerator,  I love this so much.

Nice view from the boat

Think they need to work on their spelling

More wild country

Feels like we are floating in a glass of gin on the rocks

Are we having fun yet?

Elephant seals

Elephant seals

Elephant seals

March 14 - the Strait of Magellan

We had a great dinner last night - choice between lamb shanks or hake.  We are at a table with 2 other couples, one from Chicago and one from New Delhi - nice people.  All alcohol is included on this ship  disaster!  This morning Miller Glacier - about 42 degrees and raining,  Wore all my gear - long underwear top, fleece lined tights, down jacket, rain jacket, rain pants, smart wool socks and waterproof hiking boots,  After a short Zodiac ride through floating chunks of ice, we got to the glacier which was actively calving,  beautiful, majestic.  Greeted with a hot chocolate with Johnny Walker on the beach before heading back to the ship.  Afternoon - lovely walk on the beach and in the woods in Ainsworth Bay.  Lots of botany info about lichens, mosses and fungi.  Sadly in 1948, beavers were introduced and now are destroying the alluvial forests.

View from out stateroom

Miller Glacier

Miller Glacier

Floating ice

Dean looking studly in his foul weather gear

Miller Glacier

Open bar on board - no Bombay gin!

Dessert selection

Rainbow Ainsworth Bay

Ainsworth Bay

Flora of Ainsworth Bay

Tree with Old Man's Beard Lichen

Typical vegetation

Waterfalls

March 13

Flew to Punta Arenas. The last 45 minutes was a screaming baby right behind me.  Ugh! PA is a beautiful  rugged area similar to southeast Alaska but of what wind! Had a good woodfired pizza for lunch at Mestita with a great salad.  Now to board the Australis for a 4 day cruise of the Strait of Magellan .  No WiFi for 4 days,  The Horror!!!

Welcoming rainbow (our boat is the one on the far left)

The dogs of Chile.   They are so tired. 

I'm back

There was no wifi on the boat for the last few days and now my keyboard is not working. Will write some tonight

Wineries

Today was winery day in the Maipo Valley, just south of Santiago.  First stop Almaviva, a joint venture of Concha y Toro and Rothschilds.  What an amazing place! Obviously they did not mind sinking a whole lot of $$$ into the place. The doors are made of old oak barrels and the rooms were huge and spotless.  The barrel room was all paneled in oak.  And the wine....a blend of cabernet, cab franc, Carminere, syrah and merlot. WOW.  It was lovely.  Then to lunch (something something Toro) for some awesome beef and the best pisco sours.  Next to Haras de Pirque, another winery, not so swanky but damn good.  We tasted their Carminere, a great red for a warm Sunday afternoon for people who don't like whites, Haras Character - a great Tuesday night red, and Albis - an intesnse blend to be served on your birthday. Back to the neighborhood, and since we didn't have enough wine, went out to the wine bar again for small plates and, you guessed it, more wine!  Wish I could post the photos in real time, but have no way to hook up my camera to the iPad, so will have to wait til I get home. Tomorrow on the plane south to Punta Arenas and the real adventure begins.

Almaviva

Almaviva

Vineyard

Grapes up close and personal

The winery

Doors made of barrel staves

Barrel Room

Bottler

Haras de Pirque

Haras de Pirque

Haras de Pirque

Tasting room Haras de Pirque

Haras de Pirque

Santiago continued

The hotel Laterria is in a wonderful neighborhood with shops and FOOD!  I took a short walk in the sfternoon and found 5 ice cream stores within a  2 block radius.  Obviously, we can't stay here for lomg!  There are kiosks along the sidewalk that sell beautiful fresh fruit (along with chips and newspapers).  Dinner last night at Bocanariz, a wine bar with over 388 different Chilean wines on their list.  The food was supurb, I had a broccoli, quinoa, cherry tomato and arugula salad and a charcuterre plate with 3 kinds of "ham": pork, beef and lamb. Dean had a huge T-bone steak, Bruce had short ribs and JoAnn empanadas.  Everything was great and the staff were super helpful.  May have to gio back tonight.  Gotta love a place with great wine, coffee, ice cream and food.

March 11, 2015

Greetings from Santiago!  Getting here takes FOREVER, but if you must travel, take LAN airlines.  It takes 13 hours from LA (with one interminable stop in Lima), but they treat you right.  We got 3 hot meals, free wine, a pillow, blanket, eye shade, ear plugs and an enormous selection of movies and TV shows on a small screen on the seat back in front of you. (key for a shorty like me - if it comes out of the ceiling, half the time I can't see it).  Watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and St. Vincent.  The first was weird in a Darjeeling Limited kind of way.  For a movie set in the 30s with Adrian Brody playing a character named Dimitri, I just don't get an American accent.  St. Vincent was wonderful  Bill Murray should have gotten an acaemy award. Also read All The Light We Cannot See - beautiful book.
Santiago is a big city - 7 mllion people in a country of 17 million.  It's pretty smoggy and the buildings all look like they were built in the 60s or more recently.  It wasn't until we started walking around that we saw some older ones, and then only from the late 1800s.  Apparently the earthquakes here are a form of urban renewal.  RIght now it is the end of summer, so it is hot, sunny and very dry. Our guide drove us around and we did a little walking.  They have a fish  market that would put Pike Place to shame.  We did buy some lapis lazuli which this area is famous for.  Then back to the hotel room, a shower and a nap!