flight delays

Dreaded words during travel--'flight delays!' But whatcha gonna do? We did indeed miss our connecting flight to LA from Dallas, but we have new boarding passes now and will still make it home today. We are tired, certainly, but safe and in good spirits.  We'll look for somewhere to eat after the phone is charged, then Kay will phone Bob. Definitely not what we would prefer, but we're practicing the positive reaction of Buena Onda!

A darker than usual morning

Woke up this morning, and -- no lights or hot water! The power company shut off the whole town and didn't warn anyone in advance. The eggs for breakfast had already been prepared, coffee was lukewarm, but we ate pretty well anyway and left on the bus for Perito Moreno Glacier in Las Glaciares National Park. Blue skies and sunshine yet another day, little wind even at the glacier! It was about an hour and a half drive there from Calafate (it's EL Calafate, but no one says that.) following a tour of the town/small city/whatever. There's really nothing scenic about it except that the presidente of Argentina has a house here because this is where she's from. We are kind of tired of information and wished we could just go to the glacier!

And we did finally make it there, right when they said we would--imagine that! It has always been so on this tour, no one is late and we often depart a few minutes early. The glacier was--as they always are--magnificent and huge! There is simply no scale to measure their height against--massive! They (whoever 'they' is) have always said that an overcast day is best for viewing a glacier, but in spite of our clear blue sky (some lenticular clouds high above telling of strong wind at that elevation), the cracks and fissures in the facade and on the top were brilliant turquoise, varying in value from bright to deep dark turquoise-y blue!) I could have stood in one place and clicked the camera over and over, it was so beautiful!

The route our guide had chosen was uphill, very long, and with easily a thousand steps over a couple miles. The advantage to this route was that you are always facing the glacier, so if it calves, you have a good chance of seeing it. We saw two relatively small calvings--'small' because they were probably only the height of a ten-story building instead of twenty-five! They were preceded by loud cracks (though the glaciers are never completely quiet, and not every crack is a portent), almost a ripping sound and followed by a great sustained crash! I heard a bigger one but was walking behind some trees at that moment--drat! Still it was amazing. We were there for three hours and walking for easily two+. I could've stopped for a photo every few steps, the sight was so magnificent!

I think I will make a glacier quilt; I've wanted to since Iceland, think I told you yesterday that I found a good subject at Gray Glacier in Torres del Paine National Park, but these photos will become excellent fore/back-ground. And anyway, if I never make anything at all, I've seen these glaciers and felt their presence and taken in as much as my mind and soul can absorb.

We returned to the hotel--lights clicked on the moment we left--and repacked our bags. Then cabbed to el centro of town and shopped, using up much of our Argentinean money and buying fun things as well as pizza, beer and gelato for dinner! Hope to get to sleep early tonight, flying away at 9:15 in the morning to Buenos Aires where the temp has been 110 degrees, not looking forward to that at all! Then we head for home late Monday. It will be good to be in my own home again, seeing my family and my little dog, but what a wonderful adventure this has been. I don't think it could have been better in any way.

Good night for now.

Guanacos out the wazoo!

Lazy morning, soothing and restful, drove a long while on a gravel road out of the park, but watched lots of wildlife on the way. But the weather was overcast, quite cool and breezy! The mountains were mostly obscured, what we have been told is their usual state. We have been unusually fortunate AND we are grateful for calm winds and sun! So on the bus for a long travel day.

To the visitor center for a chat about the major hiking circuits and photos of more lupines and parts of mountains (see above.) Back on the bus to Guanaco Land all along the route out of the park and beyond! We saw singles, doubles, and massive herds. Stopped a couple times to even stand quietly 30 yards from them. After the cameras stopped clicking, we could hear them calling to each other, kind whinnying. They are lovely, so elegant the way they hold their heads, chins in the air. Sometimes they almost freeze into position.

We also saw a family of geese: father mother and three babies. Then--condors sitting on a low hill, obviously too full to take off, also not much wind there; they are certainly Large birds!!! A family of rheas--father and three juveniles.

Geologic formations were also interesting with sedimentary layers in graceful curves having been pushed up by igneous extrusions--does that sound possible, you geologists out there? Anyway striking and beautiful!

Now, Kay and I have just had wine with our dinner and words are not coming as swiftly as we would like, so if we sound a little vague, we are. Forgive our lapses, we're doing the best we can.

Lunch at some minute town with a large shop (more lapiz lazuli to appease Jackie's delightful addiction)  and some kind of Chilean soup/stew that was very tasty. After lunch we crossed out of Chile and into Argentina, changing buses, drivers, and local guides. As the local guide droned on, we took a short nap, no offense to the guide, but it's difficult to stay awake sometimes.

Stopped again at La Esperanza, a community of only 47 people out nowhere in eastern Montana-like terrain. Had there a drink that sounded something like 'submarine' which is hot milk with pieces of chocolate in it; you have to stir a lot, but it's very tasty!

Another two hours to reach Calafate, a pleasant tourist town. We'll have a drive of an hour and a half to reach the glacier in the morning. We took a taxi downtown to shop a bit, then dinner (spinach raviolis for Kay and lamb raviolis for Jackie) with some Malbec wine; all was tasty, even if the wine did elicit a sneeze or two from Jackie.

That's all the news that's fit to print. Really just one more day of sightseeing then the flight to Buenos Aires, a festive dinner all together, and the long trip home. It's magnificent so far and promises to be continue so tomorrow.

Glacier Gray up close and personal

Up even earlier today to bus to a trailhead for a 15 minute hike to a pier where we boarded a boat to ferry us to a bigger boat on Lago Gray--what a site for departure! Amazing views in every direction! It took us a solid hour to motor the length of the lake to the glacier, funny thing about that: it seemed like mountains grew larger and we were getting nearer to them, but the glacier was elusive. It didn't seem any nearer than it had been. The glacier forked into two around an island that looked insignificant back where we started, but IT grew and grew! Very large! And finally we really approached the glacier and felt quite small--as one should feel in such proximity. I remember our guide in Iceland saying that glaciers have presence, almost like they are alive, and this one had that feeling too--a presence flowing into the lake right there where we were. We communed on one side then motored around the island to the other side; there I saw a landscape that I think I can create in cloth. I was/am excited about the prospect, have been excited about creating a glacier since Iceland but I didn't get any appropriate photos there. So I have hope of doing that now!

So an hour down the lake, an hour there, an hour back to the pier. Instead of the bus we walked back to the hotel through the woods and watched a Magellanic woodpecker for several minutes--another specimen for the list!

Box lunches in the bar looking out on the mountains---oh! did I tell you we had another incredible day? Much blue sky, warm temperatures of 70 degrees, and no wind. Did you hear me? I said, "No Wind!" which is apparently unheard of here. At some point we met an Overseas Adventure Travel group going the opposite direction and one woman said to one of us that the weather here had been miserable with very strong winds and low temps. The sun is still shining brightly and I can see patches of blue through the trees at 6:30 p.m. So fortunate are we, and we are grateful.

After lunch a delightful couple hours of down time, Kay and I both fell asleep! Awoke in time to meet the bus for another hike walking across the terminal moraine at the lake (so the magnificent mountains were still watching over us), then up and around a peninsula overlooking a section of the lake with glistening icebergs--looked like they were studded with diamonds! Very pleasant! Back to the hotel for a rest, soon drinks and dinner, then bed.

Tomorrow we'll leave dramatic Torres del Paine, just a few days left of our odyssey. What an amazing adventure we're having. Think we'll go for drinks now, G'night all!

It IS the road to the end of the world!!!

Hola, Amigos! We have spent much of the day in Torres del Paine National Park. For this I have waited about 15 years! Sure I had seen photographs, but the images are all around us--360 degree view of wonderful sights! But let me back up to the beginning of the day...

Another early departure (8:00), another long bus ride, this time across the pampas!!! And we saw gauchos, though they can be called something else here in Chile, 'gauchos' in Argentina. Still they ARE gauchos. They don't wear hats with brims because of too much wind, instead Basque berets--supposedly more Basques here than in Spain! That felt comfortable to Kay and me. One day you will see a photo of the three gauchos with their dogs: our bus stopped to see them and, as we examined them, they peered at us as well!

We saw several animals today: a fox (unusual to see, but we were quick), a European hare, guanacos--many, many guanacos, cara cara (a large scavenger bird), rheas--several females lay eggs in a single nest and the father incubates and raises them though the mortality rate is high, condors including a juvenile who flew low enough to see the 'fingers!,' black-neck swans,  flamingoes----did you know there were flamingoes clear down here??, and some kind of meadowlark with a bright red breast.

We began to see the Paine Massif at least an hour-and-a-half from the park. So exciting, a thrill to see!

A box lunch was provided so we could keep moving, and we were hiking by 3:30. There had been a fire in that area only two years ago, and low plants have already filled in around the white ghosts of trees. Lovely colors--complementaries, actually: red violet and yellow green. Just stunning, I kept taking pictures of it with the magnificent massif in the background.

It was a four mile, two hour hike to see  Glacier del Frances and Salto Grande (waterfall). Breath-taking vistas! We stood for photos and moved a few feet to have another taken--endless sights to see--all wonderful! It took an hour to reach our hotel after the hike, all on gravel roads--kind of narrow gravel roads, a little dicey for two buses to pass, but the drivers are excellent--especially OUR driver, Roberto!

Tomorrow an earlier departure (7:30) for a boat ride to see a glacier up close, box lunch again, and another hike--hooray!!! Until then, amigoes--buenas noches!

Tierra del Fuego!!!!!! Can you imagine Tierra del Fuego? Almost the end of the earth!

bus trip off Chiloe this morning, an hour's ride to the Puerto Montt airport , wait around, wait around, then a two-hour flight to Punta Arenas---as far south as we'll go---this trip anyway! First stop: a look at a full-size replica of Magellan's ship; I would not want to be on the open sea in something that small!!! amazing! (they are working on a replica of The Beagle as Darwin sailed through there too.)

And Tierra del Fuego!!!!!!!! It's just right there! Tierra del Fuego has been on every world map I've ever seen, and it's right here! Got my feet wet in the Straits of Magellan, wouldn't exactly say I went wading, but almost.

Punta Arenas was founded in the 19th century and has very impressive buildings around the central plaza, including a large cathedral. Didn't match the pictures in my head at all. As you might imagine if you thought about it, which I didn't, it is located at a crucial point on a majorly important sailing route.  Anyway Kay and I are impressed.

Tomorrow an early departure so we can hike at Torres del Paine in the afternoon. We'll even be taking box lunches so as not to stop for lunch en route, though I am certain there will be potty breaks. So tomorrow is the day I'll finally get to see the Torres!! I've been waiting probably fifteen years, longer than I've been a grandmother!  I am beside myself with excitement--wouldn't it be funny if I said I was beside myself  'literally?'  Can't you just see two of me side by side jumping up and down eagerly? Anyway that will be tomorrow.

Yesterday I neglected to describe one of the UNESCO churches on Chiloe: Iglesias Nuestra Señora de Gracias de Nercon. It is all built of wood in a way that uses only ten percent of the nails required in regular construction ; nails were expensive as you can imagine. They did it by fitting the pieces together like a puzzle--fascinating! It has just undergone  some renovation and only re-opened two weeks ago. Lovely interior as well  Someday hopefully someday you'll see the photos.

That's it for tonight, tomorrow--Torres del Paine!

Palafitos and Curanto

Gray morning again, and though we were hopeful it would burn off, it stayed most of the day. We did have a few drops, but that was it. We have been fortunate with the weather. Also tired, so if you don't sense enthusiasm today, it's only fatigue speaking.

Up fairly early, left for the capital of Chiloe: Castro. The big cathedral there was closed for cleaning, but the exterior was in fine shape--and painted yellow and purple! They do enjoy color here; we think that much of the time it is rainy and gray, so the color is uplifting. Anyway, they're cheerful.

Palafitos are houses on the edge of the water with the backside supported by stilts--again, very colorful. There is grant money available and many, once fishermen's houses, are being gentrified, so quite an interesting mix. Our guide Andrea is gregarious and spoke to a man who was working on renovating a palfito--we were invited to see the work on the terrace over the water in the back. We then walked through the small house which turned out to be not as small as it looked. We toured two sections of palafitos--exterior only--taking a lot of photos; they will morph into a quilt one day.

For lunch we joined the locals--we don't really know what we had, we just pointed. I think one was a potato pancake thing with a little meat inside and the other one was more 'bread-y' made of potato flour with a little meat inside. They were okay but we wished we'd had empanadas again; still we were bold and tried something new--that's worth something, isn't it? Two small, energetic women ran the food booth where we ate. There was a young man and a young woman, but they did nothing that we could see. The young man scraped one plate, but those two women were dynamos with one taking orders and serving, the other cooking in extremely cramped conditions. Both rather stout, hair under bandanas, big aprons and engaged expressions as they ran their business.

There was a good-sized artisan market adjacent to the Chiloean food court, lots of knitted goods and yarn. Back in the bus for a short drive to meet a man who single-handedly builds boats. Right now  he has three projects underway, the largest a 36+' fishing boat. They are quite lovely in their simplicity of line.

Last stop of the day was our final home visit, where, once again, a feast was prepared for us. Like a luau, it was cooked on heated rocks in a hole in the ground. Called a curanto, it contained mussels, pork, chorizo, chicken, and potatoes. More wine for dinner--we've had it every day, I'm just not a regular drinker as you already know, so I was pleased to be at the end of the table where no one urged me to eat or drink more than I wanted.

Stopped at a big super-mercado and Kay and I walked back to the hotel. We're getting ready for bed now, as I said, we're weary.

Oh, I didn't tell you that last night we stayed up very late to look at the stars. It was perfectly clear and the Southern Cross was clearly visible--hooray!  Orion was standing on his head, pretty fun. He is the only constellation we share with the Southern Hemisphere. Good night to you all.