Our 2003 Vacation Cruise to South America

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OUR 2003 - SOUTH AMERICAN VACATION
For our big vacation this year we took a cruise "around the Horn"

The cruise started in Argentina. We flew into Buenos Aires and had a few hours to look around the city before going to the ship. Although we didn't really have a lot of time to get to know Buenos Aires, we were able to see some of the shopping area of the City center and the main avenue with a number of major buildings such as the Opera House.

		Leaving Buenos Aires, we sailed to Uruguay and anchored in Montevideo. [Monte : hill / VI : 6 / d.e.o. / from east to west (lat)]. There we took an extremely informative, walking tour of the old town. The two guides were clearly proud of their history and made the country come alive in our psyches, although the tour could have concentrated less on museums and shown us more of the city. We made it as far as the main square.

A full day at sea found us docking in Patagonia at Puerto Madryn. The whole area is arid semi-desert and nothing grows except scrub populated by Guanaco, Rhea and Fox. There's hardly anything for miles and many of the (few) roads are just paved with gravel. The area was colonized by Welsh settlers who intended to establish a new country (well away from the English) but were thwarted by the government in Buenos Aires. They stayed anyway and established a few towns including Trelew and Gaiman, creating an irrigation system in a fertile valley by extremely hard work. Today, their Welsh culture still thrives and they attend the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, and win prizes. We were treated to choral singing, complete with "cwm Rhonda", whilst enjoying Welsh Tea with scones, cream cakes, treacle tart and dark fruit cake, just like the UK.


		The major event in this part of Patagonia was a visit to Punto Tomba, the World's largest rookery of Magellanic Penguins, also called Jackass Penguins because of the distinctive "braying" noise which they make.

Another sea day and we were at Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Although there is not really much to see in the Falklands, it was definitely worth the trip just to get there and experience how isolated the place really is. When the big ships dock, they potentially increase the population of the Islands by as much as 50 percent. That can be a problem if the weather changes suddenly forcing the ship to leave the anchorage whilst passengers are ashore (it has happened). That fear causes many ships to miss the port out of their itinerary when the weather is suspect. The colorful tin roofs serve to remind of the isolation, being originally painted with whatever excess paint was left on the jetty by visiting ships (just take the first two can you find). There are wrecks of ships with so much damage after a trip around the Horn that they weren't worth repairing .... and a Pub, of course, with beer, fish and chips and darts,


		We only had one rough sea day, and it was on the way to Cape Horn. Just enough to give us a taste of the reputation of the area but not enough to spoil the trip. The sea calmed and the sky cleared before we reached the Horn. It could hardly have been better.

Just North of Cape Horn, on the Argentinean end of the Island of Tierra del Fuego, is Ushuaia, billed as the southernmost town in the World. There are actually a couple of settlements further South in the Chilean part of the Island but they're apparently too small to be counted as serious towns. The town of Ushuaia is remarkably large considering its remoteness and the island features such civilized pursuits as recreational Downhill Skiing and Dog Sledding. The scenery is remarkable and dramatic. The temperature was non too warm despite the summer season. We hate to think about winter temperatures. It's no wonder the Indians need those fuegos.


	Whilst the ship was in port in Ushuaia, we were treated to a performance of Folkloric dancing by a local troupe of young people. A first class performance.

		The Beagle Channel runs along the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego, separating the multitude of smaller islands bordering the Antarctic ocean. The mountains are at the end of the Andean chain and, even in summer, are snowcapped with permanent glaciers, some of which reach the waterline.

Punta Arenas lies on the Strait of Magellan, which runs along the North coast of Tierra del Fuego. It is the major southerly port in Chile and used to be a bustling and thriving city serving the route around the Horn until the opening of the Panama canal. Then it became relegated to something of a backwater. Now the town largely acts as a focus for the sheep farmers and estancias of the area and serves the tourist trade for visitors like us and others who want to trek further inland.

		Whilst in Punta Arenas, the ship anchored in the bay and passengers had to be tendered ashore. A sudden change in the weather caused the tendering operations to be ceased, with people ashore. Fortunately, the ship's captain took action and managed to stabilize the ship with the help of a Tug to allow things to recommence and we all got ashore, and back satisfactorily. However, it did serve as a reminder of the potential for plans to change without warning.

After leaving Punta Arenas we cruised through the Chilean Fjords for a couple of days. Although we had a good amount of low cloud, it turns out the weather was actually quite good, considering the usual conditions in the area. The various sea passages were very scenic and we cruised up to two large glaciers.

		Our next call was Puerto Montt in an area originally settled by German immigrants. Although the port area itself seems a little depressed there are some very attractive villages inland and this is the entrance to the Chilean Lake District, a vacation area. The port exports a lot of wood chips and pulp from a thriving timber industry. There are Lakes and Volcanoes in the mountains here, the most obvious is Osorno, which is visible from quite a distance, when the weather permits (which it didn't for part of the day when we were there).

We disembarked in Valparaiso, an interesting city built on a narrow coastal strip and a steep escarpment which is served by a number of Funiculars (Funiculari?).

	The nearby town of Viña del Mar is a very pleasant and well-to-do area which is the locale for many Consulates and Cultural museums. An interesting location is the Easter Island museum with a real imported Easter Island Statue. Departing Viña del Mar we had a two hour ride through a rich farming and Wine growing area where we stopped for refreshment on our way to the middle of the country.

Our final city in Chile was Santiago. A big, modern city with a long history and a good number of interesting old buildings. Probably more like European cities than North American, particularly considering the smog, which is almost as bad as Los Angeles. We were in town on a Saturday and the town was "popping" with shoppers, concerts, and an anti-war demonstration. We found our Chilean experience to be quite rewarding, and didn't really spend enough time in Santiago .. we both agree that we would feel quite happy if we ever had the opportunity to revisit.


		Overall, we loved the cruise and would thoroughly recommend the experience to anyone. The Royal Princess is a lovely ship with more wooden paneling than some newer vessels. Unlike most ships, the entertainers (dancers) double as cruise staff. We can't let their sterling efforts go unmentioned. They did a wonderful job in both areas. As well as the port excursions, our sea days were filled with activities such as Aerobics, Ballroom and Line Dance, Movies and as many as three Trivia games per day, Right up our street. We are fast becoming Princess aficionados. We met and became friends with many nice fellow travelers and hope to run into them again someday on another Princess Cruise. We were extremely lucky with the weather, we got into all the ports and hardly had any problems with the sea conditions. Even when the sea was rough we managed very well. We probably cheated sea sickness thanks to our use of "the patch" for just the one bad day. After that we had our sea legs and breezed through the other swells. Did we mention the desserts?



Copyright © 2003 - Bella and David Shore