On the capital's main square, Plaza de Mayo, the simmering Malvinas' conflict became evident once more. Dozens of protesters lined the streets, calling on Cristina Kirchner to break the long-standing taboo and to do justice to the victims of the Falklands War. Fortunately, the mood at Plaza de Mayo was relaxed, so we felt safe to walk around and explore the city. For quicker orientation we took a hop-on hop-off bus. That way we passed everything from classy European areas, modern US-American highrises, to run down shanty towns. It's all extremely big. Crossing 20-lane roads is not uncommon. A must-see in BA is the grave of legendary Evita Peron. There was no chance of getting lost in the cemetery maze – we just had to follow the crowds. After nightfall the presidential palace is lit in neon pink, which I found extremely cheesy. However, we watched a superb Tango show at nearby Café de los Angelitos. Note the crammed combo band!
The last day we spent strolling along Puerto Madero, a trendy modern district at the Rio de la Plata riverbank. By chance we came across this half done monument. According to Ludwig's theory, a statue of Maxima might be erected here, once she becomes queen. Be that as it may. For now Holland will have to put up with me :-)
Last but not least a few pics of us exploring the vessel "ARA Presidente Sarmiento". The ship sailed around the world 39 times, including Cape Horn! Today it lies at Puerto Madero, where it's been converted into a tourist attraction. All in all, Buenos Aires was an interesting side trip, although the country's financial turmoil really shows: Buenos Aires' infrastructure is dated, historic buildings neglected, etc. Many Santiaguiños come here for shopping. But after unsuccessfully touring through 50 shops in search of a leather vest for Ludwig (long story...), I am not so sure we will.
From our balcony in Santiago we can almost see the Argentinian border, but somehow we never made it across. Now we are finally there, ...coming from the back of beyond :-) At first glance, Ushuaia seems like a regular little town. But we soon discovered that we had arrived at some sort of Antarctic propaganda outpost. Argentina is staging its territorial claims here. It starts with a prominent information board right at the ship docks, informing visitors about the "illegal" British occupation of the Malvinas, aka Falkland Islands. Flags "celebrate" the 30th anniversary of Ushuaia as the Malvinas' capital. The main road to the airport is called "Argentina Malvinas" and coincidentally it passes by their brand new Malvinas square. And if the Malvinas conflict with Britain wasn't enough trouble, Argentina also claims the exact same piece of the Antarctic Peninsula that Chile pretends to own. I truly hope they will never find oil down there...
Yes, we made it! Traveling 3000km from Santiago to Punta Arenas, navigating through the narrow Beagle Channel, and surviving all these Pisco Sours in the bar, we finally arrived at THE CAPE, Cape Horn! Naval habits say, after circumnavigating Cape Horn, one should have a tattoo done of a ship under full sail; since the most dangerous part of the trip is over. Well, we got a passport stamp in place of a tattoo, however the spirit of getting tattoos is understandable. We faced wind gusts of over 140 km/h!! It was hard enough to keep standing and absolutely impossible to take non-blurry pictures (as you can see). Florian's face got whipped wildly with my dissolving rain cape. Poor guy... We all had a lot of fun trying not to fall overboard!
A nice "did you know ": Cape Horn is named after the city of Hoorn in Nord Holland, where De Beiaard, Florian's favorite student bar, was founded.
Cheers! One last Pisco Sour in Chilean waters. Tomorrow we will disembark in Ushuaia/Argentina!
I had no idea what to expect from this day. But sailing through the Beagle Channel has certainly been a highlight of our trip! It is mind-blowing. The day started with the usual procedures: put on your life jacket, sign out on a control board, slide into one of the Zodiac boats, prepare to get wet, land on a rocky ridge in now man's land, ....and stand back in amazement. Ahead of us lay the Pia glacier. And just as we arrived, a big chunk of ice broke off! What a smashing welcome :-) Fortunately the wave from the collapse didn't cause any trouble for those Zodiacs, that were still arriving. With the group complete, our guide Haron led us up to a lookout. We stayed there for at least one hour, listening to the glacier's captivating "music" of creaks and groans, soaking up this unique Patagonia experience. Our guides have all been incredibly enthusiastic about their work and knew about every detail. Many are actually PhD students. The only economic way to do research down here is by joining a cruise!
Back on board the Stella Australis, we continued our journey eastwards through the Beagle Channel. Did you know that half of Europe had it's own glacier down here?! They call it the glacier alley. And it's just highlight after highlight. Whenever a new glacier came into sight, the crew would serve us typical snacks, like brie at the (mingy) French glacier, olives for Italy (they got hold of the biggest and prettiest one), bitterballen for the Netherlands (glacier looks like a ski jump) and of course sausage and beer, when we passed the German glacier. Meanwhile it got dark outside. Water dripped from the icy plateaus all around us. In the twilight it seemed as if all those waterfalls were hanging in mid air, with no beginning nor end! Like an unreal scene of the Avatar movie. Alas, no pictures.
On the command bridge: We've done some complex calculating and are now on target for Cape Horn!
They look so cute and harmless, but beavers have become a major problem on Tierra del Fuego. Here is why: The dilemma started after WWII, when 50 animals were imported in order to install a fur trade down here. But the fur proofed to be of poor quality, owing to the absence of natural predators. No predators, no stress, no adrenaline, no shiny fur, no business. So the rodents were released into the wild, where they have since thrived and multiplied to a staggering 250.000!! It's just a matter of time now for them to cross over to the main land... All of this wouldn't be a problem, if Patagonia hadn't such a sensitive ecosystem. In this subpolar climate trees often take decades to grow bigger than a Bonsai. That means, every single beaver dam leaves scars past recovery. These days the Patagonian beavers are officially considered a plague. Several eradication strategies have already failed to work, such as shooting, entrapment, hormones, or turning beaver meat into a delicacy. According to our tour guides, eradication plans still persist, but only on paper. In reality, a whole industry has sprung up around the cute rodents, with Cruceros Australis being no exception. Beaver-watching has turned into kind of an ecotourism attraction. Given, I loved seeing my first beaver in the wild, and also appreciated learning about the problem, but being part of this controversial beaver tourism stays a mixed experience.
We are on board the Stella Australis, bound for the official end of the world! This part of southern Patagonia is so remote, that we didn't see any other boats or settlements for 3 days! Quite a fascinating place... The scenery must have looked exactly the same for Magellan and FitzRoy, during the time of exploration. Time seems to stand still here. But not so the atmosphere. Tierra del Fuego's weather is totally unpredictable! It changes every second - from hail to rainbow, to sunshine, to rainbow, ...and rain again. Ludwig's beautiful picture gives a perfect example:
Every day we went out on Zodiac excursions to see wildlife or to visit places like Wulaia Bay, where the famous HMS Beagle anchored in 1832. Our guides were extremely knowledgeable and told us, for instance, about a local vitamin C bush (forgot the name), that prevented early sailors from dying of Scurvy. Or about the life of Yahgan and Selk'nam, Tierra del Fuego's indigenous tribes. Alas, they have been killed by European settlers, once again :-( At the end of each trip, when our toes started freezing, the crew served delicious hot chocolate to warm up!
Last week we took Ludwig into the jagged mountains of the Atacama desert, now we are in freezing Patagonia! More precisely, in Puerto Natales, the gateway to Torres del Paine. Fortunately, being out and about with a pensioner saved Florian and me from hiking the strenuous "W-trek". No mud and mosquitoes this time! Thank you Ludwig :-) Instead we sat on an organized bus tour, that conveniently brought us from one attraction to the next. First stop was the cave of an extinct giant sloth, the "Milodon".
Inside the park we got many glimpses of the famous peaks (Torres), but unfortunately, never the full panorama. Whenever the wind managed to clear up one section, there were new clouds emerging from somewhere else. But on the other hand, we did see countless guanacos, flamingos, and even a condor! The last official bus stop was at the lagoon of Grey Glacier. The moraine was like a beach. And as we walked on, we saw big blue chunks of ice floating towards us! The black scrubs in the first photo are witnesses of December 2011. Apparently hikers on the "W-trek" tried to burn toilet paper (because park rules say you mustn't bury it), when flying sparks started a firestorm, that swept all across the park. The embers are still smoldering at some places...
The next day was the scheduled start of our cruise to Cape Horn. But the port city of Punta Arenas was hit by disaster too! Only here the cause was not fire, but water. Locals told us, that it had been raining for 4 consecutive days, thus tree trunks and other material blocked the bridges, which in turn led to flooding in Punta Arenas' city center. Luckily, this mess didn't affect us. The cruise boats were all running and waiting for us!
Near the coastal highway to Santiago, lies Fray Jorge National Park, a green oasis in the middle of the desert. They say, it's a relict forest from the last ice age. And indeed, the ascending clouds from the Humboldt sea current produce a very moist and chilly micro climate underneath the treetops. Fortunately, the panoramic walking trail is only 30 minutes long and you can warm up in the sun as soon as you step out of the cloud forest. Here, Ludwig spotted his first Guanaco (wild form of a lama) and got friends with a cactus^^
Don Luis is in South America, for the very first time! We are so proud and happy, that he took on the 18-hour journey all over the world to visit us! Velden and Santiago are not quite the same, after all. The first days, we let Ludwig adjust to time difference, hot climate, foreign language and the bustling city. But eventually we put him into the car and drove north, to our new find: Valle de Elqui. We would be in the midst of icy storms soon enough. Before Patagonia, we just had to show him the sunny side of Chile.
In the Elqui valley, I arranged for a guided tour at Cerro Tololo, a scientific astronomic observatory, operated by the American research association AURA. Their telescope diameter is 1,5 meters, only a fraction of what is currently being built at the ALMA site. Still, it is pretty impressive to watch these huge optical instruments move, as they are precisely positioned for observation. A Tololo researcher was even part of an (earlier!) Columbus space mission.
Another highlight: the spectacular views from Cerro Tololo (2200m):
Back in Vicuña we sat down in a restaurant and called Inge in Velden, to update her on our latest travel adventures: the observatories, the Pisco tasting, the desert landscape and so on. Chile reminds Ludwig a lot of South Africa!