Glaciers

Jerry has been wanting to see this area for many years and he finally got a chance. Anna Lee toasted the event on our balcony. 

Although the terrain is most interesting,

the principal attraction is the glaciers.  Early in the morning, we cruised by two, the first, the smaller one, is only 1.5 km wide, just a baby.  Still it was impressive. 

   

The captain made sure that everyone saw the sights by turning the ship 360 degrees so everyone got a good view.

The second is 5 km wide and occupies most of the valley including the smaller glaciers that feed into it.  It was mentioned, however, that as big as these ice rivers are, they are the victims of climate change and have shrunk quite a bit over the last several years.  Still worth a look.

 A few smaller ones dotted the area.

Puerto Chacabuco

We are now in Patagonia, the southernmost area of Chile.  This lush forested land of the Andes  has more than 300 days of rain or fog and the purest water in the world.  The population is low. 

We trekked through the privately owned Aiken del Sur park.  Our excellent guide gave a lesson in basic botany as we walked along the Waterfall Trail. 

 He talked of eco-development including lichen, fern, mushrooms and trees and how nature reuses these within the forest.  He also referred to the destruction of the wetlands and glaciers, mainly by mining.

As we walked we enjoyed the accompaniment of a babbling brook.

Our guide used the terms, Goi meaning water and hue meaning place.  This park is thick with trees and plants.  Animals, such as puma, are rarely sighted,

The arrayan has red bark.  It is cool to the touch.  Lichen drink their water from the tree but leave when it is dry. When it is overly wet, it loses its bark showing the white inner layer.

The giant leaf of this fern needs water and sun.  The nalca is the branch and the pungie, the leaf.  The leaf has medicinal uses, such as stopping bleeding.

This is the seed of the nalca.

 The chilco tree has red flowers.

Mushrooms abound.

Tepa, is 300 years old and is full of information to share with its neighbors.

This moss is also known as pillow of the poor.

The promised waterfall flowed at the end of our walk.

 Our bus drove up a narrow one-lane road headed to our lunch site. The ride was one Jerry appreciated, an impossible right turn onto another narrow road with posts on both sides of the entrance.  Jerry knew better than attempt the turn.  After a few minor scrapes, the driver returned to his original road, found a spot to make a u-turn and got onto the second road.  We don’t know about the driver but our reward was watching local dancers and enjoying a lamb bbq with potatoes and vegetables.

   

Puerto Montt

We had been in this area before we went to Antarctica.  Rather than visit towns, we chose nature and what a beautiful choice it was.  But first these dancers greeted us as we debarked the tender.

A walk along the boardwalk took us to Petrohue Falls and views of Osorno Volcano and Todos los Santos Lake.

The road up to the volcano was one lane with switchbacks.  Jerry would not have liked to drive the RV up this one.

Later in the tour Jerry took a ski lift up Orsono while Anna Lee took his picture.

Before we returned to the ship, we had a great salmon lunch.

San Antonio, Chile not Texas

We docked in San Antonio, a main port for Chile.  This is a poor area with limited water and agriculture.

On our drive into Valpariso. We passed many multicolored homes and murals and public art.

Because of the steep, narrow roads, most vehicles are small (not our bus).
Along the streets, merchants laid out household and craft items for sale.

We rode a funicular up to one of the three houses of Pablo Neruda, Chile’s Nobelist. 

The house is now a museum overflowing with found and purchased items that he collected.  (No inside photos allowed).  He built his six-story house around his collection with each floor a single room filled with eclectic vases, copper items, furniture, and much more.  

He felt toys made the man a boy again.  His poem Le Sabastiana describes his philosophy so much better than words or photos.

The views out the windows are lovely.  Our only criticism was that we were in the home for too short a time to appreciate it.

We had a delicious lunch at the kind of restaurant we would return to repeatedly at home.  The salad, fish, rice and creme brolue were excellent, except for one potential disaster.  Jerry told them he was allergic to peanuts and still they served him rice with peanuts.  Anna Lee saved the day by eating some salad and stopping him from trying it.

Elqui Valley and Volcano

Jerry and Anna Lee went their separate ways, she to drink and he to climb. Anna Lee took a bus ride through the desert land and along the river created by a dam.  The destination was Cabal Pisco Cooperative.

These men are raking in grapes for testing prior to “fermentation.”

After a tour to learn about the creation of pisco (much like wine), there was tasting.

We tried both a Chilean Pisco Sour and a stronger form of the drink.  Critique: too sweet, Peruvian Sours better.
   
The tasty, “light” lunch consisted of two nice size epanodas (sp), a skewer of chicken and vegetables and dessert, of course more to drink if needed.

After lunch we wandered through the Plaza Gabrial Mistral dedicated to Peru’s Nobelist in Literature.

No purchases were made at the mandatory stop at a local street market.

Jerry climbed the mountain to see the Cerro Tololo Observatory.  We became aware of the observatory in Chile when Michael, a friend of daughter Cheryl’s, came here to work after a stint as an astronomer in Hawaii.  The observatories are located on top of a mountain at 8500 foot elevation. This mountain was chosen because the shape of the surrounding hills block the clouds giving about 300 days a year of clear viewing.  It helps that, at this elevation, there is only three to six percent humidity.  We learned that time on the telescopes has to be reserved six months in advance and, if it is cloudy night, you have to wait another six months to get your chance.  You have to be patient to be an astronomer. 

We were able to see two telescopes, one 1.5 meters and the other 4 meters.  These telescopes are owned by six American universities and have been responsible for some major discoveries.

This is the 1.5 meter telescope.

 The four meter telescope, with its very high resolution camera, can now see 10 billion light years out into space, almost to the edge of the known universe.  More importantly, it has been used to identify almost 4800 exoplanets, that is, planets outside of our own solar system.  It has also participated in the discovery of dark matter.  The 4 meter telescope can also see 2 degrees of space, which does not sound like much unless you realize that our moon, when full, covers only one half of a degree.

After coming down from the mountain, we enjoyed a great lunch at a local restaurant.  We drove through the Eiqui valley and its beautiful lake,although we did not stop at the wineries that Anna Lee went to, instead back to the ship.

Iquique

Before 1870, Iquique was part of Peru.  Chile won a war and gained territory including the area where saltpeter was mined.  This town is a major port through which go auto parts for China and Japan as well the exports, guano, saltpeter, fish and copper.

This desert land is unlike any we have visited.  It truly is desert, no plant growth visible.   Average rainfall is 1 ml a year and the area had a 15 year period of no rain. The only source of potable water is 300 feet down.  The iron red of the soil inspired Juan San Martin, the liberator of Peru, to design the Peruvian flag in red and white.

Our tour took us to the ghost town of Humberstone. 

Starting in 1872 it was a prosperous mining town providing saltpeter that was used to produce nitrate for ammunition.  By 1912, it produced 65% of the world supply of saltpeter, by 1935, 11 %, by 1975, .04 %.  The abandoned town was restored in 2018 and is now a World Heritage Site.

Four thousand people lived in the town, 1200 workers and the rest family.  Our guide acted as teacher in the school.

Workers were paid in script which could only be used at the company store.  Most of the “money” was to feed the workers, wives and children got what was left.  As there was always a shortage of credit at the end of the month, workers became increasingly in debt.  This process was made illegal in the 1950s and the town closed in 1960 because workers could save money to move to other opportunities.

The “company store” provided all of the needs of the residents.  One area shows recreations of the women’s store

meat market

Cantina where visitors left messages on the walls.

bakery

and a train.

This displays shows the difference between a worker’s meager supper and a supervisor’s luscious meal.

Children attended school until fifth grade.  Most boys then went into the mine. 
To get more education, the students had to move the another town and live in dormitories.

The pool was used by workers and their families.

There were several auditoriums to entertain residents.  Today this one is used  for school groups and campaign leaders

This public square was for courting.

Of course there was a Church

Leaving the ghost town, we next went to Pintados to follow the trail of 30,000 year-old geoglyphs or Arte Rupestre, rock art.  They are of mixed media such as scraping surfaces and adding rocks.  The creations are geomorphic, zoomorphic and anthroporphic.  They were created by a mix of cultures who passed through or traded in the area or met to share celebrations..

The first section included marine animals

arrows indicating water

lizards

and, of course, penguins