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For this blog:

This blog (South America and Antarctic Cruise) is one of three for our trip to South America.  The other blogs are:  
    Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador Land Travels 
    Galapagos Cruise.

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December 18/19, Sunday/Monday – In Transit

Long flight to Santiago, Chile via Houston.  Fortunately there were no travel delays unlike for many people coming out of the Midwest because of storms.  And those going through Buenos Aires were caught up in a strike.  For us all went smoothly.  

We did get to see a sunrise from the plane...
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and we saw the Andes Mountains.
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Upon arrival at customs the line was gigantic, surely several hundred people in line and a likely wait time of 2 hours.  However, a half hour in we were at a turn around when an official pulled us from the line and sent us to a customs agent for disabled persons, but currently empty...so we made it out in record time.  Yeah!!!  Holland America was well organized and met us outside customs.  Soon we were on our bus to the Sheraton Hotel in Santiago in no time.

Check in was prompt but the room wasn’t ready.  We had a leisurely lunch at the hotel and eventually got into our room.  After minimal unpacking we had an early, light dinner (ice cream) and went to bed early.

December 20, Tuesday – Valparaiso, Chile. Boarded the Vaandam.

We both managed about 12 hours sleep but we still weren't over the jet lag.  After breakfast we boarded our bus for the hour and a half drive to Valparaiso, the largest port in Chile.  

On the way in we saw Santa hanging from a balcony.
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Valparaiso reminded us of Simla in Northern India in that the steep hills were covered top to bottom with wall to wall houses.
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Processing and boarding went well and we were on board for lunch.  The harbor is very busy including many types of ships and small boats.  
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There were huge stacks of ocean going shipping containers on the shore directly beside our ship.  
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Refrigeration units on the end of the shipping containers.

One of the container ships directly behind our ship was being loaded by gigantic cranes…fascinating to watch and very colorful.  
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We met Mike and Janet from Modesto at breakfast at the hotel and then again later on the ship.  We had a great time visiting.

Dinner partners were Richard and Christa from Thunder Bay Canada and Joe from Arizona.  We went to bed early…still trying to catch up on sleep.

December 21, Wednesday – At Sea

Today we slept in so late that it was too late for breakfast so we went to a presentation on future cruises and caught the last part of a presentation on Photo Gallery features…then it was off to lunch.  After lunch we worked on pictures from our last trip and then went to the presentations on the next few ports of call and some general information on the cruise.

Tonight was Gala night so Paul put on his black fleece and black sneakers…as formal as he gets.  We had another great dinner at the restaurant and then went to the show.  It featured several classic and opera pieces and some contemporary hits…nice mix.

December 22, Thursday – Chilean Fjords and Puerto Montt, Chile

We are moored in the middle of the bay at Puerto Montt so today will require tenders to get into port.  Nearest we can figure from the maps we are now officially in the Chilean Fjords.
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Harbor at Puerto Montt Chile
Weather today couldn’t make up its mind.  At breakfast it was cloudy and rainy.  An hour and a half later when we got on the tender it was sunny and nearly cloudless.  By the time we got to Emerald Lake for our first stop (also called Todos Los Santos or All Saints Lake) it was starting to cloud over.  By the time we left Puerto Varas it was starting to rain.  By the time we left the bay at Puerto Montt it was clearing and relatively sunny.  Our tour guide, Pilar, said we were very fortunate to have sun.  They don’t get much this far south.

The tour drive took us along Lago Llanquihue (approximately the size of Lake Erie) and into Vicente Perez Rosales National Park where the first stop was Emerald Bay where we took a 45 minute catamaran ride.  
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Emerald Lake

We had a brief glimpse of the top and bottom of Osorno Volcano.  The middle of the mountain was ringed by clouds and the top was covered with snow so it was sort of hard to find in the picture below...behind and to the right of the buildings.  


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Next stop was the Petrohue Falls.  On the walk we passed a pretty river (stream) that meandered through lots of rocks.


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The falls aren't particularly large.  They are smaller than a big falls but larger than normal rapids.  However, they were quite lovely.

There was quite a long narrow chute of water.


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and the main falls.


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It would have been lovelier if Osorno was showing in the distance.

There were some very interesting flowers (weeds?) along the walk to the falls.
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We then drove back to Puerto Varas on Lake Llanquihue for lunch and some shopping.  The main part of town is quite small…took us about 5 minutes to drive the two or three blocks.
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View of Puerto Varas and Lake from our lunch stop

We beat the worst of the crowds back to the tenders and were on the ship by 4:30.  Time for dinner and the Tina Turner tribute (so so) and then off to bed.


December 23, Friday – Castro, Chile

The weather is overcast but we had off and on sunny weather all day and it wasn't too cold.  

From the ship we saw rows of floats in the harbor.  We believe they are salmon farms.
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The views of the town from the ship were dominated by the Church of San Francisco...
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and there were lots of fishing boats in the harbor. 
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Our shore excursion today is a drive through the countryside around Castro, Chile to see several UNESCO Churches.  Many of the older churches in the area were built of wood by the local ship builders so the buildings, and especially the ceilings, had a bit of a ship aesthetic.

The first church was the Church of San Francisco in Castro.  Apparently whenever the church needs painting they have a contest or election and the locals get to pick the next color.  Right now it is a pretty yellow church covered with tin siding but it looks like it will need a paint job soon so perhaps the color will change.  Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside as they are in the process of fumigating it for termites (hazards of wooden buildings). 

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There was a lovely garden area beside the church.
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In the drive around town we also saw a section with colorful houses on  stilts over the water in the estuary...
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and a place where they were doing ship building/repair right on the estuary.
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On the outskirts of Castro we stopped at the Nercon Church.
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Awesome ceiling...looks like the keel of a ship.

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The church had a lovely and large nativity set up in preparation for Christmas.
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Right beside the church was a rather colorful cemetery.  
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While there we heard a pretty obnoxious noise.  It was several amorous buff-necked ibis sitting on the roof.
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We then took a drive through the countryside that included a ride on a relatively small car ferry and ending in Achao.  The church there had a beautiful wooden interior with much fine woodworking and colorful detailing.
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After visiting the church we walked through part of the town where we saw many buildings with wood shingle siding in many shapes.  The area is known for the colorful wood shingled houses.  
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The next stop was the small coastal town of Dalcahue where we strolled through a market where they were selling a lot of hand woven, knitted and crocheted items.  
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We also passed a fish market and some restaurants.
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The walk took us along the harbor front where we saw fishing boats...
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and a woman drying seaweed...don't remember why.
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Snack was at a harbor side restaurant where three generations of the family played instruments and danced many Chilean dances. 
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The tour group was given a snack of seafood empanadas (mixed salad for us vegetarians). We were also treated to what is the national drink, Pesco Sours.  Pesco is a Chilean brandy and to make the sour they mix the Pesco with water, sugar and lime juice.  Mary actually enjoyed hers.  On the other hand, they spilled Paul’s on his fleece and managed to sprinkle (but not soak) his camera…not a happy camper. 

Then it was on to the last UNESCO church.  Unfortunately, the keeper of the keys didn't show up so we were only able to see the outside.
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We didn’t get back to the ship until after 3:00 so we had a very late lunch and opted not to go to the dining room for our normal 5:45 dinner time.