Rounding Cape Horn

Posted on February 12, 2017 by borysSNORC

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and it is located on the tiny island of Hornos Isla – named after the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands. Cape Horn is the northern boundary edge of the Drake Passage and is also the point where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans collide; it is known for being particularly hazardous to navigate due to excessively strong winds, huge swell (not today), strong ocean currents and even icebergs which occur up to 50°, even in mid-summer (mid Feb).

“Rounding the Horn”, which we are doing this morning, is traditionally understood to involve sailing from 50° degrees South on one coast, traversing from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean (or vice versa) to 50° South on the other coast – the two benchmark latitudes represent a particularly difficult and time consuming endeavour and it involves travelling some 930 miles.

Today we have excellent calm conditions, not a lot of swell, the waves are nothing to be concerned about, but you can certainly feel the 75-80 knot Antarctic winds buffeting the ship about. There’s also a weird sideways drift feeling happening occasionally, which is probably the strong ocean currents pushing the ship around. I could be wrong, but I thought I heard the ship’s sideways thrusters working intermittently, which could be a way of attempting to counteract the current from pushing us off course? Not sure, I’ll have to ask one of the crew later.

Cape Horn has been considered one of these most treacherous shipping routes int he world. Sailing conditions in the Southern Ocean are fierce at the extreme southern latitude of 56° South… to give some reference, the southern tip of Africa is only 35° South, and Stewart Island at the southern tip of New Zealand is only 47° South. Below 40° South, winds can blow from west to east around the world almost interrupted, which is where the ‘roaring forties’ name comes from.

I think most people have heard of the ‘roaring forties’, but not being from a sailing type background, I’ve never heard of the ‘furious fifties’ or the ‘screaming sixties’ before, but in the middle of that, is where we are right now. The winds are hazardous enough that ships travelling to the east tend to stay in the Straits of Magellan (and that is perilous enough in itself!) up in the northern forties if possible; however rounding Cape Horn requires ships to press south to 56° South which is smack-bang in the middle of the fiercest winds. The weather here is really changeable as well, as we approached the Cape, it was sunny, blue skies, windy of course, and a clear outlook; travel a few minutes, literally just a few minutes, and a few miles further south, and the skies have turned moody, the wind has picked up to ‘I can’t hear myself think’. This is because the winds are exacerbated here by the funnelling effect of the Andes Mountain range and the Antarctic Peninsular which forces any prevailing winds into the narrow Drake Passage.
Naturally, strong winds tend to cause correspondingly large waves, and these large swells can roll around the entire Southern Ocean free of any interruption of land – that is until they hit the shallow waters to the south of the Horn, which causes them to be shorter (closer together) and steeper – again causing an additional hazard to ships as they have no time to recover from one steep wave before encountering the next. And if the strong eastward current through the Drake Passage meets an opposing east wind, this can have the effect of even further building up the dangerous waves. Oh, but wait… there’s more! On top of these ‘normal’ conditions, the area west of the Horn frequently experiences ‘rogue waves’ which can attain heights of up to 30 fucking metres! (98 feet!!!) OMG…! Between the horrid wind conditions, the treacherous currents, hazardous waves and oh dear lord, terrifying rogue waves, and ICEBERGS, it makes you wonder why anyone would attempt to sail around Cape Horn. It is no wonder that over the centuries, Cape Horn has gained notoriety as the most dangerous shipping passage in the world, has seen numerous shipwrecks, and has become known as a ‘sailor’s graveyard’. I can’t imagine someone in the 16th century with comparatively rudimentary navigational equipment and little to no support if something goes wrong, being too happy about having to ‘Round the Horn’ at all… but the Straits were just as treacherous with their own hellish windy conditions. As we moved further around, we find things here are very changeable, as we sailed towards the Cape, it was sunny, mild and hardly any swell, but not five minutes later, the sky is turning moody, the swell has picked up, the currents are pushing the ship about, we are looking at a bit of rain and the wind. OMG, the wind! It’s unbelievable. On the outer decks, we are all leaning into the (bitingly cold!) winds to avoiding falling over. Opening the doors to the open decks has become a two person job, and it’s beanies and windbreakers for everyone, and the ship’s flags are snapping sharply. But then, just as our shore expert, Hutch, said, “Ladies and gentleman, you have now ‘Rounded Cape Horn, and we are officially in the Atlantic Ocean”, the wind dropped to almost nothing, it was weirdly still for a calm minute or so, and this is going to sound really twee, but a small rainbow appeared in the distance right over the Cape.
Traditionally, sailors who have rounded Cape Horn were entitled to wear a gold hoop earring in the left ear – the ear which would have been facing the Horn in a typical eastbound passage, like ours. Additionally, they say that these seasoned sailors were allowed to dine with one foot on the table, though for the life of me, why this is a ‘thing’ I don’t know. A sailor who had also round the Cape of Good Hope was allowed to dine with both feet up on the table. Feet on tables aside, it just sounds like good excuse to go buy some nice hoop earrings if you ask me. 😉 Seriously though – I don’t think our Captain would care which Horn you had rounded, if you had a go at putting your feet up on the table in the Main Dining Room, you might find yourself put off at the next port!

It was quite the experience watching the ship Round the Horn and seeing the rapid changes in the weather – even though we have what would be called damn near perfect weather for this area. I’m having another one of those moments where I’m thinking… Wow, just 15 months ago I was on the Caribbean Princess crossing 66° North into the Arctic Circle near Iceland, and now here I am literally round the bottom of the world at Cape Horn!

I never expected I’d be off travelling the world and doing all these amazing things. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – I have no idea whose life I am living, but I am really getting worried they are going to want it back!

Ushuaia, End of the World, Beginning of Everything

Posted on February 12, 2017 by borysSNORC

Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antartica e Islas de Atlantic Sur Province in Argentina. But it is more commonly known as Ushuaia – the End of the World! Generally considered the southernmost city in the entire world, Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern cost of the island called, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego – which is bounded by the Martial Mountain ranges and the Beagle Channel.

We sailed in through the beautiful Beagle Channel glacier field, just watching amazingly beautiful glacier after glacier appear as we sailed through the channel.

Getting ready to go ashore, I saw this little notice in the Port Guide… never seen that before. I was just a kids when the Falklands war was going on, it never would have occurred to me that tensions might still run high.

Once at the port, we met our guide, Andres, and our trusty drivers, plural, for the day Coco, and Juan Emannuel (don’t ask, long story), and we head off towards the famous Train at the End of the World to take us into the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

On the way, Andres gave us plenty of information (much of which he had to repeat later, poor fellow – the bus PA system wasn’t working). The term Ushuaia (pronounced u-sua-ia / u’swa ja), comes from the yagan language ush and waia, which means ‘deep bay’ or ‘bay to background’. I asked Andres how the region got the name Tierra del Fuego, ‘Land of Fire’, which seemed a name more likely for an active lava field than an alpine tundra spotted with peat bogs, and he told us that the original peoples of the area, the Selk’nam Indians (also called the Ona people) first arrived in the region about 10,000 years ago, and they would have enormous bonfires that were visible from the straits – the same fires that Magellan spied from his ship; hence the ‘Land of Fire’.

You can see by this map, that very little care was taken when drawing the boundaries between Chile and Argentina on this particular island – they have quite literally taken a ruler and sliced through the countryside, with one side of the mountain in one Chile, and the other half in Argentina. As we traversed the park, it was a bit, ‘Oh 3kms that way is Chile’… and ‘half of this lake is Chile, and that half of the lake is Argentina’. Seriously? That’s gotta make conservation efforts a little tricky!

Tierra del Fuego is the southernmost national park in Argentina, and it is full of dramatic scenery – waterfalls, dense forests, mountains, glaciers, lakes, peat bogs, and rivers. It is a simply stunning place, and I think you could easily explore here for months without seeing the same spot twice. The forests here are of Antarctic beech and Lenga beech, which looks very similar to Tasmania’s alpine forests which are also heavy in Lenga beech trees. There are many species of fox, rabbit, muskrats, mink and beaver here… most of these species have been introduced, and several are now actively culled – the meat used for crab bait, and the furs sent for tanning and sale. Interestingly, and this makes total sense but I probably wouldn’t have considered it at all, had Andres not mentioned it; there are no reptiles in this entire region. It is too cold for them here, so there are no frogs, no snakes and no lizards at all.

The park stretches 60km from the Beagle Channel on the Chilean border and is quite frequently accessed by the very quaint, heritage listed, ‘End of the World Train’. The End of the World Train, which was more properly named, the Southern Fuegian Railway was established as a narrow gauge steam railway, which replaced an old wood track rail system that was drawn by bullocks – the primary purpose of which was to supply Ushuaia’s prison. The steam engine trains were built over a 25km length on the Ushuaia waterfront, past Mount Susana and then through the Pipo River Valley into the Tierra del Fuego National Park. The railway, which is a cute 500mm (20”) gauge, was designed to connect the prison camp with a forestry camp for timber supplies.

The prison train was used to transport prisoners to the camp, and transport out logged timber from the forest. The conditions under which the prisoners worked and were accommodated sounded appalling – they worked long hours in deep snow; lived in dank tiny cells, and suffered cruel conditions with guards who make Alcatraz guards sound like candy stripers. Men were stood in sopping wet clothing for hours in the freezing cold for minor infringements, locked in small cells in the dark, indefinitely, these and many other cruel punishments were devised for transgressors. Being allowed outside to go work cutting timber, under armed guard, was a privilege – even if that mean standing in deep snow, working with tools with freezing fingers for hours on end.

The landscape is scattered with tree stumps everywhere – nothing grows quickly down here, and likewise, nothing rots away quickly here either due to the low temperatures. At the time the trees were cut, they were taken at ground level, but you can see umpteen stumps left behind by the prisoners all appear to be at different heights… this apparently is indicative of how deep the snow was when each particular tree was cut down, as ‘ground level’ constantly changed with the snow depth.

The prison was eventually shut down in 1947 and the railway was closed in 1952 following the reduction in forest resources (that will happen when you cut down really old, slow growth forrest), and the train tracks suffered some damage during an earthquake. It was some 40 years later that the train was revived and repurposed as a heritage tourist attraction. The 7km route takes about an hour to traverse into the park and every view from every window is just stunning.

After our train journey, Andres and Juan-Emmanuel picked us up and took us to a few different areas of the National Park. First we went to have a look at a beaver dam… which if you’re North American may not seem such a big deal, but when you’re Australian and you’ve never seen a beaver, was really quite curious. The island has several introduced species that have all wreaked havoc on the sensitive ecosystem here to the detriment of the local flora and fauna. The Tierra del Fuego National Park is studded with mountains, lakes and rivers carved out by glaciers which form deep valleys and beautiful water courses – and we went to checked out a dam across one of these rivers, that was built by two beavers in barely two months and I could not believe the size of the endeavour! It brought a whole new relevance to the saying ‘busy beavers’. I couldn’t’ believe that it took just two industrious rodents to create such a huge dam across a whole river in such a short period of time – meanwhile, back home, I can’t seem to get my back fence finished in two years… not even with ready money! Incredible work, pesty beavers.

After this we went to the actual (literal or metaphorical, I am not entirely sure?!) ‘End of the World’ site within the park. We are approximately 17,818kms from Alaska. And yes, apparently you can walk it! Andres told us he met a man who had walked from Alaska to Ushuaia and it had taken him almost three years to do the entire trip on foot… absolutely remarkable. Apparently he has set some kind of record in completing the epic adventure and has written a book about it, though my notes have deserted me and I can not remember his name or the title of his book!

Here, for our viewing pleasure was some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen in my entire life… it is a wide sweeping landscape of mountains, lake, river and low alpine vegetation. Impossible to truly capture with my dinky little happy-snap camera, but it was a truly breathtaking vista.

Also here, for our sensory pleasure, our guide, Andres, introduced us all to Legui – a local spirit made of sugar cane, oranges and herbs, so that we may all toast the occasion on our having travelled to the End of the World!

After enjoying our Legui, the scenery and admiring the landscape, we returned to our bus and took a short drive through the National Park to a beautiful lake; Lago Acigami. On the way the the lake, Andres was telling us about a previous tour group that he took to this lake… he had 20 or 22 people, and when he got to the lake, three Russian men from his tour, all stripped down to their bare bums and went swimming in the lake, even though it is freezing cold all year round! He said, there was nothing he could do – swimming is not advised because of the risk of hypothermia and mostly the locals use the lake for kayaking, fishing and other recreational activities, but no one goes swimming there, and here he was – three of his passengers stripped butt naked went running down and dived on into the lake. Of his trying passengers, Andres said, “There was maybe ten tour bus going into Tierra del Fuego that day, and me? Why Me? Why I get the group with the crazy naked Russians!” While Aussies are usually up for a lark, and we all thought this story was hilarious; oddly none of us wanted to follow suit!

Nearby at the lake we saw some caro caro birds – a native scavenging bird about the size of a smallish eagle. They didn’t seem to mind being surrounded by a dozen people with cameras and they appeared to have found something from the nearby campground to rip apart.

Further into the park, we went to the post office at the End of the World, where they often drop tourists to get a special stamp in your passport to show your travels to Ushuaia. Of course being from a cruise ship, our passports were all safely stored in the ship’s administration office, so none of us had passports to get stamped – but they are normally happy to stamp papers as a memento of your having travelled so far. Alas, the post office was closed by the time we got there… but I have to admit I have never seen such a scenically located postal service, ever! Such a pleasant view from work everyday, wouldn’t you say?

On our way back to Ushuaia, we saw more beautiful scenery, and then drove through town back to the port, where we encountered large housing projects and quite a quaint but thriving town, which reminded me of Queenstown in New Zealand, but with a stronger military presence loitering about… not sure what that was about, but there were both police and army seemingly posted on every other corner. Someone mentioned a strike that was happening in town that day and that banks were all closed, but this is one of the drawbacks of not speaking the language – things can be happening all around you and you can be completely unaware because you can’t read the headlines of newspapers or hear what is being said on radios or televisions.

After a short wander around town to pick up supplies (read: Legui to bring home!) we went back to the port and were swiftly back home on ‘ze friendliest ship on ze seven seass, ze beautiful Sea Princess’. 🙂 It’s strange how the ship becomes home away from home.

Punta Arenas City Tour

Posted on February 10, 2017 by borysSNORC

Our port today was Punta Arenas, which is the capital of the Magellanes region of Chile. It has largely gained this status due to it’s rich natural resources. Literally, the most southern city in the entire world, Punta Arenas owes it’s prosperity to a long history of shipping, gold, sheep and cute little penguins apparently (but we didn’t see those today).

The Thuelche peoples occupied the area for over 14,500 years in this remote archipelago, and they remained here completely isolated until the famous Portuguese navigator, Ferdinand Magellan sailed through the straits (now named for him), in 1520. Oddly, no European country settled the area until some 300 years later, when the Chilean government installed a penal colony here in 1848 (more on that tomorrow).

Not long after this, huge clippers heading to the California gold fields started sailing through the Magellan Straits, and Europeans started to settle here in the early 20thC to make their fortune in sheep ranching – establishing estancias on the low windswept plains.

Punta Arenas is a thriving, established city, rich in culture and attractions – which was the last thing I was expecting given it’s lonely remote location. Everywhere here, you can see the evidence of historical wealth; from the beautiful tree lined Plaza Munoz Gamero with it’s impressive statue of Magellan, to the beautiful European influenced architecture. There are grand mansions surrounding the centre of town and the city has way more than its fair share of museums for such a small population.

Our first stop, after the Plaza, was the Punta Arenas Cathedral. While not in anyway able to rival the enormous and elaborate cathedrals of Europe, this cathedral had plenty of charm. The quaint wooden confessionals, the gorgeous tile floor, the beautiful mosaic placed high above the altar and the cute bell tower all made it a beautiful place to spend a few moments. You could see that the ceiling was once probably covered in frescoes, which have now been painted or covered over… it would have been a simply stunning little cathedral with its ceilings brightly painted.

After this we decided to make our way to the Naval and Maritime Museum – we are in deep in the Straits of Magellan after all! The museum was founded in 1994 by the Chilean Navy and it encompasses a wealth of information about Chilean maritime history and Antarctic exploration. There are over 1700 objects on display relating to the shipping history, the Antarctic expeditions of Earnest Shackleton and information on the HUGE number of shipwrecks this area has seen.

Clipper – “County of Peebles”, built in Scotland

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) was a famous British polar explorer who led three expeditions to the Antarctic and is one of the principal figures associated with early Antarctic exploration.

I can’t imagine the intestinal fortitude it would take to strike off on an adventure cross Antartica with nothing but a map and a compass, or attempting to circumnavigate the continent in that day and age with what is now considered very primitive equipment and resources:

“We the fools who could not rest in the dull earth have left behind but burn with passion for the soul and drank strange frenzy from its wind.

The World where wise men sit at ease fades from our unregretful eyes and thus across uncharted seas we stagger on our enterprise.”

~ Ernest Shackleton, July 1916

We also saw here some amazing maps which depicted how many ships have been lost 1) around Cape Horn (75 ships!) and 2) throughout the Straits (too many to count!). I looked at all these icons and the names of all these ships, and on a handout provided by the museum, the dates of all these lost ships are provided – all I could think about was how horrified and frightened all the sailors on all those ships must have been, as they realised their ships were lost in these dangerous waters, half a world away from their families and their homes, and with no possibility of rescue. It’s unthinkable. This pic is just the section of the map around Cape Horn, the rest was several times this many ships throughout the Straits.

We then decided to stop for a bite for lunch and then head off to somewhere slightly more cheerful?!, in the form of the city’s famous cemetery. The Punta Arenas cemetery is weirdly listed as the Number One tourist attraction on Trip Advisor – so, of course we had to go and find out why. It is an enormous walled cemetery about nine blocks from the centre of town… and inside are the most enormous and elaborate family mausoleums I have ever seen! We walked solemnly through the cemetery trying to read the headstones (my Spanish is about as good as my Latin, which is to say – it needs serious work!), admiring the dedication that has gone into looking after the memories of these lost souls, and marvelling at the sheer grandeur of some of the largest family tombs. It was a really serene cemetery with beautifully manicured topiary trees, and well kept paths. It was easy to see why so many people would visit this unique place, it was an unusually vivid historical record of the region’s evident prosperity over the last 150 years. I find cemeteries are not usually my preference in tourist hotspots, but it is always very interesting to see how different cultures honour their passed loved ones.

The Santuario Maria Auxiliardora, which unfortunately was closed for siesta while we were there. :/

On the way back from the Cemetery, we decided to stop in at the Magellanes Regional Museum. Built in the historic Braun-Menendez Palace that was created in 1903 by world famous French Architect Antoine Beaulier, this museum was appointed a National Monument in 1974. The descendants of the original owners donated the mansion to the Chilean State in 1983, in what is effectively a state frozen in time – it is largely in immaculate condition and has many of the original furnishings and objects. The rooms were amazing, the study, billiard room, bedroom, dining room, salons are all so impressive… from the ornate wallpapers and parquetry floors, chinoiserie vases, incredible window treatments, painted ceilings, and beautiful French influenced antique furniture.

Equally interesting were the basements under the house, which showcased the conditions of the ‘downstairs’ staff – the kitchen, the staff quarters, the staff bathrooms, and a large cellar/storage area is very well kept below the house proper. It was all in such beautiful condition (with the exception of some water damage in the main bedroom), like a little slice of history frozen in time.

Punta Arenas has only 130,000 in habitants and it is a vibrant city full of Spanish, Swiss, French, English, Italians, Germans, Greeks, Croats and so many other immigrants. Together with the original inhabitants, today it makes up a vital and widely multicultural community that is very open to the world – very welcoming and safe for tourists with plenty to offer. I’d love to come back an explore the region some more one day.

Amalia Glacier, Chile

Posted on February 9, 2017 by borysSNORC

This morning we got the opportunity to see the Amalia Glacier, and to be honest, after the Captain’s midday announcements yesterday, I didn’t think we would get to see it at all. The weather forecast was for heavy fog and rain, and Capt Arma was apologising in advance if the fog horns ‘were to be disturbing any passenger’ (he’s adorable).

Anyway, we arrived in the channel quite early and from our cabin on Deck 11 forward (Sea Princess A212 if anyone wants to look it up on a deck plan), just under/behind the bridge – I could see from our cabin:

Pretty! The Amalia Glacier (aka the Skua Glacier) is in the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park in Chile. The glacier starts in the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields and originates at the Recleus volcano – it is actually eroding the northern slope of that volcano.

The glacier had actually retreated from the 40s to the 80s by about 8 km, and I thought our on guide expert dude said it had retreated double that since then :/ (need to confirm that). A lot of people you talk to down here are very worried about climate change. Dixie in Valparaiso was talking about severe coastal erosion over the last two decades, and Jaime in Puerto Varas was saying that they usually only have weather in the mid-20s during summer, but that the last few summers have seen them copping high temperatures of 34C! Not only that, but people are able to swim in the water in the glacial streams – which they all say was impossible when they were kids.

Cruising the glaciers is truly amazing, this one was still several kilometres from us, but while we were here, a small ship carrying around 200 passengers, the Skorpios II, came up to the glacier and went so close we could barely see if – it looked like a rock near the face of the glacier. Skoprios operates out of Punta Arenas and they do 3-night trips to come see the glaciers in this area… definitely adding that to the Bucket List.

Puerto Chacabuco

Posted on February 7, 2017 by borysSNORC

Chacabuco! Just the name of the place is so remote and exotic, I was really looking forward to being here. We are right in the thick of the Patagonian wilderness area here now – the sort of place people used to only visit with a sturdy backpack and a pair of Scarpa hiking boots. Amazing that the cruise industry is embracing such out of the way places.

We got to port and easily found our tour group, thanks to the handy sign posted in the bus window. Several of the pax were kind enough to tell me that they had misspelled my name; the ‘u’ is missing apparently. 🙂

We got a busload of characters today… 21 of them in fact. This is one of the largest groups I had organised. We were tendering again – so we arranged to meet as early as possible to get to shore and maximise our day. The security staff were none too happy with us lining up for tender tickets an hour before the tender operation was scheduled to start, but after being hours late at each other tender port, we were keen to get a jump on being at the front of the line. It worked – we managed to get the first tenders and were ashore in good time for a full day of driving through Puerto Chacbuco, Puerto Aysen, the Simpson River National Park and the township of Coyhaique.

We met our lovely guide, Denisse at the port and she confessed to me that this was her “first day touring these area, her biggest group so far, and her English is still learning”. Denisse was a gorgeous outgoing soul, and so much fun!

Our first stop on our little tour of Chacabuco and surrounds was the Cascada de la Virgen. Pretty self explanatory I guess, a lovely little set of rapids set on a mountain side that the locals had set up a small colourful shrine/altar. Apparently Commander Enrique Simpson Baeza, for which much of the region is named, said he saw the ‘la virgen, la Santa Maria’ appear in the falls here – though our lovely guide Denisse, thinks it is more likely he was just drunk!
We then enjoyed an amazing view on the way to the Simpson River National Park – which we were informed by our friend and fellow traveller, Jerry, is the fourth best salmon fishing in the entire world! Salmon up to 45kgs have been caught here – that is like, over two bags of concrete, or the equivalent of nine Alaska puppies!This whole area is comprised of sweeping landscapes created by volcanos and glaciers. It has a very dramatic feel around every corner and you find yourself taking hundreds of photos that will probably never see the light of day. Lots of speed-landscape photography today out the bus windows as we moved through some of the most gorgeous scenery I have ever seen. I love the colours of the glacial rivers – it has a very distinctive, blue/green/grey. I’ve only ever seen it in New Zealand, Canada, and Iceland, but it’s always so beautiful. Denisse told me what this plant was called – but for the life of me, I can’t recall… and uncharacteristically, I forgot to write it down. I will endeavour to look it up and add it in later. (Edit: they’re fuchsias… *rolls eyes*) Just so many beautiful views of craggy and jagged peaks, with snow capped mountains, as we moved alongside the river for a bit of a walk. Then back to the bus and we drove off towards Coyhaique (Ko-yay-kwi). The landscape is completely unspoiled, you can see why so many National Geographic covers seem to come from the pristine wilds of Patagonia, and why it is on every serious hiker’s, ‘Must Do’ list.

It seemed to go on indefinitely, long stretches of beautiful valleys with the gently trickling rapids of the Simpson River running through it. The Rio Simpson National Reserve covers around 256 square miles, and not only do photographers and nature lovers flock to the area, but scientist do as well. The forests are evergreen, and have a lot of various pine trees, canelo and cinnamon trees. Everything is lush and green – but also being so heavily wooded, very prone to bush fires.
This is the view from a lookout that over looks Coyhaique. The enormity of it is not adequately captured, but you can get a rough idea from this panorama of how spectacularly beautiful the region is. Coyhaique is considered the ‘Capital of Patagonia’, and if all the NorthFace, Patagonia and Katmandu hiking stores are anything to go by, I dare say it lives up to its reputation. There were cyclists and backpackers aplenty in the town and all enjoying a beautiful summer day. Coyhaique is a blend of modern and traditional architecture surrounded by the forests on every side. The Andes Mountain range surrounds you in every direction.

After a quick stop in Coyhaique, we went back to Puerto Aysen to see their famous (and somewhat dubious stable) vehicular suspension bridge. While walking on the bridge, we noticed that we were able to jump up and down, such that it caused the bridge to sway! It really was quite disconcerting to be able to affect a bridge built for cars with two people jumping up and down! So glad our bus stayed just on the one side of it!

The ship in the pic above was swept this far inland during a tsunami, there are many ships and boats that are laying around wrecked as a reminder of how volatile the geography and the climate can be in this region – earthquakes, subsequent tsunamis, volcanos! I’m not sure how these people are as laid back as they appear to be living with these sorts of disastrous threats.

Puerto Aysen – packed cheek to jowl…

Lastly we had a short drive back through Chacbuco to the port. Chacabuco is a town of 22,000 people. Many of whom are engaged in either the fishing or tourism industries. I found the houses of Chacabuco both charming and alarming in equal measures! Run down and in sad need of a lick of paint, many families live in these very rustic homes.

Look at this… it’s gorgeously quaint, but I can’t imagine what its occupants would think of our cookie-cutter suburbia with its manicured lawns, matching gutters and window frames, and identical driveways. So much character in this house, you almost wish it could talk; and then are immediately concerned for what it may have to say!

We had an amazing day out just absorbing the natural beauty of the Chacabuco and Coyhuaique regions. I didn’t dig too much into the history and culture of the area today, but just took the time to drink it all in!