On January 30th, Suzanne and Al flew from Baltimore to Miami to begin a cruise on a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ship starting on February 1st in Valparaiso, Chile and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 17th.

We began this trip by meeting Bruce & Dorothy Hoem in the Miami airport.  Bruce had been convalescing from two hip surgeries on the same hip within two weeks of one another.  He had been in a wheel chair for a month and just began walking with a cane the day before they left for our trip.  The four of us had the same plane reservations from Miami and arrived in Santiago, Chile at 6:00 AM on January 31st.  We checked into the Grand Hyatt Hotel and simply rested that day.

On Sunday, February 1st, we traveled to Valparaiso, Chile and boarded our cruise ship.  It seemed odd to be in Valparaiso since Suzanne and Al both attended and met at Valparaiso University located in Valparaiso, Indiana.  After lunch, we met Cindy and Larry McHale.  The six of us have been cruising together since 1999.  Some years other friends join us.  But, we haven’t missed a year of cruising together.

The first two days were cruising days going south down the Chilean coast.  Temperatures were in the 60’s and 70’s dropping in the upper 40’s at night.  We arrived at Puerto Montt, Chile, a small city where we took a tour through the fish market then boarded our bus to visit Puerto Varas and Furtillar.  Early settlers included a lot of Germans who were granted free land if they worked the land.  Some of the houses were of Bavarian style.  We even enjoyed apple strudel at one stop.  Frutillar is located on one of Chile’s largest inland lakes where, on a clear day, you can see the outline of the volcanoes.

Cruising the Chilean Fjords and the Straits of Magellan was simply magnificent.  The weather was chilly in the 50’s but the waters were calm.  We made our way through the majestic mountainous islands on both sides of the ship.  As we entered the Straits of Magellan, our captain announced at 6:00 AM that we were passing a glacier (#26 of 48 in the region).  It is located in the Bernard State Park and is almost 8 miles long and soars 6,500 feet high. Each cruising day, we had a guest speaker who each day gave us a presentation on a different person and the historic significance of that person as it pertains to voyages around South America.  In the essence of space, I will not get into the detiais.  These explorers included Bernard O’Higgins, Sir Francis Drake, Charles Darwin, Fedinand Magellan, Jose Gervasio Artigas, and Amerigo Vespucci, a friend of Christopher Columbus, and from whom the America’s were named.

We arrived in Ushuaia (pronounced Ush-why-ah)where we boarded a very large catamaran and toured the Beagle Channel.  This is the southern most part of South America called Tierra Del Fuego and is part of Argentina.  Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra Del Fueo and is known as the City at the End of the World.  During our catamaran tour, we visited an island of sea lions and seals on which perched hundreds of Cormorant birds.  Our tour took us to an island of Magellanic Penguins.  Some were still babies and had not yet lost their baby fur.  They cannot swim until this fur is molted.

The next morning on February 9th, the captain had prepared us the previous day that we would be going around Cape Horn at 6:00 AM.  Although an announcement that the seas could be as high as 18 to 20 feet, we arrived before he weather front and found them calm.  What a glorious sight knowing that one is only 700 miles away from Antartica.  Cape Horn is the southern most point of South America and the Andes Mountain range.  The lowest in temperature that we experienced was in the mid to upper 40 degrees Farenheit.  We spent all of that day and the following day cruising, listening to presentations, wathcing movies at the cinema, playing trivia, trying our luck in the Casino and eating and drinking far too much!  We even viewed the Southern Cross and Milky Way one night.

On February 11th, we docked at Puerto Madryn, Argentina.  Going ashore, we walked the streets of this city which has a very nice seaside walkway with various sculptures made from the trees that once grew there and is still standing on their root system.  You can see some of these in the photo section.  This city is very clean.  Unfortunately, we did not find any shopping treasures that needed a trip back to the U.S,

Our next stop was an absolute delight and surprise.  It is the port of Punta del Este, Uruguay.  We decided to walk around town without the help of a guided tour.  This is an upscale resort city with beautiful beaches on both sides of the peninsula  It is the home to wealthy businessmen, preeminent artists, super models and international movie stars.  We tendered from our ship to the local marina which was filled with large yachts of various sizes and shapes. During our walk, we took off our shoes and waded in the Atlantic Ocean after which we had lunch at an open air cafe right on the waterfront facing the city’s marina and our ship in the background.  For lunch, we tried everything from broiled squid and fried squid to a variety of sandwiches, pizza and the local cerveza.  All of it was delicious.

We found ourselves on a guided tour the following day in the capital city of Uruguay, Montevideo.  The population of htis city is a little over 1.3 million people a little more than half the population of the country.  The tour took us into the center square where the architecture of the buildings reminded us of a European city.  They have some beautiful parks.  It appeared to us to be a vibrant city with with a lot of busy businesses.  Uruguay was an unexpected treat for all six of us.  Little did we know that his country even existed prior to our cruise.

We ended our cruise in Buenos Aires where Cindy and Larry took a 9 hour tour prior to going to the airport to fly home that night.  Bruce, Dorothy, Suzanne and Al checked into the Hotel Emperador where we stayed for 3 days and two nights before heading home.  After checking into our rooms which were ready when we arrived in the morning, we took a taxi to the area of San Telmo where on Sundays (this was  Sunday), they block off the streets for a huge antique market.  It was a lot of fun watching the various mimes.  Dorothy bought a solid sliver bracelet while at the market. We found ourselves in a local restaurant for lunch.  We entered the place at 12:15 and were the first ones there.  Bu 1:30 there was a waiting line outside the door.  The food was outstanding as was the local beer especially in the 85+ degree sunny weather we had outside. 

On Monday, we took a city tour in the morning.  What an absolutely beautiful city is Buenos Aires with its population of 11.5 million.  With its trees, very wide boulevards, small streets with boutiques and shops, parks everywhere and the old, old European style buildings melded in with modern style skyscrapers, this is a vibrant city that can be enjoyed by everyone.  Our tour took us everywhere from various markets, parks, and famous monuments to the cemetery where Eva Peron’s remains rest.  On Monday night, we took in a dinner and live show at the Tango Porteno theater.  The tango show was outstanding featuring dancers and a live orchestra with four concertina players and four violinists among them.

On Tuesday morning, we packed.  But, we took one more tour before heading to the airport.  After all, our flight didn’t leave Buenos Aires until 11:30 PM.  This tour was of the Tigre area which is known as the Delta.  The four of us had our own private van and guide.  We boarded a tour boat at a station on the Parana River Delta where we made one very large circle within the various islands that includes the Delta’s 21,00 square kilometers.  The Delta is made up of over 5,000 waterways and has a population of over 3,000 residents.  After our tour, we had a small pizza snack and a local cerveza before heading to the airport. 

Theis was truly a trip of a lifetime.  We were all pleased with every day of it and hope you enjoy this brif presentation and associated photo album.  By the end of the cruise, Bruce was walking on occasion without his cane. We would highly recommend this trip to everyone.