Chile, Easter Island, Argentina & Small Ship Cruise among Chilean Fjords & Glaciers.

11 Flights and 4 days cruise on a small ship

March, 2025

 

This description is still in progress and photos have not been posted yet.

 

This adventure began with a jump-off departure from Maui in late February and ended April 9 back to Maui.  After a couple days reconnoitering in Redondo Beach, a nonstop overnight Delta flight went from LAX to Santiago Chile.  Soon after arrival at our hotel, about mid morning we went on a brief walking tour.   It is about two weeks before the southern hemisphere autumnal equinox and Santiago is hot today.   About 50 miles east of the Pacific coast, comparable in position to Riverside, Ca. with almost the same latitude opposite the Equator.  Santiago appears rather clean and neat, free of graffiti and trash, and with lovers sitting on every little trace of park.  There are quite a lot, maybe 15 – 20 modern high rise buildings dominated by the Grand Costanera close to our hotel towering above the city.   On the free time after our walk I went off to see the city from the 62nd floor: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Torre_Costanera .  They claim the highest building in the southern hemisphere. Height records change rapidly …. at the claim of 300 m this was surpassed by the Sydney Tower (309 m) and Auckland Sky Tower (328 m) even before completion in 2014. Maybe a “tower” is different than a building! In any case Grand Costanera does tower over Santiago with great views down to surrounding buildings, the confluencing rivers Maipo and Mapocho, and surrounding foothills.  On my visit the distant Andes were not visible, maybe due to haze or distance.

(Photos: A link near the end of a section will take you to the photo album related to the section, while interspersed links take you to photos related to the narrative context. - use Cntl or Shift click to show in new tab or window respectively – otherwise click the back arrow to return to this text)

Saturday, March 8;  A morning walking tour, around the La Moneda Government Palace area.  Caricatures of Allende, President from 1970 to 1973, with the trade mark glasses seen about.  A couple line history of late 20th century might go something like, Allende elected in 1970 accused of being Marxist and opposed by US CIA undercover working for his ouster while supporting Pinochet.  Pinochet, disappointingly turned out to be an extreme rightist dictator.   A new constitution confirmed him as du jure president in 1980.  In 1988 a plebiscite went against Pinochet, a new president was elected, but Pinochet remained Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until 1998.   Much more at the links.

Same day we visited a famous winery of Cousiño Macul established by Don Luis Cousiño y Doña Isidora Goyenechea with one cellar of old style vertical wooden casks with capacity 32,500 liters (7,150 gal).   Tour guide claims Isidora’s business may have once been the largest commercial enterprise in the world.  Returning to the city, we had a late a heavy seafood lunch At Santiago’s top floor rotating Giratorio Restaurant, perhaps the best meal of this entire South America trip – also with good views but not comparable to Costnera.

Sunday, March 9;  Fly to Easter Island, about 4 hours northwest to Pacific latitude -27°.  A really neat custom I appreciated all over South America, 80 years and up board airplanes first along with the other special folks. Easter otherwise Rapa Nui, is quite small, about 15 miles around the periphery could be hiked in a day.  Per chance shortly after return from this trip I read Jared Diamond’s[1] very detailed description of its collapse around the 1600’s.  Few indigenous peoples remain.  The current small population is immigrants from main-land Chile.  There are very few trees, while at the turn of the millennium it was a dense Polynesian rain forest.  In addition to the moai sites, interesting exploring the smaller volcanos and the one small beach.  The Diamond story is currently under challenge.  Subsequent to the “collapse” most, perhaps all, of the moai tumbled due to soil erosion of their base and largely buried by further soil erosion.   Some were also toppled by early European explorers.  Between 1955 and 1978 archeologist William Mulloy rediscovered the moai and was  a prime mover in getting modern heavy machinery to Easter to erect many, leading to the island as a tourist attraction and establishment or Rapa Nui National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.`

 

Wednesday, March 12; Depart Rapa Nui, stopping overnight in a Santiago airport Holiday Inn, then continue to Buenos Aires Thursday morning.  On route to Buenos Aries my seat mate pointed out the peak, Aconcagua 22,831 ft. highest mountain on Earth outside the Himalayas.  Also we passed the popular Chilean ski resort Portillo, about 20 miles SW from Aconcagua and 50 mi NE of Santiago, close enough for day trip skiing.

In one of a series of coups called Operation Condor the Argentine democratic government was taken over by military officers in 1976 and held in dictatorship until 1983.

Friday we toured some city highlights by bus and then walking.  Everyone wants a picture of the balcony from where Madonna sang the signature song Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from the Andrew Lloyd Weber rock opera musical Evita.  I’m sure I got a photo but can’t identify is among my photos.  I’m sure I saw the opera in a Century City, Ca. theater in the 80s.  The morning touring ended at a restaurant where a woman discussed the “Disappeared,” her parents having been disappeared and she subsequently grew up living with grandparents.   Thousands of people suspected of communism, socialism or left wing Perónism, or the Montonores movement.  Inspired by my questions the speaker later sent me via our guide, a complementary copy of her book that she was selling for $20 at the talk.  Not to denigrate the book, but it was a very personal story about how she explained her ‘disappeared’ parents to her son – not too interesting to the uninvolved reader.  In the evening we split into smaller groups of 4 – 6 so visit a “home hosted dinner,” a typical exercise of OAT that is frequently a bust as this on was.  I forget the menu, maybe something like cornbread and avacados and attended, in addition to OAT travelers, by the hostess and her adult girl friend – no men present except OAT.  Just a little side business of the hostess!  But I hasten to add that later in this trip we has two great ‘home hosted dinners,’ in El Calafate and later in Ushuaia.

I try to summarize briefly Jaun Perón.  As a long ago fan of mostly W.E.B Griffin books about WWII and the SOS I think that he hung around Italy, Germany and Argentina before and during the war siding with whatever politics seemed beneficial to this advancement at the moment, fascist, Nazi.  Argentina was neutral during the war but provided assistance to the Allies through trade and economic policies.  However I believe Griffin would say that high individuals in Argentina, maybe Perón, were helping individuals in Germany, maybe both Nazis and dissenters also smuggle money into hiding in Argentina so regardless of how the war ended there would be friends on call.   Perón had three wives: Eva Perón 1945 – 1952, Isabel Martinez de Perón,1961 – 1974, Aurelia Tizón de Perón 1929 – 1938.  Eva, subject of the opera Evita, born in poverty, became a wealthy actress (I guess actresses are actors now!), and philanthropic, generously supporting the poor and liberal and labor causes and was loved for it.  Sadly, she died of cancer in 1952 after only 7 years marriage.    Her remains are in the Duarte family mausoleum in La Recoleta Cemetery that we visited near our hotel.   However, there is a long intriguing story, including being spirited away to Italy before she arrived there 20 years after her death.

Remarkably, the third wife, Isabel Martinez became Vice President, then President in 74, upon Juan’s death, until 1976 when overthrown.

Saturday, March 15; Fly to El Calafate.  In this little village we tried the common Argentine empanadas, a thin, sometimes fried, crust with a little ground meat and vegetables inside.  Not very tasty. 

Next day we drive to Los Glaciares National Park.  This is very impressive.   My previous experience seeing glaciers includes the Columbia Ice Field, down stream from Athabasca Glacier, north of Banff in the Canadian Rockies and Fox Glacier near Hokitika along the west coast of New Zealand.  The former just an ice field where you ride a 4x4, all though there is the Athabasca Glacier up stream that I did not visit and may be more impressive, the latter a muddy mountain stream with some snow and ice on the banks and in the far distance some ice field.  In Los Glaciares, Perito Morino Glacier is spectacular.   A vertical face fronting on a lake perhaps only 1000 feet from park trails on a facing mountain side which permit hiking to various levels and views of the face.  Frequent loud cracking of the 500 foot vertical face calving large ice chunks into the water.

On return to El Calafate the entire OAT group went to home hosted dinner where the host could seat all 16 around a huge table and entertain as well as feed us with simple but delicious guanaco stew.

Next day a long over land trip crossing back into Chile and to Torres del Paine National Park.  Our guide was joined by his Father a retired sometimes guide. 

While traveling our guides spent a long hour teaching the Argentine custom of mate.  This is a tea-like plant grown in northeastern Patagonia, leaves shredded, placed in a mate pot equipped with a steel drinking straw and covered with hot water.  This does not seem to be a drug, but more like a coffee habit.  Remarkably the single cup passed around through members of the group taking a suck from the same straw.   If one participant says “thank you” upon passing it around, that means skip that person on the next round.  Back in the mid 80s when I visited Iguazu Su Falls from Brasil but crossed into Argentina for a couple hours, I bought a mate cup. Never used!

 Our night time stay in a lovely “all inclusive” Rio Serrano Hotel just outside the park.  Here we had two nights and days of elegant dining with choices of wine and entre – by far the best food of the entire trip …. And evenings I enjoyed winning at pool(8 ball)!

 

Wednesday, March 19;  Overland to Puerto Natales, taking much of the day.  Along the way many herds of guanacos, related to llamas and alpacas.  These animals, hated by the ranchers, easily jump fences, cross highways and roam totally at will, depriving the sheep and cattle of much of the scarce grazing.  Another highlite of the day’s journey was a chance encounter with a large flock of Andean Condors circling and scavenging a prey, perhaps a dead guanaco or lamb.   They land and eat so much that they have trouble gaining flight again due to the added weight.  Sometimes they have to take a running start to get back to flight.  Along this drive we visited Estancia Pingo (Spanish for ranch) “Laguna Salvaje Pingo Salvaje.   Perhaps due to the evolution of synthetic fibers in clothing over the past 50 years, wool prices have become very depressed land it’s very difficult for the Patagonia Estancia residents to earn an existence.   As a result, as with Pinto, they resort to tourism with horse rides, lectures about ranch life and operations, and BBQ meals.  Rain and cold pretty much canceled our horse ride.   The BBQ in the cabin on a huge open hearth fireplace was fun to watch, but huge poorly trimmed lamb (sheep?) ribs from the fire and no appealing accompaniment was not a very appealing dinner to follow our also not very appealing box lunch on the road.  Great breakfast at Rio Serrano though.

 

 

 

After hiking the Torres and heading further south it is becoming apparent that I misjudged the weather.  Comparing the southern hemisphere Mar. 21 vernal equinox to our mid September autumnal equinox and thinking north to Portland or Vancover rather than the very mild Redondo Beach, I chose how to prepare.  However, the southern extremes of the upcoming small ship cruise would reach about 56° south, comparable to Sandy Lake Northern Territories, perhaps about 400 mi north of Edmonton, Canada.  So in  Port Natales the Father guide and I made a quick trip out to get a layer of insulating vest and a pair of mud and water tolerant hiking shoes.   Wow, that was a blunder!

 

Thursday, March 20;  Travel to and board the ship Stella Australias at Punta Arenas.  On arrival at Punta Arenas we had a few couple hours to explore it’s unusual architecture and endure the horrendous winds.  Building entrances have an air-lock to keep out the extreme wind.

We boarded the ship shortly before dinner. I have been on three river cruises on OAT 150 – 175 passenger small ships, always exclusively OAT travelers.  This was very different with a capacity of about 200.  Our OAT group of 20 was a small fraction, while all the other passengers were with other tour providers.  Most announcements were first in Spanish, with English 2nd or 3rd.  Dining room choices were limited compared to OAT cruises, e.g. no omelet station at breakfast, not so many choices at other meals etc.  Daily hiking or sightseeing trips among the fjords off the ship by zodiacs were quite a complex ritual – perhaps necessary due to remoteness, language mix etc., but nevertheless annoying.  The bar closed at odd times, and open when everyone is set to sleep.   Most of all, were various entertainments setup by the OAT guides and ship’s crew on OAT cruises.  Enough complaints.

 

We did get zodiac trips for sightseeing and sometimes hiking among the glaciers twice daily.  We saw penguins and other sea birds, maybe an albatross? One afternoon we sailed the Glacier Alley western section of the Beagle Channel, finding a close up view of a different spectacular glacier every mile or two, Holland, Germany, Spain, France all within Alberto de Agostini NP.  This must have been the most spectacular event of the four days on board.  On the 3rd night we retired expecting to awake at Cape Horn, intent to go ashore at the Horn and return exploring Wulaia Bay later.  Instead we awoke in the Beagle Channel just where we retired the evening before.  Reports were 40 ft waves and 90 mph winds at the Horn, preventing Australias from anchoring nearby.  Indeed we had the 90 mph winds in the Beagle Channel also but were spared the waves whole sheltered by mountains on each side.  This canceled out visit to the Horn.  For the next 18 – 30? hours we sailed the Channel between Ushuaia, Argentina and Puerto Williams, Chile, about 25 miles repeatedly with the ship listing 10 – 12° in opposite directions with back and forth.  It seems someone from the ship had to go in port at Williams with all passports to check us out of Chile but the port was closed.  Maybe both immigration rules and the high seas were keeping in the Channel, with winds too strong even to anchor!  At the end they set up little contest to guess how many times we sailed each direction between the two ports.  I don’t know the exact answer, but the winner guessed 25!

 

Monday, March 24;  Late in the day we disembarked ship at Ushuaia and proceeded directly to another home hosted dinner, skipping some Ushuaia activities[2] because of time lost stranded in the wind on the ship.  The dinner host has a beautiful home with art all around, much of it crafted by the hostess.  I noted that the complete south side of the house was almost totally glass showing off views of the harbor and absent any window coverings as the sun never get south of this house at this latitude.  After a short night at a hotel we head to the airport to fly north again to Buenos Aries.

Back in Buenos Aries we spent one night in the Arc Recoleta Hotel in the Recoleta District, known for its elegant homes, restaurants and shops.  Next day we explored the huge elaborate cemetery and among the sites, saw the Duarte Tomb that finally rests the body of Eva Perón (above).

Later we toured the Parana Delta by small power boat.  Note the Parana River approaching from the northwest, Rosario, empties into the Rio de la Plata coming from the north and forming border with Uruguay forming a miles wide delta of fresh water before reaching the saltwater Atlantic, thus affording abundant fresh water fishing at Buenos Aries.

Late I the day, now Wednesday March 26 I boarded my AA flight to Dallas-Fort Worth. Having splurged on a business class seat, I was disappointed that the Bang & Olufsen head phones were junk, forcing me to regress to my inferior Bose.  But worse, when awakened for breakfast they served the same liquefied scrambled eggs dumped in a skillet from a half-gallon container that we had been getting every morning on the whole trip!  Despite a few minor inconveniences the overall trip was a great adventure.

 

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[1] Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond

[2] One such activity was to be a discussion of the Falklands War: In 1982 (from OAT description) military President Leopoldo Galtieri sent a bunch of 18 year old recruits to claim and defend (Mavinas) Falkland Islands for Argentina.   Margaret Thather, Argentines believe to shore up her failing political stature at home, with logistical support from Ronald Regan and military help and supplies from Chilean President Pinochet.  See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War