Travel with Dale & Margaret

Today , we arrived in Laguna San Rafael, Chile.  This is South of Puerto Montt and Puerto Chacabuco but we are still in the Chilean Archipelago and the surroundings look very similar with lots of islands, lots of snow-capped peaks, although more jagged rather than volcanic cones.  The weather treated me with a little blue sky showing through the misty clouds early this morning but, after a few pictures, it disappeared and, by the end of the day it was more typical with low misty clouds that covered most of the mountains accompanied by a bit of cold drizzle.  Above:  San Valentin Glacier calving – Note all the birds flying around.  Appears that the ice hitting the water must kill or knock out fish that float to the surface.  A great feast for the sea birds!

I worked out this morning after getting a low fat latte and light fruit and mueslis breakfast at the coffee shop on the 6^th floor.  The spinning class this morning was canceled (not enough folks signed up I guess) so I just did it a bit of cycling on my own and then got my tickets for the catamaran trip to the nearby glacier.

This area is a big lagoon, in fact a series of big lagoons that are called Seno Elefantes.  However, no elephants in sight.  Although I’ve seen a lot of birds, I can’t say that I could identify them all, but I did see what looked like black-browed and sooty albatross, elegant black-necked swans, flightless steamer ducks and Magellanic penguins that are supposed to be flying or waddling around here.

Margaret is still ill but we have diagnosed her situation as bronchitis and treated her with some antibiotics that we brought with us.  There are several others in the Machu Picchu group that have had similar symptoms and they have been treated with the same drug by the ship’s doctor.  She should be on her feet by tomorrow and back with the living by Thursday.  She is still able to work on her conference calls and other work while in the room and she had a nice dinner tonight….good sign that her appetite is returning!  I feel so sorry for her but she is being a good sport about it and making the best of it.  Everyone misses her, especially her gambling buddies, Doug the Concierge cigar smoking buddy and all the Machu Picchu group.  But she’ll be back stronger than ever in less than a week!

Today I head out on the Catamaran trip by myself.  They were running the two hour cruise on a very well made motorboat that probably went about 20+knots, was very stable and had two levels of comfortable seating with large windows, an upper deck in the back outside where you could do viewing and picture taking and, if you had a life vest on, you could walk around the front of the ship’s deck for even better picture taking!

We drove through a couple lagoons which are several miles long and then down a channel that took us into the final lagoon where icebergs of varying sizes were floating around.  While they were all glacial ice, some were of the very blue variety that are always crowd pleasers.  After an hour we finally arrived at the huge San Valentin Glacier.  This is one of a group of four glaciers flowing in all directions from the San Valentin Mountain.  This happens to be the glacier that is closest to the equator but you could have fooled me on this point since I only brought a fleece jacket and no gloves.  But, given that I have to report back to you with stories and pictures (at some point when I figure out the best way to upload and the internet behaves) I still braved the elements and did my usual thorough job.

You’d swear that the world has turned upside down as it looks almost exactly like Alaska here.  The glacier behaved nicely and calved several times.  I know that I got some great pictures that we will be sharing with you.  The weather was drizzly but not enough to impact the pictures and not enough to keep me inside.  We drifted around for probably 45 minutes before turning back.  They served us coffee/hot chocolate, sandwiches and cookies and were very professional.  All in all, a very well run tour.  One of the really nice things was, after getting frozen outside I went to the restroom and, while standing there a hand dryer went on next to me.  Turns out it was VERY toasty and I spent several minute defrosting.  Fortunately, they had four!!! restrooms available so I didn’t feel too guilty.

In the last lagoon before the ship and, with the ship in sight, all of the sudden the boat jumped to the right as if we had hit a big log.  Turns out that there are strong currents as the water enters the lagoons through the opening and we had run into two currents hitting us at different angles.  It knocked a bunch of plates and coffee pots off the shelf in the back and caused quite a ruckus.  No one was hurt and we continued on to unload at the Mariner.

The vegetation is interesting because at times, other than the cold rain and mist, you would swear we were back in Panama as some of the trees and other plants look very similar to that area.  However, the mountains in the distance look exactly like Alaska.  Not sure how this happened but it adds to the mystery of this area.  The lagoons look very similar to those we saw on our South Pacific cruise a year ago over New Years.  Just no coral reefs, no clear turquoise water and the water temperature is VERY frigid.  They tell us that when the sky is blue (a few times a year) that the water becomes a very pretty cobalt blue but we won’t be seeing that today unfortunately…

Machu Picchu Presentation

We got back about 5 pm and I went straight to the room to get ready for the special Machu Picchu experience presentation to show all of the non-Regent 64 group what happened and share some stories written by our group.  For the past few days I have been working with Lisa, the Asst. Cruise Director and Ben, the video production manager on putting the slide show together.  I made an iPhoto slide presentation with 350 slides, sat with them to go over the flow of our trip and then made an iMovie with about 10 movie clips that I made on the trip that gave a more visceral view of what was going on than still pictures.  Lisa asked the others in the MP group to donate pictures to fill in the gaps and Ben took all this content and made a Final Cut Pro still/video montage presentation complete with Lisa reading the stories that were submitted.

At least a couple hundred people attended and Ben and Lisa did a very good job and were fun to work with.  It was nice to see that they used a lot of my content, including all the video clips and also to see the pictures that others did.  It was very well received and we then took a group picture on the stage and sang a song that was written by one of our group and sung to the tune of the Brady Bunch Theme Song (in tribute to Florence Henderson who had sung a couple weeks back on the ship).

Here are the words to the song:

Here’s the story of a group of travelers,
who were touring through the highlands of Peru

They had four guides, traveling all together
when the flooding grew

Then the ‘copters came and rescued all of them
and they knew that they were such a lucky bunch

That this group had somehow formed a family
and that’s the way we all became the Machu Picchu Bunch.

Chorus:

The Machu Picchu Bunch, The Machu Picchu Bunch,
that’s the way we became the Machu Picchu Bunch.

But the story, it did not end there
as the ship sailed even further away

Fed and sheltered, as we flew and flew
but there was tension too!

Another day, another flight, what’s on the horizon?
could we hope that this would truly be the day?

When this group would eventually see the ship
and we’d be safe and home to finally end this crazy trip!

Chorus.

We met in the bar for a bit and relived some of the fun times and then I went back to the room to have dinner with Margaret while the others went to La Veranda for a special dinner for the MP group and officers, etc.  A nice touch by Regent as they continue to take good care of all of us!  It is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for Lisa and Ben for putting in the time on this project from their busy schedules.  It was a fun project and got me to spend some time organizing the hundreds (maybe thousands!) of pictures that I’ve taken so far in Adobe Lightroom and iPhoto as well as cataloging all the video clips in iMovie.  Good times!

Tomorrow is a sea day (YEAH!) as we go a bit North tonight to escape the Archipelago by sneaking through a channel that takes us West, then start heading South again as we head to Punta Arenas where we are SERIOUSLY South.  I think we’ll finally see some penguins there.  But that’s another day and another story.  I’m going to work on uploading some videos of MP tonight to YouTube.  Stay tuned!

Laguna San Rafael, Chile: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Laguna-San-Rafael-Feb-2-2010/25168188_knFxLV#!i=2064167015&k=pXRFRrq

Today, I took a tour titled “A Glimpse of Patagonian Nature” and that’s exactly what it was along with some local singing, dancing and appetizers.

In a nutshell, we took a bus ride to a recently opened Aiken del Sur Private Park which is located on Riesco Lake which covers 14 square kilometers.  Starting with a stop at the headquarters building, we donned waterproof parkas, viewed some dioramas and overview posters of the area and re-boarded the bus.  We were then taken to the start of a nicely maintained path along which our tour guide pointed out local trees and other plants, birds and indigenous wildlife.  It started raining right at the beginning of the walk and continued pretty much the entire time, heavy enough to make photography a challenge.

At one point we were able to view a river and just upstream there was a decent waterfall that made the situation even wetter.  Feeling pretty soggy, we headed back to the bus with some of us getting in while  others deciding to walk the remaining distance to the pagoda structure where we would eat, drink and dance.  I went on the bus — this gave me enough time to dry off my lenses!

The entertainment facility was quite nice.  It was new, had very nice restrooms and we were treated to many friendly associates who served us a constant supply of wine, soft drinks, beer and appetizers.  The appetizers were quite good and ran the gamut from traditional puff pastries to skewers with freshly cooked lamb.  We sat at tables with benches and a very large fireplace with a nice copper hood was located in the middle of the room.  There were three large iron skewers holding up three lambs that were split open and barbecuing nicely.  These were being cooked for the tour that was similar to ours — but ended up being  2 hours longer (or 2 hours wetter!).  But, they stuffed us with enough food so our group was quite happy to have the shorter version.

During our stay there was a local band with three members playing guitar, bass and accordion and all of them sang.  They were quite good!  There were also five dancers, both male and female that would dance with each other and also get volunteers from our group to dance with them.  Very entertaining!  I opted to pass on the dancing but other passengers and some of the crew were out there cutting a rug Chilean-style!

After a 20 minute bus ride home we were back on the Mariner, too full of appetizers for dinner but I’m sure, like me, everyone managed to have a nice dinner on-board.  All in all, the nature hike was pretty low key and not much to right home about, not to mention quite wet which is typical for this area.  The finish at the pagoda was very well done and made the tour worthwhile.  There is definitely more beauty in the Pantagonia area and we should see quite a bit of it right from our veranda on the Mariner in the coming days.

 

Puerto Chacabuco Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Puerto-Chacabuco-Feb-1-2010/25168289_mMTZHJ#!i=2064177757&k=4Q2SK2B

Last night we joined the other “survivors” for cocktails in one of the ship’s lounges and after we all sat with the ship’s officers (different tables) to relay our stories on how we escaped Machu Picchu.  There is definitely a camaraderie that develops when you go through an experience like this…this is something none of us will forget for a long time.

Dale was up late last night and again early this morning working on organizing the photos and videos from the past week.  He is hoping to get them up on-line soon.  The satellite internet on the ship is good for emails — but not so good for content rich uploads, etc. so the process will take some time.

Puerto Montt is in Chile’s “Lake District” and it is quite spectacular.   Dale snapped some sunrise shots showing the numerous volcanoes (some still active!) that are in this region.  We took an excursion to one of the many lakes and discovered the Germans had a significant settlement here that is quite beautiful.

This is for my friend Astrid and her mother Sonja — and anyone else who speaks German — like you Charlie!

“Dieser Bereich ist schön! Sie haben einen wundervollen deutschen Bauten und sogar einen Deutschen Club! Sie besuchen sollten irgendwann in naher Zukunft!”

Ok, for the rest of us — the climate here is very similar to Seattle — frequent rain but moderate temperature and quite lush and green.  The villages are quaint and the lakes are beautiful!  Put this one on your list to visit!

Puerto Montt Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Puerto-Montt-Jan-31-2010/25168104_WVwZrq#!i=2064159095&k=Krq3tjV

We now know that Aguas Caliente is named well.  Well, we’re out of “hot water” and back on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner as of 5:30 pm Friday.  Rather than detail everything like I did yesterday, I’ll give you the high points.

When we last left you we had heard that Regent had rounded up a 737 charter to take us to Santiago, Chile.  We were in Lima at the Novatel Hotel and had a wake up call for 4:30 am.  We got up and had a quick breakfast and were on the bus by 5:00 am.

Everyone was in amazingly good spirits, another testament to the drive of the Regent Group.   The bus ride was shorter than from the airport because there weren’t a million taxis at this hour of the morning.  Some 30 minutes later we were waiting in a line while the counter personnel figured out how to start their computer systems.  Eventually we were checked in and headed to security where we all passed through successfully.

We boarded the plane on schedule at 8 am but then had some air traffic delays.  The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Santiago at about 2:30 pm local time (we lost 2 hours — but since we had just lost 5 days it didn’t seem to matter).   We filled out the immigration paperwork, all of our passports were processed and about an hour later we were on another bus ride to Valapariso.  We drove through a couple of long tunnels and two beautiful valleys.  One where vegetables and fruit are grown and another that was chocked full of vineyards.  A nice smooth ride despite there being no drinking water on the bus.

We arrived at the docks in Valapariso, disembarked the buses, retrieved our bags, went through security and went out the opposite door to get on yet another bus (it seems Pavlov has us under his spell — we see a bus and we queue up to get on it!).  The ship was several blocks away and thankfully the ride was only a couple minutes.  We could see from the bus that there were people crowding the decks cheering and Regent had set up a grand welcoming party complete with all the ship’s staff including the officers in all their regalia.  As the ships horn blew us a welcome toot or two a band played “When the Saints Come Marching In”.  Champagne was served along with a lots of handshaking, hugs and cheering.  Our butler Tapin was amongst the welcoming committee and I heard Margaret shout out “Tapin — bring me a martini!”.  The ship’s camera crew was also on hand to record this terrific event (not the martini order — but the whole grand affair!).

We hustled onto the ship, went to our room, dumped our clothes out of our bags, threw them in the wash and Margaret jumped into the shower.  I went to the pool deck bar, grabbed a couple of Pina Colada’s while talking to some people at the bar about our experience.  Then I soaked in the jacuzzi for about 20 minutes before heading back to the room.

While we were busy Tapin slipped in and delivered not only 2 beautiful martinis but also a large portion of shrimp cocktail.  Life is good again.

An important side note: While we are grateful to be back on the ship there remain approximately 1,500 people still stranded in Aguas Caliente/Maccu Picchu Pueblo.  Food and water are running low and, while they have taken out around 600 people, a lot of work remains and people are still there sleeping in the streets and eating the mush the Peruvian government airlifted in to feed those who need it.  Also, houses and hotels are falling into the river which is another real disaster.  People have died in various areas from MP to Cusco.  Adobe/mud houses are disintegrating and flooded, roads have turned to mud and are blocked.  So, let’s keep our hearts and prayers with those less fortunate than us as we get ready to go to Signatures for a world-class French dinner.

Tomorrow is a sea day and I’ll get started processing the my pictures and taking a look at those taken by the other photographers from our last journey.

Thanks to all of you who have had positive thoughts about our group reaching the Mariner safely.  They worked!

Dale