Category: International Travel

We cruised to the southernmost town on the South American continent and last outpost before Antarctica, Ushuaia has earned the name el Fin del Mundo. Ushuaia is, quite literally, the end of the road. Located off the tip of the South American continent in the archipelago called Tierra del Fuego, it’s considered the southernmost city in the world. its location — between snow topped mountains and the Beagle Channel — is striking.

This is home to Terra Del Fuego, it ranks up there with all those exotic named places on this trip. The island was named in the early 1500s when Ferdinand Magellan sailed by on his trip to circumnavigate the globe. He saw fires used by natives on the shores and dubbed it a land of fire. The natives of this land were naked and fire was an important component of their culture. (I would agree with that). It’s most striking features are the mountains, the southern Andes range. Peaks jut high to heaven and spread far across land and sea, snowcapped and rocky, solemn and jagged. They preside as stone sentinels, cold, rugged, remote, isolated.

Within this land of bleak emptiness was a prison. In the early 1900s, prisoners worked every day building roads, building infrastructure and chopping wood to keep the furnaces going. The prisoners built a railway to take them each day further into the woods to find wood and to cart the wood back to town for use as a building material and heat source. The train is still there and the stumps you see in the picture are the remains of their chopping, as the guide says you can see the depth of the snow at the time the tree was cut, some are high others are low.

Sure, we had comfortable accommodations, fantastic food and evening entertainment on board our ship and were never going to be seafaring explorers, but it still felt mystical to be connected even in this way to the globetrotting explorers of the past with only 1,000 kilometers of water separating us from Antarctica. Our nerves were zinging with a combination of anticipation, anxiety and over preparedness. Sea sickness pills, check; empty SD cards, check; layers and layers of clothes, check! Ok let’s go.

Today, the act of sailing around the southernmost tip of South America is a veritable rite of passage and, for me, the experience of a lifetime. The Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile. It is at this spot the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. For years before the Panama Canal all boats going to the Pacific had to round these rough waters. The light house is still there and providing service to those ships passing by.

The precarious journey owes its notorious reputation to the body of water that lies between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans known as the Drake Passage. Named after explorer Sir Francis Drake, the first recorded passage through these waters occurred in 1616. While the passage is a nature lover’s paradise (whales, dolphins and seabirds are plentiful in these waters), the weather conditions here could be so ferocious that sailing ships, at times, barely made headway against it. The current of nearby Antarctica carries an immense volume of water with it — more than 600 times that carried by the Amazon River.

We were extremely lucky with weather. In fact, it was fairly smooth waters and we cruised the entire Drake passage in one day and were treated to an extra day in Antartica. Our Captain forecasted that the weather was predicted to be extraordinarily good for our first day in Antartica. He was right, Antartica is amazing, our next few posts covers our 4 day visit to Antartica, containing great photos and stories.

The Chilean fjords’ snow-capped volcanoes and spectacular frosty glaciers are certainly dramatic highlights —

During this part is of the cruise, we were out on deck with binoculars and camera in hand to watch the Captain expertly maneuver through the slalom course of islands and channel markers, dodge brash sea ice and bits of ice bergs as we pass by the glaciers. We saw lots of birds and the Chilean dolphins and even a whale or two. We saw hanging glaciers, (those that suspend above the water) with ribbons of waterfalls snake down the steep mountainsides; and tidewater glaciers (those that end in water and calve). All these are “outlet glaciers”, glaciers originating in the South Patagonian Ice Field and show a remarkable shade of brilliant blue. One interesting thing I learned is the icy bits in the water give off a fizzing sound along with bubbles, the result of the glacier ice re-oxygenizing after years of a compressed state. We also passed the area of two ship wrecks.

Holland America brought on professionals to enrich this journey with daily presentations. The presentations were by specialists and naturalists in the following areas: sea ice and icebergs; penguins; facilities and research centers in Antartica; and Antartica now and then. The lectures were a highlight of the cruise giving us a better understanding of Antartica and surrounding areas.

It seemed impossible that we would find larger glaciers one after the other . . . . Oh we were so naive.

Our next post takes us to the end of the world including Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America before cruising further south beyond 60 degrees south latitude.

We embarked on our 22 day South America and Antartica cruise on December 20, two months after we began our South American land journey. Our departure port, Valipariso, was one of the most intriguing and distinctive cities in Chile. Its most striking feature is the array of houses – a mad, colorful tangle of them tumbling down the hills to a narrow shelf of land below. Steep streets greeted us daily as we awaited our cruise to begin. Puerto Montt founded by German immigrants (lots of German architecture) was the only port city where we took an excursion. This is the Lake Region of Chile (lakes extend into Argentina). It is just beautiful, rural and volcanic. Of course, it had the llamas and the Chilean staples of life.

Chiloé Island, our next stop, is home to an amazing collection of 150 Jesuit-carved wooden churches, houses raised up on poles out of the water and was fun to walk around. The churches were carved by Jesuits from locally grown Patagonian cypress, larch and luma trees, the detailing and precision are amazing. The weather in this part of Chile receives rain approximately 300 days a year, so our wandering and camera toting became pretty limited as we moved through Puerto Chacabuco. I can say it was very green, and the rain gear we brought worked quite well.

We returned to Punta Arenas, for the third time and it was wonderful to feel at home in a port. We saw a re-creation of Magellan’s ship Nao Victoria for our port day. Magellan, sailed this ship to became the first person to circumnavigate the world. The city of Punta Arenas found the original plans, had the boat made in Spain using original wood, and then created this museum on the Straits of Magellan. The museum has also begun the finish work on the HMS Beagle (Charles Darwin), it was amazing to move in their exact spacial confines. The other big tourist attraction in Punta Arenas is the local cemetery. Yes, that’s right. The families in South America take great pride in the family mausoleum, and so the grounds are manicured to the point of being a tourist attraction. The day we walked through, people were changing fresh flower bouquets, sweeping or washing the floor, gardening, removing the Xmas decorations from the mausoleum. The attention to detail was amazing.

We spent our first week on the cruise visiting these ports with dryer and cool temperatures. Our next ports and journey will take us to the end of world, the southern tip of South America, icebergs, glaciers and penguins.

We made it to our 7th Continent. Antartica is amazing. This post is a preview of what to come.

Wine tasting is one of our favorite past times during this trip. Although difficult, we have come up with our favorite wines. Unfortunately, some are not exported to the US. An area to the northeast of Santiago is a region of many fruit and vegetable farms. Further to the east and closer to the Pacific Ocean is the town of Casablanca, mostly Chilean wine wines. We hired a private tour to transport our luggage and our bodies to our next stop on the Pacific Ocean in Vina del Mar. This also positioned us close to Valparaiso, where we embark on our 22 day cruise on December 20. Of course, our private tour had stops at three wineries in Casablanca. Unfortunately for Chile, we did not find our favorite white (blanco) wine. Our favorite white wine is from New Zealand and South Africa. Oh, how great it is to visit wineries worldwide.

This was our third and final stay at the Trivento Apartments in Santiago, many thanks to Victor, in making our stay feel like home. Victor stored our large duffel, which contained much of our cruise clothing, which allowed us to travel a little lighter, as we visited other parts of Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

Fin Del Mundo – ‘End of the World’, that what the sign says, but it felt that way as we rented a car in Puerto Natales and drove the 2 hours, mostly on gravel roads, to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile. Our hotel was, Hotel Torres del Paine.

Patagonia is far south in South America, one would think being this far south in the Southern Hemisphere it would be lovely summer. Summer is here only on the calendar, as temperatures during the days were in the low 40’s and night temps getting to the low 30’s. It was often very windy with near gale force winds. We were told to park the car into the wind as the wind can take off the car door if parked downwind. Of course, this introduced other challenges as it was difficult to open the door, and once opened, keep it from closing on your leg.

The region comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains as well as the deserts, steppes and grasslands east of this southern portion of the Andes. Patagonia has one of the most dramatic mountain regions in the world – a rugged land of huge granite peaks soaring above the grasslands. Soaring almost vertically more than 2000m above the Patagonian steppe, the granite pillars of Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine) dominate the landscape of what may be South America’s finest national park. Before its creation in 1959, the park was part of a large sheep estancia.

Most people visit the park for its one greatest hits (those iconic towers) but, once here, realize that there are other attractions with equal wow power. We’re talking about azure lakes, trails that meander through emerald forests, roaring rivers you’ll cross on rickety bridges and one big, radiant blue glacier. Variety spans from the vast openness of the steppe to rugged mountain terrain topped by looming peaks.

Part of Unesco’s Biosphere Reserve system since 1978, the park is home to the guanaco, a sub species of llama, which has the look of a camel, we watched them graze the open steppes where pumas cannot approach undetected. After more than a decade of effective protection from poachers, these large, growing herds don’t even flinch when humans or vehicles approach.

When the weather is clear, panoramas are everywhere. However, unpredictable weather systems can sheath the peaks in clouds for hours or days. Some say you get four seasons in a day here, with sudden rainstorms and knock-down gusts part of the hearty initiation.

The crowning attraction of this 1810-sq-km park is its highly developed infrastructure. The housing section is on land that was once the estancia, and is right in the middle of the park. From there there is a myriad of hikes, easy to hard, hours to days. We stayed at Hotel Los Torres (the red buildings) and considering how far it is from anything else, they do a really nice job.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is growing. The reason remains debated by glaciologists. The Perito Moreno Glacier is 3 miles wide, 19 miles in length, and is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice and has an average height of 240 ft above the surface of the water. It has a total ice depth of 558 ft.

We spent 3 nights in El Calafate, Argentina, (Patagonia), located in the southern part of South America. Patagonia is a region shared between Argentina and Chile. Some glaciers are split between the two countries, talk about slippery ice field.

Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park and is the closest to El Calafate. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentinian Patagonia, because of its extensive walk ways you literally get up close to this glacier. The walk ways start at the visitor center and works their way down to the the top level of the glacier. Look at the photos, as we got very close to the glacier. We heard the glacier thundering but did not see it calve as the walkways lead to only two of the three faces of the glacier. We viewed the third face by boat.

This ice field is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water.

We are in Patagonia with glaciers and snow covered mountain peaks. The Argentinian Glacier National Park has lots and lots of glaciers! We needed to decide between the largest glacier, the tallest glacier, the closest glacier, whew, so many choices! Well we picked the one closest to Fitz Roy massif. Fitzroy massif is the heart of the trekking experience, and is located near Viedma Lake/ Viedma Glacier the tallest glacier in South America.

A 2+ hour drive (200 km) from our base in El Calafate, El Chalten is the home of trekking in Patagonia. Its name, Chalten, means blue mountain or smoking mountain in reference to the Fitz Roy Peak, an unmistakable 11,170 ft mountain often enveloped in clouds. The history of these impossible spires adds a special flavour. Named after Captain Fitzroy, skipper of Charles Darwin’s Beagle. Fitz Roy is one of the most notoriously difficult mountaineering destinations in the world.

We opted for lunch at an eco camp (they had llamas and lupine there) and a boat excursion to the face of Viedma Glacier. Viedma has an area of 380 square miles! With the shrinking of some glaciers, and the growth of others, it may be either 1 or 2 in size. It flows directly from the ice field to Viedma Lake. It’s front rises 130 feet above the level of the lake. Its origin is the very heart of the icefields, between 5,000 to 7,000 feet above sea level.

We were lucky to have the chance of coming close to the glacier in order to behold the colors, cracks, formations and listen to the sounds made by this wonder of nature. The icebergs, with hues ranging from white to extreme blue had been in the water for 1-2 weeks, were also a delight, aren’t they huge!

What a great experience it was to view the thousands of Magellanic penguins that call this island their summer home. Lots of penguins, like 150,000 were on the Magellana island, and many were keeping their baby chicks warm while they grow strong enough to feed on their own. The humans have to stay on a roped off path, but the penguins are free to roam where they want to. They often make holes (nests) relatively close to the walking path. They were active and were quite fun to watch going about their business. This was our first tour from Patagonia. We departed at 7am by small boat from Punta Arenas that took 45 minutes to reach Magellana Island, the home of these 150,000 plus 2 penguins. We were very fortunate as the wind had died down and the boat ride was smooth.

Magellanic penguins are medium-sized penguins which grow to be 24-30 inches tall and weigh 6-14 pounds. The males are larger than the females, and the weight of both drops while the parents nurture their young.

Adults have black backs and white abdomens. There are two black bands between the head and the breast, with the lower band shaped in an inverted horseshoe. The head is black with a broad white border that runs from behind the eye, around the black ear-coverts and chin, and joins at the throat. Chicks and younger penguins have grey-blue backs, with a more faded grey-blue color on their chest. Magellanic penguins can live up to 25 years in the wild, but as much as 30 years in captivity.

The “rock star” penguins (they had sunglasses on, so they must be rock stars) were just walking in circles, laughing gleefully. Since they have discovered great South American food, you should see them waddle! No, forget that thought, you will never get it out of your mind.

Traveling on bikes must be one of our favorite things to do. If you add a winery or three, in another country, we are talking about the perfect day. It was a perfect day . . . The tour started with breakfast empanadas and scrambled eggs, then a 7 mile bike ride on thru the Santa Rita vineyard (which included three separate labels and processing facilities). One label being ‘120’. According to legend, 120 patriots, exhausted after a long, hard battle during the fight for Chile’s independence, reached the land belonging to Santa Rita. On that fateful night in 1814, these forces of liberty found refuge in the estate cellars. Today, within these same cellars, their award-winning 120 wines are crafted to honor their heroic character. These are young, elegant and fruity wines, perfectly balanced with soft tannins and good acidity.

We rode, we learned about grape varieties, and history of wine making and enjoyed the warmth and beauty of the day. The wine tasting featured both red and white wines, and was located in a hacienda that was originally built in the 1600’s, and honored as a part of Chilean history. It really doesn’t get better than that, exercise, wine, food, and a chance to see a special place in history.

There are several wine areas very close to Santiago.  Santa Rita is a 30 minute drive to the southeast.

A great day, in a wonderful country, now it is time to move on to the next adventure.

It was nice to return to La Paz. Our regular driver picked us up from the airport and took us back to our home away from home, the Rendezvous. Zach the owner of this B&B Hotel, is from Boston and always makes feel like we are home.

This time, our goal was to see the sights of La Paz and the surrounding areas (two previous posts). In the city itself, the government installed cable cars as a pollution free transportation option. As the heart of La Paz is about 1000′ lower then El Alto La Paz, we took the gondola as a way to view the city from a unique vantage point. We also spent time wandering around this pretty walkable city, checking out the scenery and a few of the locals.

Now it is time to head back to Santiago, and Part II of the trip. This next part of our journey is touring wineries in Chile by bicycle and Touring Patagonia in Chile and Argentina.

In the centuries before the Incan rose to stature, there was the Tiahuanaco society. Located in western Bolivia, at the shores of Lake Titicaca, this ancient civilization created monuments to the heavens, the earth and the underworld. As the oldest and most advanced people, it developed advances in metallurgy, farming, and art. Tiahuanaco had a class system…. Aymaran were farmers, others were tradesmen, still more were trading goods with other people and all the way up to the elite-the authority figures. The elite class would receive tributes from each of the lower classes, and they would have stored food and goods to trade.

The archeologist told us that due to environmental changes, the farmers could no longer create enough food to feed the 50,000 – 90,000 people who lived in Tiahuanaco. Chaos reigned, and the society began to fall apart. He theorized the traveling trades people could share with the elite that conditions were better several hundred miles to the north (near Cusco Peru), so the elite took their gold ornaments (wealth) and their successful ideas of managing large groups of people (authority) north and became the the leaders of the Incan society. Recent archeological discoveries show the two sites share art symbols, and pottery designs. The carbon dating of the two groups of artifacts show more interesting links.

This is real history, the archeologist said the history channel created a show about all of this, so now the History Channel geek squad is on the hunt. Except the part about aliens.

Isla del Sol (“Island of the Sun”) is the largest island on Lake Titicaca, and part of Bolivian territory and an ancient holy site of the Inca. Inca legend says that the bearded god who created the universe, emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca and created the sun at this location. Lake Titicaca is split between Bolivia and Peru, we stayed on Bolivian side, but not far from Peru.

We did this as a day trip, the bus from La Paz takes about 3 hours, and once we reach the first crossing of the lake (there is not a bridge) the bus must travel separately from the passengers while crossing the narrow straight on Lake Titicaca. Then bus another 50 minutes and you arrive at Copacabana. The boat ride to Isla Del Sol takes another hour and a half from Copacabana. The life in the island is tranquil, there is no noise, no motorized traffic and no rubbish on the streets (which is rare for Bolivia). The high altitude in Copacabana, makes hiking more difficult. Our overnight accommodation was “up” the 200+ stairs built in the 1400’s. You can read into that. . . . . Crooked, uneven, worn, at various heights and darn steep. After stopping numerous times to get our breath, adjust the backpack, or still the pounding of our hearts, the guide said he will try and find an easier way to catch the boat home. (His tip went up with those wise words.) Then we trekked another mile or so on a narrow track to our new home.

We really enjoyed the island and its relationship with Tiahuanaco. (See tomorrow’s adventure.) and hearing the history of the Incan from an Aymaran person (our guide). Aymaran people were the agricultural predecessors to the Inca people. They were in place 10,000 years before the Inca rose in stature. The Isla Del Sol, is from oral tradition, the place where the Inca civilization was born. Several temples were erected and encrusted with gold and silver as a thanks to the gods, however, these were all looted by the Spanish in the 1500’s and only niches and basic stone work remain today.

We then returned to Copacabana, and our guide wanted us to see the Franciscan church there, it turned out to be a festival at the church and in the courtyard, so it was all rather exciting

Cafayate has a laid-back rhythm, colonial style, and wine cellars (bodegas) open to the public and is what attracted us to this town located in northern Argentina.

Located at 1,660 m above sea level, Cafayate is well known because of its famous torrontes wine product of the exquisite combination of temperature and humidity that provides the ideal environment to the growth of the sweet and deep fruit flavor.

Although we did not visit all the bodegas, we did make it to 2 or 3 each day for our 5 days in this area.  Bodegas with Palm trees.   One wine tasting included a great lunch with a bottle of wine, and a long afternoon nap. Another day we drove south of Cafayate and found a beautiful winery and guest house, we had a bottle of white wine with our queso and pan, and a long afternoon nap (siesta). Our favorite was Bodega Nanni, a vineyard with organic wine. We liked this one so much we brought a couple bottles back to Bolivia for thanksgiving. The naps really help because people in this part of the world do not eat dinner until 8 or 9.

Driving to Cafayate, you drive thru a canyon filled with red rocks, similar to those found in Utah along the Colorado River. Yet different, another Colorado River runs through this canyon as well.

We really like Argentina! Staying at an Estancia (horse ranch), reminded David of his youth where his family vacationed at the Malibu Dude Ranch.

Riding Peruvian horses, led by a true Argentine gaucho, was really a treat. The horses were so well mannered and easy to ride. One of the 10 children is a vet (he lives there part time) says they still raise and breed the ponies from the lines his father and grandfather had used. This was a place steeped in history, in family, and in comfort.

The Cornejo family bought the property in 1609, and have been working the land ever since. The current head of agriculture, and one of the owners, Augustino, invited us to lunch (an assado, an Argentine bbq) on the back patio, one day and explained the history. A few weeks ago we saw the rich mountain in Potosi, from which the Spanish had extracted silver for years. Moving the silver to market safely was an issue, as well as finding food to feed the workers. One solution was to move the Potosi silver to Salta, Argentina and then load the llamas with food for the return trip. To support that endeavor, the great grandfather X generations ago was given a large swath of land, which he could pay off by by providing food for miners. And the family lives and works in the area today. We met mama, and 4 of her 10 children who lived in the house until 20 years ago.

It is now a bed and breakfast, and mom and available kids (grandkids) come on Sunday afternoons to enjoy lunch, their swimming pool and keep their fingers on the life of the ranch. It is just beautiful. A large central courtyard, way lots of bedrooms, gardens, covered patios, horse stables, mountain bikes, traditional dancing from town kids, great food and wine, and just a place to chill for a few days.

Riding the Peruvian horses, led by a true Argentine gaucho, was really a treat. The horses were so well mannered and easy to ride. One of the 10 children is a vet (he lives there part time) says they still raise and breed the ponies from the lines his father and grandfather had used. This was a place steeped in history, in family, and in comfort. I think we really like Argentina.

Salta is a fair-sized city, we really liked it a lot. Our hotel was centrally located, and the room was huge. The roads were paved, everything was clean, and people were friendly. Most days we walked around town, thru parks, in and out of museums and always to a steak dinner. We extended our stay. We saw churches, got our laundry done and discovered empanadas and Argentinian wine. Then we planned the rest of our Argentinian journey.

One of the must do’s in Salta is to visit the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology (MAAM). It details the discovery of three children who were tributes to the gods. They were frozen, in place, 500 years ago on Llullaillaco, Argentina. There are three mummies are exhibited in rotating fashion, so as not to expose any of the mummies for too long a time at once. Mummies are typically rotated in the exhibit every six months.

Llullaillaco is a potentially active stratovolcano at the border of Argentina (Salta Province) and Chile. It lies in the Puna de Atacama, a region of very high volcanic peaks on a high plateau within the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world. It is the fourth highest volcano in the world, and it is also the seventh highest mountain of the Andes. It has been confirmed that Incas climbed Llullaillaco in the pre-Columbian period. Artifacts on the summit constitute the highest evidence of human presence worldwide.

The mummies are those of a teenage girl, nicknamed La doncella (“the maiden”), a young boy, and a six-year-old girl, nicknamed La niña del rayo (“the lightning girl”). The latter’s nickname reflects the fact that sometime during the 500-year period the mummy spent on the summit, it was struck by lightning, partially burning the preserved body and some of the ceremonial artifacts left with the mummies.

Next stop: We rented a car to drive to our next stop, an Estancia (horse ranch) about an hours drive to the northeast of Salta.

Tupiza represents the gateway for the southern portion of the popular tourist trek in SW Bolivia. The road between Uyuni and Tupiza is not paved and very rough. The reason is, it passes over the mountain and rains and bad weather creates a rutted, washboard, dusty mess. So we took the train, a superior option. The train departed Uyuni at 9:30pm and arrived in Tupiza at 3am. Instead of taking a taxi for the 1/2 mile to the hotel we chose to walk on streets unknown. It was dark and not many folks on the street, with google maps in hand we arrived safely at the hotel 15 minutes later.

We listened to music in the park as well talking to tour companies.  We did not want the “shared dorm space without showers” option must companies were offering, so we went there hoping for an alternative. We did not find an option for a reasonable price. We opted for a day tour, and of course saw lots of tourism posters on what we would miss. There is a similar view if you have been to Utah, Arizona or Colorado. Finally, we decided just to pass on the option, and travel to Argentina early.

Almost all reviews of the 4 day Salt Flat tours have two things in common: the scenery is amazing and the nights are freezing cold in the desert. The tour companies built dorms in the desert to house their guests . . . . One room for each tour group, given 4-6 guests per car there are 6 beds in a room. And you continue this for three nights in a row. Not really our best option.
There is a luxury option . . . Staying in luxury hotels in the desert but that tour was $1,000 USD each for three nights. Not really a good option either. So we are making our own tour.

Here in Uyuni, we joined a group for a day tour and at the end of the day, we slept in a luxury hotel made of salt. First we went to the train cemetery. When Bolivia had mining as a major export, the trains would carry ore, now they are rusting in the desert. The salt flats were amazing. The encompass hundreds of thousands square kilometers with an island of green in the middle. The island is called fish island, and it is a raised area covered in cactus. And around is nothing, pure emptiness except for salt. The educational posters explain that once the area was a large, shallow, salt lake but the water evaporated away leaving only salt. You can see the salt grains shimmering in one picture. In summer (December to February) the rains fill each of the multi sided troughs and the water reflects the sky, much like a puddle and the photographic effects can be amazing. Near one edge was a volcano and the area below is a fertile valley. We saw flamingos and llamas, and in general had a lovely day and saw all we had hoped.

The driver dropped us at Hotel de Sal Luna Salada. The outside walls are waterproof, but all inside walls are made of salt bricks from the flats. Walls, furniture, tables everything! Each couple has a room with heated sleeping quarters and across the hall a series of solar salons to relax in. (More Heat). They had a viewing platform to photograph the sunset, and a roaring fire in the dining room. David said he saw a sign to not lick the furniture —- really! Yuk!!!

We are “stuck” in Uyuni today because the onward train does not leave until after supper. It will take us to the southern portion of the route where another day tour and we will hopefully complete the circuit. Meanwhile, we submitted our laundry, caught up on the blog and and drank coffee today, A productive day.

 

Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal 4,090 metres (13,420 ft).  For centuries, it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint.

Potosi, the mountain town, is why the Spanish invaded Bolivia. The Spanish were looking for riches, and one night while sleeping on the ground at high altitude, they built fires to keep themselves warm. In the morning, they put out the fires and noticed a liquid at the base of the fire (silver). This mine has been mined for silver for nearly 450 years, and our guide tells us that a bridge could be built from Bolivia to Spain with the silver taken by the Spanish. We went into the mine, with a Quencha woman, who explained the miners have a strong belief in the old god, Mother Earth Pachamama, who protects them. Pachamama is given tributes daily from all who enter her domain, this includes us. So we walk into the mine, and saw the veins of silver still running thru the rock, the small ore carts that bring the ore to the staging area where it is graded and the horrible conditions that the miners work in. Of course we had to pay the tribute to Pachamama, but did not manage to chew any coco leaves.

The mine was very quiet that day. It was an extended holiday in Bolivia, celebrating the Day of the Dead. Halloween, All Saints and All Souls. (October 31, Nov 1 and Nov 2, respectively) All Souls has an ancient tradition among indigenous people here, where they spend the day in the cemetery visiting with those who have pre-deceased them. It involves flowers, and food, and of course, music. We went to one of the town cemeteries, where approximately a thousand people people were milling around. In their family crypt, visiting with relatives — some families had food, others sponsored bands to play music. It was not festive, but rather like a giant family reunion, and including previous generations. For those families with a recent passing, (since last years day of the dead) they would place a small alter in their home and light candles and pay tribute their recent loss. We saw a couple of these, but felt awkward taking photos.

We only passed thru La Paz (plans are to return for a Thanksgiving) and moved onto the historical capital of Sucre. In colonial days, the very wealthy, very educated people lived in Sucre instead of La Paz because Sucre is at a lower elevation (9400′) and much sunnier and warmer. It has palm trees! It was wonderful to meander in the parks (no coats), take a city walking tour . . . . We went through the market, the center of every town. Because of the warm climate, they have fresh tropical fruit every day. (And fresh squeezed options every morning, yummy). The guide explained that the religion here involves a combination of Catholic and Quencha traditions. Every region attends every other regions fair. There are many celebrations at the fair, but one consists of a parade through town. Participants from a region wear a mask specific to their region and parade ends at the church. Apparently, these are very long parades (the largest is 90,000 people)The masks are used only once, and in Sucre a mask museum memorializes this tradition and displays some of the masks. Since we were there on Halloween, it seemed appropriate and kind of cool to photograph the masks.

The walking tour ended with beers and a drinking game. The game goes like this: Given a cup of coins, and a 10 foot distance, you need to toss coins into the frogs mouth. If you missed the mouth, the coin falls into other slots on the table, but worth lesser points as it distances from the frog mouth. Coins are worth nothing if you overshoot or undershoot the table. The person with the lowest combined score paid the bar tab. David scored a respectable 50 points; Karen lost the entire drinking game (an over shooter by training) and picked up the tab for the whole group. 30 Bolivian BOBS!! approximately $4 USD. Things are kind of cheap here.

 

 

For us the best way to offset the high cost of airfare is to put together several trips. Using Santiago as a hub, we are touring Bolivia, Northern Argentina, and northern Chile as a circuit. The Bolivia side of Lake Titicaca, the great salt flats and the wine country will take us a month to move through. Leaving from Santiago again, we will go south to Patagonia and Torres Del Paine National Park and the Glaciers National Park in Argentina and some penguin viewing will be another couple weeks. Leaving from Santiago the final time, by ship, we will finally be able to see Antartica. The 21 day cruise will spend a few days near the Antarctic peninsula but does not “land” there. We finish in Buenos Aires and will stay in Argentina another 10 days or so before the caravan life beckons again.

We arrived in Italy on March 31 by cruise ship and departed Milan by airplane on May 13. The map in our gallery shows the many sights in our nearly 8 weeks in Italy. We toured Milan on our final days with side trips to some fascinating sites.

The Shroud was placed back on public display (the 19th time in its history) in Turin from April 2015 until 24 June 2015. The Shroud of Turin is a centuries old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. A man that millions believe to be Jesus of Nazareth. Is it really the cloth that wrapped his crucified body, or is it simply a medieval forgery, a hoax perpetrated by some clever artist? Modern science has completed hundreds of thousands of hours of detailed study and intense research on the Shroud. It is, in fact, the single most studied artifact in human history, and we know more about it today than we ever have before. And yet, the controversy still rages.
It was very cool to see this in person, it is one of those once in a lifetime events.

Few products in the world are distinguished enough to have their location built into their name, but Parmigiano is one of them. Parmigiano-Reggiano is a hard texture cheese, cooked but not pressed. The milk obtained, from cows on a strict regime diet of grass or hay, is exclusively from the territory of Parma, Italy. The cheese is made every day, therefore it has a variability which represents the fruit of nature. You will notice that with age comes perfection characterized by tiny white crystal grains, and this 18 – 24 or 36 months aged product. We were given a behind the scenes tour from the head of marketing who explained the strict process of turning, cleaning, flipping, X-raying and perfectly aging the cheese wheels to produce the perfect cheese.

Milan museum of science and technology is the only place in the world that maintains Leonardo Da Vinci’s original drawings. The museum took the drawings and created models they represent. The historic models built in the early 1950s, which are on display in the Leonardo Gallery, are the outcome of an interpretation work that translated and completed Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings. We were most interested in his flying machines, and a chance to see genius at work.

The ultimate day trip was our 24 hour trip back to the states. Milan to Istanbul to New York and finally Phoenix with the rig in tow, we are off to the next adventure.

One of our final stops was the Cinque Terre, a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre consists of five small villages (“cinque terre” means “five lands” in Italian) which cling to the Ligurian cliffs along Italy’s western coast. The five villages, each having their own personality, are in Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The “Five Lands” comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate development; paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside.

We spent four nights in Monterosso, which made a great location for boat and train hopping to other villages. We hiked the path between Monterosso and Vernezza. Although this trek is claimed to be the most difficult trek between the villages, it is the only one that is completely open between any of the villages due to landslides in 2011. Some deep relaxation and sun worshiping was on order, since we knew the days in front of us are filled with planes, trains, automobiles, 5th wheels, amusement parks, grandkids, volunteering, transitioning and more adventures to come!