I have definitely fallen in love with Chile. From its incredible natural beauty to the open friendliness of its people it exceeds every thought I ever had of the country. I know I have gone on at length about the beauty of cruising in the Chilean archipelago but today I saw more of the countryside and it just keeps on getting lovelier. Pastoral scenes of rolling farmland, much of it dedicated to dairy cattle but also a lot of cash crops, put me in mind of the County. However, no sooner had I sat back to enjoy this scenery than we were climbing into the mountains to see the 2 volcanoes that are nearby, Osorno and Calbuco. As the morning was very overcast were were driving through cloud cover as we ascended and didn’t actually get to see the volcanoes until we were back on the ship in the late afternoon when the sun broke through. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful trip and our stop at Petrohue, the gateway to Rosales National Park which abuts Argentina, was beautiful with plenty of well-maintained trails and the time to do some exploring of the falls and rapids. Many of us chose to do some white water rafting but yours truly was more inclined towards enjoying the roar and the photo opportunities . This port, Puerto Montt, is the terminus for the continental portion of the Pan American highway that I mentioned earlier in the week. It stretches 16,000 miles from Alaska to the southern tip of Chiloe Island (right beside Puerto Montt). From here it crosses the Andes into Argentina ending finally in Ushuaia, Argentina which is where we travelled to the end of it last week. I was thinking today that even if one drove it in its entirety, through this Chilean portion, one would never be able to capture completely the beauty of this country. So much of the southern part of the country is taken up with the archipelago and the only way to experience it is by boat. I am blessed, blessed, blessed.
Tomorrow is at sea, last day before our arrival in Valparaiso on Tuesday. From there we will go to spend the night in Santiago before heading to Buenos Aires on Wednesday. I will check in from Buenos Aires as we begin the Argentinean adventures……..and will be hoping the rains there have ended!! Love to all, Sally xoxo
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Lake District, Chile
I have definitely fallen in love with Chile. From its incredible natural beauty to the open friendliness of its people it exceeds every thought I ever had of the country. I know I have gone on at length about the beauty of cruising in the Chilean archipelago but today I saw more of the countryside and it just keeps on getting lovelier. Pastoral scenes of rolling farmland, much of it dedicated to dairy cattle but also a lot of cash crops, put me in mind of the County. However, no sooner had I sat back to enjoy this scenery than we were climbing into the mountains to see the 2 volcanoes that are nearby, Osorno and Calbuco. As the morning was very overcast were were driving through cloud cover as we ascended and didn’t actually get to see the volcanoes until we were back on the ship in the late afternoon when the sun broke through. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful trip and our stop at Petrohue, the gateway to Rosales National Park which abuts Argentina, was beautiful with plenty of well-maintained trails and the time to do some exploring of the falls and rapids. Many of us chose to do some white water rafting but yours truly was more inclined towards enjoying the roar and the photo opportunities . This port, Puerto Montt, is the terminus for the continental portion of the Pan American highway that I mentioned earlier in the week. It stretches 16,000 miles from Alaska to the southern tip of Chiloe Island (right beside Puerto Montt). From here it crosses the Andes into Argentina ending finally in Ushuaia, Argentina which is where we travelled to the end of it last week. I was thinking today that even if one drove it in its entirety, through this Chilean portion, one would never be able to capture completely the beauty of this country. So much of the southern part of the country is taken up with the archipelago and the only way to experience it is by boat. I am blessed, blessed, blessed.
Tomorrow is at sea, last day before our arrival in Valparaiso on Tuesday. From there we will go to spend the night in Santiago before heading to Buenos Aires on Wednesday. I will check in from Buenos Aires as we begin the Argentinean adventures……..and will be hoping the rains there have ended!! Love to all, Sally xoxo
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Sally - just catching up on your amazing adventures! What a trip this is turning out to be! Can't wait to see the next installments. Happy sailing - from the girls at Indulgence!
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