scubacruiserx2

Thanks for going along on our cruise . We do enjoy traveling and the next scheduled one isn't until Thanksgiving with the family . Thank you for your kind words . 😊🙂

We had to present paperwork and show our Passports to leave Argentina and about 2 miles later do the same to enter Chile . Then we began to see wildlife and scenery . Stop after the boarder crossing Look and listen to the wind , no tenders or ships stopping here even if they could come this far inland !

In hindsight we think that this is where we may have gotten Covid . After the van brought us back to the hotel we wanted an early dinner because we had a really long day for the next day . We tried the Mexican street food place which more a Bar then a place to eat . There was also a pizza joint behind it . As we looked at the menu we didn't notice any traditional Mexican food . The closest thing was a beef or a chicken empanada . So we tried one of each and ordered a 4 cheese pizza . The pizza was delivered from the pizza place and they were all pretty good . We saved the leftovers as we had a small icebox . One again we were up past midnight with the noise . I tried to go down early to get a coffee for Pat and the door to the breakfast place and the office were locked and unattended . Breakfast is at 0630 and at 0600 nobody was at the office yet . At about 615 a guy rode up on a motorcycle and opened the office for himself . We were not allowed to enter until 630 . Since it was cold outside we sat on the stairs to see if our ride was there yet . When 630 came we were allowed inside to eat and wait . The lady working there heated up the pizza for as as we were tired of ham and cheese for breakfast and didn't want fruit loops . Our guide and driver got there after 7 and we headed out for the day . The map shows 3 hours and 21 minutes driving time not counting the border crossing at Cerro Castillo . If you look under the MORE Icon you will see El Chalten where we would drive to later on the map link below . https://www.google.com/maps/dir/El+Calafate,+Santa+Cruz+Province,+Argentina/Torres+del+Paine+National+Park,+Magallanes+y+la+Antártica+Chilena,+Chile/@-50.7318217,-73.3137751,8z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0xbdbb0cc0138f62cb:0x30d4035d88e4dc69!2m2!1d-72.2647982!2d-50.337969!1m5!1m1!1s0xbda51b0183dbaf07:0xbd9f2657451ace58!2m2!1d-73.4067879!2d-50.9423262!3e0?entry=ttu

Castro is a much nicer place with its wooden churches and Castro is famous for it 's palafitos , traditional wooden stilt houses which were common in many places in Chiloé.

After lunch we began making our way back to port . I had some nice chats with the people at our table and the couple that sat at their own at table for 2 in between the other larger tables that held 6 . She had spent most of the morning sleeping , so I thought that she was local . But she said that she was from Mexico along with her new husband of a year after the death of her long time husband . They were older than us and we had a nice talk about how much and many places that we had visited there , almost always on the coasts . It was the late afternoon and we had a long ride back to the port at a high rate of speed but she was warm and wanted the outside door closed . Well the majority of the people wanted it propped to get some air in . An English lady at our table who now lives in Spain gave her an earful after ascertaining that she was sick and not wearing a mask . There an uneasy silence for the rest of the trip back to the Perito Moreno glacier . And she did wear her mask after that . It was much cooler at the glacier and we went up top for a little . We were not the only ones . After a couple of clicks we headed back down to the rear . It was less crowded and sheltered from the wind . There was a quick trip boat there and some kayaks on the back side of the glacier . The other boat and our boat let some people off there on the rear of the glacier . We moved in for a closer view before a high speed run back to the port

We stopped at the island of the Cows and most of the people went for a walk while they set up for lunch . Our knees told us not to go and we stayed on the nearly empty boat . Lunch was served a course at a time It was quite good and the lamb was tender .

The Captain had invited our small group up to the bridge . I wonder why ? The aft room The runoff from glacier The Glacier face

We knew with Icebergs this close that we would soon see a Glacier An attempt to harpoon Agua the great Blue Iceberg

We noticed that they went South in the Fjords to the Glacier we think . They are scheduled to go to Chacabuco tomorrow so you may pass at them at sea . We hope that you had a great day .

Before we knew it we were in the icebergs - some small and some bigger than trees .

A view of our balcony Near the mountain And away we go A couple of Condors and a rainbow

The Sun has turned south away from the Port of Chacabuco probably looking for the Glacier .

We were pleasantly surprised that our Christmas was alive and well after being gone 3 weeks and 3 days ! It has since morphed into a Loveuary tree for Valentines Day and we wonder if it can make it to a March like a lamb tree .

We were up early but not bright for a quick breakfast at 0630 . Our ride was due at 0700 and we were packed but we wanted to have a quick bite to eat and take care of business before the long ride to the boat . As it turned out we were the first picked up and picking up all of the other people took nearly as long as the ride to the boat . You have to pay a park fee which had to be paid in A Pesos . Then a line for the boat . It was a nice day with some clouds in the distance that looked like rain . We paid a little extra for a smaller room in the aft on the 2nd deck . It had a private viewing deck and bathroom . It also served a nice meal for lunch .

It appears that the NCL Sun and the HAL Oosterdam may be in Puerto Chacabuco today so it may be crowded . https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9221281 We miss the good old days when they went just North to Puerto Aysen up the river . It was much more scenic and less crowded . As you can see from this photo in 2007 on the NCL Dream . There were more tenders than passengers , much nicer than waiting an hour in line .

We had a late dinner in town that was good and early the next morning we were to go on a Glacier cruise . When we got back to the room it was hot . They have no fans or AC so the only way that we had to cool the room was to hold the window and door to the hallway open . We did lock them at 11 PM but people kept driving on the gravel road beneath us and talking very loudly in the halls until after midnight . How I wished that we had brought our rechargeable fans that we use after hurricanes and the power goes out . A little breeze and some white noise from the fan would have been a blessing .

There were a couple of places down the street for dinner but they were both closed and the Hotel only served breakfast . The lady at the desk was nice and said that we could walk ( 2 miles ) or that she could call us a cab , which we chose . We asked her to called the hotel where we had stayed before to make dinner reservations for the next day . We loved that place for dinner . Local Trout Ossobuco Dessert Our room was tiny compared to our nice Cabin on the Star and as we waited for the cab we noticed that 2 of the suitcases had been tampered with . Pat's large suitcase had been opened and relocked probably using a TSA key . Nothing was missing but the contents had been rearranged . But the new piece of luggage had the locking holes where the zippers meet and the lock broken off . It was dirty clothes and hiking boots ( Pat's were brand new ) but nothing appeared to be taken . We had the lady at the desk call the airlines but they said that it had to be reported at the airport before we left .

Our favorite hotel in El Calafate didn't answer our phone calls or Emails before we left . So we booked a different hotel . They had arranged a taxi to pick us up at the airport about 20 minutes away . But without a car we had a feeling that this visit may be going down the drain . They scanned our luggage as we left and it was after 1900 but on a Sunday night we knew that some things may be closed . The entrance of our new place .

An arrival in El Calafate

After shopping for a suitcase we had some good ice cream and went to the blue market for some money as we had heard stories about trying to get it later . For a clean , new $100 bill I got a stack of 117,000 A pesos . It was almost half an inch thick . The next stop was Plaza de Mayo or the City Square . The first thing that I noticed was the May Pyramid which was erected after the May Revolution in 1811 and was BA's first National Monument . The next thing was the Casa Rosada , the pink house which is where the President works . The balcony in the center is where Evita used to speak from . Lastly , was the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral where Pope Francis was Archbishop for 15 years before he became Pope . The remains of General San Martin is guarded by 3 statutes of countries that he liberated Argentina , Peru and Chile . We had planned on eating at the Jorge Newbery domestic Airport but we spent a long time moving clothes to the new suitcase so that they would balance out . Worse was customs and immigration considering that we were not leaving the country . We boarded at about 1630 for the 3 hour flight to El Calafate .

Our next stop was at the sprawling Parque El Rosedal .

We met our guide in the disorganization that was disembarkation and headed out for an unknown tour . The only 2 things that we knew were that we had a domestic flight to El Calafate at 1630 and that we needed to buy a new suitcase . AA has a more stringent weight policy on domestic flights . We were flying business class and were allowed more luggage but each suitcase had to weight less . 😜 The first stop was an upscale mall but the cheapest piece was $200 . So we moved on and would check the blue market later . We stopped at a park that dealt with the Guerra Sucia ( Dirty War ) . To summarize , Juan Peron was elected in 1946 and lived in an age when dictators were commonplace . Their society wasn't stable and he and his 2nd wife Evita brought some hope to the masses . After his death in 1974 , his 3rd wife and the state sponsored force AAA ( Argentine Anticommunist Alliance ) targeted left wing subversives and thousands of people disappeared under it's successor the Proceso de Reorganizacion National . This is what the park is about . What it didn't mention was that there was 1000% inflation and as the economy crumbled it tried to reintroduce national honor by attacking The Falkland Islands . The wall of missing people An instrument of torture with a free collage behind it A disappearing man as you walk by it This one disappears when the tide rises

We like Aerolineas Argentinas as our airline in South America just as we prefer Virgin Atlantic to fly to London . But they have a couple of quirks . The first was that they had lowered their luggage weight limit after we had booked and didn't notify us . Unfortunately our second checked bag was overweight in Miami . If we could have moved some things from the larger bag to the smaller it would be no problem . But unfortunately it was gone down the conveyor belt and they would not retrieve it or give us a credit for a couple of pounds that would have gone in it . The result was red HEAVY tag and a $100 overcharge , even though the total weight never changed . The second odd thing is that AA always closes the window shades during the entire flight and most people go to sleep in the morning , only waking to be feed or excrete . So nocturnal is the norm in Argentina . The first time that we went to a nice dinner place in El Calafate we were surprised that they didn't open until 8 PM .

We did show our last dinner but not our last lunch which was the same main for both of us and different desserts . While we sat at Gatsby's for the last time we were waiting for our guide and Monica to walk us down one last time to ding out from the Star . We had some time to reflect . Most of the cruise was good , very good . But just sitting in Gatsby's reminded us of a couple of reasons why we missed HAL . The most obvious was that we were in Gatsby's instead of our stateroom with it's peace and quite . And the second was the issue of laundry especially in warm climates where you sweat a lot like BA and South Florida . We were in a nice suite and we still had to pay for our laundry ! It seems like if you throw double digits in thousands of dollars that a couple of bags of free laundry wouldn't hurt them . Anyhow , we were purple tags for our checked bags and there was about a half an hour between it and the previous color so that's when we moved out of the frying pan and into the fire .

It's always striking to see the huge wall of ice . They tend to sprout microclimates maybe snow , fog or rain but always impressive . Years ago Amalia was the go to glacier when we first went but Brujo has become more common . https://www.afar.com/travel-tips/amalia-and-el-brujo-glaciers