June 24th - two days to go!


 Random photo - testing various functions and editing options.

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South America 1

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 Departed Atlanta for Viking S. American cruise Jan 30 arriving Santiago Chile early the next morning, weather there was warm, sunny and dry in the 90’s. After an early check in we joined up with a walking tour via Uber. The group, Americans mostly visited a few public buildings and churches, we were running on fumes having slept little on the flight. As usual, pictures are not in chronological order, I have not mastered this program so I’ll just deal with it. This post covers departure thru day 3 of our cruise. The day after arriving Santiago we explored on our own before heading to Valparaiso where we boarded Viking Jupiter. Santiago is nestled between to mountain ranges, Andes to the east and Coastal Range to the west, it’s hilly, on the largest hill is a statue of the Virgin Mary, we went up via funicular, great views of the city. Early afternoon we took a van to Valparaiso, about two hours and boarded Jupiter. Hotel in Santiago. Feb 4 was our 47th anniversary, had a nice dinne...
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South America 3

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 After three sea days we stopped at Puerto Madryn, Argentina and saw lots of penguins. We are heading north in the south Atlantic having rounded the horn. We were originally scheduled to stop at the Falkland Islands where there are many penguin colonies but high winds made tendering impossible so we passed the islands by and stopped at Puerto Madryn further north. Puerto Madryn was founded by Welsh settlers - South America has encouraged groups from Europe to settle, there are areas with Germans (well before the Nazis), Bosnians and others - the Welsh wanted a separate state but settled on a remote colony to limit influence of other cultures. Today mining Bauxite for aluminum, fishing and sheep ranches are the main industries. Unlike the west coast of S. America it’s very flat and dry, windy too. The bus trip to the Punta Tomba penguin colony took 2 1/2 hours but it was worth it - the colony has 18,000 pairs of Majalantic penguins, there are 18 species, all south of the equator exc...
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South America 2

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 We are cruising south, after several sea days stopped in Punta Arenas Chile, a small town on the mainland. Originally a penal colony but since so remote that did not work well so immigration offers were extended, Croatians accepted so many of them here. Along the way we got close to a glacier. J Glacier up ahead. Glacier is about 200 feet tall, two miles wide. Monument in the center of Punta Arenas commemorates Magellan and native peoples. One native group had big feet, Patagonia means big foot in Spanish, thus the name of this area of Chile/Argentina. Roast piglet for dinner.  View from upper area of Ushuaia, the southern most city in the southern hemisphere. We are now in Argentina. Ushuaia is the departure point for many Antarctica expeditions.  Panorama from view spot. In Ushuaia we visited an outdoor museum with old farm and construction equipment as well as houses, shops etc. Another shot from view point. Note the collection of locks left by lovers.
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