February 11, 2023

I did not opt for the Tango lesson – I was too interested in doing my laps on the open deck and watching the mountains and changing weather conditions – simply spectacular. I am sure there will be more lesson opportunities when we are in Argentina, but this area won’t be repeated. And who was out taking pictures – our chef, Farid.

We are in Patagonia – the jumping off point for the Aysen fjords.  We will spend time in the next few days cruising the fjords and I am sure more beauty awaits us.

The ship arrived in port at noon –it was  a tender port, ship anchored off shore.We chose a really nice tour today, Full Day Patagonia in Depth.

Our guides were Martha and Sebastian and they were just terrific, very nice and also knowledgeable. Martha told us that the town of Chacabuco has a population of 2500 but it quadruples in the tourist season. 

We went to the Aiken del Sur Private Park and hiked the river trail for over 2 hours in the evergreen rain forest.  Our guides divided the group in half which made it easier to hear all of the commentary during our hike.  Our guide for that part was Sebastian.  The rain forest covers 250 acres and they get 3000 liters of rain per year, a real contrast to the northern deserts we visited earlier. And, today was no different from other days here, it was rainy, but the trees provided cover for us and it only felt drizzly.

During the hike, Sebastian told us about the great burnings of the Patagonian forests and the eruption of the Mount Hudson volcano in 1991. You can see the regrowth of trees that feed on the decomposing material of dead tree trunks. He described the trees, other vegetation and birds that are common here.  We spotted only one along the way. I couldn’t possibly name all of the things we saw but enjoyed every minute of the hike.

We hiked to the beautiful waterfall.

After the hike, we walked to the pavilion that is part of the park near the lake.  A typical Chilean lamb barbecue was prepared for us. Of course, I didn’t eat the lamb but the interesting way they barbecue was something to see.  There was music, dancing, lots of wine and pisco sours.  We returned to the ship at 7:30 PM and we were in the next to last tender to return.  A really wonderful day.

And who did we sit across from – on the left of the picture, an ACC coach, ICF member, Julie Wong from Sonoma, California. She is also on the Around the World trip so I am sure we will connect again.  The world is indeed very small.

No appetite for dinner, to say the least.  Too bad, Farid and his chefs were making Singaporean noodles in the terrace cafe.  A scoop of ice cream was all I wanted

Look at this dog made from cabbage!  The culinary department amazes me every day.