We have always wanted to see more of South America. While living aboard our sail boat, PIZAZZ, we visited countries along the Caribbean coast of South America - Trinidad, Venezuela, and Colombia. In 2012, we visited Peru and Ecuador. Now, we had an opportunity to see more of South America, including the Amazon River, aboard the SEABOURN SOJOURN.
Our 50-day SOJOURN cruise began in Valparaiso, Chile; headed south along Chile's long coastline visiting several ports; then cruised through the fjords to the southern tip of the continent. A day in Ushuaia, Argentina put us at the southern most city in the world. After a loop around Cape Horn, we visited the Falkland Islands. Back to the South America coast line, we spent a day in Uruguay before a short stop in Buenos Aires. Continuing along the east coast, we visited many ports in Brazil, including fabulous Rio de Janiero. The ship crossed the Equator before entering the waters of the Amazon River for 9 days of fascinating sights. After exiting the Amazon River, we visited Devil's Island then forged ahead into the Caribbean Sea for several island stops. The cruise ended in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Living in Bonaire is wonderful but flying out of or into Bonaire can sometimes be an adventure in itself. However, for this holiday, the flight connections were not so complicated. We departed Bonaire on February 16 at 4pm for the short hop to Curacao; a connection on Avianca to Bogota, Colombia; and the last leg to Santiago, Chile; arrived just before 6am on February 17 (about 14 hours).
We will give you some verbal highlights of the countries and places that we visited without going into all of the daily log details. And, of course, be sure to watch the movies that we have made.
CHILE 
The national flag of Chile was adopted on 18 October 1817. The Chilean flag is also known in Spanish as La Estrella Solitaria (The Lone Star). The star represents a guide to progress and honor; blue symbolizes the sky and the Pacific Ocean, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red stands for the blood spilled to achieve independence.
Santiago de Chile (the city's formal name) is a thriving metropolitan city of >6 million people. Santiago's cityscape is shaped by several stand-alone hills and the fast-flowing Mapocho River, lined by elegant parks. The imposing Andes mountains can be seen from most points in the city. Santiago's steady economic growth over the past few decades has transformed it into a modern metropolis. The city is now home to growing theater and restaurant scenes, extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping centers, and a rising skyline, including the tallest building in Latin America. It includes several major universities and has developed a modern transportation infrastructure, including a toll-based, partly underground urban highway system and the Metro de Santiago, South America's most extensive subway system. Santiago is the cultural, political, and financial center of Chile and is home to the regional headquarters of many multinational corporations.
If you want more information about Santiago, here is a link to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago
The weather was foggy in the early morning. We were able to check into our hotel, the Meridiano Sur Petit Hotel, for a nap. By the time
http://www.meridianosur.cl/#inicio
we figured out where to go, the sun was shining (we heard that this was the first sunny, no rain day in over two weeks). It was Sunday and people were enjoying the good weather. We used the metro to Los Dominicos Craftman's Village; then to Metropolitan Park to get to Cerro San Cristobal where lots of people were walking, riding bikes, or driving up the hill (the funicular was closed for repairs so we took the bus). At the top, we wandered around taking in the unforgettable views of the city and mountains; and admiring the gleaming statue of Virgin de la Immaculada. It's always surprising how quickly the time passes. We didn't have time to see Plaza de Armas, Constitution Square, Cerro Santa Lucia, or the Bella Artes neighborhood. We did go to Restorante Azul Profundo, in the Bella Vista neighborhood, for a meal of pulpo (octopus) carpaccio and baked sea bass for Lourae & fried camerones (shrimp) & calamare (squid) and hot-plate tuna filet in garlic for Randy. Great dinner!
A long day in a beautiful city. Too bad that we had only one day.
Valparaiso
The city of Valparaíso, the second largest in Chile, is exceptional testimony to the early phase of globalization in the late 19th century. It is located on the Pacific coast in the center of the country. The geography of Valparaíso consists of a bay, a narrow coastal plain and a series of hills. The history is interesting.
If you want to know more about Valparaiso, go to this Wikipedia link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valparaiso
The distance from Santiago to Valparaiso is about 75 miles. There are many options to get to the cruise port - metro, bus, rental car, or private tour. We had arranged for a private tour with Al Ramirez Wine Tours
http://www.alramirez.cl/ for February 18 to pick us up at the hotel, see some of the city and wine country, visit Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, then deliver us to the cruise terminal.
A day of great weather! We drove through Santiago, seeing a few of the major highlights. Going west out of the city, we traveled through several valleys with vineyards and agriculture. *These valleys are at 34° South latitude which is comparable to California's Central Valley at 34° North latitude. We stopped at William Cole Winery for a wine tasting.
Arriving in Valparaiso, our guide took us on a walking tour to see some of the highlights of the city - multi-colored buildings, the winding and narrow streets, bohemian art on numerous buildings, a few galleries, modern government complexes - and a ride in a funicular to ascend to the hills.
We continued to Vina del Mar, a neighboring town with great beaches and resort hotels. Our guide lead us to one of his favorite restaurants for lunch of crab pie, fish soup, and cold beer.
Our next stop was the cruise terminal in Valparaiso by 2:30pm (as the ship was scheduled to depart at 4pm. Thank you, Matias, for a wonderful day of seeing a small part of your country.
The boarding process for the SEABOURN SOJOURN was interesting. The greeters at the terminal were very pleasant - taking our luggage and guiding us to the check-in counter. The receptionist was efficient then lead us to the shuttle bus (the ship was docked about a half mile away). Then began a series of 'first impressions' that were disappointing - no one greeted us at the gangway to assist with hand luggage; the security personnel did say 'welcome aboard'; yet nobody was at the entry to lead us to our suite or greet us with a glass of champagne. Our first comment to each other was "this is not Silversea". We did locate our suite where our 'stewardess', Agnes, arrived 20 minutes later with champagne, gave us a tour of our suite, and explained what she will do for us. When I asked her about making dinner reservations for us, the answer was "I don't do that, you have to call Guest Services". So, we questioned each other "Where is our butler". We went to the Observation Lounge for our 'sail-away' but the bar wasn't open; we were told "you have to go to the Pool Deck". While we were on deck, our luggage was delivered to our suite - but when we say 'delivered', we mean that it was 'shoved into our suite' and blocking the door; we had to move it into the hallway to be able to get into the suite and then carry it one piece at a time farther into the suite to unpack. Again, "where's my butler". We could continue on with more disappointing 'first impressions' (like the wine steward who never returned to our dinner table to refill our glasses or the first night's entertainment which was a movie,
Lincoln, in the Grand Salon), but we are here to enjoy ourselves, not to get upset with situations that did not meet our expectations.
Before we continue on, click on the link below to view our movie of our first few days in Chile. Hope that you enjoy it!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14wMkuphLTReS1rXkbtGD9YzRys7tMo5T/view?usp=sharing
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Our first day 'at sea' was comfortable even though the seas were lumpy. We relaxed, toured the ship, and discovered Restaurant 2 for dinner. This is an intimate setting for 40 people with nightly special menus of multi-course, tapa-style servings prepared by Chef de Cuisine, Roshan Tellis. Fabulous! Even though there were recommendations for wines, we felt that the house (or should we say 'ship') wines were very good. This became our favorite venue for dinner throughout the entire cruise. Here is a copy of the menu for that first night.
Puerto Montt
Our first port of call was Puerto Montt on February 20 (10am to 8pm). If you look at a map of Chile, Puerto Montt almost looks as though it's landlocked in the middle of the country. Well, not quite, but it isn't on the Pacific Ocean, either. The city itself is at the edge of a huge estuary, Seno de Reloncavi, with a very narrow mouth to the ocean.
If you want to learn more about this city, here is the Wikipedia link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Montt
The ship offered several different tours but, from Lourae's research prior to the cruise, we booked an all day tour from a private company:
www.gvtours.com The six of us in our group (Kaye & Don, who we met on the 2011 Silver Spirit World Cruise, and their friends, Dayle & Aaron) met our guide, Matias (not a common name but this was the third Matias that we have met in our short time in Chile), and our driver, Jose, who drove us around the area in a 10-passenger van. Yes, this was a private tour; it was great to get the personalized commentary from a local person (Matias is a dairy farmer whose family has lived in this region for generations).
Puerto Montt is a city of over 185,000 people and is noteworthy as the capital of Chile's region which is known as Lake District. The port serves as the shipping point for many of its locally produced products, mainly lumber and its by-products, as well as an abundance of farm-raised salmon. After traveling several miles over the Pan-American Highway, we entered the rich agricultural part of the region where there are many farms and ranches with several varieties of livestock, including llamas and emus. Our itinerary included a visit to the town of Puerto Varas, known as the City of Roses, located on the shore of Chile's largest lake, Lago Llanquihue, with the near-conical, snow-capped volcano, Mt. Osorno, in the backround. The town's origin is German; in the mid 1800's, the government encouraged immigrants to settle and develop this rich part of Chile.
After a 30-minute stop, we continued along the lake-side road with Mt. Osorno virtually always in view. Although the clouds initially obscured our view of the mountain, they gradually cleared. This entire lake region is a favorite place for Chileans on holiday; lots of hotels and campgrounds. We stopped at the Bon Bon Oriental Restaurant for a three-course meal (
fresh salmon or beef) with wine. Following lunch, we visited Lago Todos Los Santos (All Saintes Lake) for the scenic views of the lake and mountains. Then on to Vicente Perez Rosales National Park and the Petrohue Falls and Rapids. This was a very restful and relaxing place to walk the path to the rapids. Unfortunately, the park offered a 'speed boat' tour that disrupted the peacefulness.
Lots of driving but good road and lots of beautiful sights. We had thought about doing the 'zip line' on the ski lift, but it was closed. We returned to the port by 6pm. By the time we cleaned up, the folkloric show was over. Missed it! It was a great day.
Another fact that we should mention about Puerto Montt is that this is The Salmon Capital of Chile. It is the hub of the largest salmon aquaculture industry in the world, closely followed by Norway. Hatcheries, fisheries, and packing plants are all located in this area. Fresh salmon is flown daily to world markets and frozen salmon is shipped by ocean to all destinations around the world.
Castro, Isle de Chiloe
The next day, February 21 (7am to 4pm), we anchored off Isla de Chiloe (chill-o-way) to visit the town of Castro. After morning exercise and breakfast, we tendered to shore and walked up the hill on Calle Escalera (appropriately named) to the main plaza. We couldn't miss the brightly colored, (lavendar and sunflower yellow)
neo-Gothic Iglesia de San Francisco, located on one side of the Plaza de Armas of Castro; this is the main Catholic church of Chiloe's capital. This 1912 national monument glows on dreary, gray Chiloé days (which is pretty much three-quarters of the year) but we had sun by late morning. When Pope John Paul II visited in 1987 it was painted lilac and peachy-pink. Renovations were recently completed and we could see the fabulous woodwork of the early craftsmen.
We wandered through the town and back to the seaport craft market before returning to the ship for a late lunch and to enjoy the warm sun in this cool climate.
During our early morning arrival and when we left the Reloncavi Estuary, we saw many 'salmon farms'. And, we could also see Castro's curious architectural oddities, palafitos, ramshackle houses built near the shore but atop stilts over water; a colorful attraction.
Here is a link that tells all about this area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilo%C3%A9_Archipelago
We were still learning our way around the ship and getting comfortable. However, we couldn't turn off the air vents; we were cold even with the air control set to heat; our stewardess told us that nothing can be done. We were leaving the sliding door to the balcony open to try to get fresh air. The chemical smells (from cleaning) were awful; we asked Agnes to NOT use bleach or chemicals; she was using goggles and face mask, as well as gloves. After commenting to the Guest Services Manager about the cold air flow, he had someone from Engineering to 'turn off' the air (from controls in the hallway). Our suite eventually became more comfortable.
Nothing on the menu interested us this evening so we ordered salmon (although we doubt that this was fresh salmon from Castro), caesar salad, and tomato soup in our suite. The soup presentation is an art on the SOJOURN
The bowl is set in front of you with some spices, chopped tomato, and croutons;
then you pour in the 'hot' liquid.
A surprise when you get a soup bowl set in front of you with no liquid.
Puerto Chacabuco
Our third port in Chile was Puerto Chacabuco, February 22 (10am to 8pm). We were experiencing great weather since our arrival in Chile. Apparently, prior to our arrival, there was lots of rain all over Chile. Agnes, our stewardess, said that the 15-day cruise prior to ours had 12 days of rain; so the sights and excursions at the ports were not that great. However, here we were in Puerto Chacabuco with no rain and temps in the upper 50s.
If you want to read more, click on the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Chacabuco
And, here is another link that tells you more about the Aysen Region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ays%C3%A9n_del_General_Carlos_Ib%C3%A1%C3%B1ez_del_Campo_Region
Cruise Critics and Trip Advisor are great sources for reviewing excursions all around the world. We discovered En Patagonia Tours and booked their all-day tour for us, Kaye & Don, and Dayle & Aaron. Connect to this link
http://www.enpatagoniatours.com/ and you can read about all the places we visited and sights that we saw that day. We took the first tender to shore and discovered that there were 32 other passengers booked on this tour (luckily there were 2 buses to take care of us all). Anne has a good business and hires friends or other locals to be guides.
Her tours are quite different from the excursions offered by Seabourn and at half the price. We had a wonderful day of seeing the Aysen Region, hearing about the history and current affairs, eating a great lunch at a local campo (farm), and chatting with our guide.
Punta Arenas
This port is Chile's southern most port located on the northern shore of the Magellan Straits; thereby, Punta Arenas is the southern most city of South America (continent). The city flourished as a port of call and coaling station until the opening of the Panama Canal (1914) and the replacement of coal by fuel oil as a maritime fuel. Now, Punta Arenas is a service center for the large sheep-raising area (it processes and exports hides, wool, and frozen mutton). The port facilities handle local lumber and petroleum products.
The strait is the most important natural passage between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, but it is considered a difficult route to navigate because of the unpredictable winds and currents and the narrowness of the passage.
Here is more information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punta_Arenas
Our ship was at anchor, February 25, from 7am to 8pm. We joined fellow passengers for the bus tour to Otway Sound to visit a penguin reserve where the Megallan Penguins live and nest. It was a one-hour ride on hard packed gravel. At the reserve, we walked the planked path to a few raised observation platforms and the covered 'duck blind' structure to see these active penguins. Late February is near the time when the penguins start to leave the area although there was still quite a number in the area, albeit just resting mostly. Returning to the city, it was siesta time so the stores were not open to spend the last of our Chilean pesos.
We enjoyed our day; the weather was clear until the clouds started to roll in over the Otway Sound; it then got cold. Yet, a nice evening in the Observation Lounge before dinner to watch our 'sailaway', followed by a delicious meal in Restaurant 2 with our new friends, Barbara and Trevor.
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That takes care of the Ports of Call in Chile. Take a look at our movie - PORTS OF CALL CHILE - by clicking the link below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ku_2VYL5WoETy6OoG5gDsTRdtiILzag3/view?usp=sharing
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Before we continue, let us mention that we had a fabulous speaker ,
Niki Sepsas, aboard the SOJOURN for the entire 50 days. We very much enjoyed his presentations - great speaker, knows his topics, good photos. It was a pleasure to hear him. His web site
http://www.nikiwrites.com/index.html shows his biography but, unfortunately, doesn't give any samples of his great work.
Here are the topic titles for this portion of our cruise:
-South American: Continent of Contrasts
-Chile, Sliver of Wonder
-Land of the Ice Giants: Chile's Mighty Glaciers
-Cape Horn Passage
Another speaker was
Jeff Salz, Antropoloigist. Look at his web site
http://www.jeffsalz.com/about/about-jeff-salz.php
His 'conversation' (as Seabourn calls these presentations) was
-What A Long Strange Strip It's Been: Chile, It's Land and People
Destination Manager,
Claudio Schultze, presented information about the upcoming ports - tender service, bus shuttles into towns, as well as information about the various excursions. Surprisingly, he was very honest in telling guests 'there are no big markets or t-shirt shops, just nature'.
Cruising the Fjords
One of the attractions of this cruise was cruising through Glacier Alley and the Chilean Fjords. As we headed South, the days got longer - it's Summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
We entered Canal Penas, the first on many ship channels along this Patagonia coast of Chile. Other channels were Canal (Spanish word for channel) Messier; then Canal Wide, Canal Concepcion, Canal Inocentes; and Canal Amalia. Our first glance at glaciers was the Amalia Glacier which we approached just before sunrise.
What a beautiful sight. We lucked out on the weather. Clear, but COLD. We were at 50° South latitude and it was 50° temperature: we had multiple sweaters with jackets, hats, gloves. Captain Buer circled around for the cameras then continued on to other fjords through Canal Esteban, Canal Sarmiento, and Canal Smyth to get to the Straits of Megallan.
Beyond the Straits of Magellan, we cruised through Canal Cockburn then entered Darwin National Park's Glacier Alley. The primary sight here was Garibaldi Glacier at the head of the valley. This huge tidewater glacier is one of the few glaciers in the world that is 'advancing'.
Look at the size of this glacier! That ship in the picture is 300' long yet it looks like a toy. The dark line in the glacier is called a 'moraine' which is an area of exposed debris being carried along with the glacier. Lots of cold air blowing off of the glacier. After all, we were at 54° South latitude and 69° West longitude. Beautiful afternoon as we continued through the channels into Beagle Channel. Full Moon that night! What a sight!
Cape Horn
Another attraction of this cruise was Cape Horn. Being sailors, we learned a lot about sailing history and geography of the world for sailing. Cape Horn is not a place that we would have ever gone to on our boat. We used the Panama Canal to get between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Horn will give you all kinds of information about Cape Horn.
We went around Cape Horn, reaching the southern most spot of our cruise, on February 28; it was still dark at "o'dark 30" which is the term we use for 'before sunrise'. Our location was 56°00' South and 067°15' West; that's 4,714 miles 'due south' from our home in Bonaire which is at 12°11' North and 068°17' West. That's a long way South; and it's COLD! The winds were blowing like snot! (another sailing term that we learned from sailing in San Francisco Bay.) The seas were about 12' (could have been worse). And, the clouds covered the top of the island. We survived the Horn!
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Click the link below to watch our movie of these beautiful sights.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V44s35N59n6rY_wChefjCFtm-hAvH5E3/view?usp=sharing
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That's all, folks! Onward we go. Check our next blog for our travels to the Falkland Islands, Argentina, and Uruguay. Thanks for joining us.
