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The Journal 
December 28 and Beyond
A Millennium Celebration to Remember
"Glittering white, shining blue, raven black, in the light of the sun the land looks like a fairy tale. Pinnacle after pinnacle, peak after peak, crevassed, wild as any land on our globe, it lies, unseen and untrodden."
The words of Robert Cushman Murphy describe much better than I can the unforgettable scenic wonders of Chile that I viewed the last week of December and until today, January 7, my 48th day at sea.
And this very moment is one of the most dramatic I've experienced thus far-and I hope not to experience again soon! We're traveling in gale force winds, with very high seas, and waves breaching the deck. We can't walk without hanging on, and I've seen more than a few people slide into slippery heaps of food, tea, table and chairs while eating lunch at noon. And this isn't over yet.
We are moving at 13 knots through the Straits of Magellan for the second day, heading toward open seas at the entrance to the Pacific Ocean. We've sailed through the Drake Passage, which is a deep waterway 600 miles wide bounded by the South Shetland Islands and Cape Horn. The Pacific Ocean flows through this waterway into the Atlantic Ocean with a speed of about 24 kilometers a day. This is known as the Antarctic circumpolar current-and it's the "most voluminous" in the world. It moves at a rate of nearly 150,000 cubic meters a second---and at this moment I'm not enjoying the effects of that powerful current!
We were warned last night to tie everything down, remove all glass from shelves and secure everything in the room. I did. I put everything in drawers, put glasses and bottles away, books on the floor, and prepared for a rocky night. They weren't kidding!
At three a.m. I awoke to my closet doors banging back and forth. I tied them shut but they came loose in minutes. Massive waves slammed up against the ship's hull over my porthole, there was an intermittent clattering, frequent banging of doors, and every once in a while, a shuddering or violent sounding boom from the bowels of the ship and then an ominous rumbling noise and shaking not calculated to make you feel secure in your little stateroom at 3 a.m. I still haven't figured out what these noises are, but they continue. All I can say is that after a morning of seasickness, I've now taken Dramamine, and I'll be pretty happy when I see the blue Pacific Ocean for the first time.
We are headed toward Easter Island, now six days away.
This will be a peaceful time that I'm looking forward to recuperate from the wild and wonderful time of celebration I had with son Steve and Christina, over the past week or so.
Tooling Up Dirt Roads in the Andes
Leading up to the millennium week, on December 28 Ocean Explorer sailed into Ushuaia, the village at the end of the globe.. When I saw Ushuaia, I was more than disappointed not to be able to stay there as I had planned---jagged snow-covered Andean mountains surround the sea porton all sides and it's the gateway to Antarctica. It is a small village where you dock right at the center of town, and there are scenic little Alpine chalet-type buildings on the streets . It's situated on the north shore of the Beagle Channel, and this is the town named after the ship in which Darwin sailed the Channel in 1832 on his five-year voyage that ultimately resulted in his writing "The Origin of Species."
But I had already made plans to meet Steve and Christina at the Carrera Hotel in Santiago, where I was staying with the World Cruise group for the millennium.
Arriving by plane in Santiago, I found it was a hot 90 degrees and a very crowded noisy city. I was very tired when we arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon, not to mention a little concerned about where to locate Steve and Christina. I shouldn't have worried. I dragged my suitcase out of the elevator to register and get my key on the fifteenth floor of the hotel and heard a loud, "MOM" and got a great hug from my son. Everyone almost clapped at our happy reunion! I was so happy to see Steve, and by now everyone around the registration desk in knew him. He had been there all day meeting each of the previous flights, knew everybody at the registration desk and all the rules, and was assisting in directing people to the right lines! And telling more than a few people where "el bano" was.
That was the beginning of an unforgettable week, and one that'd I'd always remember as a highlight of my trip around the world. I was with my family, and the millennium was finally approaching.
We stayed in Santiago for two nights at the luxury five-star hotel-I luxuriated in a bathroom unlike what'd I'd had since leaving America---hot water on call; showers without rocking and rolling. A BATHTUB, no less. Steve's was even better. When he showed me the room I had reserved for them, he told me I'd be mad; I had a small single room facing a nameless wall, and he had an entire suite facing right on the Constitution Plaza, the heart of Santiago and surrounded by colorful flags, military marches daily, and historic government buildings. But I was happy I could give them a little bit of luxury amidst their backpacking and camping for two months.
The two quickly became a part of the World Cruise tour family and were handed a week of free lunch and dinner vouchers---we had a great steak dinner with Chilean wine the first night there-and several other free meals for them afterwards, and they got acquainted with the cruise people.
The two had been backpacking for three weeks in Chile and by now were old hands at finding their way around by metro, local bus, and foot! And that's what we did all day of the 29th. My buddies Jackie and Joe decided to hook up with us with Steve as our tour guide. Little did they know what was in store for them (they weren't used to Steve's transportation style.) We went on three subways, found a local bus for $2 apiece and headed for a long ride up a canyon into the brown Andes headed for Maipu. We must have stopped on every street corner in Santiago before we got out of town, and at many stops, a guy would hop on the bus selling cigarette lighters, silver bracelets (which we bought or 20 cents apiece), or helado---in the heat a favorite purchase of our group. They call out this ice cream or popsicles---cherimoya, manzanilla, pino, chocolate-as they go up and down the aisles selling what they can until the next block and then hop off. We bought several helados before the end of the trip for 100 pesos, 20 cents.
It took us two long hot hours on the bus with Chileanos to get to the end of the line up the winding canyon and following the path of the brown, rushing Colorado and Maipu rivers. We were passing along the same place, Canadas de los Animas, that Joe and Jackie would travel to take a rafting trip for $50 the next day. At the end of the line, the bus driver let us out at a garden restaurant he recommended situated down the hill and near the river. We had almuerzo, a huge meal-and several cervesas, and rushed back up the hill to catch the 3 p.m. bus, sitting on a step of an abandoned building in the shade of the dusty two lane road. We waited for 40 minutes, hot, tired , and dusty but with Steve negotiating our first trip in interesting, and passable Espanol, we found our way back to town. It was the first of several adventurous and great days I would have that week.
The next day Steve, Christina and I set out to Puerto Montt and the Lake District adventures. Puerto Montt is in the northern end of Patagonia in a land of fjords, 600 emerald lakes, national parks, lush, green Andes, and volcanoes. Of the total number of volcanoes in the world, Chile has over 600, 10 percent of the world total, and 47 are active. At Puerto Montt, an old German settlement, we picked up our rented Subaru station wagon, and headed through this picturesque little town on the lake. Then to Varas and the Cabana del Lago, where I had reserved a cabin on the second largest lake in Chile. Across Lake
Llanquihue you can see two great snowcapped volcanoes: the perfect cone of Osorno, and the shattered cone of Calbuco, and when the air is clear which it was brilliantly so when we were there, Tronador, which we saw as well.
For the next three days, sitting on our porch, sprawled on the lawn overlooking the lake, riding up gravel roads in the Andes, or hiking along black sandy beaches or black rocky river paths--everywhere, the scenery was spectacular---snow-covered volcanoes , and especially the great postcard volcano Osorno-rushing rivers, waterfalls, forests deep in ferns and bamboo, and beautiful peaceful pasture lands way up in the Andes, with cows, goats crossing the road, sheep grazing on green hillsides covered with lupine, poppies, and unrecognizable wild flowers. And no people!
What a ball we had!
---Steve drove up and town narrow rocky dirt and gravel roads high into the mountains;
---We shopped for picnic foods at the supermercado and bought salmon, olives, cheese and wine to spread out on towels for our picnics along the lakes;
--- We swam in a freezing Andean lake;
---hiked on trails in national forests and along lakes, hunting with Steve for the Alerce tree-which used to be everywhere. We found just one.
--drove 500 kilometers in the mountains and entirely around Lake Llanquihue, wandering through lush forests and passing through a few scattered tiny picturesque shore villages where people were at the beaches celebrating the long holiday weekend.
---We stopped to snap view after view of Osorno and other volcanoes, the Cordillera of the Andes, picturesque old houses and German cemeteries;
---We headed up a gravel road toward the snowy base of Osorno, but gave up after about 30 kilometers and headed back around the lake-a one day trip.
Attacked by Killer Flies
But all was not totally idyllic despite what I say. We didn't know about the "killer flies."
---I got attacked by the tabanos on our first hike and was almost hysterical. Emily, you know how I hate insects. Tabanos are huge (over one inch) colorful red and black flies that only come out in some places, mostly near water, in the lake district in December and January! I didn't know that they only head for dark colors but I soon found out. The first day I wore a navy tee shirt. On the trail toward Alerce Park, I got out of the car and immediately I looked like some comic book character. A swarm of black buzzing insects surrounded me, and I screamed and yelled and jumped up and down madly. A kid was sitting near the entrance to the park and laughed. The flies didn't bother Steve and Christina much-that day. Steve picked huge fern fronds, which I used as a fan to keep the flies away on our hike. We had seen people walking along the roads fanning themselves with these fronds but didn't make the connection. The next day was payback day for me. I got smart and wore a light tan safari shirt; Steve and Christina wore purple tee shirts and they got all the attention from tabanos that time.
But that attack by the killer flies was only for a little while. Otherwise, our stay in Patagonia was all too short.
New Years Eve Dinner was special-We were among all Chilean families and had hats and horns and champagne and wine and aperitifs and a five hour dinner. Much laugher and horn blowing and a conga line a midnight by the families. It was just what we had hoped for. We were together in Patagonia absorbing all the culture and color of an Chilean Millennium celebration.
The Boat Visit
This lovely interlude in my Chilean voyage came to an end, but not for long. As they took me to the airopuerto to return to my cruise, Steve popped into LanChile and , miracle of miracle as their whole trip has been, they picked up two airline tickets to Punta Arenas where I would be docked on January 5. (Cost: $100)
And so the next adventure began.
The morning of January I waited and waited on the Sun Deck overlooking the dock, searching for the two. I had gone through at least five lines the day before trying to get them passes to board, and around 5 p. m. got permission from the captain himself.
Then, comes Jan 5, and no Steve or Christina. I waited almost two hours and then decided to get into e-mail for the first time in a week and then check again.
A half-hour later, around 10 a.m. I tried the sun deck again. Standing at the rail, I heard the same distinctive, "MOM." No disguising that voice. Steve, red beard, red hair and pony tail (but with no holes in his jean) looked great as usual. They had simply boarded the gangplank of the ship as passengers with no stopping, no interference, no nothing. We decided they could stowaway as far as Easter Island in my room and nobody would know the difference.
So, I was able to introduced them to the half of the ship I know, and everyone loved Steve and Christina and said how lucky I am to have have them with me here in South America. And that is so true. They were very helpful to some of my shipmate friends in speaking in Spanish in Punta Arenas to buy things in the duty free mall, came back with me in late afternoon, and now they are on their way to Torres del Paine where hey plan to do the six day circuit hike! Jeff, our naturalist, talked with Steve about camping there and hiking in the tremendous gale force winds in the wilderness. I wish them luck and I envy what spectacular scenery they will see there!.
And so, here I am, still slightly seasick, leaving the continent of South America rather sadly. I love it. I may return.