Jan 27/12: Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

Jan 27/12: Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

 

So yesterday, Jan 27th we were in Puerto Chacabuco, Chile, a very small town basically in the middle of no-where. It is at the head of of the Aysen Fjord and the main reason people go there is for the scenery & nature- to go to National parks and see plants and animals.  The area is very undeveloped. As we cruised in we could see lines of buoys out from the shorelines and those are for farming mussels. They are also farming salmon here. Later in the afternoon I took some pictures of seals 'resting' on the buoys around one of those farms. I had to laugh because I could just imagine the seals  going into the farm, having a snack and then sunning themselves afterwards, even though i have no way of knowing if that really happens .  

 

While Dad stayed on board - he took pictures of the town from the boat, ran 10K on the treadmills, played trivia, and generally knooched around. He went for a swim in the outdoor pool - see pic attached, even though the weather was cool & overcast (I had to wear my long sweater with my goretex over it when I went on my tour to the Park, although I did end up taking off the jacket as I got hot while walking). In the morning it was on/off rain, but it cleared up for the late afternoon, around 4 or so, then clouded up again overnight. Thus the bad weather we are having today- the 28th is just an extension of that.

 

The tour I went on took us inland approx 1 hour by bus each way  to the recently opened Aiken del Sur Private Park. We took the River Trail up to a waterfall called Old Man's Beard Cascade. Did not see many animals except for around 2 birds & a horned elephant beetle. Wildlife is supposed to be all around here, but a lot of it seems to only come out dusk, dawn, and at night. Although there are supposed to be many species of birds, I only got a picture of the Zorzal, which at first I thought was a robin, it is so similar. The 3 most interesting plants we saw on this walk were:

 

1. the Tepa Tree- which grows up to 40 M  and is an endemic species. It is used for boat building by the indigenous people as it has a waterproof oil .
2. The  Luma tree which is a very very very hard wood and is used for some items ( such as police batons) and is burned because it gives off a lot of heat and is also used for cooking, and making BBQ. The leaves are eaten as a cure for headaches. Hmm.. wonder if it would work for migraines- the leaves smell sort of lemon;
3. Calafate- which resembles a black berry and is eaten as fruit, juice, jam, and the roots used to produce a yellow dye.   After our walk, we had a nice snack  and were even served Chilean wine, and had some Chilean music and dancers perform for us.

Then we returned to the dock and took the water shuttle back to the ship, as we were moored offshore. The rest of the day was the usual - dinner, trivia at 7.30, then some downtime. We did not go to the movie or the show. Later in the evening everyone warned by an announcement from  the captain that around midnight we would be hitting some rough waters so it was recommended that everyone batten down the hatches and take sea-sick precautions if needed. That took us a while, but things turned out not to be as bad as we expected since we seemed to sleep through it all. I credit the location of our cabin for this.... although both of us were tired anyway. We even get to sleep in for the nest day as we are at sea then.

So that was that  for the 27th.