And so it begins…
Day 1. 1/2/2024 - 1/3/2024. The journey begins. Today we travel from Portland, OR to Santiago, Chile through Atlanta, GA. A 7,336 mile trek to the south where we will stay for a few days to get our bearings before boarding our ship to head further south.
On the journey with me is my darling wife Trina and her parents that have become my own, Brent & Susan Richman. The trip was born as a bucket list item for her father, and yes, traveling to Antarctica is a dream of mine as well.
From one sunrise to the next and we have landed. A day of touring begins.
Before we tour & in case you’re wondering…
This is what it looks like to pack for summer in Chile, then Antarctica, then summer and expedition in Argentina. Energy expenditure getting these from PDX to Santiago, 7,565 kcalories.
Today’s FUN fact: Chile is narrowest country in the world, only 64 kilometres (39.7 miles) across at the narrowest point and 350 kilometres (217 miles) at the widest.
A view of a sliver of Santiago, Chile as we make our way up San Cristóbal Hill.
Day 2. 1/4/2024. Santiago, Chile. Since we’ve been traveling for over 24 hours, and landing early in the morning Santiago time, we decided the best way to manage getting on a new time zone was stay up for the entire day and tour before getting our first nights rest. While we did rent a car, on this day we let others give us a tour around the massive city of >6 million inhabitants. We chose a double-decker touring bus and pardon the odd angles on some of the photography but I grabbed what I could on this day (click any image below to scroll through full size images).
Today’s FUN fact: Chile is the worlds longest country (North to South) stretching a 4,300 kilometres (2,670 miles).
Patio Bellavista
Bellavista Patio District
I particularly loved the area of Bellavista with its hundreds of shops and small eateries combined with rooftop patios and views. This is considered the Bohemian district and around every corner there’s a new piece of graffiti art to be awed by. This combined with all the sidewalk cafes makes this a must stop area of the city.
Rapid fire images around the city (click on any image to view full size image gallery).
Day 3. 1/5/2024. Road trip up into the Andes Mountains to the famous Portillo Hotel and the Inca Lagoon (elevation 9,320 ft). Mom and Dad particularly excited about my upcoming stimulating narration of the mountainsides.
Today’s FUN fact: There are 2,000 volcanoes in Chile, more than 500 of which experts say are potentially active.
Google maps lied to us on the way up to the Inca Lagoon.
The google maps image from my phone as I’m driving shows 20 switch backs tighter that you can imagine. But in fact, there are 30 and to make sure we don’t miss count, they even number every curve as you drive up.
Also, I’ve never seen the number of semi-trucks that were navigating this, anywhere, on a two-lane fast-ascent road. We later learned this was the only way across the Andes for them, from Chile into Argentina.
Day 4. 1/6/2024. Final day in Santiago, Chile. Today’s highlight was the contrasting experiences of the front side and rear of the Presidential Palace in the center square of Santiago.
Today’s FUN fact: Chile averages nearly 90 earthquakes every month with the latest one 8 hours ago at 3.2 magnitude and you can usually feel at least one out of the three that happen each day. In 1960 it Chile recorded the strongest earthquake in historical records of 9.5 magnitude.
The changing of the guard in front of the Presidential Palace. By luck we arrived at the central square during the changing of the guard ceremony which occurs every 48 hours at 10:00 a.m. During it, two Carabineros mounted units and the Central Band of the Carabineros escort the incoming guard detachment to La Moneda, and the outgoing detachment from it. The current drill for the changing of the guard was instituted in 1936.
At the same time as the changing of the guard, contrastingly the backside of the Presidential Palace is a protest by those who oppose the far left current government.
This is the country of Chile’s largest flag, supposedly the size of a football field.
Day 7. 1/7/2024. We travel from Santiago, Chile to San Antonio, Chile… our Port of Call to board The Oosterdam, our ship that will carry us to the Antarctic Peninsula. We traveled through Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar along the way.
The most interesting building architecturally that I saw in Valparaiso, now a museum, atop a funicular.
The Flower Clock. Our final stop, Vina Del Mar, before arriving at the port. This working clock, comprised of some 16,000 flowers, which changes twice a year, was built for the 1962 world cup hosted here and has been maintained now for over 60 years.