South America 2020
From Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina
February 2 - February 20, 2020
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Linda and I decided to make our first visit to South America. And at that, we decided to go as far south as is possible. So on February 2, 2020 we departed from Columbus, Ohio and flew to Santiago, Chili via Houston, Texas. Both flights were relatively uneventful but that last leg of just over 9 hours is painful. It's a long time to be locked up in a plane with a couple hundred other passengers.
The plan was to meet up with the cruise ship, Azamara Pursuit, in San Antonio, Chile then travel south to the Patagonia region, the Chilean fjords, and onto Tierra del Fuego part of Argentina visiting cities, glaciers, and fjords of the region. From Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego we sailed to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands and then on to Montevideo, Uruguay. 15 days after boarding the ship we ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Along the way we saw whales, penguins, birds of all sorts and landscapes that are unlike others we’ve seen in the past.
I hope you enjoy the images from this trip as much as I enjoyed creating them.
For the record the total images made were 4038. The collection here number just
shy of 900. They are grouped in a way that breaks up the trip into segments. But
first a few words about this trip.
We arrived in Santiago on a hot summer morning. We spent some time hanging out
at our hotel before venturing out for a short walk after lunch. Seems like every
trip is not without some kind of challenge. While at breakfast on the day we
were to meet our ship, an email arrived from the cruise line stating that our
departure port had been changed from San Antonio to Valparaiso. It turns out
high seas on the Pacific Ocean were causing problems at the San Antonio port
which was was closed to both incoming and outgoing traffic. Both ports are about
equal distance from Santiago with Valparaiso being a bit further north.
After breakfast we embarked on our bus journey to Valparaiso, Chile to meet our
ship. I remember thinking out loud, “they have a lot of work to do moving
supplies and people from one port to the other”. Come to find out later that was
just part of the challenge. The ship had arrived a bit early to the port of San
Antonio only to be told they could not enter the harbor. Lucky for them they
managed to secure a dockside berth in Valparaiso. I can only imagine the behind
the scenes operation that took place over the next few hours. They needed to
first get the existing passengers off the ship and onto their final destinations
and then prepare to get the new passengers onto the ship. They also needed to
restock supplies - including fuel.
We arrived in Valparaiso about 12:30, the same time we were expected to be in
San Antonio. The crew and staff had put a process in place to get the passengers
checked in. Everyone was assigned a group number as they arrived in the
terminal. Our bags went one way and people went the other. It was a waiting game
until our group number was called. We did get checked in and on the ship by
about 2pm. The final step of check-in was performed on entry to the ship.
Some passengers were already in San Antonio and needed to be moved to
Valparaiso. Some found out about the shift in ports while in transit. Others
heard about it from their driver. In the end everyone made it to the ship. But
then not all the supplies made it in a timely manner. The captain did his best
at keeping us informed. The last part to load was the fuel. Due to high winds in
the port the fuel barge could not come alongside until close to 4am. It takes
about 5 hours to transfer the load. The ship was ready to leave by about 10am
but then there was the little issue of a passenger who was injured the evening
before. She needed medical care and it took another couple of hours to get her
and her traveling companion ready to leave the ship. The ship left port about
11:30 into high seas on the Pacific. The puke bags came out and a few passengers
struggled for a day or so with some motion sickness. The only modification to
the original plan was skipping the first stop in Puerto Montt, Chile as we had
lost about 18 hours of travel time up front. The only other excitement was a
fire in the laundry room one morning during breakfast. It was impressive to see
the crew jump when their codes were called. The fire was extinguished and the
smoke was cleared from the stern and the ship sailed on without losing a beat.
Now for all those images. Enjoy!.