This Christmas morning we arrived at Punta Arenas, the capital city of Chile’s southernmost region. We woke up just in time for me to dash out onto our balcony in my nightdress to catch the sunrise. I thought it was 6am, but it was actually only 5am, and 0 degrees. The high today will be 11 C. so I’m going to put on a few layers of clothing as we go ashore to explore, and to hear about the ‘Tycoons of Patagonia’.
Wishing you all a joyous festive season.
Well, here we are on our ‘Bucket List’ cruise, and after leaving Valparaiso on Monday, our first port of call was Wednesday when we weighed anchor just off the coast of Puerto Montt.
Once ashore, I was able to get a good photo of our cruise ship, the Seabourn Quest.
It started to pour with rain and we had to run for shelter, but after a while, when it subsided we ventured out again and made our way into the town. Not very inspiring, but we pressed on.
The town is a real hotch-potch of old and new buildings; mostly old.
This house on the hill looked quite pretty, if in need of a bit of a haircut.
Graffiti in Chile is everywhere,
as are the street dogs. Someone told me that they are called ‘Scrap Dogs’, because they exist on the scraps of food which they can find.
This sweet one had made her bed in among the clover.
We passed a sad-looking fun fair, in the process of being taken down.
This rather strange-looking sculpture loomed large, with no explanation as to who this couple represented.
We found our way to the local mall, but didn’t stay long, as there was a frenzy of Christmas shopping going on.
The smaller markets were colourful and far more interesting.
One could buy almost anything there.
On our way back to the ship, we found an old steam engine.
a few busts of long dead naval heroes,
and a couple of old anchors made into a sculpture.
One thing I hadn’t anticipated, was being mugged by a bag-snatcher as we navigated our way around some rather large puddles when we neared the harbour. This six foot youngster came up from behind and grabbed my shoulder bag. I held on tight, so he yanked it really hard, breaking the leather strap, and pushing me over in the process. Hubby gave chase and made a grab for him, just as he ran into the road, dodging through the busy traffic. Thankfully, there was no way, my man was going to risk his life following the thief any further. Happily for me, a couple of burly workmen saw what was happening and tackled him when he got to the other side. They got my bag back for me and crossed the road, waving it aloft and beaming triumphantly. I was so grateful that I could have kissed them. It was a very unpleasant experience, but all’s well that ends well.
I may not be able to blog again before Christmas, so I wish you all a very happy one. Tomorrow, we are anticipating seeing our first glacier as we start our six day Antarctic experience.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Our 50th wedding anniversary today brings back many memories. Our wedding wasn’t a fancy one and we started off with very little in the way of worldly goods, but our love has conquered all the difficulties we’ve encountered along the way. We are celebrating together here in Santiago Chile. On Monday we join our Patagonia and Antarctica cruise; yet another adventure, and a chance to make more happy memories. Yesterday we ascended to 10,000′ for lunch in the mountains with our excellent guide.
(No, we didn’t actually climb up there. Mauricio drove us up around 60 hairpin bends, and then of course, what goes up must come down, so we harum-scarumed back down again. We then visited a wine farm, where we fortified ourselves with a few sips of excellent Chilean wine.
We are spending today in the city, just wandering around and taking in the sights. We spoke to both our children and some of our grandchildren this morning, and tonight we will enjoy a delicious dinner whilst reminiscing over all the happy times we’ve had.
I wish you all a very happy weekend.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen an alligator in our pond, but this one at our local nature reserve had quite a hypnotic gaze.
Happy Wednesday to you all. Only six more sleeps until we fly off to Chile to join our Antarctic cruise.
I hadn’t seen this sweet little creature since we returned home, but at breakfast this morning, Sammy decided it was her turn to sit on the rock outside our kitchen window, which is so often occupied by one of the Iggy family.
Wishing you all a really good week.
To participate in Susan’s macro challenge, just click this link.
We won’t be home for Christmas, as for our 50th wedding anniversary celebration, we’ve booked ourselves on a Patagonia and Antarctica cruise which leaves from Valparaiso in Chile, ending in Buenos Aires Argentina. We leave here for Chile on December 13th, and arrive back home on 15th January. It’s all very exciting, although I think I’m going to find myself a bit out of my comfort zone as we trek through snow and ice during the seven days of our ‘Antarctic Experience’. We do get free Parkas, and are renting special boots. I’ve also opted for walking poles even though hubby kindly said that I could hold onto him. I really don’t want us both landing up in an embarrassing heap on the ice in front of our fellow passengers.
I decided that I needed to make our home look just a bit Christmassy for the couple of weeks we’re still here, so bought a tree for the front porch.
In our entrance hall, is a granite top which seemed to lend itself to my display of Santas and the Christmas bells which I’ve collected over many years. As you may notice, the renovations aren’t quite finished, but we’re getting there.
Wishing you all a splendid weekend.
anotherdayinparadise 
You must be logged in to post a comment.