#3 Chilean Fjords

I was going to do Puerto Chacabuco here, but i have so many fabulous photos from the hike.   I will put that together for tomorrow.

For some reason, I love the name Chacabuco.  It just rolls off the tongue and sounds heavily Latino.  Chacabuco! It just makes you want to MOVE YOUR HIPS!  LOL

Chacabuco!  Ariba!

Ok.....Humor me.

To get to Puerto Chacabuco you have to go through the Chilean Fjords.  If you have ever been to Alaska you will recognize the familiar landscape of the Inside Passage.  Inside, the sailing is smooth but when the ship went out into the Pacific Ocean for 4 hours until we could jump back into the Aisen or Aysen) Fjords, the water was very rough.  The ship rocked and swayed from the huge ground swells.

In the Chilean Fjords, the Northern and Southern Patagonian Icefields feed multiple glaciers.  The ice sheet in Antarctica is actually growing, not receding as the global warming idiots want you be believe.   The population is sparse in these small communes, fishing and mining gold and silver are the main exports but sheep and wool makes up a significant segment of the market.  Chile produces more than 1/3 of the world's copper supply. 


Chacabuco is so small that the cruise companies actually bring in buses for the excursion passengers. It is considered to be the Gateway to Antarctica  so it is a necessary stop.  Look at all the glaciers, we were able to see 16 active glaciers as we sailed. 

The Patagonian forests and mountains had long been an area fought over by several countries, but since the Argentinean Treaty was signed in 1881, Chile controls it now.

The original native population suffered the same fates as the natives in the northern areas, contact with Europeans brought new diseases.   They became extinct before 1900.

The glaciers and icefields are protected with the boundaries of the Torres del Paine National Park.  Torres del Paine is designated as a World Biosphere by UNESCO.  The Southern Patagonian Ice Field dominates the west side of the park, and contains the largest of the glaciers.

We are approaching the tip of the world!








I found it interesting that the temperatures are considered to be temperate, getting no higher than about 41 degrees or below 27 degrees F.  This sounds far worse when you see it in Centigrade temps  as 5 to -3 degrees.  Nonetheless, the fluctuation is small and not what you would think smack dab against Antarctica.

So, more tomorrow,  come back  and see where we went next.