Cowbright: Puerto Chacabuco

I was too tired last night to write about our day yesterday. As I’ve already mentioned, our excursion was very tiring. The port at Chacabuco is one where it is necessary to be tendered to and from shore. Based on where we were sitting on the tender, we were some of the last to get off, which resulted in also being the last to climb aboard Bus #8. It wasn’t until today when I looked back at the tour’s description that I read “This tour is primarily panoramic in nature with walking at the guest’s discretion during stops.” Translation: YOU'LL BE RIDING ON A BUS FOR THE BIGGEST PART OF 7 HOURS!

The tour highlights description read as follows:

• Thread your way by coach through wild Chilean Patagonia from the coast to a town on the far side of the Andes.

• Breathe in the unspoiled beauty at Rio Simpson National Reserve and spend some time at its Visitor Center.

• Gaze on the city of Coyhaique from a high mountain viewpoint, then tour the town at street level.

• Visit the main square, browse the handcrafts market and enjoy light refreshments at a local restaurant.

Yes, we did that. But we unfortunately we had to sit on the next to the last row of the bus (just above the wheel well) and next to a loose window that rattled nonstop over the bumpy roads for the entire length of the trip. Our noisy location made it very difficult to hear our tour guide, much less follow what he was saying. A local from Coyhaique, he low-talked really fast and overused the phrase “and again…” to the point where I thought I might lose my mind. Lol!

Besides being unable to hear much of what was being said, it was very frustrating to see so much beautiful scenery with a camera in my hand while whizzing past it. It's hard when you can "see" all these photos and not get to take them!

Only when the bus had to slow almost to a stop could I grab a shot here and there through a wet and/or fogged up window. It rained on and off the entire afternoon and we were never so glad to return to the ship. The scenery was truly breathtaking in places but difficult to enjoy it from my vantage point, either craning my neck 45 degrees to the left or staring at the tall seat back directly in front of me. This experience served as a good reminder to read the excursion description more closely!

The still shots were taken when we were (obviously) stopped.

we are....here

These were shots taken at the Rio Simpson National Reserve.

I take lots of photos of Ronnie because I'm always the one with the camera. Occasionally I will hand him my camera and tell him to take a picture of me so that we'll know that I was there as well.

Ronnie is just over 6 ft and I'm 5'2" so he's obviously shooting down at me. We've had many conversations regarding holding the camera straight; otherwise my top half is going to be larger than my bottom half. It's all about perspective. We both had a good laugh over the one of me. My legs are short - but not THAT short! lol