Water water everywhere

Thought you were done with pictures from our cruise through the Beagle Channel and surrounding archipelago? Not so, I'm afraid. We took close to 500 pictures. (Hey, digital cameras make taking photos cheap!) Plus, we are lining up several posts so that you all are entertained while we hike around Tierra del Fuego.

The most surprising thing about the islands at the very southern tip of Patagonia has got to be the waterfalls. I had assumed we'd see glaciers and snow and ice; waterfalls, not so much. But all that snowmelt has got to go somewhere:

Several waterfalls cascading down the side of a small island.

A bigger waterfall, below a larger icefield.

A view of the ship, below a large snow field.

You know you're on a luxury ship when they serve you whiskey (or coke!) after every excursion... chilled by glacier ice, of course.

23 December 2009

Picture of the day: the view of Ushuaia from the Beagle Channel.

Ushuaia is in Argentina, while the Beagle Channel is split between Chile (south half) and Argentina (north half). This picture was taken in Chile, of Argentina.

22 December 2009

Picture of the day: the Chilean flag flying over Cabo de Hornos.

21 December 2009

Picture of the day: the Pía glacier.

20 December 2009

Picture of the day: Fuegian forest and stream.

Mare Australis

Below are some pictures from our cruise. It was the priciest part of our trip, but I think we can both say it was worth every penny.

We left Punta Arenas at 8pm on Saturday. The landscape there was flat and windy; when we woke up on Sunday morning, this was the view out of our cabin window:

The Cordillera Darwin (the end of the Andes), running east-west across Tierra del Fuego.

Sunset from the bow of the ship (about 10:30pm).

Looking south over Cape Horn. Next land: Antartica (600 km).

The Mare Australis, behind the ice fields by the Glacier Pía.

In Argentina

We've survived our trip on the high seas, and we are now enjoying the frigid (nearly) Antarctic air in Ushuaia. Computers are slow here, so we won't be posting a whole lot, but we have some pictures from the trip here that will trickle out over the next few days.

Expect the first in a few minutes.

We're on a Boat!

We're on Day 4 of our cruise today. Depending on the weather, we may get to visit Cape Horn. Keep your fingers crossed for mild-ish winds and smooth-ish seas.

For a good map of where we've been on the cruise, check out the Cruceros Australis website.

We get to Ushuaia tomorrow. We'll try to post some pictures once we get there.

Cementerio, oh Cementerio

Those who know me really well probably don't know this about me: I'm crazy about graveyards and cemetaries. Seriously. Some of my best memories of Iowa are when I could convince Kyle, who grew up 20 miles from the college, to drive me around to the old graveyards down practically unused dirt roads.

I don't know what it is about them, but in case any of you are as enamored as I am of old headstones and cool crypts, the following pictures are for you. (Since we're currently at sea and unable to post, I thought I'd set up these pictures to keep you all coming back...)

The cementerio municipal in Punta Arenas is probably one of the best cemetaries I've seen in South America. According to Lonely Planet, "in death as in life, Punta Arenas' first families flaunted their wealth--wool baron José Menéndez's extravagent tomb is a scale replica of Rome's Vittorio Emanuele monument." See for yourself:

Headstones and sculptures stretching as far as the eye can see.

Crypts lining the walkway at the entrance to the cementerio.