I had never been to South America and it remained one of the top three outstanding on my Bucket List. After much study, it became evident that the best way to do this was fly into Brazil, then to Argentina, take a cruise from there via the Antarctic to Chile, fly to Peru and then back home. That seemed easy, but it took 15 months of planning and booking before it could be enjoyed.
The Cruise
So, planning and booking done, it remained to get on and enjoy!
Rio de Janeiro
The evening we arrived, with a smooth transition through the airport, there was a violent electrical rain storm that pounded the beach outside the hotel. However, in the morning, it had cleared the air and we looked out on a wonderful Ipanema Beach from our room.
The rest of the city was a bit of a mishmash without stops before we arrived a Sugar Loaf Mountain, so named because its shape resembles the vessels that stored sugar for export. Two cable cars took us to the top and some outstanding views of the city in all directions, including Copacabana Beach on the one side to Guanabara Bay and the North on the other.
We had a bbq lunch, with a seemingly limitless supply of meats brought to the table on skewers until we could handle no more, before we headed for Corcovado Mountain and Christ the Redeemer, the most famous icon of Rio, very popular of course, also with outstanding views over the city.
Cathedral
Cubby holes just big enough for your bones
Sugar Loaf Mountain
Copacabana Beach in the distance
Christ the Redeemer, just visible on the hilltop centre
Cathedral in the middle
Next day, we had a tour of Rocinha Favela. These colourful shanty towns are a fascinating story, having started in a haphazard and unofficial way while government turned a blind eye. They have grown up in many places and house an enormous number of people. But, as politicians have wooed the many occupants for votes, they are supplied with free utilities and pay no taxes!. This gives government finances a bit of a problem, of course, but it is hard to see how it can change for the future with so many people living there, many with fine views over the ocean and near to their work places below, sometimes in decent jobs, while the strength of the communities almost forces them to remain in a favela. Rocinha is one of those that is making progress with services and law and order, drugs and other crime having been a problem before, and some of our tour cost gets recycled into that community. We did not feel threatened or voyeuristic walking down through it.
Just loved their line-plant!
Can't knock the view
Last of all, we saw a Samba show, which was energetic and entertaining, showing the historical African slave roots of the dance that has now become the centre piece of the Carnaval that is so famous in Rio. We felt we had a small taste of this.
I should point out that I was unaware how small the waist of the right hand dancer was, until I saw the photo, yes really!
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires
A city tour here took us first to the Memorial Park for the Disappeared. It is believed that, between the late 60s and the early 80s, some 30,000 people were 'disappeared' by the Military Junta, including intellectuals and others who were believed to be a threat. Some were drugged and thrown out of airplanes, shot, tortured etc and pregant women were allowed to have their babies before themselves being disappeared, with the babies being given to childless military families. They are identified (embarazada) so on the walls. It was eventually picked up on by the World's journalists, actually in town to cover a World Cup ('78?) and finally it had greater coverage than ever before. Following the Falkslands War, the Junta fell and democracy was restored, so investigations began in earnest. The walls reminded me of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, with names laid out in years, '76 being the largest number, a very sombre place that few Argentinians ever visit because of the shame. One monument, a boy, looks out across the River Plate hoping for the return of his parents and friends.
The roads are mostly wide in Buenos Aires and there are some fine buildings, including Casa Rosada, from which balcony Eva Peron made many speeches to the people as her popularity and influence rose. It also features in the film Evita, where she sang Don't Cry for Me Argentina. We visited La Recoleta Cemetery with some 6,000 very ornate mausoleums, sometimes several floors below ground level, where Evita is buried. This was after a long time when her body had been taken first to Italy, then recovered to Spain where Juan Peron lived in exile with his 3rd wife, and finally to be repatriated when he was allowed to return to Argentina, to a final resting place. We visited a colourful docks area that is trying to regenerate, with a strong Italian influence from the Genoan boat builders in its active days. It is now very much an artisan and tourist attraction, with lots of tango outside its cafes.
The Fishing Club, now a restaurant
Argentina was not alone
Embarazada - pregnant
Avenue to the park, with signs explaining
how people were killed
La Recoleta Cemetery
Duarte Mausoleum, including Eva
Tributes on the mausoleum
Through a window
The largest in the cemetery
Casa Rosada
Tango!
Last of all,we visited the Falklands War Memorial opposite our hotel, which ironically faces a clock tower donated by the British many decades before.
CRUISE
Boarding a day before we sailed allowed us to settle in and explore our home for the next 21 days. msZaandam is a smaller vessel with about 1,400 passengers and we haven't seen any kids yet, yeah! We also were in a minority from the UK, most being American, but we did feel a bit spritely compared to some of our crumbling or wobbling shipmates!
With a day in port, we had a visit to a Gaucho estate outside Buenos Aires. It was a bit touristy, but there were some excellent displays of horsemanship, Jean got to ride and there was a bbq lunch followed by some tango, song and other dance to finish it off, before our return to the ship and setting sail.
Placing the small rings
Spearing a ring and
giving to a lady, in exchange for a kiss!
Jean goes riding
Lively tango!
He was pleased to see me!
Montevideo
A whole day stop did allow us to take a walking tour of the old and new towns with an amusing guide. Uruguay has an interesting history and we learnt about some of it. Originally annexed by Spain to Argentina, then Brazil by Portugal, it finally got its independence and Britain managed the economy for a period, while allowing Uruguay its own government. It was described as 'free trade' but seen as contraband, our guide told us! The church is independent of the state, although the majority are agnostic, it seems culturally well advanced and its Carnival seems to feature costumes closer to its African roots than elsewhere in South America, and it lasts many days longer. Some of the finer old architecture has been interspersed with modern ill-fitting buildings, our guide lamented, but there are now regulations in place to limit this. It is one of he World's biggest rice producers, 95% is exported to Iran in exchange for beneficial oil prices, while the rest is consumed domestically. We saw the anchor and monument of the Graf Spey, infamously scuttled after being chased by the British Navy from the Arctic, then allowed an insufficient 3 days for repairs to her damage by neutral Uruguay, so it was scuppered in the River Plate and the Captain shot himself, the subject of a black & white film in my youth - The Battle of the River Plate.
In the sunshine and under a blue sky, we then set sail for Puerto Madryn, some 715 nautical miles further down the east coast of Argentina. It was quite windy, which generated white top waves, but there was only a gentle swell, so we had a comfortable day at sea.
Puerto Madryn
Bright sunshine greeted us and, not enticed by any of the shore excursions, we just wandered down the pier to look for the Oceanographic and Welsh Settlement museum. Sadly, it was closed, in fact much of Puerto Madryn seemed to be closed! It has a long beach, which had some people on it, some water sports going on, light industry and a few hotels evident but I found it difficult to work out what its main activities were. So, it was back to the ship for the balance of the day.
Falkland Islands
After a day at sea, we sailed into Port Stanley on a rather grey morning, got our early tender to shore and joined two others in a 4x4 as part of a convoy to Volunteer Point. A little tarmac, some gravel and most of the time bouncing over soft and boggy ground. The reward was large colonies of King Penguins, Gentoos and a few Magellanics.
None appeared afraid of humans, although we had been asked to observe a respectful distance, so it was a great privilege to be able to be so close, watch their antics, listen to the cacophony of sound, and smell them! There were young chicks, and some of the Kings were either still incubating or holding their chicks on their front feet out of view. Some fledgings looked like badly dressed wayward youngsters! The Gentoos seemed more advanced and can produce two chicks a year, compared to the Kings' two every three years.
We had just a brief look at Stanley on our return, with its varied houses - some old corrugated tin, some brick, some more modern materials, and our driver/guide told us a lot about the Falklands and how it has advanced economically since the war, mainly because its fishing became protected. He arrived in '77 as a 'travelling teacher', who spent 2 weeks at a time living with the families of his students, before travelling to the next one, sometimes involving horseback after a float-plane ride! He now runs a farm with his local wife. The treeless landscape is pretty barren but has a rugged beauty, laced with craggy rocks that have been dropped from glaciers as they melted, and peat bogs, which were widely used as sources of fuel. For an island of just 3,000 it seems remarkably stable and self-sufficient.
King Penguin
Yeah, I know, I'm in transition!
Gentoo Penguin
Magellanic Penguin
The wind challenged the docking of the tenders
with the crew having to duck inside to save their heads!
Made it eventually.
with the crew having to duck inside to save their heads!
Made it eventually.
Antarctica
After rocking and rolling for two nights and a day at sea, we passed into Antarctica (60 degrees south) and turned west to the south side of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, just north of the peninsular. Progress had been slowed in the heavy seas and also by bigger icefields than normal, and the latter prevented us first heading to the Antarctic Sound at the tip of the peninsular. At just after 6am, the temperature was zero with a strong and squally wind chill making it cold!
We cruised through Admiralty Bay, spotting many penguins in the water and hopping on and off bits of ice, a minke whale and some stunning scenery around and about. Careful navigation around some of the bigger ice took us to glaciers and we were briefed on several of the scientific research stations on the shores.
Admiralty Bay
Bit of a wind chill!
Stenhouse Glacier
Our Captain took us up close to one iceberg, which towered above our top deck and had two groups of penguins on shelves at its base.
Because of the denser ice fields in the channel, we missed out Maxwell Bay and carried on to Deception Island, the last of the South Shetland Islands and where whaling had been established years ago, with the sun breaking through on the South Shetlands to starboard, and the peninsular mainland visible to port.
There, a huge colony of some 300,000 Chinstrap penguins spanned the beach and hills behind, with hundreds coming and going feeding at sea, which we watched for some time. It could be smelt from quite a long way off! Leaving brought in a terrific sunset and just a few hours of semi-darkness before it all began again!
Deception Island
Opening the curtains at 6:30am brought a double 'wow' in the Schollaert Channel as we entered the Danco Coast area of the archipelago and headed down the Gerlache Channel for Cuverville Island. The navigation crew had to be alert as they weaved between the bigger icebergs and got us in as close as was safe. There, a colony of Gentoo penguins populated from shoreline up a path in the snow to hilltop, and some were seen going to and from feeding in the water.
Humpback (?) whales
Cuverville Island
Big enough to do damage!
Gentoo everywhere
Crab eater seal
(so named for the shape of their teeth)
From there, it was into Paradise Harbour, an inlet abound with ice and a Chilean research station, which was established by 2 young Brits wintering there in the early 20th century, doing what became formative research into penguin breeding, their only food being? Penguins! Princess Anne came here recently to present a bronze plaque in recognition of their achievements.
It was outstandingly pretty calm water, reflections, ice, Crab Eater seals, penguins, all under our second day of sunshine and clear blue sky, for which we were really grateful. The Expeditions Team said that a typical month at this time of year included 26 cloudy and 4 partly cloudy days! Stained snow means penguins!
The stain of penguins on the snow,
visible on the rocks
Neumeyer Channel approach
Just squeeze past this one first
Clearer water opened up after some 12 hours winding through the channels and icebergs in what can only be described, if it is adequate, as an outstanding day. I returned to the cabin right out of adjectives, nearly snow-blind from a day looking at ice without sunglasses and wondering what tomorrow could hold!
Well, who could have guessed how lucky we would be to wake to sunshine again, although there was a rather strong and cold wind early on. 11 members of Palmer Station (US Antarctic Program) and 25% of its summer population, came on board and gave us excellent presentations about their work. The lead scientist was on her 28th stay in the Antarctic. Mind you, our Expeditions Team Leader was ex that program and had done 40 years of work there, returned as an expert guide/consultant in retirement for 10 years, so I guess it gets in some people's blood! There is an emphasis on marine and oceanographic research, but a worrying aside is the extent to which ice has retreated on the peninsular in the last 50 years with a 6deg rise in average temperature, and their models show that it will continue retreating over the next 100 too. Not only the largest source of fresh water on the planet, Antarctic ice will also cause significant rise in sea levels if there is substantial melting.
Palmer Station visitors departing
Watching them disembark to return to their work gave way to a few last vistas of the mountains, icebergs and blue sky as we set off under a greying sky and strengthening wind into Drake Passage and the prospect of heavy seas tomorrow!
However, what an utterly outstanding experience with three consecutive days that defied the weather norms. Bye bye Antarctic and thanks for giving us such a once in a lifetime experience.
Drake Passage was mostly kind. After a few hours, the sun disappeared, the waves got up and a 75mph wind from the east caused a list to port of some 10 or more degrees, causing spillage concerns for yours truly and other cocktail drinkers at Happy Hour in the Crow's Nest! The ship also bounced around quite a bit but later settled down to more gentle undulations through the night. Rougher seas, forecast for the next day, did not materialise as the wind turned to the more usual Roaring Forties from the west, and most of the rest of the crossing was more peaceful, albeit not without some movement.
The horizon askew from the Crow's Nest!
No optical illusion.
No optical illusion.
Late morning next day, Cape Horn came into sight and we rounded it with a traditional blast on the ship's horn, slowing to view the shore and albatross within short windows of sunshine. Then it was into the Beagle Channel to head for Ushuaia, actually in Argentina but, because we had entered in Chilean waters, we had to clear with their officials at Puerta Williams first, before crossing the Channel a few hundred metres into Argentinian waters. The border runs in the centre of the Channel and each country is easily visible from the other.
Cabo de Hornos
Albatross
Beagle Channel
Chilean Immigration about to board
Ushuaia
We moored up early evening in Ushuaia, the World's southernmost city, and made an early start next day to the Train to the End of the World, Tren del Fin del Mundo. Originally the area was settled by Anglican Missionaries, and Ushuaia was started as a penal colony with a rather brutal regime. The train was used to transport prisoners to what is now the National Park of Tierra del Fuego to cut wood, building the track as they went, first to finish their prison and then to construct other parts of Ushuaia. The prison was eventually closed by Juan Peron in 1947 and the railway with it, but the railway later reopened in 1994 as a means of giving tourists access to the areas where wood had been cut, evidenced by the many remaining stumps, as well as the Park. After the quaint train journey, we visited the World's southernmost Post Office, with a very pretty outlook on the Beagle (Darwin's ship) Channel, although it was a bit blustery. Many bought and mailed their postcards. Then it was back into town for a short look around before embarkation. Ushuaia is a rather colourful but haphazard place of curiosity and charm.
Some stumps were several feet high, which indicated the level of snow at the time the trees were cut down.
The World's Southernmost Post Office
There were many stray dogs, abandoned pets, and we had been warned of this to be cautious everywhere from now on.
From Ushaia, we sailed west along the Beagle Channel in a part known as Glacier Alley, and we could see why:
However, the worrying thing was the receded extent of each of the glaciers we passed.
Punta Arenas
The port was along the coast from the centre, so there wasn't much to see from deck. We took a shore excursion, first to a museum that included full size replicas of Magellan's ship, Victoria, another of Charles Darwin's Beagle, the James Cairndupon which Shackleton escaped from his ice-crushed Endeavour, first to Elephant Island and then South Georgia, in one of the most daring escapes of all time without a man lost, and Ancud.
After a quick visit to its city centre museum, it was up the hill to overlook the city itself before descending to have a walk around the square in the city centre. It is mainly a support port for the Antarctic and the industrial flavour was not that endearing.
Land ahoy?
HMS Beagle
Charles Darwin's ship
James Caird
Such a small vessel for so daring an escape
Magellan discovered this new route that
avoided the perils of Cape Horn
Chilean vessel sent to claim Magellan Strait in 1843
Overlooking Punta Arenas
Shipmate buys local jacket
Carabinieri attention!
Our journey up the Chilean fjords from Punta Arenas was compromised by a steady drizzle and limited visibility, but it was more than offset by the onboard activities, firstly a lecture on the Ozone Hole and one of success for mankind - identifying the cause (CFCs) and reversing it for the future, but for natural causes e.g. volcanoes.
Our Expeditions Team Leader gave a very interesting talk on extraordinary events in Antartica, from the earliest explorers through to his own 50+ years of experience. Phew! Next was South American Wine Tasting featuring Uruguay, Argentina & Chile, plus local cocktails from each. Time now for a rest, but it's Happy Hour already! How do we fit all this stuff in with more to come? 6 days at sea including 3 in Antartica zipped by, and now another 2 days at sea is flying by!
Further up the fjords, we passed by an old wreck with a colourful history - it had run aground on rocks, but the Captain filed a false insurance claim that it had sunk and disappeared, unsuccessfully as it was investigated, and he ended up in jail. Thereafter, the Chilean Navy used it for target practice.
Messier wreck
further holed by the Chilean Navy
further holed by the Chilean Navy
We also got up pretty close to another glacier:
Tempanos Glacier
Puerta Chacabuco
Arrival at Puerta Chacabuco suggested a rather dull day and that is how it began. Tendered to shore, we joined a rather steamy bus to take the Northern Patagonia & Coyhaique tour, able only to see large mountain shapes erupting from the plain alongside the Simpson River Valley, so it didn't bode too well. Climbing all the way, we had a drizzling outlook at a Nature Reserve and then a rather murky overlook of Coyhaique City from a viewing point.
Tenders lowered and ready to go
Simpson River Nature Reserve
A drizzly overlook towards Coyhaique
But, it was to change and we were able to enjoy a dry walkabout in Coyhaique, in an area that had a rather alpine look in both scenery and also architecture, before returning under a clearing blue sky and sunshine to see the valley we had followed in an entirely different way. Coyhaique is quite small, around 55,000 souls, seeming in the main to be fairly prosperous for an isolated community.
Waterfall en route back to Puerto Chacabuco
Departure passed a large rockfall, which had caused a tsunami in Puerto Chacabuco, and later gave way to a rather super sunset as we sailed for Castro.
Rockfall
Castro
A fine day in Castro enabled us to enjoy a trip to Conchi, Necron and then back to Castro. Castro is the capital of the Chiloe Province, an archipelago that includes the island of Chiloe, the second largest in South America after Tierra del Fuego. It was settled by Jesuits who built 150 churches, many of which are now UNESCO protected. We visited three, all of which were wooden and in need of some care. Those in Conchi and Necron had wooden buttreses sitting on simple stone bases to support them, but seem to have survived a 7.2 earthquake just last December, which was more than a little surprising. Castro's cathedral which, although wooden inside, had been clad in painted zinc plate, so it looked like stone from a distance. Apparently, its stone design had to be converted for wooden construction locally! Fire is a big risk with most houses wooden framed. Some are clad in shingles, a style brought in by Bavarians, wooden shiplap, or painted zinc or aluminium corrugated panels. Many of them too need some care! But, they included some very colourful houses on stilts overlooking the Gamba River.
Conchi
Necron
Castro Cathedral
Corrugated metal cladding
Corrugated metal cladding
Preparing for a christening?
Grand from a distance
We were back in time for lunch on board, in the sunshine, where Jean decided to complement her salad with a beer and some chips!
Departing Castro, we passed many mussel beds and some salmon fisheries, two of the major local industries. Once more, we were treated to a fine sunset.
Mussel nets
Puerto Montt
Our last stop was Puerto Montt, not far from Castro/Chiloe, but the biggest at 250,000 souls, so it sported more modern buildings and industry. We went a short distance up the highway, also part of the famous Pan American Highway from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, to Puerto Varas. This is a small tourist town, with a large casino, on the shore of Lake Llanquihe, the second largest in Chile. Across this lake, subject to prevailing cloud, can be seen the snow-capped volcanoes of Osorno and Calbuco. Osorno is often compared with Mt Fuji in Japan, because of its perfect cone, but has been dormant for some time. Calbuco, on the other hand, is still active. Curiously, the peak of Osorno could be seen in varying degrees above the cloud, whereas Calbuco seemed to have a flatter top although that was obscured by cloud but the base could be seen clearly. I only photographed Osorno. Further along the highway is the small town of Frutillar, where we also visited a musuem of the colonial period, from mid 19th century, when German settlers brought a lot of Bavarian style architecture and language, both of which remain evident today.
Mt Osorno
Colonial Museum
Cowboys warming up for the rodeo
Our last full day on board was at sea, on the way from Puerto Montt to Valparaiso, the coastal port of Santiago. It was a lazy day enjoying quite warm sunshine as we headed north up the coast, a last Happy Hour in the Crow's Nest, making it a very relaxing end to a superb cruising holiday.
CHILE
Valparaiso
We were already docked, at a very busy container port, when we woke early on our last day, and we were cleared and with luggage ready to begin our tour of Valparaiso, its neighbour Vina del Mar, before heading inland to Santiago, about 110km away.
The first thing I noticed was a smell of smoke, but I was to hear that there had been only small fires near to the port, with a more major one further south, about 500km away, but affecting some 400,000 hectares.
Valparaiso will probably be remembered for two things - the busy port area, and the graffiti! There was lots of the latter and it seemed to be, in the main, very artistic and of deep meaning in some cases. There was a small amount of the regular vandalism style, but it was minimal overall. We toured the port and took a 130 year old funicular to overlook it. No brakes and no redundant cable as far as I could see, a few decent kinks in the track, but we got up safely!
Chilean Navy vessel
Not very straight and true!
Next was Vina del Mar which adjoins Valparaiso, but which was quite different - more modern development, a beach although no swimming allowed because of the undertow and some pollution. There is a major Naval presence there - Academy and Hospital, as the Chilean Navy is based out of Valparaiso. We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch overlooking the sea before taking our journey to Santiago. It was quite arid and barren over large parts, but there were sizeable vineyards and wineries along the way.
Sand sculpture - squid?
Out first impressions of Santiago, where we were staying in the suburb of Providencia, were that it is quite commercial, busy and dusty.
Next day, we left our boutique hotel for the Hop On/Off bus stop. The map baffled me with missing roads that we encountered and we walked around in circles a bit, which wasn't a great start for Jean's stubbed toe! But, I eventually found it, we boarded and set about trying to work out Santiago. Providencia is definitely the up and coming financial, commercial and retail centre nowadays, abound with blocks of glass and malls the number and size of which rather bewildered me. And, construction goes on at pace. There are some very smartly designed precincts on multiple levels with al fresco food courts and other pleasant features, but some seemed, at least from the outside, to be just vast blocks of shops. Western food chains have invaded with many familiar names and, perhaps, this had some bearing on the noticeably greater number of chubbier Chileans we saw around and about.
Hotel Boutique Le Reve
Heading back to the old town, we saw more clever graffiti and some of it seemed to be in a block of night clubs before, rather suddenly, we arrived at Plaza de Armas, the central square with its grand and classical buildings. Blocks of glass could also be seen around and about it and rather out of keeping in my view. We had been warned of pick pockets and other distraction crime, but a local chap warned me not to leave my sunglasses on the table while we were sitting having a tipple and a bite, nice chap, thank you!
Plaza de Armas
Old and new
There were lots of police around and about, so I guess this was a deterrent, each with what seemed enough ammunition (each 6 extra clips) for a decent fire fight. Maybe there was something more to worry about, or is that just the norm? Further on, I also noticed several wagons of heavily armed riot police waiting in the shade, again for what I wondered!
From the central square, we then passed around Constitution Square and the old Presidential Palace pre the military coup of 1973 (on Sept 11 as it happens) and this was really quite impressive.
Perhaps typical for the cynic in me, the Cultural Arts Centre was made of rusting sheet that looked like strips of punched tape stuck together, in an unimaginative box-like design. Why do the most creative minds do this stuff?
The graffiti was better than the architecture
Overall, Santiago is a place of two styles, some classical from its colonial days, and now much more modern functional architecture, although some of what we saw is creative and tasteful. One downside is that there tends to be quite a lot of litter and what looked like some fly tipping. It was interesting to hear that, after a long time of military rule under General Pinochet and others, only a narrow margin voted for a return to democracy!
PERU
It was a smooth arrival at Lima airport, but the journey to the hotel was reminiscent of some of the less well developed places I have lived - bluff, double bluff, push in, play chicken, lane change without warning etc, threaten those jay-walking pedestrians, congestion and impatience etc! Oh yes, it was all familiar. First impressions, at least from the route we took, were of half-finished buildings, most unrendered, many unfinished, rather dry and dusty, although by the time we arrived at the Miraflores suburb where we were staying, there was an outbreak of some greenery with smarter and more modern buildings.
Well, where were we last night - Lima's Wild West? Today it seemed a different place, so maybe we were! Traffic was busy but calm, lane discipline restored, less frenzied and more, as we took our City Tour, just us with Victor, our guide and Eduardo driving. After a brief look around the coast near our hotel in Miraflores, a summer vacation area for the rich long ago, we headed 7km for the City Centre and to what was a very impressive central square with Cathedral, Archbishop and Presidential Palace residences and City Hall.
Along the way, we passed one of the 70 or so Huacas, Inca pyramids, huge in breadth with a flat top, made from tens of thousands of clay bricks, which are neither protected from the elements nor the subject of much restoration after thousands of years. Quite astonishing, when some modern buildings elsewhere have a life of only several decades before they start decay. Most city buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries and the colonial period, were extremely well maintained and architecturally impressive. Balconies, generally wooden, feature on the front of many of them.
We felt it was our best city centre in South America. In the distance between these impressive buildings could be seen the poorer areas, rather like the favelas of Rio, which we should see tomorrow.
The Cathedral was enormous, stone pillars rising to support a wooden roof structure, which seemed to allow wider aisles than in wholly stone structures seen elsewhere. It is a Museum six days per week and a church on Sunday, with 14 side chapels. A catacomb houses the remains of many past Archbishops and, oddly, the skulls of Benefactors dating from the 17th century! Recently discovered behind a wall in the catacomb was the beheaded skeleton of the first Spanish governor, Francisco Pizzero, who had led a brutal campaign that killed many indigenous people, hacked to death by 16 attackers. Another annex records this event.
Annex of Fransco Pizzero
Side Chapel
Altar and Choir stalls
Wooden Carving of the Apostles
Vestments worn by Pope John Paul II
during a visit to Lima
Riot police lurked in the shade in anticipation of unrest and demonstrations and a water cannon truck passed in front of the Presidential Palace at the moment of one of my photos. Lima also has the most attractive (female) Traffic Police and some of the regular Policia match up to this too! Yep, I just couldn't help but notice!
Archbishop's Palace
Presidential Palace
City Hall
The Santo Domingo Monastery and Convent was impressive and its library holds 25,000 books and manuscripts hundreds of years old, as well as being very tranquil.
Biblioteq
Thank you ladies!
Back in Miraflores
We were dropped off back at the coast overlooking the sea at Larcomar for lunch, which was local and good, including Pisco Sours, and we walked back to our hotel watching paragliders and Turkey Vultures riding the thermals of the cliff - maybe one looking for opportunity in the other?
Back in Boot Camp, we next went to the Larco Museum, an incredible collection of 45,000 artefacts collected by Raphael Larco in the early 20th century, from the Mochica, Nazca and Inca civilisations and dating back some 3,000 years. What was amazing about the collection, which included viewing the storage area, was the pristine condition of the ceramics, textile, gold and silver artefacts, some of which he had discovered in his house and most of which he had purchased. Only the odd chip or repair here and there, mainly because the Spanish had not found, stolen or destroyed them during the colonial period, and many had been buried in tombs with their owners, in keeping with tradition.
Larco Museum
Gold adornments
Storage also on display
Next, we called by a Taberna, a very popular venue for locals since the 19th century, for a pork sandwich and Pisco Sour. I must confess to developing a potentially dangerous liking for them!
Last of all, we toured a park in the middle of the city, first built in the 1920s and now kitted out with a rather stunning series of computer controlled water fountains, with laser show, in 2007. All in all, a very fine day.
Everyone gets wet!
Our final tour in Lima was described as a Local Communities visit, which was anticipated to be a bit like the Favela Tour in Rio. However, we found it quite different. Picked up by our Belgian guide, Elina, we drove up to the hills to the southeast of where we were staying to the district of Villa Maria del Triumfo, overlooking the city, to Cemenerio Virgen de Lourdes that is believed to be the 2nd biggest cemetery in the World. This cannot be verified as there are no reliable records and there are also many unauthorised graves or family mausoleums that have been constructed during the night. Plots are meant to be bought, but some are just taken and built on by stealth. But, it was massive and intriguing. As we climbed higher into the hills on rough roads, taxis and buses gave way to 'motor taxis' (tuk tuks) hoovering up and down the steep slopes.
Cemenerio Virgen de Lourdes
On the way to visit a lady making handicrafts, we learned that the communities are known as Human Settlements, a rather less flattering title given that they have the same tight knit communities as the favelas. However, this handicraft lady, senora Balvina, gets international NGO help in design and materials as part of a Fair Trade scheme, so maybe has some better future ahead.
Her sewing machine
From that relatively better (concrete) building, we then climbed higher to mostly wooden shanty-like structures, where there is electricity but no running water or sewage system, to have lunch, yes with a little trepidation!
It was a fascinating visit to senora Ninfa in Nuevo Rinconada, where we met Elizabetha (18) and Samantha (3), in senora Ninfa's modest wooden house to be served chicken, rice and chick peas for lunch. What was particularly impressive was the clearly warm relationship between our guide and them, and how welcome we were made to feel.
Elizabetha is studying hard to make it to university to take psychology, but is also a tutor at a nearby basic classroom with homework and other cultural development issues for child domestic workers, in and NGO called Jugando Aprendo. This is to try and encourage parents and families to allow children to follow their education rather than have to clean or do other chores, sometime missing class, for family members from the age of 9, as she had to. As always, witnessing these things makes you feel how humble and easy our lives are, and were. She showed us that classroom up some steep steps, of which there are thousands climbing the hills around. They are painted yellow when installed by the municipality, but are sometimes built and also by painted by the people of the Settlement who need them but want them maintained. It was very interesting to understand the support that Elina's tour company gives to this initiative and also to the wider Human Settlements' situation.
Extraordinarily, senora Ninfa also provides a soup kitchen service to the elderly and others in need, although we found it hard to understand how she does this.
I suppose change will come mostly from individuals trying to make it out of these Settlements to a better life and slowly those living there may diminish as a proportion of the whole population, but there is such a long way to go.
Another young lady, Sandra, joined us briefly towards the end and told us how she was hoping to follow a career on cruise ships when she finished school, hoping to start in Korea. When I asked why there, she told me that Peru has a trading relationship with Korea and that might make it more likely.
Elizabetha & Elina
Samantha
Elina, Sandra, Jean & senora Ninfa
The classroom
Also pointed out was the 'Wall of Shame' built on a hill, just visible from where we were. Wealthier people on the other side wanted it as a barrier to prevent the Settlement creeping close to them, so paid the Settlement to have it constructed - is this the Donald Trump model for Mexico we wondered?
This was an amazing day, climbing the steep & dusty hills over rough roads and visiting, perhaps a little emotionally uncomfortably, an area that is typical of the Human Settlements that are home to some 3 million people, out of a total of 10 million in Lima and 30 million in Peru. These Settlements are targets for the politicians to harvest votes because of their numbers, but it is hard to understand how their well-being can develop quickly and the gap between poor and rich can narrow easily in any short period of time, despite their democratic power of numbers.
Cusco
An othewise smooth flight from Lima ended with some bumps and gyrations before we landed, causing some excitement in the cabin and a round of applause for the Captain when we landed. Not the worst I have experienced, but still lively. At 3,400m above sea level, Cusco has thin air and this was immediately apparent on disembarcation. It used to be the Inca capital until that culture was devastated by the Spanish colonists. The early colonial approach was to slaughter those who would not convert to their faith. In later years, Jesuits and then Dominicans arrived and took a softer approach.
Our hotel used to be a monastery, dating from 1595 and at one time a Royal Pontifical University until 1816, next a seminary but ultimately converted to a hotel in 1965. So it is a very grand building with courtyards, cloisters and even some piped chanting in the bar to retain a link to its origins! It is part of the Orient Express, now Belmond Group, so was very pleasant thank you very much! In anticipation of altitude issues, I had planned just a walkabout at leisure for our first full day and it proved right as we were both feeling altitude effects, despite gulping coca tea and sucking coca candy as recommended.
We did, however, manage a slow stroll around the centre, all of which was in easy walking distance. It is the centre of tourism for this part of the world, including Machu Picchu, so is abound with adventure travel and souvenir shops, hawkers and exchange locations as well as many restaurants and bars, including the compulsory Irish Bar - Paddy's Pub! Sensibly, the authorities have prevented gaudy signs of the western food chains, although they are present, so it has retained its character and charm. There are a cathedral, many churches and several museums to visit and we did spend some time in the Inca Museum.
Breakfast in the sun
Cathedral
We saw a few ladies in their traditional costumes, large hats and shawls of wears, presumably for sale somewhere. Also, there were some very smartly dressed policewomen!
Machu Picchu
Well, what could have been a better finale to our South American trip than taking the Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu and seeing this Inca palace first hand? Little to nothing! I was a little disappointed that the train journey started further down the track at Urubamba, instead of from Poroy, not far from Cusco. It turned out that this is because a canyon along the route is prone to landslides during the rainy season, but it mattered not in the end, in fact was better! At Poroy, there was even an early morning band and dancers to entertain us while we waited.
We went by bus through Chincero and were able to look out over the Sacred Valley from a high point and it was just stunning. The mountains explode upwards, sheer faces either side of narrow valleys for the most part, and they are captivating in terms of shape and size. The Valley was mystical with clouds covering the mountain tops and there was some colourful aside with vendors selling their textiles and others seeking payment for photos with their animals, all quite gentle.
First, it was a zig zag road wound down to Urubamba with some terrific views. After passing through the town, seeing a 'Motorkar', we joined the train and commenced our journey to Agua Calientes, at the foot of the Machu Picchu mountain, after following the river through the gorges along the way, marvelling at the scenery.
Oh, and we had to put up with Pisco Sours, bubbles, a wide variety of music from the on board band, and a rather fine brunch. One waiter was quite amazing pouring the bubbles on a tray on a rocking train, and it wasn't just the motion that was causing it to rock! Not a drop was spilt.
En route, we passed some metal and glass accommodation capsules secured up the mountainside, which you can stay in, if you have survived the climb! Then your departure is by zip wire - not for the ordinary mortal!
From Agua Calientes, where the air was notably better at 2,000m after descending from 3,400m in Cusco, it was a 500m zig zag climb by mini bus on a dirt road to the entrance to Machu Picchu Citadel itself. Discovered by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1912, aided by a local boy, it is quite an astonishing place in terms of design, location and construction. It is at the northernmost point of the Inca Trail, which can be seen winding its way along the mountainside nearby. Research and analysis says that it was built by some 800 people during the rise of the Inca empire. Exposure to some sheer drops would have given our home 'Elf & Safety folk great concern!
Our guide, Diego, imparted lots of information about its history, much too much to include here, so it remains to share some of the many photos from this truly great day, to try and impart its wonder. It was, thankfully, not that busy as it was low season, but it can be heaving during the high season. Some 2 million people visit it each year.
Not earthquake damage, but a foundation
stone missing during construction!
Wayna Picchu, where access is limited and
'only' 5 or so fall to their deaths each year!
Reflective pools used as a
star observatory
Afterwards, we had some tea near the entrance at the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge hotel, before zig zagging back down the hill and joining our train for the return journey, most of it in the dark. But, the band made sure we remained in high spirits! Pisco Sours and bubbles helped, of course, but the band really gave it "some wellie"! A great finale.
But, it also means that the defined top 3 of my Bucket List have now been completed and, perhaps, one or two more should be added? Once a planner, always a planner!
