ANTARCTICA / SOUTH AMERICA  - DAY 17-18 - PUNTA ARENAS

Blogs: Day 1-2 Iguazu and Itapu | Day 3-4-5 Buenos Aires | Day 6-8 Falklands | Day 10-14 Antarctica | Day 15-16 Ushuaia | Day 17 Punta Arenas - Patagonia | Day 21-23 Santiago | Day 24 Valparaiso

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PATAGONIA

Patagonia covers the southernmost tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile, with the Andes Mountains as its dividing line. The Argentine side features arid steppes, grasslands and deserts, while the Chilean has glacial fjords and temperate rainforest.

So essentially since arriving at Cape Horn everything we have seen has been part of Patagonia.

After leaving Ushuaia, we headed up the Beagle channel and saw some of the most amazing glaciers.

This is a "hanging" Glacier.

That's a glacier that reaches the edge of a cliff or a very steep slope and it can no longer trundle along, so it breaks off into pieces and falls down the cliff.

PUNTA ARENAS

Punta Arenas is on the Magellan Strait.

The Strait of Magellan is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego Island to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Most shipping from Atlantic to Pacific used to come though this strait - that is until the Panama Canal opened. Now Punta Arenas has evolved into another major jump off point for Antarctic expeditions.

This is not a pretty city by any means and of course all the political graffiti spray painted on every building, monument even sidewalks does not help.

Seems like Chileans are not happy with their government and want better benefits such as medical, education, and pensions.

However, their way of protesting is extremely violent and destructive.

I am not too sure why this is a cruise ship port (other than perhaps the ship getting supplies) as there is NOTHING to do.

We paid for a tour which landed up being a visit to their museum (which was singularly unspectacular), a stop at a lookout point and a visit to the town square.

Above is the lookout point. Hardly worth the drive. This was also New Years Day so the city was pretty much shut down with few places open.

The highlight of the day was lunch at a local restaurant where we had King Crab empanadas which were absolutely delightful!

King Crab is a thing here and it needs to be, because it is very tasty!! I am a huge fan of empanadas as it is the closest thing in the Americas to a English meat pie but I have never had one before that had a crab filling.

CHEF'S TABLE

This cruise we decided to do the Chef's Table, something we have never done before. Seems pricey at first at $95, but once you do it, it's totally worth while!

It includes a tour of the kitchen, 4 courses served in the kitchen and then another 5 served in the main dining room at a special table.

You also receive a fancy hard cover cook book signed by the chef.

Only 10 people at a time it is a rare treat and an absolute blast, not to mention that the food is to die for!

It was interesting to see the sheer production line it takes to feed 3000 people 3 meals (or more) a day!

Note that the little animal sculptures below are made out of fruits and vegetables!

Food included such amazing things as tuna poke, shrimp battered, fried and served with wasabi soy,  a caviar dish, escargot and many others.

The main course was filet mignon, lobster and lamb all on the same plate. It was a RIDICULOUS amount of delightful food and a great experience.

And finally...

A 16 day cruise can get a little expensive if you like your drinks. A beer is $6.75 and a whisky and soda over $10, while a glass of wine runs at $9.00.

So to deflect these expenses you HAVE to smuggle booze on board, and this is best done with professional smuggling equipment freely available from Amazon specifically for the purpose of cruising (who knew this was an actually industry - building products whose only purpose is to get cheap booze onto a cruise ship)

Rum Runner's clear bladders work every time! Here is yours truly pouring a drink from my Rum Runner bladder. They ALWAYS get through X-ray.

I stocked up again in Ushuaia - very cheap - 1 liter bottle of decent whisky was only $7.00!