Patagonia 6 — Final Thoughts

It’s now more than 2 months since we returned from Patagonia. With the swirl of holidays, big snowfall in January, and everyday life since then, it’s easy to move on to the “next thing,” whatever that might be. But Patagonia is a special place; our time there was a special time, and worth lingering over. We wanted to wrap up this series by revisiting our memories and sharing a few final thoughts (and photos) with you.

If you’d like to see our other posts, check them at these links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Patagonia 5

by Melanie and Jim

See previous parts on our journey at these links 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Click photos for larger views.

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We headed north by bus from Punta Arenas, Chile, amused and amazed by sightings of pink flamingos at a latitude almost as far south as Dublin, Ireland is north. The 220-mile long ride to Torres del Paine National Park gave us many opportunities for wildlife sightings. Mostly they were rheas, tall flightless birds similar to emus and ostriches, guanacos, llamas’ more elegant cousins, and a variety of large birds of prey. A cattle drive complete with gauchos caught our attention, as well.

For most of our ride, the pampas opened up to the east of us, and Andean foothills to the west. As we neared the park, the snow capped and cloud draped mountains began to rise around us and ahead of us.

Patagonia 4

by Jim and Melanie

The next portion of our journey was to the island of Chiloé on the Pacific coast. This map has circled the cities of Bariloche discussed in Patagonia 2 and Puerto Varas in Patagonia 3. Our destination that day was the city of Castro on the Isla Grande de Chiloé. Follow the link for more detailed information. From Wikipedia: “The landscape of the northeastern sectors of Chiloé Island is dominated by rolling hills with a mosaic of pastures, forests and cultivated fields. While the western shores are rocky and relatively straight, the eastern and northern shores contain many inlets, bays and peninsulas, and it is here where all towns and cities lie.”

Patagonia 3

by Jim and Melanie

The next part of our journey started with a lengthy bus ride that involved crossing the border between Argentina and Chile, high in the Andes Mountains. The crossing was a rather complex process. Our tour leader had already compiled a list of our names and passport numbers to show the authorities. We were told to have our passports in hand. The process could take a long time if the crossing was busy. We were fortunate to have started our drive early and avoided the crowds at the border.

First, we stopped at the station operated by the Argentinian government. Our papers and passports were examined. Our luggage was removed from the bus and a dog checked it for suspicious smells. When we finished, we were free to use the banos before resuming our bus ride.

Patagonia 2

by Melanie and Jim

We began our adventure in Buenos Aires, which at the end of November was just entering summer. The city, located on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, serves as the political as well as cultural capital of Argentina. The air was warm and humid but pleasant when we arrived one day before the tour began.

We had recommendations for sites we could visit on our own, most within walking distance of our centrally-located hotel. We chose to walk a few blocks to the west, into a shopping district, and visit the world’s most beautiful bookstore. El Ateneo Gran Splendid is located in a grand performance hall built in 1919. And beautiful it is.

Patagonia 1

by Jim and Melanie

The region known as Patagonia includes the southern halves of Argentina and Chile. In late November, early winter in the northern hemisphere, we flew overnight from Dallas, TX in the US, directly to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to begin a 17 day journey of discovery in Patagonia.

Click map to enlarge.

Moon and Venus

A nice pair in the morning sky today.

Solar System

Our son texted us this colorful artwork done by our grandson who is 4 ½. It was done during his quiet time today. The planets are objects of great importance for him. He can quote a lot of detail about each and some of their moons. He still isn’t settled about the Pluto issue. Notice the red spot on Jupiter. The Sun is in the center in his heliocentric view. Mercury is closest. Earth shows blue oceans. And, of course, Saturn has rings.

As a lifelong amateur astronomer, this warms my heart. I wish he lived closer.

Leo, Venus, and a Plane

Each morning before sunrise I look out the east window to see if Venus is visible. It has been moving slowly toward the Sun a little below the constellation Leo. This morning at 6:27 I set up my iPad with the NightCap photo app to get a time exposure of nearly 6 minutes. During the exposure, an airplane passed through the scene. I drew in lines to outline Leo. Venus is the very bright object below Leo. I am certain you can find the track left by the plane.

Taken with NightCap. Star Trails mode, 351 second exposure, 1 exposure/sec.

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