Just kidding! I have come to the conclusion that any city, anywhere in the world that has a hill that isn’t developed, will build some sort of monument or other attraction on top of said hill. With the monument in place, they will then build some sort of transportation apparatus to take people to the top of the hill. Surrounding whatever attraction is on top of the hill will be an array of vendors hawking various local wares and regional food and drink.

My first experience on a funicular was laughable. Marsha and I, having run out of ideas of what to do took the recommendation to take the funicular in Wellington, New Zealand to the botanical gardens on top of their undeveloped hill. The ticket was about ~$3.00 as I recall, which seemed like a bargain until we realized the ride ascended no more than about 300 feet up the hill. For extra laughs, there was a stop midway at…well, I don’t remember what the stop was for, probably a fish ‘n chips stand or something. The experience we had after meeting a Dutch couple turned out to be the highlight of the day, but that is another story.

The funicular in Santiago is, at least, a better value for the money as it ascends quite some distance, but at the top, one finds exactly what one would expect to find – a monument and vendors. At least the emerging economy version of safety and maintenance provided a bit more “thrill factor” than Wellington’s funicular, but all in all, the experience was blase at best. My promised “scenic vista” of Santiago was shrouded in heavy smog. The monument atop the hill was being repaired. I did take the opportunity to have a go with the local cuisine which consisted of an empanada filled with ham, cheese and tomato and to drink I had a mote con huesillo which is a tea made with dried peaches and wheat. Who came up with that idea? I didn’t much care for it!

I ended the day in Barrio Bellavista which seems to be the hip, trendy neighborhood in Santiago. I found a little cafe called La Case En El Aire (house in the air – meaning ‘open air’ dining). There, the staff wore T-shirts bearing the likeness of Che Guevara, Commandante Marcos (of the Zapatistas) and two other prominent, but lesser known socialist leaders. The irony wasn’t lost on me when I discovered the cafe served a selection of international beers and piped in muzac versions of 70′s & 80′s American pop music. Viva la resistance and death to imperialism and all that.

Onward!

The wild card mission to Hugo Island went well, the instrument was repaired and is now happily whirring and buzzing away; surely this is cause for free coffee or catered sandwiches for the heroes in Denver who worked so hard to make all of this happen, thanks Morale Committee! Weather was good for the northbound cruise and the seas didn’t get rough until we got out of the Drake Passage (WTF?).

With the planets aligned properly, I was actually done a day early; a first! I’ve arrived in South America in plenty of time to make my flights which leaves me killing time in Santiago, Chile. I took it pretty easy my first day – camped out at the hotel until temperatures cooled off a bit in the evening and then I went wandering around a bit, foraging for food and beer. I really haven’t got any idea how to spend today, though I reckon I’ll go find the funicular and check that out – I’m not paying another night’s hotel rate at the Sheraton so perhaps I’ll either go find a hostel or just stay up late and head to the airport as I have an early A.M. departure for Lima and then Guayaquil.

I don’t anticipate anything too exciting happening for the next couple of days, and Santiago seems fairly unremarkable. I’ll update if any of that changes.

I did manage to upload some photos from the northbound cruise.

As I look ahead at travel in South America I’m realizing that it’s one hell of a big place. I am also realizing that air travel is by and large, prohibitively expensive. I have managed to snare a couple of good airfare deals – deals that IF I actually use the return portion, will be very economical. Even if I don’t use the return portions, the price isn’t significantly more expensive than it would have been to bus to my destination. From a budget standpoint, however, one must also consider that bus travel includes lodging (sleep on the bus) and meals. Owing to my upbringing I have a very high tolerance for long haul travel in a vehicle, but I reckon I’ll get plenty of opportunities to test my level of tolerance without jumping right in. I know, I know, you’re reading this because you’re excited about the possibility of sharing a tiny cabin on a cruise ship with me and not about some stupid bus ride….

So here’s the deal, a LOT of what I want to see and do are on the west coast of South America, BUT I would also like to see Iguazu Falls which happens to be closer to the east coast, quite close to Buenos Aires in fact. Now, after zigzagging this massive continent, I was looking for a way to get back to Santiago for my return flight home. Again, this is a toss-up between economics, comfort and experiences..anyhow, in my search I found a cruise that departs Buenos Aires and sails to Santiago (Valparaiso) with ports of call in: Montevideo, Puerto Madryn, Stanley (in the Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas as you see fit), Ushuaia, Punta Arenas (I’m not bothering getting off the ship at this one…), Puerto Chacabuco and Puerto Madryn. The cruise is 14 nights and the total cost is ~$2200.

Anyhow, this looks like a pretty cool cruise and I’d just like to put it out there to my friends and family or anyone else who reads this and might have some free time in December for a cruise. Split the cost with me, or make me an offer! you can either email me or if you don’t have my email address, use the handy-dandy contact form.

Life at Palmer Station has been exceptionally hectic for me these past few weeks. I know I never had time to fully recover from the previous port call before I had to start getting ready for the one that is coming up. As a result of my own upcoming departure and subsequent seasonal retirement (thanks Kimber!) I’ve got a lot going through my mind but haven’t had the time to elaborate on it much through writing. Rather than write about how I’m feeling about the upcoming transition from rigid structure to the chaos of the world, I figure I’ll let Neal do my work for me in this post. I think he sums it up quite well!

A few weeks back, I received a synopsis of the cruise which I will be departing on. The cruise is (was) putting in some Antarctic field camps on the way to Palmer Station there is a day or two built into the schedule to allow for weather delays which are common (ya think?). With the field camps put in the last major objective of the cruise is to exchange some passengers. The ship arrived this afternoon, but high winds with gusts near gale force prevented the ship from tying up to the pier. If it is able to tie up tomorrow, things will still look good for a departure on the 22nd. There is, however, a fairly good chance that we’ll have to make a detour to a godawful hunk of rock about 40 miles from here. There is some sort of whiz-bang sciencey type GPS instrument parked on that rock that hasn’t been working right and an attempt will likely be made to get it back to working order.

Here’s a map of the cruise route

The malfunctioning instrument is a fairly big deal and lots of people are interested in having it fixed, but the rock that it is on is woefully inaccessible in all but the calmest of seas and winds. Add a generous helping of sea ice to the mix and this part of the cruise becomes a huge wild card. Nonetheless, I have gambled a bit and gone ahead and booked some plane tickets. I am now free to obsess over things that are even further in my future and represent greater unknowns. You can track the ship here or, sometimes that one doesn’t work and here is another or…if you’re reading this article on my site, as opposed to some rss feed/facebook/twitter thing…there is a “Where’s Will” link on that slick new drop down menu immediately under the header on this page. Through the magic of my superior php coding skills, the link should automatically change based on the dates when I THINK I’ll be on the boat and will then revert back to my old iPhone tracking thingamajiggy at the end of the cruise so that you can follow my movement through South America