Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon

This portion of the trip has been like living in a dream.  So many new sights packed into such a short time.  The Sacha Lodge is 50 miles down stream on the Napo river from The town of Coca.  Two hours on an open high speed "canoe" got us to the Sacha landing.  A 20 minute walk through a dense flooded palm forest got us to  Pilchicocha lake.  As we walked along the naturalist guide, Klinger, pointed out a three-toed sloth resting up un a tree.  At the lake we were loaded into a canoe and paddled across the lake to the lodge.  There were 8 of us who arrived on Saturday, Feb 22nd.  

Our high speed canoe was a little bigger than this one and had a canopy.  It traveled at about 25 knots.

This part of the lodge housed the dining room, the bar was upstairs and the gift shop was to the right.  The very top was an observation platform.  We were in cabin no. 10 which was a couple of minutes away by boardwalk.  Our room was quite large.  In addition to the bed and end tables, we had a table and chairs on which we could pile junk.  There was also a cabinet with a safe box.  The bottom of the cabinet was a section with a light bulb under it creating a dry box.  They recommended that we put cameras and electronic devices in there to protect from the humidity.  "After all it is a rain forest".  We had a nice bathroom with shower.  There was plenty of hot water and their generator produced electricity 24/7..

This is David and I with our naturalist Jorge and our local guide and canoe paddler, Elias.  Jorge has a sister in Woodenville, WA and a brother in Florida where he went to college.  Since we were the only guests leaving on the 25th of February, we had Jorge and Elias to ourselves.  The Swiss and Brits were in Klinger's group.  

Each morning we would go out at 6:00 or 6:30 after eating breakfast.  In the afternoon at 3:30 or 4:00 we would go out again.  We would either hike or canoe and spot birds, monkeys, frogs, etc..  We got a good education on this particular section of rainforest.  

On our first night we went out in the canoe at sundown.  This snail kite did us the favor of sitting on a branch with no leaves.   As the name implies he eats snails.

This Hoatzin was in a tree near our cabin.  They are like a wild turkey, but no good to eat because of something they eat which gives them a bad taste.

Here is a cute little leaf frog (forgive me for lack of proper biological names).

Sunday, February 23rd, our activity was a hike to the canopy tower for a look at the birds in the upper canopy.  There are three towers 150 feet up with suspended walks between.

Joanne on the canopy bridge.  We saw three kinds of toucans, kites, pigeons, chacalacas, caracaras, etc.  Jorge had a big spotting scope which made seeing the birds much easier.

While up on the platform it did rain, it is a rain forest after all.  This photo was after the rain as the humidity rose up from the jungle floor.

Snacks awaited us on our return, bread, meat, and cheese, coffee cake and bananas.  There were also juices, tea, and coffee.  Refreshed, we made our way to the "butterfly farm".  

I hated to see this butterfly being eaten bu a tarantula, but it did allow me to get a photo with its wings open.  

I thought this butterfly had fallen in love with David's thumb, but it turns out he was just after salt.

Our late day activity was in the canoe.  We crossed the lake and explored a side creek.  We heard monkeys, but they were in the distance.  As you can see a part of our trip was in the rain.  They always had ponchos on hand for us.

Monday February 24th was our day to see monkeys.  A troop of 40-50 squirrel monkeys circled the lodge jumping from tree to tree.  

David managed to catch this guy in mid-air.

During our afternoon canoe trip we spotted 5 or 6 red howler monkeys.  The howler monkeys are much bigger than the squirrel monkeys.  This guy just sat in the tree and watched us.

February 25th came all too soon.  We reversed the arrival process and paddled across the lake, hiked through the forest and took the high speed boat to Coca.  While waiting for the van to the airport , David asked Jorge about getting a haircut in Quito.  Jorge said, "We have time.  Would you like to get one now?"  

In a matter of minutes David was sitting in a pink chair in a beauty salon.  He got a cut and shampoo for $3.  I regret that I didn't take a photo.  

So this was our Amazonian rainforest adventure.

  

Santiago and Tababela in Ecuador

Time for some local transportation to move us from Vina del Mar to Santiago.  So many buses to choose from.  We ended up on a Pullman bus because the guy at the window spoke some English.  I guess that tells you how good my Spanish is.  

A nice comfy ride to Santiago.

A view of the Santiago skyline from the 25th floor of our hotel, GEN.  The city is surrounded by mountains.

The central market was the highlight of all our walking in Santiago.   The fish market also housed several restaurants.  Surprisingly the restaurant didn't smell fishy like the area where they were selling fish.  David and I shared a king crab appetizer at the restaurant, Donde Augusto.  Yum!

Beef being delivered to the meat market.

Almost made me leave the fish market, yuk!  You couldn't pay me to take one.  That is about $2.50 per kilo.

Look at the size of that ear of corn.  I assume this is sweet corn since this is a "food court".

Of course, there were magnificiant old churches.  Love that blue sky.

Santiago was great, but we need to be moving on.  We fly Tame air to Quito the evening of Feb 20th.

We left Santiago about 6:50pm and arrived in Quito around 11:30pm.  We were met by our St. Mary's B&B hosts.  What a wonderful place!  It is in the little community of Tababela close to the airport.

St, Mary's B&B - lovely inside and out.  Two Italian business men joined us and our hosts for breakfast and then the host took us and the Italians to the airport.  The Italians head home to Milan and we head to Coca and our Amazon jungle adventure at Sacha Lodge.

Castro, Puerto Montt, & Vina del Mar In Chile

The town of Castro on Isla Chiloe was our next port.  The town offered some hill training as we walked down and then up to take photos of the colorful waterfront houses.

Castro, Isla Chiloe

The church off the main square.

Puerto Montt, our next port, is a bit larger city.  The were three cruise ships in port.  A Reagency ship had the dock so we and the Golden Dawn anchored out and tendered to shore.  It was as 15 min walk to the right to the town and a 15 min walk to the left to the market.  The town was a bit dirty.  

Mounted police along the waterfront.

David by the vegetable market.

Our room steward's hanging monkey.  The last of our towel art.

One more day at sea and then we arrive at Valpariso and the cruise is over.  We traveled a total of 5253 miles during the 21 days on the Zaandam.   The ship consumes 85 gals/mi.  There were 1407 guests and 615 crew on board.  They took good care of us.  

A six mile cab ride took us from the Valpariso cruise terminal to the Sheraton in Vina del Mar.  It was a little like being in Atlantic City in the summer.  No boardwalk, but a long beachfront sidewalk.

The flower clock.

David celebrating the end of the cruise with a LARGE beer.

The crowd on the beach of Vina del Mar.

Ushuaia and Chile

The port town of Ushuaia was our first landfall after Antarctica.  Tierra del Fuego park is a big attraction about seven miles out of town.  We were off the ship early and joined with Henry and Cora to share a taxi out to the park.  We had a nice tour and didn't have big crowds at the view points.

The park had mountains, lakes, and rivers.

Our taxi driver with Cora and Henry.  Based on his driving Henry was convinced he didn't see well.

Inside Tierra del Fuego

A stroll around town and a visit to the Prison Museum finished our on shore excursion.

The Maritime and Prison museum

Joanne having a heart to heart talk with a prisoner.

A view down the hill toward the port.

Punta Arenas was our next port.  We had booked the excursion to the penguin preserve on Isla Magdalena.  It was a two hour ferry ride each way.  We had an hour on island where we walked a path up to the light house and back.  The penguins nested in burrows in the ground on both sides of the path.  It was fun watching them scurry around.  Some were gathering dried seaweed for their nests.

It was really windy on the island.  You can see how the wind is puffing up our jackets.

There are approximately 60,000 pairs of penguins nesting on the island.

A couple out for a stroll.

Running some seaweed to the nest.

The next few cruising days resemble the inside passage to Alaska.  We see waterfalls as we observe mountains on both sides.  Our destination on Feb 13th is the Amalia glacier via the Sarmiento Canal.

A wrecked US ship ~1983

A beautiful day with calm waters as we cruise to the Amalia glacier

The Amalia glacier flowing around on old volcanic dome

A close-up of the glacier meeting the water.  We saw lots of bergy bits, but no major calving.

The best evidence we have of the fast little dolfins playing around the ship.

We spent Valentines day cruising the Chilean fjords.   Saturday, Feb 15th, we arrived at Puerto Chacabuco , Chile.  It is a small town of either 1000 or 5000 depending on who you ask.  We joined a van with 8 people to tour the countryside.  We traveled a valley with mountains on each side.  

Our Chacabuco tour itinerary 

The Virgin water fall

A cow and calf alongside the road.

David in front of the Leon waterfall.

Joanne in front of the Chilean rhubarb!

You can see that the temperatures are warming as we move north.

Faulkland Islands & Antarctica

The cruise schedule has been amended.  Puerto Madryn, Argentina is out and the Faulkland Islands are in.  The plan is to tender in to Port Stanley and take a bus out to Gypsy Beach.  We join forces with Cora And Henry from, Edmonton, Alberta and do just that.  We aren't allowed on the beach as there are still mines from the war fought by the Argentinians trying to take the islands from the British  in the 1980's.  Argentina wasn't successful so the island is still British.  We did see penguins on the beach.  None of them blew up before our eyes so I guess they know where the mines are.  We walked back to Port Stanley, had some fish & chips, and did a little shopping before it was tome to head back aboard.

Taking photos of the arrival sign.

A slightly scruffy looking king penguin all alone 

Lots of Magellanic penguins  

Someone's yummy garden that we walked past

David and Henry by the Post Office

The Faulkland stop was fun and put us in the mood for the adventure that the next several sea days will bring.  Thursday the 6th of February we officially cross into Antarctica.  King George Island gives us our first glimpse of research stations run by various countries.  Our skills at spotting penguin rookeries is honed.  Humpback and Minke whales are spotted feeding around the icebergs.  The first fur seals are spotted on Deception Island Beach.

Our first photo with Antarctica in the background (it was cold!!)

The big blue iceberg that had whales feeding around it

If we thought our first day in Antarctic waters was great, Friday the 7th was spectacular!  It started out a normal gray foggy day.  Then the sun came out!  It became a postcard perfect day.  The seals were all up on the burgs sunning themselves.  The whales were everywhere feeding.  We must have seen a hundred.    The captain took a slow cruise up LaMaire channel which gave great views on both sides of the ship.

Surprise!  Snow on the deck Friday 2/7/14

Everyone taking photos from the bow (except me)

Cursing LaMaire channel (I can hardly keep my eyes open in the sun)

Leopard seal sharing a burg with a blonde crab eater seal

The seven sisters peaks

Two of the hundred whales that we saw.  They are buggers to photograph!

On the boat we have had many lectures from our aboard lecturers.  Movies are shown at multiple times during the day.  The puzzles in the library occupy our spare moments.  We have taught Cora and Henry how to play Wizard and are having great fun playing.

Saturday, Feb 8th.  We are boarded around 6am by 12 residents of the US  Palmer station.  There were a couple of students, the cook, the carpenter, the station manager, and more.  The station manager gave a talk and all answered questions.  They spent the day enjoying our food and comfort.  They had made the 2 mile trip in two zodiacs.  It was a bit rough and wet coming out.  Around 5pm they all headed back.  The Palmer station currently has 29 people in residence.  Columbo, the carpenter told us he has 6 weeks left before he returns to Texas.

Palmer station folks arriving.  There were two zodiacs that came.

After the Palmer Stn. Folks left we headed across Drakes channel.  It was a rough crossing.  No sea sickness in our cabin.  Bonine worked!  Some ships china broken and a few falls.  We landed in Ushuaia, Argentina, hence our access to wifi.