Wednesday, December 4, 2019, Puerto Chacabuco, Chile
Puerto Chacabuco is a Chilean town in Aisén commune. Administratively it belongs to Aysén Province in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region and is located at the head of Aisén Fjord. It is the main port of the region, a port of call for ships sailing to the Laguna San Rafael National Park and the terminus of a Navimag ferry service from Puerto Montt.
Before the great burnings of the Patagonian forests and the eruption of Mount Hudson volcano in 1991, Puerto Aisén was the main port in the Aisén Fjord, but the ashes and earth erosion decreased the navigability of Aisén River and the port had to be moved further to the coast where Puerto Chacabuco now stands.
Puerto Chacabuco is named after the corvette Chacabuco with which Enrique Simpson explored the fjords and archipelagos of Aysén Region in the 1870s. The ship is in turn named after the Battle of Chacabuco in 1817 during the Chilean Independence War.
Located at the tip of the
dramatic Aisen Fjord at the foot of soaring Andes peaks, Puerto Chacabuco is a
tiny Patagonian enclave and gateway into the spellbinding beauty of the rugged
wilderness. The port was named for the
1817 Battle of Chacabuco, a pivotal moment during the Chilean War of
Independence, in which national hero Jose de San Martin of the Army of the
Andes defeated the royalist forces.
Jagged rocky peaks with deep cut gorges, icy blue glaciers spilling into
the sea and pine green forests clinging to steep slopes dominate this untouched
region, one of the most inspiring and breathtaking corners of the globe.
Salmon raising pens.
The pudús are two species of South American deer from the genus Pudu, and are the world's smallest deer. The name is a loanword from Mapudungun, the language of the indigenous Mapuche people of central Chile and south-western Argentina. The two species of pudús are the northern pudú from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and the southern pudú from southern Chile and south-western Argentina. Pudús range in size from 13 to 17 inches tall, and up to 33 inches long. The southern pudu is currently classified as near threatened, while the northern pudu is classified as Data Deficient in the IUCN Red List.
It has a stocky frame supported by four short and slender legs. The highest recorded weight of a pudú is 30 pounds. Pudús have small, black eyes, black noses, and rounded ears with lengths of 3.0 to 3.1 inches. Sexual dimorphism in the species includes an absence of antlers in females. Males have short, spiked antlers that are not forked, as seen in most species of deer. The antlers, which are shed annually, can extend from 2.6 to 3.0 inches in length and protrude from between the ears. Also on the head are large preorbital glands. Pudús have small hooves, dewclaws, and short tails about 1.6 to 1.8 inches in length when measured without hair. Coat coloration varies with season, sex, and individual genes. The fur is long and stiff, typically pressed close to the body, with a reddish-brown to dark-brown hue. The neck and shoulders of an aged pudú turn a dark gray-brown in the winter.
Wood carvings in front of souvenir shop.
Large "rhubarb" plants.
Can be eaten as rhubarb.
Lupine ("Texas Blue Bonnets")
Fuchsia.
Fire trees.
Lupine as tall as Diane.
Large group of huge "rhubarb" plants.
Town of Coyhaique. Note covered store fronts due to Chile unrest.
Monkey puzzle tree.
Araucaria araucana (commonly called the monkey puzzle tree or Chilean pine) is an evergreen tree growing to 3–5 feet in diameter and 100–130 feet in height. It is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the the conifer genus Araucaria. Because of the prevalence of similar species in ancient prehistory, it is sometimes called a living fossil. It is also the national tree of Chile. Its conservation status was changed to Endangered by the IUCN in 2013 due to the dwindling population caused by logging, forest fires, and grazing.
"Albino" Lupine.
Sheer cliff on opposite side of canyon.
Mate cup.
Mate is a drink that is made from the infusion of yerba (dried mate plant) and hot water. “Yerba” is basically dried leaves and twigs from the tree species llex paraguayensis. It’s like coffee in that it has caffeine, it’s like tea because it is steeped in hot water, but that’s where the similarities end. Unlike coffee and tea, mate is generally shared and the same gourd and bombilla (metal straw) are used and passed around from one person to the next.
One of the things that has been fascinating to observe in Montevideo, Uruguay is how obsessive Uruguayans are about drinking mate. They can been anywhere and at anytime of the day walking around clutching onto a thermos flask and slurping from leather mate cups. We had heard about mate when we were in Argentina, but had not seen the same level of obsessiveness in Buenos Aires, the capital. We were under the general impression that drinking mate was something that was consumed more frequently outside of the big city and in the provinces.
So, when we arrived in Montevideo, the capital, we were taken by surprise at how much the Uruguayans are drinking mate. Their attachment to the thermos flasks and mate cups knows no boundaries. We see people driving while drinking mate, riding the bus with their mate cups, pharmacists drinking mate while attending to patients, policemen on duty sipping mate and we even saw someone riding a motorcycle while drinking mate. This national addiction needed further investigation.
Historic steam engine.
On our way to Aisen.
Broom "trees."
Virgin Falls.
Chilean Army post of Aisen.
Figure on restaurant/bar.
Public gymnasium.
Our cruise ship will be on our way toward Puerto Montt this evening
around 6 PM.
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