1/24/2008 Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Jan 24, 2008 7:28 PM
Subject: 1/24/2008

1/24/2008

Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

We anchored at about noon. All morning we watched as we cruised along this waterway in the fjords. The scenery is unbelievable. There is no way to correctly describe it. Pictures really do not nearly do it justice.

We signed up for a 5 hour tour today. It was cool this morning so we took light jackets. That was the first mistake. As soon as we tendered to shore it started to get very warm. Then we boarded the buses that the tour description described as air conditioned. Surprise, surprise. No air and no opening windows. It quickly became an oven.

Our guide was a very nice little girl that didn’t know much and didn’t speak much English. What she did say was often mispronounced badly enough that she couldn’t be understood. That was okay because there wasn’t much worth hearing about. The tour wasn’t much either. The only thing we saw that was really worth seeing was the scenery. The mountains and valleys were spectacular. The rest of the supposed attractions were not worth stopping for.

We stopped at a river. Whoopee. Like we never saw a river before. Next was a very small museum that wasn’t worth looking at, so we walked out. Then we crossed the Andes to their largest town, Coyhaique. None of the locals can pronounce it either. It was a waste of time. Then we headed back. On the way we stopped at a local restaurant for snacks. There was far more then enough food and it was good. Then it was back to the dock.

We drove quite a distance through switch backs and up and down mountains. The bus sucked and rode hard as rocks over the lousy roads. Even worse then the bus was the stupid driver who did not know how to drive a bus. We kept hearing this crap about how this was the hottest day they have ever had. We did see buses with air. Our tour manager on the ship obviously decided not to pay for them and let us roast. He really sucks. We got back over three hours late, all soaked from sweat and we missed a dinner reservation. Naturally not many people were there on time and the restaurant manager, Sweet Leilani, would always take care of us anyhow.


Some of these tours are being very poorly arranged. The tour manager does not seem concerned and is frankly doing a lousy job. The prices being charged are fantastic for the poor quality and service. If there was some reasonable way to use something other then the ships tours, I would be there in a moment.