Journey to the Edge

In my introductory post to this blog, where I listed some of the things we hoped to do on our trip, I mentioned that we would ascend the slopes of Valparaiso in a funicular. Today was the day that we did that. Valparaiso is the port city where the ship docked, about 2 hours away from Santiago, our departure point for this trip (which comes tomorrow). Valparaiso has often been compared to San Francisco, with its many hills, Victorian architecture, and Fisherman's Wharf. There are 45 hills in Valparaiso, each one with a different name. Valparaiso's upper area is called Los Cerros - the hills. The funiculars were built as a means of transportation from the lower levels of the city to the neighborhoods located up in the hills. (In Pittsburgh, we call this an incline instead of a funicular, but the function is the same.)   Our tour guide for today was Ines.  Ines Our itinerary began with a bus drive to Sotomayor Square, which is in the downtown area with some typical government buil

We woke up Wednesday to a beautiful sunrise! It looks like the sky is on fire. We continued to cruise north along the coast of Chile, with our next stop at the port city of Puerto Montt.  Coming into Puerto Montt This area of Chile is known as the Lakes District. It is a part of Northern Patagonia, which is sometimes called Green Patagonia. It is home to Llanquihue Lake, which is Chile's second largest lake. The most prominent features in this area are two active volcanos: Osorno and Calbuco, making for one of Patagonia's most picturesque vistas as they tower above the surrounding landscape. In fact, Osorno Volcano has been likened to Mt. Fuji in its stunning appearance.  Osorno Volcano Calbuco Volcano There are over 2000 volcanoes in Chile and 63 of them are active. In fact, Calbuco has erupted as recently as 2015. Our tour guide, Patricio, had taken photos of this eruption from his house, and passed them around the bus for us to view. Calbuco Volcanic eruption - 2015 Our tour