Do you remember back in July.......................

Well, do you? I was hoping for a relatively uneventful trip to Punta Arenas and a trip to Palmer, but as it turns out it's been anything but. So yea, there was that extra stop in Puerto Montt on the way down and then there was the super fun port calls at the station, things going back and forth to the Gould by a Zodiac on the ice tied to a clothesline system, the medivac (hope you are doing well dear patient), finally the fishing line, the great and powerful mono filament fishing line that kept the boat from getting to the pier for weeks(?), finally pulled free through great effort by the Palmeranians. Well the trip across the Drake back to PA was once again placid but then there was something about a boat at the pier with some customs problems and there was no berthing for the Gould, so we slowed down to a crawl and would get in a day later. I like PA, it has some of the tastiest restaurants of anywhere I've been, yes even Denver. Well all the difficulties seemed behind me. I had a great time walking the town and eating the food and watching the people and the many free roaming dogs. Do the Chileans love these dogs or maybe indifferent to them, either way their fur can be a bit ragged but they all look pretty healthy and well fed. Speaking of well fed I was too, had a wonderful meal with the Antarctic folks at a place called Marmita's followed by one drink too many at a bar I can't remember, started with an S. I spent the next day a bit sluggish but managed to walk to the top of the town and see the Coca-Cola plant on the other side and a military base. I spent the evening with a couple of friends(Thank you Kris and Bo) at, darn it, I can't remember the name of the really amazing place on O'higgins st. It's wine rack was built into the side of an architectural boat, meaning it just looked like the side of a wooden boat. That was the topper of my time in PA. So next afternoon it's off to the airport, had a nice chat with Carola the AGUNSA staffer who accompanied me. I sat and waited out the hour and bought a Patagonia, Chile ball cap while I waited. A smooth takeoff and about 2 hours later I catch something in the Spanish over the planes speaker system about volcanic ash?!? around Puerto Montt and we are headed to Concepcion. Sweet! Another airport I haven't seen. It's about an hour closer to Santiago. Landing there, me and my fellow travelers headed to Santiago hear that there is too much traffic over the Santiago airport so we won't be leaving for 30 to 35 more minutes. Now as I gaze at my super cool Sponge Bob watch I'm deciding that I'm not making my connection to Dallas/Ft. Worth. Looks like a night in Santiago. But thank you AGUNSA for having somebody hang out at the airport and sort me out, transportation, lodging, and the all important food voucher. So that's where I am, Hotel Diego de Almagro, apparently the official hotel of the airports since I also stayed in a Diego de Almagro in Puerto Montt on the way down. Very nice hotels and I can now recommend them without hesitation. So the accompanying slide show are my most recent shots of my current place of residence, at least until 6:15pm, then, maybe I'll get to fly towards the remnants of hurricane Ike, yippee!