The Andes Mountains, Patagonia, and the Land of Volcanos

After 2 days of stormy seas, we reached Chacabuco, Chile, near the end of the Chilean Fjords. ( A fjord is a long narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by glacier activity.) We have left the glaciers and ice.  Now we are in the  northern part of the Chilean Patagonia where there are evergreen trees and trout streams. Here the magnificient Andes Mountains end.

The Andes begin in the northern part of the continent of South America. They are highest there and continue down the entire continent, until they get to their lowest point in southern Chile.  Here, at Chacabuco we see the Andes disappear into the Pacific Ocean. 

When the native peoples lived here, they used animal hides as clothing.  They wrapped the hides around their feet to walk through the snow, creating very large footprints.  When the Spaniards saw the the large footprints, they named the place "patagonia" which means "land of the big feet".

This part of Patagonia has been left alone by outsiders.  The port of Chacabuco has only 250 residents.  They all came out to take pictures of the huge cruise ship, something they had not seen before.

 

       Below is a picture of Chacabuco and the Andes Mountains.                                                                                                                                                           

 

You can't see it in this picture, but at the foot of the mountains is a small city, Coyhaique. This area is representative of northern Patagonia.

After leaving Chacabuco, we went to a port named Puerto Montt, a large modern city, and got on a bus to tour what they call the lake district. 

Our guide explained that there are around 40 volcanos in the area, 10 of them are still active.  Today we went to see the Osorno Volcano, which last erupted 120 years ago. However, it still spews out smoke and ash. When these are combined with melting snow and rocks, a grey river of slush rushes down the mountain.  To keep the roads from getting blocked, they keep a path or "canal" so the slush can flow freely down to the rivers and lakes. These canals are where lava previously flowed. Everywhere you look, there is grey or black sand and cooled off lava rocks.

Here we are in front of the Osorno Volcano:

This video shows one of the canals used for runoff. They have many of these.

Here is a picture C.Jay took of me on the berm of sand filming the video above.

Is this a UFO?  When we were at the volcano, there were hundreds of huge, flying black bugs. At first some of us thought they were bees, but they acted more like June bugs. Our guide called them "petras" and they are like a very, very large weird fly.  They kept ruining my pictures!!!

This turquise water is due to the unusual minerals found in the area.