Greencaviar Travel

Series #5: Torres Del Paine National Park, Southern Patagonia I caught my first glimpse of the distinct peaks (Torres) from Lake Sarmiento, an interesting lake that looked as if it had a ring around it. Leading up to Lake Sarmiento, we passed the Deciduous Magellan Forest with poplar and conifer trees but mostly dominated by Lenga trees. Then on to Patagonian plains and plateau covered in pampas and walled by rocky hills: a landscape said to be lower than sea level and created by glacial movement. And of course, the famous symbol of anything Patagonia, the horn-shaped towers (the jagged mountain peaks) dominated the horizon and could be seen from all directions. With the changeable weather, the snow-capped mountains suddenly appeared with glorious blue light or buried under a shroud of dense, gray clouds. The sky was vast and dominating. Milky aqua waters of Rio Paine and lakes were part of the surreal landscape. While I expected to see glaciers near the mountain, I was surprised to...

I had a mixed feeling of excitement and apprehension when I left Punta Arenas for the flight to Puerto Natales. I was excited because the day that I had been waiting for finally arrived - the highlight of my trip in South America, a visit to Torres Del Paine - among the top of my list of places to see before I die. At the same time, I was afraid that the travel operator would cancel the trip that broke my bank due to the bad weather. Our travel coordinator called out my name last to board the 9-seater Cessna. Ushered to the small plane, I took the last seat, close to the exit door. The exit door had a latch that looked thinner than the latch on most trunk luggage. The combination of the exit door that looked as if it were about to fall off and the streak of rain on the window did not help alleviate my apprehension. We were flying low over the green valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains to Puerto Natales where we were to board a motor coach for another 2 ½- hour drive to Torre...

I 'm like a first grader when it comes to a glacier . I was so excited  to feel  and see it up close that I could not wait to go out on the bow of the ship . I also took copious notes from our onboard travel guide. So blame my note-taking for any missing information, and blame our onboard travel guide , who happened to be standing by the bar while doing the narration , for any misinformation. So do n't take  the following  information as  academic research . The Amalia Glacier is also known as Skua Glacier and is within the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, near the Canal Sarmiento. Bernardo O'Higgins National Park is the largest protected area in Chile, covering both the regions of Aysen, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Amalia Glacier is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. This ice field is the second-largest field of polar ice. It is the larger of two remaining parts of the ice...

I fell in love in the summer of 2005. Fell in love… with the penguin that is after watching the documentary, “March of the Penguins”. I don’t want to ruin it for those who have not seen the movie, but I highly recommend watching it with your family this Christmas. That was my inspiration to go to Antarctica or South America and that dream finally came true. Greetings from Punta Tombo, Patagonia! Here are some facts about us: We are Magellanic penguins who live on the shores of South America. In winter, we leave our breeding colonies for warmer waters in the north. Due to our inability to fly, we nest in burrows.   We are monogamous and remain together with our mate for so many years. Our males take care of our chicks, while us females migrate long distance searching for food. Our food consists mainly of fish - we love krill, squid, hake, sprat and hagfish. ·        We are perfectly designed for life in the sea...