Monday, February 13, 2012

Red Rock Canyon and Cactus Garden





Red Rock Canyon was lovely.  We enjoyed the  cloud and shadow patterns on the hills until the rain started.  What?  It never rains here!  So we will visit the petroglyphs another day.


Our good friend Mark who has retired to Las Vegas.


This guy wanted to be Marks best friend and came right up to the car.









Ushuia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt, Valpariso January 2012

Ushuia is the southern most city in South America

The islands in the channel are covered with wildlife including seals, sea lions and sea birds.  These look like penguins, but they are Shags and they fly.

Check out the female at the bottom just out of the water and crawling straight up these rocks



This is in the southern most park in South America.

The bay is lovely with the Patagonian mountains in the background


This is a lighthouse that was built in Sweden and shipped to Punta Arenas



This sheep farm reminded me of my childhood and my father.  We had sheep and he always sheared them.



The Amalia Glacier was awesome.  It is 2.7 miles across the face.  We couldn't get too close because the glacier has receded and the water depth in front of the glacier has not been charted.









These are street dancers in a lovely little German inspired town outside of Puerto Montt





The water front area of Valparaiso is an UNESCO site because of the lovely old architecture.  There are many buildings worth restoration but it doesn't appear to be happening.  Too bad there isn't any maintenance either.






The museum of Easter Island artifacts was very well done.  The docent was from Easter Island and she spoke of her island knowledgeably.