Passing
through Valparaiso, Chile/Carlos Pueblo
Cruise
embarkation at Valparaiso, Chile, two hours bus ride west of
the capital
city of Santiago. I took the subway from Bellas Artes to
Santa Lucia,
and changed train to the University of Santiago station
for the bus.
The bus station personal was very courteous to make sure
that I got
on to the right bus. The ride passed through a part of the
the
University campus and the district nearby business and residential
mixed, then
onto a freeway through some view of Chilean farms and
Andes
Mountains. I was told that to visit the mountains, vine yards, and
the famous Acouncagua
Peak, 22,841 ft. or 6,962 m. on Argentina side
would take
at least 5 hours bus ride if any, yet it is still closer than from
Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
At the bus
station of Valparaiso, I found a taxi to take me to the cruise
terminal;
however, embarkation was delayed from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm
due to port
workers’ strike delayed the arrival and disembarkation of the
ship. During
the long wait at the terminal waiting area, I met two Brazilian
ladies of my
age and their group of two couples. Later we became friends
on the ship
and I invited them one each at a time to enjoy two free steak
dinner on
the ship due to my 11 times with the cruise line.
The ship is
sailing on the inner sea among offshore islands called fjords, a
steep cliff
to the sea. There are Alaska fjords, Hawaii fjords, and Norwegian
fjords etc.
famous for the cruise route. From my balcony, I could see the
Chilean
coast guard vessels on the pier and I could imagine how large of
her territory
to patrol from invading fishing vessels from the other nations.
I also
learned later that there were sea territory dispute among some South
American
nations such as Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina etc. all involving
sea. Chile
keeps Peru and Bolivia inland through wars. After I came back from
the trip, I
googled some stories about this and found German immigrants had
played some
role during the dispute. German also helped the Chilean native
on the south
to resist the invasion from the north. There are more immigrants
from Eastern
Europe after the collapse of the Communist bloc in 1989.
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