Glaciers, Fjords & Channels: A Voyage Around Cape Horn

Depart the US for your flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

4:00 PM We we will gather in our private meeting room for Orientation: The Group Leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. All field trips and lectures will have a local expert but the group leader will be with the group all the time , unless otherwise informed. Transportation will be provided primarily by motor-coach, unless otherwise noted. Periods in the schedule designated as “Free time” and “At leisure” offer opportunities to do what you like and make your experience even more meaningful and memorable according to your personal preferences. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Dinner at Tango Hall while enjoying a Tango performance with a tango band music alive. Learn to tango at a local tango hall. Born around 1880, the tango was the vulgar dance and music of the capital’s “arrabales” or lower class neighborhoods, blending gaucho verse with Spanish and Italian music. Carlos Gardel, the best representative of Tango music and singers, took it out from the brothels and tenements and into the salons of Buenos Aires. In the late 19th century the “Great Village of Buenos Aires” was becoming an immigrant city, where frustrated and melancholic Europeans displaced gaucho rustics, who retreated gradually to the ever more distant countryside. The children of those immigrants became the first generation of “porteños”, and the tango-song summarized the new urban style. Permeated with nostalgia over a disappearing way of life, the tango-show expressed the apprehensions and anxieties of individuals, ranging from mundane pastimes like horse racing and other popular diversions to more profound feelings towards the changing landscape of neighborhood and community, the figure of the mother, betrayal by women, and friendship or other important personal concerns.

At leisure.

Breakfast at the hotel.

You will have this morning at leisure to explore on your own the street of recoleta nearby the hotel. Check out at 11 AM. Remember to keep your passport, medicine and anything you will need in your hand luggage due you will retrieve your luggage when getting on your cabin on board.

On your own

Get acquainted with Buenos Aires via the city's major neighborhoods and attractions. Points of interest include the Main Square, Plaza de Mayo, surrounded by the Casa Rosada (Presidential Headquarters Office), the Cabildo (Colonial Town Hall) and the Cathedral. Drive through the charming streets of San Telmo and down the colorful roads of La Boca, famous for its multicolor tin houses. Later, go through elegant Barrio Norte on the way to the Recoleta Cemetery, an amazing aboveground cemetery lined with mausoleums and statues. Finally, visit Palermo and its magnificent mansions and parks. We will embark MS Oosterdam after the field trip.

Aboard Ship

Breakfast at the hotel.

Leaving the ship for the day to explore the countryside in Argentina. Upon leaving the city start to experience the famous Pampas, land of the Gauchos, on the way to a traditional Estancia (Ranch). Join a Gaucho Party, which is a typical argentine BBQ and a show, with music, dances, carriage rides and a horseback riding demonstration. The Gaucho was the original inhabitant of the Argentine pampas (flatlands). His life was closely connected with the country traditions: feeding the cattle, taking care of the horses and playing melancholic songs on his guitar and his drinking his Yerba Mate.

Lunch at the Estancia featuring traditional Argentine BBQ.

We will be back aboard by 4PM to get ready for dinner and the beginning of our floating adventure.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Get an overview of Montevideo's monuments, parks and gardens. See the Old City, Constitution Square, Colonial Town Hall, Solis Theatre, and Independence Square at the center of which stands a monument dedicated to the national hero, Joservasio Artigas and his Mausoleum. Drive along the main commercial street, 18 de Julio Avenue, lined with shops, cafes and office buildings. Stop in front of the Congress Building: This immense building is the pride of Uruguay. It was constructed between 1908 and 1925 with local marble of 52 colors and 12 types of wood. Visit one of the oldest parks in the city which hosts the famous sculpture La Diligencia (The Stage Coach), Monument to the last Charridians. Then stop at Plaza Virgilio, with a monument dedicated to the Fallen Soldiers of the Navy.

Aboard ship.

Afternoon at leisure to explore Montevideo at your own pace.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Free time to enjoy the amenities and activities of your choice aboard ship.

Aboard ship.

Free time to enjoy the amenities and activities of your choice aboard ship.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship

Continue sailing towards Malvinas-Falkland Educational program of lectures or discussions by accompanying lecturer offered.

Aboard ship.

Aboard Ship.

At leisure.

Breakfast onboard.

The world's southernmost capital, Stanley is located in the Falklands archipelago, which consists of two main islands, East and West Falkland, along with smaller islands nearby. Stanley is proud of its British heritage, evidenced everywhere from its red telephone boxes to its pubs. The Falklands were first claimed by the English in 1765; over the centuries the Crown has had to abandon, reclaim and defend these far-flung islands from invading nations—including an Argentine foray in 1982. During the early years of their colonization, the Falklands were used as a base for ships hunting sperm whales for oil, followed by those hunting seals for fur. Today in this remote British territory, fishing and tourism are what drive the economy. Walk the town with our Study Leader to learn how this unique town became so British and how is the daily life in this remote Archipelago.

Aboard ship

Enjoy a free afternoon in Stanley or enjoy the activities and amenities onboard. The ship is scheduled to leave Stanley at 5:00 p.m.

Aboard ship

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Gather with your travel companions and your Study leader for a lecture.

Aboard ship.

It may be the most notorious ocean passage in the world, and for centuries it evoked dread in the hearts of sailors. But those who survived a trip around Cape Horn, where the Atlantic and Pacific slosh violently into each other, had bragging rights for life. Along this passage, the Tierra del Fuego, or "land of fire," where Chile and Argentina converge at the bottom of the world, got its name from early sailors who saw the fires of the people who lived here burning on shore. For some 8,000 years, until as recently as the end of the 19th century, this was the home of the Yaghan and other indigenous groups.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

We will board our motorcoach early in the morning for a field trip to the National Park. Positioned at the southernmost tip of Argentina, this memorable port town is cradled between the pristine—and towering—Martial Mountains and accessed by the picturesque Beagle Channel (which was named for Darwin’s famed vessel). Ushuaia is the capital of the Tierra del Fuego region, which is best described as a spectacular collection of superlative natural wonders. It’s a veritable kaleidoscope of glittering glaciers, snowcapped mountains, dense forests, sparkling lakes and windswept plains spread across an archipelago of rugged islands. The town itself is a maze of streets lined with low-slung buildings that all seem to meet at its heart, the port. Founded in 1884, the far-flung spot welcomed missionaries, gold prospectors and naval officers before becoming known primarily as a penal colony

Aboard ship.

During the afternoon, the ship will cruise Glacier Alley. Glacier Alley—or, as it’s more elegantly known, Avenue of the Glaciers—stretches along a good portion of the celebrated 240-kilometer-long (150-mile-long) Beagle Channel in the vast territory of Tierra del Fuego. We will follow the route that the famous HMS Beagle took with a young and then-unknown geologist and naturalist on board, Charles Darwin.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship

We will gather with our lecturer for a Road Scholar exclusive lecture.

Aboard ship

Free time to enjoy the amenities and activities of your choice aboard ship.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Head into the Patagonia countryside, with just enough low shrubs to offer camouflage to guanacos and rheas (South American ostrich). At Otway Sound hike across grassland with sandy areas to the penguin rookery. A colony of Magellanic penguins nests and breeds here -- they return every year to lay eggs and raise their young. They bury their eggs in sandy burrows and under shrubs; at this time of year most of the chicks will have hatched. This is strictly a wildlife reserve without any tourist facilities. A windbreaker, scarf, and sturdy walking shoes are recommended to bring during this field trip

In a local restaurant.

Enjoy a guided walk through the refurbished Old Warehouse, with an explanation of the old machinery used by the first colonists of this part of the world and take in a sheep shearing demonstration. Continue on to the cemetery and Plaza de Armas; time permitting, also make a stop at the local handicraft market.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard Ship

One of the main channels in Patagonia, the Sarmiento Channel runs in a north-south direction, starting at the Guía Narrows and finishing at the southern edge of Victoria Pass, where it joins the Smyth Channel. The Kawesqar people have inhabited this region for more than 6,000 years, but the channel was named for a more recent arrival: the Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who first navigated it between 1579 and 1580. The Chilean mainland lies to the east, and the islands of Esperanza, Vancouver and Piazzi flank the channel to the west. As elsewhere in the Chilean fjord region, the ragged coastline is cut with inlets set among snow-covered mountain ranges. In many places, massive glaciers run down to the sea. Educational program of lectures or discussions by accompanying lecturer offered.

Aboard Ship

Aboard Ship

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Spend the day at sea sailing the Chilean Fjords;Today we will be cruising the Chilean Fjords. Much like the Norwegian coastline, the west coast of Chile is sliced by dramatic inlets, or fjords, lined with rugged mountains and glacier-covered valleys. This spectacular stretch of coastline starts near the Reloncaví Estuary (roughly halfway down the long spine of Chile) and extends south to the very end of the continent, at Tierra del Fuego. It's a distance of some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) and is known for its beauty. We will gather with our lecturer for a Road Scholar exclusive lecture. Educational program of lectures or discussions by accompanying lecturer offered.

Aboard Ship

Aboard ship.

Aboard ship.

Head through lush countryside dotted with weathered clapboard barns and churches to Frutillar, a charming German-style village on Lake Llanquihue, America's third-largest natural lake. Visit the local museum for insight into the life of the German settlers who colonized the area. Then, drive to Puerto Octay. The name comes from an early colonist, Ochs, who owned a grocery store. When people wanted to buy something they said: "donde Ochs hay" (at Ochs, they have it), deriving into "Octay."

Lunch at a restaurant in town.

Coach back to Puerto Montt and afternoon at leisure.

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Join your study leader for a presentation on board the ship.

Aboard ship.

For Independents activities aboard ship. get ready for tomorrow disembarking!

Aboard ship.

At leisure.

Aboard ship.

Check out followed by a field trip to Chile's wine country. Start at the famed Santa Rita Winery in the Maipo Valley. A visit to the Santa Rita installations in Alto Jahuel constitutes a fascinating trip through Chilean history and viticulture. Santa Rita was founded in 1880, and was owned for many years by one of the country’s most famous poets. They pioneered the planting of Bordeaux varietals and now are considered one of the best wineries of the country. In the May 2007 issue of Wine Spectator their 2002 flagship Cabernet was rated 92 points.

Lunch at La Casa de Dona Paula Restaurant, currently a National Monument named after Ms. Paula Jaraquemada, the former manor owner of Santa Rita estate over 200 years ago.

Depart the Wine State towards the Airport. in Santiago.