A global ramble - RTW 2017

[JohnM]

1A - natch - on the LA B787 JFK-SCL last night. Even better, nobody in 1B.



Pisco Sour to finish dinner.



Sun rising over the Andes on approach to SCL.



Off the bird and out to meet Rooflyer and his friends at the rental car centre for the 800 km drive S to Pucon in N Patagonia for an overnight stop before another 300 km tomorrow to Puerto Montt where we start the Skorpios II cruise on Saturday.

Dinner tonight. Pucon is a very touristy town in the lakes district. Quite a lot of low cloud and rain today, but hoping for clear skies to see the famous local volcano tomorrow before we press on.

 

[juddles]

Hey JohnM, will you have internet on the cruise? Some coordination to be done yet

 

[JohnM]

Hey JohnM, will you have internet on the cruise? Some coordination to be done yet

I don't think so. They only mention having satphone comms - I guess for emergency use. RF has roaming data package but for how much of the time we'll get signal I don't know.

 

[JohnM]

The weather is against us at the moment. Early morning from my room at Pucon there is a volcano behind the cloud.

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A stroll around this pretty town before breakfast did yield a glimpse of the peak of Volcan Villarucca which last blew its top in March 2015,

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Loading the chariot for the run to Puerto Montt.

 

[JohnM]

Danged app. It just cannot handle slow internet connections. Do the timeout settings need revision?

Missing pics.

 

[JohnM]

Puerto Montt.



Excellent dinner tonight. Waiter was a mad AC/DC fan who had flown to Buenos Aires for their River Plate concert and features in the front row on the DVD. Three very good bottles of Chilean red consumed - two Cab Sauv, one Carmenere.







Tomorrow it's onto the boat for a noon sailing and out of internet range for the next six days.

 

[JohnM]

Grabbing the last bit of WiFi from shore as boarding continues.

Home for Rooflyer and JohnM for the next five nights.



Some scenes a bordo.

 

[snabbu]

Bon Voyage! Looking forward to the cruise updates in a few days.

 

[craven morehead]

This looks like an awesome setup ! Enjoy

 

[Daver6]

Grabbing the last bit of WiFi from shore as boarding continues.

Home for Rooflyer and JohnM for the next five nights.

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Careful...there'sa dodgy looking bloke hiding in your room. Just visible in the mirror

 

[JohnM]

Back from the cruise yesterday morning and into the car over to Bariloche in Argentina. Now about a week behind in the TR and slow internet last night caused the app to go into 'not logged in' meltdown, so I abandoned the attempt.

I may get so far behind that I'll need to wait until I get back to continue.

 

[love_the_life]

I'm patient

 

[QF WP]

So am I - do it when you can.

 

[juddles]

.....slow internet last night caused the app to go into 'not logged in' meltdown, so I abandoned the attempt.....

sounds like a malbec virus to me

 

[RooFlyer]

sounds like a malbec virus to me

Oh, puh-lease! Pinot noir in Patagonia; we've left the Carménère behind in Chile (well, almost).

 

[JohnM]

But we are heading N into Malbec territory .

 

[juddles]

But we are heading N into Malbec territory .

Please go hard in those malbec lands! I am just a "tad" jealous ......

 

[RooFlyer]

But why leave San Martin de los Andes? Just had a sensational local trout dinner, with 'special wines' chosen by the host of this thread, plus the company of two charming Argentine couples (7 months on the farm near Buenos Aires, rest of the year here in S.M.). In Australia, no change out of A$150/head. Here? A$60.

And the second night in a row like this.

 

[juddles]

That is why, to quote a friend, "I choose to live in The Colonies"

 

[JohnM]

That could be unfortunate then. Not the humidity that locked the camera - I once had one that seemed to just die (with the lens extended) but when it had 'rested' a bit in a less humid environment it was fine. It was particularly annoying as I was using it to take photos of a graduation for work.

I'm back and full transmission will resume shortly. But first an update on the failed camera.

After battling with it several times in the day or so after it failed (initially stuck with the lens extended and a re-start message showing, but later simply not showing any signs of power, so seemingly dead) I packed it away well-padded (lens still extended) in my suitcase where it stayed for the next almost 10 weeks. Got home last Monday, unpacked and idly pressed the on/off button. Dang! It worked and hasn't missed a beat since. I think you are right - it must have been the humidity that triggered the failure.

Another lesson learned - keep testing what has seemingly failed. I guess we can at least be thankful these days that phones offer a pretty reasonable backup or alternative.