I got back about a week or so ago from my "trip to the south of Chile." Oct. 25-30, 2008. Talk about a difference from the north! The north is extremely dry, very brown, and there's constantly a shortage of water no matter where you decide to go. For this trip, however it was the complete oppisite!

We decided to take what's called the "Navimag Ferry." This ferry leaves weekly from the city of Puerto Montt and makes a round trip to the San Rafael Lagoon. The Lagoon was formed by the retreat of the in the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. Today it is popular tourism destination. Along the way to the Lagoon, the ship stopped in various stops. Puerto Chacabuco was where we went on day number two. We arrived mid-morning, got off the ship and toured around Puerto Chacabuco and then drove about 45 min. to Puerto Aysen. Both towns are very small. Puerto Chacabuco is a popular tourist destination, however there's only one hotel. It's a 5-star, so if you'd like to take a trip there, plan on spending a lot of money. We went on this tour on a Sunday, so when we walked around the town of Aysen, practically EVERYTHING was closed. It's like that in pretty much all of South America on Sundays.

The Navimag ferry is no "love boat" cruise ship. It's a ship that is used for transportation, (mainly cattle/other farm animals.) Half way through the trip, (after arriving in Puerto Chacabuco for the second time) we picked up some truckers. We then had cattle on board for the remainder of the time. The stench was pretty unpleasant. We slept in what we called, "the galleys." Little bunkbeds, each about the size of a loveseat. There were 4 bunkbeds in each "room" however you could hardly call it that because none of the "rooms" had doors. Pretty much in the middle of the hallway. Each of us was alotted a locker to store our things in. The bathrooms...well, you can't expect too much on a ship. The meals were surprisingly a little better than expected. Breakfast consisted of eggs, fruit, toast, juice, coffee (instant of course.) Lunch and dinner usually consisted of some sort of meat, (salmon, chicken, turkey breast) accompanied with a vegetable, potatoes, or rice side-dish, and a small salad with a piece of bread. Despite the sleeping/bathing/eating conditions on the boat, the scenery was SPECTACULAR! I could stand outside all day and gaze out into the Pacific.

My favorite day on the ship was day number 3-the trip to the San Rafael Lagoon. I have never seen anything like that before in my life! We went in groups of about 25 each and took mini boats out into the lagoon, up-close and personal! We drove straight through the ice chunks that have fallen from the glacier over the years. The ferry even gave us a complimentary whiskey (Johnny Walker-Red) to drink with the natural ice chunks. It also helped EXTREMELY with the weather, considering it was freezing and just happened to be raining on this day too.

This night was also a memorable night as I was crowned "La Reina de los ventisqueros," (The Queen of the Glaciers.) I've never felt more like a celebrity in my life! About 85% of the people on this ferry (there was a total of around 150 ppl) were over the age of 65. To be completely honest, they were in LOVE with me! After I was awarded a crown, sash, and diploma (which btw, I had to do various competitions to earn them) cameras were EVERYWHERE! I felt like the paparazzi was attacking me. From this point on, random people would come up to me and say "Oh! La Reina! Can I have a picture with you?!" I would see people taking pictures of me when I wasn't looking out of the corner of my eye. Men would come up to me and show me these pictures that they had of me on their digitals that I had absolutely no idea they had even taken them. I feel like I can honestly say that I know what it would feel like to be a celebrity.

The rest of the ferry was simply relaxing on the boat. It did get a little boring at times, but all in all it was definitely worth it considering the sights we were able to see.