Puerto Chacabuco y Puerto Aysén, Chile

Thursday, March 4, 2010 brought a beautiful sunrise at about 7:30 a.m. We are just now sailing into the harbor at Chacabuco, Chile. The bay is surrounded by snow covered mountains in this little port carved into the Andes. The principal industry in this region is fish farming. The city has several major packing plants that are operated all year round, and provide work for the people that live in the area. There is no railway into this area and the roads are very limited, resulting in the need for everything to be brought in by ship. Our tour guide, Karen informed us that the cost of living in Chacabuco is among the highest in Chile. Karen is a former Texan who met and married a man from Chile and now makes her home here in Chacabuco. Karen teaches English at a local school and gets to go back to the US about every three years.

We visited the Rio Simpson Natural Resources Park and were introduced to many of the native plants and trees. Chile’s climate in this area is said to be a lot like Norway and has a lot of evergreen trees. The rivers are clear and fast running, being continuously fed by melting snow from the mountains and rainfall that is more than 100 inches per year. Luckily we had a clear and warm day to explore the surroundings. Fly fishing for trout and salmon is a very popular sport for both the locals and visitors who come from near and far to test their luck.

We then drove to another nearby village called Puerto Aysen. There is a beautiful orange suspension bridge over the Rio Aysen, said to be the second longest in Chile, which was built about 20 years ago. It was so well designed and constructed that it withstood a 6.0 earthquake a few years ago without any damage.

We visited the town square and met with some school children dressed in their school uniforms. A group of boys sitting on the steps of the bandstand in the center of the square were happy to see us and try out their English. “Good morning, my name is Javier” we heard one boy say, and his fellow students took his lead and everyone was shouting their name and other phrases in English.

The Chilean schools are just back in session. We’ve been told the kids feel cheated this year. Their summer was very cool and rainy and just now that school is back in session, the weather is warm and pleasant. Several hundred miles to the north, in the city of Concepcion, near the epicenter of the recent earthquake, most schools have been severely damaged and may not open for weeks, and the kids are glad to have food and shelter let alone a pleasant summer.