Impressions circling South America

On our cruise around South America, we sailed on two oceans and cruised in grand fjords flanked by snow-covered mountains. We encountered penguins, petrels, cormorants and condors plus porpoises, sea lions and whales. Icebergs, large and small, passed by. We visited some of the continent’s most cosmopolitan cities and some of its smaller towns. This was our adventure aboard the Marco Polo of Orient Lines (800/333-7300) in March ’03.

Great visual events of our tour included the Straits of Magellan, the Beagle Channel and Cape Horn, the chilling yet magnificent Chilean glaciers, the grand Patagonian region and the early German settlements in the Chilean Lake district. Plus simply cruising the, at times, not-so-pacific Pacific offered an experience worth bringing home.

Even when confronted with a cloudy day, the waterfalls and the bobbing blocks of ice of the Chilean glacier region were thrilling. Around the bottom of the continent, rain and fog and raw wind did not detract from the experience.

LARRY W. HUGHES
Houston, TX