John's South American Flying Adventure

Summary and thoughts - no pictures

2009-04-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

So I am home - yikes. I am so tired I can't function but I am in the office trying. (or trying to stay out of trouble) I wanted to put down some statistics for my flying buddies and for the people interested in geography.

On this trip I flew a total of 17,608 nautical miles. I heard the around the world trip is 24,000 so not really that much further. (yea easy to say sitting in my office) I flew the airplane a total of 80.2 hours which works out to an average speed of 220 knots per hour. I burned a total of 5,805 gallons of Jet A (38,896 pounds) which works out to an average of 72.4 gallons per hour. I flew IMC (in clouds) a total of 27.3 hours. I landed the plane 32 times in 14 different countries. I got to overfly Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela (kind of - off shore) Uruguay, Paraguay and countless Island from South America to Palm Beach Florida. I also got to overfly the Panama Canal, Cape Horn and from Grenada to Nevis at very very low altitude. The countries visited:

Grand Cayman
Columbia
Panama
Ecuador
Peru
Chile
Argentina
Brazil
French Guiana
Grenada
Nevis
Dominican Republic
Turks and Cacaos
USA

I got to practice my Spanish in many of the countries and all of the Spanish speaking countries I liked very much. As opposed to the Portuguese speaking countries - not to mention them by name. The people I met were all welcoming and kind - inefficient by our standards but not by theirs. I want to go back to the Bahamas or more specifically the Caribbean as there are many places I now want to see. Having a plane in that part of the world makes it possible and even easy. (it is just the flight across the USA that is difficult) I would also like to spend more time in Columbia - they spoke the best Spanish and were really sweet people.

I appreciate all of the positive comments received on the blog and I am sad that it is over. What am I going to do with the two hours every night that it took to do the blog? Hmmmm? Sleep?

Day 41 New Orleans, LA to Home Sweet Home

2009-04-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

We left New Orleans early as it was going to be a long day. There was a cold front moving through and the wind going to the East was really bad. It took us 4 1/2 hours to get to El Paso, TX. where we had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant. The second flight to Van Nuys was a little better and took only 3 hours.

I had so much stuff in the airplane that it took forever to get it unloaded.

When we were leaving New Orleans we saw this Osprey taking off. It was unbelievable to watch, ok maybe the pilot friends would appreciate it more. In level flight the blades go down 11 feet past the wheels. It flies at about 250 knots and burns 3,000 pounds per hour, wow.

Really cool to watch - I had never seen one before.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

El Paso, TX

At least it was a beautiful day - unseasonably cool.

On the ground in El Paso for fuel and Mexican food.

The Colorado River and returning to California - yea!

Looks familiar, Burbank and Van Nuys airport in the distance.

Van Nuys

Final at Van Nuys

Everyone was happy to get home after a long day.

High fives!

I will post all of the statistics on the trip tomorrow. I am so exhausted now I am going to sleep.

Day 40 Palm Beach Florida to New Orleans, LA.

2009-04-06T15:37:00.001-07:00

I now feel that the trip is coming to an end. I have Chris and Greg and Diana in the plane with me so that I am no longer alone. I am also speaking to controllers that speak English, and I can understand them and they are efficient. I must be home.

The flight today was slow as the wind was blowing in the wrong direction at about 70 knots. It was also over the gulf which made sight seeing a little more difficult. I remember flying over the gulf on the way out and thinking how huge it was and how far from land/ I have flown over so much water that I didn't really think anything about it this time. Weird.

I got to take a break on this flight as there were 3 pilots on board - I even took a nap.

On the way East - it seems like it was years ago - I couldn't see the ground around the Mississippi Delta. It is huge and interesting. Lots of water.

The mighty Mississippi

Interesting how the water flows into the Gulf. Lots of silt accumulating down there.

The whole area of New Orleans looks like it is lower then the river and the only thing separating it is the Levy's.

The city and the lake in the distance.

They built the runway out into the lake. It was really windy and cold. Very unusual for New Orleans.

Short final.

We did all of the usual things a tourist does in New Orleans except drink. We did have a couple of great meals.

Watching musicians in the square.

Pretty in an old decaying sort of way.

I t feels as if you are walking around Disneyland in a strange way.

Of course after a large and good lunch we had to also go to the Cafe Du Monde for a coffee and a beignets.

The river is actually huge - who knew?

Levy's hold all of the water.

Diana on a sugar rush.

We went to Emeril's restaurant Nora tonight for dinner. It was not health food but yummy yummy.

Tomorrow will be a long day. We are stopping in Albuquerque for lunch and then on to LA. I guess that will be the official end of my trip - yikes.

Day 39 Punta Cana Dominican Republic to North Island - Caicos, Turks and Caicos to Palm Beach Florida

2009-04-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

After we left Punta Cama we flew to Turks and Caicos for lunch. I didn't like the resort at Punta Cama. It was designed and built in the 80's and it still has that vibe. Sort of a Rosarito Beach Resort.

The sky and the water were so blue.

I forget the name of this place but they developed this as a resort and put a runway on it. That was before the financial crisis - must have been bad planning.
You can see the runway

The water is pretty shallow and clear clear clear.

This is Provo which is short for something like Provincal.

Caicos

On final

Short Final

Airport.

On the ground in Turks and Caicos

The beach where we went for lunch.

The gang

Fabulous water.

Swimming at lunch

Greg

Steve and Theirry

Taking off

It was beautiful out there.

I don't recall ever seeing the sky so clear

I could not count all of the islands we flew over today. I had no idea there were so many out here.

Starting to see Florida on the GPS- wow it has been a long time.

Land ho! Welcome back to the USA.

Palm Beach

I don't want to screw this up. Pay attention.

There is a little runway there to the right of the big runway. Careful not to land on the taxi way.

Short final - oh yea I see it now.

Yea, we did it.

Yea we did it.

Parked in front of customs.

Luggage X 4

Chris showed up to fly home with me.

There is so much stuff in this airplane.

Group hug.

Day 38 Grenada to Nevis to Puntacana Dominican Republic

2009-04-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun flying day. We left Grenada and stayed at 1,000 feet all the way to lunch on Nevis. It was really fun to do and seeing all of the various islands from that low was really special.

We now have Theirry in the plane also as Patric left this morning directly for home.

A beautiful runway.

Climbing all the way up to 1,000 feet Grenada

Grenada

Grenada
Lauristan

CarriacoMeyreau Cays

Palm Islands

Tobago Cays

Main Island of Tobago Cays

Tobago Cays

The sail boats come here as the beaches are perfect.

Tobago Cays

Looks good to me.

It was fun just flying around the place for a while.

I want to go here!

Tobago Cay

Airport at Canouan TVCN

Raffles at Canouan

Airport at Bequia

St. Vincent

The East side of all of these islands are very dry. - St. Vincent

St. Vincent

Pitons on St. Lucia

West Coast of St. Lucia

Four Seasons at St. Lucia

St. Lucia

Nortwest Coast St. Lucia

Northwest Coast of St. Lucia

The airport and Castries - coming up on St. Lucia

Castries on St. Lucia

Martinique

The dry East side of Martinique

East side of Martinique

Coral heads on Martinique

Martinique

North Side of Martinique

Martinique

Dominica

Marie Galante

Ismus of Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

North Side of Guadeloupe

Antigua in the distance

Montserrat

Montserrat - this is not all couds, some of this is a vlcanic ash.

Montserrat - People died here when this lava flow covered a village.

Montserrat - you can see houses next to the flow.

Montserrat - You can see the houses better in this photo. The houses next door ???

This is the old airport at Montserrat. Not much usable now.

The new airport at Montserrat

Redonda and Nevis/St Kitts

The West side of Nevis

Nevis

St Kitts

Nevis Runway TKPN - really it is there.

Nevis - you can just start to see the runway behind the hill.

Nevis

On final - Nevis

Hurricane Hill in the way - on short final. There is no instrument approach n here. I wonder why?

Nevis - a few years ago there was a big hurricane and the four seasons was damaged heavily and 700 people are still out of work.

Short Final Nevis - back straight.

Taxi into Nevis

On the ground at Nevis

Chris' shot.

ATR avoiding the terrain too!

Nevis for lunch Lunching on Nevis

Take off

It is great having someone to take pictures while I fly.

Toward St, Kitts

St Kitts in the clouds

St Kitts

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico
St Thomas in the distance

St. Martin in the distance.

Approaching Punta Cana.

Runway in Punta Cana.

The resort where we stayed. Just ok.

Downwind

Punta Cana

Short finalUA waiting for me!

Short final

On the ground at Punta Cana.
Chris' shot
We decided to go to Turks and Caicos tomorrow and have lunch. Since I had never been there (or any where in the Caribbean) I was excited to go

Day 37 Grenada

2009-04-03T16:52:00.001-07:00

Today was a fun day. I haven't actually used those words much on this trip. Not that I didn't have fun; but it was always I had fun but I am exhausted or I had fun until I went through customs... Today was a day off in a beautiful place and I just goofed around and had fun.

We rented two cars - actually Suzuki Samurais - not exactly a car - and went goofing. The car was a stick shift so I volunteered to drive. The wheel is on the right and you drive on the left. I had never done that before. This first picture was me trying to beat it into my head that I had to stay left, left, left.

Driving around the island you could see something beautiful in every direction.

Stay on the left - stay on the left - stay on the left. It is harder then you think.

Our chase car full of tourists.

The port.

We had to drive through the city to get where we wanted to go. It was a maze of one way streets that went in no particular order anywhere, but somehow we made it through to the other side and the road we wanted.

The vegetation is so profoundly green that it must rain a lot - a lot!

We arrived at our first destination - a waterfall. I wanted to get it over with so I just jumped in off the trail.

Later some guy went up higher and jumped - so..... I couldn't allow that. I don't know how high it really was , but it was high 30 ish feet.

That's me hitting the water - I promise.

Me and Greg enjoying the wonderful water.

Art shot. The island is called the spice island. There are so many different spices that grow here. Some guy showed us a bunch of different spices most of which I didn't know.

Second stop - another water fall. That's me out there.

This doesn't look as green as it really was. Our third stop was at the top of the island. Being a volcanic island the top is formed by a big crater which of course fills with water.

Me Greg and Diana at the top. The altitude was about 2,000 feet and it was a little cooler up here and the clouds stick here so it rains and rains - hence the green.

It was difficult to drive on the right and the locals made it no easier - wow they drove fast and not so straight.

Trying to get back to the hotel we took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way on a one way street.

Bustling little city.

Very narrow with a lot of people walking where they shouldn't be.

From the hotel's beach - which was just as nice as any. When we got back from our goofing I took a swim for some exercise. It was the first real exercise this trip. It felt great.

From the hotel's beach - art shot.

We leave tomorrow at 9 and end up in the Dominican Republic. There is a chain of islands starting with Trinidad and going almost north all the way to Florida. They are all volcanic so it must be because of two plates coming together there. (That is all of the geology I know. ) When we leave we are not going to file a flight plan but just leave under visual rules and fly very low - 2,000 feet and we are going to see every island. There are a bunch of them too. We are stopping for lunch in Nevis - wherever that is, and then flying on to D.R. Check it out. Or wait till tomorrow's blog and see what they look like. If the weather is good we will see them up close and personal. For me that sounds like fun. Tomorrow morning Patric and his wife Brigitte are leaving and Sophie is going with them. Thierry will ride with me so there will be four of us until we reach Palm Beach. Chris is meeting us there so there will be four all the way to California.

Day 36 Sao Luis Brazil to Rochambeau French Guiana to Grenada

2009-04-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

This was another long long day! It seems that I have said that before but flying wise this was a long day. We left Sao Luis and Brazil early around 8 this morning. Bye bye Brazil, because we had two flight today. We wanted to spend the night in Grenada and not in French Guiana so we made that a "lunch" and tech stop for fuel.

The first event of the day was crossing the equator. I came within 3 tenths of a second of capturing the moment this time, it is harder then you think.

This is to commemorate the moment of crossing the equator.
We also crossed the amazon but because of the usual weather patterns we were IMC, which translates into "I cant see anything".
French Guiana was a treat. After a 3 hour flight in ice and clouds we arrived to find this view.
I am sure the country is beautiful but you couldn't really prove it by me.
I got to practise my instrument procedures.
I am also well practised on the radar.
I know there is an airport down there - or at least we are hoping. It was great to have Greg in the cockpit. I need some practise at sharing the duties as I have been flying alone and was impatient trying to explain what I was doing to someone else. Hmmm, are we talking patterns here.
Final for Rochambeau,, French Guiana - welcome.
I can see the airport - can you?
do di do di do di do!
Ah yes always a relief.
Short final!

Welcome to another country.

Steve doing double duty as a ground handler. He is too tough for a rain coat.

On the ground in the first parking spot in Rochambeau.

I left the flaps down on purpose Chris to wash all of the grease off them - really.
Getting a bath.
Holy cow.
OK now he put a rain coat on - it rained really hard for a long long time. Nice place. Maybe that is why it is so green.
French Guiana - French 747 get it?
Taking off from Rochambeau. The flight was almost 3 1/2 hours. 2 1/2 hours was in a cloud. I think at the equator that is the normal weather pattern.
When we pooped out to the north there was Venezuela right off the left wing. Off course we couldn't go in their air space being American and all.
Venezuela.
I was flying at 26,000 feet. My route took me right over the Island of Trinidad and Tobago. This photo shows Venezuela off to the left and T and T off to the right. I was shocked at how close they are. I am surprised that Hugo hasn't tried to Nationalize T and T.
I asked - about 20 times -for a lower altitude so that I could do some sight seeing over T and T. The airspace was surprisingly busy. I guess everyone comes this way as they enter South America - a problem flying over Venezuela?
They let me descend to 14,000 feet which is not really sight seeing range but I did the best I could. I actually begged the guy, but he was busy.
Even at 14,000 you can see how close the two countries are.
Natalia's father and his family are from here so I wanted to try and see - and photograph as much as I could.
Southeast point.
To the south - facing the channel with V.
To the North.
The interior of the Island - hard to see, but very green and not very populated. I was surprised at how big the Island was.
Spy photo from 14,000.
Interior.
The western coast.
Near the Port of Spain on the Northwest coast. The Port was actually under a cloud so this is the best I could do.
The Island of Grenada was only about 90 miles to the North. I am shocked at how close everything is down here. When we leave here tomorrow we are going to fly at 1,000 feet over all of the various islands that are in between here and lunch. We are planning to stop in Nevis or St. Martin's for lunch on the way to the Dominican Republic.
This is Grenada coming into view under a little cloud layer.
The view was actually breath taking.

That is the airport out there. The Cuban's built the runway for the guys that kicked out the guys that we liked and that is why we came down and kicked out the guys that the Cuban's liked and hey - Grenada got a new airport. (sorry for the in depths political coverage)
Downwind to base.
Pretty flying.
Just like French Guiana only completely different.

Short final.
Really short final.
This is a British Island and this is a Virgin Air 747 - get it??

Nice view for a parking space.

Wow..
The airport.
At our hotel - telling all of the stories of the day. I was so tired I was goofy.
The deck outside my room - pretty darn nice. I love not being in Brazil.
I will take some good pictures tomorrow but this is a beautiful room.
Hard to photo - no light - but a great view. This place is really beautiful and it is great to be here for a whole day. (two nights)

A long day - 12 hours door to door and 6 1/2 hours of flying about 5 in IMC with one instrument approach, over flying the Amazon, crossing the equator, landing in a French territory, checking out Hugo and his boys, seeing Nat's ancestral home, and a beautiful landing on the spice island. All in all a good day.

Day 35 Salvador de Bahia to Sao Luis Brazil

2009-04-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

The most dramatic event of today is that tomorrow we not only leave Brazil (yea!), but are leaving South America as well. Luckily today we had only one hour in Salvador and one hour in Sao Luis in each airport on the ground and a 3 hour uneventful flight. We like those.

I have mixed feelings about leaving South America. Other then my experiences in Brazil, it has been a wonderful experience with many many wonderful people and places.

Sao Luis is 2 degrees South of the equator, so that means that tomorrow - weather permitting - we will cross the equator once again. I will see if I can get a better shot of the GPS, last time there was 4 tenths of a second off. It amazed me how quickly it became colder as I traveled further South and how quickly it became warmer as I traveled North.

Also tomorrow I fly over Trinidad and Tobago - I will see if I can go low over it to see it better and take some photos. Nat's Dad and his family were from there.

Descending toward Sao Luis. This is not the Amazon River - we will fly over that tomorrow, but it looks like it could be. It is huge.

Sao Luis.

It was really beautiful but hot hot hot and hunid humid humid.

On descent.

Landing in Sao Luis.

Approach to Sao Luis.

Picturesque.

Water - lots of it.

This was all forest and they cut down lots of trees to make farms.

On final.

Really short final.

On the ground in Sao Luis.

The forest is right there - all around the airport.
The temp was proabably 90 and 99 percent humidity.

Us three - still speaking after a few flights.

We parked next to another Cheyenne - not as nice though - from Brazil.

The hotel - it photographs better then it was. At least it was not a convent or a monestary.

The lobby - photo for Kel and Meg..

The lobby for K and M.

The dinning room.

Time is winding down on this trip. It seems long - and it really is - but on the other hand it seems to have gone fast, like all good trips. I am picking up Chris V in Florida on Sunday and there will be 4 of us flying back across the USA. I hope he doesn't bring too much in the way of bags as there is no room left. (Diana and Greg way over packed but I promised not to keep rubbing it in)

Day 34 Rio de Janeiro to Salvador de Bahia Brazil

2009-03-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

I made an important decision today. After leaving Billy last night and knowing that he will never look at my blog again I need to admit something that I couldn't really say before as Billy loves Brazil so much that I felt weird even thinking it, BUT! I hate this friggin place! There I said it and I feel so much better. It has been nothing but a complete hassle to the point of rage to fly and maneuver around the airports and to try and get anyone that admits to speaking either English or Spanish is nearly impossible. I believe it is just arrogance as I will say something - they will repeat it verbatim and look at me like I said something in Ibanian. It is as if no one has ever asked for or wanted anything similar in life and that you invented the wheel and they have no clue as to what you want and if they did it would be impossible.

When we left Rio - finally after two more hours of pain - Greg was up front with me. A real pilot in my airplane. It felt very weird to have someone in my plane at all let alone a pilot.
Diana was relaxing in the back. You can't quite count all of her suit cases but way way way too much for a week - a month - a friggin year! What were they thinking?

There was a little weather in between Rio and Salvador - we went around most of it and no big deal. The humidity level was so high that the plane started to drip water on the inside.

Someone else taking a picture of me in my arlane - I love it.

Descending into Salvador area.

The city was 10 times bigger then I had pictured.

Pretty though.

Long final.

Pretty pictures.

Medium final.

Short final - notice it was taken from the right side for a change.

On the ground in Salvador de Bahia.

Chris' shot.

Chris' shot. Getting fuel here was another comic routine as they never had the right paper - they never do - and they look at you as if you are a criminal or trying to steal something - and then suddenly everything is ok - 2 hours later.

The hotel is an old - what else - convent. Built in 1586.

It is beautiful.

As we get closer to the equator once again the weather is getting worse. We are watching it closely for tomorrow as we are now on a straight line to get back to the USA. We are going to Sao Luis and that is where we will clear customs and leave Brazil - yea!

Day 33 Rio de Janeiro

2009-03-30T19:45:00.001-07:00

I was supposed to be in Salvador de Bahia today, but instead I chose to stay here and hang with Billy for another day. The way Rio has treated me you would think I would know better.

In fact I forgot - in my exhaustion last night- another funny part of the Rio story. After being rained on and getting whited out at the top of the Christ statue - someone had told me that a complete dip in the salt water of the ocean would cleanse all of the bad karma. So Billy and I went to the beach just for me to get wet and change my luck. I went into the water and when I came up I noticed that there was lots of crap floating in the water. It looked like a sewer had backed up and trash and who knows what were floating in the water and we were the only ones in??? Rio, I think you hate me.

Today I went on a tour - not of the usual tourist stuff but of a slum. They call them Favelas and 350,000 people live in 4 square kilometers. The only plus is that this one is located on the side of a mountain overlooking one of the best beaches. If you are going to be poor, this is the place.
In order to get "in" you had to be an approved tour guide and one of Billy's friends gave us the tour of Favela Rocinha .

The police never come into this area. It is governed by a boss - mayor whatever. They are the drug dealers and live here anonymously. There are rules though and we were told that if anyone was to rob or hurt us they would be dead in 5 minutes. That made me feel safe enough.

No building codes, no addresses, no paint colors. no identifying marks.

80 percent of the people work (very hard) in the city in normal jobs.

One guy that lives here has a deck and charges the tour guides something to come in and see the view - which we did. He also sold sodas, water and to use the bathroom was 30 cents.

Very densely populated.

10 percent of the people here are unemployed and 10 percent are in the drug trade.

This walk way is one of the main "streets".

This is a self contained city with all of the usual stuff.

This is where the tourist park the cars so it is a good spot for the local crafts. I actually bought a few things here as they were very interesting. Lets see if Meghan and Kelly agree.

The mayor built a bridge for pedestrians - it is just scaffolding.

This is a samba school. The Favela of Rocinha - as well as all of the other favela's - get about a million dollars from the city and about 2,000,000 from the drug people and they spend it getting prepared for Carnival.

They take this very very serious and each favela competes for awards in the carnival.

It takes 8 months each year to prepare.

View from the scaffold bridge toward the favela.

Tomorrow - me and Greg and Diana will fly to Salvador de Bahia. It will be different to have a pilot in my airplane. Being alone I make no mistakes - when I have a pilot in the plane it is funny I make lots!

Today was not as weird as the last two. Seeing a slum was a really different thing to do and not too many people - even the Brazilian's, have ever gone inside. It was interesting. Now I really am starting toward home. I spend two night in Salvador and then one night in each place till I am home sweet home. Wow that is going to be weird!

Day32 Rio de Janeiro Brazil

2009-03-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

There is something about Rio and me that is very strange. My karma is usually good but from the time I entered Rio's airspace yesterday everything has seemed a bit off. The weather coming in, the sudden change of airports on approach in a cloud, the horiffic 8 hour sentence at the airport, the hotel loosing my bag for a while when I got finally got here. Well today started out about the same way. Billy and I rented bikes and started off down the beach - which is beautiful - 5 minute into the ride it started to rain, hard, very hard! I looked at him and said "perfect" it could not have been more perfect as to how my visit to Rio had been going so far. We had breakfast at a local cafe - which was great even though we were sitting in wet clothes. We went to the Christ statue up n the hill over looking the city and it was so cloudy that it was at times impossible to see the statue from right at the bottom of the statue, let alone see any of the city. Yet again perfect.

Ipanima Beach as viewed from the half way mark up the christ statue.

I had dinner tonight with Miguel Falabella. He is a TV, theatre and movie star and also a writer here in Brazil. He has a beautiful penthouse over looking the lagoon just off the beach. I loved the furnishings and asked if I could take a picture to show my daughters.

Here is the entire dinner group. Karina, Zeze, Greg, Diana, Billy, Miguel and Cininha

Miguel and I in his aprtment.

Dinner at the best Italian restaraunt in Rio. All of the Brazilian's are in the TV or movie business. Zeze is a sound engineer, Karina is an actress, Cininha is a director and Miguel is a multi hyphenate.

Ipanima Beach

Before it started raining on Ipnima Beach.

Billy.

Bibi Sucos for breakfast. Sucos is a fruit grown in the amazon and they blend it and add bananas and granola and serve it as a energy drink - I loved it.

The Christ statue from the home Billy is staying in near Ipanima Beach.

Nice View.

A swap meet sort of near the hotel.

A view along the beach ride.

A beach work of art.

Billy in the rain - in a cloud at the statue.

I wanted to try and cast a long shadow on South America - looks like I succeeded.

Diana in Christi mode.

Cool photo - art!

It was a total white out at the top. This was the only view of the city.

This thing is really huge.

As we drove down the hill we came out of the bottom of the cloud so we stopped and really got to take some photos.

A different direction.

Our group. Billy me and Greg and Diana.

A different direction.

Day 31 Iguazu Falls Argentine to Rio de Janeiro Brazil

2009-03-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

I know I start the blog with a lot of the same statements - and have similar words throughout but today two words come to mind:

Weird, weird, weird, weird, weird(ok that is more then two)

Also the statment "I'll sleep when I am dead" seems to be coming closer to truth. It is 3:30 am, Billy just left my hotel and that was exactly 24 hours since he arrived at my hotel in Iguazu. A long, long tense stressful day.

Once Billy arrived at 3:30 I didn't get much more - if any more sleep. My wake up call was for 7 am. Despite being tired we went to the top of the falls and it was really worth getting up to see this - spectacular.

It was good to have someone new to play with. If nothing else, after 30 days all of our stories were starting to be repeated.

The falls. Some people in our groupd had seen the other great falls and said these were prettier because of the way the water flowed over in so many different places.

Billy.

1,700,000 litres of water a second flow over the falls. Hard to visualize that.

Steve, Patrick and Brigitte.

More pictures of the falls.

The spray actually can be seen on the airplanes radar as visible moisture.

More.

A close up of the water - art shot.

Other direction.

The train to get to the falls from the hotel.

The flight was not perfect as we left around noon and of course there were thunderstorms in the afternoon. You can see some cells on the radar. You can also see that I had climbed to 29,000 to get over some of the weather. That is the highest I have had this plane up to. The controller asked me if I were RVSM and when I said no he made me go back to 27,000 because - like in the states - it is against the rules to fly higher then 28,000 unless you are certified RVSM.

The flight was pretty normal until I was approaching Rio. They asked me what airport I was going to and when I said Santos Dumant he said that I couldn't go there as I had to clear customs at the international airport on Saturday. That wouldn't even had been so bad but he had just started to descend me toward one airport and I was all set up for that airport - then he abruptly made me change. Well at the moment I was just entering the cloud layer and starting to bump around and had to change arrivals and airports. My charts were in a bag in the back as I never thought I would need those airports. Luckily Billy was there to get them. Bumping around in a cloud descending 1,500 feet a minute (fast) and trying to look at a new arrival, figuring out the approach then geting it set up, all while descending IMC and getting really close to the airport - a little stress.

When I did pop out of the clouds it was a beautiful view.

Looking North from the airport.

We did land at the international airport around 2:30. They were not expecting us, nor were we expecting to be here and that is when weird started happening.

A shot from the passenger terminal.

Since they were not expecting us nothing was prepared in advance. Customs didn't really want us there but finally accomodated us. We need to move the airplanes and get a piece of paper that we needed to have in order to fly in this country. All of that took 8 hours - yes 8 hours. We didn't actually get out of the airport till after 10 pm. It was a worlds record lame, weird inefficient, frustrating, aggrevating wait as they filled out the paperwork - that I have ever had.

I had sent my suitcase aheas with Sophie and a couple other people as they didn't need to wait with us and when I arrived at the hotel late for dinner and rushing - no bag! Billy had to go get upset at everyone anddfinally found it. We did go out for Sushi and now it is 4 am and I am shot, so I will cut off for now.

Day 30 Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls

2009-03-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a little of everything. I got up, had breakfast, went to the airport and then nothing seemed to go exactly right the rest of the day.

Iguazu Falls from a boat.

To start off the controller at San Fernando airport could not speak English. It took at least 45 minutes to get to taxi. I could not understand anything she told me and the experience was really frustrating.

The climb out would have been routine but a plane descending into the airport VFR almost ruined my day coming way too close to me. I told the controller about it and I think they shut the airport down for at least an hour because the radar wasn't working correctly. That trapped Patric at the airport for almost two hours.

I had an unusually difficult time understanding anyone today on the radio. I got really frustrated as everything was really difficult.

As soon as we took off we crossed the river and flew over Uruguay - which looked the same as Argentina.

There was a lot of water in this area. The Rio Negro is huge.

It looks like a jigsaw puzzle.

The falls are out there on the right.

Coming in to Iguazu airport.

That is the airport in the middle of a bunch of jungle.

Turning to final.

Pretty.

I told the controller how beautiful his airport was when I turned final.

Short Final!

Pulling up to stop.

On the ground at Iguazu Falls.

Chris' shot.

Within 25 minutes of getting to the hotel I was on a boat heading up to see the falls. It was the last boat of the day so - no choice.

It was a little "Disneylandish", but still really fun.

Rita and Behn

That is me!

The boat was fast and zoomed up toward the falls.

Even through some pretty good rapids.

Water was falling in a whole lot of places.

We went to several view points in the boat.

This is the main falls - I am going to see these better in the morning - this was about as close as I got.

These were another bunch of falls and we got really close to these - in fact the boat went right under the main falls to the left and we got really wet. Hence the disneyland reference.

Self portrait - nice hair!

The boat took us right up under this fall and got us wet - really wet.

me again.

More.

We went under this one too.

Pretty.

I am going up there in the morning to walk around and see these more closely.

Me.

Thierry and Sophie - they own the touring company.

Looking back down from almost to the top.

Beautiful.

Picture of a picture.

From my room - nice view.
Today I must have been tired as I didn't do well and got frustrated easily. When everyone else is stupid - it's you!

Tonight Billy is supposed to arrive around 2 AM I will be long asleep. Then we leave around 11 for Rio. I am looking forward to that. The flight in to the airport we are going takes you right in front of the big statue of christ. Supposedly a great approach.

Day 29 Buenos Aires

2009-03-26T19:00:00.001-07:00

Today was a self indulgent - John day that consisted of walking at 70 miles per hour and stopping wherever for whatever. I set out walking this morning to go to Palermo Soho. Oops, I went the wrong way and was enjoying the walking so much by the time I noticed it I was way way on the other side of town. I snapped the Presidential Palace - again - as I walked by it. I walked through the shopping area, Florida Street a walking - kinda third street promenade. Then walked completely to the other side of the city - I am taking 2 hours to get there. Good exercise.

This is just a cool old building I walked by.

They call this Palermo Soho because it looks like Soho in New York. It really really does.

Random shots of Soho.

I think it looks like Soho - you?

Soho.

The square in Soho.

Soho.

I had a coke in the square.

I went to dinner at a really great restaurant in Puerto Madero. This is the
completely developed area that was the active port. They have made it really nice.

My camera has become a new toy - if you haven't figured that out yet.

I love playing with the camera and the area was so nicely lit up.

Pretty lights.

Pedestrian suspension pivoting bridge.

This is the tall masted frigate.

Tomorrow I am leaving at 8 in the morning to go to Iguazu Falls. My friend Billy Marcus is going to meet me there - although he arrives at 2 in the morning. And we will fly into Rio together on Saturday. It will be the first time I have had anyone in my plane in a long long time - it will be kind of weird.

Day 28 Buenos Aires

2009-03-25T21:02:00.001-07:00

Today I was the tourist. I had a list of things to see and do that I got last night at dinner with a local, and I think I have done them all in one day. I walked all day at my usual 70 miles per hour. The first thing that I discovered was that Buenos Aires didn't mean "good air". I know you think that you know Spanish but what it really means is "uneven pavement". At least that is the translation I am going with - I had a nice trip. In fact I had four nice trips today, wasn't watching where I walked well enough.

I guess it could also mean dripping air conditioners, as that seems to be a universal phenomenon. It is like a weird rain as you walk down the street.

Floralis Generica.

Big old Ficus Tree.
Recoleta Cemetery.

Everyone is in a mosalium, no one is buried here in the ground. Each one is for the whole family.

They are like little buildings and they are taxed that way. Families have to keep them up too.

A lot of them had pictures describing what the family did for a living in their life.

The obligatory photo in front of Evita's Family Crypt.

Don't cry for me Argentina......

They just stacked the coffins on shelves - yikes.

A book store that took over an opera house. Actually it was quite cool and I am going back tomorrow for a longer look.

A chalet - built on top of an office building - too much money.

Presidential Palace.

Most of the really cool buildings were built in the late 1800's. During that time Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world.

More government buildings

The Colonial Palace.

More stuff.

The Obelisco can be seen from many streets because of where they placed it - that's when they had a lot of money!

The widest Street in the world - supposedly. Av 9th de Julio.

More cool buildings from the late 1800's.

La Boca was the original port area. When they built it they also built a bunch of cheap houses for the immigrant workers. They were just corrugated metal and they brought paint from the ships - what ever they could get and painted their houses. So each was a different color and they were usually bright colors.. The style made it a unique place and today they have preserved it and made it a tourist place. Is that Madonna up there?

This used to be a freight train track, but now it is a walking street.

More.

Not fancy!

I forgot to include this on my flight day - I got to such a high altitude flying here that I could see all of Argentina at once. In fact the Nescalines are really in the Atlantic Ocean (not in Peru) and they spell out Republica Argentina - go figure.

Dancing Tango for the tourist at an outdoor cafe.

Shops.

They built a newer port - Puerto Madero, but it was obsolete shortly after completion so they developed it recently into high end condos and store and offices. Really nice. You can see a tall masted ship docked there.

A walking bridge.

I went to lunch at Cafe Tortoni - it was on my list. Here you can see 3 famous writers hard at work at the next table. I really disliked this place. The restaurant itself was old and charming. I walked in and it was huge - I walked to my table in the rear of the place, and every table was filled with American tourists. OK I am one too, but I didn't want to go to a place that is all Americans - I could do that in LA. Yikes!

On my way back to the hotel I stopped at the Bear Exhibit again. This is the bear from Argentina. Guess who's picture is on the front? Peron.

Like I said last night - there were hundreds of these from all over the world. This is only about a sixth of them in this photo.

The good old USA - weird bear.

More Bears.

Tonight I went to a Tango Show. It was a dinner club kind of thing.

The dancers and the band and the music were all really good.

The costums were great also.

I was experimenting with the camera but they came out OK for no light and a zoom.

This is supposedly the best show to see - and it was really good.

The pictures don't really do a dance and music show justice.

More.

The Band.

Tomorrow I have the full day to do whatever and I have no plan yet. That is just not the way this trip has been - it feels pretty good. Stay tuned.

Day 27 Bariloche to Buenos Aires Argentina

2009-03-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Finally a boring uneventful flight! I know that sounds dumb but today's flight was darn right boring - I love it. It seems like none of them have been boring lately. The weather leaving Bariloche was stunning, cool and brilliant blue skies. The Argentinian people are much much more efficient in getting us in and out of the airports quickly and efficiently. The controllers still don't speak English any better then anywhere else, but everything else is way better.

I rested a lot in Bariloche and now I feel much better and ready for BA!

My short - short final shot that I forgot on landing. Well actually it is on take off - duh, but it is the best I could do.
Saying goodbye to the lake district and Patagonia.

Saying good bye to The Andes and all of the beautiful volcanoes.

Saying good bye to Patric as he zooms overhead at a breakneck 40 ish knots faster.

Say hello to the flat flat plains. Looks like anywhere East of the Rockies.

Flat flat flat.

Descending into BA.

Big city.

GPS shot.

More BA.

Airport coming into view and so is the Atlantic Ocean.

The airport we chose is a smaller airport in the greater BA area. It would be like landing in Van Nuys for an LA visit. There were 4 to choose from.

This is one of the smaller with a 4600 foot runway. It sure is easier to take photos when you can see the runway and not bouncing all over the cockpit.

On the ground at San Fernando airport in BA.

Chris' shot.

I took a walk after cleaning up and discovered an exhibit in a square, of bears, each one painted by an artist in a different country in the world. There were hundreds - I hadn't heard of some of the countries, but it looked like the whole world. I will take some pictures tomorrow. I had dinner (yummy pizza) with a friend of Laura Stupsker's that lives here. She gave me the lay of the land for a 2 day visit. Tomorrow I am taking a tour and then going to dive into the list. I want to try and see as much as I can while I am here.

You should hear how they speak here - I don't even feel that I speak any of the language - so much for my confidence in Spanish.

Day 26 San Carlos de Bariloche Argentina

2009-03-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our hotel is the Arelauquen Lodge outside of Bariloche. It is a resort with all kinds of things to do but specifically golf. This is the view from my room. The hotel itself is designed as a ski lodge as that is what it is as the lifts are 3 minutes away from here.

I went to a chair lift - sort of - and went to the top.

It wasn't for skiing - just to take tourist by the hundreds to the top for a view.

But the view was amazing and worth the effort of the ride.

When they developed this area in the 30's they advertised it as little Switzerland. It would more accurately be called big Switzerland as it goes forever. Even the architecture is in that style and the people that came here are mostly from Europe.

It is the Lake district of Patagonia.

It has been compared to Lake Tahoe, but I think it is 20 times more beautiful then that.

The ski resort and runs are on the far side of the mountain on the right. It is the most important ski area in South America. The altitude on the top of the mountain is only 7,500 feet. It is hard to believe that the snow and the skiing would be that good, but I don't really know, it sure is pretty though.

The other direction - water water everywhere.

Thierry doing the briefing for tomorrow's flight to Buenos Aires.

We went to dinner to a restaurant on a lake (not hard to do here) with this view it was really great and elegant.

I was bored so I did some art shots - I thought they were cool.

Art!

Tomorrow I will fly to Buenos Aires. It is over 700 miles so the best part of 3 hours. The weather is supposed to be good and I am looking forward to getting there. Today was a slow day as I was really tired from the flights yesterday and staying up late to do the blog. I actually went to the little city here and walked around trying to shop but there was nothing to buy. Hopefully BA will be better.

Day 25 Punta Arenas to Cape Horn to Bariloche Argentina

2009-03-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

So last night I said that we were ready to fly down to Cape Horn and at the last minute could not. We were going to try again this morning. In my maturity I had to hide the fact that I was hugely disappointed. This morning had too many risks as the weather here is really generally crap.

But come what may, this morning was ok, not great but ok. The plan was to stay under the clouds all the way to Cape Horn. We wanted to make sure that once we got there we could see it. So we went to the airport and got another guy from the Navy. Today was Sunday so it was a bit of a deal. Enrique was a flight engineer on a jet for the Navy - not a pilot but a navigator. The plan was simple enough, there were a lot of clouds and ice in the clouds, so I was going to fly - at the direction of my navigator right down on the water at 2,500 feet and follow the water all the way and stay under the clouds.

Good plan. A couple of problems with that plan.. The clouds don't always cooperate and stay at the same altitude and before you knew it I was at about 500 feet off the water and couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I was afraid Enrique was going to have a cow or report me or something. I asked him in Spanish - as he spoke no English -tiene miedo? (are you afraid) He said no problem but I don't know. I climbed over the water through the ice up to about 8,000 feet before we could get out.

Eventually we did and started to head more directly across the highest point - it's real name was something like Deaths Point as so many people found it in their airplanes.

There were mountains and lakes and many glaciers. This is a shot of a couple - that is a glacier's path not a river.

The scenery was unbelievable.
Over the high point there was a big enough hole to go down through. These are some of the many islands along the route.
You can see the clouds and the islands - hmmmm.

I tried to take about 20 shots of my garmin but this one is the only one that came out. The turbulence was so bad I couldn't get a picture. You'll note the way point is CAPEH (Cape Horn) I didn't know how to program in longitude and latitude points but Rita helped me with it over the radio and it worked.

When we found it there were clouds all around it and it made it kind of difficult to maneuver for a shot. The turbulence was an even bigger problem.

ok, so it is not like there is a bunch of stuff there. A house a flag a Bell 402 over on the right side and some storage stuff. I don't know why I needed the navigator as my GPS and moving map were just as good - especially while occupying clouds - he sure couldn't see.

This really was a big deal to me. I don't even know why but it became important to reach the end as we were so close. 3 airplanes did this trip and one did not. For me it was the most significant event of the trip - go figure. I could spend some time in therapy trying to figure that one out.

I made about 3 turns over the island. It was not all that easy in the wind and especially trying to take pictures. I think I am getting better???

As I turned to leave - having to go back into the clouds, yet again.

Going back toward the North you can see the Argentinian border on the GPS - the squiggly line. DARIN way point keeps you out of the wrong airspace and the F16's.

Pretty stuff.

Blue skies finally at about 11,000 feet.

More pretty stuff.

I can see about 5 glaciers in this photo.

Another hole to go down near Punta Arenas. We have to go back and refuel as the flight to Bariloche is 770 miles. (long)

It is quite nice for Punta Arenas - it wasn't even that windy.

My new best bud Enrique. I let him fly a while on the way back - he really sucked. He made me really anxious.

After refueling and getting lunch we left for our real flight of the day to Bariloche. The total elapse time for the flight was 3 hours. I was IMC all of it except for the approach into Bariloche - which is this picture. This is a ski resort town in the mountains and is quite beautiful. This photo makes the whole day look bright, no such luck. I was in a cloud for 2.8 hours picking up ice and watching my radar. Not a relaxing flight. I was so exhausted when I got here I forgot to take my short final shots. Yikes.

N82XL on the ramp at Bariloche Argentina.

At the end of the day - a secret Cape Horn Club hand shake. (boys)

I am really tired now - a long tense fun weird hard day.

Day 24 Torres del Paine to Punta Arenas

2009-03-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today started in the Park at Torres del Paine. After breakfast we took a bus back to Puerto Natalas which was about 2 hours drive.

This was a shot from a distance at the same mountains as yesterday - it was still so beautiful I had to keep snapping.

The last shot of the park. You can see Grey Glacier on the left side and then Paine Grande and the rest of the mountains. This is supposed to be the best view of the mountain range.

We stopped at another cave. This one they call the Milidon Cave as they found evidence that a bear lived there 8,000,000 years ago called the Milidon. A big cave - no big deal.

The plane on the ground at Puerto Natalas - pretty parking. I had to really secure the plane as the wind through the night was around 70 knots.

For Chris!

After take off shot - really beautiful scenery.

I know I should be flying but it really was difficult not to keep taking photos. Puerto Natalas.

You can see the town out there on the edge of the water.

Puerto Natalas.

As I climbed toward Punta

Arenas the reality set in and I entered a cloud layer at about 8,000 feet. Unfortunately this one had a bunch of ice in it. Oh well.

Descending into Punta Arenas. The flight was only 30 minutes and it did clear up as we got near Punta Arenas. In fact it was stunning.

This time you can see the airport off on the left and the town off on the right.

Yea! Airport in sight.

A big military base and commercial airport with 3 runways.

You can see the town out there and even a cruise ship in the harbor.

Pretty approach.

Long final.

Short final - when you can see it is easier to take photos and land.

On the ground at Punta Arenas.

Chris' shot - you can read the airport in the background. Good job John Chris will love that.

Punta Arenas.

I had actually been here for at least one night in 1996 after finishing my treck in Torres del Paine with Deb Klein and a bunch of people. It didn't look like this then as it was a small local town. I remember someone saying that it was fast growing back then. Now it is a big new city of 150,000.

After we landed we wanted to go to Puerto Williams and then down to Cape Horn. It isn't that far from here - 200 ish miles. Little did we know that because it is a national park and a naval base - or operated by the navy, that you need a representative of the navy to be in the plane with you when you fly over Cape Horn, go figure. We actually were successful at getting the guy to come out - he was a naval officer and pilot and was ready to fly in my plane down around the cape and back. We all were very excited - plane guys - when we rechecked the weather and while we were doing all of the arranging the weather had closed in around the cape and made it impossible for us to go. Yikes, we had the naval guy, flight plans and one plane had even taken off and was heading South. We are going to try the same plan tomorrow morning. It will make for a very long day as Baraloche is 700 some miles to the North of here.

Day 23 Torres del Paine

2009-03-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

Today I spent in the Park at Torres del Paine. Paine means blue in some language, so it would be the blue towers. I went for a walk this morning with Brian - from our group which ended up taking about 3 hours.

This picture came out really well as the sun was getting low in the sky. We had just returned from the afternoon boat trip.
The weather this morning was cool and really really windy. This was a suspension bridge over the pingo river. The water was flowing at about 30 knots.

You can see the wind blowing up the water. The prevailing wind was at least 50 with some gusts as high as 100. If those caught you off guard you could be on your butt.

There was a sandbar about a mile long. The crossing took at least 20 minutes as the wind was blowing so hard that sometimes you couldn't see.

In the foreground is an island that the sandbar took you to. The view from there was beautiful - just really difficult in the wind.

Yea that is me in there, it wasn't really that cold just so windy that you had to be covered.

There is an iceberg floating around out there behind Brian.

I actually have stayed in this hotel before in 1996. It is the same place but has been improved and made much nicer. I can remember there was no electricity at night and no ice. Back then they would go out on a boat and chip some off and iceberg.

After lunch we took a boat ride to the Grey Glacier.

The ride took us by the towers. This is a photo of Torres Grande, the largest.

I love that the life vest is a Helly Hanson - skiing anyone?

Thierry all bundled up in a pink gater.

Rita enjoying a pisco sour.

Ice! And lots of it.

The Grey Glacier goes forever and stores a lot of fresh water.

Behn.

The color is amazing - it is so blue it looks fake.

The wind died down near the glacier and made the view a lot more enjoyable.

Beauty is everywhere.

As the ice breaks off it creates icebergs that float around in the freezing lake.

I love this shot - that is why it is in here twice.

Tomorrow we are leaving here and will fly to Punta Arenas which is our last scheduled place to the South. We are discussing a side trip down even further but no decision yet.

The Park is truly magnificient and I am glad that we chose this trip as part of the journey. Few people have ever come here from the US but it is a trip worth taking.

Day 22 Puerto Montt to Puerto Natalas to Torres del Paine

2009-03-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today started in Puerto Montt at a Holiday Inn Exprress. It wasn't as bad as it sounds as it was a brand new hotel over a new shopping mall - right on the water in the heart of the city. The whole trip I have been worried about flying down in the South - as the further you go down South, the worse the weather. Todays forecast was certainly good enough to go and go we did.

This is the view out of the front window as I taxied on to the run way. I am not aggressive when it comes to weather and the information we had gave us confidence in a safe flight.
There are some weather situations down here that just are the way they are.

Clouds and rain and wind - that about sums everything up. The clouds give you the nice rain showers (constantly) and as the moist clouds blow in from over the ocean to the West and hit the Andes you get a bunch of moisture rising up into a big bunch of ice and I really wanted to make sure not to fly in any of that.

Yes a TBM 850 is faster then a Cheyenne. This is Patric over flying me 4,000 feet higher - using my zoom.

Some interesting things to point out - well at least interesting to me!

The plane in the display is cocked to one side and looks like it isn't going straight and that is because it isn't. The wind was blowing about 100 to 120 knots mostly from the West as I was going South causing the plane to point into the wind to go straight by up to 40 degrees. Also note the ground speed is only 201 - which means a bunch of the wind was slowing me down.

Also if you look at the display you'll note that you can see both sides of South America as it is getting more and more skinny. Almost there - one more flight to the South to Punta Arenas and then back to the north.

Flying over all of the clouds was one thing but sooner or later I had to descend into them - yikes.

There wasn't much in the way of ice - thankfully.

But there was a really nice rain storm just exactly where I had to go. I hate it when that happens.

Yep I have to go straight into that.

Oh crap where is that stupid airport?

It has to be there someplace - Marco???

Marco?

Uhg really bad timing - the wind was gusting to 50 knots so this was a really bumpy trip.

Marco?

Sorry for so many photos but my pilot friends will appreciate them. They better as it is always difficult to take photos when you are trying to land the plane - it is even more difficult when you are bouncing around in a gusty rain storm trying to find a strange airport on a VOR approach.

Wait - Polo - land ho, whoosh I think I got it!

Yup that is it - even if I was a bit high in all of the bouncing around it didn't seem to matter.

This is a really short final photo - yes I know there are 4 white lights showing but I obviously got it down, not without some up and down in the wind.

It was cold and rainy and windy while I unpacked - not very comfortable, but hey I chose to come down here.

After going into town for lunch the bus drove by the airport - I couldn't resist the effort with the zoom - I almost got it too.

The landscape toward the park looked like Wyoming or Idaho or somewhere familiar.

Pretty.

The mountain of the park coming into view.

The scenery changed fast as we headed to the park.

Me.

Thierry and Brigitte.

And this guanaco jumped the fence without effort - Michael Jordan eat your heart out.

More pretty.

A photo op of the beautiful mountains in the park. I will learn their names by the end of tomorrow. Notice the glaciers in the canyons on the top of these.

Fiords and Mountains.

I took a 10 minute walk off the highway up to a look out spot to see this waterfall. It was more difficult then it sounded as the wind was blowing 60 - 70 miles an hour and raining so the rain hit you like a shotgun blast.

It was beautiful though.

It was cold!

Tomorrow I am here in the park and hopefully will see as much as I can. I can hear the wind howling outside right now and occasionally the rain just blasting the roof. Nice!

Day 21 Santiago to Puerto Montt Chile

2009-03-18T19:53:00.001-07:00

It was a relatively short flight of 2.2 hours from Santiago to Puerto Montt. The flight took me along the last real high portion of the Andes. I never really thought about the fact that something like 20% of all of the active volcanoes in the world are in Chile.

Everywhere you look there are volcanoes.
These were in the mid teens high and I was at 23,000 feet.
Rugged landscape.
There was one active volcano on this leg. There was actually a notam for the ash to make sure you didn't fly through it. Tomorrow there is a notam for another active volcano too.
You can see the smoke and ash coming out of the crater to the left. That is not a cloud it is a layer of ash.
Another active volcano in the distance.
This is the Wine country of Chile.
As I near Puerto Montt the terrain becomes wine growing areas and lakes. They call it the lake district.
Pretty!
Everywhere!
Oh crap those clouds are exactly where I need to land. I had to do a VOR approach to minimums and 15 minutes after I landed it was brilliant blue skys. That is the Pacific Ocean out on the right.
Short final. These are hard to take once I take it off auto pilot and try to snap the photo and land the plane at the same time. But hey what is more important?
Chris' shot on the ground in Puerto Montt.
The Chilean Army and Air Force were having military maneuvers today and technically the airport was closed - but here that just means that you have to argue and wait and it will all be worked out.
I was kind of right in the middle of the goings on today. This is a Cessna jet trainer called a A37 .
An F16 going by.
Thierry working double duty.
Seriously 2 Cessna 206's in formation. Go figure.
Puerto Montt. View from the Holiday Inn Express.
View of the bay.
Straight down.
Back the other way.

Tomorrow I am flying to Puerto Natalis. There is no fuel there but it is the closest entrance to the Torres Del Pines Park which I will stay for two nights. After that it is another 100 miles to Punta Arenas and a fuel stop and that is as far South as I go and then I turn back to the North.

Day 20 Isla de Pascua - Santiago

2009-03-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

Today is a travel day - no not flying the Cheyenne, but LAN Air the Chilean Airline. The flight is 4 1/2 hours and is similar to the trip to Hawaii. The airlines at least is quite nice and I didn't have to worry about the weather or the arrival or the approach or even the departure. The rain finally stopped but it created a humid and hot day. After checking in and getting a baording pass we went to the local museum and read about the history of the people and the island. It was time to leave. I could have done one less day there but that was the minimum stay at the hotel.
I had dinner and spent the night at the Grand Hyatt in Santiago - which is a very nice hotel. Today is a brilliantly blue day and we are departing for Puerto Montt. I haven't checked the weather yet but I think it is going to be good. I haven't flown in 5 days and I am anxious to get going. We have two more legs of the trip to the South and then start back to the North. Yikes!

Day 19 Isla de Pascua - supplement

2009-03-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

So I did go out this afternoon even though it was raining. In fact it rained hard for 23 1/2 hours straight, not unusual for here as it is the tropics. I walked up to the top of a volcanic crater and took some shots in the rain - it was still pretty.
I leave tomorrow and I will be glad as I am ready to move on. This place was great but a little too long in one place - there are many more places to go yet. We have been watching the weather in the south and hoping that it is all good for Wed. when we leave Santiago for Puerto Monte.

Day 19 Isla de Pascua

2009-03-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today it is raining and I decided to take it easy and get a massage and not go out and do something. I have wanted to re-post some of my favorite pictures as I figured out how to make them look better on the blog. So I will go back and post some of my favorites.

Day 18 Isla de Pascua Chile

2009-03-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I got a mountain bike and took a ride to the beach. The ride there was about an hour or so. The beach was great and the water was warm and the sand soft - all good. I decided to take another way back to the hotel - a classic me move, without enought water etc. The trip back took a lot longer and by the time I was back I needed water badly and was really really tired - oh well.
The whole Island reminds me of what Hawaii must have been like before world war two. It is really deserted except for one small town. There is no one anywhere.

Cool beach.

The long hot dry ride back to the hotel. Not too many people to ask for some water.

The 15 Moais.

Another cool place to swim.

After lunch I went with a guide and another guy to the other side of the island.

It started raining - I got to wear my waterproof jacket I have been hauling around for two weeks.

Pretty.

We went through a bunch of ruins of a couple of villages and went through a bunch of caves.

This is the guide from the hotel.

Brian in a cave with a view- watch that first step though.

I have never gone spelunking before.

Spelunking!

More Moai.

Sunset in the rain.
I am going to go to bed as I am really tired tonight the ride killed me and then I had a 1/2 hour massage - oh yea, then the spelunking. The whole concept of I will sleep when I am dead thing is becoming a little to close to reality so I better take some time to catch up on my ZZZZ's.

I am here one more day. The whole Moai thing is getting a bit old, it is cool and powerful and everything but??? How many can one take?

The weather in Southern Chile is not good right now so good that we are here and not flying. Hopefully it will clear by Wed.

This is the first place my cell doesn't work - nor my blackberry, yikes. I can't even get on my desk top for some reason. Oh well I will be back to civilization by Tuesday noon ish.

Day 17 Isla de Pascua - Easter Island Chile

2009-03-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

I didn't remember them speaking Spanish in Hawaii - oh they don't and oh I am not in Hawaii. Wow I forgot for a minute there. A 5 hour commercial flight and 2,200 miles from Santiago.

I am staying at the Explora Lodge - the same hotel chain as in Atacama. Very very nice without being over the top. Simple and elegant.

The room.

The view from the room. It kind of reminds me of Hawaii in the way it looks and the fact that it volcanic and that the whole place is lava.

The design looks like something out of the 60's.

It reminds me of the architect John Lautner.

Very nice but not fancy.

The hotel was opened 1 year ago.

Is that a mermaid?

On the drive to the quarry.

These are called Moai and there are a bunch of them. On the walk to the place where they carved all of these, there must have been 20 laying along the path. If they fell over they would leave them there and not try and set them back up. I can't imagine how they moved them in the first place. The quarry was a volcanic crater with just the right kind of lava.

These were carved from about the year 1000 to about 1500 ad.

You can see how they carved them from the lava in the quarry area and then moved them really far - somehow. This one was not completed but would have been the largest one at 30 meters.

Nice nose!

Each one is very different as they were carved by different people, also over time the styles changed.

Lots and lots of horses running all over the place.

The largest platform with 15 Moais. They faced the villages - not the sea as they were to watch over the people.

Tomorrow I am going to take a bike to the beach.

Day 16 Santiago

2009-03-13T14:57:00.001-07:00

Today was a day off in Santiago. I did go on a morning city tour which was not that great, but at least I got out. This the changing of the guard at the presidential palace.
Watching this with all of the tourists, hmmmm, oh well.

My new best friends - they were a little stiff but they didn't give me any grief..

Rita and Ben in the towns main square.

Something.

Walking around the market place.

The market place.

More market place.

From the top of the mountain .

Funicular at San Cristabal.

On top of the mountain.

The funicular.

An easy day that included a bath and a nap and a little work but all in all very nice to have a day without the mental work of flying. Tomorrow I am going to Easter Island which is a 5 hour commercial flight.

Day 15 Calama to Santiago Chile

2009-03-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

I left the hotel in Atacama around 9 and went to the airport in Calama. The drive was about 1 1/2 hours and with fueling up I took off around 11:30. I filed a flight plan on the airways along the coast as I have been doing. The tower asked if I wanted a more direct route South to Santiago, something that I hadn't even thought to ask for as it took me closer to the mountains. After thinking about the weather and the beautiful day I accepted the route and took off and headed due South.

If you draw a straight line from Calama to Santiago you will see that you start in a high desert.

But as you proceed South the mountains start to merge with the flight path.

In fact in less then an hour the mountain tops off the wings are reaching up toward the airplane - while I was flying at 25,000 feet.

The colors and the rugged patterns and the altitude of the mountains is amazing.

The further South the higher and rugged the mountains became.

I took these pictures for me and my pilot friends as I know we will appreciate them the most. I kept hitting the nearest button on the GPS which shows you the direction and info on the nearest airport. Something to do when you have nothing but mountains under you for as far as you can see.

Somewhere out there is Santiago - it sure doesn't look like there is a city of 10 million somewhere ahead.

These peaks were well over 20,000 feet.

Oh Santiago - where are you?

Nope still don't see Santiago!

Marco (Polo) Marco??

The controller started to decend me long before any thing was visable out there. (other then more mountains)

Marco?

Hmmm, this is starting to look promising.

The controller announced that there was a mountain - I didn't get the name - at 9 o'clock and 38 miles. It is the highest peak in the Andes - for your sight seeing pleasure. Welcome to Santiago. Not a bad way to be welcomed to a city. I was impressed and the view was spectacular.

I will have to look up the name when it isn't 2 in the morning.

Pretty huh?

About 12,000 feet trying to see the area of the city - not yet.

At about 6,000 feet it started to look more promising.

Hey, there is an airport out there - I love it when that happens.

On final.

Short final - and incidentally, it isn't easy to take photos on short final when you are alone in the airplane.

On the ground in Santiago.

It was pretty hot on the ground.

The view from the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

I had dinner at the hotel and now I will go to bed. I am taking a tour tomorrow of Santiago.

Day 14 Atacama Chile

2009-03-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

Leadership comes in all colors

So does Fruit of the Loom

Looking for the natural bano

We are getting to know each other very well

Llama's beware

The French don't ford rivers well

Today was a long long day starting at a reasonable time we first went to a hot water river. The scenery and the setting there were very cool. The water runs over rocks that are heated by volcanic activities and the result is a big jacuzzi. This swimming hole was 3,500 meters above sea level - you do the math - pretty high.

Art shot!

Lunch being served - really I got to eat a beautiful lunch after a swim - this vacation thing is ok.

We drove up into the Andes after lunch and there were many more animals then I would have expected. It didn't look like there was much for them to eat. These vicunas are still on the endangered species list.

The wet lands.

More wetlands.

We took a hike that was only supposed to be 1 1/2 hours along this river. There were a lot of different animals here. There was a rabbit that was so big it looked like a cartoon character however they were a little to fast for a photo session.

Llama.

Border check point just inside Chile from Bolivia.

The hike ended up taking about 3 hours as we couldn't find a crossing to the river to get on the van.

My two new buds - we hung, they were cool!

Driving around the Andes.

The little sister to the Ostrich.

Driving around at 4,500 meters - hard to believe the car would work that high.

More Llamas.

Later the hotel put on a barbecue for all of the guests. I just thought this was cool as it looks like ghosts.

A real Chilean Barbecue!

There was a local Indian band and dancers to entertain us. Of course they made all of us get into the dancing.

Patric and Rita getting dirty.

Yes even me - that would be me with the party hat!

Party Party Party!

A gentlemen takes his hat off and bows when the music stops!

Ok, so the first picture is Thierry trying to cross the river. We couldn't find a way across and we were tired of walking. I went through the river and got all wet of course so Thierry was to be the second to cross. Only being not so sure footed proceeded to fall instantly and I caught his picture and his rear coming out of the water. The day was long and everyone was tired from the long hike but all in all a great day.

Day 13 Atacama Chile

2009-03-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

The full Moon and Lincankabur Volcano

I am staying in a remote desert area of Eastern Chile at a hotel called The Explora Lodge. I will be staying at other Explora Lodges in Easter Island and in Torres del Pines Park.
The lodge is very nice - simple and very comfortable without excess. The food is great and everything is included including all of the guided tours.

Exterior of the hotel.

I took a mountain bike ride 18 kilometers to Lago Caler which is a salt lagoon in the middle of the desert. The whole area is basically salt and the water has 8 times more salt then the ocean.

There were actually a couple of Flamingos here but I couldn't get close enough to photograph them..

I couldn't really swim and it was hard to float upright as your feet wouldn't sink in the water. Too bouyant, nice after a bike ride through the desert. The temerature was a mild mid 70's.

Pretty in a desert way.

Beautiful views..

View from the hotel. The volcano is in Bolivia..

Just Behn.

Patric and Rita.

Sophie and Thierry.

View from lunch. The area that the hotel is in is an oasis caused by two rivers coming together and a bunch of underground water. It reminds me of the area around furnace creek in death valley.

Around 5 pm I took another hike through Valley of the Moon. I told you I may as well be on the moon this is why. The terain was weird and cool.

A huge sand dune.

Just beauty.

The sun is starting to go down and the color is getting to be that yellow that makes all of the colors come out.

The day was not a flying day and I needed that rest - or at least I wanted it. Tomorrow I am going on a tour of the area and then leave the next morning for Santiago. This was the first real exercise I have gotten. I am going to gain a million pounds if I dont keep it up. The food is great and I have already paid for it - so it has become free food; a dangerous concept.

Day 12: Iquique and Calama Chile

2009-03-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

I started the day at the 5 star hotel in Lima - kind of on the early side. It took awhile to clear customs and immagration as always, but not that bad. This was a flying day and the first part was a flight from Lima to Iquique Chile to clear customs going into Chile. The flight took 3 hours and was just over 700 miles.
On the flight down I was looking on the ground to see if I could see the Nescalines as they were on the route down the coast but unfortunately I couldn't find them - they could have been a hundred miles inland for all I know.
This first shot is a long final at Iquique. The air dried out now as this part of the world is the driest place on earth. (or maybe South America) You can see the Pan American Highway down there along the coast.

The next photo is the short final shot!

N82XL on the ground in Iquique

This is really a desesrt even though it is on the ocean. The mountain is really a big sand dune.

Luckily all 4 planes made it to Iquique - just kidding on the lucky part.

The terain between Iquique and Calama was dry dry dry. I felt like I was in Arizona.

Short final into Calama. The runway is at 7,600 feet - it doesn't look that way but it is a high desert.

All four planes in one spot - we had the do controller working pretty hard to get all of us and an airliner into this little airport.

Chris' shot!

After landing our hotel was a mere 1 1/2 hours by car. The drive was weird and really felt like any other desert but the terain got more interesting the further we drove.

We stopped to take a picture at a beautiful spot. The two French guys - haming it up, Thierry and Patrick.

There is a volcano on the right that must be 20 some thousand feet. It is in Bolivia as the border was 60 kilomets away. The full moon on the left - artsy!

Argentina is only 150 kilometers away.

As the sun was getting lower and the colors were pretty cool - I hope you can see the pictures on the blog.

More pretty pictures - I could be on the moon - in fact one of the hikes tomorrow is in the valle of the moon.

I didn't take any shots of the hotel - the Exlorama as it was too dark when we arrived. It is a far cry from the Miraflores in Lima. It is remote and simple and beautiful in a whole different way.