HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006 began for us in Porto Bello, Brazil, after we had decided to slow down and spend the southern winter in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This allowed us to spend one more month in Brazil before sailing to Uruguay. Like most other cruisers, we didn’t know much about Uruguay but we were soon pleasantly surprised by the very casual nature of the people. It is the only country in the Americas, possibly the world, with a national non-smoking ban in public areas, it has an excellent national healthcare plan, and drivers honor cross-walks! We soon put Uruguay on our list of favorite countries.

We settled in Club San Fernando for the winter, a 40 minute commuter train ride from the center of Buenos Aires. Our reason for staying in B.A. was its easy access for travel within the country and many club/marina options for leaving the boat. We took two extended trips during our stay. One was to Patagonia along the Atlantic coast to Puerto San Julian, then west to the Andes foothills, then north to Bariloche before returning to B.A. Our second trip was to the NW corner of Argentina, starting in Mendoza through the wine country, north through a region of canyons and plateaus similar to our SW, to the Salta region.

In between trips we were making Tamara ready for the next leg of our voyage, south along the Argentine coast, around the tip of Tierra del Fuego and into the Chilean channels. We left B.A. in September, first stopping in Piriapolis, Uruguay to haul Tamara out to clean and paint her bottom and make final preparations. It was here that we met numerous boats also preparing for the same journey, and boats that we would come in contact with us as we made our way south. The end of October, with Tamara as ready as she’d be, we left for Mar del Plata, Argentina where we stayed for two weeks. Then onto Caleta Hornos, a very isolated anchorage half way down the coast for 10 days, and then finally through the Straits de Le Maire and into the Beagle Canal, stopping in Ushuaia, Argentina for Christmas and New Years.

Much of 2007 will be spent cruising through the Chilean canals north to Puerto Montt where we plan to stay for about six months, during which time we hope to do more overland traveling to northern Chile, southern Peru, Bolivia, and more of NW Argentina.

We both wish you all good health and a Happy New Years.

Nancy & Mark