Joe Benning Photography

Travel & Photo Blog

  •   Reston, VA

The Patagonian Ice Fields

The Pio XI Glacier, also known as the Brüggen Glacier, excluding the Antarctic, is the largest but not the only glacier in South America. It spans over 60 kilometers (or 37 miles). An exact count of the number of glaciers is hard to come by–but they are concentrated around the border of Chile and Argentina. The […]

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Puerta Montt and Castro Chile

It has been about a month since we embarked on the ship and the time is flying by. And soon we will be seeing the last of Chile. Over the last few days we visited both Puerto Montt, Chile and Castro, Chile.   The last place we plan on visiting in Chile  will be Punta […]

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Coquimbo and Valparaiso, Chile

On Saturday we arrived in Coquimbo, Chile. We had a great tour to the Elqui Valley (pretty much due west from the coast).  Chile is a very long, skinny country, and in about 90 minutes our drive brought us to the foothills of the Andes, very close to the border with Argentina.   Grapes for […]

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Iquiqui and Antofagasta

After leaving Peru we are heading down the west coast of Chile, headed for Coquimbo and then Santiago. On the way we  stopped off in the relatively minor port cities of Iquiqui and Antofagasta in Chile.  Nevertheless, these port cities were kind of interesting. Iquiqui had some fairly gritty sections as well as parts that […]

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In Peru

It is hard to believe that we have been on our voyage for 3 weeks already – the time is flying by.  We have had excellent presentations about the history, economics, politics and prospects of the places we have visited – in addition to specialized discussions concerning the Aztec civilization in Mexico, the Mayans in […]

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Manta and Guayaquil Ecuador

It has been a busy few days. We visited two cities in Ecuador: Manta and Guayaquil. We had been to these cities before, but there was a notable difference. There were police officers everywhere. We actually had a police escort on one of the tours we took. Apparently crime has surged in Guayaquil over the […]

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Cartagena, Colombia

It is already January 17, and it has been 10 days since we boarded the Crystal Cruise Serenity cruise ship. Not only is it better than ever, we have been pretty busy.   One thing I have to mention is that Crystal put a show onstage with 3 famous songwriters: Allan Dennis Rich, Shelley Peiken […]

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On Our Way

Well, we have been on Crystal Serenity for about a week now. Not surprisingly we have bumped into friends an acquaintances from past cruises—some from as far back as 2016.  Already we have gone on excursions in the Grand Caymans, Mexico, Belize and Honduras. Nothing especially interesting in the Caymans unless you like looking at […]

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So Long 2024; Hello 2025

It would be an understatement to say that the year 2024 was eventful. Anyway, it was busy for us. We started out slowly, but before the year was over—in a flash it seems—we wound up visiting Bordeaux for about 7 weeks; seeing friends from England; going to Bermuda for a while; visiting the Grand Canyon […]

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