Reading the Blog for the First Time

Now that the journey is over, for those that are new to reading this blog, please note that the blog itself is in reverse chronological order. For better enjoyment, read the oldest posts first. You can access these via the blog archive list on the left side of the home page.

For those who have already read the blog, I wouldn't make you read the entire thing again just to see the pictures.  So if you want to skip re-reading it or perusing each post, there is a slide show on the left hand side with just the pictures.  There is a colorful circle in the lower right hand corner that if you double click on it, it will launch Picasa web albums.  All the pictures will then be displayed at once.

Homecoming

Ha, you thought I was going to tell you about our trip home.  I’ll get there, but not yet.  First, we have a whole day of touring before heading home.

Valparaiso

We were off the ship by 9am.  Our guide, Christian, was at the pier to meet us.  We had a full day of touring and were quite lucky as the weather was just gorgeous with a nice temperature and clear blue skies.  From the harbor, you can see the 45 hills that comprise this city.  The hills are alive (playing music) – with housing, wall-to-wall buildings with very little greenery.  From the distance, the density makes it look like the hillsides are carpeted with corrugated tin in varying colors and hues.  

The city was settled around 1836, but was occupied long before by the Spanish.  Many of the hills were originally segregated by different ethnic groups and today many maintain their original ethnic heritage.  The residential areas are being renovated; many of the homes were built using Oregon pine, which has been covered with tin to protect the wood.  The streets are paved with cobblestones.  The pine and stones were used as ballast for the many ships visiting the port in the 1800s.  There is no main square in this city as there are in most cities with a Spanish heritage because of the hills.  There are squares everywhere with trees, fountains, statues and playgrounds.  We visited many of them.

Where there are hills, there are funiculars; Valparaiso has 15 of them but only 5 are functional.  We rode on one that was over 100 years old!  You could see right through the slats on the bottom of the wooden floors.  I held my breath as this creaky and rusty conveyance took us up and down the hill.  While we were joy-riding, our guide stayed with the van to protect our luggage.  Yes, they have thieves here looking for unwary tourists.  I am not going to be a victim a second time!

The one picture I take away from my visit here is the color.  This is a city that loves color, the more intensely bright and garish, the better.  Murals are painted on any wall that is flat enough to accept paint.  There is graffiti everywhere, which is so sad to see.  The perps have no respect for the beautiful murals and put their gang signs on everything.  There is a purple house right next to an orange one, right next to a green one.

The roads are a warren of narrow, twisty and steep streets.  You could spend a lifetime walking the streets and never repeat your steps.  We spent an hour or so walking through some of the neighborhoods.  It is said that the women of Valparaiso have the best looking legs.  Yes, the roads are quite steep.  My knees can attest to that.

Vina del Mar

Our next stop was a tour of this beach resort area.  It is very dense with beautiful high rise condos and upscale shopping.  The beach and promenade were dazzling and we stopped for a stroll along the promenade, avoiding the sandy beach because we were trying to stay clean for our long flight home.

Emiliana

Over the hill and through the woods (taking liberties and singing again), we headed out to wine country in the Casablanca Valley to visit an organic winery.  This winery is famous in Chile because Prince Charles visited it, and it was the only winery he visited. The grounds were simple yet elegant.  There were alpacas, and guinea fowl were roaming around.  Why guinea fowl?  They eat the larvae of bugs that destroy the grapes, thus avoiding the need for pesticides.  We had a private tasting of four wines, one white and three red.  It was around 2pm and we had not eaten since 8am.  OMG, can you believe we have gone six whole hours without eating?  Anyway, a cute young lady poured each of us a full glass of each of the four wines and then sat with us and described them.  The first one, the white, was actually pretty nice.  The reds were, to me, yucky.  Michael liked them so I gave him all of mine.  Remember, this is on an empty stomach.  I think Michael drank the equivalent of a whole bottle. 

Los Hornitos Restaurant

On the way to lunch, we drove over a twisting mountain road.  Michael asked for the Aleve as he had a headache.  Humm, I wonder where he got that from?  By this time, it is 3:30pm.  They eat lunch very late in Chile and it is the big meal of the day.  They eat a light supper in the evening.  The restaurant has been in business for over 50 years and is located out in the boonies.  Christian’s mother used to eat here.  The waiters are actually huasos, or cowboys.  This place has character.  The floors, inside and outside on the patio, are dirt.  To clean them, they are sprayed with water and then raked.  We ate outside under the ceiling fans and enjoyed some good country food.  Michael had ribs, big and meaty; I had pastel de choco; and Christian had a thick portion of beef that was so tender he cut it with a fork.  The food was fabulous, but the best part was the Chilean bread -- Pan Amasado Empanada straight from the outdoor adobe ovens.  I have never eaten bread this good before.  I don’t even know how to describe it.  It is big, it is flattened, the crust was crunchy and the inside soft.  It was so good, I ordered two more to take on the plane.  I found a recipe for it on the internet, but I don’t think I could ever make it as I don’t have an adobe oven – for those that know me, I don’t like to cook at all, so what even made me think I could make this?  Any of my friends, the good cooks, want to try it?  I’ll send you the recipe.

Santiago Main Square

After lunch, it was back to Santiago to visit the Square of Arms and Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago, where the first Chilean cardinal is buried.  By now it is quite warm out and I am desperately trying not to sweat.  I do not want to sit on a plane for 12 hours feeling sticky and needing a shower.  So I keep to the shade.  This is a very crowded and busy area, with shopping nearby.  Christian drops us off and I am very wary of the crowds.  I hug my travel bag tight to my body.  This is the first time I have to deal with my feelings from the robbery in Buenos Aires.  I do not like this.  I do not want to stay on the square.  We make our way into the cathedral and I have never seen any house of worship so large, so massive.  It is cool in here and we see priests taking confession out in the open.  When a priest is available, a red light goes on above the booth. 

Shopping Mall

We have some time to kill before we need to go to the airport.  My tote bag zipper broke so I thought I would like to buy a new one, so I suggested a shopping mall.  I like to go where the locals go; this way you can see how they really live.  This was an upscale, outdoor mall that had a grocery store.  Grocery stores are a good place to learn about a culture and the names of the products can be quite amusing.   I never did find a bag, but I worked up a good sweat.  I think the USA is obsessed with air-conditioning.  I was ready to find some.

Airport

The time had come to go to the airport.  We planned on changing clothes once we got there.  The departure lobby was mobbed, it was hot, and I am glad we got there early as the lines were pretty long.  We are flying LAN, the Chilean airline.  I have to say, we did a fabulous job of packing.  Each bag passed the weight test.  We were not able to upgrade to business class, so we get to go to the back – cramped, noisy, lousy food and no leg room. 

We get through security and had three hours to kill.  By this time, I am beyond caring about being hot and sweaty because there was nothing I could do about it as it was warm in the terminal.  So we walked around, sat, tried to find free internet, looked in the shops.  Boring.  Then I ran into some folks from the ship and we visited while they had dinner.  Neither Michael nor I were hungry at that point, but we did go in search of ice cream.  Now what airport doesn’t have ice cream?  The Santiago international terminal!  So we settled for a Starbucks drink that was sorta like a milkshake.  Bad move on my part.  Milk does a body good, but not mine.  I realized it too late after I drank 90% of it.  I was to pay for it later.  Let’s just say an airplane head is not a place you want to spend too much time in.

Things had gone along so well that there had to be at least one hitch.  Yep, our 11:45pm flight was delayed until 1:45am.  Now we got hungry.  I had my Pan Amasado Empanada to munch on.  Not quite as good as fresh from the oven, but good nevertheless.  We finally board the plane and settle back for the almost 12 hour flight.  I am juggling my items I plan to use during the flight when a flight attendant says something to me in Spanish.  “No hablo espanol” I replied.  Basically, she told me in broken English that I could not have my knitting because of the needles.  Holey Bat Man, you are not taking my knitting!  After some negotiation, she agreed if I put it away in the overhead bin and did not take it out during the flight I could keep it.  I have never had a problem before and I knit on the LAN flight from LA to Santiago.  I wish the damn airlines would be consistent.

The food was bad, the service was non-existent, and the a$$hole in the seat in front of me just jammed his seat back at ramming speed and knocked a glass of water all over me.  I yelled at him and Michael yelled at me to shut up.  I am thankful my iPad was not drowned.  We both took a sleep pill and hoped for the best.  Michael slept a good portion of the trip, albeit fitfully, and I dozed on and off for a couple of hours.  I lost my reading glasses, Michael knocked a glass of water all over his seat while on the floor looking for them.  He wound up sitting on a blanket.  We had seen all the movies on the trip down so there wasn’t much left to do except read.  We never did need to change into warmer clothes as the plane was much too warm.  Isn’t it fun to fly for hours and hours?  NOT  When you think you have done 8 hours, you find out you still have 8 more to go.  The time passes so slow.

We finally arrived in LA.  We cleared immigration and customs, collected our bags, hopped on the shuttle to the rental car lot and got ready to drive home.  Except it took forever to get the paperwork done for the rental car.  We finally got going, stopped for lunch at In-And-Out Burger (oh how we missed junk food) and arrived home in the desert around noon.  We were totally unpacked by 4pm.  Dragging fanny, we returned the rental car to Palm Springs Airport and then met friends for dinner.  Finally, we hit the bed and both of us were asleep by 9:30pm.  IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME AND SLEEP IN A BED THAT DOESN’T MOVE.

Last Day of the Cruise

I am soooo tired and ready to come home.  I want to sleep in a bed that doesn’t move.  Last night was another awful night with pitching and bouncing.  I have not stated the wave height in previous posts, but now I will tell you that the seas have been running around 18-25 feet.  Stabilizers work for the side to side motion, but don’t do a thing when you are going into them.  And nothing works when you are in bow. 

After leaving Puerto Montt yesterday afternoon, we had about four hours of inside passage sailing so our formal night dinner was quite pleasant.  The cooks go all out on formal night with lobster thermador and Grand Marnier soufflé and ice cream truffles. We dined with a couple from the desert and hope to see them when we get home.  Michael looked handsome in his tux and I looked fat.  I need to wash all the salt and sugar out of my system.  I am going to get rid of all the goodies we have that are left over from the holidays and will only eat fruits and vegetables.  Oh yeah, and I’m the tooth fairy. 

Today is our last day of the cruise.  It is always a bittersweet time.  Time to say good-bye, time to pack, time to have your last food orgy.  This has been our home for the past month.  We live wherever we are at the moment.  My mind has started the shift from bridge and cruise to going home.  When you travel as much as we do, you have to have the ability to shift quickly mentally or otherwise one can get a sense of not being rooted.  Michael is ready to stay aboard, I am ready to go home.

The morning was a bit rough, so it was get dressed and get topside.  I am no longer hungry.  I cannot eat any more. My digestive system is in overload.  I feel like the character from the movie “Alien” whose stomach bursts open and a baby alien pops out.   In my case, it is probably a huge chocolate chip cookie.  Everyone is walking around clutching their tummys saying “no more food.”  Yet they continue to bring out the food.  Today was the lunch grand buffet; salad and cold items were set up in one portion of the dining room, and incredibly beautiful desserts that were so tempting were displayed in the center.  The hot food was served from the galley, which is something to see.  Most people never see the inside of the galley.  This is a little city unto itself, all gleaming stainless steel sectioned into food preparation areas.  The freezers are so big, you could live inside one.  Today, we got to walk into the galley to get the hot food and see all the cooks manning their stations.

We started packing our suitcases.  But first, we both took a Dramamine.  There is just too much movement to feel comfortable in our cabin.  Packing is a big pain in the keester.  We are concerned with the weight, but also need to leave out things for the morning.  It is a big game of how to sort the weight as well as how to fit in huge balls of yarn.  My roll-aboard will contain things we need for tonight and tomorrow morning, a change of clothes for the flight home and everything else we couldn’t fit in the suitcases.  The rest of the bags need to be placed outside your door by midnight so the crew can collect and sort them for the disembarkation.  When you get off the ship, your bags will be waiting for you.  Tomorrow, we will have to repack the suitcases to include the toiletries and the clothes we will wear tomorrow while touring.

After a nice dinner with our PYC friends, we bid adieu.  Tomorrow our driver/guide picks us up and then we will spend the day touring Valparaiso and the Chilean wine country before heading to Santiago and the airport for a midnight flight home.

Puerto Montt – The Shopping

Here’s your bleary eyed but intrepid reporter back at the keyboard dishing out all the dirt (I just like that sentence).   I did get some sleep, but not enough.  Woke up at 4am againL  Michael had a good 10 solid hours of sleep.  I don’t know how men can sleep so well and so easily.  Grrrrr

Anyway, I am in a much better mood today.  After a leisurely morning, Michael dashed the dirt; that is, he did our final laundry before we have to pack.  What a good guy he is! I hate to pack dirty laundry as I don’t want the fumes to contaminate the clean clothes.

He reported back to me that it was raining sheep and dogs and it was a good thing we waited to go to shore.  We are anchored today and did not have any excursions planned.  Are you curious about my statement:  it is raining sheep and dogs?  Here in Chile they have dogs, lots of stray dogs.  Dogs are a protected species and they roam about everywhere.  They sleep right in the middle of the sidewalk; they sleep on park benches; they sleep anywhere they goddamn well please.  And they have sheep…..  however, in all our journeys we only saw ONE cat.  That cat must have been a brave little feline to live among all those dogs.

We packed up the backpack with bottled water, two umbrellas plus the camera and an extra polar fleece jacket for Michael.  Today, the skies were dark and threatening rain.  In contrast, our last visit here was quite warm and sunny.  As we boarded the tender, the excursion manager said it was going to pour any minute and that we should take the ship’s large umbrellas.  That was a wise decision, because it never rained the whole time ashore and the skies even got blue for a few minutes.  So we juggled all the gear while I stripped off my new Ushuaia polar fleece jacket and Michael took off his heavy sweater.  It was downright balmy and humid. 

We decided to go to the local handcraft market.  What a treat, what a surprise.  Booth after booth was filled with local handknit items such as sweaters, socks, mittens, dolls, hats; leather goods, jewelry, knitting needles, plus a bunch of souvenir crap.   But …. they also had – ta da – WOOL.  LOTS AND LOTS OF IT.  IN ALL COLORS AND TEXTURES.  Bags of it, balls of it, hanks of it -- I WANTED IT ALL!  They also had handmade knitting needles and crochet hooks.  The prices were CHEAP.  I bought three huge balls of handspun wool.  I have absolutely no idea what I am going to make with it, but rest assured I will figure out something to do with it.  Can you tell I am slightly giddy?

At the far end of the market was the fish and fresh vegetable market.  This was Pike Place Market, Puerto Montt style.  The salmon looked different than the wild salmon we are familiar with.  It was skinnier and paler.  I think most of the salmon here is farm raised; it is a big industry in Chile.  There were other fish we did not recognize.  There were clams, crab (small and dark brown in color), and oysters.  The fishing boats pull right up next to the market and off-load their catch.

We had done enough shopping because we literally have no place left to pack it.  I will have to use my roll-aboard suitcase to get the yarn home.  So we returned to the ship and sat outside on the pool deck to have pizza for lunch – and it started to rain!  This segment of our trip has not seen the best weather.  Whenever it rained, it was either at night, on a sea day or after we returned from an excursion (ok, except for a few drops down the steep hill yesterday).  What luck we have had as far as the rain goes.  This part of the world is not known for its wonderful weather.

On a totally different subject, Michael is adored by the bridge players.  They all have said they have never had such a good bridge teacher.  He is patient and says things in plain English so they can understand whatever it is he is talking about.  They love him.   Even people who don’t play bridge have been singing his praises.  The cruise director is sorry that they were so short sighted as to not have us complete the voyage to Ft. Lauderdale.   Oh well, some other time, and hopefully in a different cabin.

As I write this, the anchor is being raised (with all the noise in our cabin) and we are off for Valparaiso.  We have a sea day tomorrow and will arrive in port at 8am on Tuesday.  I’m signing off for the evening.  Have to get dressed in formal duds tonight.

Two Lumpy Days at Sea

Day 1:

We are still cruising in the Chilean fjords.  The weather is cold, cloudy, and rainy.  The water is smooth. I don’t have much to report on the sea days; it’s just a routine day at sea.

However, I do have some big news:  Michael and I played in the duplicate bridge game today to fill out a table and we had a 72% game!!!!!  To all you non-bridge folks, that is fabulous.  Somehow the lessons Michael gives to the intermediates is penetrating into my brain.  Of course, our first place finish did not count as we had to be disqualified.  Wouldn’t look nice if the director/teacher took home the bacon.

We had dinner with the PYC (Portland Yacht Club) folks and had a pleasant time.  We decided to retire early and get ready for our night of sailing in the open South Pacific Ocean.  Captain says to expect a bumpy ride.  Tomorrow is another sea day.

Day 2:

Last night was awful.  The seas started building yesterday afternoon and by late last night things were really rocking and rolling.  We got into bed early before it became impossible to stand up without holding on to something.  After taking a seasick pill and sleeping pill, I could not sleep.  It was another night of no sleep for me.  Michael can sleep through a bomb blast.  By 3am, I was totally awake and gave up trying to sleep at 5am so I got up and got dressed for the day.

Both Michael and I had escort duty for a walk through Aiken del Sur Private Park in Puerto Chacabuco.  This was a wilderness adventure in the virgin forests of Patagonia.  “Wilderness” is used loosely to describe a nicely manicured trail with steps that had thick bamboo handrails.  Bridge surfaces were laced with non-skid so you don’t slip.  This is my ideal version of wilderness (rolling my eyes).  We saw signs that said what kind of wildlife is in the area; however, in all the wilderness treks we have been on, we have never seen wildlife.  Where do they go?  Oh, the tourists are here so let’s hide and let the mosquitoes get at ‘em.  Today, the pesky bugs were absent due to the cold, overcast weather.  At least it didn’t rain on us today.

We walked about ½ mile to Barba del Viejo waterfall (yawn) through indigenous trees, ferns, moss, wild fuchsias, etc.  After the walk, our guide, who is just a baby, said the lodge was just a short five minute walk.  She never mentioned it was uphill, steeply uphill over mushy rocks and sandy soil with big potholes.  Our age group has bad knees, bad hips, and bad wind.  I don’t know how some of the folks made up it.  I know that my knees were screaming at me, NO NO NO MORE. 

We were treated to empanadas (so-so) and a folk music and dance performance. They brought a bus up the hill for those that could not make it down the hill after it was brought to management’s attention.

After a tender ride back to the ship, we were back on board by noon.  Bridge was scheduled for the afternoon and I wound up playing and did very well.  Michael has convinced me that I need to play at home at least one or two times a week to keep up the skills I have learned so I don’t have to relearn everything with each cruise.  I’ll think about it….

Update on Michael’s hand:  it’s looking much better, but I will keep an eye on it.  There is still a lump, but the red is gone.  He was a good boy and took all his antibiotics.

We will be in mostly protected waters tonight.  We expect some nasty movement for a couple of hours this evening as we will be exposed to the open ocean.  I hope I can sleep.

Tomorrow is another anchorage in Puerto Montt.  We do not have any excursions scheduled so we will wander around the shops near the pier and then return to the ship to do laundry.  It is time to think about going home.  Packing, the day of sightseeing and finally, the looooog flight home (not looking forward to THAT).  My insides are shot from all the eating I have done, although I have not overindulged in the food, just the damn chocolate chip cookies.  Eating late just doesn’t work for me.  I am looking forward to home, to unlimited WIFI, to the telephone, and to sleeping in a bed that doesn’t move.  This has not been one of my favorite cruises.   

Punta Arenas Again

Michael:

Here we are again in good old Punta Arenas.  Actually, this is a very nice small city (about 140,000) with very friendly people and some nice stuff to see.  They have recently built a promenade along many miles of seashore and it is very impressive.  I scored an excursion today called “Punta Arenas and the Museum of memories.”  Most of the museum was outdoors, and it was very cold.  It was composed mostly of steam powered farm equipment.  It was not the high point of the day.

Next, I made a return trip to both the cemetery (again very impressive) and the Braun-Menendez Mansion (also neat to go through). 

It was on to another Braun house; this one occupied until quite recently and then through a secret tunnel into the adjacent hotel for empanadas and blackberry flavored pisco sours – Yum, this was the high point!! I returned to the sip for lunch and to meet up with Beverly. I mentioned that I learned of another yarn store in town, so it was back on the shuttle bus for yet another (my fourth) trek into city center. I know this place so well now I was giving directions.

Beverly:

They did not have a tour for me today.  I elected to stay aboard and have a relaxing morning as we planned to go to town when Michael arrived back from his tour.  Again, the “alarm clock” sounded at 7am and lasted for about an hour.  Sigh… it would have been nice to sleep in.  I spent the morning visiting and reading in the 7^th deck lounge until Michael finally showed up, one hour later than he thought.  Apparently they added some stops to his tour.  In hind sight, he should have given the tour to me as he visited most of these places twice and I never did get to see them.  I’m not much of a museum person and old mansions are old mansions as far as I am concerned.  Seen one, seen them all.  Old stuff, yawn.   I did catch a glimpse of the cemetery from the bus, so I guess you could say I saw it.  I’m real good at rationalization.

We went to town and noticed that it looked like a ghost town.  There were very few cars or people on the street.  There was a little mall and everything was locked up tight and closed.  It was 2:45pm and in this town, they take siesta time seriously.  The stores reopen between 3pm and 3:15pm.  I made it to another yarn store.  This one had a larger selection of yarns and accessories, but most of the yarn was imported.  There was nothing worth my time here.

One thing I must mention is the wind.  The wind is ferocious here.  I was having a great hair day until I stepped outside.  Whoosh.  This wind just dries you out, and the cold on top of it is a killer to my knees.  Even Michael was complaining about his knees.  My bones just ache here.  Michael mentioned the nice waterfront where they are trying to grow trees, but it just ain’t happening. 

Here is an interesting fact I learned at dinner tonight:  in Uruguay, you are not allowed to wear a religious symbol in public, such as a necklace with a cross or star.

Remember the chocolate chips cookies?  We are still receiving them every night!  Last night there were 18, tonight just 10.  We are going on a great big diet as soon as we get home.  I am ready for P&J. 

A very unusual occurrence happened tonight.  The ship was scheduled to leave from the Puenta Arenas pier at 8pm.  We did leave, but only to anchor in the harbor.  An excursion to Antarctica was due to arrive by then, but due to fog, the airplane could not leave.  So the ship lays at anchor to wait for their return.  We had to leave the pier because another ship was scheduled to dock where we were.  According to the captain, we will weigh anchor at midnight (which means a lot of noise for us – bye bye sleepy time).  If the folks on the excursion do not return by midnight, I don’t know what the plan is.  I heard that the excursion director has booked some hotel rooms.

Wait ------ I hear the “alarm clock!”  Just now, 10:09pm, the bow thrusters have come to life and the anchor is being pulled up.  We did see a tender head for shore as we were heading back to our room so I assume all passengers have been accounted for.  The noise is deafening, the room is vibrating.  It sounds like a big powerful drill.  At least we get the noise over with so we will be able to sleep tonight.