John and Diane's Amazing Adventure - Part II

[Johnny B]

January 22 – Day 17

Valparaiso, Chile

 

I love San Francisco, but as far as being built on hills is concerned, Valparaiso is like San Francisco on steroids. It is built on 54 (yep) hills and has (I think) 7 funiculars to take the brave tourist from sea level to the top of one of them. We didn’t take one, but we did take a one-hour taxi tour of the city and saw, perhaps, a fourth of it.

 

Valparaiso is the port for Santiago, about a 1-1/2 hour drive away. Our sort-of nephew and his Chilean wife live in Santiago, and we tried to get together, but since they work in the produce industry and this is the really, really busy season, our paths were unable to cross. Instead, we decided that the best way to see the city was to have an overview and then just walk, walk, walk. We firmly believe that the best way to see any city is to do it on foot, and we’ve spent hours – heck, days – doing that in almost every city we’ve ever visited. I think if there’s a prize for miles walked in Paris by a non-resident that we’d win.

 

The colors of buildings in the city were vibrant and varied and the people were outgoing and friendly. We began our walk at Plaza Sotomayor (no relation to our newest Supreme Court Justice). Our goal was to find the post office to send home the first “care package” to the kids. After about 6 blocks and only two requests for help, we found it! It, of course, was only a block and a half away, but we had walked by it more than once, not knowing the Spanish name for post office. Our mailing mission accomplished, we continued on.

 

It turned out that the ship was docked right next to downtown, but because of safety and security, we were required to be bussed about a mile and a half away, so getting back to the ship required a two-mile walk through the liveliest part of downtown. There were markets, people just selling things on the sidewalk, beautiful parks, shops in which anything could be found, and even more friendly people.

 

Finally back at the ship at about 2:00, we had a really late lunch. John headed to the back deck for some sun, and I found a really nice lounge with sun streaming in the window for some reading. (I’m in the middle of A Truth Universally Acknowledged, a collection of essays from famous writers about why they read Jane Austen. I have to admit I’m kind of a nut in that way). At 4:30 it was time for the sailaway get-together on the aft Lido deck, and so, with the band, beverages, and hors d’oeuvres, we said goodbye to Valparaiso. Tomorrow’s Robinson Crusoe Island, off the coast of Chile. That’s where Alexander Selkirk was marooned for four years beginning in 1704, and later, Daniel Defoe used his story to write Robinson Crusoe. It’s so rough tonight (10-foot seas) that there’s some doubt whether we’ll be able to use tenders to go ashore, but we’re hoping that it’s possible.

[Johnny B]

January 23 – Day 18

Robinson Crusoe Island

 

If you haven’t really read Robinson Crusoe, most of you at least know the story. A man gets stranded on an island and has to survive there by himself (at least until he finds Friday) for several years. The strange thing about the story is that it is actually true. The man’s name was Alexander Selkirk, and he was marooned here in 1704. The part about Friday is probably not true, but Selkirk did live on the island for four years and four months until he drew the attention of a passing ship by building a fire atop one of the mountains. Daniel Defoe loved the story, and he turned it into Robinson Crusoe. That’s the island we visited today, which sits in the Pacific, west of South America.

 

Last night during dinner we began rocking and rolling with ten-foot waves. Probably a third of the folks who are usually in the dining room weren’t, and holders of what we used to fondly call “barf bags” made their appearance outside every elevator. It was our roughest night so far, but we thought it was great fun. The best part was once in a while, in addition to just rocking back and forth, the front of the ship would go up a large wave and then “crash,” it would hit the trough on the other side. Because of the weather, we really didn’t expect to see Isla Robinson Crusoe, but as we sailed into its protected bay this morning about 11:00, the water calmed, although the wind kept up to 30-40 knot gusts. The sun came out about noon, and the place was beautiful.

 

The town here is basically one long road with a combination of houses, shops, cafes, and a cemetery. We first hiked to the cemetery end, out onto the beach and kept going until the water prevented us going any farther. We watched some large sea otters play in the surf and then headed back toward town. Once we got there, it was time to hike up the mountain. It’s possible to take a four-hour hike up to about 9,000 feet, but we took a pass on that one. Then we headed down the other way on the street, buying and sending post cards, looking in at cafes and heading down as far as we could go – which wasn’t far. We discovered some of our tablemates in one of the cafes, joined them for a while, and then headed back to the ship.

 

It was a wonderful place to spend the day. It reminded us greatly of the Marquesas, where we visited two years ago. The climate is tropical and there are flora and fauna species found here that are found nowhere else on earth. Joan, the bridge teacher, was the only person on the entire ship (officers included) who had been here previously, since she collects countries the way some people collect baseball cards. I think she’s up to 304 at last count, only needing two countries in Africa to complete every country in the world.

 

We got some bad news this morning, though. Because of security concerns, our two-day stop at the Seychelles has been cancelled and replaced with a one-day stop at the Maldives. We had really, really been looking forward to the Seychelles, but since the Maldives are sinking and probably won’t even be there for much longer, I guess it’s a good replacement.

 

We’ve been given a high seas alert from now until February 5 and told to secure all our belongings in the stateroom and take care moving about the ship. This, of course, brings about all the “oldtimers’” stories about rough seas in the old days, so we can hardly wait.

[Limeygirl]

Thank you so much for letting us join you on your adventures! I am anxiously awaiting our first cruise in June, and this is a great way to pass the time!!!

[whiterose]

We're joining the cruise in Buenos Aires so it's been fun to follow along with the lucky people already on board. I was shocked to find out we're not going to the Seychelles. Did they give a reason? We were really looking forward to this port but I guess the Maldives are good too. I'm a bit upset that nobody bothered to tell us so hope they don't spring any more surprise changes.

[DizzyDallasDi]

I am so enjoying reading about your fabulous voyage. Thank you for taking us along!

 

I was wondering, though, given all the different countries you are visiting, how do you go about having the correct currency for each one?

 

Diane

[luvcruisn']

January 18 – Day 13

Afterwards, the choices begin again:...Barbershop and Sweet Adelines...

 

Just wondering about these groups: do people set these groups up, and then work on songs throughout the cruise?

 

Love the posts.

[Johnny B]

January 24 – Day 18

At Sea – And a Rough One

 

I don’t think I’ve hardly ever had a conversation with someone about cruises without the “F” word coming up – FOOD! It seems that people who haven’t been on cruises, or even some who have only been on short cruises, think is the most important thing about sailing. I have to admit, the food is certainly good, but it seems that most world cruisers are pretty darned matter of fact about it. It’s there, it’s of excellent quality, but no one gets her panties in a twist about it. On our 2008 world cruise, if there was a midnight buffet, I certainly didn’t know about it. Nevertheless, it is an interesting topic.

 

We’ve cruised the Amsterdam on shorter cruises, and the food on the world cruise is certainly several cuts above. We begin most mornings by exercising, and then we have breakfast by the Lido (indoor/outdoor) pool. It’s wonderful to sit, eat breakfast, and watch the huge expanse of ocean go by. There are so many choices for breakfast it’s hard to go through all of them. There are the basic egg/potato/bacon/ham/sausage choices, waffles, pancakes, and French toast, cheese, ham, salami, a large selection of fresh fruit (right now the watermelon is particularly yummy), juices including fresh-squeezed orange, yogurt and lots more. This morning’s special, for example, was bratwurst and fried potatoes. I’m not much of a meat eater, but it sure looked good. My usual breakfast is cereal mixed with yogurt, a plate of fresh fruit and that fresh orange juice. If I had to make a list of my five favorite things on the ship, that OJ would be on it.

 

Mid-morning there is coffee/cookie time in the Explorers’ Lounge as well as our own local Starbucks wannabe (but at half the cost). At the coffee lounge, they always have platters of cookies, little pastries, and delicious-looking cakes.

 

At lunch we usually go back to the Lido. The list of types of foods is amazing: there’s Asian, American, a salad bar, a pasta bar, a sandwich bar, an ice cream station, and probably 30 feet of desserts spread out for us to salivate over. At the other end of the Lido pool, there’s the outside station, with hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst and a full taco/nacho bar. The French fries there are just the best, and John’s particularly susceptible to their kind of temptation, although he tries to keep the burger habit to just one a week. My eating is pretty eclectic; I usually begin with bread and tapenade (soooo delicious) and continue to either the Asian station (today I had beef and broccoli over fried rice) or the salad bar. I try to avoid desserts as much as possible, but a person can only be so good, you know.

 

For those folks who cannot possibly last from lunch until dinner, there are all sorts of mid-afternoon goodies. Tea is served in the Crow’s Nest from 3:15 until 4:00 with lovely little tea sandwiches, mini-scones (with clotted cream and jam) and delectable pastries. Of course, if you can’t get up to the Crow’s Nest, the same things are served at the Exploration coffee shop. If they just wouldn’t make things so darned available!

 

Dinner is most people’s heavy eating time, no matter how many times we hear that we should eat lightly in the evening. The Lido buffet is always an option, and some of our friends almost always eat there, but most people opt for the dining room. I know that “Free Choice Dining” is becoming popular on a lot of cruise ships, but I really like sitting at a table of people that I get to know quite well after four months. We have made some really good friends this way, and 7 of the 11 at our table were together during the 2008 cruise.

 

At our table, most people have three courses: a starter, a soup or salad (yes, I always thought of those as starters too), and a main course – not including dessert, of course. John and I usually just have two courses, and I try to order my main course from the starter menu. One night’s main course choices included meat loaf and mashed potatoes (no everything is from Bon Appetit), rack of lamb, salmon, Japanese shrimp and vegetables, and several others. We are really spoiled for choice.

 

If the regular dining room doesn’t tickle your fancy, there are two other options: The Pinnacle Restaurant and Caneletto. The Pinnacle is the ship’s truly most upscale eatery, really a four-star kind of place, for which there is a surcharge. While it focuses on beef dishes, they have some excellent fish (I love their crabcakes) and lamb choices. The Pinnacle is also the location of two Sommelier dinners during the WC, meals during which wines are paired with appropriate courses for the enjoyment of all. If you want something Italian, Caneletto should be your destination. They’ve blocked off part of the Lido seating area and turned it into a lovely little trattoria with Venetian-looking waiters and an entire menu of Italian delights. Happily, there is no surcharge for this one.

 

Yep, there’s plenty to eat, and one could, no doubt, end up in April weighing 300 pounds, but most people seem to get off at about the same weight as when they boarded. Some even lose weight. I sincerely hope I’m one of them.

[baggal]

Thank you for your very enlightening report of your trip. I know that rough seas are expected as your continue to travel south. Could you tell give us some more details?

[Storylady]

We're joining the cruise in Buenos Aires so it's been fun to follow along with the lucky people already on board. I was shocked to find out we're not going to the Seychelles. Did they give a reason? We were really looking forward to this port but I guess the Maldives are good too. I'm a bit upset that nobody bothered to tell us so hope they don't spring any more surprise changes.

 

I would guess the reason is Somali Pirates. It looks like the Seychelles has a blind eye to the pirates. Several yacht have been seized. And in December they seized a couple of tankers in the vicinity of the Seychelles Archipelago.

[Johnny B]

January 25 – Day 20

Puerto Montt, Chile

 

“What we have here, darlin’, is a failure to communicate.” That’s one of my favorite movie lines, but this morning we lived it. John had been reading about Puerto Montt and commented that it was not supposed to be a very attractive place but that a charming little town called Puerto Varas was only a short distance away. I got busy with the guide book and talked to Barbara, the expert on all ports. It turns out that there’s a mini-bus which leaves P. Montt frequently and takes passengers to P. Varas in only 20 minutes – for only about $1.40. Such a deal.

 

However, when we got off the tender, John succumbed to a tour operator who was willing to see us a 4-hour tour in a mini-bus for only $30.00 each. It turns out he wanted to see the volcanoes and waterfalls up close, but I didn’t know that, so I started to pout. We got switched to another bus, and we took off, with me continuing to do a slow burn. Then the folks on the bus decided that four hours wasn’t enough; we needed to come back, instead of 1:30 at 3:00 or so. Then I got really steamed, and when we stopped at the town plaza to take a look, John decided that this wasn’t the tour for us – not if his wife was going to continue to carry on like she had been.

 

We walked back to the bus station, found the bus to Puerto Varas, and like magic, it got us there in 20 minutes. It truly is a delightful little town. It was built by German immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and sits, like a cute little Swiss village, on the edge of Lake Llanquihue (Yang-kee-way) and is one of the most visited places in southern Chile. We wandered around the town, up and down hills, into and out of churches and shops and along the edge of lake until we decided we’d see all P. Varas had to offer. The bus ride back was just as quick, easy and cheap as the one there, and twenty minutes later, we were back in the middle of P. Montt, ready to hike from one end of the town to the other. The best thing we found was a cute little café called Dresden (this one’s a German town too). The lunch special was $7 and included three courses: a salad, fish (with a delectable lemon sauce) and rice, and a fruit cup and coffee to finish. It was great, and our favorite part was that we were the only non-Chileans there. That always makes us feel like we’ve discovered something that the locals already know.

 

One thing that we noticed in each Chilean city we’ve visited is the plethora (don’t you love that word?) of dogs in the downtown area. They just wander, sleep, occasionally play, and everyone walks or drives around them. They’re usually good-sized Fidos, but they seem to be pretty friendly – not that I’m putting that to a test.

 

Sailaway was sunny and warm, and the two volcanoes that sit protectively over the town with their coverings of snow made for excellent photos. BTW, the reason for the lack of photos (this is for you, Paul) is the length of time it takes to upload them into a blog relative to the high cost of internet at sea. We hope to have it be otherwise, and we’re actually working on it. The scenery as we sail down the coast is spectacular as we head southward, with the snow-capped Andes clearly visible.

 

Now we head off toward the Chilean Fjords and for two days we’ll wend our way southward toward Patagonia, cruising such amazing sights as Darwin Channel, and Amalia Glacier. They’re everyone out on deck days, when hot chocolate, warm apple cider and hot coffee are available to everyone outside. The Crow’s Nest will be crowded, but the best way to see these wonderful sights is as up close and personal as possible.

[Leeny17]

I absolutely love reading about your adventures each day! Glad to hear you had a drink for Russell and I, and we wish we could join you wine tasting all around the world! We love you guys, and miss you so much (especially at church, we have no one to keep us on top of the bulletin readings). Good luck with those high seas!

[RuthC]

I love Puerto Varas! It even has one of the few places where I enjoy a shop-stop. The lake is beautiful there, too.

Thanks for refreshing the photo in my mind's eye. It was getting a bit blurry.

Oh, you might lose Internet service soon. That should go on for a few days. Check with the Internet Manager, or one of the free websites, before you try to log on.

Don't want you to waste those precious minutes.

[GoldenLover]

Sorry, I missed the "boat" when your journey first began so today I got caught up. It's a great story and a wonderful opportunity to live vicariously through the activities of a couple who may be a bit more adventurous than DW and I. We've done five HA cruises and expect to do more, but I don't know if we're ever going to be ready, financially or otherwise, to make the kind of commitment that you have. It's sort of like the TV show, 24 - I know I like to watch, but it seems beyond the realm of reality for me. Sorry if you have answered before - what is your background in teaching? I'm just curious/nosey, as I have 30+ years in middle level education. Anyway - thanks again for the chance to enjoy your adventure.

[Johnny B]

January 26 – Day 21

Cruising the Southern Chilean Fjords

 

We awoke this morning to the sound of someone talking to us from our balcony. It was pretty early, just past daylight, so John walked to the verandah door and opened it. It was Barbara, the port lecturer, narrating our passage through the Darwin Channel and the sound carried quite well.

 

Now that she had our attention, we looked outside and saw some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. There were mountains, crystal clear fjords and, surprisingly, a beautiful blue sky with a few fluffy clouds. Even the pilot captains were surprised at the weather; they said this was the first day in a few weeks without rain. One of the guidebooks told us that “rain and wind pummel the islands relentlessly.”

 

Those folks who are brave enough to venture outside are suitably clothed and hatted – the wind is fierce and the temperature is about 50 degrees F. Rather than the warmish, sunny day when we sailed through the New Zealand fjords, this weather is more challenging, more primal and most people seem to only be able to take it for a short time.

 

After completing our transit of the Darwin Channel, we re-entered the Pacific, and boy did we know it. The wind is blowing a gale and the captain has told us that seas will be up to 16 feet today. I love that old time rock ‘n’ roll.

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

By lunchtime, the ship was really moving. As we ate lunch at the Lido, we looked out at the ocean and noticed that the coastline was moving up and down – no, wait – that’s us moving up and down. After lunch, we went out to the aft Lido pool area to join Greg and Rhonda, our Australian friends, who were out there celebrating Australia Day. As we finished our Champagne, a huge wave came up and almost half the water in the pool came over the sides and flooded the deck. We heard plates and glasses crashing inside, and sure enough, when we went back into the Lido buffet, our friends in there told us that all the sandwich plates had gone flying. I really feel for the folks who are affected by seasickness, but I thought everyone knew that this was the roughest patch in the world. There are several people who are wearing those cute little transdermal patches behind their ears. I hope it helps.

 

The best activity this morning was a cooking demonstration by our guest chef, Mark Bittman. He writes a food column for the New York Times and has written a couple of books, the best known one being How to Cook Everything. He also has done a show on PBS with Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali called Spain: On the Road Again. He believes in simple food and in re-doing the proportions of what we eat to include fewer animal products and more plant products. Today he made what he calls “Cassoulet with lots of vegetables.” He cut the amount of meat (sausage, duck, etc) to about a quarter and included all kinds of vegetables. The general consensus, after the samples were passed around, was that it was excellent. Susie and I are signed up for his two cooking master classes one tomorrow and the other sometime next week. Should be fun – and educational. Maybe I’ll even get some dirt on Gwyneth Paltrow – who knows?

 

We’ve only been to one party so far in the cruise, but tonight there are three: Greg and Heo are hosting an Australia Day party in their suite at 5:00, our “Specialist” agents are hosting one at 7:00, and the ship is celebrating Australia Day at 7:30 in the Crow’s Nest. If that weren’t enough, there’s dinner, too – or maybe not, depending on how the parties go. We’ll see.

 

P. S. Regarding Sweet Adelines, etc., I think you just show up and anyone interested forms a group.

 

Regarding teaching, I taught for 35 years in middle school (English) and John taught for nearly as long in h. s. - half in social studies and the last half in English - senior A.P.

[mkslice]

I just found you posts on your current world cruise and am enjoying it greatly. I do have a vested interest though as my in-laws are on the same cruise.

They elected to start the cruise in Los Angeles to avoid the flights to FL as they are from So Cal, so they had Panama canal trips both directions this cruise and an additional 14 days added to their cruise.

I hope to read more of your cruise stories and you have enjoyable days at sea.

 

Regards,

Marc

[Johnny B]

January 27 – Day 22

At Sea – The Patagonian Channels

 

We woke this morning to extreme silence and then looked out the window. It looked like a giant grey punch bowl, with crushed ice floating everywhere. We were smack dab in the middle of a Chilean fjord and in front of the Amalia Glacier. If you’ve been on a cruise to Alaska, you’ve no doubt seen Glacier Bay, where huge oceans of ice come down to the water’s surface and “calve” off into smaller pieces. The Amalia Glacier is similar, but much larger, with another glacier feeding it from the side. Huge chunks of ice floated in the water. This water had to be cold enough to . . . well, you know. The rain was pounding down, but intrepid passengers (us) went outside for the best views.

 

As we continued through this inside passage, we heard a message from the captain saying that, though he had planned to go back out into the ocean, we were a bit ahead of time so we’d stay in inland channels and have a much smoother ride during the day – darn! We were looking for some rocking action. We’re on a boat, and we want to know it.

 

We continued fairly near to land all through the day, passing islands and seeing the snow-covered Andes in the background. At one point, we passed the mv Veendam, which had just come back from Antarctica where they got five inches of snow. We can only hope. One of the most interesting things we passed was an orange wreck of a ship, semi-submerged and about 200 feet long. This area can be treacherous, and I’m just glad the side of the ship didn’t say mv Amsterdam.

 

The parties last night were great. Greg and Heo have a suite on 7, and they began the evening with an Australian Day celebration. We learned all the verses of “Waltzing Matilda” and met, among others, the doctor and her husband. Next was the party given by our cruise agent, those “specialists” from Seattle. The bar was open, the hors d’oeuvres were good, and we even chatted with the Captain for a while. The third one was the ship’s Australia Day party in the Crow’s Nest, and I don’t know what it meant, but we were encouraged to shout “oy, oy, oy” a lot. They were all good fun, but they did result in us eating almost nothing at dinner.

 

This morning was our master cooking class with Mark Bittman. The menu we’d fix was enough to make anyone’s mouth water: a combination of blue cheese and chopped, toasted pecans spread on thin slices of pear, a salad made of Chilean apples and fennel, thinly sliced scallops with carmelized leeks, and a mango crisp for dessert. We jumped right in and two friends and I made the dessert (the only course that counts). I helped with the scallops, Susie carmelized the leeks, and we watched others make the other courses. Once complete, everything was plated nicely and we trooped into the Pinnacle Restaurant across the hallway, where we ate the fruits of our labors with a nice dry white wine. Such a good way to break up a day. It was followed in the only logical way possible: with a nap.

 

Sometime during the night tonight we go back out to sea on our way to the Straits of Magellan and Punta Arenas, Chile. We’re just glad that we’re not in the same size ship that Magellan sailed in.

[DFD1]

Genuinely fascinating posts. What great fun to read and enjoy! Thank you again for sharing this marvelous experience. Stay warm and safe.

[imacruizer]

Hi Diane,

 

I am enjoying your posts so much. I am interested in your wardrobe - particularly what you wear to dinner each night. How often do you repeat something? Do you take a lot of things that can be mixed and matched? Do you change the look with accessories?

 

I look forward to cruising with you on this amazing journey.

 

Beth

[I&J Cruisers]

Diane,

I am absolutely loving your posts. Your writing just flows so beautifully. I can see the things you're describing so well. Can't wait to check each morning for new entries.

Enjoy and thankyou again for sharing

Irene

[Johnny B]

January 28 – Day 23

Punta Arenas

 

I saw penguins! Thousands and thousands of Magellan penguins, all living in a nature preserve at what seemed to be the end of the world. Punta Arenas has two claims to fame: it is the southernmost city in Chile (and pretty close to being the southernmost in the world) and it has penguins. It’s also quite a prosperous city, benefiting from mining in the area.

 

One of the things I noticed when I went through the HAL shore excursion booklet was that only two tours had been sold out before sailing, and they both involved penguins. This one, to see the Magellan penguins, cost $89, and we thought that was a little steep for a three-hour bus ride. Instead, we just took the shuttle into town and, in the main square, ran into some of our shipboard buddies who said they were going to take a minivan out to the (same) penguin colony for $20 each – did we want to join? You betcha! It was made clear that we also had to pay $12 each to enter the sanctuary, but $32 instead of $89? Easy choice.

 

We drove out of town and then turned on a rocky road (hard on the kidneys, it was) and drove for about 45 minutes. The sanctuary has been left wild and windswept all the way down to the sea, with “windswept” being the operative word. We hadn’t realized how cold it would be, so we were almost freezing, but our enthusiasm kept us slightly above freezing. Visitors must walk on a boardwalk, which is separated from the rest of the sanctuary with ropes alongside. In a few places the boardwalk sloped upward like a little bridge. It turns out that the space underneath was to allow the penguins to walk underneath on their way from their burrows to the beach.

 

When we saw the first two penguins it was so exciting. They were about a foot tall, black and white (just like the movies) and they had the cutest little waddle. What we hadn’t expected was the noise – boy, can those guys raise a ruckus. They point their little beaks skyward, open their mouths, and make a fairly loud noise that sounds a bit like “Whooo.” One of them isn’t too noisy, but when you hear dozens making the same noise, it forms quite a chorus.

 

As we kept walking, we saw more and more of the cuties. They really do walk in little lines toward the beach, just like in “March of the Penguins.” We were finally seeing dozens of them instead of just individuals or pairs, and then we got down to the “Sea Shelter.” It looks like a bus stop with a bench and a large, rectangular hole in one end. Looking through the hole, we saw what we had come to see – hundreds and hundreds of penguins sitting in groups, walking along the beach, and swimming in the frigid water. It was just like a movie – but colder. There were absolutely adorable baby penguins, which, according to the chart we saw, were just getting their first introduction to swimming. Of course we took dozens of pictures (thank heaven for digital) and then headed back inland.

 

By looking at their movement, we figured out that they build little burrows in the sandy soil and that’s where they lay their eggs. We watched one penguin pull out a mouthful of grass from a plant and then head into its burrow to line it. Apparently each female lays two eggs, but fewer than half of them hatch, due to predators. Once hatched, they spend their first few months with mom pulling out their baby fur to allow feathers to grow in. Once that happens, just about the end of January, they begin their swimming lessons. It’s all so fascinating to read about and watch.

 

It had rained all the way out to the sanctuary, but stopped just before we got there. The weather stayed dry as we walked and walked, and then, just as we approached the exit, the rain started up again. Lucky, aren’t we? (Apparently we were also very lucky at Machu Picchu, where a few hundred people have been stranded for days because of heavy rains.)

 

Heading back to town, our driver took us on a city tour, including the most amazing cemetery I’ve ever seen. The bodies are buried above ground because of the water table, primarily in beautiful little mausoleums which are between rows and rows of manicured cypress trees. It makes our flat cemeteries look very plain.

 

After a half hour on the computer at an internet café ($1.00 per hour instead of $.25 per minute) we headed back to the ship for our latest lunch yet at 3:15. The weather hadn’t improved, but I think we’ve learned how to dress for tomorrow in Ushuaia which IS the southernmost city in the world.

[Cruisergal1208]

We have been to the same penguin site on our cruise around South America. We were prepared for the cold wind because of the postings here on these boards. Most were not and it was almost freezing due to the fierce winds. Hope you will love Ushuaia as much as we did. A very pretty port of call and one of our favorite stops. We watched from the Crows Nest as the ship sailed as 2 passengers were walking down the pier. A speed boat brought them to the ship.

[RuthC]

I was prepared for the cold and wind when I went to that penguin site. Too bad. :( The sun was very warm that day, the temps were only slightly on the cool side, and there was no wind. I was roasting hot, especially when you add that long walk into the equation!

Down there, when it comes to the weather, you just cannot predict.

[Johnny B]

January 29 – Day 24

Ushuaia (Yoush – WHY- ah), Argentina

 

Boy, when they call this place “The End of the World,” they know what they’re talking about. Ushuaia sits at the edge of the Beagle Channel ringed by enough snow-covered mountains to resemble the Swiss Alps. The town itself is fairly small, and considering that this is their summer, the weather is not much to write home about. The temperature never got above the high 40’s.

 

We woke today to more snow-covered mountains and some of the most beautiful glaciers I’ve ever seen. One of our tablemates calls it “Alaska South,” but the sheer numbers of glaciers along the Beagle Channel make it amazing. From the gym, which has floor to ceiling windows all around, we could see a glacier with a huge waterfall running through it It’s not surprising to see chunks of ice “calving” off a glacier into the water, but to see a waterfall go through one is really unusual.

 

Along with the glaciers, however, come incredibly cold temperatures, and being a Californian, I never really understood “wind chill factor” until now. When we docked at Ushuaia about 1:00, I wore a long-sleeved tee-shirt, a wool turtleneck, a down jacket, a hat, a scarf and gloves. It was almost enough.

 

We spent a couple of hours in town, buying gifts, sending them, and just looking around. We managed to find an ATM since we’re in Argentina now and the Chilean pesos won’t do us any good. We also found an Irish pub, and our excuse was that we needed a place to write postcards. The beer helped. Overall, Ushuaia was a cute little town. There were a lot of people in town, many from the two polar expedition ships in port, and we saw a lot of people enjoying lamb (or goat – we’re not sure) cooked on an open fire. It looked pretty tasty, but we didn’t join our friends for lunch. It must have been the large number of mystery organs on the platter.

 

We heard this morning about yesterday’s excursion to fly to and land on Antarctica. It cost $3399 each, and there was no guarantee that a landing would be possible. However, they were lucky with the weather and spent three hours on the ground, half exploring the scientific station and half in Zodiacs visiting the penguins. Leslie, the assistant shore excursion director, told us that some people really didn’t believe that it would be that cold and that windy – but it was. Crystal, the Guest Relations Manager, told us she had on two sets of long johns, 5 pairs of pants and 6 layers on top – and she was still cold. For that much money, I’d rather have a week in Bora Bora.

 

Tomorrow morning we arrive at Cape Horn at about 5:00 AM. It can be extraordinarily rough here, but the captain is predicting fairly calm seas. We’ll wait and see. The lecturer today was our “ice captain,” whose job it is to guide the ship through the icebergs and other obstructions in Antarctica. The presentation was packed and we gained a great deal of information about what we’ll see. This is an amazing opportunity for us, and we are really looking forward to it.

 

As the sun went down at 10:00 PM, we said goodbye to our “Switzerland by the Sea” and are hoping not to be thrown out of bed by rough seas tomorrow.

[cruz chic]

I really look forward to your posts every day! Thank you so much again for doing this.

[chrismch]

Did you chat with any others who booked independent tours to the park and lakes in Ushuaia? That is what I really want to do on our cruise. And I'd like to know what to expect for current land rates.