Live - SIlver Explorer October 25 2017, Guayaquil to Valparaiso

[jpalbny]

Tuesday, November 7th

 

Valparaiso

 

We were back on board by 6:00 and took a few minutes to enjoy the view. The evening was looking very pleasant.

 

 

Off in the other direction, some naval vessels.

 

 

We did a few laps on deck, enjoying the nice weather. We had time to kill before dinner, and we didn't want to look at the suitcases which were still on our bed.

 

 

We were very sad to see that the brass propeller blades had been removed from their long-time spot on Deck 7. I remember them from our first voyage in 2009!

 

 

They were sitting forlornly on the pier. It feels wrong. I wish I could fit one of them in my suitcase for a souvenir.

 

 

Finally we accepted the inevitable, and did some preliminary packing before dinner.

 

On our way to dinner, we went to collect our passports and exit forms, which SS was supposed to have prepared for us in preparation for disembarkation tomorrow. We found that the exit form which was in Chris's passport had my name on it instead of hers. Unfortunately, the one in my passport also had my name on it. Not a simple mix up - two forms for me, and no exit form for her! We gave them back and asked them to get that taken care of.

[jpalbny]

Tuesday, November 7th

 

Valparaiso - Last Dinner

 

Dinner was just with our group; we had invited another couple to join us but she was feeling ill so they ate by themselves. Tonight's menu:

 

 

The Burgundy that I had chosen was nice. We thought that it was much better than the last time I’d ordered one, so I was glad I’d tried again.

 

 

One appetizer was a mixed ceviche. Delicious.

 

 

I had the snails. Cute presentation in a bread basket.

 

 

Tomato salad. The tomatoes don't look terribly ripe, unfortunately.

 

 

The spaghetti with olive oil and chiles was tasty though. And nice Parmesan cheese.

 

 

On to the mains. Salmon, or Veal Marsala? What to choose...

[jpalbny]

Tuesday, November 7th

 

Valparaiso - Last Dinner

 

I chose the salmon and it was delicious.

 

 

But once again, when I tried Chris's veal, it was so good that I had a serving of that too. It was even better with the wine. Turns out that David was cooking them to order on a side table in the dining room. No wonder they were so fresh!

 

 

David even made a custom gluten-free order for one of our companions. The food and service on this cruise have been nothing short of amazing.

 

Dessert was a birthday cake for William, which went nicely with some more dessert wine.

 

 

Then it was time for one last picture, before the inevitable last hurrah upstairs in the lounge.

 

 

We weren’t too wild tonight, as we are all old enough to know better, but we were still up until well after 11:00. The captain and David joined us again, and we were quite happy to have the opportunity to dance without having the ship move so much.

 

Then it was time for some goodbyes.

 

We checked on our passports, but they would not be ready until tomorrow morning. So we finished packing, and put our cases out to join the others. A very sad sight.

 

 

Now, to try to get some sleep. I hate last nights. How did 15 days pass so quickly?

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Valparaiso and disembarkation

 

 

Well, the excitement (or dread) of disembarkation was too much to avoid. We were up a little after 6:00, and ready for breakfast by 7:00. After we finished packing our carry-on bags, we checked and our passports weren’t quite ready, so it was one last trip to the dining room for a final breakfast.

 

Plenty of goodbyes to say to staff and fellow passengers alike - always a sad time, though we are lucky to have had the opportunity to take such a fun cruise.

 

We finished packing and as we were getting ready to leave, Camilla called from reception and said that our passports could be picked up. So we dropped our bags in the lounge and went to reception - but nothing had changed.

 

Camilla said that they couldn’t reprint a new exit form with Chris’ name on it, because it wouldn’t have a stamp, but they had discussed the situation with Chilean immigration and they said it would be OK since her passport had the entry stamp. Let’s hope so!

 

Back to the lounge to wait for our tickets to be called. This was a very sad sight. I guess there's no disembarkation drinks available.

 

 

And so the inevitable happened - it was time to leave now. We got on the bus for the Terminal Building, and then had to deal with the cluster that is Chilean Agricultural inspection. Wow!

 

First, they made every passenger complete their immigration form again, because the ones SS had given us weren’t the "proper" forms. Then I had to redo it a third time, because I made a mistake and corrected it - apparently an egregious error.

 

Then for good measure, they went nuts on me during the inspection because I told them I had bought a package of pimenton at the market yesterday, but they couldn’t find it in my bag.

 

Obviously it had been in Chris’ bag, but they had insisted that she go through while I was redoing my form rather than waiting for me. So she was long gone with the pimenton, which they clearly hadn't noticed. Oh the horrors!

 

Finally I was done with their nonsense, and could rejoin the rest of the group. Quite unpleasant and unnecessary.

 

Jeanette from privatetours.cl was waiting for us, and she was very happy to see us. She confirmed what we’d been told about the exit forms, so we worried less. We jumped in our van and headed out of the port for our Valparaiso tour.

 

We drove along the coast then climbed one of the hills, going slowly so as to enjoy the architecture. The clouds and backlighting made for tough photography.

 

 

This building is the Naval Museum. It has a nice location overlooking the port area.

 

 

Right near the museum, we stopped at the Paseo 21 de mayo for an overview of the Port and the Navy base. There were some exercises going on, and a submarine in the harbor.

 

 

We also had a chance to say goodbye to Silver Explorer.

 

 

Valparaiso is certainly an attractive city - the colors of the houses, and the setting, are quite nice. Looking forward to an overview.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Valparaiso City Tour

 

A nice overview of the port area from the mirador.

 

 

You can see how steep the terrain is. There isn't much flat ground here.

 

 

From the mirador, we took the Ascenseur Artilleria back down to sea level. This thing looks a little rickety. I hope it holds together!

 

 

We rode along with a stray dog who had adopted us. He didn't pay the fare but nobody seemed to mind.

 

 

That's a pretty steep incline on those tracks. But what a beautiful view. And that blue house, perched on the edge of a cliff. Nice location, but how precarious!

 

 

And, we're off. Hope the cable holds!

 

 

Once we were safely at the bottom of the hill, we met our van and driver, and started back up. Soon we were climbing a different set of hills to continue our visit.

[RachelG]

JP, your story about the inspection people in Chilean customs reminded me of our trip to Chile. We landed from the US in Santiago. George had forgotten that he had a bag of peanut M and M's in his backpack. Oh, the horror! I thought he was going to be arrested given the big deal they made about it. You would have thought he was smuggling heroin. Anyway, finally, he stood there and ate the entire bag, and they let him through. So those M and M's did make it into Chile after all.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Valparaiso City Tour

 

We wound uphill along narrow streets, through a different part of the city, and then got out for some more walking. We started out in the Cerro Alegre region. The houses were spectacularly decorated.

 

 

The hills were everywhere. There were scenic viewpoints around every corner.

 

 

But the real attraction here is the street art. Nearly every house is decorated with colorful murals. This looks like Valparaiso when it was much less developed.

 

 

This hair must be hard to comb in the morning.

 

 

I have no idea what is going on in this picture. I think the cat looks nervous as well.

 

 

A chameleon, a dog, and another view of Valparaiso. This time, some high rise buildings. Must be a few years later than the other picture.

 

 

The street art is incredible. We walked slowly from house to house, enjoying the vibrant colors and the creativity. It's an open-air art gallery here!

[imcpa]

I have to ask...

 

Every box of raisins is a tragic story of grapes that....

 

That what, what????

[MLeh]

I have to ask...

 

 

 

Every box of raisins is a tragic story of grapes that....

 

 

 

That what, what????

 

 

 

Could have been wine?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jpalbny]

I have to ask...

 

Every box of raisins is a tragic story of grapes that....

 

That what, what????

 

Could have been wine?

 

 

Exactly!

 

The whole shirt shows up in a picture later today. But MLeh has it perfectly correct. :D

 

This was Chris's souvenir from the Valparaiso cruise terminal yesterday.

[imcpa]

Could have been wine?

 

I should have guessed. Love it.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Valparaiso City Tour

 

More street art.

 

 

Dancing and grapes. Perfect.

 

 

Even the houses without murals were brightly colored.

 

 

We found another lookout, near the Hotel Casa Vander. Not sure what this building is. Neither is Google.

 

 

This is The Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross.

 

 

The art got more surreal as we went on.

 

 

Now some more climbing, as we explored the narrow streets at the very top of the hill.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Valparaiso City Tour

 

Van Gogh - I thought we were in Arles for a minute.

 

 

This is called the Piano Staircase. A good spot for a group shot, if you're there.

 

 

Cool eyeballs. But he needs a shave.

 

 

Mirador Lukas. There looked to be a nice restaurant here, with a great view. Maybe next time. We have lunch reservations at a place in Casablanca, after our first wine tasting.

 

 

From here we started climbing back down to sea level. But the paintings continued. Cool cat.

 

 

Definitely some surrealist influence in this piece. The one in the green is taking pictures with both hands. Kind of like me.

 

 

Lots of downhill walking from here. It was so great to get out of the van and walk, though. We got a little feel for the city that way. It's been a great tour.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Valparaiso City Tour

 

A beautifully painted door on one of the buildings as we walked down.

 

 

This pub was tempting, just because of the brilliant advertising slogan. But we kept on. We had wine to taste next.

 

 

Is this Max from "Where The Wild Things Are?"

 

 

After about an hour of walking, we made it back down to Sea Level and our tour was over. Here is the building housing the Naval Headquarters, at the edge of Plaza Sotomayor.

 

 

At Plaza Sotomayer, we encountered a demonstration. No big deal; we all walked through and enjoyed the scenery anyway. This monument is dedicated to sailors who have been lost in battle.

 

 

We used the facilities at the port before moving on to the next part of the tour. We found our van, then headed out of town towards the Casablanca Valley. There were street markets on the road out of town.

 

 

There was a police checkpoint outside of the city which took a while, but soon we were back on our way. Apparently the police are on the lookout for fake tour agencies; luckily, our guides' papers were in order, and we headed out to the countryside.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning JP ........ lovely pics! :)

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Casablanca Valley Wine Tasting

 

So, we'd had a little taste of Valparaiso between our own aimless wandering yesterday, and today's morning tour.

 

The weather got nicer, and the sunshine stronger, as we headed inland. It was shaping up to be a very fine day. Our first stop was at Bodegas RE.

 

 

A very picturesque setting.

 

 

First, we toured the vineyard. The palm trees are a unique touch. I don't associate viticulture with a place warm enough to grow palm trees.

 

 

Baby grapes. Very cute!

 

 

I will never get tired of seeing beautiful vineyards, surrounded by mountains. But this is a very recent development, according to our guide. The Casablanca Valley was not planted until 1982, when Pablo Morande, a former winemaker at Concha y Toro, decided to plant vines in the valley. People thought he was crazy, that the climate was terrible for grapes, that the wines would be undrinkable, and he proved them all wrong.

 

 

One more glimpse.

 

 

Now, inside to see some of the owner's other projects.

 

We were amazed to learn that this vineyard is the current project of the aforementioned Pablo Morande. He sold many of his original holdings and started this vineyard to try other pet projects on a smaller scale. Some of them are a little odd and revolutionary, but due to his amazing success in the Casablanca Valley, nobody wants to doubt him now. So we're learning about some history, and perhaps seeing more history being made here. More on that later.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Casablanca Valley Wine Tasting

 

Here is one of his non-wine projects. Liqueurs made with fresh fruit.

 

 

Not really our favorite libation, but the bottles are pretty. Some of them have been sitting for a few years. Not sure I want to try any of them...

 

 

Down to the wine cellar! He uses amphorae for fermentation. These are pretty small.

 

 

Probably just for decoration but you never know. There are some larger ones for the bigger batches of grapes. Our guide standing next to the amphora will give you an idea of the size.

 

 

And of course, lots of wine barrels in the cellar.

 

 

All this wine is making me thirsty. I hope they have some that's ready to drink...

 

 

Can we go tasting yet? It's past lunch time and I'm used to starting at 11:00 on Silversea!

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Casablanca Valley Wine Tasting

 

One last non-wine project before tasting. He's making aged vinegar, similar to Balsamic. He plans to put the vinegars into a series of gradually smaller barrels, a process that will take decades. Supposedly he's been at it for about 20 years and is halfway done.

 

 

Finally, we're back to the tasting room for wine. Chris looks happy! I think she has the same opinion about vinegar, that she does about raisins.

 

 

I am too. Looks like a nice spread!

 

 

We tasted the first few wines. What a bunch of unusual combinations!

 

 

There was a Pinotel, which is Pinot Grigio plus a bit of Red Muscatel for color, but it's fermented completely so it ends up very much like a dry rose. Very refreshing.

 

There was a Chardonnoir, a mix of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, just like Champagne. It was made in a dry white style, but no secondary fermentation, so it was still. It had the flavors of Champagne, but no bubbles. Unusual, and a very heavy white wine because of the Pinot Noir, but tasty.

 

Then a Syragnan, Syrah plus Carignane. Not a totally unusual mixture, but the process is. He mixes the grapes at the time of picking and crushes, ferments, and ages the blend together from the beginning. It's an unusual way to do this. But the results were quite good. One of those bottles came home with us.

 

But the most unusual blend was yet to come!

 

 

We tried their Doble wine next. It's a mixture of Carignane and Garnacha - which both grow on the same vine! In this highly unusual method, he has grafted the two different varietals onto the same rootstock. It’s actually a very tasty wine, but we’re told that it is a challenge to figure out when to pick the grapes because the varietals ripen about a week apart.

 

Last we had the Cabergnan. Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignane.

 

It was challenging to figure out which to buy. Everything was unique, and sometimes "unique" wines that seem interesting during the tasting don't taste as good at home. But these really seemed good to us.

 

 

We ended up with two Dobles and a Syragnan for our "home" allocation, and we grabbed a bottle of Pinotel to bring along to Easter Island.

[RachelG]

love the tshirts!

[jpalbny]

Good Morning JP ........ lovely pics! :)

 

Thanks Jeff. It was really pretty there. Especially inland. I could have stayed there a lot longer.

 

love the tshirts!

 

The acquisitions from the Valparaiso Cruise Terminal. They are pretty amusing. :D

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Casablanca Valley Wine Tasting

 

We gathered up our purchases and headed to lunch. We had a reservation at Mercado, in the town of Casablanca proper.

 

 

The food and wine were delicious! Our concession to sensible eating was that Chris and I shared an appetizer.

 

 

I had a pork rib which was delicious.

 

 

Chris had a piece of sea bass. Divine!

 

 

We don’t feel like we’ve been abandoned in a food desert after leaving Silver Explorer. That’s unfortunate, because we probably have the reserves for it! We rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and back to the van for more wine tasting.

 

From Mercado, it was maybe 10 minutes to our second vineyard, which was Emiliana. A rather nice setting.

 

 

Her is a closer view of the striking curved roof on the main structure.

 

 

It’s an organic and biodynamic vineyard. Coincidentally, we’d tasted one of their wines on the ship. The Chilean sommellier on board had been pleased to hear that we were planning a visit here.

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Casablanca Valley Wine Tasting

 

We did the usual tour of the vineyards and the grounds. They had a nice pond with water lilies.

 

 

It was interesting to learn how they practice natural pest and weed control. The alpacas weed the rows here.

 

 

This guy needs a dentist for that snaggle tooth.

 

 

The biodynamic stuff still sounds a bit unusual. But It was fun anyway, and we got to pet and feed some of the alpacas / weed eaters.

 

 

Everybody was happy. Even this guy. We didn't hear what his role was.

 

 

They also have chickens, to help eat the bugs.

 

 

All this talk of grass and bugs is nice, but we came here to have some wine!

[jpalbny]

Wednesday, November 8th

 

Santiago Overnight

 

The views were a little reminiscent of Stellenbosch, with the gorgeous vineyards in the valley, surrounded on both sides by the mountains.

 

 

The Andes in the distance were awesome, and the Coastal Range on the other side added to the scenery. A nice setting to taste a few wines.

 

 

The tasting was relaxed, and we had time to go out on the balcony for pictures. Now you can finally read all of the slogan on Chris's T-shirt.

 

 

The wines were only OK, and I didn’t feel it necessary to finish all of them, or even to buy any. But we picked up a Sauvignon Blanc for later as it was ridiculously cheap. You can never be sure, and at about $6, it's hard to pass it up.

 

 

Now it was time to say goodbye and head to the airport for our overnight stay. We leave tomorrow for three nights on Easter Island!

 

 

We arrived at the Holiday Inn at Santiago Airport right around 6:00. Here we had to say goodbye to William and Luisa, who could not join us on the trip to Easter Island tomorrow. They were planning to get back to work next week, so they had a few nights planned in Santiago before flying home this weekend. We will miss them but it’s been a great two weeks. So they headed off to their hotel in town.

 

We checked in to the hotel and unloaded our bags, then set about planning the logistics of tomorrow's journey. The hotel was willing to hold a bag for us until we came back on Sunday, which was very nice. So we could stuff that one full of things we didn’t want to take to Easter Island.

 

We had a light dinner in the hotel restaurant - or tried to, that is. The salads that we ordered were huge for the price. Then we found a bucket of ice, and had some Emiliana Sauvignon Blanc while we repacked our suitcases.

 

The leave-behind bag is stuffed full even when fully expanded, so we are definitely glad that we don’t have to bring it with us. We are checking one bag to Easter Island, with three bottles of wine. We're bringing the two from the Limari Valley, and the Pinotel from today.

 

I suspect that our bag is not going to be small enough to carry on, despite the generous allowance of 16kg in LATAM Business class. And yes, you supposedly can carry wine bottles in your hand baggage on a domestic flight in Chile! Jeanette had told us that we could, and Stuart ran across to the airport and double checked with a LATAM agent.

 

Now, time to try to sleep. Unfortunately, Chris seems to have caught my cold, which I thought had been the other way around. Drat. Hope she feels better soon! It would be a major disappointment for her to be sick on Easter Island, after a year of planning and anticipating this trip.

[drron29]

A very interesting report.The vineyards look great.T shirts so appropriate.

I actually like the HI at SCL-they treat you well.

In Australia you can also carry on bottles of wine.Maybe a lot of folk are not as paranoid as Americans;):D.Actually just modern scanning techniques.

 

Very interested in Easter Island.We were there a few years ago and later this year will arrive on the Explorer via Hawaii and Tahiti.

[carefreecruise]

Thanks JP & Chris

That area reminded us of Napa Valley in CA. We spent days at those vineyards and loved them all. It looks like your on your way to Santiago. That town is a close resemblance of a modern USA town. Using the underground is simple and clean. Hope you spent a few day there...

 

Thanks again for taking the time from your busy schedule to post your experiences.