Monday - Magellan Penguins

We were happy because it was a pier landing..... No tender mess to deal with. But we did have a false start, due to bad communication on the part of the shore excursion company and a crew member, we ended up riding a bus into town and then a taxi back to the ship. We finally found our mufti-grouped tour group in a weird glass tube. Tour consisted of an hour bus ride over rough dirt roads, then a nice walk thru the penguin park area. Usually there are around 8000 penguins at this location. We saw 20..... If you do the math it is one- quarter of one percent. Most had left for the summer, but we did see pink flamingos! That was a surprise, I had assumed that Florida had the concession on them. The beach area was flat with colorful small flowers. Best story of the trip was about how Chile started ranching. In the 60's prop planes brought in 60 cattle along with 2 cowboys. Whole town came out to see the spectacle of the cattle getting off the plane

Sunday - at Sea and Glacier

Beautiful sunny day provided a great background for this morning photo op. The morning started out foggy and then eventually cleared up. We floated off the front of it for about 2 hours. The crew said the blues of the glacier appear a little bit bluer when it is cloudy. Even with the sun the glacier was spectacular. Lots of little pieces of ice were floating about. They are called growlers because of the noise they make scrapping the side of the ship as we cruise past. 

The rest of the day was a little bit of rough sailing while we were not in the fiords - calm when we were. So rough I couldn't read or play computer games - didn't bother Paula. Side story-  I left my iPad in the ships library - for the 10 minutes it took me to retrieve it - I figured I was more upset about having to start all over on level 1 on Candy Crush than paying for a new iPad. I may have a problem. After the glacier, we went to a boring lecture, high tea, nice dinner, and a broadway show tunes show. I headed to the cabin and Paula went up stairs to a name that Broadway show tune game. Of Course she won! And she was the only one on her team. Starting to get rough again. Room is very noisy with the kitchen right above our heads. There are lots of banging pots and pans when they are cleaning up at 12:00 midnight and getting breakfast ready at 6:00 am. SUPPOSEDLY there is a ball bearing or screw rolling around in Paula's wall when there are rough seas. She spent about 10 minutes banging on the wall to see if she could alter normal physics. I gave her some ear plugs. She needs to " get over it " which is another story Paula will tell. Ok I will tell .... Paula was being Paula - we were sitting at the dinning table with these 2 hilarious Irish couples. The discussion was about iBooks versus paper books. One Irish man was arguing in favor or paper. Paula told the guy that he was just going to have to "man up and get over it". He was a little shocked that that came out of the mouth of a sweet southern lady.   Paula also used the same line when we were at dinner tonight with a Canadian and Reno couple and discussing handwritten notes and the fact that schools were not teaching cursive anymore. The ladies were very offended that they had received thank you notes that were printed. Is Paula getting pushier in her old age?

Saturday - Puerto Chacabucco

Another ship tender - they definitely need to work out the kinks of getting people off the ship. We had a separate excursion planned for a tour and lunch. 2 busses of 18 traveled an hour or so down dirt and paved roads.  We went to a trickling twin falls and another river. On one of the dirt roads we saw gauchos riding their horses down the road in full gaucho gear, with each of them drinking a beer. We had lunch at a farmers house complete with a skinned lamb cooked over a fire and dancers. Again great pisco sours and plenty of wine.  Animals and scenery remind you of New Zealand but the houses were very small and well worn. The lady that was tour tour guide was the best part of the trip because of her life story. She was from England, came over to Santiago to teach with her sister, met another Englishman, fell in love and got married. Her husband finally talked her into moving to Patagonia into a house they built themselves out of hay bales. She still teaches school and she is a guide during their summer vacation. I'm pretty sure I couldn't be that adventurous. 

Puerto Montt - part 2

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For our meal we had beet soup, a fresh vegetable salad, hake fish with potatoes and broccoli. Desert was a sort of fruit custard made with green eggs. Oh and lots of pisco sours and wine. After getting back on the boat we took pictures of the volcanos. Clear sunny weather.

Green eggs come from hens that don't have feathers around their necks - supposedly healthier? 

If you look closely you can make out 3 volcanos in the photo

Puerto Montt

Arrived late to port and had to jockey the boat around to get a calm place to let us board the tender. The tender was one of our lifeboats - both had cracks in the front windows so that the water splashed in hit any wave. I just hope it wasn't lifeboat 11 which is ours. Paula, I and 16 others did the foodie tour "A Taste of Chile". Paula found it on trip advisor rated as one of the best excursions of the ship and it was pretty darn good.  A German chef transplant picked us up and took us to a local market to buy the food that we would be cooking that afternoon, then we drove to his restaurant in Porta Varas to cook the meal.

 While the chef and a couple of volunteers cooked the meal, the rest of us rode into town for a quick shopping trip. Paula bought  3 bottles of wine at a local grocery store. We then speed shopped thru the artisan center. Paula got 3 sweaters for her grand kids which she used to wrap up her wine.   She got 2 of the three on board. The one bottle I took for her got confiscated. You were allowed to bring one bottle aboard but there was an 18 dollar " corking " fee.  Wasn't worth it for a 6 dollar bottle of wine so they will store it for us and Paula will drink it in Argentina. We figured she didn't get caught cause they were wrapped in sweaters. 

At Sea

Paula had two breakfasts in bed this morning - she put down the wrong cabin number so by the time they had figured out where she really located, she had already ordered another meal. Both arrived around the same time so the room ended smelling very "coffee-ish". 

Ship stopped for a few hours to evacuate a couple of people that needed medical attention but we are back cruising again. I decided to get acupuncture to see if I can get help unfreezeing my frozen shoulder. It has been getting more and more mobile with my stretching but I figured something else might speed the process along. I now have a poppy seed in my ear. The acupuncturist taped a poppy seed to the edge of my ear. I am supposed to press it to ease the pain in the shoulder. Seems strange but I am pressing away. 

I attended a "taking digital picture class" and Paula attended a wine tasting class. The camera class was run by the Microsoft hired computer class teacher. When we first met him he seemed a little arrogant but maybe it's because he is forced to only play with Windows (that would make anyone cranky), but he was a good teacher. Paula's sommelier was a German from Bavaria that did not act like a Nazi. So good sessions for all. 

We have to dress up for dinner tonight so Paula is wearing her gold sparkly throwaway top and I am actually wearing a dress. We will get someone to take a photo. Sorry-  We forgot to take a photo but Paula was dropping sequins like bread crumbs to and from the dinning hall, after dinner we went to a "name that tune " piano bar thing. I made Paula leave after the guy played the second Andrew Lloyd Weber tune in a row. Still pressing my poppy seed. My ear is a little sore but my shoulder doesn't hurt. Night night 

Embarkation Valparaiso

Due to our long adventure on Monday we missed our instructions and bus assignment, which meant we were put on the last bus. Turned out to be great -only about 10 people were on it for the 2 hour drive thru really pretty wine country. 

They picked up Paula's bags from the hotel for our Santiago to ship bus trip, but they missed mine so I was very grateful that I only had 2 carry ons to lug thru the id photo, check in, 'yes I'm healthy form', and the 'yes I paid the Argentina visa fee' lines. But, I almost didn't make it up the steep high tide ramp. At the second steep ramp my shoe started to come off so one of the guys had to come down and  grab one of my bags. Paula got her bags much later in the day. We watched them get thrown on as we were standing like good little 3rd graders practicing our lifeboat drill.

Room is typical shipboard size but the bathroom actually has a tub. Smooth sailing so far. We are trying different online activities. I went to a singles meeting - two other older women showed up. I think we probably should have gone to the LGBT meeting instead - it might have been more entertaining. Lunch and dinner were yummy as expected. Paula got prime rib and it looked big enough to be in one of those restaurant contests where 'if you can eat this, your meal is free'. She even had desert. 

Santiago 2014

New adventure... We will see if I REALLY never get sea sick (I am worried about cruising round Cape Horn)  Paula and I are doing a Chile and Argentina trip and cruise. We have a couple of days added on at the beginning and end of the trip to be able to classify this as not just a cruise. Packing was a challenge because of the huge temperature difference and the Holland America requirement of 3 dressy outfits. I won the minimalist packing challenge (Paula usually wins- but she has lots of throw away clothes this time so she may win on the return leg). I only have 2 carry on size bags and a small back pack while Paula has a very full 24", 1 carry on and a tot size bag plus purse.

Plane ride was smooth but not very quick. Paula got us bulkhead seats and even with the extra leg room - nine hours is nine long hours sitting in one place.   Paula slept with her little magic pill and dreamed the people on the plane were collecting jelly beans from all over the plane floor and sorting them by color into their shoes. This actually has a logical explanation. I would doze for 20 minutes then wake up - play candy crush then doze again and repeat the process. We both had our shoes off. I always love telling Paula her halcyon stories the next day.
After a false start we finally caught up with the Holland America people and was bused to our hotel.

We only had an afternoon free so we decided to take a tour using the Santiago Turistik Hop Off Hop Off double decker bus.  Paula as usual did her pre-trip research and found a restaurant that was recommended by her various sources. And I had some inside information about shopping from Jay, our Marigold Ct.  traveling pro. As we were waiting for our bus we met Martha from central Mexico, who was taking our same tour. She ended up being just one of the angels we met this afternoon. She not only stayed with us and helped us find the restaurant,  translated menus, checked bills and even ordered the Chilean local foods.  She asked directions of two gentlemen and one of them, another angel, actually stopped talking to his friend and walked  us to the restaurant. It reminded a lot of China in that people were willing to help total strangers in their country.  It happened many times with me during my 3 years.

We had a wonderful lunch at the Bar Liguria with 2 appetizers of bread with fresh salsa, mussels with cheese and olive oil and 3 main courses of steak, chicken and cod. My favorite was the pisco sours - a wickedly strong drink made with egg whites.  Martha told us all about her family, her travels and shared photos.  After a couple of false starts, with much running and retracing steps we finally found the our tour bus stop. We got off in the Bellavista area which had a lot of lapis lazuli and other native crafts. We saw some wool sweaters, scarfs, and hats but it was too hot to even touch them. Paula and I bought some earrings and I bought a penguin. Martha negotiated a taxi for the three of us to get back to the hotel and crashed. We had to pretend we didn't know her so that we wouldn't be charged tourist prices.

We have a slight mix up as to where and when we catch the bus tomorrow, but I am sure we will get it straight there eventually.