2/28/09 Finally I have a few minutes to post some of the pictures from our 46 day cruise Around the Horn. They are not in chronological order but labeled by place.
Enjoy.

Outside of Eiffel church in Arica, Chile

Inside of Eiffel church in Arica, Chile

Dancers in Arica, Chile

Male Dancers in Arica, Chile

Elaine, Joe, Carla, David & Diane Eating in Local Market in Arica

Beauty Queens Posing Before Carnaval Parade in Arica

Close up of Beauty Queen Costumes in Arica

Kids Dancing in Carnaval Parade in Arica

Dancing Group in Carnaval Parade in Arica

Flute Band in Carnaval Parade in Arica

Dancing Couple in Arica Carnaval Parade

View of Buenos Aires As The Ship Pulled In

Tile Mural in Metro Station in Buenos Aires

#2 Tile Mural in Metro Station in Buenos Aires

#3 Tile Mural in Metro Station in Buenos Aires

Joe, Carla & Elaine on Antique Metro Car in Buenos Aires

#4 Tile Mural in Metro Station in Buenos Aires

Whimsical Mate Cups For Sale in Buenos Aires

Elaine, Carla, Mary & Joe Enjoy a Beer at Caminito in Buenos Aires

Colorful Buildings in Caminito in Buenos Aires

Leather Goods in Buenos Aires

Mary & Elaine On Ship With Ushuaia Behind Us

View of Ushuaia from the Ship

Rugged Mountains Near Beagle Channel

Cruising Through Channels Near Cape Horn

Snowy Mountains Near Cape Horn

Glacier Along Channel

Lighthouse Station at Cape Horn

Mary & Elaine at Cape Horn

Mary & Elaine at Larco Herrera Museum in Lima, Peru

Ancient Gold Pieces at Larco Herrera Museum in Lima, Peru

Terra Cotta Figure at Larco Herrera Museum in Lima, Peru

Joe & Carla in Storehouse at Larco Herrera Museum in Lima, Peru

Pottery in the Erotic Gallery at Larco Herrera Museum in Lima, Peru

Pottery in the Erotic Gallery at Larco Herrera Museum in Lima, Peru

Moorish Style Wooden Balcony on Building in Plaza Mayor in Lima, Peru

San Francisco Church and Monastery in Lima, Peru

Friends Having a Beer in a Local Café in Lima, Peru

Building & Balconies in Downtown Lima

Fountain & Plaza Mayor in Lima, Peru

City Hall in Lima, Peru

Fruit Market in Montevideo, Uruguay

Horse Cart in Montevideo

There Are Lots of Old Buildings in Montevideo

Outside of Gaucho Museum in Montevideo, Uruguay

Inside of Gaucho Museum in Montevideo, Uruguay

City Park in Montevideo

Old Shop in Montevideo

View of Puntarenas, Costa Rica from the ship

Handicraft Stall With Costa Rica Hardwoods in Puntarenas

Beach at Pentarenas

Starfruit Growing on Tree in Puntarenas

View of Valparaiso, Chile from the Ship

Colorful Houses and Ascensors in Valparaiso, Chile

Graffiti in Valparaiso, Chile

Carla, Elaine & Joe in Sodermeyer Square in Valpariso, Chile

Mary & Graffiti in Valparaiso, Chile

Elaine & Carla Near Wall Murals in Valparaiso

Wall Mural in Valparaiso

Old Buildings in Valparaiso

Wall Mural in Valparaiso

Joe and Moai from Easter Island at Museum in Vina del Mar, Chile

Joe, Carla, Diane, Elaine & Mary at Waterfront in Vina del Mar

Flower Clock in Vina del Mar

2/23/09 Just a quick update until I have time to do a better job and post some pictures from the cruise. That might happen in a few days. We have returned to our RV at Park Sierra and are in the process of getting prepared to leave here tomorrow afternoon. It has been difficult to pack the storage bays because it has been raining pretty steadily for the past 2 days. Hopefully, tomorrow will be dry. After a visit with my granddaughter, Paige, in Merced, we will proceed to Sacramento where we have some business to take care of. Two of our rental houses are in that area.
The real bummer is that after managing to avoid getting sick on the "plague ship" we were on, I have now picked up a cold. Hopefully, it won't get worse, because I am still functioning. And hopefully, Elaine won't get it. We spent Thursday with Elaine's son in San Diego, after he picked us up at the ship, and although he was fine then, he is very sick with this cold now. Perhaps I got it from him....
As usual, our Park Sierra friends have given us a very warm "welcome home". Last night Curt and Viv had us over for dinner and tonight Jeanne Taylor fixed us a great meal. At this rate we will never drop the 5 pounds we each gained on the ship.
One of the best parts of the cruise was meeting so many new friends, and we have already had some nice e-mails from them. We will keep in touch and perhaps be able to cruise with some of them again. There were also 4 other Park Sierra couples on the ship with us and we enjoyed having time with them too, as well as with some of our other friends who were along. All in all, a good time was had by all.

2/15/09
Hello from Acapulco, Mexico. Due to the fact that we have been here several times, we are not going to be doing any sightseeing today. We have already worked out in the nearly empty gym on board, and after we eat we will go find an internet place to post this. Our last port was Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We were supposed to dock at Puerto Caldera but ended up in Puntarenas instead, which was a real improvement in the itinerary. The dock at Puntarenas is right off the beach and the town, so it was easy to sightsee, shop, find an internet, enjoy a beer in a beachside restaurant, and just enjoy the ambiance. There were lots of stalls set up near the beach selling all sorts of goods made from Costa Rican hardwoods, coffee, tee shirts, hats, etc. The surprising thing was that these goods didn’t cost a lot more than they did when we were last in Costa Rica in 2004. The most original items we found were some belts made out of various colors of wood, so we bought two of those. Joe & Carla did the zip lines, in the rainforest canopy, and said that it was really fun. We also did that in 2004 in Monteverde, and we thought it was awesome.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day so we had reservations for dinner at the Italian restaurant on board called Portofino’s. Madelyn and George were supposed to go with us and Joe & Carla, but Madelyn was sick so other friends, Ed & Janet, joined us. Although our friends had rated it highly, we were somewhat disappointed with the service and the food. The meal we had at Chops, the other specialty restaurant, was SO much better. After the evening entertainment was over, there was a buffet and dance up on the pool deck and that was lots of fun too. The music was by a Latin band, so it was lively. The weather has been really beautiful, with sunny skies and no rain, so dancing under the stars was perfect because of the warm evening. Today it is going to be hot here in Acapulco, with temps in the high 80’s or low 90’s and lots of humidity.
People on board are starting to develop the necessary mindset for ending this lengthy cruise. Darran will be picking us up at the terminal in San Pedro on Thursday morning. I’m sure it will be cooler, so that will be an adjustment, and we will also have to start dealing with real life things, like doing our own cooking and cleaning, dealing with the backlog of mail, etc. Sigh….. It’s been fun and we have been thankful every day that we have been fortunate enough to do this.

2/11/09
Here we are at sea again, on our way to Costa Rica. Having spent Sunday in port near Lima, Peru, we are skipping Ecuador and Columbia, so I guess we will just have to return by land sometime to see them. We also won’t stop in Panama either, but we explored there quite a bit in 2004 when we drove down there in our RV, along with other RV friends.
Having heard quite a few negative things about Lima, we were very pleasantly surprised when we visited there. It is a very large city, with about 7 million people if you count the suburb communities. We docked in a place called Callao. The guidebooks we consulted all warned of high crime rates and suggested taking only radio taxis, not wearing any jewelry or carrying any valuables, etc. But we found these warnings to be unnecessary and Lima is an interesting city with many beautiful Colonial buildings. As with many of these places, there is quite a mix of building styles because of the many earthquakes. We used taxis to get from place to place and they were inexpensive and the rides were quite thrilling due to the way they drive!
This time there were 10 of us, so we used 3 taxis and started out by going to the Larco Herrera Museum. This was an incredible collection of pottery, gold and silver pieces, and other artifacts from the various indigenous tribes of Peru which was started by Larco Herrera when he was only 25, in 1926. There was also a salon of erotic pottery pieces from early cultures which were amazingly graphic. Kind of like a porno magazine only in pottery! It was in a beautiful old estate house with wonderfully landscaped grounds.
Next we taxied to the Plaza Mayor, which is the historic center of the colonial “Old City”. Besides the beautiful fountain in the center of the plaza, the surrounding buildings include the cathedral, Archbishop’s Palace, Government Palace, and City Hall – all are architecturally different and awesome. A short distance away was the San Francisco Monastery, from 1673, which is still functioning as a church and mass was being held while we were there. The church was Lima’s first public cemetery, and the catacombs underneath are still filled with pits of thousands of stacked bones. There were other large salons with huge paintings and carved furniture, especially choir stalls. Unfortunately, because the tour was so long, we missed the changing of the guard in the Plaza Mayor at noon.
After wandering around the center to see more historical buildings, many of which have intricate carved wood balconies such as is often seen in Moorish areas, such as Morocco, we took time out for a local beer in a small restaurant. Then George and Madelyn took a taxi back to the ship while the rest of us went to one of the upscale parts of town called Miraflores. We wanted to go there because that is where most of the artisans markets are and everyone wanted to buy some more Peruvian handicrafts. Unfortunately, we discovered that the best prices of these were in Arica! Oh well, a few more items were purchased by the others and then we returned to the ship. Elaine and I haven’t been buying many things because we have been here before and we don’t want to lug a bunch of stuff home.
Yesterday we crossed the Equator again, so we are now back in the northern hemisphere. These sea days have been flying by since we have been working out in the gym and also attending the film festival in the afternoons. Yesterday they had “Young Frankenstein” and afterwards there was a surprise appearance by Cloris Leachman, who had a role in the film. Unfortunately, it seems like she is losing it mentally, and the interview with her afterwards was somewhat pathetic. Today there is supposed to be a one woman show by her, so hopefully that will go better. Prior to going to that, we are meeting the Park Sierra gang at Johnny Rocket’s for a hamburger, so I will close and hope to post this later today. Tomorrow we dock at Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica. Elaine and I have been there 3 times and for long time periods, so we probably won’t do extensive shore excursions with the others.

2/7/09
Another sea day today gives me the time to write up our adventures of yesterday in Arica. This is a rather small town in the very northern part of Chile, only about 12 miles from the border with Peru. It is located in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. The average rainfall in Arica is about 1/3 inch per year. They get their water from underground lakes in a nearby valley, or from a river flowing down from the Andes in a different valley. It is located in a free trade zone, so we expected good shopping and yes, found it. We also had wonderful weather too, with lots of sun and temps in the high 70’s. There is a high morro, or mountain cliff, hanging right over this area and over the port. Some people from the ship climbed up there, others took a taxi. We took pictures and skipped going up there, although everyone says there were great views.
After getting maps and info at the conveniently located Tourist Office, we headed towards the San Marcos church. This is a church made of iron and designed by Gustave Eiffel. It looks almost exactly like the Eiffel church we have seen in Mexico and the Eiffel post office in Saigon. It was moved here in the late 1700’s after an earthquake flattened all the other churches. There is also another Eiffel building here called The Aduana, or customs house. It not only is colorful on the outside but has some interesting exhibits inside. On the way to the church, we passed a beautiful plaza with fountains, trees and statues. We also had to walk through an area where many stalls had been set up with a wonderful variety of goods for sale; everything from jewelry, knitted items made from alpaca wool, woven fabrics from the Peru highlands, carved wooden items, pottery painted with unique patterns, toys, etc. Everyone did a lot of looking – and buying! We were surprised that the prices were not that much higher than we bought some of these items in 2001 when we were here.
We had heard about a place on the outskirts of town called the Poblado Artesanal, which basically means a village where arts and craft items are made and sold, so we took the local bus up there. By going this way, we got to see a lot of the residential parts of the town. The houses remind us a lot of what we see in Mexico. As the bus went through town and climbed higher on the hills, we could also see the desert on the outskirts. When we got up to the village, there were already a number of tour buses there. We sat in the restaurant and had a coke until they left, then we explored and shopped. Our original thought had been that handicrafts might be cheaper up there, away from the cruise ship area, but we were wrong. So we didn’t buy much there but it was fun to see it. There was also a replica of a small church from a nearby Indian village called Putre.
After we got off the bus back in the Centro, we stumbled across the local market where stalls sell things like meat, cheese, produce, and other necessities to local people. These usually have really good food at a low price so we went in and had a local beer and an empanada. As we sat there, we could see a great variety of delicious looking dishes being served to everyone else. We would have had some but the empanadas were enough considering we were eating on the ship later. There were several pedestrian streets with lots of small stores and also temporary stalls set up selling lots of great stuff, so we did some more looking. Then the guys went and got a haircut ($4) while I went to the internet ($1 an hour). Elaine, Carla and Diane bought some jewelry and tee shirts. Then we noticed that there were lots of chairs being set up along the street, some grandstands had been set up, and there was lots of activity on the streets. There were also people starting to wander around in costume. It turned out that the 4 day celebration of Carnival was beginning at 4 PM. So we had a quick bite to eat on the ship and then returned for the parade.
While we were waiting for things to start, there was a whole row of about 20 beauty queens from all over the area dressed in wonderfully colorful and flashy costumes and all posing together for the crowd to take pictures. They each had a sash stating where they were from. Then the parade started and there were about 6 groups of dancers, each with their own bands playing music. Most of these groups had 50 or 60 dancers who were people of all ages from these villages, all dressed alike in what we assumed was the costume unique to the village. The bands had a lot of drums and also guys playing fairly large wooden clarinet type instruments. Considering the heat, the dancers were very energetic and enthusiastic. We took tons of pictures and enjoyed everything thoroughly. They were gearing up to perform on the main street in front of the grandstands and judging platform when we all had to leave because our ship was sailing out at 6PM. There were lots of food stalls and carnival rides set up in the park, so we suspect that they were going to be partying well into the night.
We went back to the ship and ate and then had a fairly mediocre entertainment by a group called The Beatle Maniacs, who just imitate the Beatles. We would have much preferred staying for more of the Arica Carnival celebration!

2/5/09
Today is our last sea day before we arrive in Arica, Chile which gives me a little time to compose a blog update. Our 2 day stay in Valparaiso was interesting and active, so we have been in recovery mode while at sea. This was where the second leg of the cruise ended, and we picked up the passengers for the 3rd leg. Apparently there are about 2400 cruisers on board now and the ship holds about 3500, so we are 2/3 full.
As we pulled into Valparaiso, it was easy to see that the city is spread out over many hills which form a kind of half bowl, with the seafront being at the bottom of the bowl. The city was spread out in front of us like a picture and the houses are painted many bright and pastel colors. There is also quite a mix of old and new buildings because of the many earthquakes they have had there.
There are about a dozen elevator/funicular type devices, called “ascensors” which carry people between the lower part of the city and the upper levels. I’m sure most of them are very old; we rode on one that was built in 1893. They work on a balancing system, with one car going up at the same time as the other car goes down, and they pass in the middle. You can tell that they are for the convenience of the local people because they are cheap to ride. When you get to the top there is often a plaza where you can look out over the city and the harbor and admire the stupendous views. A resort town called Vina del Mar is about 5 miles away and we could see it from the overlooks because we had such clear and sunny days.
There are also lots and lots of buses, several trolley lines, and a train/metro system, all offering inexpensive transportation. Of course, we took advantage of this to do quite a bit of exploring with Joe & Carla on the first day, and then we 4 were joined by new friends David & Diane Wilson on the second day. We walked about 8 miles each day in addition to using the buses and the ascensors. The first day we walked through the lower part of the city and visited a large department store complex, a local produce market, several plazas full of sculptures, trees, flowers, and people, one church, and just took in the ambience of everything. Then we took an ascensor up to an old neighborhood and just wandered all over admiring the architecture and the art. Because not only are the houses painted many colors, but the walls, stairwells, etc. are mostly all covered in very artistic graffiti. I’m sure we took a hundred pictures. We found a restaurant patio with great views overlooking the harbor and the city and we had a local beer called Del Puerto, which was an amber ale and so full of flavor. Then we took a bus to another ascensor and repeated the experience.
The second day we took a bus to the neighboring resort city, Vina del Mar. Immediately we could see that this was very upscale compared to Valparaiso. After a bit of exploring, we found the museum which features the history and implements of the people of Easter Island and which has one of the large volcanic stone sculptures they made there called moai by the Rapa Nui. Because we 6 were the only ones there at the time, the curator took us on our own guided tour and really made everything come alive for us. Easter Island is about 2000 miles away but is owned by Chile. It is also on a very rapidly moving techtonic plate so at some time in the far distant future, it will be located closer. After the museum, we went to an artesians market where the others bought a few gift items. If any of you readers were hoping that we bought some gifts, you are out of luck! Although things are fairly inexpensive here, we don’t want to haul a bunch of stuff back!
Of course, one can’t go to Vina del Mar, without going to the seafront, so we walked there next. There are some nice beaches, especially near the expensive hotels, and also some areas where there are rugged rocks with crashing waves. We had a stop at a restaurant with a patio overlooking the beach, for another try at some more local beers; this time we tried Cristal and Escudo – both were excellent. And then we walked along the seafront to the flower clock, which is exactly what the name implies and which has beautiful flowers and is one of the things Vina del Mar is known for.
Another very fast bus ride took us back to Valparaiso and a third ride up an ascensor. This time our goal was to visit the home of a very famous Chilean poet named Pablo Neruda. Besides being famous in Chile and apparently much appreciated monetarily because he had 4 fabulous homes, he also won the Nobel prize. His home in Valparaiso is located way up on a hill and we walked 2.5 kms to get there. The home was very eclectic and artsy and was on 4 levels, with incredible views. It was easy to see that he could be inspired while writing in such an environment. Then we walked all over the nearby neighborhoods on our way back down looking for the 20 murals which Carla’s guidebook said were there. We found a bunch of colorful paintings on the sides of buildings and on walls but weren’t sure these were the murals the book described. There was also a small park with lampposts and cement benches all covered in bits of colored ceramic glass which really reminded us of Gaudi’s Park Guell in Barcelona.
So, although other friends on this ship were somewhat turned off by Valparaiso because of the poverty and unclean areas, we thought it was interesting and fun. On a more somber note, we were warned by locals not to walk in certain areas and to go in a group, which we did. Later we learned that 2 of our friends had to come to the aid of one of the ship’s ice skaters after she was attacked by 2 guys who threw her on the ground and ripped her backpack off, which she had been wearing on her front and holding onto tightly. Then they dumped out the contents and took off with her camera and her cash ($28), leaving her pack and other stuff, and her, lying on the pavement. She had been walking by herself, something we try never to do when we are in places we don’t know well.
Elaine is recovering slowly from her fall against the coffee table which was caused when the ship lurched the other night. The fact that most of her residual pain is located several inches above the bruise indicates that she probably has cracked a rib. At least she has been able to resume some physical activity and today did about 7 miles between walking on the deck and using the treadmill and elliptical in the gym. Such a pleasure to walk outside today because it is sunny and warm and there is lots of activity by the pool, including a good musical group playing bouncy numbers. We also saw lots of dolphins while we were working out in the gym earlier and looking through the front windows. Then we saw several whales while walking on the upper deck. Those are REAL whales I am talking about, not the obese people who look like beached whales who lay around on deck chairs up there….
Again, I will be unable to post pictures with this blog so please be patient and I will try to add some later on.

1/31/09 I will start writing this blog entry today and refine it a bit tomorrow, our last sea day on this leg of the journey. The day after that, we will dock in Valparaiso, Chile and be there for 2 days as one leg ends and the last leg begins. Apparently quite a few people will be getting off in Valparaiso and we are not picking up that many, so the last leg should be “sparse”. But there are conflicting reports so we shall see. Most of the people we are spending time with are on for the duration, so there won’t be any tearful farewells coming up until we arrive in Los Angeles.
Although I threw in a few hurried comments when I last posted in Ushuaia, I didn’t tell you everything so I will pick up there. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day which gave us incredible views of Ushuaia with the towering mountains behind it. Although it is summer here, it was still cold and there are large snowy areas on the mountains. We had to be tendered in and although they had several very large and comfy local boats to do this, it was still a slow and frustrating experience. Rick & Kathy Howe were waiting for us and there was another couple from the ship meeting them too. They are very warm people who make you feel like old friends right away. We gave them the “treats” from home and they were quite happy about getting them. They walked us over to their RV and we took some pictures of it and sat around inside it talking about their trip, and ours. Their journey started in Dec. 2007 in Alaska, so they have driven the entire way from north to south now. They said they will take about another year to get back because they will wander around and try to see all the countries and South America is such a big continent! They have had a few problems on the way but the worst was a few weeks ago in Bariloche, Argentina when their rig was broken into and all their electronic stuff was stolen as well as some cash. Luckily, they were at the internet place with their computers or those would be gone too. They have replaced their camera but were unhappy about losing the other memory card. It was very nice to meet them and have some visiting time but we had things to do in town so we reluctantly said goodbye.
Then we went to an internet place to read and send e-mail. It was 10 pesos per hour, which was reasonable (about $3) so I paid and started. Then Elaine returned from the bathroom and started reading with me. The guy came over and hassled us about having more than one person on a computer, and we explained that we share an e-mail account. He wouldn’t put up with it and finally went over to the cash register, got a 10 peso note, threw it at us and told us to get out. It was such a surprise because everywhere in the world people share computer use and it is no problem. It was definitely the first time we have ever been throw out of an internet place!! We walked down the street and found another place where we could share and it was only 8 pesos per hour. Because we only have sporadic internet access, we have been reading messages and posting a blog entry but not answering any e-mails individually. So if you have e-mailed us, thanks, and we will get back to you after Feb. 19 when we get back to CA. A special thanks to those of you who sent Elaine a birthday e-mail.
By the time we finished on the computer, it was raining outside. One of the common sayings down here is, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait about an hour”. We didn’t really want to wait for the weather to clear because Ushuaia has kind of lost the charm it had in 2001 when we were here, and it was quite a bit smaller. The streets are filled with stores to suck in tourist dollars. We had already been to most of the places outside of town where people go when they first get there, such as the Martial Glacier, or the national park. The other popular place to go is to the penguin colony, but you have to go by boat or it takes too much time. We had already seen lots of penguins by the time we arrived in Ushuaia in 2001 – the best place to see them is near Punta Arenas anyway. We usually don’t eat out when the ship is nearby because we have great food there. So we stopped at a pharmacy to get some antibiotics before returning to the ship. Elaine has been calling this the “plague ship” because so many people have been sick. The people who had to go to the ship’s doctor were reporting that it is expensive, so we stocked up on antibiotics in case we need them in the days ahead. The weird thing is that in the pharmacy, the guy who waited on us sold us 2 boxes of them, while the clerk waiting on the guy next to us refused to sell him any. She kept telling him that he shouldn’t be taking them unnecessarily. Sure enough, within an hour or so of our return to the ship, the weather had cleared and it was sunny again, with more great views.
The evening before this, we had gone to Chops, which is the upscale restaurant on the ship which charges extra. The food was absolutely incredible and we spent about 3 hours over dinner because our table was right next to the window and we were watching all the amazing scenery as our ship headed up the Beagle Channel towards Ushuaia. Ken Kimpton was out on deck and claimed that he saw quite a few penguins on some of the smaller islands we passed, and also lots of other birds.
The evening we left Ushuaia, we headed out using the Beagle Channel again and headed towards the Straits of Magellan. The scenery was really great and we spent the whole evening at a table near the window in the Windjammer Restaurant on the starboard side taking pictures of the snow covered mountains which seemed as if they were right alongside our ship. Then there was a series of 5 beautiful glaciers, each about 5 minutes apart. One of them came all the way down to the water, and the last one was the most incredible. It was huge and spread across the slope with the lower part of it throwing out a large waterfall flowing right into the channel near our ship. It was twilight by this time, so we didn’t get really great pictures, but we could see them clearly. Going outside for pictures was a very frigid experience, even though we thought we were prepared by bringing warm jackets, alpaca scarves, and knit caps.
Yesterday, as we were going through the Straits of Magellan, and today, as we went through the Chilean fjords, Elaine and I were working out on the equipment in the gym because it is located in the front of the ship and there were great views. The forested slopes of the hills on the banks and islands on each side periodically gave way to barren slopes if the mountains go high enough. And there are a myriad of channels in the Beagle Channel, the Straits and the fjords, so we have had 2 Chilean pilots on board every since Buenos Aires to guide this huge ship safely through these narrow passageways. When we signed on for this journey, we had no idea that it would be so scenic down here. Now we are in the Pacific, with the Chilean coast in the distance on the starboard side and we are glad that the sea is fairly calm.
2/1/09 Today it is sunny and warm outside so we can really tell that we are heading north rapidly. It will probably be time to put away our warm clothes until we get back to the USA. Today we have been taking it easy because Elaine tripped on the sheet last night when she got up in the middle of the night and fell, hitting her side and ribs against the edge of our glass-topped coffee table, and she has a deep bruise. Soon we will be going to Joe and Carla’s cabin for a cocktail party for part of our group. This is possible now that people are well again. They can’t have everyone in all at once because the rooms are too small! Maybe some liquid painkiller will help Elaine. Joe & Carla’s new room is a handicapped room and it is about twice as large as usual. Now we all want one of those!
The entertainment on board has been phenomenal, especially the soprano we had a few nights ago, and there have been some special events too. For example, for the Superbowl there will be a party in the same place as the ice skating rink, with cheaper beers and special food and the game on a huge screen.
Tomorrow we will arrive in Valparaiso where some people will take tours into Santiago. We have spent a lot of time there, and also been in Valparaiso before too, so we will probably just poke around the town, and at a fairly slow pace due to Elaine’s injury.
2/3/09 We have had a great two days in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar and I will write about it next time. If I get a chance at a faster internet place than this one, I will also add some pictures. Otherwise, you will have to wait until we get back in 2 weeks. Bye.

1/31/09 I will start writing this blog entry today and refine it a bit tomorrow, our last sea day on this leg of the journey. The day after that, we will dock in Valparaiso, Chile and be there for 2 days as one leg ends and the last leg begins. Apparently quite a few people will be getting off in Valparaiso and we are not picking up that many, so the last leg should be “sparse”. But there are conflicting reports so we shall see. Most of the people we are spending time with are on for the duration, so there won’t be any tearful farewells coming up until we arrive in Los Angeles.
Although I threw in a few hurried comments when I last posted in Ushuaia, I didn’t tell you everything so I will pick up there. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day which gave us incredible views of Ushuaia with the towering mountains behind it. Although it is summer here, it was still cold and there are large snowy areas on the mountains. We had to be tendered in and although they had several very large and comfy local boats to do this, it was still a slow and frustrating experience. Rick & Kathy Howe were waiting for us and there was another couple from the ship meeting them too. They are very warm people who make you feel like old friends right away. We gave them the “treats” from home and they were quite happy about getting them. They walked us over to their RV and we took some pictures of it and sat around inside it talking about their trip, and ours. Their journey started in Dec. 2007 in Alaska, so they have driven the entire way from north to south now. They said they will take about another year to get back because they will wander around and try to see all the countries and South America is such a big continent! They have had a few problems on the way but the worst was a few weeks ago in Bariloche, Argentina when their rig was broken into and all their electronic stuff was stolen as well as some cash. Luckily, they were at the internet place with their computers or those would be gone too. They have replaced their camera but were unhappy about losing the other memory card. It was very nice to meet them and have some visiting time but we had things to do in town so we reluctantly said goodbye.
Then we went to an internet place to read and send e-mail. It was 10 pesos per hour, which was reasonable (about $3) so I paid and started. Then Elaine returned from the bathroom and started reading with me. The guy came over and hassled us about having more than one person on a computer, and we explained that we share an e-mail account. He wouldn’t put up with it and finally went over to the cash register, got a 10 peso note, threw it at us and told us to get out. It was such a surprise because everywhere in the world people share computer use and it is no problem. It was definitely the first time we have ever been throw out of an internet place!! We walked down the street and found another place where we could share and it was only 8 pesos per hour. Because we only have sporadic internet access, we have been reading messages and posting a blog entry but not answering any e-mails individually. So if you have e-mailed us, thanks, and we will get back to you after Feb. 19 when we get back to CA. A special thanks to those of you who sent Elaine a birthday e-mail.
By the time we finished on the computer, it was raining outside. One of the common sayings down here is, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait about an hour”. We didn’t really want to wait for the weather to clear because Ushuaia has kind of lost the charm it had in 2001 when we were here, and it was quite a bit smaller. The streets are filled with stores to suck in tourist dollars. We had already been to most of the places outside of town where people go when they first get there, such as the Martial Glacier, or the national park. The other popular place to go is to the penguin colony, but you have to go by boat or it takes too much time. We had already seen lots of penguins by the time we arrived in Ushuaia in 2001 – the best place to see them is near Punta Arenas anyway. We usually don’t eat out when the ship is nearby because we have great food there. So we stopped at a pharmacy to get some antibiotics before returning to the ship. Elaine has been calling this the “plague ship” because so many people have been sick. The people who had to go to the ship’s doctor were reporting that it is expensive, so we stocked up on antibiotics in case we need them in the days ahead. The weird thing is that in the pharmacy, the guy who waited on us sold us 2 boxes of them, while the clerk waiting on the guy next to us refused to sell him any. She kept telling him that he shouldn’t be taking them unnecessarily. Sure enough, within an hour or so of our return to the ship, the weather had cleared and it was sunny again, with more great views.
The evening before this, we had gone to Chops, which is the upscale restaurant on the ship which charges extra. The food was absolutely incredible and we spent about 3 hours over dinner because our table was right next to the window and we were watching all the amazing scenery as our ship headed up the Beagle Channel towards Ushuaia. Ken Kimpton was out on deck and claimed that he saw quite a few penguins on some of the smaller islands we passed, and also lots of other birds.
The evening we left Ushuaia, we headed out using the Beagle Channel again and headed towards the Straits of Magellan. The scenery was really great and we spent the whole evening at a table near the window in the Windjammer Restaurant on the starboard side taking pictures of the snow covered mountains which seemed as if they were right alongside our ship. Then there was a series of 5 beautiful glaciers, each about 5 minutes apart. One of them came all the way down to the water, and the last one was the most incredible. It was huge and spread across the slope with the lower part of it throwing out a large waterfall flowing right into the channel near our ship. It was twilight by this time, so we didn’t get really great pictures, but we could see them clearly. Going outside for pictures was a very frigid experience, even though we thought we were prepared by bringing warm jackets, alpaca scarves, and knit caps.
Yesterday, as we were going through the Straits of Magellan, and today, as we went through the Chilean fjords, Elaine and I were working out on the equipment in the gym because it is located in the front of the ship and there were great views. The forested slopes of the hills on the banks and islands on each side periodically gave way to barren slopes if the mountains go high enough. And there are a myriad of channels in the Beagle Channel, the Straits and the fjords, so we have had 2 Chilean pilots on board every since Buenos Aires to guide this huge ship safely through these narrow passageways. When we signed on for this journey, we had no idea that it would be so scenic down here. Now we are in the Pacific, with the Chilean coast in the distance on the starboard side and we are glad that the sea is fairly calm.
2/1/09 Today it is sunny and warm outside so we can really tell that we are heading north rapidly. It will probably be time to put away our warm clothes until we get back to the USA. Today we have been taking it easy because Elaine tripped on the sheet last night when she got up in the middle of the night and fell, hitting her side and ribs against the edge of our glass-topped coffee table, and she has a deep bruise. Soon we will be going to Joe and Carla’s cabin for a cocktail party for part of our group. This is possible now that people are well again. They can’t have everyone in all at once because the rooms are too small! Maybe some liquid painkiller will help Elaine. Joe & Carla’s new room is a handicapped room and it is about twice as large as usual. Now we all want one of those!
The entertainment on board has been phenomenal, especially the soprano we had a few nights ago, and there have been some special events too. For example, for the Superbowl there will be a party in the same place as the ice skating rink, with cheaper beers and special food and the game on a huge screen.
Tomorrow we will arrive in Valparaiso where some people will take tours into Santiago. We have spent a lot of time there, and also been in Valparaiso before too, so we will probably just poke around the town, and at a fairly slow pace due to Elaine’s injury.
2/3/09 We have had a great two days in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar and I will write about it next time. If I get a chance at a faster internet place than this one, I will also add some pictures. Otherwise, you will have to wait until we get back in 2 weeks. Bye.