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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, February 06, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
1/28/09
This blog update will not be posted until tomorrow when we are in Ushuaia, which is called “fin del mundo” or end of the world. Today is Elaine’s 62nd birthday. We stayed out late last night, partying and dancing with Joe & Carla and some of our new friends from this cruise, so we were able to celebrate her birthday starting at midnight. This means we both are definitely feeling our age today! Tonight Joe & Carla, Madelyn & George are going to treat us to a special dinner at Chops, one of the upscale restaurants on board (for which there is a cover charge), as a wedding present and birthday celebration.
What a memorable day to have a birthday – we are rounding Cape Horn at about 3 PM today. I was trying to remember where I was on my 62nd birthday and Elaine reminded me that we were on a flight to Istanbul, another memorable day. Yesterday we attended a lecture about rounding the Horn and the guy showed a video made by a man who sailed around the Horn on a big 4 masted sailboat in 1929. It was a huge ship with hundreds of sailors on board and some of his pictures were incredible, especially the ones where water was washing over the deck in huge waves and they had to have rope nets stretched above the railings to catch the men that were washed over. Even with that, they still lost several. He described sleeping in wet clothes because there was no place to dry them. I’m glad we are having a much more comfy trip than his!
The weather has turned much colder and when we were doing the morning walk-a-mile I was wearing my lined leather jacket, gloves, and a knitted hat and I was comfortable until the wind really picked up. Quite a change from just a short time ago when we were sweating and wishing for cooler weather when we were in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. So far the seas are pretty calm, and we are hoping they stay that way. Everyone on board is interested in every little detail about this cruise, even the crew, as this ship has never done this route before. The ship is being moved from the Caribbean to the west coast for the first time and it is too big to go through the Panama Canal, thus this repositioning cruise. In fact, when we were in Buenos Aires, there was much excitement there about our arrival because it is the biggest ship that has ever docked there. As we went up river on the Rio de la Plata towards Buenos Aires, we had to go very slowly because there was only about 3 feet of water under the keel. The water also looked very brown, and there were lots of ships in the channel. As we left the shipping channel on our way out, we saw the Queen Mary 2 waiting for us to leave so she could enter. It was just too narrow for 2 huge ships like these to pass each other. The large size of this ship will also be a factor tomorrow because we will have to be tendered into Ushuaia instead of docking there.
Elaine and I were here before. In 2001 when we were poking around South America in our VW van, we drove down here with our friends Wolfie & Ilona Ogorek, from Germany. They are still traveling all over South America and we sent them our schedule, so we are hoping that they will surprise us by showing up tomorrow. We have already set up a meeting tomorrow with Rick & Kathy Howe, a couple from the World Wide Travelers BOF, in the Escapees RV Club. They have been traveling through Central and South America in their small RV for over a year and we have been enjoying their travel reports. We have not met them in person before although we feel like we know them because of internet contacts. They asked us to bring enchilada sauce and butter rum lifesavers. Kind of interesting to see what people miss from the USA that can’t be obtained down here.
Life on the ship for the past 4 days has been very pleasant. We have had a chance to recover from the hectic days in port and also get caught up on laundry. Additionally, we have returned to our exercise routine, now that Elaine is almost 100% recovered from her respiratory illness. That illness has been sweeping through our group, and also the entire ship, judging by the amount of coughing we hear when we go to a lecture or the theater. Because a lot of our group members bought antibiotics in Uruguay and started taking them early in their illnesses, almost everyone has recovered quickly. Unfortunately, Pierre, from Park Sierra, has been down and out for about 4 days now and we are quite concerned about him as he is 80. Only his wife, Barbara, and myself, have escaped getting this and we are working hard to keep it that way. Hopefully we will learn that he is doing better today.
One pleasant development has been that we have acquired a whole new group of friends because our status as Diamond members of the Crown and Anchor Society allows us to go to the Lotus Lounge every evening between 5 and 8 for appetizers and cocktails free of charge. It started out as a group of Gay guys and us sitting together and mushroomed into a diverse group of gay and straight, young and old, American and European all schmoozing together. We are also meeting a lot of people at the exercise classes we attend every day and on the walk-a-mile twice a day.
I’ll close for now and give you another report from Valparaiso, Chile in a few days. Hoping that all is going well for all of you “back home”.
UPdate: It is now 1-29-09 and we are in Ushuaia. Elaine had a wonderful BD dinner and is looking younger than ever, as she is almost 100 percent recovered from her illness. Pierre is also recovering but now Barbara is sick. Mary Fountain had to go on IV antibiotics at the ship infirmary and is now much better too. We are going to hit a pharmacy today to try to get more antibiotics, just in case!
When we arrived here it was sunny and beautiful and within an hour it was raining. We met Rick & Kathy Howe, the RVers who are down here and saw their RV and had a nice visit. Last night, as we were sailing here through the Beagle Channel there were gorgeous views the whole time, right from our dinner table. Ken said he could see penguins on lots of the little islands. We just saw the white guano! More later from Valparaiso.
This blog update will not be posted until tomorrow when we are in Ushuaia, which is called “fin del mundo” or end of the world. Today is Elaine’s 62nd birthday. We stayed out late last night, partying and dancing with Joe & Carla and some of our new friends from this cruise, so we were able to celebrate her birthday starting at midnight. This means we both are definitely feeling our age today! Tonight Joe & Carla, Madelyn & George are going to treat us to a special dinner at Chops, one of the upscale restaurants on board (for which there is a cover charge), as a wedding present and birthday celebration.
What a memorable day to have a birthday – we are rounding Cape Horn at about 3 PM today. I was trying to remember where I was on my 62nd birthday and Elaine reminded me that we were on a flight to Istanbul, another memorable day. Yesterday we attended a lecture about rounding the Horn and the guy showed a video made by a man who sailed around the Horn on a big 4 masted sailboat in 1929. It was a huge ship with hundreds of sailors on board and some of his pictures were incredible, especially the ones where water was washing over the deck in huge waves and they had to have rope nets stretched above the railings to catch the men that were washed over. Even with that, they still lost several. He described sleeping in wet clothes because there was no place to dry them. I’m glad we are having a much more comfy trip than his!
The weather has turned much colder and when we were doing the morning walk-a-mile I was wearing my lined leather jacket, gloves, and a knitted hat and I was comfortable until the wind really picked up. Quite a change from just a short time ago when we were sweating and wishing for cooler weather when we were in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. So far the seas are pretty calm, and we are hoping they stay that way. Everyone on board is interested in every little detail about this cruise, even the crew, as this ship has never done this route before. The ship is being moved from the Caribbean to the west coast for the first time and it is too big to go through the Panama Canal, thus this repositioning cruise. In fact, when we were in Buenos Aires, there was much excitement there about our arrival because it is the biggest ship that has ever docked there. As we went up river on the Rio de la Plata towards Buenos Aires, we had to go very slowly because there was only about 3 feet of water under the keel. The water also looked very brown, and there were lots of ships in the channel. As we left the shipping channel on our way out, we saw the Queen Mary 2 waiting for us to leave so she could enter. It was just too narrow for 2 huge ships like these to pass each other. The large size of this ship will also be a factor tomorrow because we will have to be tendered into Ushuaia instead of docking there.
Elaine and I were here before. In 2001 when we were poking around South America in our VW van, we drove down here with our friends Wolfie & Ilona Ogorek, from Germany. They are still traveling all over South America and we sent them our schedule, so we are hoping that they will surprise us by showing up tomorrow. We have already set up a meeting tomorrow with Rick & Kathy Howe, a couple from the World Wide Travelers BOF, in the Escapees RV Club. They have been traveling through Central and South America in their small RV for over a year and we have been enjoying their travel reports. We have not met them in person before although we feel like we know them because of internet contacts. They asked us to bring enchilada sauce and butter rum lifesavers. Kind of interesting to see what people miss from the USA that can’t be obtained down here.
Life on the ship for the past 4 days has been very pleasant. We have had a chance to recover from the hectic days in port and also get caught up on laundry. Additionally, we have returned to our exercise routine, now that Elaine is almost 100% recovered from her respiratory illness. That illness has been sweeping through our group, and also the entire ship, judging by the amount of coughing we hear when we go to a lecture or the theater. Because a lot of our group members bought antibiotics in Uruguay and started taking them early in their illnesses, almost everyone has recovered quickly. Unfortunately, Pierre, from Park Sierra, has been down and out for about 4 days now and we are quite concerned about him as he is 80. Only his wife, Barbara, and myself, have escaped getting this and we are working hard to keep it that way. Hopefully we will learn that he is doing better today.
One pleasant development has been that we have acquired a whole new group of friends because our status as Diamond members of the Crown and Anchor Society allows us to go to the Lotus Lounge every evening between 5 and 8 for appetizers and cocktails free of charge. It started out as a group of Gay guys and us sitting together and mushroomed into a diverse group of gay and straight, young and old, American and European all schmoozing together. We are also meeting a lot of people at the exercise classes we attend every day and on the walk-a-mile twice a day.
I’ll close for now and give you another report from Valparaiso, Chile in a few days. Hoping that all is going well for all of you “back home”.
UPdate: It is now 1-29-09 and we are in Ushuaia. Elaine had a wonderful BD dinner and is looking younger than ever, as she is almost 100 percent recovered from her illness. Pierre is also recovering but now Barbara is sick. Mary Fountain had to go on IV antibiotics at the ship infirmary and is now much better too. We are going to hit a pharmacy today to try to get more antibiotics, just in case!
When we arrived here it was sunny and beautiful and within an hour it was raining. We met Rick & Kathy Howe, the RVers who are down here and saw their RV and had a nice visit. Last night, as we were sailing here through the Beagle Channel there were gorgeous views the whole time, right from our dinner table. Ken said he could see penguins on lots of the little islands. We just saw the white guano! More later from Valparaiso.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
1/24/09
This will be only a verbal blog entry with no pictures, as I don’t have much time and I am going to the internet place in the terminal and hope that it works today. We are in Buenos Aires, and we leave today at 5:30, so I would hate to miss the ship! We arrived about 11 AM yesterday and spent some time in the downtown shopping area, the rather upscale Recoleta area, and the Evita Museum. There was a big fiasco with trying to change money without a passport (because they keep them on the ship), and this ate up a bunch of our time. Today we went with Joe & Carla and started out on the Metro. There are about 5 subway lines which are cheap and easy to use, as well as safe. We tried 4 of the lines because they each have different types of cars (some are ancient) and different decorative tiles in the stations. Then we took a taxi to an old port area called La Boca, which used to be where the Italian immigrants lived. It has been renovated and the buildings are painted so many bright colors, and there is lots of life on the streets. Today there was an outdoor market. Of course, we stopped at an outdoor café and tried a local beer called Quilmes. It was good. I also had a dulce de leche ice ceam – practically the national flavor. That also was good. We had some trouble catching a taxi back to the ship because they all wanted a set price of $10 and refused to use their meters. We walked a few blocks and finally got a taxi back and the price was about $6, using the meter. We hate it when tourists are exploited and we refuse to perpetuate it.
Of course, coming into the port yesterday brought back many memories of 2001 when we stayed in a nearby park here in our VW camper van and arranged to have it shipped back to the USA. Then we drove it to this port and put it in a container and moved to a hotel and arranged a flight to La Paz, Bolivia. While waiting to fly out, we had several days of enjoyable exploring of Buenos Aires, which seems very European in many ways. Because of our time here then, we didn’t feel a lot of pressure to rush around this time to see everything.
Before we arrived here, we had a day in Montevideo, Uruguay. What a delightful little colonial town that was! They have made it very easy to see because they supply everyone with good maps and a nice walking tour, and have tourist police on every corner ready to protect and assist. We walked around and took tons of pictures, visited a Gaucho museum in a wonderful old mansion, Joe got a haircut for $4, we had a tour of the renovated theater called Teatro Solis, and tried a local beer with some pizza. Later we wish we had waited and eaten at the Mercado not too far from the terminal because it reminded us a lot of the mercados in Mexico and Central America and the food was always good and usually cheap there. There are beautiful parks and fabulous buildings and the people were friendly and happy to have us there.
Today the terminal here in Buenos Aires is totally impacted with people because 2 cruise ships came in and emptied out and now they are filling them back up again and it is CHAOS. In a few minutes I have to go over there to the internet place to try to send this. Once we leave here today, we will have 5 days of cruising before we arrive in Ushuaia, so don’t expect to hear from us until then. We will be recovering from 3 straight port days and hopefully having some restful sea days. Elaine has been sick with the respiratory crap that has been affecting about 75% of the people on the ship, but she is getting better now after buying some antibiotics in Uruguay. Surprisingly, you can buy them there with no problem but here in Argentina you have to have a prescription. I am planning to remain 100% healthy this whole trip.
If you have e-mailed us and we haven’t answered it is because we don’t have time but we will catch up once we get back to CA. Please forgive us. Adios Amigos until Ushuaia.
This will be only a verbal blog entry with no pictures, as I don’t have much time and I am going to the internet place in the terminal and hope that it works today. We are in Buenos Aires, and we leave today at 5:30, so I would hate to miss the ship! We arrived about 11 AM yesterday and spent some time in the downtown shopping area, the rather upscale Recoleta area, and the Evita Museum. There was a big fiasco with trying to change money without a passport (because they keep them on the ship), and this ate up a bunch of our time. Today we went with Joe & Carla and started out on the Metro. There are about 5 subway lines which are cheap and easy to use, as well as safe. We tried 4 of the lines because they each have different types of cars (some are ancient) and different decorative tiles in the stations. Then we took a taxi to an old port area called La Boca, which used to be where the Italian immigrants lived. It has been renovated and the buildings are painted so many bright colors, and there is lots of life on the streets. Today there was an outdoor market. Of course, we stopped at an outdoor café and tried a local beer called Quilmes. It was good. I also had a dulce de leche ice ceam – practically the national flavor. That also was good. We had some trouble catching a taxi back to the ship because they all wanted a set price of $10 and refused to use their meters. We walked a few blocks and finally got a taxi back and the price was about $6, using the meter. We hate it when tourists are exploited and we refuse to perpetuate it.
Of course, coming into the port yesterday brought back many memories of 2001 when we stayed in a nearby park here in our VW camper van and arranged to have it shipped back to the USA. Then we drove it to this port and put it in a container and moved to a hotel and arranged a flight to La Paz, Bolivia. While waiting to fly out, we had several days of enjoyable exploring of Buenos Aires, which seems very European in many ways. Because of our time here then, we didn’t feel a lot of pressure to rush around this time to see everything.
Before we arrived here, we had a day in Montevideo, Uruguay. What a delightful little colonial town that was! They have made it very easy to see because they supply everyone with good maps and a nice walking tour, and have tourist police on every corner ready to protect and assist. We walked around and took tons of pictures, visited a Gaucho museum in a wonderful old mansion, Joe got a haircut for $4, we had a tour of the renovated theater called Teatro Solis, and tried a local beer with some pizza. Later we wish we had waited and eaten at the Mercado not too far from the terminal because it reminded us a lot of the mercados in Mexico and Central America and the food was always good and usually cheap there. There are beautiful parks and fabulous buildings and the people were friendly and happy to have us there.
Today the terminal here in Buenos Aires is totally impacted with people because 2 cruise ships came in and emptied out and now they are filling them back up again and it is CHAOS. In a few minutes I have to go over there to the internet place to try to send this. Once we leave here today, we will have 5 days of cruising before we arrive in Ushuaia, so don’t expect to hear from us until then. We will be recovering from 3 straight port days and hopefully having some restful sea days. Elaine has been sick with the respiratory crap that has been affecting about 75% of the people on the ship, but she is getting better now after buying some antibiotics in Uruguay. Surprisingly, you can buy them there with no problem but here in Argentina you have to have a prescription. I am planning to remain 100% healthy this whole trip.
If you have e-mailed us and we haven’t answered it is because we don’t have time but we will catch up once we get back to CA. Please forgive us. Adios Amigos until Ushuaia.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
January 21, 2009
Again we are at sea, well on our way to Montevideo, Uruguay where we will dock tomorrow at about 9 AM. This is our second sea day, after a wonderful day exploring Rio de Janeiro. The most wonderful part was actually the afternoon we sailed in. It was a beautiful, sunny day and our captain took the ship right straight towards the city and the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, having the mountain of Corcovado with the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top to the left, and the granite peak called Sugarloaf on the right.
Sugarloaf:
Then he swung the ship to the right and glided us past the beaches and around most of the city to the port area. We could see the unique way that this city is built with granite peaks called morros scattered throughout, beautiful beaches with high rise buildings behind them, and slums called favelas built up the hillsides in the background.
After we docked, quite a few people went off to have dinner and see a show in the city, but we elected to stay on board, knowing that we had a full day tour scheduled for the next day.
At 8AM we were met by our tour guides, Neyla and Jerry, who took us in 2 groups of 10 in 2 air conditioned and comfortable vans. Unfortunately, the day started out being rather overcast, and we had changeable weather all day. First we went to Sugarloaf mountain, which involved taking 2 cable cars as it is about 1300 feet high.
Once we got up there, we waited a while to see if it might clear so that we could see the city spread out below us. Eventually, that is what happened, although it was never as totally clear as it had been as we were sailing in the day before. We took lots of pictures of the views, and also saw one very large iguana and lots of smaller lizards running all over the slopes below us. Because this day was a holiday, the traffic was a lot less than normal, which made it nice for driving around. But it also meant that lots of Brazilians were also visiting the places that we wanted to see. When we arrived at the cog railway station to catch the train up Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer, there were hundreds of people there already! Neyla got the tickets and we all waited about an hour before we were able to catch the train. It goes through a rainforest park, Tijuca National Park, on the way which has beautiful trees and flowers, and probably lots of animals as well, but not when the trains are running. Here we are on the train with Ken & Carolyn, Joe & Carla.
It is the largest national park within a city in the world. At the top, we had to take an elevator and 2 escalators to the bottom of the statue, where again, there were hundreds of people. Also, the sun had disappeared and it was overcast; but we still managed to get a few good pictures. The statue is so big (100 feet tall), that I had to lay down on the pavement and shoot up at it with Carla, Joe and Elaine standing right near me in order to get them in the picture with the statue.
The views of the city should have been fabulous from there, but the mist was floating in and out, obscuring our views. Then we had to wait in line again in order to get the train back down.
Our guides had planned for a large Brazilian buffet lunch, but after all the huge meals we have been having on the ship, and after learning that the cost would be about $35 per person, we opted out. So they took us to a hill where there were some overlooks of the beaches and the city. Here we are with Joe & Carla at the viewpoint:
Neyla also bought a jackfruit, and opened it up for all of us to taste. It grows very well here, and we saw lots of fruits on the trees as we took the train up to Corcovado. Then they drove all along Leblon, Ipanema, and Copacabana Beaches and dropped us off at Leme beach. We could see that there were thousands of beach goers wearing rather brief suits, and even a few really fantastic sand castles.
We found a shady area where we could buy a local beer and take in the beach, the people, and the high rise apartments and hotels lining the beach. Then our guides returned us to the ship. Overall, it had been a most interesting day because we also saw a lot of the city while driving between the various venues we visited. It was a warm evening as we pulled away from the dock and sailed out of Guanabara Bay with the lights of the city sparkling in the distance. We were happy that there would be 2 sea days to get to Montevideo because we all needed a rest!
Yesterday Elaine woke up with the respiratory illness that has been clobbering our group, so she hasn’t been going to any exercise classes and we mostly rested the past 2 days, with just a little walking up on deck today. We want to be in tip top shape for walking around the old city part of Montevideo tomorrow. Last night was another formal night and we enjoyed having Madelyn and George with us at our table, now that they have joined our group for the second and third legs. Of course, we miss Dwayne and Dorothy, Charlie and Marla, and Susan and Clay, all of whom have returned to Houston. The ship is much busier now that about 600 Brazilians have come on board in Rio. Apparently the late dinner seating is quite boisterous as they like to eat very late in these South American countries, and stay up late partying afterwards.
Today at sea we have had calm waters and sunny skies. This is quite a change after yesterday, when we had gale force winds and huge waves which were bashing the ship and making loud banging sounds. We kind of expected that this might happen once we get down by the tip near Ushuaia, but not here, where we have been having fairly hot and humid weather and only small waves. The prediction is for mid-80’s tomorrow and we hope that is true. The 2 days after that will be spent in Buenos Aires. Elaine and I spent about a week here in 2001 when we were arranging to have our VW van shipped back to the USA after our 8 month exploration of South America. It will be interesting to see it again, and perhaps explore areas we missed then. Don’t know when the next travel report will be posted because of all these port days, but keep checking because I promise it will eventually appear.
Again we are at sea, well on our way to Montevideo, Uruguay where we will dock tomorrow at about 9 AM. This is our second sea day, after a wonderful day exploring Rio de Janeiro. The most wonderful part was actually the afternoon we sailed in. It was a beautiful, sunny day and our captain took the ship right straight towards the city and the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, having the mountain of Corcovado with the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top to the left, and the granite peak called Sugarloaf on the right.
Sugarloaf:
Then he swung the ship to the right and glided us past the beaches and around most of the city to the port area. We could see the unique way that this city is built with granite peaks called morros scattered throughout, beautiful beaches with high rise buildings behind them, and slums called favelas built up the hillsides in the background.
After we docked, quite a few people went off to have dinner and see a show in the city, but we elected to stay on board, knowing that we had a full day tour scheduled for the next day.
At 8AM we were met by our tour guides, Neyla and Jerry, who took us in 2 groups of 10 in 2 air conditioned and comfortable vans. Unfortunately, the day started out being rather overcast, and we had changeable weather all day. First we went to Sugarloaf mountain, which involved taking 2 cable cars as it is about 1300 feet high.
Once we got up there, we waited a while to see if it might clear so that we could see the city spread out below us. Eventually, that is what happened, although it was never as totally clear as it had been as we were sailing in the day before. We took lots of pictures of the views, and also saw one very large iguana and lots of smaller lizards running all over the slopes below us. Because this day was a holiday, the traffic was a lot less than normal, which made it nice for driving around. But it also meant that lots of Brazilians were also visiting the places that we wanted to see. When we arrived at the cog railway station to catch the train up Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer, there were hundreds of people there already! Neyla got the tickets and we all waited about an hour before we were able to catch the train. It goes through a rainforest park, Tijuca National Park, on the way which has beautiful trees and flowers, and probably lots of animals as well, but not when the trains are running. Here we are on the train with Ken & Carolyn, Joe & Carla.
It is the largest national park within a city in the world. At the top, we had to take an elevator and 2 escalators to the bottom of the statue, where again, there were hundreds of people. Also, the sun had disappeared and it was overcast; but we still managed to get a few good pictures. The statue is so big (100 feet tall), that I had to lay down on the pavement and shoot up at it with Carla, Joe and Elaine standing right near me in order to get them in the picture with the statue.
The views of the city should have been fabulous from there, but the mist was floating in and out, obscuring our views. Then we had to wait in line again in order to get the train back down.
Our guides had planned for a large Brazilian buffet lunch, but after all the huge meals we have been having on the ship, and after learning that the cost would be about $35 per person, we opted out. So they took us to a hill where there were some overlooks of the beaches and the city. Here we are with Joe & Carla at the viewpoint:
Neyla also bought a jackfruit, and opened it up for all of us to taste. It grows very well here, and we saw lots of fruits on the trees as we took the train up to Corcovado. Then they drove all along Leblon, Ipanema, and Copacabana Beaches and dropped us off at Leme beach. We could see that there were thousands of beach goers wearing rather brief suits, and even a few really fantastic sand castles.
We found a shady area where we could buy a local beer and take in the beach, the people, and the high rise apartments and hotels lining the beach. Then our guides returned us to the ship. Overall, it had been a most interesting day because we also saw a lot of the city while driving between the various venues we visited. It was a warm evening as we pulled away from the dock and sailed out of Guanabara Bay with the lights of the city sparkling in the distance. We were happy that there would be 2 sea days to get to Montevideo because we all needed a rest!
Yesterday Elaine woke up with the respiratory illness that has been clobbering our group, so she hasn’t been going to any exercise classes and we mostly rested the past 2 days, with just a little walking up on deck today. We want to be in tip top shape for walking around the old city part of Montevideo tomorrow. Last night was another formal night and we enjoyed having Madelyn and George with us at our table, now that they have joined our group for the second and third legs. Of course, we miss Dwayne and Dorothy, Charlie and Marla, and Susan and Clay, all of whom have returned to Houston. The ship is much busier now that about 600 Brazilians have come on board in Rio. Apparently the late dinner seating is quite boisterous as they like to eat very late in these South American countries, and stay up late partying afterwards.
Today at sea we have had calm waters and sunny skies. This is quite a change after yesterday, when we had gale force winds and huge waves which were bashing the ship and making loud banging sounds. We kind of expected that this might happen once we get down by the tip near Ushuaia, but not here, where we have been having fairly hot and humid weather and only small waves. The prediction is for mid-80’s tomorrow and we hope that is true. The 2 days after that will be spent in Buenos Aires. Elaine and I spent about a week here in 2001 when we were arranging to have our VW van shipped back to the USA after our 8 month exploration of South America. It will be interesting to see it again, and perhaps explore areas we missed then. Don’t know when the next travel report will be posted because of all these port days, but keep checking because I promise it will eventually appear.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
1/17/09
Hello from the somewhere between Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Yesterday we were in port in Bahia and it was nice to be back on land after 5 days at sea. Of course, there was no time to be bored on those 5 sea days because there always are so many activities going on as well as nice places such as the pool deck or solarium where some rest and relaxation can take place.
It was interesting as we approached Bahia because we started to see birds near the ship, then we could see buildings on the distant shore, as well as lots of small fishing boats. Once we started to go into the bay, there were many boats and ships of every size, but no other cruise ships, which was a first for this trip. Always there have been other cruise ships at each port. It is also interesting to see the layout of the town and the different areas as we get closer and closer to the dock. Bahia is a huge city of about 3 million, but the main tourist part is the old city, or Cidade Alta. It is called this because it is high on a cliff, with the lower city, or Cidade Baxia below it. This is the scruffier area that we had to go through to get to the old (and high) city. Unfortunately, both the guidebooks and some of the so-called experts on board all gave grave warnings about the dangers of being mugged or having your pocket picked, told how dangerous walking the streets is, etc. so most of the people on the ship booked tours. We however, always feel comfortable walking around these places since it is broad daylight, and we know enough to take the proper precautions, such as wearing no jewelry and using a money belt under our clothes for valuables. Actually, we just took very little money with us, and we made sure to go in a group. Ten of us walked through the port area together and took the Lacerda Elevator to the upper city. It is a huge elevator tower with at least 4 big elevators in it which carries people between the two parts of town at a very rapid rate. Because it is primarily there for the regular population, it was very cheap to use at .05 Reals per ride. There are 2.5 Reals per dollar. Once we all reached the top, Joe and Carla went with Elaine and me, while the 6 Houston friends all went off together. It is just too cumbersome to explore anywhere in a group bigger than 4. And we hate traveling by “committee”!
Many of the tour groups from the ship were there ahead of us so we went to an internet place for 30 minutes to clean out our mailbox and real e-mails while the crowds cleared. The internet places were also cheap at 2 Reals per 30 minutes. Thanks everyone who sent us a newsy e-mail. We enjoyed them all although there was no time for individual responses. It was nice that the internet place was somewhat air conditioned, as it was a hot and humid day, with plenty of sun. We all were sweating copiously after only a short time away from the air conditioned ship. Elaine and I enjoy the warm and humid weather better than everyone else does. It makes our skin look younger and I even have thicker looking hair with some curl in it!
Then we explored some of the places of historical interest. There are about 166 churches here, but we only went into 3 of them and those only because they had been highly recommended in the guidebooks. One of them had the most fantastic ceiling which had largely been covered in gold leaf, and also some impressive side altars as well as the sacristy. Another had a front façade of sandstone carved in a mix of rococo and churrigueresque. (I’m sure I am misspelling that but it is an architectural style that we have seen in Mexico and which is very distinctive).
Inside this church, which was the Church of St. Francisco, there were many blue tiles from the 17th and 18th century with scenes on them of not only Bahia in the past but also Lisbon from before the devastating earthquake there in 1755.
Of course, Brazil is a former Portuguese colony, everyone here speaks that language, and we noticed many similarities to Portugal in Bahia.
There is so much more to Bahia than just the churches. There are many other colonial buildings in the upper city and they have been delightfully painted in pastel colors and many have cornices with ferns or other plants on them.
The streets are mostly cobblestone and as we strolled along, enjoying all the life on the streets and the vibrancy of the place, we felt right at home because there were so many street artists and vendors with all their wares such as we are used to from Mexico and Central America. The art is so colorful and innovative; we were sorry we couldn’t buy a lot of it – so we took pictures.
The people are also interesting as this was the biggest slave port in Brazil and Bahia has the highest percentage of Africans in Brazil, as well as mixed race people. There is a lot of African culture mixed into the Portuguese culture here and it is easily seen in the costumes, food, handicrafts, dancing, etc. We stopped to try one of the local beers and it was excellent. It was so much fun just to walk around in the streets!
On our way back to the ship, we took the elevator back down to the lower level and stopped to see the huge Mercado Modelo. This had a lot of small stalls with handicrafts as well as cheap food places, a produce section, etc. We also bought some soft drinks in a local store to take back to the ship. Everywhere the people were helpful and friendly. In this part of the city there were a lot of areas of broken up cobblestones, graffiti on the buildings, litter, and areas where there was a strong urine smell. This really influenced how a lot of people from the ship felt about this town, since we heard a lot of negative reports when we were back on the ship. We four had a wonderful day and thought the town was worth coming back to, since we missed a few places we wanted to see.
Tonight is the last formal dinner of this leg of the trip, and we are hoping it is also lobster night. Tomorrow we will arrive in Rio at about 3 in the afternoon, and the next day is the day our Houston friends will be leaving us, as they are only doing the first leg. The rest of us will be taking an all day tour, which has been arranged ahead of time by Tom & Rocki Blair. That is also the day that many of us are supposed to move to a different cabin, so we will have to be packed and our room stewards will move our stuff while we are touring. It will be interesting to see how they handle all the associated paperwork, change of Sea Pass cards, etc. Also, there will be nearly a thousand more passengers on this leg, which starts in Rio and ends in Valparaiso, Chile, going around the Horn. It has been nice having a ship that isn’t full, as it is easier to use the exercise room, get food in the Windjammer, etc. Hopefully, all the changes coming up won’t be negative ones!
I will post another report after our tour of Rio, and after we have been established in our new room and at our new dining tables. Until then, we hope that all is going well for all of you back home and we are sending you big hugs.
Hello from the somewhere between Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Yesterday we were in port in Bahia and it was nice to be back on land after 5 days at sea. Of course, there was no time to be bored on those 5 sea days because there always are so many activities going on as well as nice places such as the pool deck or solarium where some rest and relaxation can take place.
It was interesting as we approached Bahia because we started to see birds near the ship, then we could see buildings on the distant shore, as well as lots of small fishing boats. Once we started to go into the bay, there were many boats and ships of every size, but no other cruise ships, which was a first for this trip. Always there have been other cruise ships at each port. It is also interesting to see the layout of the town and the different areas as we get closer and closer to the dock. Bahia is a huge city of about 3 million, but the main tourist part is the old city, or Cidade Alta. It is called this because it is high on a cliff, with the lower city, or Cidade Baxia below it. This is the scruffier area that we had to go through to get to the old (and high) city. Unfortunately, both the guidebooks and some of the so-called experts on board all gave grave warnings about the dangers of being mugged or having your pocket picked, told how dangerous walking the streets is, etc. so most of the people on the ship booked tours. We however, always feel comfortable walking around these places since it is broad daylight, and we know enough to take the proper precautions, such as wearing no jewelry and using a money belt under our clothes for valuables. Actually, we just took very little money with us, and we made sure to go in a group. Ten of us walked through the port area together and took the Lacerda Elevator to the upper city. It is a huge elevator tower with at least 4 big elevators in it which carries people between the two parts of town at a very rapid rate. Because it is primarily there for the regular population, it was very cheap to use at .05 Reals per ride. There are 2.5 Reals per dollar. Once we all reached the top, Joe and Carla went with Elaine and me, while the 6 Houston friends all went off together. It is just too cumbersome to explore anywhere in a group bigger than 4. And we hate traveling by “committee”!
Many of the tour groups from the ship were there ahead of us so we went to an internet place for 30 minutes to clean out our mailbox and real e-mails while the crowds cleared. The internet places were also cheap at 2 Reals per 30 minutes. Thanks everyone who sent us a newsy e-mail. We enjoyed them all although there was no time for individual responses. It was nice that the internet place was somewhat air conditioned, as it was a hot and humid day, with plenty of sun. We all were sweating copiously after only a short time away from the air conditioned ship. Elaine and I enjoy the warm and humid weather better than everyone else does. It makes our skin look younger and I even have thicker looking hair with some curl in it!
Then we explored some of the places of historical interest. There are about 166 churches here, but we only went into 3 of them and those only because they had been highly recommended in the guidebooks. One of them had the most fantastic ceiling which had largely been covered in gold leaf, and also some impressive side altars as well as the sacristy. Another had a front façade of sandstone carved in a mix of rococo and churrigueresque. (I’m sure I am misspelling that but it is an architectural style that we have seen in Mexico and which is very distinctive).
Inside this church, which was the Church of St. Francisco, there were many blue tiles from the 17th and 18th century with scenes on them of not only Bahia in the past but also Lisbon from before the devastating earthquake there in 1755.
Of course, Brazil is a former Portuguese colony, everyone here speaks that language, and we noticed many similarities to Portugal in Bahia.
There is so much more to Bahia than just the churches. There are many other colonial buildings in the upper city and they have been delightfully painted in pastel colors and many have cornices with ferns or other plants on them.
The streets are mostly cobblestone and as we strolled along, enjoying all the life on the streets and the vibrancy of the place, we felt right at home because there were so many street artists and vendors with all their wares such as we are used to from Mexico and Central America. The art is so colorful and innovative; we were sorry we couldn’t buy a lot of it – so we took pictures.
The people are also interesting as this was the biggest slave port in Brazil and Bahia has the highest percentage of Africans in Brazil, as well as mixed race people. There is a lot of African culture mixed into the Portuguese culture here and it is easily seen in the costumes, food, handicrafts, dancing, etc. We stopped to try one of the local beers and it was excellent. It was so much fun just to walk around in the streets!
On our way back to the ship, we took the elevator back down to the lower level and stopped to see the huge Mercado Modelo. This had a lot of small stalls with handicrafts as well as cheap food places, a produce section, etc. We also bought some soft drinks in a local store to take back to the ship. Everywhere the people were helpful and friendly. In this part of the city there were a lot of areas of broken up cobblestones, graffiti on the buildings, litter, and areas where there was a strong urine smell. This really influenced how a lot of people from the ship felt about this town, since we heard a lot of negative reports when we were back on the ship. We four had a wonderful day and thought the town was worth coming back to, since we missed a few places we wanted to see.
Tonight is the last formal dinner of this leg of the trip, and we are hoping it is also lobster night. Tomorrow we will arrive in Rio at about 3 in the afternoon, and the next day is the day our Houston friends will be leaving us, as they are only doing the first leg. The rest of us will be taking an all day tour, which has been arranged ahead of time by Tom & Rocki Blair. That is also the day that many of us are supposed to move to a different cabin, so we will have to be packed and our room stewards will move our stuff while we are touring. It will be interesting to see how they handle all the associated paperwork, change of Sea Pass cards, etc. Also, there will be nearly a thousand more passengers on this leg, which starts in Rio and ends in Valparaiso, Chile, going around the Horn. It has been nice having a ship that isn’t full, as it is easier to use the exercise room, get food in the Windjammer, etc. Hopefully, all the changes coming up won’t be negative ones!
I will post another report after our tour of Rio, and after we have been established in our new room and at our new dining tables. Until then, we hope that all is going well for all of you back home and we are sending you big hugs.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Blog Update 1/11/09
Hello from the Mariner of the Seas somewhere between Barbados and Brazil, our next destination. It is day 8 of our cruise, and we are enjoying it immensely. The weather has been sunny, warm, and somewhat humid, but enjoyable. Today there is a rather strong wind blowing across the upper deck where we walk for exercise, so we are doing most of that inside. The exercise and weight room is large and well-equipped and we have been using it a lot on days when we are at sea. Of course, on port days we have enjoyed exploring the islands, places that we have never visited before.
Our first day on board was busy because we were reconnecting with our friends and getting established in our rooms. Of course, our dining table assignments had been all screwed up by CruCon, the agency that most of us booked with. So although we have 22 people in our group on board, only 10 were assigned to the same table for dinner, and the rest of us were scattered all over. Elaine and I visited the man in charge of seating 3 times before we managed to arrange another table for the leftover 12. Luckily we got a wonderful gal as our waiter and the assistant is good too, and we have been periodically exchanging a few people between our 2 tables, so that everyone can get to know each other. Next we have to make sure that they give us two tables together for the next leg of the cruise, which starts in Rio on Jan. 19.
Another thing CruCon messed up was the room assignments. Most of us have been assigned to three different rooms for the 3 legs of this 46 day cruise, so we will have to move twice. Pretty inconvenient. So we are recommending that no one EVER books with CruCon ever again. The price of the cruises dropped twice between the time we booked and when we sailed, and we insisted on a refund each time, so they are probably doing it as punishment. Next time we will wait until the last minute to book, expecting the prices to drop, and also book directly with Royal Caribbean.
The first port of call we had, after leaving Port Canaveral, was a private island in the Bahamas, owned by Royal Caribbean, called Coco Cay. It is really very well set up, with beautiful coves for swimming and snorkeling, lots of lounges to sunbathe on, a nice area with covered tables for eating lunch, a sand volleyball court, a Straw Market where natives sell local stuff, and a nature trail of about 1 ½ miles. The barbeque lunch was delicious, and we really enjoyed it after walking the nature trail both ways. The weather was perfect too – sunny and warm. The water in the Caribbean is always such a beautiful blue, it is hard to imagine not having a good time at such a place.
Our second port of call was St. Maarten, a small island which is the name of the Dutch side of the island where we docked. Phillipsburg had many nice shops and services, but was pretty touristy and we didn’t want to spend all our time there. So we went with Joe and Carla Calwell on the public bus (which was actually a van), over to the French side, to Marigot. Here we walked around and enjoyed the different architecture and better ambiance, especially near the waterfront. Then we took another minivan to an even smaller French town called Grand Case. This was quiet and scenic and we liked it a lot. There were small BBQ restaurants called LowLows near the beach, where we ate chicken and tried the local beer: Carib, and liked it a lot. When we first arrived on this island, we wondered why Joe & Carla’s son and his wife had selected it for their honeymoon. After enjoying the French side so much, and finding the smaller towns, we agreed with their choice!
St Kitts was our next island the next day and here there was a lot of British influence, although the island is now independent. Basseterre was the town a short stroll from our pier. Because we were only going to be there until 3PM, we again went with Joe & Carla and this time we contracted a minivan driver and tour guide named Jim to take us around the island. Jim was such an interesting and intelligent man who told us so much about the island and his price was very reasonable at $20 per person for about a 4 hour tour. We drove by the sights in Basseterre and then he showed us some Carib petroglyphs which happened to be located right near the place where Jim was born and raised. These were about 4100 years old, so the island has been inhabited for a very long time. Unfortunately, the native Indians were killed in a bloody battle between them and the Europeans who were fighting over the island, and those that weren’t killed were removed. Our next stop was Romney Manor, which used to be owned by Thomas Jefferson’s great, great, great grandfather. Joe and Carla told us that Alexander Hamilton also had history in the islands, as he was originally from Nevis. I wonder how many other plantation owners important at the time of our nation’s beginnings were transplanted from other Caribbean islands, where they no doubt also owned plantations. Romney Manor house no longer exists but the grounds were extensive with many beautiful plants and an African Saman tree that is so old and large that it covers over ½ acre. There is a big Batik factory and saleroom there now and we had a brief look at the process and the beautiful results. We didn’t buy anything, as we were hurrying to move along on the island tour, but even I (the non-shopper) now wish that we had stayed a bit longer there as the goods were absolutely beautiful and not overly expensive. Next we drove up a very steep road to a tall hill where Brimstone Hill Fortress is now a national park and a UNESCO world heritage site. The fort, which was started in 1690, has been beautifully restored and has well-done and interesting displays about life in the fort, medical care, the soldiers, the history of it, etc., as well as stunning views from the top. There are lots of cannon that have also been restored and returned to the fort. It was well worth the $8 entry fee. As we rounded the island, Jim showed us an area of unusual black volcanic rock formations and also the place where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic. You can tell because the waves come in at about a 45 degree angle from each other. The Atlantic waters are rougher when they hit the shore too. The last place we drove around was the expensive area near Frigate Beach. Here there are huge houses and estates, a 900 room hotel, several golf courses, and was in great contrast to the way people live all over the rest of the island. Jim told us so many things about the way of life of the majority of the people and we were happy we had taken his tour. You can probably find his services on line as his company is called Rose and Jim’s, and I had previously read about him on the Cruise Critic website.
Yesterday we were in Barbados, which is a larger island and also does not have the towering mountains of the other islands. We stayed in Bridgetown, a large city near the port. Nine of us from our group rented a taxi which took us to a heritage house which used to be owned by an early plantation family which was also active in the politics and government. The house was very open and airy and had lots of interesting antiques and photographs. Outside there were examples of slave huts, a chattel house, outhouse, rum house, blacksmith shop, and a few other small support buildings. After being dropped back in the city, Carla, Joe, Elaine and I enjoyed seeing the very old Anglican church, Parliament buildings, and the restored marina area along the river. Of course, we had to try the local beer here, which is Banks beer. We liked Carib beer better.
Today is the first of 5 straight sea days and we are glad to have them. Three straight port days was physically exhausting. On sea days we enjoy working out, soaking in the hot tub, visiting with friends over meals, and many of the other activities such as lectures, dance lessons, mini-golf, etc. Last night instead of the usual live entertainment in the theater after dinner, we went to the first ice show. It was really well done and so much better than the ones on the Navigator of the Seas trip we did in November. The food is much better on this ship as well. Tonight will be the second formal night at dinner. We will also use these sea days to catch up on laundry and do some research for the next port, which will be Salvador de Bahia, our first Brazil port.
We have checked e-mail once for messages from family and friends and I will be posting this entry from the ship’s internet service. At 55 cents a minute, I hope it doesn’t take long! We will also do the internet in Salvador, so please feel free to send us a newsy message! Look for another blog update after we arrive there.
Hello from the Mariner of the Seas somewhere between Barbados and Brazil, our next destination. It is day 8 of our cruise, and we are enjoying it immensely. The weather has been sunny, warm, and somewhat humid, but enjoyable. Today there is a rather strong wind blowing across the upper deck where we walk for exercise, so we are doing most of that inside. The exercise and weight room is large and well-equipped and we have been using it a lot on days when we are at sea. Of course, on port days we have enjoyed exploring the islands, places that we have never visited before.
Our first day on board was busy because we were reconnecting with our friends and getting established in our rooms. Of course, our dining table assignments had been all screwed up by CruCon, the agency that most of us booked with. So although we have 22 people in our group on board, only 10 were assigned to the same table for dinner, and the rest of us were scattered all over. Elaine and I visited the man in charge of seating 3 times before we managed to arrange another table for the leftover 12. Luckily we got a wonderful gal as our waiter and the assistant is good too, and we have been periodically exchanging a few people between our 2 tables, so that everyone can get to know each other. Next we have to make sure that they give us two tables together for the next leg of the cruise, which starts in Rio on Jan. 19.
Another thing CruCon messed up was the room assignments. Most of us have been assigned to three different rooms for the 3 legs of this 46 day cruise, so we will have to move twice. Pretty inconvenient. So we are recommending that no one EVER books with CruCon ever again. The price of the cruises dropped twice between the time we booked and when we sailed, and we insisted on a refund each time, so they are probably doing it as punishment. Next time we will wait until the last minute to book, expecting the prices to drop, and also book directly with Royal Caribbean.
The first port of call we had, after leaving Port Canaveral, was a private island in the Bahamas, owned by Royal Caribbean, called Coco Cay. It is really very well set up, with beautiful coves for swimming and snorkeling, lots of lounges to sunbathe on, a nice area with covered tables for eating lunch, a sand volleyball court, a Straw Market where natives sell local stuff, and a nature trail of about 1 ½ miles. The barbeque lunch was delicious, and we really enjoyed it after walking the nature trail both ways. The weather was perfect too – sunny and warm. The water in the Caribbean is always such a beautiful blue, it is hard to imagine not having a good time at such a place.
Our second port of call was St. Maarten, a small island which is the name of the Dutch side of the island where we docked. Phillipsburg had many nice shops and services, but was pretty touristy and we didn’t want to spend all our time there. So we went with Joe and Carla Calwell on the public bus (which was actually a van), over to the French side, to Marigot. Here we walked around and enjoyed the different architecture and better ambiance, especially near the waterfront. Then we took another minivan to an even smaller French town called Grand Case. This was quiet and scenic and we liked it a lot. There were small BBQ restaurants called LowLows near the beach, where we ate chicken and tried the local beer: Carib, and liked it a lot. When we first arrived on this island, we wondered why Joe & Carla’s son and his wife had selected it for their honeymoon. After enjoying the French side so much, and finding the smaller towns, we agreed with their choice!
St Kitts was our next island the next day and here there was a lot of British influence, although the island is now independent. Basseterre was the town a short stroll from our pier. Because we were only going to be there until 3PM, we again went with Joe & Carla and this time we contracted a minivan driver and tour guide named Jim to take us around the island. Jim was such an interesting and intelligent man who told us so much about the island and his price was very reasonable at $20 per person for about a 4 hour tour. We drove by the sights in Basseterre and then he showed us some Carib petroglyphs which happened to be located right near the place where Jim was born and raised. These were about 4100 years old, so the island has been inhabited for a very long time. Unfortunately, the native Indians were killed in a bloody battle between them and the Europeans who were fighting over the island, and those that weren’t killed were removed. Our next stop was Romney Manor, which used to be owned by Thomas Jefferson’s great, great, great grandfather. Joe and Carla told us that Alexander Hamilton also had history in the islands, as he was originally from Nevis. I wonder how many other plantation owners important at the time of our nation’s beginnings were transplanted from other Caribbean islands, where they no doubt also owned plantations. Romney Manor house no longer exists but the grounds were extensive with many beautiful plants and an African Saman tree that is so old and large that it covers over ½ acre. There is a big Batik factory and saleroom there now and we had a brief look at the process and the beautiful results. We didn’t buy anything, as we were hurrying to move along on the island tour, but even I (the non-shopper) now wish that we had stayed a bit longer there as the goods were absolutely beautiful and not overly expensive. Next we drove up a very steep road to a tall hill where Brimstone Hill Fortress is now a national park and a UNESCO world heritage site. The fort, which was started in 1690, has been beautifully restored and has well-done and interesting displays about life in the fort, medical care, the soldiers, the history of it, etc., as well as stunning views from the top. There are lots of cannon that have also been restored and returned to the fort. It was well worth the $8 entry fee. As we rounded the island, Jim showed us an area of unusual black volcanic rock formations and also the place where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic. You can tell because the waves come in at about a 45 degree angle from each other. The Atlantic waters are rougher when they hit the shore too. The last place we drove around was the expensive area near Frigate Beach. Here there are huge houses and estates, a 900 room hotel, several golf courses, and was in great contrast to the way people live all over the rest of the island. Jim told us so many things about the way of life of the majority of the people and we were happy we had taken his tour. You can probably find his services on line as his company is called Rose and Jim’s, and I had previously read about him on the Cruise Critic website.
Yesterday we were in Barbados, which is a larger island and also does not have the towering mountains of the other islands. We stayed in Bridgetown, a large city near the port. Nine of us from our group rented a taxi which took us to a heritage house which used to be owned by an early plantation family which was also active in the politics and government. The house was very open and airy and had lots of interesting antiques and photographs. Outside there were examples of slave huts, a chattel house, outhouse, rum house, blacksmith shop, and a few other small support buildings. After being dropped back in the city, Carla, Joe, Elaine and I enjoyed seeing the very old Anglican church, Parliament buildings, and the restored marina area along the river. Of course, we had to try the local beer here, which is Banks beer. We liked Carib beer better.
Today is the first of 5 straight sea days and we are glad to have them. Three straight port days was physically exhausting. On sea days we enjoy working out, soaking in the hot tub, visiting with friends over meals, and many of the other activities such as lectures, dance lessons, mini-golf, etc. Last night instead of the usual live entertainment in the theater after dinner, we went to the first ice show. It was really well done and so much better than the ones on the Navigator of the Seas trip we did in November. The food is much better on this ship as well. Tonight will be the second formal night at dinner. We will also use these sea days to catch up on laundry and do some research for the next port, which will be Salvador de Bahia, our first Brazil port.
We have checked e-mail once for messages from family and friends and I will be posting this entry from the ship’s internet service. At 55 cents a minute, I hope it doesn’t take long! We will also do the internet in Salvador, so please feel free to send us a newsy message! Look for another blog update after we arrive there.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
1/4/09 Happy New Year, Blog Readers! This posting is being written in Cocoa Beach, FL where we are mostly packed for our cruise, which starts later today. Our ship leaves from Port Canaveral, Fl, which is nearby. Ken & Carolyn are going to spend the day at the Kennedy Space Center, which is also nearby. We have been there before and enjoyed it very much. We are going to explore the area a bit and go on the ship early so we can workout in the gym. Since we have been in FL we haven't had a chance to work out but we have been walking every day.
In our last post, we mentioned that we were hoping that we wouldn't have any weather problems in Chicago, when our flight stopped there briefly. Guess what - the problem was in San Diego, of all places! We arrived the night before our flight and all flights coming in were canceled because of fog. So, although there was no fog the morning we were leaving, our flight was delayed over 2 hours because we had to wait for a plane to come into the San Diego airport! We arrived in Orlando about 7PM, got our rental car, found our motel, and had a very late meal at the nearby IHop. Even though we were so close to Disney World that we could have seen the midnight fireworks from there, we were so tired that we slept through them!
The next 2 days we spent visiting our friends, Milt and Beth Bourassa, in Lady Lake, FL. They are retired and Beth is a volunteer docent at the Carriage Museum, which is a private museum owned by Carol Austin, who made a fortune by co-founding Paychex. There are over 160 carriages there, most of them beautifully restored, and we enjoyed several hours browsing through there.
Mary, Beth and Elaine near a horse sculpture at the museum.
The grounds are also extensive and beautiful, since Mrs. Austin believes the the carriages should be functional and she uses them to give carriage rides on the property. So she also has over 20 horses there. Upon arrival, we went over to the nearby fenced field where Gracie, the miniature horse, was pulling a very small carriage with a child in it having a driving lesson. Here is a picture showing how small the horse is compared to the trainer!
Inside the museum, the carriages are beautifully presented, along with many of the accoutrements, such as the tack, costumes of the footmen and drivers, picnic baskets, photos of the restoration process, etc. The most impressive carriage was one of only 2 built for and used by Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. Mrs. Austin even had replicas of the horses especially made for this carriage.
Another interesting exhibit was the one on carriages and horses used by fire fighting companies. The horses were trained to react immediately to the fire bell and they would go to their assigned places where their harnesses and tack were suspended so they could be quickly hitched up. Their hitch-up time was often under a minute! There were also wagons and carriages from wild west days, an ice wagon, a produce wagon, a traveling salesman wagon, and many other types of commercial wagons.
After the carriage museum, we took Beth and Milt out to lunch in a nearby town to thank them for their hospitality. Beth selected a restaurant called the Cotillion, which features Southern cooking, and which was full of delightful antiques and old time ambiance. The food was abundant and really delicious. Here is a picture of Milt, Beth and Elaine inside the restaurant:
Yesterday we left Lady Lake and drove here to Cocoa Beach, stopping in Orlando to do a little shopping. Last night we had dinner with Joe & Carla Calwell when they arrived. By coincidence, when we booked a hotel using Priceline and ended up at the Holiday Inn, right across the street from the La Quinta, where they were staying! Of course, later today we will be seeing all of the friends who have booked this cruise, when we meet for dinner on the ship. So this will be the last post until we find an internet cafe at one of our ports. Bon Voyage!
In our last post, we mentioned that we were hoping that we wouldn't have any weather problems in Chicago, when our flight stopped there briefly. Guess what - the problem was in San Diego, of all places! We arrived the night before our flight and all flights coming in were canceled because of fog. So, although there was no fog the morning we were leaving, our flight was delayed over 2 hours because we had to wait for a plane to come into the San Diego airport! We arrived in Orlando about 7PM, got our rental car, found our motel, and had a very late meal at the nearby IHop. Even though we were so close to Disney World that we could have seen the midnight fireworks from there, we were so tired that we slept through them!
The next 2 days we spent visiting our friends, Milt and Beth Bourassa, in Lady Lake, FL. They are retired and Beth is a volunteer docent at the Carriage Museum, which is a private museum owned by Carol Austin, who made a fortune by co-founding Paychex. There are over 160 carriages there, most of them beautifully restored, and we enjoyed several hours browsing through there.
Mary, Beth and Elaine near a horse sculpture at the museum.
The grounds are also extensive and beautiful, since Mrs. Austin believes the the carriages should be functional and she uses them to give carriage rides on the property. So she also has over 20 horses there. Upon arrival, we went over to the nearby fenced field where Gracie, the miniature horse, was pulling a very small carriage with a child in it having a driving lesson. Here is a picture showing how small the horse is compared to the trainer!
Inside the museum, the carriages are beautifully presented, along with many of the accoutrements, such as the tack, costumes of the footmen and drivers, picnic baskets, photos of the restoration process, etc. The most impressive carriage was one of only 2 built for and used by Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. Mrs. Austin even had replicas of the horses especially made for this carriage.
Another interesting exhibit was the one on carriages and horses used by fire fighting companies. The horses were trained to react immediately to the fire bell and they would go to their assigned places where their harnesses and tack were suspended so they could be quickly hitched up. Their hitch-up time was often under a minute! There were also wagons and carriages from wild west days, an ice wagon, a produce wagon, a traveling salesman wagon, and many other types of commercial wagons.
After the carriage museum, we took Beth and Milt out to lunch in a nearby town to thank them for their hospitality. Beth selected a restaurant called the Cotillion, which features Southern cooking, and which was full of delightful antiques and old time ambiance. The food was abundant and really delicious. Here is a picture of Milt, Beth and Elaine inside the restaurant:
Yesterday we left Lady Lake and drove here to Cocoa Beach, stopping in Orlando to do a little shopping. Last night we had dinner with Joe & Carla Calwell when they arrived. By coincidence, when we booked a hotel using Priceline and ended up at the Holiday Inn, right across the street from the La Quinta, where they were staying! Of course, later today we will be seeing all of the friends who have booked this cruise, when we meet for dinner on the ship. So this will be the last post until we find an internet cafe at one of our ports. Bon Voyage!
Monday, December 29, 2008
12/29/08 This will be the last post for 2008! Sounds rather final, doesn't it?! Currently we are at Park Sierra and are trying to tie up all the loose ends and pack for our 46 day cruise around South America. Tomorrow we will be driving to San Diego to stay with Darran & Marielle overnight, and then they will drive us to the airport early on Wednesday. We will be landing in Orlando at 5:30PM if the travel Goddess is with us. I know what you are thinking: "Why won't they arrive on time if they are flying from San Diego (warm place-no snow) to Orlando (warm place-no snow). Well, our one stop is in Chicago!!!! Sure hope there are no weather-related problems there on Wednesday!
In Florida, besides celebrating New Year's alone in a motel room in Orlando, we will hope to be visiting Milt & Beth Bourassa, a delightful couple we met in Nova Scotia in 1998 and who hosted us at their lovely home at Loon Lake in New Hampshire right after that. They also drove us all over Vermont during Fall colors. Now they have a winter home in Lady Lake, FL and we are planning to drive there to see them.
Our ship leaves on Jan. 4 from Port Canaveral. There will be 12 couples of friends with us on the first 2 weeks of this cruise, and we are hoping we can all interact over dinner at adjacent tables. I have tried to set this up by e-mail but you never know what the cruise line has done until you check in!
Since we are leaving on this long cruise, there is no telling when we will be able to do blog updates. It depends on the internet availability at the ports of call. So please be patient and I will try to make it worth your while when I do an update.
Here are a few pictures from the Christmas Day dinner with our friends at Jojoba SKP park:
Terry Webb, Alice Zyetz, Vicky Webb, Carole & Dick Schneider, Mary & Elaine in front of the Jojoba Hills Christmas Tree
Our friends, Bob & Carol Torns, whom we haven't seen in years!
Two of the chickens that Carole roasted for the feast.
Mary & Elaine with Dudley and Marilyn Varney, former Park Sierra residents who now have a lot at Jojoba SKP Park.
In Florida, besides celebrating New Year's alone in a motel room in Orlando, we will hope to be visiting Milt & Beth Bourassa, a delightful couple we met in Nova Scotia in 1998 and who hosted us at their lovely home at Loon Lake in New Hampshire right after that. They also drove us all over Vermont during Fall colors. Now they have a winter home in Lady Lake, FL and we are planning to drive there to see them.
Our ship leaves on Jan. 4 from Port Canaveral. There will be 12 couples of friends with us on the first 2 weeks of this cruise, and we are hoping we can all interact over dinner at adjacent tables. I have tried to set this up by e-mail but you never know what the cruise line has done until you check in!
Since we are leaving on this long cruise, there is no telling when we will be able to do blog updates. It depends on the internet availability at the ports of call. So please be patient and I will try to make it worth your while when I do an update.
Here are a few pictures from the Christmas Day dinner with our friends at Jojoba SKP park:
Terry Webb, Alice Zyetz, Vicky Webb, Carole & Dick Schneider, Mary & Elaine in front of the Jojoba Hills Christmas Tree
Our friends, Bob & Carol Torns, whom we haven't seen in years!
Two of the chickens that Carole roasted for the feast.
Mary & Elaine with Dudley and Marilyn Varney, former Park Sierra residents who now have a lot at Jojoba SKP Park.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
12/25/08 MERRY CHRISTMAS! In a few minutes we will be heading up to the clubhouse here at Jojoba Hills SKP Park to have Christmas dinner with Dick & Carole Schneider, and 10 other people who have signed up to sit at their table. It is a potluck, but Carole is fixing one of her gourmet delights for the main course - chickens stuffed with couscous, dried fruits & herbs on a bed of both white and sweet potatoes. The rest of us are providing the accoutrements. One of the couples joining us is Carol & Bob Torns, SKPs from New York whom we met years ago at a morel mushroom picking event in Montana. We have kept loosely in touch ever since, and we quite surprised to see them again, camped just a few spaces from us in the boondock area. That is one of the delights of this nomadic lifestyle; reconnecting with old friends in unexpected places.
Elaine and I actually just returned to Jojoba after driving down to San Diego yesterday to spend last night with Elaine's son, Darran & Marielle, his girlfriend, in their new 2 bedroom apartment. Her sister and husband joined us and we were delighted to meet them, as they are friendly and warm, just as Marielle is. They had a beautiful tree set up, with lights, etc. and we all helped cook a delicious turkey dinner, with vegetarian lasagna for Marielle and Megan. As we were cooking, it became obvious that they were in dire need of some pans and storage containers, so we rushed over to Costco to get them a new set of each as a combination Christmas and housewarming gift. That certainly made the meal prep go better, and also we had the needed containers for the leftovers later. We ended the evening watching a DVD of old movies that Darran & Tarra's Dad had given them for Christmas. The movies were from the days when they were between about age 2 and 6 and it brought back so many memories. They were such little cuties! Here are a few pictures from our time together:
Darran & Elaine Preparing The Turkey
Marielle & Darran in their new tiny kitchen.
Darran, Marielle, Megan (Marielle's sister), and her husband, Ben
Darran, Marielle, Mary & Elaine In Front of the Christmas Tree
Before driving over here from the desert, we took the following picture at Rainbow Acres in Quartzsite. It is a unique decoration but I wouldn't want to be the one who has to take it down!!
Elaine and I actually just returned to Jojoba after driving down to San Diego yesterday to spend last night with Elaine's son, Darran & Marielle, his girlfriend, in their new 2 bedroom apartment. Her sister and husband joined us and we were delighted to meet them, as they are friendly and warm, just as Marielle is. They had a beautiful tree set up, with lights, etc. and we all helped cook a delicious turkey dinner, with vegetarian lasagna for Marielle and Megan. As we were cooking, it became obvious that they were in dire need of some pans and storage containers, so we rushed over to Costco to get them a new set of each as a combination Christmas and housewarming gift. That certainly made the meal prep go better, and also we had the needed containers for the leftovers later. We ended the evening watching a DVD of old movies that Darran & Tarra's Dad had given them for Christmas. The movies were from the days when they were between about age 2 and 6 and it brought back so many memories. They were such little cuties! Here are a few pictures from our time together:
Darran & Elaine Preparing The Turkey
Marielle & Darran in their new tiny kitchen.
Darran, Marielle, Megan (Marielle's sister), and her husband, Ben
Darran, Marielle, Mary & Elaine In Front of the Christmas Tree
Before driving over here from the desert, we took the following picture at Rainbow Acres in Quartzsite. It is a unique decoration but I wouldn't want to be the one who has to take it down!!
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