The Chilean Fjords - Puerto Montt and Puerto Chacabucu

We had our first experience of rough seas on our way to Puerto Montt, it wasn’t so much a big sea, but a large swell which made standing upright quite difficult. Just like drunken sailors all over the place. When we arrived at Puerto Montt it was raining and foggy, a real pity as there are some amazing volcano’s with snow capped tops that we were unable to see. We did an excursion visiting two small towns Puerto Varas and Fruitillar.

 Both these towns are located on a very big lake, Lake Llanquinhue and are extremely picturesque. This part of the Chilean Fjords were initially founded by the Germans and there is a marked German influence in the construction of houses etc, lots of shingles. Very pretty indeed. 

                                                                                      The concert pianist
Fruitillar is the location of an annual Music festival that runs about 10 days and the theartre where it is being held has been constructed out into the lake (another black sand beach)and is clad with different colours of timber. Bad luck about the weather because on a nice day it would be magnificent. Once back to the ship we diverted to quite a large market, lots of craft markets but also a fish and farmers market. Took a few photos that you can see below. Tonight the Cruise Director Ray presented his own show. He is a very good singer and is a ventriloquist, he performed before the Queen with a puppet show and showed us his version. He is a delightful CD, works very hard and has been at sea for 43 years. His first ship was the QE2.

                                                                                         Balls of Llama wool

                                                                                    Gloria stopped this little girl from crying

Jan.30. A 11am arrival in Puerto Chacabuco saw us pass several fjords not unlike the Norwegian fjords we saw in July last year, it is raining and there is a lot of fog so we can’t see the snowcapped mountains. Bugger!. This is the first port we have tendered so far and we don’t have an excursion, we will go into town later if the weather picks up. it is about 12 degrees and very cold. Just had a game of darts and Tony showed the advantage of his misspent youth at the Beach Hotel and won. Woo Hoo. Tonight we have a special dinner and show for those going right around SA. We have booked a table for 8 that includes the first people we met at the Ritz Carlton. Should be a good night, we all get on well with each other.
Well the day got worse, cold, wet and windy so we decided to stay with the warmth of the ship.

Antafagasta -Valparaiso and Santiago

Our first port of call in Chile was Antofagasta a large City of almost a million people, but primarily a mining town. It certainly is not geared for tourism as the bus on our City tour today turned up three quarters of an hour late because it had to take miners to work first. The guide was a disaster,she did not seem to know a lot and was difficult to understand. Consequently it was a write off, because it really is a very attractive town with a nice waterfront, beach and a pretty town square.

 Our tour took us to a railway museum of aged gear, different items used for mining, quite good. Next we went to some ruins called Ruinus de Huanchaca. It was a museum, but unusual in it’s ruins were of several old brick kilns where they refined silver into ingots. It was built in 1888 and finished by 1902.

We saw something very unusual though when we were heading back to the ship; A funeral with the coffin sitting on the back of a fire engine and a fire ute filled with wreaths!

                                                                                 Can you spot the coffin on the back of the fire engine?

Today is a sea day on our way to Valparaiso a very large City and Port. We are taking an excursion driving to Santiago which will take us 8 hours. We are looking forward to it as we had seen some photos Jeremy and Rachel took when they travelled here several years ago. Tonight is party night again, they are putting on a show for Australia Day. There are about 24 Aussies on board, most enjoy a drink or ten so should be good. We have a bit of a swell today, but it isn’t affecting us, this ship handles weather very well.

Valparaiso to Santiago

We docked at Valparaiso a very large port of about 800000 people and set off on an excursion to Santiago the Capital of Chile.

 The population is over 7 mill. it’s a big City, very beautiful with lots of parks and gardens, some very nice buildings both modern and Historical. We didn’t tour anything of great significance, the time allowed prevented this. On the way and back of course we went through many tunnels under the Andes Mountain range, one was over 6 miles long. Today we are at sea on our way South to Puerto Montt.

It is getting increasingly colder as we travel South, but the seas aren’t too bad, currently we have a real pea souper and the ships horn is being sounded constantly. Our new CAptain joined us last night and he seems very good,  he has done this trip many times so we have complete confidence in him.

Gloria reporting from Suite 820

Well after Machu Picchu we decided to rest, so didn’t do anything in Pisco. Town only had few people in it so stayed on the ship. There were some stalls on the pier so went down and had a browse. Some beautiful jackets for 1 year olds with beautiful animals stitched on them and not that expensive. Played golf (5 holes) and I got equal first with another guy, so won 1 whole point. If you collect enough points you can get a t-shirt or cap, so may get something by the end of the trip.

As we’re on segment 2 of the trip we had another Captain’s Welcome, Captain Stan is French and a very nice fellow, unfortunately he is going on leave in about 6 days so we will have another new Captain. This one steered us thru an awful thick fog as we left Pisco but it didn’t hang around long thankfully, Captain kept sounding his horn.

Went to Signatures restaurant, one of the speciality restauant’s, this one is French and has very well presented food. The other one is Prime7, fish and steak. The main dining room is Compass Rose which is a beautiful room, and the menus are always very good there too. We choose to share a table and have met some lovely people mainly Aussies and Americans. The other restaurant is The Verandah, mainly buffet but menu for dinner, its also a very nice restaurant and has dining outside as well which we have done.

Yesterday was Matarani, but the city of Arequipa is about 2 hours away so didn’t get there. Went into the small town of Mollenda, 25 mins away, not a lot to see but it’s close to a beach and there were about 500 people in the water, not that hot and the sand was grey, yuk.

The shows on board have been quite good, went and heard a couple of singers last night and they were very easy to listen to. Most of the shows have singing and dancing but did have a circus trapeze act one night.

Today is a sea day and very calm. Tony’s been to a storytelling on Chile and then we played golf and Tony was a winner today, hooray bring on the t-shirt.

Have another block party tonight, which entails you taking a glass from your suite and going out in the passage way to be greeted by the house keepers who pour you a drink and you meet the neighbours. Quite a good idea. 

Callao (Lima) Machu Picchu and Pisco Peru

We arrived back from Machu Picchu yesterday, completely exhausted but with memories that will last us a lifetime. 3 days of extreme fascination how this wonder of the world transpired.

We flew from Lima after arriving at the port of Callao to Cusco a 1 hour flight over some magnificent scenery of snow topped mountains and farms. Initially we were optimistic as to how we would handle the altitude of 11,200 ft. We had heard some horrendous stories of altitude sickness that had happened to others,fortunately we were not affected,we had tablets (not sure about those), drank copious amounts of water, had little alcohol and drank lots of Coco Tea. Apart from little sleep the first night,we handled it very well with no affects. Cusco is a beautiful City and it’s inhabitants unusual, we stayed at the Hotel Monasterio originally built in 1598 as a seminary for Catholic Priests. It is owned by the Orient Express and remains a National landmark and still retains it’s original characteristics and charm.

 After a huge 2 hour lunch we set off exploring Cusco and its Inca history and architecture. We visited the Main Square and the beautiful Cathedral, but by far the highlight of Cusco has to be Sacsayhuaman (more commonly known as sexy woman) a testimonial to Incan architectural skills. Compiled of massive stones some as big as 125 tons and we were challenged to try and slip a sheet of paper between the cracks of blocks cut and fitted together with incredible precision without any mortar whatsoever. It was absolutely mind boggling, this was the fortress where the greatest battles between the Spanish and the Incas took place and overlooks the red tiled roofs of Cusco.

At night we were treated to a beautiful dinner at the hotel. Our next day was unbelievable and spread over 16 and half hours, beginning with a 6 am start and a 2 hour bus trip to the Sacred Valley where the Inca trail begins, except we joined a deluxe train owned by the Orient Express called the Hiram Bingham named after the man who discovered Machu Picchu in 1911. The trip was very scenic with views of the Andean Mountain range and several small villages. On arrival at the MP station we then spent 30 mins. on a bus driving on a switch back road up the vertical cliff to the archeological site where we spent 3 hours with a very good guide who explained everything about the site and how the Incas built it and lived. To fully explain this would take hours of typing and reading, there are not enough superlatives to tell you what an amazing experience we enjoyed. Afternoon tea at the Sanctuary Lodge very nice.

Another trip down to the mountain to the train where we were served a 4 course dinner on the way back to the Sacred Valley and a 2 hour bus ride back to Cusco in pouring rain arriving at the hotel at 10.30 pm. We were wacked, but what a day!

                                                                Can you spot the rainbow.

Next day we were transported back to the Airport to fly back to Lima. A very short tour of Lima, (nothing to write home about) and then guess, another luncheon at Casa Aliaga, a preserved Colonial Mansion owned by the same family since 1535.

Back to the ship for the beginning of the second segment of our cruise 23 days to Buenos Aries. We had room service and crashed after Skypeing the Melbourne Marsden’s and Gloria speaking to her Mother by phone. We had an excursion today when we arrived at Pisco a very small port, but decided to cancel and just rest after our mammoth journey.PHEW!

Salavery the Port for Trujillo Peru

We arrived at Salavery this morning a tiny port and shanty town for Trujillo the second largest City in Peru.
It has about 1 mill. pop.We did a short tour of Chan Chan Palaces a restored 1300 AD city of over 60000 people spread over 28 Sq. km. Vey well worth while but Trujillo just a sandy rocky mountainous area at the foot of the Andes mountain range.

These are some photos from our visit to the equator and the middle of the world.

Gloria with 1 foot either side of the equator at the Middle of the World and both of us at the real site one on either side.

An example of how water goes straight down the plug on the equator and how the water will swirl in different directions either side of the equator.

Standing an egg upright on the head of a nail.

Welcome home by the crew on our return from Quito! What a hoot!
Well tomorrow is our big journey to Machu Picchu so there will be no post for a few days.
We are looking forward to this trip and are preparing for the additional altitude but having spent 2 days at 9500 ft. another 2000 should not be too bad. Hope everyone is well, thanks for the emails and we'll talk soon.

Crossing the Equator and visit to the Middle of the World

After the excitement of the Panama Canal we spent a day at sea and celebrated the crossing of the Equator with some excitement. Those who hadn’t crossed the line before were encouraged to kiss a dead fish and then jump into the pool fully clothed. There was also a ceremony where they ad hocked an operation of removing all the innards of a person tossing them into the pool and then disposing of the body. Good entertainment.

We woke the next day in Manta Ecuador, absolutely p.....g with rain and fog down to sea level. We were due to leave the ship at 9am to the airport on our way to Quito and the Middle of the Earth. Whoops! Our disappointment at a 1 hour delay and an inevitable cancellation was greeted by an announcement that both m

Manta and Quito airports were open and our trip was on! woo hoo. We soon set off and after a 40 min. flight we land in Quito virtually right in the middle of the City and then whisked off to our Hotel for the night the Swissotel. Quito is a big city of around 2 million an very narrow City but very long.

Quito is 9400 ft. above sea level and many feared altitude sickness, we were prepared and initially felt a little strange but in a short time after lunch and and good doses of water and Coco tea felt quite ok.That afternoon we travelled to the old town of Quito and did a walking tour of the City and saw two Cathedrals. We were warned prior too,to wear no jewelry, don’t show signs of having any money and beware of pickpockets. There were people everywhere as it was Sunday, but luckily no-one had a problem.

The first church was the Cathedral La Compania de Jesus a sight to behold,we are definitely not people who enjoy these type of highlights, but this was very different, the whole interior of the church was covered in gold leaf. Amazing. It had survived earthquakes, fires, attacks by the Spanish army during early wars, unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos, so we can’t show you. The next was the San Francisco Monastery the largest  religious complex in SA. which took 70 years to build commencing in 1536.

That evening we returned to the Monastery for a dinner. commencing with cocktails, hors dvrs and a visit to a museum of religious paintings. We were then served dinner in one of the rooms which was very nice and then transported back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we took a ride to the Middle of the world about an hour south of Quito where the equator was discovered in the 18th century and so were able to place 1 foot on both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. That location where the memorial stands was discovered to not be the actual middle of the world so we transferred about 1 hundred yards to the actual location where there is a museum that identifies different activities that occur either side of the equator. e.g a demonstration how Cyclones travel anti clockwise in the NH and clockwise in the SH. Like how you can stand an egg on the head of a nail and also viewing a solar clock with face on both hemispheres. Altogether a great morning before heading back to the airport and a flight of 30 mins. to Guayaquil where the ship had transferred overnight. We were met by the crew of about 100 personnel who were all lined up at the gang way with the band playing and a glasses of champagne. Even the Captain was involved, he was swiping everyones key cards normally done by security but highly amusing to those who were coming aboard. Such a lovely trip, a real highlight so far.

Today is a sea day with recovery the  name of the day, tomorrow we sail into Salavery Peru. 

Sorry internet access is dreadful so I'll send some piccies tomorrow.

Transitting the Panama Canal

It was an early rising for our 6.30 am entrance to the Panama Canal. We picked up the pilot as we entered the breakwater, along with a heap of authorities to check the paperwork required to transit the Canal, specialist rope handlers and other personnel required to be delegated work by the pilot. At about 8 am the ship was lined up in order to enter the Gatun locks a series of 3 locks that raise the ship 26 meters above sea level. We had been through the canal before, but our excitement to do it again was none the less. The Island Princess who was in Cartegena yesterday had passed us overnight and was 2 ships ahead of us. It was a strange sight to see it virtually hovering above us. Before the ship gets in the first lock it is hooked up to a series of locos called Mules who keep the ship in the centre of the lock. When it is located in the lock, it is filled with water to float the ship to the same level as the next lock. The gates are then opened and it sails into the next lock repeating the procedure until you are out of the last lock. The matter is repeated when the ship is lowered to sea level.

After negotiating the Gatun locks we then had to anchor in Gatun lake (the man made lake that provides all the water that is pumped in and out of the locks to raise and lower the ships). We were there over an hour while it became out turn to sail on to the Pedro Miguel locks and then onto the Miraflores locks and then lowered to sea level and out to the Pacific Ocean.

We had additional excitement as we had advised our family of the web site that allows people to see via a series web cams, ships going through the canal.

My sister Lesley began a series of emails stating where we were located on the ship and it was great she was able to see us on the ship as we transited the Miraflores locks.

What a day! The above was only a quick overview of proceedings and at about 4.30 pm we dropped off the pilot and set sail for Manta Ecuador where we begin our next adventure to the Middle of the World and the Equator. 

Gloria says Hi from Cartegena Columbia

The Virtuoso Cocktail Party was good, there were 140 people which was a good turnout.  Met some lovely people, most only going to Lima. Dinner in Compass Rose with Jerry and Maria from LA who talked like thrashing machines, quite nice really. Off to the Show, a Comedian, Bruce Smirnoff. He was OK, but have heard heaps better, even my jokes are better than most of his!

Today is a beautiful day (11th) and Happy Birthday to Diane Bauld. Tony went to a lecture and at last I had a turn on the computer, so am now up to date with most messages. It was very pleasant sitting in the Observation Lounge, very quiet, no ships in sight just a nice quiet time. Ship docking around 3pm today and then we’re off to the Old Town on a walking tour, should be good.

Beautiful entrance into the Bay where we docked , only room for one ship at time. Took off on our tour with Rafael who was 85, had a pacemaker and had it renewed again last year.His father died at 112.Very knowledgeable person. Went to the Fortress named Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, only for a photo stop, huge thing made of concrete the largest of a number of fortresses built to protect the City from Pirates. 

Then onto the Old Walled City, built with huge blocks of concrete. Walked around for about an hour. Quite pretty in places and very dirty in others. Would not like to walk about by myself. The drive along the foreshore was lovely, hundreds of people in the sea and it was after 6pm and lots on the sand talking and drinking, quite a sight. Last stop at an emerald jewellery shop for heavens sake. Nobody was interested in that so walked about for half hour and then returned to the ship.

It’s Pool Deck BBQ party tonight and a great one it was. All kinds of meats as well as a sheep they had roasted on BBQ, very nice. Salads, crepe suzettes , yum so nice. Then a local group from Cartagena came and danced for us. So colourful and quick on their feet. Was marvellous to watch, there were about 20 of them and they really went for it. Great show. Then we all danced, so Tony and I kicked up our heels for a while.

Today we sail at 1pm overnight to the Panama Canal. Not sure how reception will be there but we’re very interested to see this amazing wonder again especially as they are widening it to accommodate bigger ships

Curacao and Aruba

The ship made it’s first port of call at Curacao about 11 am yesterday the first of two Caribbean islands of Dutch descent we visit, the other being Aruba. Willemstad where we docked, is a  very pretty City of 140000 people, unfortunately the economy is RS as we found on our first excursion to their beautiful beaches; not a pretty place. Why would someone want to go to see a beach when they live 5 minutes from the best beaches in the world. Our 45 min trip to what was one of 2 beaches we were to spend an hour at each, turned out to be absolutely chaotic. The road to the beach from the highway was riddled with potholes on an unsealed muddy road of about 3 kms.

The so called beach had lovely white sand full of rocks and pebbles that had to be negotiated to get to the crystal clear water around 28 degrees.The swim was beautiful and very enjoyable, but unfortunately the hour to be spent there was spoilt by some of the passengers ignoring the time factor and not returning to the bus on time. The hour stretched to 2 and when they were finally discovered most of the other passengers were so irate they just wanted to return to the ship without visiting the other beach. After some negotiating some did go to the other beach and others made there way back on another bus. Must say the island as we saw it has some of the most derelict housing and overgrown grass and trees you would see in a low poverty area, totally different to the City. We witnessed a magnificent sunset as a local dance troupe performed a fantastic display of dancing on the deck. 

The ship sailed to Aruba late at night for a very short cruise arriving at 8 am. We have been Oranjestad before many years ago, so decided not to partake in any excursions except wander the town amidst passengers from another cruise ship from the UK. The weather is almost identical to home at present about 28 degrees and quite humid. We sail at 5 tonight for Cartagena Columbia, where we arrive mid afternoon and spend the evening in port before sailing to the Panama Canal. So far the seas have been kind, quite a fresh breeze but we are both okay, the food is good and we are getting to know quite a few people on board and enjoying the cruise. Cocktail party tonight with Virtuoso.