Friday 10 April 2009
Monday 23 March 2009
Bill's Epilogue
The only low bit on the the whole holiday was Iberia losing our largest suitcase and then - after they'd located and delivered it - finding that they must have abandoned it on the tarmac during the cloudburst at the time of our boarding at the terribly disorganised Rio International Airport because the clothes in the top half were totally saturated. Luckily the wet hadn't quite reached Val's souvenir watercolour pictures and photographs.
The whole of the rest of the holiday was like skipping from peak to peak on the Andean summits. How can you pick the best of the best? I guess making friends with all those people - Mike and Margaret, Val and Keith, Jim and Ellen, Dermot (can't spell it the Irish way as he does) and Ann, Rachel, Mike the Cruise Director, DJ Drew and all the wonderful ship's stewards - must rate tops of all. But it's closely followed by my tango in La Boca (my - what a sexy dance!) the glaciers down the Beagle Channel, rounding Cape Horn and Val taking over as DJ in the Crow's Nest.
I'm really glad that we did it. It has been the best just-the-two-of-us holiday ever. Very skeptical over the idea of cruising ("cooped up at sea with a lot of people even older than me") for a long time, I am a total convert now. Geographically and historically it was just so, so fascinating. And it was great for the nostalgia of visiting again where Duncan's then Shana's great American adventure started - the juncture at which the Horner clan finally uprooted from the head of a Yorkshire river where their ancestors' Viking longboat ran aground so many generations ago - and crossed the "big pond"!
The whole of the rest of the holiday was like skipping from peak to peak on the Andean summits. How can you pick the best of the best? I guess making friends with all those people - Mike and Margaret, Val and Keith, Jim and Ellen, Dermot (can't spell it the Irish way as he does) and Ann, Rachel, Mike the Cruise Director, DJ Drew and all the wonderful ship's stewards - must rate tops of all. But it's closely followed by my tango in La Boca (my - what a sexy dance!) the glaciers down the Beagle Channel, rounding Cape Horn and Val taking over as DJ in the Crow's Nest.
I'm really glad that we did it. It has been the best just-the-two-of-us holiday ever. Very skeptical over the idea of cruising ("cooped up at sea with a lot of people even older than me") for a long time, I am a total convert now. Geographically and historically it was just so, so fascinating. And it was great for the nostalgia of visiting again where Duncan's then Shana's great American adventure started - the juncture at which the Horner clan finally uprooted from the head of a Yorkshire river where their ancestors' Viking longboat ran aground so many generations ago - and crossed the "big pond"!
Friday 20 March 2009
Rio de Janeiro and journey home 2
I said Sergita was a barrel of laughs. You have to imagine someone, whose native tongue is Brazilian Portuguese, with verbal diarrhoea in three languages who tries to put on a Bronx New York accent for all of them. At the end of every oration he'd say: "Ya unstand evvyfin? Yaa - righhh! Ya wai' 'ere an' ah get ze ticks (tickets). Ya unstand evvyfin? Yaa - righhh!
And thus we proceded as the coach disgorged us into smaller minibuses and thence to even smaller minibuses as the road upto Corcovado went into ever tighter and narrower hairpins.
I can't do justice to the statue as it keeps appearing and disappearing - just like the Ascension - in the clouds which seem to swathe the pinnacle much of the time - nor can the photos which we'll try to download to the other site today. You just have to go there. The carved face of the statue (itself 3 metres high) is remarkably beautiful but you never seem to see it reproduced on the postcards. Perhaps it's considered disrespectful - or just that they don't want to affect anyone's own mind picture of Jesus.
Rio's International Airport is a bit of a let down - to put it mildly. It serves 40M residents of RDJ state - and more plus all the tourists who are "flying down to Rio" and it's about the size of East Midlands Airport. It has one bar with a Nescafé coffee dispenser (out of order when we were there). Hello - this is Brazil where there's supposed to be an awful lot of it! In fact, we didn't get a decent cup of coffeee in the whole of South America compared to the one we had back at Barcelona Airport! I blame my "betes noires" - the likes of Nestlé and General Foods for that! Virtually everyone we met in South America was so helpful and friendly - amazingly and touchingly so! Not at Rio Airport where they only do their café services and announcements in Portuguese and think they're doing you a great favour to even bother serving you. They should sack the lot and replace them with the enthusiastic but polite shoe-shine boys on the other side of the entrance doors. Our flight didn't even appear on the few departing flights screens. We found we were leaving through lemming-like movement towards the gates just as a terrific thunderstorm broke. It was then we discovered the whole place leaked like a colander. We hoped to get some more of the blog done in our 4 spare hours at Barcelona but Iberia lost one of our cases - the one with all the presents and souvenirs - and my clothes in - so we spent nearly all our timwe there at the lost luggage desk. We've been promised that it will arrive today. We'll see!
And thus we proceded as the coach disgorged us into smaller minibuses and thence to even smaller minibuses as the road upto Corcovado went into ever tighter and narrower hairpins.
I can't do justice to the statue as it keeps appearing and disappearing - just like the Ascension - in the clouds which seem to swathe the pinnacle much of the time - nor can the photos which we'll try to download to the other site today. You just have to go there. The carved face of the statue (itself 3 metres high) is remarkably beautiful but you never seem to see it reproduced on the postcards. Perhaps it's considered disrespectful - or just that they don't want to affect anyone's own mind picture of Jesus.
Rio's International Airport is a bit of a let down - to put it mildly. It serves 40M residents of RDJ state - and more plus all the tourists who are "flying down to Rio" and it's about the size of East Midlands Airport. It has one bar with a Nescafé coffee dispenser (out of order when we were there). Hello - this is Brazil where there's supposed to be an awful lot of it! In fact, we didn't get a decent cup of coffeee in the whole of South America compared to the one we had back at Barcelona Airport! I blame my "betes noires" - the likes of Nestlé and General Foods for that! Virtually everyone we met in South America was so helpful and friendly - amazingly and touchingly so! Not at Rio Airport where they only do their café services and announcements in Portuguese and think they're doing you a great favour to even bother serving you. They should sack the lot and replace them with the enthusiastic but polite shoe-shine boys on the other side of the entrance doors. Our flight didn't even appear on the few departing flights screens. We found we were leaving through lemming-like movement towards the gates just as a terrific thunderstorm broke. It was then we discovered the whole place leaked like a colander. We hoped to get some more of the blog done in our 4 spare hours at Barcelona but Iberia lost one of our cases - the one with all the presents and souvenirs - and my clothes in - so we spent nearly all our timwe there at the lost luggage desk. We've been promised that it will arrive today. We'll see!
Thursday 19 March 2009
Rio de Janeiro, Day 2 and journey home
18 March. Woke about 6am. Had to pinch myself to realise that I was awake and not in one of those bizarre teetering-on-a-cliff-edge nightmares. 25 floors up with "pterodactyls" coming at you .... Anyway, it's a beautiful morning and the views along Copacabana beach - with the joggers out already - along with the tractors out making it pristine again for the sunbathers, volleyballers and, of course, footballers of Rio. Another cruise liner is coming into the bay with another few thousand passengers training their binoculars on Christo el Redentor - then me - in my boxers!
30th floor breakfast by the pool. When do those scraggy wheeling, frigate birds ever eat? Maybe they’re – like us – just enjoying the view! On the one side, there’s the breathtaking view of the Copacabana beach and beyond to Ipanema. On the other, there’s the mountainside and the favela creeping ever further up it with every ravine filled with the trash from them. No roads, no water mains, no drains, no legal electricity! In Santiago, it was the rich who keep on moving up the hill leaving the poor to take over the atmosphere of exhaust fumes in the centre of the city. In Rio, it’s the poor who look down upon the rich! And Christ looks down on them all from Corcorvado – “the hunchback” – an amazingly steep 2300 feet climb from the sea-level city. Our visit to this most famous of statues is the reason we’re up again so early.
Our “Italtur” bus this morning arrives – unlike yesterday – on time. But, this time messes up on who should be going on which tour and, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, we have to all switch buses. So we lose our female guide who has not yet spoken a word of commentary and looks about to have a nervous breakdown and gain Sergio – a blonde she-male (fresh from Mardi Gras) who is a real barrel of laughs. He’s working hard towards the full sex change – pity about the baritone voice and lack of waist – but everything else there – or not – as the case may be! Wonder if the complete job will put paid to his football hooligan vocabulary every time he passes a soccer stadium – of which, in Rio, there are many. You have to take your hat off to ol’ Sergita, though, in the time it took for the coach to flash past the Governor’s Mansion – the Guanabana Palace – he’d given us the spiel in Portuguese, Spanish and English (and he reckoned he could have got in Italian and French too if we’d had any on board!)
When we reached the World Cup stadium, we obviously had to disembark and prostrate ourselves before the statue of the 1962 Jules Rimmet-winning Brazilian captain.
All the favelas (about 400 of them up the various hills of the city) have their own “Sunday Schools” dedicated (mainly) to practising to become the top dog for outrageous self exhibitionism in next year’s Mardi Gras Carnaval. Some of these Sunday Schools are 4 to 5 thousand strong and the city has a huge strip – like a football stadium elongated over a mile or so – on which the whole thing takes place and which they can use every Sunday for practice.
One should mention here “La Cultura de las Nalgas” in South America as whole and in Brazil, in particular. Here, if a lady asks you “Does my bum look big in this?” The wise answer is very much in the affirmative – like “Absolutely humungous, darling!”
30th floor breakfast by the pool. When do those scraggy wheeling, frigate birds ever eat? Maybe they’re – like us – just enjoying the view! On the one side, there’s the breathtaking view of the Copacabana beach and beyond to Ipanema. On the other, there’s the mountainside and the favela creeping ever further up it with every ravine filled with the trash from them. No roads, no water mains, no drains, no legal electricity! In Santiago, it was the rich who keep on moving up the hill leaving the poor to take over the atmosphere of exhaust fumes in the centre of the city. In Rio, it’s the poor who look down upon the rich! And Christ looks down on them all from Corcorvado – “the hunchback” – an amazingly steep 2300 feet climb from the sea-level city. Our visit to this most famous of statues is the reason we’re up again so early.
Our “Italtur” bus this morning arrives – unlike yesterday – on time. But, this time messes up on who should be going on which tour and, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, we have to all switch buses. So we lose our female guide who has not yet spoken a word of commentary and looks about to have a nervous breakdown and gain Sergio – a blonde she-male (fresh from Mardi Gras) who is a real barrel of laughs. He’s working hard towards the full sex change – pity about the baritone voice and lack of waist – but everything else there – or not – as the case may be! Wonder if the complete job will put paid to his football hooligan vocabulary every time he passes a soccer stadium – of which, in Rio, there are many. You have to take your hat off to ol’ Sergita, though, in the time it took for the coach to flash past the Governor’s Mansion – the Guanabana Palace – he’d given us the spiel in Portuguese, Spanish and English (and he reckoned he could have got in Italian and French too if we’d had any on board!)
When we reached the World Cup stadium, we obviously had to disembark and prostrate ourselves before the statue of the 1962 Jules Rimmet-winning Brazilian captain.
All the favelas (about 400 of them up the various hills of the city) have their own “Sunday Schools” dedicated (mainly) to practising to become the top dog for outrageous self exhibitionism in next year’s Mardi Gras Carnaval. Some of these Sunday Schools are 4 to 5 thousand strong and the city has a huge strip – like a football stadium elongated over a mile or so – on which the whole thing takes place and which they can use every Sunday for practice.
One should mention here “La Cultura de las Nalgas” in South America as whole and in Brazil, in particular. Here, if a lady asks you “Does my bum look big in this?” The wise answer is very much in the affirmative – like “Absolutely humungous, darling!”
Tuesday 17 March 2009
Rio de Janeiro
Arrived here about 10 last night. What an awesome sight cruising into this bay with our first sight of the Sugar Loaf mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer on the twice as high Corcovado mountain. We were really sorry and quite emotional to leave our lovely ship and friends. We now have a fantastic view of Copacabana beach from our 25th floor sea view room. A bit scarey out on the balcony. This afternoon we've toured the city, seen Ipanema Beach, the fantastic modern cathedral which seats 4000 and been up Sugar Loaf in the cable car! Ipanema means dangerous water in the local Indian language and you can see why! The waves are absolutely mountainous and crash onto the beach like thunder sending plumes of spume up as high as a building. What a contrast from the gentleness of "The Girl From Ipanema"! On the top of the granite Sugar Loaf we saw marmoset monkeys and the fantastic view of the bay. The frigate birds wheeling around give the place a sort of primeval feel because they look like pterodactyls!
20% of the 8 milion RDJ inhabitants live in the favelas which climb up the mountains all around. They're all illegal and have only steps up the steep mountainsides to them but I guess they have the best views from their shacks they could have in all the world. Tomorrow it's Christ the Redeemer and the long journey home.
20% of the 8 milion RDJ inhabitants live in the favelas which climb up the mountains all around. They're all illegal and have only steps up the steep mountainsides to them but I guess they have the best views from their shacks they could have in all the world. Tomorrow it's Christ the Redeemer and the long journey home.
Monday 16 March 2009
Last day at sea
Well here we are preparing to leave. We are enjoying our second day at sea since leaving MV. We will dock in Rio tonight and leave tomorrow morning. We have to pack, dreading that bit. We had a great formal dinner last night and then went onto a show and then a dance afterwards, another long evening but all great fun. The weather is so lovely, we are staying out on deck as much as possible. The sea is as calm as a mill pond we have a great finale show to look forward to this evening. We have met many people who are staying on in Rio for a few days so should hook up with them and keep together for safety! We keep hearing nightmare accounts of scarey situations in Rio but there are single old ladies on this trip so if they can manage I'm sure we will.
If we have time we will add to the blog in Rio, could heartily recommend this cruise to anyone, it has been brilliant.
If we have time we will add to the blog in Rio, could heartily recommend this cruise to anyone, it has been brilliant.
Sunday 15 March 2009
Montevideo
Left Montevideo later than planned because a thunderstorm would have played havoc with the navigational equipment so vital for negotiating the narrow and very busy River Plate channel. Some vessels passed so close you could see what was written on the t-shirts of those on deck!
MV was a very tranquil city - more like Cadiz than Madrid or Barcelona. Again we were impressed by the courtesy, kindness and friendliness of the people we met. We didn't need the Policia Turista posted on just about every corner of the city especially to look after the the 2 cruiseline lots of passengers visiting. Just about everybody was one-handed anyway - a flask of hotwater tucked under their arms and a gourd of maté being sucked through a "bombilla" - a silver straw with a filter at the end. (This afternoon, on deck, we're going to be shown how to prepare and drink maté from all the souvenir gourd + bombillas we've bought!) Pity the tourist police had been employed the night before to stop thieves removing all the drain covers from the main pedestrian street in the city. We found and made use of some wonderful aresania markets but everything in the city shut down at 2pm except for the Port Market where they were barbecuing what seemed like the entire contents of the city's butchers' shops. Amidst tables groaning under the weight of incinerated cattle flesh, there seemed to be the remnants of Uruguay's month-long Mardi Gras "carnaval" going on.
Sea a bit rough last night. We watched first film on-board: Slumdog Millionaire. Really great!!
Today, we've just finished a 5km charity walk for breast cancer: 12 times around Deck 3. Going for a shower now! Bill
MV was a very tranquil city - more like Cadiz than Madrid or Barcelona. Again we were impressed by the courtesy, kindness and friendliness of the people we met. We didn't need the Policia Turista posted on just about every corner of the city especially to look after the the 2 cruiseline lots of passengers visiting. Just about everybody was one-handed anyway - a flask of hotwater tucked under their arms and a gourd of maté being sucked through a "bombilla" - a silver straw with a filter at the end. (This afternoon, on deck, we're going to be shown how to prepare and drink maté from all the souvenir gourd + bombillas we've bought!) Pity the tourist police had been employed the night before to stop thieves removing all the drain covers from the main pedestrian street in the city. We found and made use of some wonderful aresania markets but everything in the city shut down at 2pm except for the Port Market where they were barbecuing what seemed like the entire contents of the city's butchers' shops. Amidst tables groaning under the weight of incinerated cattle flesh, there seemed to be the remnants of Uruguay's month-long Mardi Gras "carnaval" going on.
Sea a bit rough last night. We watched first film on-board: Slumdog Millionaire. Really great!!
Today, we've just finished a 5km charity walk for breast cancer: 12 times around Deck 3. Going for a shower now! Bill
Friday 13 March 2009
Buenos Aires
Well this is our second day here, where do I start? We have done all the tourist things: visited the grave of Eva Peron and seen the balcony where she gave her famous speech, it´s hard to believe she died aged 33! We have been on the underground, sat in numerous taxis and walked miles. Last night we saw a tango show at the famous Tortoni Cafe that was fabulous. In the afternoon yesterday we went to the area called La Boca where all the arty folk hang out, there was tango in the streets and Bill managed to have a dance with a very sylph like creature...... wait and hopefully we will get the photographic evidence down loaded shortly. We bought some artesania and a big photo of the Andes which I absolutely love. There were musicians everywhere and it is all very colourful and slightly alternative. Five of us had a super, memorable lunch yesterday at Puerto Madero at a place recommended in the Rough Guide called Cabana de las Lilas. The restaurants in this area are all converted warehouses sited on a waterway, we had nice salads, more empanadas and a great Argentinian Malbec wine (several bottles to be honest) it was very good.
We are not on any organised excursions we just set off and go where the fancy takes us. We did however find we were held back a little yesterday as we had an old lady with us from the cruise who had inadvertantly thrown out her glaucoma drops. Bill being Bill offered to accompany her to a farmacia and help her get more. She had sticks so we were getting around very slowly. We eventually got her sorted out and she stayed with us most of the rest of the day. When we got back to the ship she rang our room to say she had lost the new drops already!!!! She said if we passed a farmacia today could we get her some more. Needless to say today we are completely on our own and getting around much faster.
We have had great weather here, just right hot but not too hot. We definitely feel this is the best city we have seen so far, it is clean and vibrant. We would come back if we could to explore the place further. There are beautiful old buildings but also some very elegant new ones. I have to say the locals are not happy with the government and all the taxi drivers are constantly complaining about their lady president, Christina, they all say the corruption is very bad here. We have seen several protest marches, today it was artesanias, yesterday it was pensioners. When we mentioned this to a taxi driver he said the pensioners have been out there with their placards every Thursay for the last 15 years he thinks it just and excuse for them all to get together once a week.
We old guys have to do something to keep us occupied which doesn´t cost too much. We are in Uruguay tomorrow, Montevideo...dear me different currency again I can´t cope.
We are not on any organised excursions we just set off and go where the fancy takes us. We did however find we were held back a little yesterday as we had an old lady with us from the cruise who had inadvertantly thrown out her glaucoma drops. Bill being Bill offered to accompany her to a farmacia and help her get more. She had sticks so we were getting around very slowly. We eventually got her sorted out and she stayed with us most of the rest of the day. When we got back to the ship she rang our room to say she had lost the new drops already!!!! She said if we passed a farmacia today could we get her some more. Needless to say today we are completely on our own and getting around much faster.
We have had great weather here, just right hot but not too hot. We definitely feel this is the best city we have seen so far, it is clean and vibrant. We would come back if we could to explore the place further. There are beautiful old buildings but also some very elegant new ones. I have to say the locals are not happy with the government and all the taxi drivers are constantly complaining about their lady president, Christina, they all say the corruption is very bad here. We have seen several protest marches, today it was artesanias, yesterday it was pensioners. When we mentioned this to a taxi driver he said the pensioners have been out there with their placards every Thursay for the last 15 years he thinks it just and excuse for them all to get together once a week.
We old guys have to do something to keep us occupied which doesn´t cost too much. We are in Uruguay tomorrow, Montevideo...dear me different currency again I can´t cope.
Wednesday 11 March 2009
arriving at Buenos Aires
We are just at the mouth of the River Plate. We have a had a second full day at sea and seem to be rushing from one activity to another. We did manage to get a lie in today which is rare we didn't get up 'til 9ish but since then it has been go go go. We went to a presentation on Uraguay and Montevideo. We then set off on our mile walk around the deck, this was followed by swimming and a soak in the hot tub. We had a quick snack on the Lido and then dashed down to join the daily quiz session. There are so many attending these there were no chairs left when we got there, late as usual. We went from the quiz to a tango lesson which was hilarious. there is much talk about tango as everyone is planning to go to a tango show once they reach BA. We then went off for "English high tea" at the restaurant on board and were persuaded to attend a bingo session. Bill and I stuck it for 10 minutes then left it wasn't really our thing!
By this time I was ready for a rest, Bill went off to download some more photos on to the spaces live website and I went to our "stateroom" as they are grandly called to grab a quick siesta.
We have 2 days in BA and look forward to exploring the place as everyone speaks very highly of it. I particularly want to visit La Boca the arty area and we hope to enjoy the local food and fit in a tango demonstration. Will keep you posted, love to you all, Val x
By this time I was ready for a rest, Bill went off to download some more photos on to the spaces live website and I went to our "stateroom" as they are grandly called to grab a quick siesta.
We have 2 days in BA and look forward to exploring the place as everyone speaks very highly of it. I particularly want to visit La Boca the arty area and we hope to enjoy the local food and fit in a tango demonstration. Will keep you posted, love to you all, Val x
Tuesday 10 March 2009
Halfway to Buenos Aires
Bill. We're steaming up North to the Mouth of the River Plate and are just about opposite Trelew, the Welsh part of Argentine Patagonia.
Another penguin suit night tonight so had to hurriedly wash my frilly shirt after our exertions when Val took over as Crows nest DJ two nights ago.
Falkland Islands were beautiful but widy and quite bleak in spite of the best sunshine the crew had seen in 12 visits! I'd hate to have to live there. Our Travel Guide referred to the Falklands War as a skirmish. A bit of an insult I thought to the 700 -odd soldiers who paid the ultimate price there. We went to the memorial and Thatcher Road! What it did do was end dictatorship in the whole of the Americas - but that may have happened anyway without killing so many young men! They're still going to have problems keeping a population there being 300-odd miles from anywhere!
Another penguin suit night tonight so had to hurriedly wash my frilly shirt after our exertions when Val took over as Crows nest DJ two nights ago.
Falkland Islands were beautiful but widy and quite bleak in spite of the best sunshine the crew had seen in 12 visits! I'd hate to have to live there. Our Travel Guide referred to the Falklands War as a skirmish. A bit of an insult I thought to the 700 -odd soldiers who paid the ultimate price there. We went to the memorial and Thatcher Road! What it did do was end dictatorship in the whole of the Americas - but that may have happened anyway without killing so many young men! They're still going to have problems keeping a population there being 300-odd miles from anywhere!
Monday 9 March 2009
Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
Finally have seen some penguins in their natural environment. They're not afraid of humans, live in burrows and my - are they smelly!
Since leaving Ushuaia, we've had magnificent weather for rounding the Horn and here. It's been so warm we had to take our anoraks off!
Last night, we had another formal dinner (the penguin jacket still has Duncan's Graduation Ball tickets in the pocket!) and danced til one in the Crows Nest bar. Val took over from the DJ and played some up-to-date stuff that we could dance too. Watch out Henry - DJ Valderma is muscling in!
Since leaving Ushuaia, we've had magnificent weather for rounding the Horn and here. It's been so warm we had to take our anoraks off!
Last night, we had another formal dinner (the penguin jacket still has Duncan's Graduation Ball tickets in the pocket!) and danced til one in the Crows Nest bar. Val took over from the DJ and played some up-to-date stuff that we could dance too. Watch out Henry - DJ Valderma is muscling in!
Sunday 8 March 2009
Hi
Yesterday morning we went through the Beagle Channel and then spent the rest of the day in Ushuaia. We had a trip with 5 other cruisers in a minibus up into the surrounding countryside and saw some pretty amazing mountain scenes and lakes. Ushuaia itself is a pretty little place, it does really feel like the end of the world, full of gift shops and tourists.
We have been lucky with the weather today up in the Crows Nest at 7am to see dawn over Cape Horn. No sea sickness at all a fabulous day!
Yesterday morning we went through the Beagle Channel and then spent the rest of the day in Ushuaia. We had a trip with 5 other cruisers in a minibus up into the surrounding countryside and saw some pretty amazing mountain scenes and lakes. Ushuaia itself is a pretty little place, it does really feel like the end of the world, full of gift shops and tourists.
We have been lucky with the weather today up in the Crows Nest at 7am to see dawn over Cape Horn. No sea sickness at all a fabulous day!
Saturday 7 March 2009
Photos
Hi
Some of the photos we have taken so far can be viewed if you look on the following website
http://billhorner1948.spaces.live.com
We are off to Ushuaia in about an hour, have just docked. Lunch first....more food!
Some of the photos we have taken so far can be viewed if you look on the following website
http://billhorner1948.spaces.live.com
We are off to Ushuaia in about an hour, have just docked. Lunch first....more food!
Friday 6 March 2009
Puerto Arenas
Hi
We are now in Puerto Arenas. We teamed up with an Irish couple called Ann and Dermot and got a taxi from the dock into the centre. We were here before 9am. We have seen all the sites. It is quite a weird place and I cant say I would like to live here really. Having said that it has been interesting. The main families who settled here made their money in the wool trade and shipped all their furniture etc from Europe. Their homes, which we have looked around, are quite palatial inside but the majority of homes are quite basic and rather run down looking. Like many houses in this region they are painted loud, crazy colours: pink, purple, blue etc. All the people we have met have been polite and helpful, generally we have found the Chilenos friendly and eager to help without being pushy. Funnily one of the highlights of this town is the cemetery which really tells the history of the town through the epitaphs etc. There are huge mauseleums built for the wealthy wool barons which look ridiculously OTT.
We took advice from the Rough Guide and had a splendid crab based midday meal in La Luna restaurant. It was strangely decorated with an entire table and chairs complete with plates and cutlery handing upside down from the ceiling. The owner said it was to make the Northern hemisphere people feel at home.
Heading back to the ship now, we decided not to drive over 65 kilometres of flat pampas to see a colony of penguins but rather to hang around town and imagine living in one of the most southerly outposts on this earth, think I prefer Yorkshire!
Bill
Back in Punta Arenas, under the statue of Magellan in the Plaza de Armas with the famous Indian's toe - worn to shiny gold by all those touching it to make sure they return to PA. Funny! I don't remember touching it when I came here with Mike just over 12 years ago! We weren't on holiday then - so this time we had time to visit the regional museum in the principal wool merchant's old mansion and the cemetery which reveals so much about the City's history - and we had a great Chupe de Centolla at La Luna with Dermot and Ann from Co Cavan - washed down with the local Austral lager. PA is a pleasant enough litle city. Both our taxi drivers thought it the best place in Chile: "Hardly any social problems." "Safest place to live in the country". (We're really impressed with the fact that we must have had really good long chats with at least thirty other couples so far on this holiday. But 2 of them had been robbed whilst in Santiago!) "Don't you feel a bit isolated here?" I asked. ("Well Puerto Natales is only 250km away - and that's smaller!") "No," was the answer, "people like you from all over the world come to visit us!" And this was true judging from the flags in La Luna's map of the world from its diners. However, neither Val nor I touched the Indian's toe this time! "Anchors a-weigh!"
We are now in Puerto Arenas. We teamed up with an Irish couple called Ann and Dermot and got a taxi from the dock into the centre. We were here before 9am. We have seen all the sites. It is quite a weird place and I cant say I would like to live here really. Having said that it has been interesting. The main families who settled here made their money in the wool trade and shipped all their furniture etc from Europe. Their homes, which we have looked around, are quite palatial inside but the majority of homes are quite basic and rather run down looking. Like many houses in this region they are painted loud, crazy colours: pink, purple, blue etc. All the people we have met have been polite and helpful, generally we have found the Chilenos friendly and eager to help without being pushy. Funnily one of the highlights of this town is the cemetery which really tells the history of the town through the epitaphs etc. There are huge mauseleums built for the wealthy wool barons which look ridiculously OTT.
We took advice from the Rough Guide and had a splendid crab based midday meal in La Luna restaurant. It was strangely decorated with an entire table and chairs complete with plates and cutlery handing upside down from the ceiling. The owner said it was to make the Northern hemisphere people feel at home.
Heading back to the ship now, we decided not to drive over 65 kilometres of flat pampas to see a colony of penguins but rather to hang around town and imagine living in one of the most southerly outposts on this earth, think I prefer Yorkshire!
Bill
Back in Punta Arenas, under the statue of Magellan in the Plaza de Armas with the famous Indian's toe - worn to shiny gold by all those touching it to make sure they return to PA. Funny! I don't remember touching it when I came here with Mike just over 12 years ago! We weren't on holiday then - so this time we had time to visit the regional museum in the principal wool merchant's old mansion and the cemetery which reveals so much about the City's history - and we had a great Chupe de Centolla at La Luna with Dermot and Ann from Co Cavan - washed down with the local Austral lager. PA is a pleasant enough litle city. Both our taxi drivers thought it the best place in Chile: "Hardly any social problems." "Safest place to live in the country". (We're really impressed with the fact that we must have had really good long chats with at least thirty other couples so far on this holiday. But 2 of them had been robbed whilst in Santiago!) "Don't you feel a bit isolated here?" I asked. ("Well Puerto Natales is only 250km away - and that's smaller!") "No," was the answer, "people like you from all over the world come to visit us!" And this was true judging from the flags in La Luna's map of the world from its diners. However, neither Val nor I touched the Indian's toe this time! "Anchors a-weigh!"
Thursday 5 March 2009
Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas
We have spent the last two days at sea. From Puerto Montt we went through the Darwin Channel and out into the Pacific. We saw albatross, cormorants, sea lions and penguins. The weather has been quite rough but amazingly neither of us have felt sick yet and are enjoying the excellent food on board, really good company and entertainment. Tonight there is an opera singer from Yorkshire performing. Tomorrow we have a day in Punto arenas and may or may not see a colony of penguins.
The glaciers we have seen, El Brujo and Amalia, were stunningly beautiful and surprisingly so blue. We are enjoying quiz sessions, the gym, drawing, reading and IT sessions. Must dash off for evening meal, will have to get some exercise to keep off the weight. Love to all V and B
The glaciers we have seen, El Brujo and Amalia, were stunningly beautiful and surprisingly so blue. We are enjoying quiz sessions, the gym, drawing, reading and IT sessions. Must dash off for evening meal, will have to get some exercise to keep off the weight. Love to all V and B
Tuesday 3 March 2009
Hi
We had a day at sea yesterday, there were a million activities to do if you so wished. Bill was in the gym at 7 , I went to a stretch class at 8. I met an English woman there who asked if Bill and I would like to join her party for evening meal last night so we arranged to meet later. We went to two digital photography classes, I did some sketching, Bill went for a swim, we had a lecture on the places we would be seeing etc etc, and so it went on all day busy, busy, busy!!
Several people were feeling rather sea sick becuse the waters were choppy (Southerly Gail already!) but amazingly I was OK wearing my acupressure bracelet, it appears to be working so far. (I had to use it too, I think it was going in the pool with the movement of the sea causing it to be in permanent wave machine mode!) At 8.45 we went to meet Margaret, Mike and their 2 friends Keith and another Val. These people all live in Guernsey we had a good laugh with them, they were lovely. We left the reataurant (we had a fantastic window seat looking out at the sea as we ate) and then we saw the show which was fine if you are into songs from the musicals. The singers and dancers are all good, at least we got a chance to digest our food before going back to our cabins.
Today we have been taken by tender to our first port of call Puerto Montt. We didn´t want to be part of any organised trips so we made our way to the bus station and caught a local bus to Puerto Varas which is a super little town with great views across the lake Llanquique to the volcano Osorno. We by this time had teamed up with a really nice couple called Jim and Ellen from Florida. We caught the bus up to Frutillar had hot chocolate at a very Bavarian-looking hotel and then went for a walk around the lakeside and the town, it is like a little German village, very pretty and clean. The four of us found a bus to take us back to Puerto Varas where we have had a super meal together in a restaurant Jim and Ellen had been to on a former visit. (I had a casserole of hare with lots of local herbs and local blue and red potatoes. Never had hare before but it was the best game I´ve ever tasted and the blue potatoes were delicious. I wonder how fish and blue chips would go down in England!) It was dull yesterday weather-wise but today the sun is shining and it is just right. We need to go back now to Puerto Montt to have a look around the artesania shops before we climb aboard the tender and so back to the Amsterdam. We are really enjoying this. It is a very different type of holiday for us but we are enjoying every minute of it. ( De acuerdo!! ) All in brackets added by Brad Pitt (that´s who Jim said I resembled in sunglasses - just love him!) -alias Bill!
We had a day at sea yesterday, there were a million activities to do if you so wished. Bill was in the gym at 7 , I went to a stretch class at 8. I met an English woman there who asked if Bill and I would like to join her party for evening meal last night so we arranged to meet later. We went to two digital photography classes, I did some sketching, Bill went for a swim, we had a lecture on the places we would be seeing etc etc, and so it went on all day busy, busy, busy!!
Several people were feeling rather sea sick becuse the waters were choppy (Southerly Gail already!) but amazingly I was OK wearing my acupressure bracelet, it appears to be working so far. (I had to use it too, I think it was going in the pool with the movement of the sea causing it to be in permanent wave machine mode!) At 8.45 we went to meet Margaret, Mike and their 2 friends Keith and another Val. These people all live in Guernsey we had a good laugh with them, they were lovely. We left the reataurant (we had a fantastic window seat looking out at the sea as we ate) and then we saw the show which was fine if you are into songs from the musicals. The singers and dancers are all good, at least we got a chance to digest our food before going back to our cabins.
Today we have been taken by tender to our first port of call Puerto Montt. We didn´t want to be part of any organised trips so we made our way to the bus station and caught a local bus to Puerto Varas which is a super little town with great views across the lake Llanquique to the volcano Osorno. We by this time had teamed up with a really nice couple called Jim and Ellen from Florida. We caught the bus up to Frutillar had hot chocolate at a very Bavarian-looking hotel and then went for a walk around the lakeside and the town, it is like a little German village, very pretty and clean. The four of us found a bus to take us back to Puerto Varas where we have had a super meal together in a restaurant Jim and Ellen had been to on a former visit. (I had a casserole of hare with lots of local herbs and local blue and red potatoes. Never had hare before but it was the best game I´ve ever tasted and the blue potatoes were delicious. I wonder how fish and blue chips would go down in England!) It was dull yesterday weather-wise but today the sun is shining and it is just right. We need to go back now to Puerto Montt to have a look around the artesania shops before we climb aboard the tender and so back to the Amsterdam. We are really enjoying this. It is a very different type of holiday for us but we are enjoying every minute of it. ( De acuerdo!! ) All in brackets added by Brad Pitt (that´s who Jim said I resembled in sunglasses - just love him!) -alias Bill!
Saturday 28 February 2009
Hi Val here, well we have had a very busy day as we only have one full day in Santiago we thought we had better see as much as possible. We walked from our hotel into the centre which took about 45 minutes. We were accompanied by a black dog who stayed close by our sides stopped when we stopped sat down when we sat down etc. We eventually escaped from our new friend when we got into the centre, by this time it was starting to rain and it looked quite overcast. I was wearing a thin cotton blouse and stareted feeling quite chilly. Evidently this weather was totally unexpected and even took the locals by surprise. To cut a long story short, we looked around the cathedral which was quite light, bright and airy compared to many. We had a good tour of the Museum of Pre Columbian Art which was interesting. Then we visited the Mercado Central. We were accosted before we even got inside by people trying to guide us to their restaurants in the centre of the building. We weren´t particularly hungry at that point and didnt like being put under pressure. So we escaped and, after some deliberation, decided to find our way up to Las Condes where I had read there was an area called Pueblito de Los Dominicos where there were a collection of shops selling artisanea, locally produced crafts. We got a taxi there from the centre, by this time I really felt cold as there were intermittent showers. We asked if there was a restaurant there and one of the shop owners told us which he preferred. We had super empanadas ( Jim and Donna if you are reading this they reminded me of our visits to El Gaucho on Simon Bolivar....yummy) we also had salads and drinks it was reasonably priced and delicious. After we explored all the craft shops and would have bought loads if we could think how we might carry home bulky things like pottery, musical instruments and woolly jumpers! We managed to get a bus back and ended up not paying. We found a bus that came this way but when we got on it, the driver wanted to see our pass. We didnt have one so eventually he said sit down as if he was cheesed off to be dealing with more gringos who had no idea how to get about the city. We did as we were told and were dropped off near the hotel. We have just been for our free supper....very bizarre, first they asked what we wanted to drink, I said vino tinto, waiter said good choice then appeared with a bottle of white wine. We said nothing, then without a word they brought us 3 courses, never telling us before hand what we were getting or asking us did we want it. Being people who are easily pleased we accepted each course as it appeared and were just a little bemused wondering what was coming next. Anyway we were the only people in the restaurant so we think we were given the meal in the hope that others would see us and be tempted to cross the threshold. Tomorrow should be very different when we board the Amsterdam. We have booked a taxi to take us to the bus station tomorrow morning, from there it takes over an hour to get to Valparaiso. Just off now for a walk before bed, need to walk off the meat loaf we were given as our second course.
Hotel Providencia, Saturday 28 Feb: Bill. At 0620 this morning just as Val was getting some more water from the fridge a typed message slowly came under the door behind her. Somewhat spooked by this, we read that "your reservation includes a complimentary diner every night during your staying. Our chef has prepared a delicious menu, accompanied with the excellent service of our waiters." Needless to say, we were unaware of this "upgrading" as we were to get this "Junior Suite" innstead of a "Double". I´ll have to speak to the friendly receptionist whom the friends we´ve made here from Inverness were busy instructing - in their perfect Spanish - on the history of the composition of the Union Jack, when we arrived. We actually went out to eat last night - after another complimentary Pisco Sour and Escudo lager - and walked up to the Metropolitan Park ski-lift (teleferico) and back. After one aerial adventure coming over the Andes, Val wasn´t keen to try another in the fast fading light. We did as Duncan suggested again - and found a Peruvian restaurant nearby - Peru Mucho Gusto - and really enjoyed - for the first time in decades (since Mexico days) - a real ceviche - raw fish "cooked" in lime juice with chilli and corriander sauce accompanied by baked Yam and salad. Also discovered a rare and wonderful brew called Kunstmann from Valdevivia. We were too ambitious in asking for a main course too - after the ceviche. Val had a spendid concoction of prawns in a creamy pink seafood sauce and I went thoroughly native and had grilled "vacuna con platano" - I suppose we´d translate as "Bananallama"! It was all delightful and we recalled the mid-90´s when I first brought Duncan here on a one-way ticket. (More of that later!) Well - we were sorry to have so offended our resident chef here by not eating the delicious meal he would have prepared for us. We´ll give him a whirl tonight and save ourselves eating out expenses - once I make sure they havn´t confused our reservation with someone else´s!
Friday 27 February 2009
Bill. A bit dismayed that our supposed direct flight from Barcelona to Santiago only went to Madrid where we had to change planes and didn´t have seats next to one another. However a kind lad swapped his aisle seat for my centre mid-row seat so we slept together - well tried to! Feel thoroughly refreshed now in this good hotel after a bath, sleep and meal. Duncan tells us that a pint of Escudo is a good drink here!
Santiago
Val 27.2.09
We are here!!!!! After travelling for the last 24 hours, 2 taxi rides and 3 flights we are at the Hotel Providencia, Santiago. We cant get into our room yet so are here in reception waiting patiently dying to have a shower and a siesta before we go out exploring.
Didnt get much sleep, was fabulous flying over the Andes, glad I was awake to see that. Hotel seems fine very inviting swimming pool will try out later.
Will write more later this keyboard has no visible letters so I am relying on memory, wish I could touch type!
Take care, V
We are here!!!!! After travelling for the last 24 hours, 2 taxi rides and 3 flights we are at the Hotel Providencia, Santiago. We cant get into our room yet so are here in reception waiting patiently dying to have a shower and a siesta before we go out exploring.
Didnt get much sleep, was fabulous flying over the Andes, glad I was awake to see that. Hotel seems fine very inviting swimming pool will try out later.
Will write more later this keyboard has no visible letters so I am relying on memory, wish I could touch type!
Take care, V
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Today's the day! Is packing the worst part of a holiday? In the post 911 era, it has become so! There's 16kg in one suitcase and 24kg in the other - we have to get under 22kg in both in order not to get fined! Don't forget to put all your toiletries in the hold baggage! Might as well not bother with a belt and wear slip-off shoes today. That alarm clock with the i-pod in the hand luggage is going to look suspicious!
Then there's leaving the house as if it's just been for a full valet service. The fridge is as clean as it was when new! Cleaner! - when we bought it, anti-bacterial surface cleaner wasn't even heard of! And the meals you have to eat to finish all the food that goig to go out-of-date before you get back! My last meal was salmon fishcake and beans and scrambled egg and lettuce and chorizo!
Thank goodness there's no snow and flights from Leeds-Bradford all seem to be running on time!
Then there's leaving the house as if it's just been for a full valet service. The fridge is as clean as it was when new! Cleaner! - when we bought it, anti-bacterial surface cleaner wasn't even heard of! And the meals you have to eat to finish all the food that goig to go out-of-date before you get back! My last meal was salmon fishcake and beans and scrambled egg and lettuce and chorizo!
Thank goodness there's no snow and flights from Leeds-Bradford all seem to be running on time!
Monday 23 February 2009
23 Feb - 3 days to go. Just discovered that we never received our electronic tickets from Iberia for the Barcelona to Santiago and Rio to Barcelona flights. And here's me thinking we only needed the reservation number to check in - just like Jet2, Ryanair etc. flights! I only noticed this because Val had insisted we photocopy just about everything and leave it for Abi - just in case they get stolen or something. Anyway - no problem - Iberia reckoned they'd emailed them on 7 Dec but sent them again. I wouldn't have fancied arriving at Iberia's check-in at Barcelona Airport (Prat de Llobregat) without them. Who'd have been the Prat then? Having had 3 years of getting nowhere with Spanish bureaucracy in the form of the Catastro (Spain's version of the Council Tax Dept - but actually the current earthly representation of Charles Dickens' satirical Circumlocution Office) I wouldn't have fancied our chances of getting any further South.
It has been 28 - 30°C for the past week in Santiago. Nice! We're booked in for 2 nights into the Providencia Hotel in the city before taking the bus down to where we join the MS Amsterdam at Valparaiso. As Val keeps pointing out, we then keep going South - into the glaciers and icebergs - for 2000 miles. I hope the weather at least remains as calm (no hints of roaring 40s, frantic 50s and screaming 60s) as when I last visited with Mike Akester, as we head down towards the Horn. I thought then - in the early-nineties - that of all the fishery-related places I'd visited and would have liked to go back to - with Val - Chile would be it. It was a December (equivalent to June here) when I visited Mike, Malena and Hazel's (Savka not born yet) then-home in Coyhaique. On my second night there, it snowed! - and we had to take a boat 2 hours down a river to Isla Leones and Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda - where I was doing a fish quality workshop for the employees of the muscle processing factory there. I'd only brought Summer clothes and was so cold on the ferry, I had to don my Grimsby Town FC beanie and put the Captain's poor little Jack Russell (who was as cold as me) inside my anorak to keep us both warm.
I only saw the fjords, islands, glaciers and Paine Towers from the 'plane on the flight to Punta Arenas (to do another workshop this time with crab and whelk processors!) - but they're breathtaking! What they must be like close up! OooooH - don't get too excited. Remember we're English!
It has been 28 - 30°C for the past week in Santiago. Nice! We're booked in for 2 nights into the Providencia Hotel in the city before taking the bus down to where we join the MS Amsterdam at Valparaiso. As Val keeps pointing out, we then keep going South - into the glaciers and icebergs - for 2000 miles. I hope the weather at least remains as calm (no hints of roaring 40s, frantic 50s and screaming 60s) as when I last visited with Mike Akester, as we head down towards the Horn. I thought then - in the early-nineties - that of all the fishery-related places I'd visited and would have liked to go back to - with Val - Chile would be it. It was a December (equivalent to June here) when I visited Mike, Malena and Hazel's (Savka not born yet) then-home in Coyhaique. On my second night there, it snowed! - and we had to take a boat 2 hours down a river to Isla Leones and Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda - where I was doing a fish quality workshop for the employees of the muscle processing factory there. I'd only brought Summer clothes and was so cold on the ferry, I had to don my Grimsby Town FC beanie and put the Captain's poor little Jack Russell (who was as cold as me) inside my anorak to keep us both warm.
I only saw the fjords, islands, glaciers and Paine Towers from the 'plane on the flight to Punta Arenas (to do another workshop this time with crab and whelk processors!) - but they're breathtaking! What they must be like close up! OooooH - don't get too excited. Remember we're English!
Sunday 22 February 2009
Sunday Feb.22nd
I don't want to bore everyone to death with this blog so please feel free to skip swathes of it as you please. Apart from anything else I want to keep a record for my own reference in the future. We have visited so many places and I have forgotten most of the place names, the people we have met and what we did. This time I want to remember it all. Ever since we lived in Mexico many years ago we have talked about exploring South America. I never considered a cruise, Bill decided upon this, to my surprise. No doubt this blog will be full of my banal observations. If ever you read anything vaguely intellectual re geography, history, science, the environment..... you can guarantee Bill will have done that bit. I'm not sure how easy or difficult it will be to access internet facilities but it is supposed to be possible on board ship. This might be the first and last entry! Who knows? Having not done this sort of thing before it could all very well go pear shaped.
Well here we are 4 days before we set off on our big holiday. On Thursday we fly to Barcelona and from there we get the connection to Santiago, Chile. The flight to Chile is 16 hours so I'm really not looking forward to that. Once we are there we have 2 nights in Santiago before boarding the ship in Valparaiso. We have booked a hotel in Santiago so let's hope it will be OK.
I have no idea what to pack. So far I have put in my case enough clothes for every conceivable occasion. The problem is I don't know how formal or informal people will be. I keep saying to Bill things like....you can't possibly take those shorts they are worn and stained etc etc. Then when I have either replaced them, washed them or stitched them he decides maybe he shouldn't take any shorts as he might get too sun burned as the ozone layer is thin around there! And so we go on.
Usually when we go to Vejer we can take any old stuff as it is all very laid back there and also we keep some clothes in the house; this is a very different kettle of fish. The other major factor is the climate, at some points we will be in warm places and in others it will be considerably cooler. What is a girl to do? Go for the layered look I suppose, I shall put my swim suit under my thermals, then add a T shirt, fleece and rain jacket, that should stand me in good stead for starters.
My main concern has always been sea sickness. People who have been on cruises in other places have nearly all said they were sea sick at some stage. My only memory of being really ill was crossing the Bay of Biscay some years ago and it was horrible. I was begging to be air lifted off at one point! I am armed with tablets, a wrist band and a bag full of crystallised ginger. My cousin told me green apples and dry crackers work a treat but I can't really pack those as well .
Better get back to the packing, still trying to work out how to use the camcorder I got for my birthday. Got to go to work tomorrow and Tuesday, Wednesday is going to be mega hectic with last minute arrangements. Hasta la vista, Val
Well here we are 4 days before we set off on our big holiday. On Thursday we fly to Barcelona and from there we get the connection to Santiago, Chile. The flight to Chile is 16 hours so I'm really not looking forward to that. Once we are there we have 2 nights in Santiago before boarding the ship in Valparaiso. We have booked a hotel in Santiago so let's hope it will be OK.
I have no idea what to pack. So far I have put in my case enough clothes for every conceivable occasion. The problem is I don't know how formal or informal people will be. I keep saying to Bill things like....you can't possibly take those shorts they are worn and stained etc etc. Then when I have either replaced them, washed them or stitched them he decides maybe he shouldn't take any shorts as he might get too sun burned as the ozone layer is thin around there! And so we go on.
Usually when we go to Vejer we can take any old stuff as it is all very laid back there and also we keep some clothes in the house; this is a very different kettle of fish. The other major factor is the climate, at some points we will be in warm places and in others it will be considerably cooler. What is a girl to do? Go for the layered look I suppose, I shall put my swim suit under my thermals, then add a T shirt, fleece and rain jacket, that should stand me in good stead for starters.
My main concern has always been sea sickness. People who have been on cruises in other places have nearly all said they were sea sick at some stage. My only memory of being really ill was crossing the Bay of Biscay some years ago and it was horrible. I was begging to be air lifted off at one point! I am armed with tablets, a wrist band and a bag full of crystallised ginger. My cousin told me green apples and dry crackers work a treat but I can't really pack those as well .
Better get back to the packing, still trying to work out how to use the camcorder I got for my birthday. Got to go to work tomorrow and Tuesday, Wednesday is going to be mega hectic with last minute arrangements. Hasta la vista, Val
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