Punta Arenas

Today it is Sunday and we are docked at Punta Arenas.  

We can walk off the ship which is nice.  Marlene and I catch a taxi to the town square.  It's cold but sunny.

We climb the hill which provides a great view of the city.

This city is quite nice.  It's clean and well planned out.  A few great buildings.

They have a huge cemetary and some of the monuments are huge.

Back to the ship by 5:30 and we're on the move again.  We're now headed to Ushuaia.  That's as far south as you can go!

Spa day....

Today was a day at sea.  We were supposed to see the Amalia Glacier but it was socked in and we couldn't see a thing.  

This is all we could see of the glacier.  A chunk of ice.

A little later in the morning some of the cloud lifted so that when we cruised down the Canal Sarmiento we were able to enjoy the scenery.  We even had a couple of Sea Lions swimming along side the ship.

After having a light lunch in the Lido I decide to take advantage of an offer from the spa.  Five separate treatments!  Can't resist.  It was great!  What a great massage.  

The water is calm enough today that I venture to have a martini in the Mix Lounge.  So nice sitting in the lounge sipping my drink, gazing at the scenery going by.

We dine in the dining room again.  Every night we sit with different people.  It's a great way to get to know people.  After dinner we usually listen to one of the groups playing before heading to the Lounge for the nightly entertainment at 10:00.  We're off to Punta Arenas for the day tomorrow.

Puerto Chacabuco

It's Thursday, March 20th and we awake as the ship is pulling into Puerto Chacabucco.  It's beautiful!  Mountains surround us.  We both hurry up on deck to see the sights and take some pictures.  After breakfast in our cabin we ready ourselves to go ashore for a good walk and explore this place.

Once on shore we meet a young couple that we know from the ship and negotiate with a taxi driver to take us on a tour.  We finally agree on $30 each and off we go to Coyhaique City.

First stop is a beautiful waterfall.

The scenery is beautiful.

This bridge is very important to the local people as not too long ago there were riots here as people tried to bring awareness to their lack of funding from the government to provide services.  It seems that they were successful as there is a new hospital being built and they have a new rec centre.

After a great day we are tendered back to the ship and proceed to our next destination.  Two days at sea now.

All Aboard!

On Monday, March 17th our host from Valparaiso, Raul, dropped us at the terminal.  

On board Holland America's Zaandam we quickly check out our cabin and then have lunch in the Lido.  It is so great to have all this great food...what a selection! 

 We unpack, get orientated and settle in for the 13 nights we are on the ship.  There has been an earthquake off the shore of northern Chile last night.  Just over 6.0 so this could account for the rough seas.  As we start to feel the effects of the tumultuous seas any idea of celebrating with a glass of wine evaporate.  We take to our cabin.

The next day after getting our sea legs we venture out.  While Marlene takes a Spanish lesson I head to the library and sit and read while enjoying a chai tea latte.  Dinner in the dining room.  Lobster!  Ah, life is good.

On Wednesday, March 19th we are in port at Puerto Montt.  

We tender to shore and with the help of Pat (Patricio) a Chilean, we catch a local bus to Frutillar, a small scenic town on Lake Llanquihue.  We are so fortunate to have a beautiful, sunny day which is almost unheard of in Puerto Montt.  

We get a lovely view of Volcan Osorno.  It was this volcano that erupted in 1991.  

Another town that we pass through on the way to Frutillar is Puerto Varas.  This looks like a lovely town and if I was to choose between the two towns for a future visit I would pick Puerto Varas as there is more there.

After returning to Puerto Montt we cruise the long row of artisan stands and I can't resist purchasing a sweater for Baby AA and one for Landon.  I hope they like them?  

Back on board we're off to our next port.  We'll have dinner in the dining room, listen to some great music and take in the nightly entertainment before turning in for the night.

Valparaiso

After 1-1/2 hrs. On the bus we arrive in Valparaiso.  We are met by a fellow who whisks us away to a waiting taxi.  In 10 mins. we are deposited at our next residence.  A lovely two bedroom apartment on the 10th floor of an apartment on the hill.  Fantastic view especially at night.

At first our impression is not good as the city seems old and run down but after taking a 3 hour walking tour with Tours4Tips we are shown the hills which were magnificent.  The views and buildings were great.

We ride the 100 year old funicular up the hill.  Scary!

Great views.

Murals are plentiful!  They decorate the streets all over the hills.

This building is the reason that Valparaiso is a world heritage site.  This is not two buildings.  The modern glass building has been built on top of the old building.  When this happened people complained so they made Valporaiso a world heritage site so it couldn't happen again.  The problem is that it also stopped future improvements in this area so a lot of beautiful old buildings are going to ruin!

The following day we caught the Metro and went to Vina del Mar which is a short ride along the coast. The metro was clean and really easy to use.  This young lady was singing opera on the metro.  She was wonderful.  Too bad they don't have Chile's Got Talent!

Beautiful, clean town.  We really enjoyed Vina del Mar.  Went for a great lunch in an Italian restaurant.  Yummy seafood.

Checking out the markets that take place in Valporaiso on Sunday.  This was full of antiques.

We also decided to be proactive and check out where we would board our ship for our cruise.  Like the rest of Chile nothing is clear and simple to find.  We always seemed to be sent in different directions no matter who we asked.  This is the entrance to where you check in for your cruise and then they bus you to the other end of town where the ship actually is so that you can board.  Apparently the water is no longer deep enough here for the ships so they have to go to the other end of town.  But do you see any signs????  Does anyone tell you this???  It will be nice to be on board for two whole weeks and not have to face the challenge of ordering a meal in another language!  I think it's time for a rest!  Oh, life is tough!

WiFi might be intermittent for the next couple of weeks while we are at sea so I might not be blogging quite so often just so you know and don't wonder what happened to me.  Off we go on Holland America down the coast of Chile, around the Cape, up the coast of Argentina, Uruguay and then into port at Buenos Aires.

Leaving Santiago

 We went for lunch on Tuesday at the fish market and had scallops with parmesan.

We discovered that the changing of the President was taking place at the palace so there was quite a bit of disruption with a large presence of police/military and closure of several streets.  Sounds like New York in that it seems that Chileans just lean on the horn when traffic stops.  Quite annoying!  We did a wee bit of shopping.

On Wednesday traffic was supposed to go back to normal so Marlene and I had purchased tickets for the Hop On/Hop Off bus thinking we would tour the city one last time.  We discovered the traffic to be grid locked so got a refund and went by foot.  A couple of hours later we were tired and hot.  The maps are not very good.  Even though we seem to have several maps they all say something different. We hopped a taxi but due to our mixed message to the driver (relying on our map!) he got lost.  We asked him to take us to the Sheraton as we knew he could find that and there was a sculpture display close by that we wanted to see.

We decide to take the metro back to our apartment.  The metro system is quite good but it was crowded and very hot.  Picked up a bottle of white wine and went back to the apartment.  Lots of groceries to finish up as we are heading to Valparaiso by bus on Thursday.

Checking out the hills...

Today we decided to go to Cerro Santa Lucia which is a hill in the centre of Santiago where back in the 1500's a fort was established.

There is a beautiful fountain half way up the hill.

This is a wonderful little Oasis in the middle of the city and the view from the top is great.  We went when it wasn't too hot and took our time climbing up.

 

Then we walked over to Barrio Bellavista where we took the funicular up to the top of San Cristobal Hill where a large white statue of the Virgin Mary is visible from far away.  

Again the view was magnificent and the gardens were very peaceful.  

There is a lovely chapel as well.

Back down in the Bellavista area we went for lunch.  A very colourful neighbourhood known for cafés, stores and brilliant graffiti.