Earthquake in Chile

We are safe and warm next door in Argentina. Thanks everyone re your e-mails asking if we are safely out of Chile and away from the earthquake area. We didn't feel any tremors here although the news said we had them in Buenos Aires. They must have been very slight. Emily arrived from Naples via Atlanta this morning without any problems, but Sally's friend Denise is stuck in Santago and we're not sure how or when she's getting to BA. She had booked a day/night there on her trip to join us since it was more or less on the way, and then had the bad luck to be there for the earthquake last night. The Radisson, where she is staying, was evacuated at 4 a.m. and she was moved to a lower floor due to damage higher up. They are without power and water and phones in Santiago and we are waiting for word as to how she will be leaving the city as the airport is closed due to earthquake damage and one would think that flights will be horribly backed up once it's operational again in a few days. There has been nothing else on CNN all day - and now the world is waiting for the effects of the Sunami in Hawaii. It's almost surreal to be sitting here watching this having just been on a ship in the Pacific Ocean off the Chilean coast just a few days ago.

We spent a few hours this morning in our "hood" wandering around the Recoleta area to an outdoor market and also found a shopping area called Buenos Aires Designs where there is an abundance of beautiful furniture and home decor items. Emily was delighted, as she is a fabulous decorator and always interested in edgy things. (Dennis, please prepare the living room for a really amazing soft grey leather sofa ensemble.) We all came back with a purchase or two from the market for our efforts and had a high test coffee in a cafe over there so we could sit down for a few minutes to rest. I'm still feeling stiff and sore from all the waiting and lining up in the airport, but it's getting better. Am continuing to walk every day and it will get better again I'm certain.

Denise is not far from our thoughts as we continue to be concerned and want her here with us as soon as possible. We're just not sure how that is going to happen and when. She was going to try to get a car to bring her here, but it's 700 miles away and some of the roads around Santiago have been damaged and aren't usable. The good news is that she is unharmed and will find a way to get here as soon as she can.

It's wonderful to have Emily here. Now Sally and I have someone we can make fun of, instead of each other ..... lol... and when Denise finally gets here, the merrier we shall be.



love maggie

back in Buenos Aires

I have been remiss in my blogging. We survived the transition from Santiago Chile, to Buenos Aires, Argentina but suffered long line ups going through the $$ reciprocity collection booths and then immigration in the BA airport. My knee is bunged up again, but not so bad as it was before I left on this trip. Standing in lines is about the worst thing i can do but icing helps and giving it a rest helps too. Enough with the whining.

BA is so beautiful I could just wax on about it endlessly. We were out and about this morning shopping on Calle Florida which is a big pedestrian street full of stores. Lots of wonderful leather products at a fraction of what we pay at home and beautiful silver. Anything produced here in Argentina is inexpensive and lots of it is very well done. We have had some really good simple meals out just a block or two from the aparatment here on Pacheco de Melo, and truth be told, there is a restaurant downstairs that has the most incredible ice cream it shouldn't even be legal. Dulce de Leche icecream and also a coffee list that goes on and on. When Sally gets back from her walk, we are going to sit in the cafe and have a wee bit - sort of afteroon tea except with coffee and icecream. hmmmmmm. We continue to be the first to arrive in the cafes at night - don't quite know how we are going to work up to going out at 10 or 11, but am sure we'll make it one of these evenings.

Emily and Denise are arriving tomorrow. Em in the morning and Denise in the afternoon. Then the fun here truly begins. Sally and I were here just for the day a couple of weeks ago when the ship was in port and we did a three hour tour - but this time we will likely go on a double decker bus and see it again. Architecture and public squares are so amazing - even the apartment buildings are beautiful with the old Mansard rooftops and grills on the balconies with flower pots etc. Just lovely.

I hear the little tiny scary elevator outside our door so Sally might be returning. This little iron cube is all grillwork and is maybe 3 ft x 4 ft. and makes your stomach lurch when it starts and stops. I am endlessly surprised and always gasp at these moments for some reason.

Love to everyone, and will write again in a few days. Oh - and the weather is not 95 as usual here, it's maybe 75 and totally perfect. You could see on the way in from the airport that there has been flooding, but in the main part of the city you'd never know they'd had any rain at all.

m

Last day at Sea / Valparaiso tomorrow

Today is our last day and tomorrow morning we will be in port in Valparaiso and then heading to Santiago for one night before our flight to Buenos Aires where we have heard we may need a rowboat rather than a taxi ...... can't get much news on it but it sounds like there was a lot of flooding in the lower areas. Am thinking the Recoletta area is higher up (since it houses a huge and ancient cemetary) and should be okay. Today will be a scary packing day and we will find out just how much room all those t shirts and hats take up. My plan was only to buy jewellery but that went out the window awhile ago.
Yesterday the excursion for my "Taste of Chile" cooking and shopping experience with a chef was not what i thought it was going to be. We were overly long at the fishmarket but the other side of it is that it was interesting in its own way - lots of octupus hanging like ragged curtains all in a row, chicken eggs of green, grey and shades of brown, king crab stacked up and tons of dried kelp and seaweed. We then went to the Chef's restaurant. The lunch took forever to get together and the kitchen far too small to be a teaching or even viewing kitchen and so most of the guests from the ship got merrily and loudly drunk on all the cheap Chilean wine they were being served by the gallon while waiting hours to eat. It was hilarious. Singing and laughing like maniacs in this charming lakeside restaurant. The food was odd - the starter being a ceviche made of octupus, kelp, and other unidentifiable sea creatures ( i hate to think what some of them might have been) - we did see huge barnacles at the fish market with the creatures poking their little feet out ... brrrrrr . The main course was Hake but it was served covered in the strongest smoked mussels ever (you could smell the plate before it got to the table) and then a dessert which might have been a Sabayone but tasted like it was something that may have been excreted by a Llama. Other than that - I had a lot of fun. A raucous group even into the tender back to the ship. Margaret, our friend from Washington State, being a contender for the most rowdy of the bunch. I think she is going to catch up with us in Santiago for dinner. I will give her a corrective interview there on proper behavior for lawyers when they are out of their home countries.

We will be in BA in a couple of days and I will get pictures onto this blog and continue writing when there's something interesting to report for as long as we're away - another couple of weeks.
Emily and Denise join us in five ? days I think and then we go to Iguazu Falls for a side trip. Sally has a birthday in BA on March 2 and I have orders to make something lemon....... Maybe will use one of those lemon reamers mentioned in the early days of this blog.

Will sign off for now as my internet minutes are growing slim (not me - that's for sure) ...

love m
xx oo

Punta Arenas Chile and the Penguins

I thought I was going to Otway Sound to see penguins and then to Fitz Roy Farm to watch sheepdogs working with the sheep and see some shearing .... but only half right. I did go to the Penguin rookery but was on the wrong tour to see the farm. It's all good. I walked probably a mile or more in the cold and rain to see the penguins through fields and on a partial boardwalk type of trail, and am shocked at myself that i could manage it with only a couple of two minute stops to sit. It's amazing how well i do with walking now, since the dining room is at one end of the ship and my cabin is at the other.

Seeing penguins is wonderful and they are the most comical of birds to be sure, but the real deal here for me is the never-ending scenery as we cruise the many channels. I sat on our verandah last night all bundled up and watched the changing light bathing the mountains and hills and glaciers in a soft pink. I took picture after picture all the while thinking that i could take a million pictures and would never be able to choose the most beautiful because they are all beautiful and every minute is the next vista and the next. I am so very glad I came here. Tourism is really just beginning down here and i believe that it will start to change the landscape at some point. It's so vast and empty now and for all the hours between Ushuia when we left around noon and when night fell around 10 pm, I hardly saw even a bird never mind people or boats or anything at all. I don't think this place can really be compared to any other place on earth. It's just entirely different. Some of the mountains are great white skyscrapers sitting behind smooth rounded hills with a bit of lichen on them. The light just bounces off the snow on the tops. Everything is rock with barely a scraping of topsoil so there's very little growing on them. The trees are short little Beech trees and because the wind is westerly and almost always very strong, they generally are "flag trees" and short and scruffy. They can't get a toehold everywhere but you do see them around the glaciers sometimes.

Today is really the first day of inclement weather we've had in any port (not counting those rolly polly sea days).

Tomorrow we should be in Puerto Montt where I have an excursion booked to shop and cook with a local chef. I hope it's a small group and am looking forward to it. Please don't let it be skinning a live octapus or something....

Stay well everyone. We're fine and Sally is almost over her cold and so far (touching wood), I haven't caught it.

love m
xx

Tierra del Fuego / Argentina

The seas are finally calm and we spent a spectacularly beautiful day in Tierra del Fuego national park near Ushuia. Normally temperatures here are around 10 celsius but today was 19 and the sun was shining. In Tierra del Fuego they only get maybe 10 days of sunshine a year, so this was exceptionally lucky. It is so very beautiful down here and as i look out right now i am seeing land that probably no one has ever walked on for many hundreds of miles. The Yamana people once lived here and apparently there is only one single individual living now. We cruised by the Avenue of Glaciers a few hours ago and i can only say that it's breathtaking. I wish I had some talent as a photographer because surely there could be no more beautiful scenery on the globe.

Tomorrow we will be in Punta Arenas and I am going to Ottway Bay to look at Penguins and then to a sheep farm. It's a long excursion - about 8 hours - and am quite looking forward to it. Missed the sheep farm in the Faulklands, so i will get a taste of it (lamb bbq?) tomorrow.

The internet is very very slow tonight for some reason and usually at this time it's pretty good, so i can't post a picture. I think when I get to Buenos Aires i will go back into this blog and post several photos from there of some of the places I've seen on this trip. When I get home will put them all on a webpage so everyone can look at them if you would like to.

Have just had a most delicious decaf Moccachino and have finished my latest book "The Help" which was wonderful. I think I'll get another coffee and go to my cabin, sit on the verandah and watch the bottom of the world go by.

Life is good.

love m

xx

Rocking and Rolling in the Atlantic

Hugely rough seas last night and all day today - sort of like big rolling mountains out here. Waves were 35 ft high this morning and have become bigger and bigger all day. Books flying off the shelves in the library, stuff falling out of cupboards and closets, waiters staggering around with trays. It's quite challenging to stay upright. i've taken to walking below decks in the passageway on our floor to get from the bow to the stern - i can then just stagger into a wall on each side. As i sat down in this chair to do the blog i noticed the other swivel chairs were spinning if they were empty. We just had dinner in the big dining room in the stern of the ship -The Rotterdam - and you really see the dipping and diving back there.

Sally has had a cold these past three days and is doing all that she can to be rid of it. If we can actually land in the Faulklands this time we are both wanting to have excursions there - me to the sheep farm to watch the border collies work the sheep and Sally to a penguin rookery at Bluff Cove. The captain says you just dont know until you get there whether or not you can launch the tenders to get into Port Stanley - it depends on the wind. One time a few years ago they had tendered 1000 passengers into Port Stanley on excursions and the wind changed and they couldn't be picked up. I believe Port Stanley only has a population of 1000 people or so - you can imagine the dilemma of doubling the size of the town. Old army barracks were used, hospitals, and of course, people opened their homes to the passengers until they could be picked up the next day. I'm counting on buying wool there tomorrow, so we'd just better get in.

We saw an amazing show last night - a broadway review of Bob Mackie's costumes - and the singers were mostly people who've worked on Broadway. It was really good. I had low expectations and was really impressed. One of the singers looked a lot like Mike's girlfriend Kate, when she's all gussied up. Hi Kate !!!

Am going to the movies with Margaret tonight and Sally is going to stay "in" since she's not feeling great. It's some silly chick flick, and so perfect. We three went to an outdoor movie the other night which was fun, but too cold and too rough and wet now. People can no longer even walk on the decks outside - too dangerous with the ship rollilng and pitching the way it is and also too wet. Something is rolling around and banging behind a wall near where i'm sitting. whatever it is - it sounds large and on the loose.

After the Faulklands we go into Ushuia again and this time I'm going to go on an excursion to OttwayBay to another penguin colony. I hadn't realized there are so many different types of Penguins until I came here. I can relate now as the best way to walk around this ship is penguin-like to distribute one's weight over a broader base in order not to tip over. Whenever I start to walk normally, the ship pitches and then it's staggerring running steps and then whoaaaaaa, tipping backwards and hanging on. It's times like this that I wish i had bigger f e e t.

love m
xx oo

Buenos Aires yesterday, Montevideo again today

We arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday and it is just an amazingly beautiful city. It takes your breath away really. The buildings echo Paris and when one is driving by the cafes, one expects people are eating Croque Msr's or Salad Nicoise. There are great open greenspaces and squares and astounding monuments. If the computer guy were here I'd have him unlock the tower so I could post a picture. We took a four hour tour with a guide through the neighbourhoods and the Recoleta area where we've rented the apartment is just fabulous and very old and wonderfully clean. We spent a little time in La Boca where our friend Margaret did a power shop and purchased four handbags of exquisite quality in about 10 mins. People were dong the Tango on the street everywhere and in the cafes. So much fun and such a vibrant city. I didn't buy yesterday since I'm coming back here in two weeks to stay. The leathergoods in Argentina are finer and cheaper than they are in Uruguay or Chile. Jewellery is also beautiful and not expensive. The national stone of Argentina is "Rhodochrosite" which can vary from pale pink to a deep brown/red colour. Lovely. There is Rhodochrosite in my future ....BA is a dangerous place for me altogether. Emily - when you get here - bring $$$. Oh - and three of us went to a restaurant for lunch and had wonderful food for under $25. We are told it's hard to spend more than $50 on dinner, so that's the good news. What we save on food we can spend on jewellery and handbags. There is a bright side.
We're in Montevideo again today on the first leg of the return trip south, and we walked around the old part of the city this morning and bought a few things from the vendors in the shopping area. There are cobblestones often, and the walking is a little tricky for me but I'm managing pretty well. We had a very odd little lunch in town. Thought we were ordering grilled ham and mozzarella sandwiches and ended up with ham and pea sandwiches. That kind of thing happens quite often as we have no Spanish and they have little English. There is a lot of nodding which we think is understanding/agreement and sometimes the outcome of the exchange isn't as expected. ie. we were certain the guide knew yesterday that we wanted to drive down the street where our apartment is located in Buenos Aires and we did not. = nodding without comprehension ....... people are great though - trying hard and very friendly everywhere.
Am so looking forward to seeing the Faulklands and really hope we can get in this time. I've re-booked my trip to the sheep farm instead of looking at penguins there. Had to choose. Will see penguins again in Chile on the way back down and around.
Hope everyone is well. Have been picking up little things here and there but nothing major so far.
Michael - you'd love BA. You have to come here at some point. It's got a buzz like NY or Paris and after some extensive Tango lessons, you could work in San Telmo in a cafe if you got really good.

lol

love m
xx oo

Montevideo today and now on the way to Buenos Aires

We arrived in Montevideo this morning and were on an excursion for the whole day out to Punte del Este. Just beautiful there - on the ocean with a lovekly vista and white sand beach. Lots of gorgeous neighbourhoods with amazing homes etc. It's where South America comes to play in the summer and most of the homes are only used for a month or two at best. We stopped and had a really great lunch and then back to the city via a really nasty little tourist market.
Back on board and just had dinner and want to get some pictures on here now that everybody is packing to leave on this leg of the cruise and the internet isn't so slow. We are doing the return trip with only about 30 other people. The other 1200 are leaving and very very jealous of us.
I cannot wait to see those fijords again. I have some of the eeriest pictures of them. simply amazing. But first ... Buenos Aires tomorrow. We had a city tour booked and it was cancelled, so we are doing it on our own with another new friend, Margaret from Washington State. Will let you all know how the day goes. We plan to get a car and driver for a half day to take us around and show us the best architecture downtown and the parks and the big cemetary The Recoleta which is the same name as the area where we have rented the apartment at the end of this cruise. We have a NY Times article (thanks Emily) about the cafes of BA and we plan on having lunch at one listed in there. Then off to Calle Florida which is the pedestrian shopping area for a preview of things to come. Back to the ship late in the afternoon and we start the return trip. We are so hoping to be able to get into the Faulklands on the way back. Everybody cross your fingers.

Love to everybody and I will get some pictures on here NOW

love m
xx oo

Faulkland Islands - N O T

So disappointed not to be able to stop in the Faulklands yesterday. The swells were 25 ft and strong winds blowing the wrong way and so the captain decided that it wasn't safe to try to launch the tenders to get us all in. Sally and I are only a handful of passengers who are taking the cruise back around to where we started in Valparaiso, so we will get a second chance.
We sail all day again today and maybe tomorrow as well before we get to Montevideo, Uruguay. Have been reading a lot - currently "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which I'm loving. Read "March" by Doctorow before that and "Cutting for Stone" before that - all on the e-reader which I'm loving to distraction. (Doesn't take much .....) I do find the "sea days" long, and due to our inability to stop in Stanley, we have four in a row which is way too much for me.
We're meeting lots of people on the ship and frequently dine with others. My world was getting to be pretty small in Bobcaygeon and this has been really good. Healthcare and Obama always the subjectmatter for some period of time with most of the Americans.
Met a couple who live on Ridge Drive, which is only blocks away from where we lived on Inglewood and then Moore Ave., and their sons went to RSGC. Their youngest was a year behind Michael in school, and they also knew Larry from cubs. It's sure a small world.

We have rolling seas again today, but it doesn't really bother me. Lots of people have been seasick due to the big swells and constant chop, and even folks who haven't been sick on other voyages are bothered this time. It's actually (for me) kind of nice at night. We all have noticed our legs hurting though and it's from trying to stay upright some days just walking around the ship. We are about 200 yards from the dining room .... need I say more?

well , am going to go on a kitchen tour shortly. Am fascinated with how they manage to produce all this food and where and how it's all stored etc. This afternoon there is a lecture on Montevideo which I will attend as well. I was dragged into a culinary quiz yesterday up in the Crow's Nest and we actually won. Had it been any other type of quiz I'd have opted out .....

love to everyone

m
xx oo

on the way to the Faulklands now

We were in Ushuia yesterday where 90% of all expeditions to Antartica begin. It's a desolate place, altogether isolated from the rest of Argentina. We went on a really overly long boat trip back down the Beagle Channel to see Penguins and Sea Lions yesterday. Will be seeing more penguins on the way back on another excursion. They are stinky little guys 'cause they're fish eaters, and funny as anything to watch. The ones we saw were Magellanic Penguins - the medium sized ones, and a few of another species with the orange beaks and feet - can't remember their name.... but I bought the t-shirt anyway.
The trip down the Beagle Channel yesterday was nothing short of spectacular on the way to Ushuia, and I have some amazing pictures of the fijords all misty in the morning light. Sally calls it the Land of the Lord of the Rings. It brings all those stories to mind. We sailed past Glaciers and waterfalls and literally thousands of fijords. Tall craggy mountains with snow on top and then rounded hills from glaciers "polishing" them smooth. Sometimes all these formations are together. It's a remarkable place and people are conspicuously absent if that makes any sense. It's eerily empty. We are now moving past the Land of the Fires - Tierra del Fuego - and I can see the outline of that coast in the distance from where I sit. We rounded Cape Horn this morning around 7 a.m. and we were expecting huge swells and a really rough ride. It wasn't as rough as our first few days on board after we left Vina del Mar, when the waves were maybe 15 ft. high. It's choppy now but just moderate swells apparently. We should reach the Faulklands tomorrow morning and winds permitting, will get into Stanley for our excursion. Sally and I are going to a sheep farm hopefully and having a lamb bbq for lunch. Since you all know I'm Collie crazy - can't wait to see the Border Collies working the sheep. Also promised Janet, my sister in law, to bring back wool for her from there as it's supposed to be the most pristine wool on the planet so am praying we get in.
I know everybody has been looking forward to viewing pictures and i've just talked to the computer guy about it, and if I compress my pictures I might be able to download them when it's not so busy in here. When everyone is online it's impossibly slow.
We are going to a dress up dinner tonight in the dining room. Had a fantastic dinner a couple of nights ago in the "Pinnacle" which is the added cost dining room. Fabulous food.
I will close for now as we are going to a lecture in 15 mins about the Faulklands. We attended another art lecture this morning - this time on Salvidore Dali. Really interesting. Am going to start going to the digetal camera classes next week. Tomorrow the art lecture is on Erte - did I spell that correctly? Art Noveau stuff. Haven't gone to any cooking classes yet as have been too busy eating........
Love to you all and will try to post something tomorrow night.

love m
xx oo

Punta Arenas, Chile

We arrived this morning in the southernmost city in the world, Punta Arenas. Went on a tour of the city, to the cemetario, a private home built in 1906, the navigation museum etc. I have been curious about the animals that might inhabit this part of the world and saw them all stuffed - not attractive - at the museum. They looked like they'd been there since this land was discovered - but none-the-less, the larger predators are puma, Pategonia fox (quite large), a smaller fox, some other spotted cats etc. They have the oddest little tiny deer and then normal sized deer but with big bodies and short legs. Condors which truly are among the ugliest birds in nature, are the national bird of Chile and well represented down here. Llamas and other cameliads are present too, but who knows if they are still running wild. Lots of different penguins inhabit this land - from the really big Emperor and King penguins to the little cute Rockhopper penguins. Can't remember which ones we are seeing tomorrow. We are going on a catamaran tomorrow in the Beagle Channel to a penguin nesting area. A lot of the knitted things here have penguins on them including two hats I bought today. One for Sarah down the road, and one for little Holly.

Punta Arenas is basically an unattractive town with the exception of the cemetary vaults and buildings and a few of the grander homes from the turn of the century. A few of those homes/palaces have been donated as museums. One can only imagine choosing material for a dress or something and then waiting a year for it to come from Europe by ship. We toured one of these homes and it wanted for nothing. Most of the houses look much as they do in towns in northern Ontario. Rectangular little bungalows. They get five or six feet of snow here in their winter and the guide was telling about a few years ago it snowed for two weeks here and almost all the farm animals died and the Chilean govt had to reimburse the farmers for their losses so they could start again. It truly is the bottom of the world and this place is very isolated from the rest of the world. In winter it's only light from 10 a.m. to 4 pm for part of the time.

Tomorrow Usuaia. Going to find a comfy chair now and finish my book and drink my delicious Americano. We're going to the Pinnacle for dinner tonight and am looking forward to that.

love to everyone
m
xx oo

Strait of Magellan

It is indescribably beautiful here. I woke up this morning around 7 and sat up, looked to the left, and there it was - a fijord. The first of probably many thousands we've seen today down here. We're truly at the bottom of the world and the Chilean landscape is all rock and lichen covered low mountains. The only signs of civilization for the last day have been occasional channel markers where the Magellan is very narrow. It's breathtaking, and right now am sitting at this computer which is in front of a huge window and all you can see - as far as you can see - are mountains, some with snow, and, of course, water. It's really quite unbelievable that there is no one down here - no one at all. We haven't seen a house, a hut, a tent - nothing. This land probably can't support much life even in terms of larger animals . I haven't even seen many birds. Tomorrow we will be in Punta Arenas and we are going on a tour of the area. One can go to see Penguins, but I think we are going on a Penguin viewing trip the next day. The days all seem to run into each other; everyone says the same thing. We have to keep looking at our excursion list to remember what day it is and what we're doing.

Have met some lovely people on the ship from just about everywhere. Had breakfast with a group from California and a woman from Washington State. Met up with Margaret (Washington State) at lunch and got to know her better. She's a lawyer in an Elder Care practice, and the Californians were recently retired military (Navy) people. It's interesting that most of the Americans we have met all want to hear about our healthcare system once we tell them we're Canadians. Fortunately so far we've met American liberals.

Went to an art history lecture this morning and it just reaffirmed that i really should be studying this more seriously when I get home. The subjectmatter has always been fascinating to me and as it turned out, the lecturer got her degree at York University in Toronto. Small world. Really.
I must look into a course maybe at Trent.

Am looking at this moment at the tiniest little island - maybe 20 feet long, and it has a little red marker on it. hmmmm It wouldn't be good to bump into one of those ....

Went to the spa again just before I started writing and had a lovely facial. I think I look at least ten years younger. Everyone says so. ha ! We will head to the main dining room for dinner tonight. Tomorrow night we're going to the Pinnacle - which is the reservations only / added cost dining room.

Just this second spotted a sunken ship. not kidding. guess it didn't see one of those little islands. it's probably an old fishing vessel but it's actually quite large. This would not be a good place for any kind of rescue if one was looking to get out of these freezing cold waters in a hurry.

will sign off for now. Am going to try to get some pictures on this blog now that it's a bit faster. Tried for half an hour earlier today and couldn't even get into my e-mail. Something about magnetic fields // rock // too many people using the connection. I may try tomorrow when we're in port.

ttfn
love maggie
xx

Days at Sea / Beagle Channel

Went to the spa for an early appointment and had a seaweed bodywrap where one is encased in a coccoon while being surrounded by warm water up to your neck and then massaged head to toe. Not too shabby. I had the esthtician open the curtains and there were the fijords and islands of this part of Chile - the Beagle Channel I think. Kinda wonderful to see the view from a massage table .... we will be at sea without a stop at any port all day today and tonight. Tomorrow we arrive in Punta Arenas in Pategonia.
The ship is very comfortable and there are always places to be where you're on your own, or if you prefer, in more populated areas. We have been having dinner mostly at communal tables and have met some really great people. One British couple, perhaps in their late 20's had just hiked the Inca Trail all the way up Machu Pichu. They were regailing us with crazy travel stories of backpacking and sleeping in terrible places and also of amazing sights they've seen on a shoestring. This cruise is the ultimate luxury for them and I believe their cabin is on the lowest deck but they're loving it. While we are taking the $170 excursion, they are getting on a bus for $5 and keeping their fingers crossed - but having a wonderful time doing it. I will always maintain that youth is wasted on the young.
We are expecting some big big waves going around Cape Horn. The stories are pretty colourful of that part of this world. Talk of 30 foot waves and staying in your cabin ... that kind of thing. Hopefully this time the weather won't be so fierce down there.
We will see our first Penguins tomorrow - can't wait !!!
Hope everyone is well - we are fine and loving each day as it comes.
I will post some pictures in a day or two. It takes forever to do that, and maybe better done from port.

love maggie
xx

Puerto Montt

Hi Everyone - we were late leaving Vina as the ship got in late. They had very high winds hence a really choppy sea and so we got a late start. We were at the Hotel though and got word just in time so we weren't sitting at the port terminal endlessly. Had a nice lunch on the terrace at the Miramar while we put in the time, and all was good.
We left Valparaiso around 8:30 pm on the 30th and sailed until this morning and are now in Puerto Montt in the Lake District here in Chile. We left the ship around 10:30 this morning by "tender" which are little boats used exclusively for transporting people from ship to shore. Our excursion today took us up through The City of Roses, to a ranch where they raise horses for the rodeos here which apparently is the 2nd favourite sport right after soccer. The horses were similar to our Quarter Horses and small but sturdy animals. On arrival wine and empanadas were served in the barn while we were introduced to the gauchos (cowboys) and watched some of the younger people dancing. The farm dogs (strangely a little poodle and a St. Bernard) were wandering around - I was expecting cattle dogs or something ....... The gauchos were very skilled and showed us many riding techniques including cutting a bull out and controlling him with two horses and riders (to music of course, which is the way all bulls should be controlled ......). We were served a wonderful lunch of roast beef and salads and more wines and finally a couple of luquers (sp?) A good day. We also had a shopping opportunity (never shrug off a shopping opportunity) on the way up to the ranch and Eric - if you're reading this - you got your first hat !!! (Eric is one of the kids who walks Oliver).
Am doing more walking here on the ship in a day than I do in a week at home. Our cabin is quite a distance (for me) from the dining rooms and so there is incentive to walk to and from. Room service is available anytime and we stayed "in" last night and just had salads for dinner. We've booked serious spa treatments for tomorrow and the next day while we're at sea and will go to the fine dining spot on the ship for dinner tomorrow night if we can get in.
Well folks. Am sitting here at this computer looking out at lots of islands and fijords and it's quite beautiful. I can't say enough how lovely the Chilean people are. The owner of the ranch today was clearlly veru proud of his cowboys and his dancers and even down to the kids working in the kitchen. It's nice to see.

signing off for now and love to everyone
maggie
xx