Wednesday, March 7, 2012
On Hold in Peru
This is March 7th we are supposed to be in Peru on a tour but the fog is so thick that you can’t see 10 feet in front of your face let alone the end of the ship. We are at anchor waiting for the fog to lift. We won’t be surprised if the tours are cancelled, but we will see what happens. This port is actually a 45 minute drive from Lima.
I have tried several times to download pictures of Valparaiso with no success so I will try again later.
The next port after that was Coquimbo, which is also in Chile. We had another tour planned through the Cruise Critic group. Buses picked us up and away we went.
This area has a permanent morning fog. It always lifts around noon, so there was no concern. We travelled up into the hills and our first stop was the Tabali winery. This is a huge operation; we could not believe the size of the vats... The wine was good and the tour was cultural as well as informative about the wine making process. They were very busy because the harvest had just begun.
Next we headed further into the hills to visit the site of the Petroglyphs. They are located in the Enchanted valley and they range from stone carvings to engravings. It was really fascinating. Of special interest were the carvings that showed what appeared to be Martians with antennas.
Our last stop was the Hacienda Santa Christina. The bus wound its way over dirt roads that went up and down and around through poor hot countryside and suddenly there appeared an amazing 5 star resort. It was beautiful. We were first lead to a Patio enclosure with wonderful covered seating areas. There were magnificent rose gardens and a pool and a type of accommodations on the hill above the restaurant.
We were seated and waiters arrived with trays of beverages. There were Pisco sours, (these are the local specialty), and a passion fruit drink and diet cokes. You were able to have as many drinks as you wanted. They served a cheese empanada at the same time. These were unbelievably tasty. The crust was very flaky, not at all doughy.
After about 25 minutes we were ushered into a wonderful dining room. We were told to sit at the tables with the flowers because they were reserved for us. The room looked as if it has been set up for a very high end wedding. There was wine and silver and china and an amazing salad of shrimp and chicken and avocado and abalone and greens. The second course was a chicken dish, a lot like a cordon blue but it was asparagus instead of ham. For dessert there was a papaya and ice cream dish. This was amazing and they continued to fill wine glasses as we dined.
When it was time to go we all loaded into the busses to begin our 45 minute drive back to the pier. What an amazing day this was. No one believed they could even consider eating supper.
The scenery was completely different on the way back because the fog had lifted and we could see the beautiful beaches and all of the beauty of the city as it lay before us as we made our way back down the hills.
Valparaiso
I am so far behind that I don’t know where to start but I will try to catch up.
The reason I am behind is because I caught a cold and it took the stuffing out of me. I am feeling much better today, so I will try to blog a little. The last port I reported on was Punta Arenas.
Our last and first port of call was Valparaiso, which is also in Chile. This city is at about the same latitude south as San Diego is North. It is Chile’s second largest city and it was founded in 1536.
The bus picked us up and we were driven round the city. We stopped at the city center and took pictures. The city is built on very steep hills and so they have what they call funiculars. Actually they are like a cross between a cable car and an elevator. They transport people from the bottom of the hill to the top. At one time there were 39 of them, now there are only 4. As they break down or need repair they are not replaced. The bus stopped at the foot of one and we rode to the top and then we got out and our guide led us back to the bottom. There is a lot of construction happening in the down town area. This has been declared a UNESCO heritage site and so the old buildings are being restored. There is a curious mix of the old and the new because of this. On our way down we passed many many buildings with ugly graffiti and some with rather beautiful street art. The guide explained that the owners of buildings that are constantly being defaced by ugly tags eventually give up and they hire someone to do street art on their building. Apparently there is a code and taggers do not mark on someone else’s art work. So if you hire someone to decorate you building your worries with graffiti are over. A lot of it was really quite beautiful. We wound our way along the narrow street and we came to a home where the owners were selling a local cookie called Alfajores. The guide knocked on the door and a lay emerged with a try of these specialties. The lady spoke only Spanish but the guide purchased a cookie for each of us and then we continued on our way. They cookie had a kind of shortbread biscuit covered in chocolate with some kind of a tropical fruit filling. Her sign said 150 was the cost so that would be around 30 cents Canadian. They reminded me of a wagon wheel with fruit instead of marshmallow. We walked along the financial district and I was surprised to see the Scotiabank. They have been in all of the South American countries.
This was Saturday and here like it is in so many countries they have a type of flea market and farmers market. It goes for what seems like miles down the center of the city. It is outside in the blazing sun. I really don’t know how they do it. The sun would really do me in.
We left the city and our next stop was for lunch and wine tasting at the William Cole winery. It was about a 45 minute drive and it was in a beautiful setting. It was a massive operation but I can’t say that I was terribly impressed with the wine. We had lunch here; it consisted of several kinds of finger food with a very nice dessert assortment.
After lunch we headed back to the ship. Our tour had come to an end.
Because it was the beginning of the second cruise we expected a lot of delay in boarding but that was not the case. We were able to just walk on with no dely.
Friday, March 2, 2012
First Cruise is over.
The First one is Over!!
It is hard to believe but the first cruise is about to come to an end. Tomorrow the people who are not continuing on will be disembarking in the morning and we will be going on a tour of Valparaiso.
This has been a great cruise. There were lots of wonderful shows, great meals and fantastic places to visit.
We have made many new friends and most surprising of all my jeans still fit comfortably.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
It Costs How Much?!
Crafts seem to be almost universal,
Roaming around the square in Punta Arenas I came across a lady selling scarves identical to the ones that the Harmony unit made and sold at the Xmas Craft Fayre in November.
We sold the scarves for 20 Canadian Dollars.
Here they are selling for 8640 Chilean Pesos.
Doesn’t that sound expensive??
Actually it was less because the current exchange rate is 480 pesos equals one US dollar.
Black Card
We get free laundry service!!
We are certainly enjoying our black card.
We had a great mini bar set up in our room when we arrived. There were small bottles of cognac and gin and vodka as well as soda and water and coke and beer.
We received special toiletries .
The steward delivered 2 pair of slippers with the princess logo.
We have invitations to free wine tasting.
Canapés are delivered to our room on formal nights
We get priority boarding on the tenders.
We get 500 free internet minutes.
But most enjoyable of all is the free laundry service. I simply put the laundry into a bag, checked off what it contained, put on our room number and away it went. The next day it is returned, clean and pressed and hung on hangers and placed in our closet.
I love our black card.
