Sunday 5th February- Up and over the Andes Mountain range

We have all heard of the film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ (which incidentally was showing on Santiago TV the night before we left) but maybe you have not heard of four coaches and three boats to cross the Andes. Good friends of ours did this last year and recommended it to us.

Chilean Granny Toilet issue rip off merchants

So at 08.00 prompt the tour coach turned up to meet us at the Hotel and took our bags away with airline tags, good so far, and then we did a tour of several other local hotels where we collected additional passengers and then off we went and the first stop was to see the very nice Petrohue Falls. It is only a short walk from the coach about 600 metres to the Falls and back and we were informed that if we needed the Loo we should arrange it here as it would be about another hour to the port to meet the first boat.

Dutifully we all went up to the toilet block where two elderly ladies sat outside with a table with a large roll of loo paper on it and also stacks of pre torn sheets which they were passing out and most people including us sighed and said how much?. So we bought two packs to be safe and when the work had been completed we both found next to the washing bowls area a large machine dispensing loo paper by the ton free of charge. Talk about granny rip off merchants and being scammed by two old ladies bugged me for the rest of the day.

However we left the falls and eventually arrived at the small port on the Lago Todos Los Santos (Emerald Lake) where several other coaches appeared and so there was about a hundred people on board. The couriers and organisation were first class.

The Lake crossing was for about 20 miles and took just over an hour and half before we would arrive at Puella where we were due to stay the night. During the boat trip there were several announcements about our route and other information including the facts that Puella is a small town of two Hotels, one of which is closed and this happened to be the one we booked at, and about 150 people live around the area. We also learnt from one of the guides that Bariloche Airport is also still closed from the effects of Volcano dust and so with the news of no hote and no flight we thought that this is a great start.

Around the lake there are many expensive houses and quite isolated and so the boat we wer on collected the kids on a Monday morning and took them to Puerto Varas and then brought them back on a Friday night.

The Hotel we booked

It turned out that we had been rebooked at the other Hotel which actually was much better than the one we booked. Most of the people on the boat were on days trips or continuing their journey that afternoon through to Argentina but we stayed the night along with about 10 other couples in a Hotel with about 150 rooms.

We had a good lunch there as there is not much to do in this area unless you like horseback riding and/or a zip wire experience and then we rested a while and finally went for a long walk down to the quay where we took some photos and Jen some bird watching.

The hotel had wifi and so I asked for the code and man at the reception proudly gave me a piece of paper with the code on, great and about half an hour later I tried to connect but no luck I kept on trying and eventually went back to the reception and explained the problem and he said the wifi has been down for a couple of days. I thought that perhaps he might have told me that before he handed over the password etc…Oh well thanks Manuel.

We returned to the Hotel and decided on a early night and as we had eaten well at lunchtime, in fact too much, the quiche Lorraine looked like a car crash and was loaded with all types of vegetables,  A French Chef would have been shocked to see this.

For comfort we decided to put on our jammies and sit up in bed and watch TV and at about 9.30 pm the phone went and after a little confusion it turned out to be the restaurant saying where were we? as they have been waiting to serve us since 8 pm, oh well here we go again.

It is jolly quiet here in the middle of nowhere.

Saturday 4th February- Puerto Varas has some life

Writing this blog can sometimes be a challenge either because the lighting in the room is not so great, like tonight, or that too many glasses of wine have passed the lips, like tonight, or that we have done such a lot and seen such a lot that you cannot remember it all, like tonight.

An easy morning with a light breakfast before leaving the Hotel for the airport where they say domestic check is one hour before departure and so to the airport takes about thirty minutes. Looking out of our 18^th floor room at 9.30 am there was little, if any, traffic on the roads and so where is everybody ?, wait and you will see.

The driver called Ayrton Senna speeds us to the airport in twenty minutes and because we are foreign people he deposits us in the international departures section and we say we want Domestic and he says down there. So we arrive and there are thousands of people everywhere each, it seems with fifty bags each or thereabouts it seems. I ask a young LAN lady where to check in as there is chaos around us reminding me of my first check at at Mumbai (Bombay) Airport and she says use the automatic check in desk. So I go toe the machine which give me four airlines to choose from and so I choose LAN and then follow some graphics which initially I do not comprehend and some words in Spanish where I have even less chance. The graphics indicate that I should put my passport for scanning and that I will receive our boarding passes poste haste and so the machinery turns and after four minutes or so it delivers three lines with lots of Spanish words which means from my best knowledge of the language ‘clear off’ you have it wrong.

So now I approach a LAN passenger services desk and she says go to check in desks  62 and 63 which we do and each person checking in seems to have a problem and so the fact that we were early at the airport is now fast disappearing out the window.

Finally we are last but one in the queue and then one of the check in girls suddenly disappears under the check in desk after putting up a ‘desk closed’ sign. We cannot understand where she has gone and now both desks are closed!!! What to do as so many people are checking in at the physically disabled desk and they look bloody fit to me.

Suddenly the first lady appears again from below her desk and she has been eating her mid-morning snack and is now ready to work again, phew.

Finally we arrive at the check in and she enters stuff in to the computer and then issues boarding passes and then she look at the printed flight confirmations again and tears up the boarding passes and then after another few minutes of data entry issues us with new boarding passes.

We leave for the gate and sit there for about twenty minutes and then suddenly everybody gets up and leaves??? And a young lady asks us if we are going to Puerto Montt and we say yes, and she says gate has changed.

We finally board the plane at the very back and we think many people have not flown before as many are taking photos and then later in the flight when we start descending we hit a bit of cloud turbulence and the plane drops and a number of of people start screaming, wow this is great.

The taxi meets us and takes us to the Hotel in Puerto Varas and we are given a nice room overlooking the lake but are starving and the restaurant is happy to help us out with two salads and now we can concentrate on the rest of the day.

We walk in to town which appears to be very nice and then come across a special party day where there are hundreds of people who have contributed to a cake competition and there are beer drinking competitions taking place and then dancing competitions, people are having a great time.

We continue our walk around this interesting town and happen upon an ice cream shop where we indulge with a single scoop each and then continue our walking and look at the family’s on the beach with dogs, yes more dogs, sleeping the day away and then on heading home we come across a drum band which sounded a little monotonous after a while but we persevered

Back to the Hotel which is very nice except for the large lump of broken glass which Noel nearly put his knee on and missed it by two inches, that would have been a big ouch!! And even bigger insurance claim.

We had dinner in the Hotel and it was very good indeed and the shrimps and crab and skate and salmon were all excellent.

Then back to the room for blogging and finishing photos but the internet connection is intermittent and also slow.

Tomorrow is an early morning as we go across the Lakes and use buses to cross the magnificent Andes Mountains.

Friday 3rd February- Santiago- a really nice City and we shall be back

After a good night’s sleep and a late’ish breakfast in the club lounge we went to purchase our tickets for the red double decker bus ‘hop on and hop off’ bus which does a great job of leaving you at the most important places.

After due thought we decided to do the complete round trip of two hours to see really where it went and then we would go round again and get off where we thought best. After doing the round trip we panned our first stop would leave us outside the National fine arts museum and although Jen and I are not madly keen on museums and as the bus ticket allowed free entrance we went in. It was quite an excellent building built in the early 20^th century with lots of little rooms and the guy at the door looked at my camera and said no photos. Some of the display items where made out of different types of stone and then there were a couple of modern art exhibits which left me a little cold. Two bits of wood hanging in the air with the sound of a trumpet going off every minute or so!!!

Thirty minutes later and I had taken a few photos when the security guard was missing we left the building and headed towards the main part of town, we could have used the tourist bus but we wanted to look in the shops etc and also as it was close to 2pm we were getting a little peckish. We said we would look for a European styles restaurant and get a sandwich and then we did the complete opposite and then went in to a packed local Chilean style restaurant which had almost the largest choice of food imaginable. It took about fifteen minutes to digest the contents of the menu large book and then we ordered. Jennifer had the Peruvian chicken and Noel basically shrimps and rice, but they also served chips which seem to be normal here to serve chips with everything.

As mentioned this place was packed and not a large building but with an open kitchen there must have been about twenty staff. The food was very good and no other tourists in sight.

We continued walking and then came to the Plaza De Armas surrounded by some old buildings perhaps mostly government where there were lots of people just hanging around and kids playing in the fountains. Another local pointed at my camera and said watch for pick pockets. From there we continued our walking down to the Mercado Central which is a British design and built in the UK and shipped across and it was assembled during 1872 when President Errazuriz Zanarto decided it should be the new local market and not the art gallery that it was intended to be  and so now it is full mostly of fish suppliers and restaurants where the tourists were amassing. By this time it was around four pm and also very hot, we think around 31 centigrade and so we had enough and jumped back on the bus. A stop or two later two other couples joined the bus and sat behind us, apparently they did not know each other, but somehow they both realised they were both from the UK with one couple from Halifax and the other from Chester and they were both going on cruises leaving tomorrow on the same route and they talked so much about where they had been and where they were going and what sort of cabin they had that Jennifer and I could not hear the very interesting commentary being given about the Cityand no doubt they did not hear a thing, but they had been to Santiago and had lunch in the market!

We got back to the Hotel just before six pm and gave up on the idea for a swim as we both needed a shower and a little rest. We were not sure whether to snack it in the Club lounge or go out but when we saw the snacks were the same as last nights the thought of ‘Tony Roma’s ‘came rushing back and soon we were at a table testing some Merlot and watching the people walk by whist Jennifer demolished her New York steak and Noel the short ribs and both were excellent.

We left the restaurant and sat for about an hour people watching and then headed back to the Hotel where we needed to scan our passports and send to the tour agent that is arranging our trip from Puerto Varas in Chile to Bariloche Saint Carlos in Argentina and they needed these photocopies of our passport due to changing regulations. Perhaps they want to capture us to exchange for Prince William in the Falklands, anyway we shall see what happens now the relations between UK and Argentina are almost at an all-time low and so know I will start wearing my cap with the OZ Kangaroo badge on it and hope they don’t think that we are Brits…

Tomorrow we fly down to Puerto Montt and then by Taxi to Puerto Varas

  

Thursday 2nd February- It’s Santiago

Not a good night’s sleep for same reasons as yesterday but without the earthquake, Silence may be golden buts it’s difficult to sleep when you are used to air-con noise etc.

Vivien picked us up at 0800, god we hate these early mornings, and by car we drove to Santiago and en-route we were given info about the various places and where you can grow vineyards and where you cannot.

When Noel was last here on business, about seven years ago, they were planning a long tunnel under the river which runs through the centre of town, the alternative was a overpass which everybody objected to, and so they blocked up the river and diverted it, then dug up the base and constructed a tunnel and then finally covered it all over again and then allowed the river back on its original course. So now we drove in this tunnel for about three miles under the river and finally to surface near our Hotel.

We arrived at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, points from previous stays over the years have paid for this, and it’s a nice hotel if not a little old by modern day’s standards.

We have a club room on the 18^th floor overlooking downtown Santiago and with the foothills of the Andes in the foreground.

We understood there is a shopping mall nearby and so we headed down there to take a look, boy what a mall this is, its huge with hundreds of shops and restaurants and so we had lunch in a popular café of pita bread with a grilled chicken filling and watched the pretty office girls walk by and listen to a small group singing songs whilst sitting in the sun at about 29 degrees centigrade, it can’t get much better than this.

We returned to the hotel after finding out about the get on/off tour bus which does a two hour trip around the main sites and then settled by the super large pool for a couple of hours with the plan to go to Tony Roma’s ribs restaurant for dinner.

As we are in the Club rooms we are entitled to join the evening 5 till 8pm free snacks and drinks which we did and after a few Chardonnays and Jennifer some merlot and snacks of smoked salmon, sushi and Spanish ham we decided we would pig ourselves out here and forget the restaurant and have a night in the hotel room as this one is large, has a nice seating area and magnificent views.

So it was a book reading time for Jennifer whilst Noel worked on updating the Blog and photos.

Let’s hope we sleep well tonight.

  

Wednesday 1st February- More Valparaiso

We had hoped that the first night in a hotel with the bed not moving might encourage a good night’s sleep except that it did not work out that way.

After the very poor dinner the night before we were ready for bed and although we are not far from the main town this place is so quiet you can hear a pin drop or a dog bark. The lack of air conditioning was not so much a problem but the lack of noise was, and with the occasional dogs having a midnight chat all was deathly quiet to the point that we could not sleep as we are not used to such quiet times.

At about 0200 hrsin the morning. there was a minor earthquake which Jennifer slept through, it did not last long, I guess about 5/10 seconds but had it lasted longer then I would have woken Jen and then get out of the building but in the end this was not necessary. The building was shaking and making worrying noises  So not a great night’s sleep.

In the morning after a late breakfast Jennifer read her book on the balcony with the great view and Noel did photos, email and made taxi arrangements for later in the trip as there is nothing worse than arriving at an unknown airport and looking for a taxi.

In the early afternoon we headed down town, which was a little difficult as there are major, and I mean major, road works taking place all over the area where we are staying and the roads are either complete but mostly big holes and lots of earth with the occasional road partly finished with well laid stones waiting for the concrete.

To get down to town we took a funicular which had been built in Valparaiso in 1886, so a little old, and still going strong apart from the holes in the floor and a shaky ride all for 50 pence each way.

We had a lunch in a small café bar and then walked for several hours around the old town looking at the food shops and a market area selling meats and vegetables and then ended up late in the afternoon at a tea house where we had a nice cup of Whittards English breakfast LEAF tea, excellent.

As usual there are dogs lying all ovcer the place and mostly fast asleep, a little bit like the cows in India which hacve the run of the place

Walking back uphill again after another ride on the funicular was hard work on unfinished roads but we expect in another year the finished and to be excellent. Very few cars frequent this area as roads are too narrow and steep and so after a lot of panting and high heart beats we made it back to the Hotel and collapsed on the bed to recover.

For dinner we took the easy route and walked about 200 yards through upturned roads to a Pizza place which was very good and two pizzas with some nice Chilean Merlot went down a treat. We met a couple of Americans in the restaurant and chatted to them for a while, he had lived in Santiago for a time some years ago and does not like the place, oh well let’s see.

Tuesday 31st January- A tale of two Cities

We had to be out of the cabin by 0800 and so we had an early breakfast and then headed to the lounge to wait to be called for disembarkation.

For those of you who read our Blog about the disembarkation process of our NCL cruise to New York this was like chalk and cheese and so very well organised. We were due to disembark at 09.30 but already at 09.15 they called our baggage tag colour and so off we went and ten minutes later after customs and immigration we were ready to leave the Port about twenty minutes earlier than I had ordered the taxi to meet us.

The view from our Hotel

The taxi driver turned out to be a young French lad of around 30 who had lived in Valparaiso for several years and found a job running his own Tour company offering tours of all types. We arrived at the Hotel early and were lucky to get a room but it became clear that today the Hotel is very quiet. The Hotel is called

Boutique Hotel Acontraluz (www.hotelacontraluz.cl) which had been well recommended by Trip advisor. It certainly was different and quite lovely with an old world charm but amazing views over Valparaiso.

Almost British

We decided to ask Vivien, who hailed from Bordeaux, to give us a tour of Valparaiso and then to visit Vino Del Mar (the new part of town) and so he picked us up at about one pm  and off we went visiting lots of lovely places and some very old buildings some of which have a very strong British influence. The famous people in Chile are really not from here but two very important people who have statues and roads and squares named after them are a Mr O’Higgins and a certain Mr Pratt. After listening to the exploits of Mr Pratt we begin to think that’s where the expression came from’ a right Pratt’

After touring the town for about three hours he then took us to the new part of town called Vino del Mar and it is just like Benidorm or similar Spanish coastal towns where the tourist’s and holidaymakers in their masses visit and it’s got a McDonalds, a Starbucks and several other food chains and its where the Sheraton and several other international Hotels are, and there is a large Hyatt being built on the beach front. We did not like it all and after the drive through the town we did a drive back along the coastal road with is packed beaches and bars where you can rent tandems and horse drawn taxis, bloody awful place we thought although Vivian said that after the 1^st of March when the holiday period is over this whole area becomes quite deserted.

See what I mean-Benidorm

After a quick shower and change we went to dinner where Vivien had a friend who owned the place but quite frankly it was a bit of disaster. The restaurant had great views of the Valparaiso Container Yard, lots of Hapag Lloyds and Hamburg-Sud containers, and of course the port and also two funicular trams going up and down with paintings of the Madonna (without the boobs) on one and an religious painting on the other, as they are quite some years old perhaps the paintings add to the security?

The food was supposed to be seafood but the waitress did not have a clue how to serve and at the next table filled a wine glass for the guy to taste right to the brim of the glass, a bit like water. He looked quite dismayed but no doubt thought that as he had only ordered a single glass he did quite well.

Vivien apologised for the screw up and we were also disappointed but also after having such excellent food on board for the past two weeks we felt very let down. Watch out for a future Trip Advisor review.

The back to the Hotel and we hoped to sleep well with a bed that not moving and no air-conditioning noise.

Quite a day really, but most enjoyable apart from the restaurant visit.

Monday 30th January- Last full day at sea

The usual morning of relaxing and Jennifer deep in a good book from the Library which she needs to finish before were arrive in Valparaiso.

We went to down to the main restaurant where there was the only buffet main lunch on the trip and it was rather busy and we also felt that if we joined in that we would not be able to enjoy the final night’s dinner in the Colonnade which is Japanese style.

In the afternoon we joined a lecture on Valparaiso and Santiago given by an ex professor from the UK who must have been about 80 and with his photos of Valparaiso and Santiago of a similar age and showing Ford Cortina’s etc. He disparaged Valparaiso so much that I was having grave doubts about our stay there and perhaps we should change the location and Hotel but looking at the Hotel reviews and comments etc. I held firm.

The evening was great as the sun was shining and we were able to get a nice table outside where we enjoyed Tempura lobster and Teriyaki beef on rice supported by an excellent Italian wine in reasonable quantities. Earlier when Jen was reading her book Noel had packed his case and gone to the bar to wait for Jen but a little chasing was required and so Jennifer needed to pack her case after dinner and so Noel watched a Cohen brothers film.

It was a very nice evening after enjoying a really good cruise and the only downside was the weather for the last few days which did not give us the views of the Chilean fjords that we had hoped for, oh well just have to do it again.

Sunday 29th January- We arrive in Puerto Montt

Again it was quite bumpy last night but somehow we got through it, the trouble is smaller ships goo to more interesting places thn the very large ones which barge their way through the sea.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Puerto Chacabuco was a place where only the salmon fish farms workers live on their metal houses and so not a tourist place at all.

Opening the curtains at 0800 showed the pouring rain and we felt soryy for the passengers who had booked all sorts of day trips. So as it was raining Jennifer caught up with the washing whilst the ship was quiet.

By 11.30 as we left the ship and took the tender to the dock and we had noticed their were three other ships in town. The dock area was a little run down and as we walked along the streets to the centre of town the pavements began to improve. There was a new bus terminal, in fact not quite finished, and the roads surrounding were more like gravel than tarmac.

Being Sunday pretty much all of the shops were shut, which is a shame, although we did notice the odd shop being open and of course the McDonalds was open.

We were also looking for place to do some internet work and eventually found one open restaurant and we thought we would get a coffee. The barman who spoke pigeon English said we can have

Chicken,Beef, Sausage, Cheese,Chips, Tomatoes etc etc

coffee but the machine is not very good and so we changed to beer. Apparently they also made their own beer and he gave us a sample which was quite good really.

By about 1.30 pm ther place was beginning to fill up and so we deceided to stay for lunch and the menu was the usual Hot Dogs and Burgers plus some local stuff including the Chefs special which he recommended. So we ordered two and he said no and that one dish was enough. Eventually it arrived on a place about 12 x 8 inches and piled at least 8 inches high containing everything you can imagine. The base was made out of chips and covered with cheese and on top was beef and chicken and sausage, gherkins, carrots and others that I cannot remember. I did take a photo and will upload when we get a good interenet connection in Valparaiso on Tuesday.

We wandered back to the ship and Jen did some reading and Noel watched a film and then when getting ready for dinner noticed that the shower thermostat seems not to be working and although there was hot water ion the sink and bath the shower was luke warm.

Its dressy up night tonight so dusted down the tuxedo and went to the Captains goodbye to the passengers evening do for about an hour and had a couple of Kir Royal’s and some tit bits.

Sophisticated Electrical Systems in Chile

We had dinner in our usual place and met a nice American couple who very nice, he had worked for the FBI and he had retried some years ago but had tried cruises on cargo ships which sound actually quite good.

Very few people (men) dress in a dinner suit and most seem to flout the rules

on wearing a suit and tie as an alternative. I bet this would not happen on the P & O where a flogging would and should take place.

We spent the final part of the evening at the show and the singers and dancers were excellent, even the Philippine support band is very good.

Tomorrow we have to collect our passports and start packing our cases in readiness for Tuesday as bags will be collected between 6-11 pm to get them ready for offloading. That’s seems a long time but when you see how many bags people bring for two weeks it’s incredible.

And so to bed with ship bouncing around in the swell, can’t have sex in case you fall off and break something!!

Saturday 28th January- We arrive in Puerto Chacabuco-Chile

Having threaded our way through the islands at night on the inland waterway, and the journey did get a lot smoother around midnight, we arrived at 0800 at Puerto Chacabuco.

We were booked on a trip to see the ‘Natural wonders of Patagonia’ which required us to get up at the unearthly hour of 0640 to enable us to have time to get breakfast and then ready for the tender at 0800 ish.

So the breakfast room was quite busy when we got there around 0705 and the about an hour later we were on the tender to the shore. We are parked in a beautiful fjord with the mountains towering over the ship and it was grey with the sun starting to work its way through.

Patagonian BBQ lamb

We boarded the bus for the twenty minute drove to the Nationals Park and then wandered through quietly, all 100 of us looking at the trees and plant life until we came to a waterfall which was quite attractive. From there we returned and climbed a reasonably steep hill so that we could see the lake then went inside the building for light refreshments and watched some local dancing where the men wear spurs on their shoes no doubt to prod the wife etc. The local Chilean wine was quite good and so when we returned to the ship around 1200 we spent a little while ‘up top’ admiring the views before heading to the restaurant for a light lunch which we took outside with further testing of the grape.

As it had been an early morning we went back for an afternoon sleep before having dinner and then heading for the Panorama bar for a nightcap and watched the rain pour down as the mountains and islands slid by. Let’s hope the Captain knows where he is going. We did hear that one of their Cape Horn rounding’s was really terrible with the ship all over the place and although the Soujourn made it through two other cruise liners had to turn back.

Tomorrow we arrive in Puerto Montt where we have not booked any tours but will walk the city and try to find a restaurant serving the Patagonian BBQ lamb and also an internet café to update the Blog and photo album and email etc.

Tomorrow night is formal night and so must find some clean knickers somewhere

Friday 27th January- More Chilean Fjords

We awoke to a grey day again which is such a shame as the mountains and islands that we pass by look fantastic.

We had a pretty quiet day on board really just watching the scenery go by but it had been quite rough overnight and so neither of us slept to well.

We did our usual afternoon walk but had to be careful as the ship was moving around quite a bit and as the walking track is on the 9^th deck it is moving both front to back and side to side and with the strong wind blowing can be a challenging time.

This ship is what they say “all inclusive” which includes all your food and of course booze but no the internet or spa treatments.  You could eat yourself silly if you wished and I did wonder how they would handle the free booze as I felt they might restrict it  bit but no, the wine glasses are constantly topped up before they get empty and if you have a brandy or similar the same applies. I talked to our suite stewardess about her life on board and they are very happy with their accommodation and facilities and they find they are well managed and so all the crew work extremely well and very cheerfully. I understand that there is a long waiting list to be Seaborne staff of up to five months.

We had a good dinner last night and it was ‘Thai’ and very good it was too with  and supported by a Uruguayan  white wine which was really excellent considering that neither of us knew that they made wine. It still is a bit rough as we go to bed but during the night it should get smoother and we hope this is true as we have an early morning.

Wednesday 25th January- Punta Arenas- Chile

We parked in the port alongside all the containers and trucks and we had a late’ish breakfast and by this time many people had left for their day long tours, none of which we fancied.

We took the shuttle bus in to town and perhaps should not have bothered as there is really nothing here of interest unless you like a museum and graveyard. On the bus going in to town the female tourist guide explained a little about the city and its highlights such as the two museums and the Cemetery and without realising I was being so loud and thinking that I was only talking to Jennifer I said “It’s a bit early for that” at which all the coach passenger all started laughing. Needless to say the major said I should be quiet.

The town is nothing to speak of and we wandered around the shopping area and noticed a very large number of stray dogs sleeping all over the place and generally all the buildings were pretty much run down although there had been some recent new building and repairs to government properties.

We stopped in a little old family run coffee shop for a drink and Noel ended up with a Iced coffee which was a translation mistake as it was vanilla ice-cream with a coffee poured over the top and covered with cream. Not quite was expected but OK.

With nothing more to see we caught the shuttle bus back to the ship and had a sandwich in the lounge and then Noel did photos and blogging whilst Jennifer the washing. 

We were due to leave Port around 7.30 pm but at 6pm the Captain announced that a group of passengers who were on a flight to and from The Antarctic had been delayed by fog and were unlikely to arrive back before midnight and as another cruise ship was arriving and they only have one dock we would have to move out at 7.30 and anchor to await the passengers, who actually made it back slightly earlier and the ship finally departed around 11pm.

The Captain said it would be rough overnight and it was with strong winds and mediocre seas.

Tuesday 24th January- Cape Horn me hearties

The Captain saidn it would get rough in the night as we approached Cape Horn which we would eventually pass by at 0630 is you want to get up in the middle of the night to see a rock.

We were not planning to get up but he was right about the weather as the wind screamed by outside the window and spray from the front of the ship, about 40 yards away was streaming past our cabin window and so not much sleep for both of us, and may others as well it seems.

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra De Fuego archipelago of Southern Chile and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are Diego Ramirez Islands) Cape Horns marks the Northern Boundary of the Drake Passage, for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world.

We did the tradition travel around the Island and so ended up heading back to Ushuaia for a while before heading back to the Beagle Channel.

It was rather grey at first and the ship was lurching a little and after doing a little walk around the ship several times for exercise we headed for a pre-lunch drink to prepare us for the afternoon travel down Glacier Alley as it’s called which was due to start around 4.30 pm.

There are about five big glaciers on this route all named after countries and the first one was Holland and the last was named after the ship discovered them.

As we passed the various glaciers we were given information from one of the British lecturers on board and so we did understand the reasons for them being there. During this time they were also serving hot chocolate as it was quite windy outside and on the front of the ship so you could easily get blown away and so we eventually found a little corner with good views and out of the wind.

As usual we had the pre-dinner glass of Chardonnay in the Panorama bar and tonight we planned dinner in the main restaurant. What the writer of this blog did not know was that the daily menu posting were the daily specials only and there are as many as three times more dishes available at each meal and so Noel choice of restaurant was made for all the wrong reasons. Oh well. We had a lovely dinner with a table for two right by the window as the mountains covered in snow passed by.

We finished with a couple of glasses of a very nice Brandy.

It’s the mad Welshman on again tonight and the word must have gone around, as the place was packed, and he gave yet another strong performance. Apparently he leaves the ship tomorrow.

To finish the evening we went to the Club for a dance and there was hardly anybody there no doubt due to many people taking early tours tomorrow morning.

Finally the place was empty, apart from the band and several waiters, and so Noel approached the band for a special request of his favourite number called “The house of the rising sun” performed by Eric Burdon. At first they did not know it and they asked me to sing a bit which I did as I left the band they suddenly found the melody and called me back on stage and gave me the microphone and I started to sing. Jennifer was horrified and then I could not remember all the words and so I let the stage much to my wife’s relief.

Bed is due as it very late.

Monday 23rd January- Ushuaia

We arrived on time around 0800 and we were having breakfast ready to get off the ship for our tour of the Beagle Channel which is due to last two and a half hours.

It was a nice Catamaran and clean and we went around the small Islands dotted around the Beagle Channel and we saw lots of Cormorants, Steamer Ducks and Sea Lions.

The boat was able to get very close and so we could obtain some good photos of the birds and mammals.

We got back to the dock around two hours later, not the two and a half hours as booked, oh well this is Argentina.

As we arrived back in the harbour the sun started appearing and providing some nice views.

As we left the dock to walk in to town we saw a sign which said that England has illegally occupied the Malvinas ( Falkland Islands to us) since 1833 and that we should hand it back.

The twon was pretty busy as there were actually another ship in at the same time but we wandred around taking photos and then ended up in a internet café where we could update some photos online and get Ms Outlook working for email as it refuses to work with the slow on-board connection.

Jennifer had previously spotted a crab restaurant which we thought we would try but it was closed. As we wanted to try the King Crab which is known to be very good around these parts. We walked back along the main shopping road and looked at another place and decided to try it and inside were not only several passengers from our ship but also some crew as well. All sais the food was good and they were correct as Jennifer had crab parmisan which is really a crab au’gratin and Noel the crab with rice and washed down with an excellent bottle of Malbec.  It was a great meal anmd we started to wonder if would need to eat tonight.

We got back to the port at the prescribed time and found that there must be several local boats leaving at the same time we need to pass through security (which actually was somebody who waived you past the X-ray machine) and it was chaos. We had tied up with several other passengers and then formed a small attack unit and got through the crowds quite quickly in the end.

This is a nice little town on the slopes of mountains and its uphill all the way. There are a number of shops selling duty free. The guide on the boat said that this area was given a tax free status to attract business and the population grew very quciky from 5000 to 60000 which was a slight problems there was limited housing and so people built their own where they felt like it and on the outside of town, she said, is a mess.

A cup of Darjeeling tea in the lounge as we watched the views as we left harbour, and then we did a tour of the kitchens which were huge and extremely well organised. The ENGLISH Executive Chef has 58 staff and they seem to produce just about everything they need. All the meat comes from the USA and so no Argentinian beef, shame, but it was most impressive and Noel would hate to work in their he said.

A quiet night tonight we thought and we shall have room service. Whilst waiting for this Noel had a bath, then slipped down when trying to get out and nearly flooded the ship but as he said it wasn’t his fault the ship moved at the crucial point of his manoeuvre to get out.

Tomorrow is another day at sea as we head towards Punta Arenas in Chile. Whilst crossing the sea border between Argentina and Chile the ship had to stop and float around for about thirty minutes whilst various immigration folks did their thing.