New Years - 2016 - Videos from the trip

These are videos that we have taken that did not make it on the daily blog pages.

From a hill in Valpariaso

 

 

From another hill in Valpariaso

 

 

Outdoor eating area in Santiago

 

 

A winery in Chile

 

 

At a hillside craft market in Valparaiso

 

Acrobats on Celebrity Infinity

 

 Acrobats on Celebrity Infinity - 2

 

 Acrobats on Celebrity Infinity - 3

 

Sea day on the Celebrity Infinity

 

 

 

 

Rainbow from our deck on the Celebrity Infinity

 

 

Approaching the Celebrity Infinity

 

 

Fish market in Punta Arenas

 

Lunch at one of the stops

 

 

Cruising the Chilean inside passage

 

 

A street band on the cruise

 

Eating lunch at a great local bar

 

 

A beautiful cemetery on the cruise

 

 

 

Walking with Penguins on Las Lobes Island at Ushuaia

 

More Penquins at Ushuais

 

End of the highway in Punta Arenas

 

Tango in the central park in Buenos Aries

 

At the Ricoloto Cemetery in Buenos Aries

 

Lunch in La Boca district in Buenos Aires

 

 

 

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 20

Our last day of the trip except for flying and the weather was perfect again – hot, dry and in the 90’s.

We were unable to get a tour of the Presidential Palace as it now took 7 – 10 days to get approval.

So we walked to the Subway and took the 20 – 30 minute ride to the city center where we had a great individual tour of the City’s Opera House.  The tour guide had lived all over Europe and spoke perfect English.  They were working on the set so the lights were not on inside the opera house but we did get to go in and see it.  Then she took us to the 4^th balcony and wow, what a sight.  After that we went up two more floors to the floor where the sets were made – very interesting.

We had seen a famous fast food place called Dominos (not the pizza place) and went to it for lunch.  It was a hot dog place and the food was just fun for lunch.

Next we went to see the house of Pablo Neruda, a Nobel Prize Poet who built his house on the side of the hill in three levels.  It was a fun tour.

Then we walked back to the subway station and took the subway back to the hotel where we have a 6:00pm check out time and a car to pick us up to the airport at 6:45pm.

That’s all for now – see you at home – it was a wonderful trip and we are ready to be home.

 

At the Opera House

 

Lunch the last day

 

Opening the door to the Opera House

 

A backdrop for the opera being painted

Outside stairway to the bedroom of the poet

Selling earrings on the street

Eating lunch at Dominoes in Santiago

 

 

Eating dinner at Johnny Rockets at the airport in Santiago

Just had to have a hamburger

 

 

 

 

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 19

We had been trying for a couple of days to find out when our tour guide would pick us up this morning and finally late last night we found out that he would pick us up at 10:00am for a ½ day tour of the city of Santiago.

Ed was up early to eat and work on videos and Barb slept in as there was nothing else to do but to wait for the guide.  Guess what; he called from the lobby at 9am to tell us he was here.  We had to tell him to come back at 10am Barb was getting some much needed sleep.

He was nice enough, but we didn’t think that the tour was as nice as the day before and this was the same company. 

We visited the hill where the city was founded and the President was going to be there tonight so we couldn’t go all the way to the top.  Then we also went to the main market, the main Cathedral Church, and he also took us to the top of the biggest hill for a scenic view of the city.  They were shooting a commercial there so we recorded the view and making of the commercial in one video.  Most of the rest of the time was spent in the van driving and seeing places of interest.

He was going to take us back to the Marriott but we asked him to drop us off at the market where we had a very large plate of small shrimp.  Then we walked down the main pedestrian street with hundreds of people. 

After that, we took the subway to the end of the line to a place called Los Dominicos, which is a huge Chilean handcraft market.  There are about 150 shops at this market and it was fun as in a number of shops, they were actually making the wood, leather, copper, silver, etc. things that they had for sale.

Then we took the subway back to the station close to the hotel, walked the wrong way and ended up in a cab back to the hotel.

We had snacks at 6:30pm in the Executive Lounge and then took off for the evening.

 

Today the temp hit 96 degrees and was it ever hot and humid.  Santiago is 2 hours from the ocean and it is between two different mountain ranges. So it is like living in a bowl and stays very hot over their summer.  Tomorrow is to be the same.

If we get an extended check-out, I will probably write another blog – it not, I will write it at home and also build a page with videos from the trip.

Good night from our last night in Santiago and we will be home in two days. We hope you have enjoyed reading our blog.  Our plane leaves tomorrow evening at 9:45pm and we will be picked up at the hotel at 6:45pm after another full day of visiting Santiago.

 

Going out for the day

The biggest and main church

Lunch

A wood cutter in the Chilean market

The subway station

At the top of Cerro San Cristobal

At the Chilean craft market

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 18

It was beautiful with clear skies and hot when we woke up in Valparaiso, Chile.

Ed had breakfast and then we were off the ship at 7:30am and through customs and immigrations by 8:10am and our guide wasn’t there yet as we were to meet him at 8:30am.   He arrived in a little bit and off we went for a 10 hour tour of Valparaiso and the country side before arriving at our hotel in Santiago.

One of the exciting things that we got to see were several groups of sea lions as we toured along the coast.  Valparaiso has miles of public beach right in town and the suburbs.  It is also a town of 53 major hills so it was a little like driving in San Francisco, except the streets are steeper and narrower!

We also took a tram to the top of one of the major hills for some beautiful views of the city.

For lunch our guide, Hector took us to this very nice restaurant right along the sea and we had a sampler platter of sea food for two and it could have easily fed four.  We were stuffed by the time we finished our lunch.

Then we left the city for the drive to Santiago.  Along the way, we stopped at a vineyard and had a wine tasting.  It was fun as we tasted from their winery four different types of wines and sat with a couple from Florida who had also been on our cruise.

Then it was back on the road to Santiago which is 2 hours from Valparaiso.  We were almost there when our van started to overheat, so Hector called his father who came in his car and we transferred everything to Hector’s father’s car and continued to Santiago.

Finally we arrived at the Santiago Marriott and as soon as we unloaded the car we realized that

Ed had left his large wardrobe back at the pier!  After we got to our room, Ed called Marriott and they will send the bag to our house via FedEx.   None of the clothes that he needs for the stay in Santiago were in that bag; however, his warm jacket, gloves and hat were.  So, we hope that it is warm in Bloomington when we land in a couple of days.

They upgraded us to a 1 bedroom corner suite on the 18 floor that measures 50’ x50’ with a huge living room, a large bedroom, a very large bathroom and enough closets for a stay for a month.

We went up to the executive lounge and had finger food and something to drink and then came back to the room to unpack.  After that, we walked a block to a mall and had a sandwich while sitting outside watching the people.

We have downloaded a few vides of today and will download more tomorrow.

Night from Santiago, Chile

 

Sea Lions

 

Barb buying a ring

 

Lunch

 

Sampler sea food platter

Wine tasting

Snacks at the Marriott

Having lunch in Valparaiso

 

 

Sea Lions in Valparaiso

 

 

 

At the Santiago Marriott

 

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 17

What a wonderful blue sky we had and perfect weather with hardly any breeze all day.

 

Ed woke up early and reserved our chairs on the pool deck, then ate breakfast and went to the gym for his ½ hour on the bicycle.

 

Then both us stayed in the sun until12:30pm when we went to AquaSpa had had grilled Tuna with grilled vegetables.  No question they serve the best food for lunch so we have enjoyed it a lot.

 

Then we stayed out until 2:00pm and came inside and we may have burned a little again!!  We cleaned up and went to the casino for our afternoon playing secession where we really didn’t play as there were no players when we went down.

 

We went back to the room and spent an hour packing and then took a nap – we are going to miss the naps!!

 

We sat in the lounge with some new friends Peter and Chrisz from Canada and talked about future cruises.  Peter and Ed played blackjack together a number of times and they are very nice.  We also talked about their joining us on the Jan ’17 Dubai cruise.

 

After that it was time to go to the show which was an acrobatic duo who were really great.  We had seen them before and she was a member of one of Russian gold metal teams in the Olympics.  They put on a great show.  On this cruise, the individual acts were better than the big staff production shows.

 

Dinner was great as only the new friends from El Paso showed up for dinner and we had a good time.  Hopefully we will meet up with them again.

 

Then it was back to the casino where we both lost.  This will be only the 4^th out of over 40 gambling trips where we came out behind – but that’s what can happen – we played the games correctly and just lost.

 

We said our goodbyes to the casino staff and went to the room to finish the blog, check emails and finish packing.  We will get off the ship at 7:30am and will be met at the port exit by our tour guide who will take us through Valparaiso and then on the Santiago where we will check into the Marriott.

 

Barb’s back survived better than we both though it would. 

 

Over the next couple of days, I will load some of the great videos we would like to share with everyone.

 

Night

 

Going out for the afternoon

Barb on the deck

Mark and Cathy from El Paso

 

 



New Years - 2016 - Day 16

Finally when we woke up the weather was warm.  We have been lucky in that the weather has not been too cold going around the bottom of South America, but when you can’t sit out in the sun, it is too cold for us.

 

Anyway, today’s port, and our last port before the end of the trip is the town of Puerto Montt, Chile.  We were told that this town dates back to 1853 when a group of German immigrants decided to colonize the densely forested region around the beautiful Lake Lianquihue.

 

The city was almost totally ruined after a 1960 9.7 earthquake.  It has now been rebuilt and is a major fishing and fish industry port known for its salmon.

 

We were off the ship and onto a tender by 8:15am and met our guide, Christian and driver Mario from the company enaurechile.com and set off on a quick tour of Port Montt before going out in the countryside. 

 

We travelled around one side of Lake Lianquihue, which is huge, like one of our great lakes and came to a beautiful waterfall and rapids on a river.  We were, at that time supposed to see two volcanoes that had been active as recently as a few years ago, but it started raining and they were obscured by the clouds.

 

Then we drove back towards the town and stopped at a wonderful restaurant which had been rebuilt after being crushed by lava during the last eruption!  We had a seafood platter for two that included shrimp, smoked fish, smoked salmon, abalone, king crab, steamed crabs, scallops, regular salmon with garlic and lemon and mussels.  It was so huge we could not finish eating it all – wow was it good.  And yes, Ed ate everything and like 99% of it!!

 

Then we continue on our way back to port and stopped at the town of Puerto Vargas which is a very beautiful small town with several blocks of local craft markets.  We shopped there for ½ hour and then continued our tour.

 

Next we were back in Port Montt and they took us to a huge fish and vegetable market and then to the major craft market in town.  Of course we bought a few things.

 

Then it was time to say goodbye to our guide and driver – they were two of the best we have had and we boarded the tender to go back to the ship.  So, while we missed the volcanoes, we had a wonderful tour for the day.

 

By then it was time for a nap.

After our nap, we dressed for dinner.  As we were dressing we saw the most magnificent rainbow we have ever seen.  One end seemed to end right at our balcony.  I will post a picture and then a video later – it was amazing.  Then we went to the show and the entertainer was a piano player who had missed the ship at the last port.  He put on a really good performance.

Dinner tonight was in the new specialty restaurant, the Tuscan Grille with Carla the Casino Supervisor who we have been with before.  She is really good and we had invited her to the restaurant with us and it ended up that the casino picked up the tab for the table.

We finished dinner at 10:30pm and Carla went to work and we played.  Barb lost a tiny bit and Ed had his biggest loss in a 2 hour session.  Now we are down for the trip and hopefully we can make it back up tomorrow, our last day and a day at sea.

Night from the Pacific Ocean.

 

At the falls

Lunch!!

Buying a handmade hat

At the fish market

 



Ed, Mario our driver, Christian our guide and Barb


 



The rainbow



Dinner with Carla - the Casino Supervisor

New Years - 2016 - Day 15

Today we had hoped for warmer weather and the ability to sit out in the sun.  When Ed went up for breakfast it was warmer so he put the towels out; however, the sun didn’t come out like we wanted it to so we never were able to sit out on the deck.

 

We are sailing in the Chilean Fjords so we are not in the ocean and it is very calm.  We are passing by hundreds of small little islands that were formed during the ice age and it is very pretty, but the mountains are so steep that all day we never saw a person or small village on the land.

 

We will publish the video of this part of the trip when we reach Santiago.

 

We went to lunch in AquaSpa again as it is a great place to eat and had grilled tuna with grilled vegetables.  Our tablemates, Mark and Kathy also joined us for lunch.  Then the officers were cooking sausage and sauerkraut so Mark and Ed went down and each got one and they were really good.

 

After lunch we played in the casino and Barb was a little down and Ed had a good session.  We also won $200 in a special drawing that the casino held.

 

After that, we sat out on the deck and watched that islands go by as we traveled up the inside passage way to our next stop.

 

We had a very short nap and then dressed for the evening.  The show was a very good singer and dinner whose menu was produced by the Top Chef program was excellent.

 

Then we went to the casino where Barb won and Ed lost.

 

That’s it for today.  Tomorrow we arrive in our last port, Puerto Montt and we have a private tour arranged which should be fun.

 

Night for now.

 

Grilled Tuna and vegtibles for lunch

Our casino host, Dimi and Casino Manager Palo



Our Top Chef dinner menu

Ed's appetizers and tuna tar-tar

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 14

A day at sea except we are on an inside passage called the Straits of Magellan and then at 12:30pm we entered the Patagonia Fjords.  We think the word Patagonia is so neat!!  The key is that we are basically travelling up to the next port on a very wide salt water river with large hills and mountains on either side of the ship.  It is very calm and the temperature is starting to get warmer.  Perhaps tomorrow we will be able to be out on the deck – but not today.

Ed was up first, ate breakfast and then went to the gym.  We he got back to the room, Barb was ready to walk around. 

Nothing really exciting – we went to a jewelry sale and then to Chef’s program on how to cook the perfect steak and we really learned some things in that presentation.

Then we went to Aqua Spa and had the baked salmon with vegetables and again it was very good.

We looked as some future cruises in March of 2017 so we will have some choices for everyone when we see them Feb 22.

Then we went to the casino and Ed played in the Blackjack tournament and qualified for the finals again but did not win.  In both tournaments, the dealer virtually never broke so Ed’s strategy did not work.

We then played a session in the casino and both Barb and Ed won nice

Then of course it was time for a nap.

In an effort to attract a lounger cruiser, they have done away with specific formal nights and they now call them “Evening Chic” which includes formal gowns and Tuxes, but also allows people to dress down a little.  We are going formal and a lot of others were dressed very well also, so that is good..

We dressed for dinner which was excellent with items like beef wellington, lobster tail and lamb.  The couple who had been missing from our table joined us and they are from San Diego, CA and we have some new conversations with them.

Then it was off to the casino where Barb did really well and Ed lost a little.

Tomorrow is another sea day and we hope warm enough to sit on the pool deck.

Night from the Canal Trinidad in South America.

 

Lunch - we split it

 

Afternoon snack

 



Formal Night

New Years - 2016 - Day 13

At least the days are starting to get warmer.  Today is Punta Arenas, Chile and the weather was supposed to reach a high of 54 degrees.  It might have been that high at sometime but with the wind, the actual temperature was a lot less.  Still – it was better than yesterday.

This is the city where the famous Captain Shackleford had his excursions to Antarctica.  The city was among the first Spanish settlements along the Strait of Magellan coast, dating back to the late 16^th century.  The Strait of Magellan is the passageway that was found to go from the two oceans without going around Cape Horn.  We will be in the Strait of Magellan starting tonight as we head to our next port of call after two sea days.  Right now, we are in Patagonia which is an area of Chile like we live in the Midwest. 

We had to take a tender into the port as they have no facilities to have large cruise ships such as our dock close to town.  The waves were very rough and it was an experience getting on and off the tender.

We met out guide and driver at the pier for a 3 hour tour of the city.  It was interesting learning about the city and its history as first a military penal colony to a farm community and now a mining and tourist town that has only 150,000 people in it.

We toured a museum about the city and its history and also tour a cemetery, which was supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the world, and it certainly was.

In looking at maps of the bottom of the world, we are closer to Australia that we are to Bloomington -   Now that is amazing!!

At the end of the tour, our guide found a shopping area with Kahula and Barb wasn’t going to get any until she found out that the price was only $12 a bottle, a lot less than in the US, so we got two bottles. 

After the guide dropped us off at the pier, we walked about 4 blocks to a restaurant called La Luna (the moon) that she recommended and it was one of the best ever.  Barb had baked King Crab and Ed had Tenderloin and they both were amazing dishes because of the sauces and how they were prepared.

We also found a new drink made up of a Chilean liquor, calafati berries, sugar and lemon.  It was called a Calafati Sour drink and wow was it good.  I might not have calafati spelled correctly, but the drink was really very good.

We then walked up to the City Center and the main park where they were all kinds of booths set up to sell souvenirs.  We bought our casino supervisor, Carla a present and also a present for the waiters 17 month son as they have been so good to us.  Ed also bought a sweater and Barb bought a ring as well as some souvenirs.

Then we walked a few block to the ship going into numerous shops along the way until we made it to port where we took the shuttle boat back to the ship.  The waves were really rough and the bow of the tender probably rose 15 feet up and down!!

After we sorted out everything we bought, it was time for a nap after a fun day in town.

The entertainment tonight was a singer/guitar player and he was pretty good.

Then it was time for dinner – it seemed like we just ate, but we went anyway and then we went to the casino where Barb won just a little and Ed had his largest loss!  Just wasn’t the night – but hopefully tomorrow when we will have the first of two sea days.

Night

 

Our ship from town

At the top of the town - notice our ship on the right

Rest in peace

Lunch

Barb with our tour guide buying "stuff"

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 12

When we went to bed we were not sure if the ship was going to be able to dock in Ushuaia and when we woke up we were docked.  We are truly on the end of the world and it is an amazing place.  We got off the ship at 7am and walked the very long pier to the end and found the Pira Tours office.

We had booked an exciting tour and we were so glad that we were able to dock.  Yesterday the port was closed because of high winds.  The winds were high this morning, but not high enough to cause the ship a docking problem. If you Google Ushuaia you will see that we are not on the ocean but in an area of islands at the bottom of South America and will be in the islands for a couple of days as we start back up the west coast of South America

Docked next to us were a couple of tour boats that were headed to Antarctica – this is cold and that would be much too cold.

We dressed very warm in multiple layers for the trip and it was a good thing because it was cold, but not too cold to enjoy the journey.  The day started out at 30 degrees and maybe made it up to 35 degrees.

The tour started with an 1 ½ hour bus ride through the countryside until we reached a private farm consisting of 20,000 acres and also an island called Ile de Lobos.  It is a 4^th generation farm and they do not rely on farming anymore but just on tourists visiting their island which houses a huge penguin colony.

At the farm, we first visited a museum and research laboratory with lots and lots of skeletons, including those of whales that had beached themselves on their property.  Then we boarded a zodiac boat with twin 200 horsepower motors for the 15 minute to the island and the penguins.  The boat went about 35 miles an hour and the waves and wind made the trip out very rough.  Barb sat in the back to minimize the bouncing on her back.  Ed made the mistake of staying up front!!  Coming back, we both sat in the back.

There are numerous tours to the island by catamarans from the city docks; however, the company we were using is the only company that is allowed to land on the island and walk among the penguins. 

It was more amazing than we expected and the highlight of the trip.  We walked among about 1,000 pairs of nesting penguins and saw baby chicks that had been born in late November and early December.  They were all gray and furry and just starting to come out of their nests, which are burrows in the soil. You had to be very careful to not step on one if you were not looking where you were going.  We had no expected to see this and be able to walk with them.

We had rain, sun, sleet and snow all in one day and this is their summer.  They have only 2 - 4 days a year when it gets up to 78.  They get over 300 inches of snow a year.

We have some amazing videos and we will put them at the end of the blog once we reach Santiago and can download them. 

Then we took the bus back to the city and had an hour to shop and the wind was terrible and then it started snowing so we walked back to the ship.

Once on the ship, we took our “stuff” to the room and went on deck to have a very late lunch.

Then it was back to the room to take a nap.  We are tired and windblown but have wonderful memories of this trip today.

We overslept and missed the entertainment in the main lounge so we watched the ship sail away up the channel and watched us go by some amazing glaciers.  Again I have video of them and a great waterfall that I will put on the blog when we get to Santiago.

Dinner was of course good and then we went to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed had his worst night so we were back in the room before midnight – not what we would like, but that’s what happens sometimes.  The high today was 30 but tomorrow it is supposed to be up to 52 – summer time in South America!!!

Tomorrow is Punta Arenas, Chile – night.

 

Arriving on the penguin island

1 month old chicks

Mother and chicks

One of 5 major glaciers we passed in the early evening

Yes it was cold and windy but what an experience!!!