Wow!

Day 9 (I forgot to count the day we arrived in Santiago):

This morning we awoke to the most beautiful view out the veranda..huge majestic mountains and stunning views of glaciers as the ship passes by. Glacier after glacier in Glacier Bay, Southern Chile, as we near the most southern part of of the world before you reach Antarctica. We will be passing Cape Horn later today, which really is the furthest tip of the earth...pictures do not even do the scenery justice. It is so beautiful, the glaciers nestled in these huge mountains surrounding both sides of the ship. The captain is giving a narrative as we pass by saying that most ship captains way back when, committed suicide because of the isolation down here. It is truly nature untouched..What a way to start the day, coffee cups in hand, staring at the scenery right outside our window and the veranda..

Off we went to the ship's gym, which by cruise standards is large, new and well situated. As I ran my obligatory 90 minutes, the views continued with the magnificent Andes along Glacier Bay. We passed the last glacier a couple of hours ago but the scenery continues to be something out of National Geographic. Where else in the world could you run while passing these amazing views?

Next trivia contest with new ship friends..cruising is a bit like summer camp when I was a child. You make friends that you hang out with over the course of camp. These were kids you may meet and be friends with forever, but most were temporary playmates you may never see again. And, as with camp there is the playing of fun little games together. Thank goodness there is not Bingo or shuffleboard being played.That would be a little too "old" and stuffy for me. It appears that I know little trivia about anything. The memory bank works hard enough just keeping important facts together, much less little known facts of the world. There are 10 on our little team and with the average age on the ship being around 60, I think all our brains are a little taxed. But it is fun nonetheless!

We hit Cape Horn around 7:00 PM, the southern tip of the world. The seas were quite rough for an hour or so but nothing Bonine and wrist bands could not conquer. We and 100 other people or so waited in the Observation inside deck to round the point. The winds were gusting to 80 MPH so the ship Captain requested we stay inside for a bit. I get the feeling "rounding the Cape" is a big deal. Who knew? It was quite dramatic as the ship cruised around the Cape, with the winds calming a bit as we started going up the other side. 

We ate dinner then off to the show, which featured an extremely good pianist. Nightly entertainment on this ship is really, really good! Much different than the last cruise we took in Alaska-that is all we really have to compare it to. Anyhow, we were so looking forward to his show tonight as it would be the last of his this cruise. But alas after 15 minutes or so, they announced someone had "taken ill" in the Showroom the concert was being held in, and asked us to clear out for 15 or so minutes. We assumed this meant someone either drank too much, was seasick, or both. They have been very careful the last couple of days with food handling and asking us to use hand sanitizer constantly.apparently, a few people have come down with some sickness and they did not want to spread it around the ship. So knowing this, we opted out of the remainder of the show and called it a night.

Day 10: We made our way to Ushuaia, Argentina; the most southern city in S.A., maybe even the world? It is a beautiful little city nestled in the mountainside of Argentina.This is our first stop in Argentina, our home for the next 6 weeks. Once again we hired a private tour operator to take us to "Tierra del  Fuego", the "Land of Fire" National Park. We asked them to take us to places in the park where we could go running. They looked at us a bit funny but then hey! If you Americans want to pay us to take you running, we will! :)

Once in the park, we managed to do 3 or 4 short runs which proved to be somewhat challenging. The scenery of lakes with the backdrop of snow-capped mountains was stunning! We had alot of fun and were challenged and tired by the end.

Back on the ship, once again we ate...of course.. The amount and quality of food on this cruise is unreal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are available in 3 different restaurants daily. Oh and room service, which we have only taken advantage of for breakfast so far. There is no extra charge for room service, so I am already hooked..in addition, they serve "afternoon tea" which is a Europian custom that I have grown pretty fond of. The tea and the sweets are to die for. My clothes are becoming tighter by the day, I am trying to work it off in the gym but I can't work out fast enough to overcome the calories. I don't really care too much about this to be honest. I will assume once we are eating meals out or cooking ourselves in Argentina, the calorie intake will get less. I feel like the woman in the book "Eat, Pray, Love", without the "pray" part perhaps?

Day 11: We are at sea today heading for the "Falkland Islands". It is a group of islands which apparently the British owned, although the Argentinians are claiming sovereignty as well. Apparently this is the source of constant strife between the two countries. I do my best to stay out of all political discussion since I never feel like I know enough to sound intelligent! The ocean was like glass when we finally woke up at 9:30 AM this morning. I can't believe we slept that late-between the rocking of the ship, which feels like rocking in a cradle and he blackout drapes, we just slept and slept. We ventured out of our cabin just in time for breakfast in one of the restaurants. I got very excited when they said the buffet was about to close and as I leapt for the bran muffins, I fell...a really hard fall! About 30 people went silent as I lay sprawling on the floor. I was mostly embarrassed. Little did these folks know that I tend to fall while running about once a week or so on the trails! This was my first "dining room fall". I quickly got up and pretended not to be hurting but H took one look at me and got me some ice. The funny thing is, we were dining with a random woman we had never met, who loved to talk, or hear herself talk anyway. She never skipped a beat after I returned to the table. I exited as quickly as possible. After a bit, I sucked it up, put on a couple of band aids and went on with my day, which included trivia, another meal, listening to a lecture on the Falklands and running in the gym.

So onward to see more Penguins tomorrow only thes are called "King penguins" which I assume we will find out why during our tour tomorrow. 

I guess at this part of our trip, I am feeling a bit self endulgent. When I listen to the other passengers compar how many cruises they have been on, where, how nice the boats were, I feel like we are a bunch of spoiled children comparing our entitlements. Shouldn't I be somewhere saving the whales or something? Then I remind myself, I have worked hard in my life to get here and this is the payoff, the carrot in front of the stick...so those