I know, I know. I am very far behind. However, I have an excuse as I’ve been operating at about 20% capacity due to a lousy cold and cough. It’s a good thing Florida doesn’t have a quarentine or they wouldn’t let me in. If it was Ellis Island of the old days, I would be sent back to somewhere. Antarctica?
This is a great deal to read. You can skip it and I’ll never know.
February 21, At Sea in the Pacific Ocean
This morning was the back of the house tour. Groups of about 20 left the Queen’s Lounge every 10 minutes until all 340 who signed up had toured the galleys, crews mess hall, etc.
Now would be the time to tell how many dozens of eggs, bottles of wine, pounds of lobsters, and so on the passengers consume but I don’t remember so I can’t tell you.Maybe someone will have the figures later.
As we went through the swinging doors from the atrium on deck 4, the carpeted floors gave way to tile, the paneled walls to metal and stainless steel and the fancy lighting to utilitarian. The various “shops” were off a long corridor. We saw the pastry shop (and sampled cookies), the butcher shop where two butchers were cutting up a side of something, the shop where crew members were making huge vats of soups, and a shop with hundreds of salad plates garnished with greens and ready for fruits slices to be placed on them.
All the prep work is done in the galleys on deck four and the plates and containers then taken to the kitchens on decks 7 and 11 for assembling and finishing.
We visited the crew's mess hall. It was a pleasant place with tables for 6, 8 and 12. The room also contained a couple of TVs, some computers for games, computers for the internet, and a few comfortable chairs. Service in this area is cafeteria style.
Further down the corridor we passed the garbage and recycling rooms. The Prinsendean and probably all cruise ships are very “green” conscious and recycle everything possible.
Recycling starts in the passenger cabins where we have an attachment for paper hooked to the waste basket. In the dining rooms the bus boys and waiters clear the tables and then sort the contents of the trays in a room just off the dining room. Left over food goes into yellow bins, paper and metal into grey bins, and glass into blue.. Below deck, in the garbage area, the bins are again sorted, using the same color scheme.
Paper is then compacted. Glass crushed, metals recycled and food stuffs go into a “blender” where it is liquefied. At varying times and in varying locations the liquefied food stuffs are emptied into the ocean where it becomes food for the sea life.
Standards are very strict and once a food enters the dining room it is considered waste. Breads not eaten are not made into croutons, left-over strawberries are not made into jams, or pats of butter used in sauces. The amount of waste is staggering.
Also staggering was the amount of wine and liquor originally in the provision storage area. It was pretty much depleted by now but according to the man in charge, at the beginning of a long cruise the cases reach the ceiling and spill out into the hallway.
Today we continue our journey up the long coast of Chile. Chile is quite a mix of climates and landscapes.
The central region is fertile and contains orchards, vineyards and sheep and cattle ranches. Most of the country’s population live in this area and the main cities are located here. In the north is the Atacama Desert, one of the world's driest areas. The south contains the fjords, islands and glaciers. To the east are the Andes, marking a fault in the earth’s crust which causes frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. It is said that there is at least one earthquake a day in Chile…most of them hardly felt.
A little bit about the Atacama Desert.
The desert lies mainly in Chile and Peru and stretches along the west coast of South America from the equator to about 20° latitude for approximately 1875 miles. It is rarely more than 125 miles wide, the distance between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains, its natural boundaries. The Andes, which rise more than 19,700 feet, block the passage of moist winds coming from the east. Running up from Antarctica is the Humboldt Current which along with the cold air above it creates a thermal inversion. The thermal inversion dries the air by extracting moisture and condensing it into insubstantial mist. Sometimes stratus clouds are formed in the higher air layers but these clouds produce no rain, making the Atacama the driest location on earth. Arica once went with rain for 14 years.
As everyone knows, the native South American people, including the Incas, were conquered by the Spanish. In 1818 a revolution led by a Chilean with the unlikely name of Bernardo O’Higgins overthrew the Spaniards. The country was in military and economic turmoil off and on until 1990 when Pinochet’s military regime was ousted and a democratically elected government restored.
February 22, Valparaiso, Chili
Once again the elegant Prinsendam, as the cruise director likes to call it, is docked at a commercial port, sharing space with freighters, tugs, cranes and containers.
And once again, we’re in a city with port facilities along the waterfront and businesses and residential areas clinging to hills that rise abruptly from the shore. The are no less than sixteen funicular railways to get folks up the steep hills.
We are here on a Sunday but a large mall a short walk from the dock entrance is open so we venture over to pick up some cold medications for me. I think I am one of the last to come down with a cold and I’ve gotten it with a vengeance.
Because this is a commercial port, we had to be bussed a couple of miles from our dock to the terminal, a large metal building with a couple of shops in it.
It was an adventure crossing several major highways to get to the mall ----especially since there was a bicycle race through the town with special traffic control people stopping pedestrians from stepping off the sidewalks and being run down by the racers.
My second adventure was trying to get cold medications from a pharmacist who spoke no English. Who knows what I am taking?
The dock section was a tad seedy and given that I didn’t feel like hiking up hills, I went back to the ship and Alan continued on.
After a bowl of soup, I took the laptop into the terminal and for $2 had an hour to check e-mails and post pictures on the blog. Unfortunately, in my haste to get back to the terminal I deleted several days worth of blog.
A stand in the terminal also sold telephone cards ----90 minutes for $5. I took advantage of it, sat in a comfortable chair and called the kids.
A shop in the terminal sold wine and bottled pisco sours so we now have a bottle of pisco sours. They are the national drink of Chile (Peru claims the same thing) and are made from pisco (a regional brandy made of Quebranta or Muscat Grapes), lemon juice, egg whites, simple syrup and regional bitters. Our port lecturer claims that three will knock you right out. We’ll see.
Tomorrow, Coquimbo. Who has ever heard of these towns?
Feb. 23. Coquimbo and La Serena, Chile
The port city of Coquimbo, along with neighboring La Serena, have a population of more than 300,000. Pretty small compared to many of the places we have visited. Coquimbo is an industrial and shipping center while La Serena is a beachside resort town.
We hired Pedro and his taxi for three or four hours and after seeing the Fuerte de Coquimbo ---a small fort at the harbor entrance, drove the 10 or so miles along the waterfront roadway to La Serena. We arrived at the end of school vacation on a cloudy, cool day so the beaches were pretty much deserted. The most activity was a soccer camp practicing on the beach in front of El Faro, the lighthouse.
The drive was a typical beach town drive, small hotels on one side of the road, the beach on the other, restaurants with outside seating and a few cottages. And wind. And stinging sand.
Pedro parked in La Serena and Alan and I wandered the town. I don’t think I will ever get used to the noise of the cities and towns in South America. Every block or so has a musician playing on the sidewalks, two, three and four piece groups performing on the corners, loud speakers blasting music from each and every store. A group playing in the Plaza de Armas (every city and town has a Plaza de Armas and an Avda O’Higgins) was so good we bought their CD.
We traveled back to Coquimbo on yet another stretch of the Pan American Highway, spent some time there and then returned to the Prinsendam.
February 24 At Sea, steaming up the Chilean coast toward Arica.
I don’t have much to write about as I spent almost all of the day in bed, barking like one of the sea lions we saw in Antarctica.
The dining room (and the staff) were colorfully decorated for Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras beads and silly hats were given to everyone. The waiters are so good natured about getting dressed up in sequins and Liberace type outfits.
The ship has announced a Grand Voyage Photo Contest. Passengers are being encouraged to submit the best of their photos…you are allowed one in each of three categories: Landscape, Wildlife and Portrait/People. You may not touch up the photos, and the photo department takes them off your memory card. There is a charge of $5 per entry and you get an 8 x 10 of your photo to keep. Balloting will be done by the passengers sometime next week. I am going to enter the shot I took of the crew members in the open doorway of the ship. I don’t know if I mentioned that they are the garbage men and I had hoped to have a print made to give to them. I had no luck having a print made (you had to have a minimum order of $12) so this is my way to get a picture for them. Our assistant dining room manager has promised to get it to them.
February 25, Arica, Chile
Arica, our last port in Chile, is only eleven miles south of the border with Peru. Until 1880 it was part of Peru when it was taken by Chile during the War of the Pacific.
Nearby is the Potosà silver mine --the largest silver mine of its kind in world history. Because of silver being shipped from Arica, the area became a hunting ground for pirates such as Sir Francis Drake, Thomas Cavendish and Simon de Cordes. Legend has it that Drake's treasure, estimated at ten billion dollars in gold and jewelry is buried near Arica.
IT’S HOT AGAIN.
Once again, we were bused out of the dock area to where we only had to cross a street to be in a pretty little park lined with stalls of souvenirs and sweaters. Dominating the park, the town and the dock area is a large, (very large) hill with a fort and military museum on the top. The hill looks like an excavation site in a sand pit but is actually gravel and rock. Since there is next to no rainfall in Arica, there isn’t much chance of landslides.
Arica has a very pretty church designed by Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame. I believe the church was constructed in France, shipped to Arica, and reassembled.
We walked to the commercial district in search of a place where I could get my hair cut.In what was called the mall, a main street with a series of small alley-like streets running off it, we found an entire alley way of uni-sex haircutting shops. I picked out one, and since they didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish we managed to establish that I needed a haircut. For 4,000 pesos, (about $6.50US and that includes the tip) I got a great haircut. In desperation about three weeks ago I paid $69.00 on the ship for a lousy hair cut….really lousy.
Alan wandered off to go up to the military museum and I wandered around the city, ending up at the Mercado Central where everyone was buying sweaters and jewelry. I can’t tell what I bought but I’m pleased. I know what I bought but I can’t spoil the surprise for someone.
February 26, At Sea
Another lazy sea day. After Antarctica everyone seems to be just hanging out and relaxing.
February 27 and 28, Callao (Lima) Peru
Once again, our port lecturer has warned us on how to act in Lima, (try to blend in), what to wear (dress down), what not to wear (leave the jewelry on the ship, and what to do if someone grabs your purse or watch (let them go). I’d like to know how a bunch of elderly, white haired, fair skinned, bent over grandmothers and grandfathers are going to blend in with black haired, dark skinned, stocky Peruvians. Not to mention the cameras that are around everyone’s neck or wrist.
In any event, we’re back safely after two days of Lima, none the worse for wear. We took Frank’s warnings to heart and were able to pick up a second tour from Cruise Specialists. Actually, since they can’t sell tours on board, we bought tickets from two of their passengers who weren’t able to use their tickets.
A bit of background you probably don’t care about.
Lima is the largest city in Peru and its capital. It is the fourth largest city in South America. And very poor! Out of 8 million people, 50% of them are classified as poor….not poor as in only have two televisions, one cell phone, an old car and hand me down clothes but poor as in living in shanties and barely having enough to eat.
Lima is divided into several districts. Among them, Callao is the port area and the poorest. Centro is the historic district and contains the Presidential Palace, and St. Francis Cathedral. Miraflores is wealthy and upscale and Pachacamac a mix of desert, pre Inca ruins and beaches.
We started our visit to Lima with an 8 am CSI tour, the City of the Kings. The name was given to the city when wealthy Spanish nobility controlled Lima but we saw little signs of wealth….just miles and miles of dirty, dusty streets, lined with two and three story small houses. Because there is no rain in Lima many of the houses had open roofs.
To give the government credit, there are some splendid parks, all kept green by constant watering. After a 45 minute ride to the city center we left the bus and visited the Church and Convent of San Francisco de Asis. The church is still in use and 40 monks or priests or whatever they are called live within the walls.
The church is typical of catholic churches of the period, ornate, gilded and huge. Under the church floors are the catacombs which contain the bones of 70,000 of the city’s dead.During the “social unrest” when the church was in disfavor with Socialists or Communists, the church opened a small portion of the catacombs to raise money. We saw only 10% of what is there. The bones were just piled in wooden cases except for a pit of skulls arranged in a sunflower pattern. Pretty weird.
The church also has a chapel containing the tomb and bones of Francisco Pizarro. Or so they thought ----it seems that it is now believed that the bones aren’t Pizzaro’s but a mix of bones from over a dozen people. There is a small casket which at one time held the head of Spanish founder of Lima.
It was back to the sunlight and a walk to Casa Aliaga, South American’s best preserved colonial mansion which has been inhabited continuously by descendants of Jeronimo de Aliaga, one of Lima’s co-founders. The house was entered from the street by a small door in a large wooden portal. Inside it had an inner courtyard open to the sky where a fountain splashed and breezes breezed around.
This is earthquake country so most of the buildings are not the originals but put-back-together with original material and slightly different designs.
Back in the coach we drove to the Pacific and as we came within a few blocks of the water, the fog rolled in so thick that in most places we couldn’t see the water. It’s difficult to describe but picture breakers rolling onto a wide sandy beach bordered by a narrow road. On the other side of the road, gravel and rock cliffs rise straight up into the air. They look like a butterfly could create a breeze and they would come down but they don’t. In the wealthy areas, the cliffs have been planted with morning glories which completely cover the ugly surface.
It was a long ride back to the ship and the price of a cab (plus Frank’s warnings) kept us from going back to town. Our old friends, H. Stern, the jewelers, ran a shuttle but the last one was a 4 pm, which didn’t give us enough time to make the round trip.
We had a late lunch, hung around, took in the barbeque on the Lido deck, saw the local folkloric show and went to bed in preparation for another early tour.
It was up early this morning, the 28th for our second tour of Lima. This one was to view temple ruins of pre-Columbian Peru.
In less than an hour we were southeast of the city and in what could be used as the set for an outer space movie that takes place on a desolate, hot, arid planet. As the bus negotiated up seemingly impossible twists and turns we found ourselves in the midst of miles and miles of gray desert and the ruins of early pre-Inca and Inca temples. Lack of funds has halted most of the excavation and restoration but we were able to see walls, roads, plazas, the Women’s House and a temple to the sun god Pachacamac. The temple and surrounding area are believed to be one of the main pilgrimage centers, similar to Cusco. We climbed over 100 rough stone steps to the top of the temple (most of us did), and were able to take a dusty path down the backside of the temple rather than negotiate the steps down.
Our next stop was a private museum which houses the collection of Larco Herrera. We saw pre-Columbian art, pottery, fabrics, tools, precious metals, ceramic and other relics.One section of the museum was devoted to ancient erotica.
Back to the ship…..we’re beginning to recognize the neighborhoods, one more stroll through the stalls set up on the pier and we set sail at 6 pm for Salaverry (Trujillo).
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