Embarkation

We made it.  At the time of this writing, I am sitting on our outside cabin deck as we sail south along the Chilean coastline on Holland America’s Zaandam.  It is our first “Cruise” and while we have a bit to learn, we have settled into onboard life with ease.

View From Our Room

We enjoyed our one night stay at the Patio Ferreira B&B in Cartagena.  It was run by two couples and sits on a hill overlooking the town's beach.  We enjoyed hearing about the area from our hostess, Belinda. Her English was very good. She had worked as an interpreter earlier in her life.  The neighborhood houses date back to the early 1900's.

Cartagena's Main Beach

Like the Neighbourhood, It Has Seen Better Days

On the morning of November 19, we called a taxi to transfer us a short journey to the cruise ship terminal in the port city of San Antonio. We had been told by seasoned “cruisers” to be prepared for long line-ups as we boarded the ship.  Our experience proved nothing like that.  We arrived at 12:30PM for a 1PM  boarding time.  We were immediately met by a young woman who whisked our bags away.  Every 50 meters thereafter we were met by a smiling Holland America employee directing us to the registration desk.  We arrived and almost immediately we were at the registration desk.

We had a small snag at registration.  Cruise ships are incredibly diligent in making sure no personal alcohol gets on board.  I suddenly remembered that the two bottles of wine we were allowed, were not in our carry-on. We had left it in our luggage. The young attendant told us the bags would be searched and our two bottles of wine would be destroyed.  We had quickly accepted the fact since it was our error when a more senior official came over and interceded.  Since we had just dropped off our bags she made an immediate call.  Sure enough, the wine was left in our suitcases and delivered to our room.  All is good except personal wine is not allowed in the room.  Now we have to keep it hidden from our room attendant or face an $18 US charge each for corkage fees.

The Zaandam is not a huge ship with only around 1500 passengers.  Our room is on the port-side on the sixth floor (out of 8) and at the stern of the ship.  Our ventures up to the pointy end suggest that we have a much more comfortable ride at the round end rather than the pointy end.  We have been traveling at around 17 knots in 9-foot swells.  We rock gently but you often have to hold on to the handrails when descending the stairs.  No seasickness yet but tomorrow we face 13-foot swells.  We may have to break out the seasick pills and wristbands.

Home For The Next Two Weeks

Pushed Away From The Dock

The clientele on the ship is largely older than ourselves.  So far we have kept our own company but we will meet others in the days ahead.

The ship has a very large group of French citizens, easily the largest contingent on the ship.  Despite the problems that can arise when one group is so large in terms of going to dinner, waiting for shows, etc. it hasn’t been a problem excluding a small dust-up I had with a French group leader as he tried to budge one of his own in the dinner line.  I only gave way when the poor old guy pointed a finger at his leader and said, “He likes to think he is the boss” and then rolled his eyes with a smirk.

We are still exploring the ship’s possibilities but have already eaten in two of the five dining areas.  Deborah is determined that we try them all.  We are going to have a lot of walking on the Lido deck if I am to fit into my clothes at the end of the two weeks. 

We have bought the wine package.  They hold on to the bottles and pour you glasses as required.  Cocktails and beers can be purchased at any time, anywhere.

We will have been at sea for 36 hours before we reach our first port of call.  We will anchor in the bay at Puerto Montt, Chile.  We will arrive at 8 am and take tenders to shore to explore, before returning by 5 pm.  We have decided that the ship's tours are too expensive so we will be using local buses and taxis.

We don't know when this post will be published.  The Internet can be spotty.

Emiliana Vineyard & Valparaiso

Our last day in Santiago was actually spent on the road.  We booked a Wine and port city Valparaiso Tour.  It was advertised as an 8-hour tour that morphed into 13.  Not a hard complaint, just saying.

We were picked up at 8AM and after some bus shuffles due to administrative screw-ups we were off to the Casablanca Valley.  The valley is home to a large number of vineyards.  After visiting the winery we climbed the Coastal Mountains to the port city of Valparaiso.

The Emiliana Organic Vineyard is a mid-sized vineyard and our hostess was a true “Green”.  She was very excited about their method of growing grapes and overall sustainable farming.  The Emiliana is a leading Chilean wine company and one of the world's foremost producers of certified organic and biodynamic wines.  We spent an hour and a half touring the vines and tasting four different varieties.  The valley sits at 32 degrees south latitude and has mild winters.  It is perfecto for growing the varieties best suited to white wine but they do have a smaller section of much older (80-year-old) vines for producing reds.

Our Hostess Maria

Beautiful Setting - Corkscrew Weeping Willow

Guards of the Fowl

Companion Planting

Organic Vegetables For the Field Workers

#1 and 4 Were Great - Give the Chardonnay a Miss

Maria's Reserve Was the Best.

Chickens and guinea fowl run loose throughout the vineyard eating insects while alpacas are penned until they are needed to protect the fowl from wild dogs and pumas.

We loved two of the four wines.  The sauvignon blanc and the premium reserve red, Coyam were exceptional. 

On a side note, Deborah thought she recognized another couple on the tour.  Her memory proved exceptional as well when it turned out we had met them a few years ago at their winter home in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  We attended a cocktail party hosted by Don & Judy through their relationship with sister Rita and Mike.  They are from Kenora, Ontario and have been traveling in Argentina since early October.  We will see them again in Mexico next spring.   Small world.

Don & Judy From Kenora

Valparaiso is located seaside about a 1.5 hours drive west of Santiago.  It was a major trading and provisioning port for shipping until 1914 and the opening of the Panama Canal.  Shipping disappeared after 1914 and the city has seen much change since its heyday, not all of it great.  Most residents have moved up the coast to Vina del Mar.  It is still a town worth seeing if only for its many painted murals that cover the walls of the old city.  It was also home to romance poet Pablo Neruda.  I confess to having never heard his name but clearly, I should have in light of his popularity with others.  We toured his home and visited his “office” where he gained inspiration from his views of the city and sea.

That's Pablo

View From Pablo's House

That's Pablo's Tile Floor

That's Pablo's Guest Bathroom Door - Yes Full Display

That's Pablo's Staircase Landing

If you want to see the murals, mansions, shanties and steep cobbled roads you better be prepared to hike.  Fortunately for us, the tour bus dropped us off at the top and we were able to work our way down the narrow streets and allies to the sea below.

There are many little restaurants tucked into the nooks and crannies of the old town.  We did enjoy lunch with a view of the harbour but as usual in Chile, it cost about $70 Canadian for the “okay” meal.  The $8 beer scale is something I am not getting used to.

Its Good but really ... $8.

Due to the tardiness of some self-absorbed individual in our group (not us), we ran late and were late getting back on the bus for Santiago.  We were then stopped in traffic due to an accident and arrived late.  After a quick change of clothes we set out in search of the perfect hotdog, a legitimate favourite dish here in Santiago.

A Great Dog at Hogs

After a very expensive transfer service ride to Cartagena, we have checked into the Patio Ferreira B&B and are ready for our cruise departure from nearby San Antonio.

I have no idea about the Internet strength on board a cruise ship so this blog may go dark for a while.  I trust we are going to have a great time but you may or may not read about it.

Santiago

We have been very busy here in Santiago so this will be a long post.  At the time of this writing, we are waiting for our car service to transfer us to San Antonio.  San Antonio is the departure port for our 14-day cruise around the horn of South America.

To say our experience in Santiago didn’t start well, would be an understatement. 

The Sommelier Hotel is located in the historic centre of the city.  The location is in the heart of the former business district (since moved to the “new” part of the city), therefore it is not surprising that our hotel is bookended by strip clubs.  According to our city guide, it was customary for businessmen to come down from the office for coffee a few times a day and gaze at the local talent before returning to work.  For us, the location was great, with easy access to many of the parts of the city we wanted to see.

Shortly after our arrival, we set out for an evening walk to explore our neighbourhood in the city of 7 million.  It was a beautiful evening with the temperature around 24 C.  The sidewalks and streets were full of people.  We wandered two blocks to the major walking/driving boulevard, Alameda.  Everything seemed right with the world but then we senes things changing. 

Action on the six-lane boulevard slowed to a stop.  The steady stream of cars became a trickle and the sound of sirens filled the air while a few police cars raced by.  We saw some black smoke spiraling on the horizon and assumed a building fire.  We continued walking and noticed some shopkeepers hurriedly drawing the metal shutters on their doors.  We knew it was two hours before closing so we began to wonder … and then we realized we were quickly being overcome with pedestrian traffic flowing from the opposite direction.  It was at this time we knew something bad was happening.  People look frightened. 

Where Did Everybody Go?

As the crowds disappeared behind us we could see a further two blocks down the road.  Cars were burning and I could see (what I assumed) were tear-gas containers hitting the street and exploding and even more people running.  We quickly reversed our direction and headed back.  Armored military-like troop carriers filled the streets and we came across one man laying on the streets in a pool of blood.  Police were attending to him but we couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead, hit by a car, or had been attacked.  We went to our room and went to bed feeling unsure about Santiago.three

Bomberos Attending to Burning Cars

The next day we tried to find out what had happened but we got three different stories from three different sources.  It seems that protest and clashes with police are common in Santiago.  The most likely cause of the “disturbances” was a protest by the Mapuche, an indigenous people of southern Chile.  They have been “at war” with the government for the last 300 years over land claims and more.  According to the guides, they like to blow shit up.  The latest protest occurred after the grandson of a Mapuche indigenous leader was shot in the head last week and killed while driving his tractor in a field.  The police said he was accidentally shot during an operation against local car thieves.  The government promised to investigate.

Thankfully the next day proved to be so much better than the first.

We took a four-hour walking tour with our guide, Leon.  Leon was a 20 something young man native to Santiago.  He was both passionate and realistic about his beloved city.  I won’t repeat everything we learned but suffice to say it was a lot.

Santiago had its beginning in the 1500’s when the Spanish came looking for gold but didn’t find any.  They would have continued south but the Mapuche proved to be too strong to overcome so they stopped.  Unlike other colonial cities of the same era, there are few old buildings in the city due to regularly occurring earthquakes.  Santiago developed earthquake-proof technology that is now world level leading edge.  Remarkably, in the last 8.2 earthquake, no lives were lost and there was no damage to any buildings.

For the most part, I let the pictures tell the story but Leon’s passionate speech about the downfall of Chile’s first socialist leader Salvador Allende is worth noting.  His parents were 21-year-olds in 1973 when the CIA (Leon claimed to have read all the released U.S. documents on the subject) and had told him the stories.  The CIA poured lots of money into Chile to force the failure of the socialist government.  They paid hundred’s of thousands of dollars to the controllers of the food supply demanding they withhold food from the masses.  The people were angry and discontent led to revolt and violence.  Allende faced a coup and committed suicide rather than surrender to the military.  Chile came under the control of the military and democracy was lost for the next 20 years.  Thousands of dissidents disappeared during that time.

Santiago Cathedral - 1534 (the walls at least)

Leon & Allende's Last Stand - Presidential Palace

A Great City of Art - Many Murals

Mapuche River

One of the highlights of the tour was Leon’s recommendation for dinner at the Chipe Libre in the Lastarria District.  He told us traditional Chilean food is rather boring but the Chipe Libre combines Chilean dishes with a Peruvian touch that makes it some of the best cuisine in the world.  Our meal was very memorable.  Deborah started with a Pisco Sour and I had a German beer (there is a strong German influence in Chile with entire communities speaking German only dating back to the 1840’s).  We had the best ceviche either of us has every experienced and finished with a shared dish of beef, chicken, prawns swimming in zesty Tiger Milk seasoning.

Ceviche

Traditional Pisco Sour - 47% Alcohol

Chilean German Lager

We ended the evening with a leisurely walk down the same Alameda Boulevard that caused us so much concern the first night.