Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 7

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melsea
Senior Second Officer
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Posts: 576
Joined: February 2013

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 7

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Post by melsea »

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 7

Day 20. At sea. A much cooler day weather wise.
27th Jan. Evening was Smart, jacket required

Went to see Nikki Chapman's talk.
Art class.
In the evening I saw the Ventriloquist, Jimmy Tamley, very funny in the Curzon Theatre.

Day 21. At sea. Getting colder as we head further South.
28th Jan. Black tie.

Clocks to go back tonight at 2am to -3 GMT

Not sure what I did on this day as I noticed in my diary app (Day One) on my iPad I hadn't written anything other than the date, where we were and what I wore for my dress code. Obviously not much.

Day 22. At sea. Magellan Straits. Cool sunny day with warmth from the sun.

29th Jan. Smart, Jacket required.

We entered the straits in the afternoon where we saw land getting closer, we took on a pilot for this region as the cruising through this strait has a narrow area of passage as well as the depth of the water. The temperature varied all day.
In the evening we went to the Beach House again, only this time we hadn't booked and we took a chance, they could not accommodate us until around 8pm which we didn't mind anyway, we were inside this time which was rather nice. While there, we had arrived at our next port, Puerto Arenas. It was rather surreal as we didn't know this would happen. We saw a cargo ship that was leaning to one side but it was anchored. Here the port was to be a tender port but no one would be getting off at this time of night.
I went to the show later it was Jimmy Tamley again, his show tonight was a little bit risqué as he was having trouble with a lady at the front who was giving him a hard time and he was so quick with his answers and at times seem rude with it. It was funny but it got a bit too much in the end.


Day 23. Puerto Arenas, Chile. From overnight. Tender port. 8am - 18.30

30th January. Evening Casual/60's & 70's

I left the ship at just after 11am having had breakfast at the glass house, when finished, I picked up my bag, made my way to Masquerades to get a ticket for the tender I had number 856. No sooner had I sat down they called out a section of numbers to go down to the tender station on deck 4. We were ushered on with help for us to get on, on what is essentially a moving boat so the security men lead you on by a gentle guide to your arm. I have learnt not to grab or attempt to do so as they lend a very gentle firm hand under your elbow. It means you allow the very people who are experts of handling passengers onto the tenders. You get on much quicker and safer too.
The crossing over to the quayside was very smooth and even when we got to the dock it wasn't choppy at all. As soon as we got off it was noticeable that the temperature was definitely higher on the Mercury scale which was good.

Walked into town where the main square is and here there was a small market also there is a monument that many people have their picture taken against. The monument has a statue that has large brass feet of which one of them will bring you luck if you rub or kiss the foot. I kept hearing music in this square and so I went to see where it was coming from, it was to one side of the square I was in. They were a group of young people of about 20 in number playing drums and boy could they play, they were amazing. There was a little sign they made up and it said in broken good English this, "Welcome to our beloved of Punta Arenas city we are the troupe gives soul and we are raising money for our second national tour its cash contribution will help us to pay money our tour from Already thank you very much". I gave a few dollars I had.
I also saw this as being a great opportunity to take some photos for the competition for the Sector 2 of this cruise. The three challenges this time were 1.Macro (close up photography of anything) 2.Lead in lines (leading the viewer through the picture and let it tell its own story) 3, Reportage (take pictures of people in their own environment in say a market or even having them pose for you). The singing troupe had finished their wonderful music and dancing and I started to continue up the street and I started to remember this port as I couldn't be sure if it was the one I was thinking it was. Having remembered I decided to walk further to where there is a spectacular cemetery. Although I am not sure if this is the thing to say of a cemetery. It is a large place that is well maintained for the most part. Especially as you enter through the main gate where you go through an arched building and come to an area that has very large topiary trees that are rounded conical in shape. I found a statue of an unknown Indian that was buried here and he seems to have taken the nation to its heart. There is a large mausoleum of one lady who had become well liked and was a benefactor to many causes to Chile and the people of Puerto Arenas, her name was Sarah Brown. Before entering into the cemetery there were other passengers that having just visited were coming towards me, one of the men said to me, oh you don't want to go in there it's full of dead people and they are not very chatty. He was being very funny or was trying to be. I ask him did you not speak to them in Spanish and he said yes but they didn't reply and off they went, just for fun I said to him as they were leaving "¿como te llamas? he said what did you say. I said to him that I asked him in Spanish what is your name? He was not too happy as everyone else laughed as I caught him out for not being able to speak Spanish. I did Spanish at school and I am very rusty but can just about get by. Having finished walking around this unusual place I started to make my way back but not before I wanted to walk up higher and get a better view of the town, I wanted to see if I could see the other volcano that is a little hidden from view. I never did find it. I walked down half way down and found a street that looked interesting and in fact there were a couple of workmen welding a metal fence, he was dressed in protective clothing and he had a beard, he look so interesting that I ask him if I could take some photos, he was more than happy for me to do this. I even got him to pose in front of two large wooden poles that had signs on them showing the distance from various places around the world. I showed them to him and he smiled, he then ask me did I want a photo taken of me, I said yes please and he took a couple of photos which turned out rather good. The sign poles lead me to another area that was a great lookout a real gem to find. There were a couple of other passengers who also found it. Time was marching on and so I did start to make my way back. I walked along the promenade which had lots of locals with their families enjoying the sunshine. Eventually I got back to the terminal where there were many people connecting to the free wifi here. The seating here was not what you see everyday, they were old coach or airline seats.
Before I forget, when I had got off the tender boat this morning and walked towards a building to go out of the dock terminal there was an area where cars & coaches parked, I noticed a people carrier vehicle of which 2 people got out. One of them was Jimmy James. I went up to him and said hello, he was very nice and responsive.
This evenings entertainment was Jimmy James who as usual gave a brilliant show.

Next time our sailing into the icy waters of magical ice...

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emjay45
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Joined: April 2013
Location: Ellan Vannin

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 7

#2

Post by emjay45 »

I think we were lucky with the weather on the cruise. It wasn't as cold as it could have been in the colder parts of the world and when we were in the islands during the rainy season we didn't have rain.The worst weather we had was when we were at sea. :)

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Suekersh
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Joined: January 2013
Location: Lancashire

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 7

#3

Post by Suekersh »

Another great review Melsea. Love reading theses with a cup of coffee. X

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