Santiago, Chile

 Friday, March 15

Sunny and 29C. 🌞

We decided to spend one day seeing Santiago before flying home.  Santiago is the capitol of Chile, with a population of about 6 million.  It was founded in 1541 and its beautiful baroque and gothic buildings are surrounded by the Andes Mountains.  This is a winter shot, because right now during summer, all you see is smog.

imagecredit https://www.christiesrealestate.com/blog/destination-santiago-explore-the-chilean-capital-citys-cultural-highlights/

Today we decided to play it safe and book a private full day tour for the 2 of us.  A bit pricey, but we felt safer.

The tour company wanted an extra $100 to pick us up at our hotel, so we took an Uber for $15 instead. We met our guide Francesca at Santa Lucia Hill.  We didn't know we would have a driver, Juanita, as well.

Santa Lucia Hill is a small hill in the middle of the city.  The hill was conquered by Pedro de Valdivia in 1540.  We ran into a couple from our Montevideo bike tour here LOL.  Here is a view from the top. Note the haze.

This is Neptune Fountain.  It was a pitstop for season 7 of the Amazing Race.

On our way down, we heard some chirping from under a bush.  Francesca thought she would rescue the poor bird.  After a few minutes, we figured out it was noise from a hose 😀

After San Lucia Hill, we walked over to Iglesia de San Francisco, Santiago de Chile, consecrated in 1622.  It has withstood 15 earthquakes of magnitude over 7.  You can see the earthquake damage.

Then we drove to Plaza de Armas, which is the main square of Santiago.  Juanita had trouble parking because there was a demonstration happening in front of the government building.  Francesca had no idea what the demonstration was for, "We have one here everyday."

We visited the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago de Chile (where we ran into a couple from yesterday's tour LOL):

This is the Palace of Justice (Palacio de Los Tribunales de Justicia de Santiago).  I think they call a lot of buildings palaces.

Francesca took us to the Bellavista neighbourhood, which she kept describing as "bohemian".  We've never been quite exactly sure what that means?  But they had lots of interesting murals so we walked a few streets.

We found a small local Chilean restaurant and ate like the locals:

That was about it for the tour.  We were fine with getting an Uber back, but Juanita wasn't comfortable with that for some reason and drove us all the way back to the hotel.  But please don't tell the tour company.  We got back at 4:30 pm.

We're taking it easy tonight, since we are catching a 5 am shuttle to the airport in the morning.  This should be our last blog unless something very exciting happens.

Tomorrow we'll arrive at the airport a little after 5 am.  Of course there are no DIRECT flights, so our first flight is at 9 am with Latam Air from Santiago to Punta Cana (7.5 hours).  We have a 2 and a half hour layover, which is generally what we feel comfortable with.  The flight leaves Punta Cana on Westjet at 6 pm and is about 5 hours long.  We will arrive in Toronto LATE!!!  

A long day, but we are looking forward to being home!

Valparaiso to Santiago

Thursday, March 14

Sunny and warm.

The cruise is over!  The ship docked in the city of Valparaiso at 5 am.  However, all the flights are out of Santiago, which is an hour and a half drive inland (121 km).  So 2800 people were all trying to find a way to Santiago at the same time. Celebrity was offering transfers to Santiago for $150 each, with stops at a mall and a handicraft village.  That didn't really appeal to us, and neither did being on a coach full of people.  So we booked a small tour transfer with Michael Arnold, the German Pirate (that's the name of the company LOL).  Our van had 12 people, and our guide was Christian.  One poor couple found out mid day that their evening flight out tonight had been cancelled.  But later they texted us and told us they got on another flight.

By going on Michael's tour, we were able to see much more of Valparaiso. Valparaiso means "Paradise Valley".  This city is the 3rd largest in Chile, and was founded in 1536.  Population 320,000.  Some of the original buildings have survived, but many were replaced after 1906 when a devastating earthquake levelled the city.  In fact, Chile has the record for the STRONGEST earthquake ever in 1960.  The needle broke at 9.5.

The city is called "The Jewel of the Pacific" because of its coastal location as one of the country's most important ports.  Valparaiso was built with absolutely no planning at all, so everything is helter skelter.

The city is VERY hilly!  It was built on 42 hills.  There are numerous funiculars that help with all the walking up and down.  We walked down Allegra Hill to Concession Hill, then took a funicular.

Valparaiso is considered one of the graffiti capitols of South America.  It's like an open-air museum!  People get tired of having their homes graffitied, so they paint murals on their homes.

The tour also took us to the beach/resort town of Viña del Mar. Viña del Mar means "Vinyard of the Sea".  It is the sister city to Valparaiso, and they actually touch each other. It is the 4th largest city in Chile, and is called "The Garden City".  

We had lunch at a nice local restaurant, and then Christian took us through the smelly fish market to the pier to see the sea lions who were hoping for scraps.

They have one of the actual moai statues from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), but Rapa Nui is asking for it to be returned.

Unfortunately, this beautiful city was devastated by wildfires just last month.  It took a week to get the fires out.  Two thousand homes were destroyed, mostly squatters.  The fires are often caused by people trying to release land from historical and environmental restrictions, or by the government trying to get rid of squatters.  Sadly, 131 people are recorded as having lost their lives, and 370 are missing.  We drove by large areas that had been burned.  The palm trees seem to be flame resistant, only the bark turns black.

We stopped at a winery in the Casablanca Valley.  Christian bought 4 different kinds of wine and we had a lovely outdoor wine tasting.

We were dropped off at our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott Santiago Airport Hotel.  The hotel is 5 km from the airport which will make flying home more convenient.  By the time we got here, it was 7 pm, and we just chilled.

At Sea (March 13)

 Wednesday, March 13

Sunny and 15C.  We are travelling 50 km off the coastline.  We are a bit disappointed that we aren't closer to the coast.  The water is 1000 meters deep.

Today we were at sea again.  Chile is a long country!  To break up the monotony of the At Sea days, this morning we booked a Behind-the-Scenes Ship Tour. 

imagecredit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPQQO794k5g

Highly recommended but not cheap!  We were told to wear long pants and close-toed shoes.  Unfortunately, NO PICTURES allowed on any of the tour 😒. There were 14 of us on this tour, and apparently long waiting lists.

We had a lesson from staff in the Main Dining Room.  There are 2 levels of the dining room, and each can serve over 1000 passengers at a time.  Each level has 72 waiters and 72 assistant waiters.

We visited the Main Galley (kitchen area) to learn how 15,000 meals are prepared EACH DAY.   Anton asked if they ever break any plates?  We were told that when the ship is rocky, sometimes a whole stack of 120 plates will fall over and break.  All the different waiters wore scarves around their necks, and the colour determined the rank, from yellow at the bottom to black at the top. Also, each specialty restaurant has its own galley.

imagecredit: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrew-center.com%2Fbusy-galley-celebrity-eclipse-cruise-ship&psig=AOvVaw0ygngeK1RRf813U27qdKVZ&ust=1710459070306000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBMQjRxqFwoTCKDB5Je384QDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ

Provisioning informed us of all the ingredients the ship goes through.  They have fridges that are bigger than our house! For example, 10,000 bananas and 8500 pounds of watermelon per cruise. Many people claim that Celebrity provides the best food of all the cruise lines.

According to https://cairnscommunications.com/2021/02/09/cruiseday-tuesday-how-cruise-ship-meals-are-prepped:

At 2500 passengers and a thousand crew, it is about mid-size for modern cruise ships.

In a typical week, it would normally use 20,000 eggs and two tonnes of chicken (whichever comes first), three tonnes of beef, 200 kilos of coffee, and 100 slices of pizza every hour!

Add a tonne of bacon and the same of french fries, two tonnes of cheese, seven thousand croissants daily, and 80 different varieties of vegetables, and you can see it is just a bit busier than the average home kitchen 🙂

After the large storage area that we passed through, they took us to the waste control room.  They have a glass crushing machine, and a huge bag (the size of my car) held the glass pieces.  The waste is all sorted and processed and some is dumped at sea, but there are rules about how far off land you can dump it.  For example, no dumping in the Strait of Magellan.

Next we got to visit the Bridge! We saw the navigation and communications equipment in action.  It was pretty quiet up there.  Great view!  The captain was not there but he has to be there for all departures and arrivals.  The captain has the shortest contract of everyone on board the ship:  3 months on and 3 months off.

imagecredit: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tripadvisor.in%2FLocationPhotoDirectLink-g1-d15691375-i373687554-Celebrity_Equinox-World.html&psig=AOvVaw2YgE3LOLl14Ahab9M7l7ZK&ust=1710459100049000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBMQjRxqFwoTCKC3lJe384QDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ

In the Engine Control Room, we learned about the onboard systems. There are 3 bow thrusters and 2 azipods (a marine propulsion unit).  The azipods pull the ship through the water rather than push it, apparently it is more fuel efficient.  The ship uses 6000-7000 liters of fuel every hour (200 tons per day).

There are 4 diesel electric generator engines that power the ship.  60% of the power goes to the azipods.  40% is used to run everything else.

We got to stroll along the I-95, the main highway for the crew, running down the center of the ship.

In Laundry we saw machines that can hold 264 pounds of laundry per load.  

For some reason, they didn't take us to see the ship's jail, which they call a brig.  Here's what a large cruise ship brig looks like:

imagecredit https://www.cruisehive.com/do-cruise-ships-have-jails/82280

They also didn't take us to see the ship's morgue, but all cruise ships have them!  Ships are required to carry body bags, and the body can stay in the morgue for up to a week.  There are usually 3 to 6 compartments:

imagecredit https://www.cruisehive.com/do-cruise-ships-have-morgues/90911

The whole tour lasted 2 hours and took us right to lunchtime.  These are some of the cakes from the "extra vaganza":

After lunch, there was an afternoon matinee where the Production Cast Singers did Broadway stuff.  Anton stayed in the cabin to rest, but Frankie absolutely loved the show.  Especially when they did Les Mis and Abba.  The lead singer (who starred in Topper) has just come off an international tour of Jersey Boys.

We thought we would try something different, so we headed down to the casino. It's only allowed to be open while in international waters.  Insert key pass card and bet as much as you want LOL.  Frankie tried her luck with $20 and quit when she had $28.  Anton tried his luck with $10 and quit when he had $0.

Our last dinner with Bukhari and Jomike!  We've been with them since the beginning of the cruise.

The evening show was an acrobatic show:  Duo Vvo (Vladimir and Veronica).  They are a Ukrainian couple who have lost their coach and training facility.

Some of the crew came to say goodbye.

At Sea (March 12)

Tuesday, March 12

Calmer today.  13C.  It's warming up!

Today we were at sea, travelling north in the Pacific along the coast of Chile.  

imagecredit https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/chile

Chile is long and narrow, with over 6000 km of Pacific coastline. Chile has 92 active volcanoes.

imagecredit https://images.app.goo.gl/NVmWbGxcULhrwKp57

The northern part of the country was ruled by Inca and the south by native Mapuche people before Spanish colonization in the 1500's. Chile gained independence from Spain in 1810.

Interesting fact:  Chile is the only country in the world where water is privately owned.  According to civicus.org:

"Water ownership was separated from land ownership, so that there are water owners who have no land and landowners who have no water. It is the state's prerogative to grant rights for water use. "

Today we did our usual Milos presentation (Weather and Climate), and did some reading.  Frankie is on book #3 but she realized that she has read it before.  Too bad she didn't pack 4 books like she wanted to!!!

Anton decided to treat Frankie to an onboard massage for her birthday (he can never figure out what to get her), even though her birthday isn't for another month.  Frankie had forgotten just how much OIL the ship massages use!  And gosh darn, there was almost some soft porn going on, the massage therapist was NOT shy!  There's no way Frankie would allow Anton to get one of these massages LOL.

While she was doing that, he disappeared for a nap.

Frankie finished the massage just in time for a matinee performance from Doug Cameron, the awesome violinist from last night.

Dinner was evening chic.  That means perfume night, blech.  Thanks to our awesome neighbour Coleen for this wonderful and versatile shawl (it also serves as a blanket on the airplane 😀).

Our waiter Bukhari told us there would be an extra vaganza in the buffet area tomorrow.  It took a few minutes for us to figure out that he meant "extravaganza". 

The show tonight was the magician again.