Feb 17 - 20 Chilean Fjords

 We first stopped in Puerto Chacabuco on the 17th.  We had been here in 2020 and taken the tour to the only place of interest, so we stayed aboard.

Mostly cloudy skies with thick fog at times. Couldn't even see the fjords at times.

Farm fishing at Puerto Chacabuco.

We had company in the harbor, Norwegian Sun.

This was a tender port, so the two ships tenders appear to be in a race to the dock. Marina is losing.

A rare burst of sunlight at dawn going to Laguna San Rafael.

Our buddy Paulo was a waiter on our 2016 Around The World cruise. He's now a barista at the coffee shop on Marina. C visits daily for her breakfast Americano.

At Laguna San Rafael a local boat picks you up and takes you around these glacial moraines to see the glacier several miles up the fjord.  We did this in 2020 and assumed that the glacier wouldn't be bigger this year. And, luckily, we had sunshine in 2020.

Feb 16 Puerto Montt

After a sea day we pulled into Puerto Montt. The itinerary of this trip is similar to our 2020 Around The World trip that was abruptly cancelled. So we're repeating a number of ports, and this is one of them.

Taking a tour today.  We get on the small bus.

Neighborhood where our guide Ingrid lives in Puerto Varas.

The lake at Puerto Varas.

A recent fire strong enough to melt the steel beams of the roof.

Somebody must know what each wire does.

A German living museum in Llanquihue

Walk along the beach, and this store just grabbed C.

Elementary school, closed now since it's summer.

Feb 14 Marina

Today we boarded the ship. First we say goodbye to the Sheraton Convention Center and the lobby lounge.  We ate at least one lunch or dinner here every day during our stay.

We have to travel to San Antonio on the coast, about 90 minutes away. Globus arranged  transportation for the two of us and 4 big suitcases.  Once again, Globus personal service -- only the two of us in the van at a price comparable to what we'd pay for seats in a large motor coach. 

We'll be aboard the ship for 51 days so we needed several changes of clothing plus all of the electronics. I have a charger for everything plus backups and connecting cables. It was much easier before cell phones, laptops and digital cameras.

Lots of farmland between Santiago and San Antonio.  We passed through the winery region, then corn, and here we have sunflowers.

We arrive at the port.  Security doesn't seem particularly alert.

We had one of the best embarkations of our Oceania life today.  After a brief argument with a guy who didn't know what time it was, we passed through security, got immediately onto the port bus which took us to the ship

Those are subway cars in storage, or transit, sitting on the dock.

We waited on the bus while the one-way gangway was filled with crew members leaving. They must have heard we were coming.

Check-in onboard was reasonably efficient.  Lots of people working in the lounge to hand out keys and take our pictures. Why did they ask for a picture during our online check-in 3 weeks ago just to repeat here?  What percentage of their customers have extensive facial surgery just prior to traveling?

We have traveled exclusively on R-class Oceania ships before today, where the rooms are 216 sqft. Here we have 290 sqft so it seems spacious. Much of that extra space has been given to the bathroom which has a bathtub! Which we'll never use. Which means the shower is even smaller than on the R-class ships. Oh well, it looks good in the promotional materials.

Grand staircase

We're aboard. Wine, Coca Cola Light and canapes in Horizons -- up high at the pointy end of the ship.

Marina feels very large compared to Insignia and friends.  It's longer, wider and has more floors. Everything is in about the same place here as on Insignia, just a higher floor or something.  I'm sure we'll find out way around.

Feb 13 Santiago

 It's back to Santiago and kill time before our cruise begins. We arrived back at the hotel during the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl and got to watch the remainder in the hotel lounge. We had eaten in this lounge many times and the tv was always showing futbol. I'm not sure all the viewers in the lounge were familiar with football.

I had to deal with a minor dental problem --  a crown fell out while eating on the plane to Easter Island. Our Globus guide Carolina arranged a dental visit to one of the private clinics. It took two trips, since the first dentist didn't have the required cement to glue in my 45 year old gold crown. Globus and Carolina provided amazing service, above and beyond.

Near the clinic.  This would probably stop your heart as you pulled in. That's actually $42 Chilean Pesos, which is about 4 cents. So, US$2.50/hour.

There was an OXXO mini market next to the hotel, and we stopped for drinks and snacks one evening. From above these steps seem to make no sense as there are angles and partial steps throughout.

But when viewed from below, the handicap ramp is embedded into the stairs.  Pretty nifty.

On our free morning we again walked to the cable car. On the way, service for bike riders was available.

This time we're riding the cable car up to the top of hill.

Playground for kids

Turns out there was a whole lot of city on the other side of the mountain.  Santiago is 8 million people, so they must be somewhere.

At the top there's the statue of the Virgin Mary, as well as a chapel and other statuary. And also snacks and gift shops.

We took the funicular down.

Back to the bottom in about 3 minutes. We took the cable car up just after it opened at 10am. We came down the funicular about 11. The line to go up on the funicular looked to be about an hour long. "Arrive early, arrive early, arrive early."

We took a long and hot walk back to the hotel. A mural along the way.

And there was shopping.

A fun day.  It's on to the ship tomorrow.