St. Helena - Napoleon's Last Stop

After 5 days at sea, we finally arrived at the tiny island of St. Helena - and still 2 days from Namibia and the coast of Africa! It looks like a barren, rocky island with sheer stone cliffs. The ship had to anchor out and we tendered in; there was a bit of a swell so getting on and off the tenders was challenging, but we made it in. The captain said that some calls they're not able to send the tenders down.

The tour of the island was, surprisingly, quite nice. The current population is 3,800 people - and dropping. They are losing a lot of their young people when they graduate from high school and then go to other islands for work. St. Helena is a British dependency, or colony, so they do receive support from England. It's still an isolated existence - no airport, etc. The mail comes by boat from So. Africa or the Falkland Islands -- and arrives every two weeks! If someone is seriously ill and the hospital on the island (50 beds, 4 doctors) can't handle it, they have to go by boat to Cape Town, So. Africa -- 4-5 days at sea!

When Napoleon was finally defeated, he was exiled here to spend the rest of his life. We saw the home he lived in - rather nice, actually. When he died,he was buried here, but years later, the body was exhumed and taken back to France for burial. The original tomb is still here.

The main part of town itself looks like a little English village. It's not a wealthy community, so the people really didn't have the money to tear down the older buildings and put up new ones - kind of a reverse urban development, but it preserved the older sections.

The natives are a mix of Portuguese, Africans and Anglos, but English is the official (and only) language. There are 7 churches on the island - and 10 pubs! (Always good to know the ratio!) After the tours, in mid-afternoon, a group of children from the middle schools came on board to sing for us. We had about an hour performance, all songs written about their island home. It was really pleasant.

We now sail to Namibia for a day's visit (don't know if Brad and Angelina will be there to meet us - ha ha!) I'm scheduled to do a ride through the sand dunes by 4-wheel jeep -- Annie's doing a bit more stable bus tour to one of the towns outside of Walvis Bay were we dock. We'll update after that adventure!

Carnaval!

Next stop on the itinerary was Brazil and the excitement of Rio de Janeiro! We sailed into Rio Sunday morning, Feb. 18th. They told us to be up on deck for the sail-in - and what a beautiful morning it was! We cruised right into the harbor, past Sugar Loaf, Corcovado Mountain with the the statue of Christ and the white sand beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. It was a crystal clear morning which made it even more spectacular.

Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America. It's also the continent's largest country; when you look at a map, you see how it dwarfs all the other So. American nations. For centuries, the world's largest supply of sugar came from Brazil and its rich sugarcane plantations. Thousands of slaves from Africa were brought over to work the fields. Slavery was abolished in the early 20th century and the European, African and indigenous Indian races intermingled, creating a diverse and beautiful population. Brazilians are frequently listed among the world's most beautiful people, and from some of the Brazilians we saw, we would have to agree.
On Sunday, Crystal offered another complimentary tour for all guests, this time a trip up Sugar Loaf mountain. You actually travel up to the top in two stages by cable cars. It was a beautiful view of the bay and the islands and city below -- but unbelievably hot (around 98!) and crowded. In addition to us, there are 7 other large cruise ships in port -- and it's Carnaval!! The city was packed to overflowing; everywhere you turned, there were people, people and more people! It was actually good to get back to the air-conditioned comfort of the ship this afternoon!

Sunday night was Carnaval - and what a celebration! The city is alive with samba bands parading through the streets to the beat of thousands of drums, accompanied by dancers in beautiful feathered and sequined costumes. The whole city moves with the samba beat. The highlight of the 4 day celebration occurs on the Sun. and Mon. nights before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. On these nights, there is a huge parade and competition among the dozen samba schools, or clubs, which represent different areas or neighborhoods throughout the city. It's held in a place called the Sambadrome, which is a long avenue with grandstands on either side. The stands hold about 80,000 people who have purchased tickets to see this spectacle. The parade starts at 9:00 pm and each samba school takes over an hour to pass by! The schools have up to 6,000 marchers each! They dance the entire parade route and each school has anywhere from 4-6 elaborate floats that accompany it. There are dancers at the top and on all sides of the floats. Six samba clubs march each night -- and the parade continues until about 5:00 in the morning!!! The costumes and continual music and dance are just unbelievable. The ship offered a tour to Carnaval, and about 400 of us went. Annie opted out on this one, which was probably smart. We were in the "reserved" section of the grandstand, but it did involve climbing about 4 flights of stairs. The seating was concrete bleachers (although we did get a little 1" cushion to soften it!). I stayed for about 3 hours and then opted for back to the ship, which was fine for me. But what an experience! I have no pictures to post -- too many heads to really get an idea, so you'll have to wait until we get back to see the print pictures. Words, and pictures, really can't do Rio Carnaval justice.

The next day, we did another tour to Corcovado, which is the highest mountain in the city. Corcovado is 2,300 ft. high and on the top is a 125-ft. statue of Christ the Redeemer. This is the statue seen in many pictures of Rio, overlooking the city. The statue's arms measure 75 feet across and the whole thinkg was financed by "passing the plate" in Rio's many churches. We took a train ride up the mountain and then an elevator and 2 escalators to the top. The views were, for lack of a better word, awe-inspiring. When we came down, we continued our tour and went out to the famous white sandy beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema(of the famous song). It was a great morning.
Rio is really a beautiful city. Unfortunately, crime is a serious problem any time of the year, and even more so during Carnaval with all the people. There are something like 12 million living in greater Rio alone. They constantly warned us to wear no jewelry and bring only limited cash and credit cards. As one lecturer said, "Bring just one credit card ashore - and make certain you have the phone number to call and report it stolen when you get back to the ship!" We didn't have any problems and didn't hear of anyone on board who did, but I'm sure there were probably some passengers on our ship or one of the others who lost some cash or credit cards. But Rio is still a delight. It is a truly vibrant and spectacular city and I'm so glad we got to see it. Neither of us had been here before and to be here during Carnaval was a special treat.

We began heading across the south Atlantic Ocean to Africa when we left Rio -- 5 days at sea before we hit land again...and then it's a small island named St. Helena, where Napoleon was exiled to. Remote to say the least!

Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Valentine's Day - and of course, Crystal had hearts and flowers all around the ship for the occasion. Annie and I were to change our cabin from the 8th to the 9th deck the day we arrived. There's no difference in the cabin size, amenities, etc. - it's just that our cabin on the 8th overlooked where the gangway was stored when we were at sea. Not really a major thing, but since we were on for so long, we thought we'd like a bit clearer view. So...we arranged to change cabins. Looking back on it now, since the only thing the gangway "obstructed" was our nosey view of who was walking below us on the promenade deck (Deck 7), I'm not certain it was worth the "re-organizing". We didn't need to re-pack though -- they sent bellhops down who took everything on hangers out of the closet on 8 and brought it up to our new cabin on 9. Of course, we still had to empty the drawers in the bureaus, etc. but we've been optimistic and say we're much more organized with the move -- we'll see how long that lasts!

We had done the tango show ashore last time in BA, so opted out this year. They had tango dancers and singers come aboard and put on a show for us, and the night before we arrived they had a special segment where the captain (a rather large hardy Norwegian) did a tango dance with the principal female dancer. But to top that, the cruise director impersonated a female and did a seductive tango number with the featured male dancer... hm mm. It was great fun and a good show that we've all seen again and laughed over.

On the second day, we went into town for a bit - It's a really dynamic city with a lot of facets. BA is known now for Evita (Eva Peron) and we saw the famous balcony at the Casa Rosita where she made (but didn't sing!) the famous "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" speech. There's still dissent over the past military regimes and the "disappearance" of thousands (like in 30,000+) of people who were dissidents -- or thought to be. Every Thursday afternoon, people hold a type of vigil march in one of the city squares for those who disappeared. It was started years ago by the mothers and wives who had lost their sons or husbands. Those mothers are now grandmothers and great grandmothers ...and they still don't know the fate of their loved ones. It's hard for me to realize that we are talking about events that happened in my lifetime --- in the 1960s-1980s -- not hundreds of years ago.
Buenos Aires was the end of this second segment. We head now to Rio and Carneval -- check back soon for more!!

A Day at the Races

It's hard to believe that time passes so quickly! It seems just a couple of days ago we were cruising Antarctica, and now we're heading to Africa! I'll try to catch up on all we've done and seen the past 10 days or so...

After leaving Antarctica, our first stop was Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Sailing into these barren, windy islands, you wonder why England and Argentina fought so hard over them! We stopped here on our cruise in 2003 and saw all the major sights - penguins, penguins and more penguins - plus the signs by the side of the road advising "Live Land Mines" leftover from the Falklands War, so we decided to forgo touring again and spent the time in town doing a little shopping (what else is new?) There are a couple of little shops we remembered from our last visit with some very nice things; a bit expensive however, since the Falklands are British and therefore the currency is the British pound (which isn't good for the American dollar right now). We did pick up a copy of the one weekly newspaper -- "The Penguin News." The people who live here have a quiet, isolated life, but do receive perks from the British government for living on - and thereby keeping the British flag flying over - this remote British outpost.

Sailing up the coast, our next step was in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The big attractions here are the sea lions, once again a repeat for us, so we walked on the beach and - what else - did a little shopping - although we really didn't buy much of anything here.

We arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay on Feb. 13th. Crystal offered a completely complimentary tour to all the passengers on board called "A Day at the Races." About 400 (of the 900+ on board)took advantage of it - and what a day it was! Accompanied by a local guide, we travelled just outside the city center to a horse racetrack. Uruguay is noted for its horses and racing is a popular sport. The track opened just for us. After a short walking tour of the main buildings, we were seated in the deluxe or "first class" section. Annie and I were up at the top level and had a great view of the course (Our tablemates were the "Ice Pilot" who took us through Antarctica and his wife. He's retired Coast Guard and went to the Academy in New London, so he was familiar with Newport). As soon as we were seated, waiters and waitresses began coming around offering juice, wine, beer. It was only 10:00 am, but we were at the races! After the first few rounds of drinks, they began coming around with food, food and more food! There were enormous grills set up below us and they brought each table an individual pan piled high with pieces of grilled beef, chicken and sausage. There were hot coals underneath the pan to keep everything warm. Mind you, this was after the trays of cold meats, vegetable and other hors d'ouevres - and before the desserts! Needless to say, the drinks kept flowing throughout. Then, they brought out the 4 horses, along with the jockeys, grooms, etc. and we had two full races around the track. They had given us each 2 tickets to bet on a horse. Our choices didn't win, but it didn't matter - it was such a great day, the actual race was a minor highlight! Crystal really should be commended for offering such a first-rate free tour to us all - I think everyone enjoyed it. Anyone who didn't go missed a great experience!

Coming Back From the Beyond - Leaving Antarctica

A few thoughts as we leave this awe-inspiring part of the world...The Antarctic continent covers a staggering five and a half million square miles and is entirely surrounded by the sea. Some of the Antarctic is actually an extension of the tip of South America and the Andes Mountains, leading many experts to believe that there are probably rich, undiscovered deposits of ore and petroleum here. This speculation adds even more importance to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. This historic agreement established the laws governing Antarctica, maintaining its position as a continent jointly administered by a group of nations with the agreement that Antarctica may only be used for peaceful purposes.

Having sailed through these magnificent waters, I can only be thankful that the earth's human inhabitants had the foresight to realize the unique opportunity we have to preserve our last great unspoiled frontier. Years down the road, dedicated researchers will continue their work on the continent. "Tourism" will increase, within the constraints of the conditions visitors face when traveling here. However, for those of us who have been privileged to visit this magnificent expanse, the continent, and our memories of it, will instill a sense of awe and inspiration, a realization of the scope and depth of our world -- and man's small place in it.

The Seventh Continent

On Feb 2, we made our way past notorious Cape Horn. Once we round the Cape, we head for Antarctica -- 750 miles south! This stretch of water, the Drake Passage, at the very bottom of So. America, has some of the most violent weather conditions in the world. This is where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans converge and to make it more interesting,the water and winds surrounding Antarctica, the Southern Ocean, play a major force here. The winds often create gales with waves more than 65 ft. high. The yearly weather forecast for the area announces an average 200 days of gale and 130 days of cloudy sky; for the remaing 35 days, "the wind is strong and the sea is rough" - to put it mildly!

It was rough, but, old salts that we are, we managed okay. We crossed it west to east this time, which is supposedly a little easier. In 2003, we crossed east to west and therefore joined the elite group that were authorized to wear an earring in the left ear (at least that's what they told us it meant!)

Monday Feb 5th was bright, sunny -- and amazingly calm!!! The great Antarctic Peninsula and mainland appeared before us. We thought we had seen things last time, but nothing to compare to the next two days. Three people from the British Antarctic Heritage Trust on Port Lockroy came out to the ship to give a talk about their lives in this remote outpost. The temp is just about freezing (warmer than home we're told!)and it's sunny and bright standing outside. Penguins floated by on small ice flows, oblivious to us. We have 3 naturalist/geologist/Antarctic scholars on board who are giving live commentary from the bridge as we cruise.

And what cruising it's been! On Tues. the 6th, we woke up to look out our windows to see whales (one with her calf) breaking, hundreds of penguins surrounding the ship in search of fish, seals, albatross...just about every type of animal that lives down here was putting on show for us. And it continued all day long!!! We passed one island with an enormous penguin rookery --- they estimate there are over 200,000 PAIRS of penguins on this one island. They're all you can see -- all the way up the hills and on the beaches. Depending on the wind direction, they're also all you can smell! But it was such an amazing two days. We cruised in and out of small coves where the different countries have research stations and saw some of the workers.

Today (Wed.)has been grey and a bit more swells. But we headed into "Iceberg Alley" - and again what we've seen! These enormous bergs float right by use. The ice is pure and the most beautiful blue color.

One of the lecturers this morning gave a talk about Edward Shackleton. He explored the continent in the 1920s. His boat, the Endurance, became stuck and was ultimately crushed by sea ice -- yet he and his crew survived almost 2 years stranded here. An amazing tale of courage and perseverance.

Tonight we pass Elephant Island and head back across the Drake Passage to begin our return north p the coast to Port Stanley in the Falklands. It may be a bit rough, but it's a small price to pay for all the wondrous things we have seen in the past few days!

Pictures from Chile!

Catch Up Time!

So much has been happening, I've fallen way behind, so I'm going to try to catch up with a few things before I start on Antarctica!

We had our first big world-cruisers event in Valparaiso, Chile when we were overnight there on Jan. 26th. As usual, Crystal pulled out all the stops for us. They drove us out to a beautiful vineyard about an hour outside the city. Once there, our buses were escorted down by Chilean cowboys to the main buildings of the vineyards. After Pisco Sours to "quench the thirst," we were treated to appetizers, entertainment, and of course, fine Chilean wines! Next came a delicious dinner and barbecued lamb, steak and chicken (and need I say -- more wine!) Another show then we all went outside by a big reflecting pool for an amazing Cirque de Soleil show -- truly jaw-dropping! Needless to say, we all slept in the next morning, but it was definitely worth it!

Valparaiso was the end of our first segment. A lot of people left and many more came on for the Antarctic leg. This section is pretty full. After Valparaiso, we headed down the coast of Chile. Chile is such a long narrow country, extending all the way down to the tip of So. America. There isn't tons to see here, and we did it before (in 2003) so we won't be doing too much touring in this leg. Off the ship for a bit of walking around and shopping in this section.

On Wed. Jan. 31st we were due into Punta Arenas. We anchored, but they were predicting 80-100 mph winds in the afternoon. The captain was afraid that if he let us go ashore, we wouldn't be able to get back! We had to wait for some people who had gone on an overland tour to Patagonia for 3 days and were due back that afternoon. They got them back to the ship and off we went. The worst part was that this was the port where the shore excursion tours to Antarctica were leaving from! There were about 150 people scheduled to do a flyover of the Antarctic continent and another 30 who were actually scheduled to land there. The fly over was cancelled, but they were able to get the landing group a trip to Antarctica from our next stop, which was in Ushuaia. The number of people they allow into Antarctica is strictly controlled. Crystal had to pull a lot of strings to manage that -- especially since the original arrangements had been made through Punta Arenas, CHILE - and now it was going to be Ushuaia, ARGENTINA! Antarctica is actually managed/governed by a joint group of about 7 nations which work together to protect the continent and the environment. The 30 people who did make the landing said it was an unbelievable experience. A Norwegian ship with about 250 passengers had gone aground a few days before and had cracked its hull. While they were there, other boats were coming in with booms to protect in case of an oil spill. It was really quite an adventure and experience. Maybe another year! (Of corse, they also got chased by an angry seal, so I'm not too certain how much fun that would be!)

I'll write about Antarctica and what we;ve been doing in my next entry

Machu Picchu

On Friday, Jan. 19th, we left the ship for our adventure to the lost city of the Incas -- Machu Picchu - high in the Andes Mountains. And I mean high! This afternoon, we left Guayaquil, Ecuador by plane for Lima, Peru. After overnighting at a hotel there, it was off early the next morning (the 20th) on another flight to the primary city of the area, Cuzco. At 12,000 feet, altitude sickness can be a problem, so they try to plan things in stages to get you used to it. Our hotel for the next two nights is an old monastery, which has been converted into a very deluxe property. We have altitude sickness pills, but they really upset my stomach so I (and most other people) stopped taking them. They say there's no rhyme or reason as to why some people get sick and others don't. We're to drink coca tea - and the hotel rooms have oxygen piped into them at night to help you sleep! After some touring and dinner today, it's down for a good night's sleep, since tomorrow is a busy day!
We departed our hotel early for a short ride to the train station to board the deluxe Hiram Bingham train that will bring us to Machu Picchu itself. Bingham was an American archaeologist who explored the area in 1912 and actually discovered the city. It's believed that Machu Picchu was a holy and royal city, and its exact location was only known to a select group of Incan nobility and priests. In the 1500s, faced with defeat by the Spaniards, the Incans abandoned their mountain citadel and for 400 years, until Bingham's discovery, the city's existence was forgotten or unknown.
The train ride down to Machu Picchu was about 3 hours. We actually descended from Cuzco over 4,000 ft, to around 7,000. A number of people who had been ill the night before felt better as the train descended. It's a common thing - they have portable oxygen on the train, in the busses, etc. After lunch on board, we finally arrived at Machu Picchu to begin our tour. Words really can't describe this phenomenal place. I've tried to post a picture, but even that can't do it justice. There are stone temples and buildings covering the hillside. The workmanship is so precise, that even today, 500 years later,a piece of paper can't pass between the stone blocks of the walls. The series of terraces and gardens is truly amazing. We spent about 3 hours walking and climbing. At the end of this time, we rallied for tea at the one hotel at the site. Machu Picchu itself is very UN-commercial, without the normal groups of vendors we're used to seeing. It's actually one of the sites in contention to be one of the "new" Seven Wonders of the World.
After tea, it was back on the train for a gourmet dinner and back to Cuzco and our hotel for the night. I woke up with a headache and perhaps just a bit of altitude sickness during the night, but no worry! A quick walk down to the reception desk in the hotel and they brought me into a special room, hooked me up with a mask and gave me about 15 minutes of oxygen and I was good to go! The next morning (the 22nd) we flew back to Lima and met the ship. This was truly an amazing adventure - not neccesarily one I would feel the need to repeat, but one I will always remember. I'm thankful I was able to do it once in my life!