Hi Everybody! We took a bus today from Vina Del Mar to Santiago. The day started out great! We found a hotel in the central part of town, checked in, and walked to the Plaza de Armas. We walked around, took photos, and visited the National Museum of History. We found the museum fascinating. It had an unbelievale collection of Spanish Colonial military artifacts, carved furniture, trunk desks, Indian pottery, weapons, tools, etc. It also had a very interesting religious section. When we finished at the museum, we walked to an outdoor cafe in the Plaza. After enjoying a drink, we [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! While we were cruising in the Pacific, pods of whales would sometimes gather near our boat. It was fun to watch them. Yesterday, we ended the cruise when we docked in Valparaiso, Chile. We decided to go just a little farther north and stay in Vina Del Mar, a popular seaside resort town. We knew about this town from Mary Beth Suther because she lived in this area last year. Today, we toured the winery where she worked. Mary Beth has given us lots of advice about things to do and good things to eat while in Chile. We [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! It is summer in South America but as far south as we are, it is still cool, windy, and often rainy. After leaving Ushuaia, Argentina, we cruised through the Beagle Channel. We passed through the Southern Ice Fields which contain 48 glaciers. Many were more spectacular to me than the Alaskan glaciers. Glaciers form more rapidly in this part of the world than in Antarctica where there is little snowfall. It may require hundreds of years for a glacier to form there, but in Chile one can form in as little as 10 years. S. Chile has heavy snowfall [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! When we left Montevideo, the land was flat with bluffs by the water. That was the Patagonia section. The terrain has changed as we have gone south. In the last two days, we have seen some spectacular scenery from the boat! We are currently at the tip of South America, and the Andes Mountains are beautiful with their snow caps. We had two days of very rough seas with high waves splashing against our window. Because of the weather, we were unable to stop in the Falkland Islands. Today, we are docked in Ushuaia, Argentina. This town reminds us [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! I just realized today that the Buenos Aires blog was not printed. I did it several days ago before we got on the ship. We left the port on Sunday and sailed overnight to Montevideo. It seemed like a smaller version of Buenos Aires. It also had lots of old colonial style Spanish buildings and plazas with statues, fountains, vendors, etc. When we went to the Plaza Constitution, they were having something like a flea market. They had many very old things like jewelry, tools, silver, etc. for sale. One vendor had a diplomat´s collection of pins for sale. [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! Yesterday, we took a city tour of Buenos Aires and visited most of the sections. The city has a European flair, but at the same time the people and culture are uniquely Argentine. You see everything from the homeless on benches to designer shops here. Overall, I would consider the goods here to be expensive. Few sales people speak English which causes me a problem since I only know the Spanish numbers up to 10. The people are friendly and clean. The women are more conservatively dressed than in many European cities. I have noticed the local women often [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! We had an interesting thing happened to us on our way to the airport yesterday. When the taxi stopped at redlights, sellers would come up to the window with newspapers, ice cream, maps, etc. I didn´t pay much attention until a man came up holding 6 rats by their tails. I was in such a state of shock that I didn´t even try to get out my camera. Walt started asking the driver if the animals were hamsters. The driver agreed with me that they were ratas. We love Buenos Aires! It reminds us of New York City because [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! We arrived in Lima around midnight and were picked up by the hostel. We stayed in an old hacienda in the Mira Flores district. We met lots of interesting people at the hostel and about half of them were in our age group. One man had ridden his motorcycle all the way down from Canada. He had lots of interesting stories to tell. I had breakfast with a young lady from Australia who was taking a year to go around the world. Four other older teenagers were from Ecuador and on their way to Machu Picchu. Walt and I [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! After leaving Bled, we visited the Triglav National Park in N.W. Slovenia. The drive into the mountains had 50 hairpin curves that overlooked a beautiful gorge. The road was built during WWI by 10,000 Russian POW's. We decided to stay in a sobe in the small village of Ciginj that night. The couple who owned it, also operated a paragliding adventure business. Speaking of sobes, all of the owners have been so nice and gracious. One elderly widow in Croatia, brought us a bowl of freshly picked figs and big purple grapes. She didn't speak a word of English, [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! Slovenia is a charming country and reminds me of Germany. Everything is lush and green with pretty flowers everywhere. The houses all have window boxes that are overflowing with bright colored flowers. Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia, had a summer villa here and often entertained heads of state in Bled. Bled is a small alpine town that sits by peaceful Lake Bled. It has a 1000 year old castle hanging from the side of a cliff. The Julian Alps - named after Julius Casesar are a backdrop for the town. In the middle of Lake Bled is a [View Full Entry]

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