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South America » Chile » Aisén
January 15th 2013
Published: January 16th 2013
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This morning we didn’t awake to a 5:30 AM wakeup call; I awoke when Sharon said “It’s 5:20!” We’ve evidently adjusted to the time zone, and our bodies’ natural rhythms are back in synch. Sharon still had to get ready for mass, and I worked on the blog. We both were looking forward to having breakfast in the dining room to start of a nice leisurely sea day. Sharon came back from mass and we headed off to breakfast just past nine.





This was the first day onboard without oatmeal for me. I felt like Eggs Benedict, and they were great (and I had some link sausage and a hash brown cake). Sharon splurged with her American breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and white toast. We both had some juice. Neither of us drinks coffee, and I keep forgetting to turn my cup over, and they keep asking if I’d like some coffee. Unusual in the dining room, we were seated by ourselves without asking. Normally we get seated with others, and we meet many interesting people that way. After breakfast Sharon went back to the room to post the blog, grab her Kindle and head up to the library to read. I checked out the menus for lunch and dinner, and things looked promising, I then went to the library to pick up the daily Sudoku and meet up with Sharon, but she was nowhere to be found.



With 10 AM approaching and the casino opening (finally), I wanted to check out the blackjack tables. They were preparing the cards on the “Fun 21” table and on the $25 regular Twenty-One table. And Sharon was already camped in front of a Royal Flush poker machine, and holding her own. I saw that they were shuffling cards at the blackjack table I’d previously played at, and I went over and sat down. The dealer pointed out that the table limit was now $5/$500 (min/max), which I guess throws out what I was saying yesterday. I started well, getting a blackjack, not just for me but the $1 bet I’d placed with the dealers. I always place a bet for the dealer when I start play, and I will always tip the dealer when I leave, win or lose. The cards were running very good, as they were a few days back, and I never lost two hands in a row. I played less than 20 hands and walked away with $115, which isn’t bad for such a short period of time. I’d also had two blackjacks, better than double the norm. As I was getting up from the table, Sharon had left her machine, having broken even. We headed back to the room, stuffed a bag full of laundry, and headed up for lunch.



I ordered the chicken salad appetizer with toasted Naan strips. I next had the spicy corn chowder, which was superb, with the right amount of green chili pepper to give the soup a bit of zip. And for my lunch entrée I had the grilled pompano with grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes. The fish was excellent and the vegetables, even though they were mostly zucchini (not my favorite) were grilled very nicely. Sharon had the gourmet hamburger, but she nixed all of the gourmet stuff that came with the burger and ate just bun and meat. Again, the burger was very good, but her lunchtime palate is getting into a bit of a rut here. We both skipped dessert so we could make it to Team Trivia at 1 PM.



Team Trivia was again in the Crow’s Nest. We arrived just as people were picking up the answer sheets. There were no teams needing two additional players, so we played by ourselves. We started out pretty well. Sharon missed the Catholic question, they always seem to have at least one. Yesterday, it was what Pope served just 31 days as Pope (we actually were the only ones on our team which won yesterday that knew it was Pope John Paul I.) What was Mother Theresa’s given name? Sharon’s brilliant answer was Theresa, not that I could come up with anything better, and I certainly wouldn’t have come up with Agnes. And we didn’t know what dipsomaniacs crave… alcohol. And we didn’t get the country whose flag contains and hand or bunch of bananas? I know the question is worded funny, but if you’re picking from likely Latin American countries, you won’t get this one.



Today’s lecture was again by Dr. David Wilson, in the second of his three lectures on Darwin called Murder in the Land of Fire. The first half of the lecture mostly repeated the highlights of the first lecture and in that sense been a bit remedial, having heard that talk the first time, and then again in parts repeated on the in-room TV the next day. This talk introduced Darwin to the Yamana, and the influence they had on him for his development of the theory of human evolution, up to and including the founding and development of modern Ushuaia. The natives were dealt with more harshly on the Argentinian side, sometimes involving the complete extermination of a group. On the Chilean side the natives became integrated into the Chilean society, and today it’s difficult to find any of pure lineage to the early natives; although, in remote regions they may still exist. One interesting note at the end of the lecture was how many of those who died in the Falklands war were from Ushuaia.



I decided to head back to the casino and play some more blackjack. Someone else was playing so I sat down. This time things started out poorly… it happens. I lost the first four hands before winning a hand. I did finally win two hands in a row, and then things seemed to be getting worse. I pulled back to make minimum bets, and the bad stretch seemed to end about ten hands later. I got a blackjack, won a couple double down bets, and when I checked I was up over $50, and decided that was enough excitement for a while. Sharon had meanwhile found a machine that was teasing her, and following a nice little streak of good payoffs, she cashed in up just over $10.



We then went up to the $20,000 bingo game in the Wajang Theatre on the Promenade. I commented to Sharon that this was a perfect place to hold the bingo games as it’s also where they’ve been holding mass, and she agreed. It was her turn to buy the cards, so I found us a place to sit. With the three screens that everyone could see, it was much better to play bingo here than in the Crow’s Nest. Sharon was the first person to stand in the first game, but someone else got the 5 in a row first. I also got to stand in the first game, and in the second game, and again in the third game. And wouldn’t you know that the first number called in the second game was the number I needed in the first game. Sharon got within one number of the blackout game, what the caller called the coverall. But tonight was not our night, but we were happy to see that half of the winners were using sheets of three. Previously it seems that all of the winners were buying sheets of six.



We went back to the cabin to get ready for the formal dinner. I decide to where my dark blue coat, but I was having trouble finding the dark pair of pants that go with it. About then I realize that all I have are the pants I wore with the tux on the formal night for the first sea day, and the more I’m looking at them, the more I’m trying to figure out if they’re my black tux pants or the dark navy blue suit pants, and I finally conclude that they're the latter. So now I’m in a quandary about what happened to the tux pants, I’m hoping that they’re in my closet back home, but it’s just as likely that they’re still at the dry cleaners. Oh well, no one noticed when I wore them with the tux. We sat with two others for dinner and again I had the shrimp cocktail. The shrimp was very good, nice and plump, but there wasn’t enough of the cocktail sauce for my liking, and it needed much more horseradish. I probably should have gotten the cod and shrimp in puff pastry. My pumpkin squash soup with a slice of apple added was delicious. Sharon had the chicken and wild rice soup, and she liked it very much. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Beef Wellington, as did Sharon. We both had the caramel chocolate toffee, and it was as advertised and delicious too.



We had just enough time to get to the 7 PM show, featuring the male singers of the Veendam. The show was a typical performance by the shipboard performers, and was lively, energetic and entertaining.



After the show we decided to try our luck for a third time in the casino, this time decked out in all of our finery. I just don’t know how many more days these darn pants are going to fit. I sat down at the $5 blackjack table, and opened the table. Even though I was the first to sit down and request to play, the dealer after shuffling the cards gave the cards to a second player that sat down (a slight breach in etiquette). This player was one of those with a boisterous interaction with everyone, especially the dealer. He claimed that he had forced them to open a $5 blackjack table by refusing to play several days earlier when they wouldn’t open one for him. We both won the first hand. And then he felt compelled to hit 13 against dealer’s four-card. He of course busted, taking the dealer’s bust card, and the dealer made 21. I won the next hand, and then he got 13 and the dealer had another 4-card, and like Yogi Bera says, it was déjà vu all over again. He took the dealer’s bust-card again, and again the dealer made twenty-one. That player had lost four hands in a row at this point and complained that he just didn’t seem to win. I suggested that he let the dealer bust, but he claimed that never works. The same scenario came up on the very next hand almost, he had 14 this time and dealer had a six card, and I could see he sorely wanted to hit, but I think to prove me wrong he shrugged off the card. The dealer obliged by busting, and I was off to the races, winning ten hands in a row, which worked out nicely with the gradually increasing parlay that I play. I got twenty with what could have been the eleventh hand but dealer made 20 the hard way… and I lost the next hand and after a win streak of this length I always cash in… this time $175. Sharon had gone back to the room earlier. The machine that had favored her in the afternoon took her money back this evening.



We went back to the room, which was not yet made up, so I started typing up this blog, and Sharon did her reading. And when our room service guy came, we went out to the atrium and let him work his magic, including a bunny rabbit towel sculpture. And if you’re wondering still about that flag, it was Fiji.

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17th January 2013

Sea Day
Welll 32 here today, I'm sure you are not missing our weather! Hope your gambling is good for the rest of your trip. Sounds like fun! The food sounds really good too. If you think about it would it be nice to know if they do have any gluten free food. Just wondering for the future. I can tell you both are having a great time, coninute to enjoy your trip. Looking forward to your next blog! Hope you find your pants John! :) Janet

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