6 posts tagged “cruise”
We landed in Santiago around 2:30am. If we were going to wait in an airport, we thought we might as well do it at our destination than in Lima. In hindsight, the Lima airport had a lot more facilities. We picked up some Chilean pesos at the local ATM. The bill Schwartz is holding looks impressive but is worth less than US$17 (the joys of inflation).
We had arranged with Santiago Adventures to have a driver pick us up at 5am, transport us to Valparaiso and give us a tour of the area until the ship was ready for us to check-in for the second leg of the cruise. Jaime Melendez showed up on the dot, settled us in his van and gave us two hours sleep.
After a quick check that the Radiance had arrived, we started our tour in Vina del Mar, the tourist and beach destination of Valparaiso. Although founded in the late 1800s, few old buildings remain due to multiple earthquakes that caused considerable damage.
We greeted the sun at the Qunita Vergara park, originally the estate of the Vergara family. Jose Francisco Vergera founded the city of Vina del Mar in 1874 and resided in the Palacio Vergara, rebuilt by his daughter Blanca Vergara de Errázuriz after the 1906 earthquake. Her grandfather, Salvador Alvarez, brought back plants and trees from all over the world to grace the park.
Vina del Mar has nice beaches, but only for sun-bathing. The surf is usually too rough for swimming. The area has the usual tourist features, like caleches. We caught one of the horses having a hearty breakfast.
Around the area are a number of very modern hotels, as well as the more traditional Hotel O'Higgins, which gave Jamie an opportunity to relate the story of Bernardo O'Higgins. O'Higgins was an Irishman who, along with the Argentinian Jose de San Martin, liberated Chile from Spanish rule in 1818. As a result, plazas and streets named after O'Higgins are in every town and city in Chile.
Valparaiso managed to retain many of their historical buildings. The main plaza was dominated by a statue of Arturo Plat, a Chilean frigate captain who died early in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884) in which Chile defeated Bolivia and Peru. In the process, it gained access to rich resources and also cut off Bolivia from the sea. Valparaiso has strong legislation protecting their historical heritage. We saw an innovative upgrade in which the original facade was combined with a modern glass building, the Compania Sud Americana de Vapores (thanks to Amanda Tucker and a guide at Santiago Adventures for identifying the building).
We boarded the Radiance, headed to our cabin (Ricki Pieke, our travel agent, had managed to get us the same cabin for both cruises) and checked out the Norwegian Sun that had shadowed the Radiance after we left the ship in Lima. After supper and lifeboat drill, we watched the activity on the docks and then pulled away around 9pm.
Although neither of us were in peak condition, we checked out of our room and headed out into Cusco. We stumbled on a procession coming out of the Monastery de Santa Catalina de Sena and followed it to the Cathedral. Later, we saw another procession passing the hotel. Definitely not the same group - no sheet music on the backs of the musicians!
We visited the Convent of Santo Domingo, which was built on the foundations of the Korichancha, or the House of the Sun. A Peruvian family had staked out one of the church entrances and was sending out their children with a baby llama to pose for photographs. Colonial buildings integrated into Inca walls are quite common in Cusco.
Cusco has numerous narrow streets reminiscent of Europe, some with complex designs in the roadway. We came upon a hotel flying the Canadian flag and caught one of the staff taking a break.
Cars managed to navigate even the narrowest and steepest streets. And in spite of the signs, Peruvian's penchant for driving with their horns regularly won out. Llamas roamed freely, which may partly explain the horn-blowing.
We tracked down the famous 12-sided stone on Hatunrumiyoc, a few streets northeast of the hotel. The stone is 150 x 124 cm (59 x 49 inches) and has exceptionally tight joints. By this time, we were definitely struggling with the altitude. We headed back past the vendors and spent the rest of the afternoon in the lobby of the hotel.
Late in the afternoon, we started our trek to rejoin the ship with a short flight from Cusco to Lima.
We crossed the equator on November 16th around 02:20am Although two people at our table set their alarms for this momentous event, we decided to give it a pass. Based on reports at dinner, there was no visible line in the ocean and no fireworks.
Manta, Ecuador is a relatively small fishing village that is only recently on the cruise ship itinerary. We decided to tour Manta on our own.
After taking a shuttle that dropped us off at the handicraft market (cruising and shopping seem to be inseparable), we headed to the Museo de Banco Central which houses a small exhibit on the Manta culture. We found the spot but not the museum. After some use of sign language with the security guard who knew as much English as we did Spanish, we found that the museum had moved to the other side of where the ship was docked.
We had a great chat with two passengers from Australia on the way to the correct location and had a chance to discuss the differences between two Australia/New Zealand cruises that we were considering. The museum had exhibits on three floors, covering the long history of culture in the area (back to 9000 BC), a display on the fishing industry and artwork from various periods.
Tomorrow we dock at Lima, Peru, where we will be leaving the ship for a five-day independent tour of the Nasca Lines and Machu Picchu, arranged by G.A.P Adventures. We will be offline until we rejoin the ship at Valparaiso on November 23rd. Look for an update on that day or the 24th.
In combination, the first three locks raise the ship 85 feet from the Atlantic to the level of Gatun Lake. Each lock is 1000 feet long and 110 feet wide. At 962 feet by 106 feet, the Radiance of the Seas is a tight fit, with at most 2 feet clearance on either side. The largest ship to transit the Panama Canal was the battleship USS New Jersey - it had only 11 inches to spare.
We sailed through Gatun Lake, weaving between islands where the tropical jungle came right to the water's edge. Gatun Lake covers 163 square miles (425 square kilometers) and requires constant dredging.
We exited the Gatun Lake into the Culebra Cut, a 8.5 mile (13.7 kilometer) channel carved through the shale and rock of the continental divide. Work is underway to widen the channel in preparation for the Panama Canal expansion.
After passing under the Centennial Bridge, we entered the Pedro Miguel lock. The last two pictures give a sense of the distance we dropped.
Lastly, we passed through two Miraflores Locks that lowered us a total of 82 feet to the Pacific. After passing under the Bridge of the Americas, we sailed past Panama City into the Pacific Ocean.
The pictures do not properly express the magnitude of the Panama Canal. Each transit of the Canal requires 50 million gallons of water, one quarter of the daily consumption of Panama City. On average, 14,000 ships pass through the Panama Canal each year. Although Panama's heavy rainfall is sufficient to meet current needs, deforestration has reduced the ability of the rain forest to store water during the dry season. The expansion of the Panama Canal started in 2007 that will increase traffic volumes and also support larger ships will incorporate water recycling to reduce the stress on the watershed.
Day 7 was another sea day, which gave us a chance to go through the 467 pictures we took. We also had a 'Welcome Back' party hosted by the captain, but unfortunately did not get a picture - you need to bring your own 'film'. The next port of call is Manta, Ecuador - pictures will be posted tomorrow.
Much of the Old City is well preserved, with no new construction allowed. Below are pictures in and around Plaza de San Pedro Claver, dedicated to the Spanish monk who ministered to African slaves.
Cartagena was followed by another day at sea. We had no success finding a deck chair that was out of the wind and the sun, and decided to hang out in the Solarium. The night turned clear - with luck, we would have nice weather for the transit of the Panama Canal on day 6.
After leaving Ft. Lauderdale the evening of November 9th, we had two days at sea, giving us lots of opportunity to check out the original artwork, shipboard facilities and the enjoy the copious amounts of food available virtually around the clock.
Look for a post tomorrow on our first port of call (Cartagena, Columbia).
