12 posts tagged “vacation”

April and I thoroughly enjoyed the February St. Lucia dive trip arranged through REEF, so we signed up for another REEF trip to Curacao in October.  We initially were booked into the Sunset Waters Beach Resort, which went out of business in August.  Through the efforts of Doris Pfister at Caradonna Dive Adventures, the group was booked into the Breezes Curacao Resort. 

After an uneventful flight through Miami, we checked into the resort. Although The Breezes was not in the same class as the Anse Chastenet Resort in St. Lucia, we were there for the diving and the fish.  In addition to keeping our diving skills current, REEF trips give us the opportunity to improve our fish identification skills and contribute to the conservation of marine habitats through the REEF Volunteer Survey Project.  By providing resource materials and staging training, REEF allows volunteers to survey fish abundance while still enjoying the diving.  The survey results have been shown to be scientifically valid without requiring scientific rigour.  Novice surveyors are almost as accurate as experts as far as what novices are able to recognise - the difference is in the larger number of species that experts can identify.

The dive staff at Ocean Encounters took excellent care of us, quickly adapting to our 'go slow' style of diving.  Heather George of REEF spent hours trying to teach us the fine distinctions between the various damselfish and parrotfish species.  We logged 12 dives each in a wide range of marine habitats.  April had a chance to try out a new underwater housing for her Lumix DMC-TZ5 - the camera did a much better job of correcting for the loss of the warmer colours as the depth increased.

We added a few days to the beginning and end of the official REEF dive trip to unwind and do some sightseeing.  We spent a day in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao, renowned for is Dutch heritage.  We started at the open-air produce and fish market, where unfortunately we saw a number of species 'on ice' that we did not see in the water.

The highlight of Willemstad was the Kura Hulanda hotel and Slavery Museum. Dutch entrepreneur Jacob Gelt Dekker started restoration in 1995, retaining not only the character of the buildings but also the structure and layout of the community.  Doorways would open up into a labyrinth of alleys and courtyards.  Particularly intriguing was the interplay of private space associated with hotel rooms and the public space of restaurant courtyards.

On our last full day in Curacao started with a dolphin swim arranged by the Curacao Sea Aquarium and Dolphin Academy.  In spite of our improving diving abilities, the grace and speed of Annie put us to shame.  The day ended with a great sunset - a perfect end to the vacation!

 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.

  
At the entrance to the park is a monument to the two Chilean Nobel Prize poets, Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda.  The park also has a 20,000 seat amphitheatre that hosts the renowned International Song Festival every February.

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.

We headed over to Valparaiso, a maritime city built on the sides of surrounding hills.  Twenty-two funiculares were built to help people get around, since roads often snaked down one hill and then switch-backed up the next.  A number of funiculares are still in operation, although some looked rather rickety.

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).

Much of the centre of Valparaiso was closed off due to a race planned for later that day.  We had breakfast and had Jamie drop us off at the port.  Officially, this ended the first leg of our cruise and marked the start of our second leg which would take us around Cape Horn and up the Atlantic side of South America to Buenos Aires.
  

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.

 A few words and pictures cannot do justice to Machu Picchu.  The site is huge, with over 200 buildings in multiple sectors.  The stonework is in amazingly good shape, considering that the site had been abandoned to the elements for about 400 years.  Somewhere between 80-90% of the structures are complete - only minor restoration and reconstruction has been required.

When we arrived, the city was wreathed in mist.  We entered at the Guard Houses, which had been reconstructed with the traditional thatch roofs.  In front of us was the Urban Sector.  As we walked into the city, we could get a sense of the scale of the Agricultural Sector with its terraces and the Principal Plaza with the Urban Eastern Sector.

The history of Machu Picchu has been lost.  It is believed that the city was built by the Inca Pachacutec in the 1400s and abandoned when the Spaniards invaded Peru in the early 1500s.  The Spaniards never reached Machu Picchu.  Although Machu Picchu had significant agriculture, our guide believed that certain staple crops did not flourish there, and were imported from Cusco on the original Inca Trail.  When Cusco fell to the Spaniards, Machu Picchu could no longer be maintained, and the inhabitants moved to other cities.  Based on reports from locals, Hiram Bingham of Yale University re-discovered the site in 1911.  The city was heavily covered with vegetation and virtually hidden from view.  Bingham led the considerable effort required to clear the site. 

We visited the Temple of the Sun with the Royal Tomb below.  At least, this is the usage that researchers ascribe to the buildings.  High status buildings like these were constructed of excellent stonework with polished faces and tight joints.

 

Deeper in the city was the building called The Three Windows with an example of an Inca cross, the Intihuatana, and the Condor Temple.  The Intihuatana (or 'hitching post of the sun') marks the winter solstice on June 21 (we are now south of the equator) by a triangular beam of light that appears for just a few minutes.  The Condor Temple has a representation of the head and beak of the condor, the white markings around the neck.  The natural stone rising up on both sides behind the condor represent the wings.  Much of the stonework for Machu Picchu was quarried locally in the area behind and to the right of us.

 
The north side of the city was quite steep, but also covered with terraces.  All of the terraces were kept neat by roving llamas.  After the official tour was over, we climbed to the Caretaker's Hut at the very top of the Agricultural sector, a vantage point that provided an excellent view of the entire site.
We decided to head back and grab lunch in Aguas Calientes.  The first picture below gives a sense of the height of Machu Picchu above the train station.  As often happens, the sun started to break through.  This time, we were actually part of a train, although without an engine.  We had a 'front row seat' just to the left of the driver.

After supper, we watched the sun set over the mountains, arrived in Ollantaytambo, located our driver and headed back to Cusco and the Hotel Ruinas.  Exhausted and feeling the effects of altitude, we quickly fell into bed.
 

 

 We were picked up bright and early at 6am.  It appears that the train journey from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (the nearest train station to Machu Picchu) is quite slow leaving Cusco, so many tour companies are driving their customers to Ollantaytambo.  The journey was uneventful.  In spite of the altitude, we saw considerable agriculture and ranching.  Many taxis appear to be covered tricycles with smoky engines, definitely not 'safe at any speed'.  Many roofs had ornaments: clay bulls are variously associated with luck and fertility, or warding off evil.

Ollantaytambo lies at an altitude of 9,100 ft (2800 metres).  It has been inhabited for over 700 years and has significant archaeological treasures.  We had little chance to experience any of it other than the bumpy cobblestone streets and the train station, crammed with vendors and hawkers.  We saw a group of back-packers who may have hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, a 33 kilometer trek that typically takes four days.

When it was our turn, we did not actually board a train, but rather a diesel-powered railway carriage that followed the Urubamba River for about 1.5 hours.  Vegetation was surprisingly lush, with some ruins tucked up into the hills.
The end of the line was Aguas Calientes, a village at 6560 feet (2020 meters) with few attractions other than being a gateway to Machu Picchu.  It had started to rain, so after a cursory check of the train station for anyone looking like a guide holding a sign, we donned heavy weather gear and walked to the bus that climbed the ridge on which Machu Picchu sits at 7,810 feet (2400 meters).  We must have looked lost, because we were approached by a guide who tentatively asked for us by name.  It turns out the guide had been waiting for us at the train station, and the tour company had been frantically calling around trying to locate us.  They dispatched another guide to the entrance of Machu Picchu.  All is well that ends well...    

We decided to take the bus from Nasca to Cusco.  Although a 14-hour trip, it seemed to make more sense than doing a seven hour drive back to Lima, find a hotel for the night and then catch an early morning flight from Lima to Cusco.  The 9:30pm bus on which we were confirmed had been cancelled and we were booked on the 11:30pm.  11:30 and then midnight came and went.  Staff at the bus terminal locked up and some went home.  Fortunately, our bus finally arrived at 30 minutes after midnight.  We had opted for the VIP (recliner) seats - finding them in the darkened bus that was aready quite full was a challenge.  Fortunately, they were on the lower level.  The Cruz del Sur bus was new and quite comfortable, and the ride was uneventful with the exception of one sharp turn that send camera and camera bag flying across the aisle.  No apparent  damage was done. 

The early part of the scenery up into the Andes was similar to what we had seen between Lima and Nasca.  As we rose higher, we started to see more green along with settlements and agriculture.

We checked in the Hotel Ruinas, a lovely building not far from the central square of Cusco.  Cusco is at 3,400 metres (11,200 feet) above sea level, and we had been warned to watch for altitude sickness.  Given that the bus had been heading downhill on the road into Cusco, we had clearly been higher through some of the Andes passes.  In general, we felt fine, until we climbed the stairs to our third floor rooms and found ourselves quickly winded. 

Cusco, a city of about 300,000 inhabitants, has a European flair, very different from the other cities we visited in Peru.  Particularly interesting were the ornately carved balconies.

Cusco was built in the 12th century by the ninth Inca Pachacutec, who constructed his palace on what is now the Plaza de Armas.  It was captured by the Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro in 1533.  When the Spanish turned their attention to Lima, Cusco became something of a colonial backwater, until the discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911 which re-awaked an interest in the local archeology.  Many buildings in Cusco were constructed using blocks taken from nearby Saqsaywaman, a large complex constructed in 1460.

We managed a few pictures, had supper, met the local G.A.P representative and and decided to make it an early night before tackling Machu Picchu.   

We were picked up at 9am and driven to the airport.  After a short wait, we walked out to the tarmac to a six-seater Cessna.  The pilot reviewed the flight plan, got us settled and secured, then took off.  After passing over the valley, the pilot continued on to the plains to the south, following the course of the Pan-American Highway that we travelled the previous day.

To give passengers on both the left and right side of the plane good visibility of the Nasca Lines, the pilot would bank sharply to one side, then turn back and bank to the other side. The figures (or geoglyphs) cannot be appreciated from the ground, due to their size (from a few metres to 30 kilometers).  They were sometimes not easily seen from the airplane, even though we were provided a diagram and were told what to look for.  From left to right, the figures are:

• astronaut, monkey, dog, condor
  
• spider, hummingbird, tree, hands (the last two pictures show the viewing stand we saw the previous day)
  
  
  
  
  

  

Early geoglyphs tended to be representative figures, while later glyphs often included geometric shapes and lines.  These have been taken as evidence for an extraterrestrial landing site.  The Nasca Lines or geoglyphs are believed to have been constructed between 300 BC and 800 AD by the pre-Inca Nasca culture.  The Nasca removed the darker surface material, revealing the lighter desert soil underneath, or scratched furrows into the surface up to 30 centimetres deep.

Since the Nasca had no written history and their oral traditions have not survived, the purpose of the geogylphs is open to interpretation.  Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche, proposed that the figures and lines represented a giant astronomical calendar.  Marie Reiche, whose pictures were prominently displayed at the Nasca Lines Hotel, dedicated her life to uncovering the secret of the Nasca Lines.  Researcher Johan Reinhard believes the Nasca Lines were related to water and fertility rituals, pointing to hills and underground sources of water.  Unfortunately, none of the hypotheses have sufficient supporting facts. 

Our bus to Cusco was not scheduled to leave until 23:30, so we visited the local museum on the outskirts of Nasca.  In addition to extensive specimens and information about the archeology of the region (unfortunately all in Spanish), the museum had a model of the aqueduct system that the Nasca constructed to access and channel underground sources of water in an area that often did not get rain.

After supper at a local restaurant, we headed off to the bus station and waited.  And waited some more.  The bus to Cusco finally arrived half an hour after midnight, but that is a story for another day.

We arrived safely back to the ship at Valparaiso on Nov. 23rd.  It took us a few days to recover from the effects of high altitude and try to get control of the 1,800 pictures we took over the last 5 days.  Also, Internet access is increasingly unpredictable - we are quite far south and at the edge of coverage from the satellite that provides services to the ship, and the weather is closing in.

Royal Caribbean had taken our passports in Ft. Lauderdale.  After several trips to Guest Relations, they returned our passports the evening of Nov. 22nd.  We left the ship at Callao (the port of Lima), exited the port and joined the throng of people trying to find transportation.  Fortunately, we located our driver (Mario) and guide (Omar) and started the seven hour drive from Lima to Nasca along the Pan-American Highway, which stretches from Alaska nearly to the tip of Chile. 

We passed through a rather bleak landscape of sand dunes and some rock outcroppings.  Shanty towns are common, sometimes far from any apparent towns.  This desert extends the length of Peru between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes.

The desert was cut through periodically by rivers that allowed vegetation and agriculture to flourish, such as onions (bagged in the fields) and vineyards.  We did see some unusual vehicles: three-wheeled taxis that based on the exhaust were probably powered by two-stroke lawn mower engines.

 

Nasca is in a valley fed by two rivers, the Ingenio and the Tierras Blancas.  Along the way, we passed a tower which we later learned was used to view part of the Nasca Lines.  An airplane doing an overflight of the lines passed overhead.

The town itself was not particularly picturesque, although that may be a 'surface' perception.  Some of the buildings that looked quite ramshackle on the outside were quite nice inside.  The Nasca Lines Hotel was very nice, both inside and out, with an excellent restaurant and attentive staff.  We met up with the local G.A.P representative, got our instructions for the overflight on the next day, and 'crashed' for the night.

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.

 

On the way back to the ship, we had a chance to take a closer look at the fishing boats.  A number of small boats appeared to be doing a good business ferrying cruise ship passengers out for a 'water-level' look at the Radiance of the Seas.

Day 9 was another sea day - time to relax and catch some sun.  We actually saw some land today.  Normally, the captain sails well away from the coast - the best we have had on previous sea days are freighters, fishing boats and a few sea birds.  April did see six or seven whales, but too far way for pictures. 

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.

We were up at 5 am on the heliport deck to catch the sunrise and watch the Radiance enter Limon Bay prior to entering the first of three Gatun locks.  As a cruise ship, we had priority and passed through numerous freighters waiting their turn.  For the privilege Royal Caribbean paid U$280,000 and another U$20,000 in various service fees.

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. 

The locks work primarily through the flow of water from Gatun Lake to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  After entering the first lock, the doors separating us from the Atlantic closed.  Valves connecting the second lock to the first lock opened, allowing water to flow into our lock until levels were equalized.  After sailing into the next lock, the procedure was repeated. Electric 'mules' with 40,000 HP engines control the position of the ships within the locks.

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.