South America Cruise Part 2

We loved the Viking Jupiter from the moment we stepped aboard.? Jupiter has 900 passengers, no kids and a collection of cafes, bars, terraces, restaurants, reading spaces, lounges, a library and several nightclubs. It would have seemed daunting if we hadn’t been on a few cruises over the years and knew that a population of 900 guests and God knows how many crew would not be considered immense in cruiseland.? Compare it with the largest ship in the world, the Celebrity Icon of the Seas, with a crew of 2350 and a 7600-passenger capacity.

Yes, that massive enterprise is more gigantic than many of the towns its guests live in. And I can’t bear to think about how many children roam over their 20 decks, 7 pools and the largest water slide on the planet. Shrieking with delight. Screaming in pain. I’ve had the thought that if somehow I was aboard that ship, I would leap overboard.

On the Jupiter, days at sea had a large array of activities to amuse, indulge or learn, like Nordic organic facials, a lecture on “Icefields and glaciers in Patagonia” or a game of mahjong.? And of course, the food was everywhere. In every restaurant, lounge, deck, grill or your cabin. If you didn’t see it, you simply had to ask a crew member for, say, a tuna melt, and it would appear within moments on a tray probably decorated with a flower.? It was almost impossible not to come home several pounds bigger.? Despite Tom and I always skipping breakfast, exercising every day at the gym, and not drinking extravagantly, we gained 4 pounds each.

After about a week traveling down the Atlantic Ocean (which I’ve written about in Part 1 of these pieces) we were informed that our anticipated journey to the Falkland Islands was cancelled, because of high winds and dangerous waves.

Everyone was bereft.? Such is the unpredictable world of cruising.

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But even with the necessary detours, we sailed the very magnificent Strait of Magellan and the fjords of Tierra del Fuego. One night in the theatre we were entertained by a spectacular magician who made everything but the ship itself disappear.? A few days later in one of the bars he had a two-hour performance where twelve of us sat close to him, very close, and still had no ability to figure out what he was doing.? I love magic.

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Tom’s birthday was the next day; the crew acted like it the was possibly the arrival of the King of Patagonia.? We were at sea all day cruising the Beagle Channel, and the food/drink treats didn’t stop.? At dinner with friends in the fancy Italian restaurant, we were served the most notable fettucine alfredo I’ve ever tasted, and a divine chocolate birthday cake.? Then the next day we arrived at the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina, often referred to as “the end of the earth.”? (In fact, I brought home a t-shirt from a local store that has that phrase printed on it.)

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By then, I’d recovered from my depression about missing the Falklands, everything else was breathtaking.

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In Ushuaia we took a catamaran excursion.? One side of the boat was Argentina, the other Chile. We were moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We saw hundreds, perhaps thousands of sea lions and cormorants sleeping on the rocks and dozens of snowcapped peaks while others bright green. The sea lions are enormous; they look comatose.? I wonder how many fish they must eat daily so as to stay so large.

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The next morning we hiked up 2 miles to a lighthouse.? There were untold numbers of seagulls with the same coloring as the penguins we so adored in Argentina. Too bad there were fewer penguins, and the ones that were there didn’t come close to us as had their comrades in Argentina.

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The next day we were at sea all day; it was cold, the seas quite rough. I had to grab onto everything, sometimes onto a passing person. I spent the pleasant day reading my English mystery novel, then went to the astronomer’s lecture on UFOs.? Whatever your belief, there is no way, according to the expert, that we will have contact in the next billion years.

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Alas, a few days later after more amazing sights on the water, we disembarked the Jupiter in Valparaiso, Chile, the port gateway to Santiago, the capital. Although the ship journey was over, we stayed overnight in Valparaiso until the following morning, then moved on to Santiago for a few days before flying home.

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Valparaiso is small, hilly, reminiscent of San Francisco, connected by funiculars, a thriving Bohemian arts area. Most of the buildings (except for the skyscrapers) are covered in murals. I learned the difference between wall art and graffiti or tagging. Our very charming hotel was on a steep hill, and we noticed whenever someone gave us directions, like to a dinner restaurant, they would say that it’s “a few blocks”, not mentioning that the “few blocks” are breathlessly uphill and every three minutes we would have to stop to breathe.? After dinner, we took a cab back to our hotel – even though it was only a five-minute walk away.

Santiago was the end of our magical South American trip; we would fly home from there in three days. Santiago, a beautiful city, the largest in Chile, has some wonderful squares where musicians and dancers entertain all day, a large government square with horseback riders and on that day live Bob Dylan music. We visited sidewalk cafes, watching teenagers and grannies shuffling through the streets, wearing tight and revealing clothing.?

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A few days later, Tom and I were having lunch at an outdoor cafe on a lively street in Santiago. The area was teeming, mostly with crowds that I assumed by their uninhibited laughing and dark hair were locals. The sun was perfect. A guitarist was strolling by the tables, playing, singing and making eye contact signifying his hope for tips.? The empanadas and white wine were heavenly.? I was utterly happy and told Tom I could sit here forever.? I didn’t think about the American election, which had happened three weeks earlier.

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We spent an hour or two browsing and shopping at the dozens of tchotchke stands along the streets We had been warned about street thieves and told to hold dearly onto our stuff.? We were standing at a trinket stand, when I felt someone trying to pull off my shoulder purse. A few minutes later, Tom felt someone trying to unzip the pants pocket where his wallet was living. ?Neither of these marauding efforts was successful.

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A sensational trip with great memories and four extra pounds, and we were ready to come home.

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“Marcia Seligson is one of the funniest, most original, and irreverent people I know, and her book carries all those qualities. She can make anything funny, from a Peloton bike to a 40-hour brisket cookery. And she can be touching, deep, and bracingly honest. My advice to readers is make sure you have unbroken time ahead when you pick up this book. Each time I did, intending to read for ten minutes, an hour went by before I looked up. And I’d laughed out loud at least twice.” Sara Davidson, Writer NY Times bestseller Loose Change, Head writer for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman