We were docked at the port city of Valparaiso when we woke up. The cruise had come to an end. We had what we were told was an unusual morning in that the sun was bright without the usual fog. We said our goodbyes to Hettie and Ronnie who were leaving our little group and heading home via bus transfer to the Santiago airport by way of a day-long tour.

Walter (fist bump) had prearranged a tour and overnight stay for the rest of us in Valparaiso, Chile’s oldest and largest port city located north of the midpoint of Chile’s enormously long coast. A van, driver, and guide were at the dock to collect us at 9:00. Our guide was Thomas, a young Frenchman who came 10 years ago to follow his Chilean girlfriend. (Sidebar: they are still together.) He did a wonderful job of showing us around.

First off he explained that the old port city of Valparaiso, second largest city in the country…with a population of 300,000,  is built on 49 hills that come all the way to the ocean. For that reason there are no hotel chains, only old, grand homes converted into small boutique hotels. Our first stop was at the Zero, our boutique hotel for the night. Free WiFi; we were instantly enamored. And the first tangerine tree I’ve ever seen and more flowering plants than we could count. A beautiful place with a tiered deck system overlooking the port.

Anyway, each of the 49 hills of the city, all smothered in colorful buildings, comprise a sort of neighborhood all its own. Narrow, winding roads, a series of short funiculars (cable-cars),  and stairways get folks from one place to the next. There is way less graffiti here than in Brazil, thank goodness, but does have a lot of interesting art painted on the outside of buildings. Thomas explained that a few years ago a law was passed that made it legal…if you get permission from the owners. From then on, painters brought their A-games, signed their work, and even left social media addresses, so now a few are in high demand not just in South America but all over the world.

An interesting stop on the tour was one of three homes owned by Pablo Neruda (1904-19730), reputed by some to be the greatest poet writing in Spanish during his lifetime. He was a diplomat and politician as well as a writer and won the Nobel Prize for Literature (a busy boy this one) in 1971. His house was multi-leveled with the narrowest of staircases connecting the floors and housed some of the things he collected as a diplomat. All the rooms have magnificent views of the water.

Besides visiting Valparaiso, we went to Vina del Mar, the beautiful resort city next door that was established in 1874 as a place where the aristocracy could, as was the tradition in the enviably sophisticated continent of Europe, have a second house near the capital (Santiago) as a getaway of sorts. It is 300 years younger than Valparaiso and developed as a place to spread out and be at leisure, and is now Chile’s premier coastal resort town. There are beautiful parks, a famous floral clock, large hotels, French style casino, and the longest beach in Chile. My favorite was seeing one of only five moai stone statues that exist off Easter Island. Another favorite was a church with a ceiling built by ship carpenters in the shape of a wooden hull. Very pretty.

Thomas left us on our own mid afternoon. We headed first to find lunch and then wandered the street and did a little souvenir shopping. Lapis lazuli is mined here, so I chose a necklace and earrings. We stopped by a shop where a photographer was transferring pictures onto stiff, white cloth. We had to have one of those too.

The day was wonderful and we were so glad we stayed on to enjoy these two unique cities.

 

Day one
Oh boy! So this is what they were talking about? We woke before dawn to heavy seas and immediately medicated ourselves, gulped down some water, and went back to bed in a Dramamine stupor. Yay modern medicine! We were still sleeping when Cleone called at 11:30 to see if we’d be joining the group for lunch. It’ll be awhile before we live that down. After lunch Dan and I elected to watch the matinee, The Intern, which we really enjoyed.

Today we finished sailing the 350 mile long Straights of Magellan, the channel linking the Atlantic with the Pacific, which runs between the southern tip of mainland South America and the island of Tierra del Fuego. It’s namesake, a Portuguese sailing for Spain, was the first European to navigate the straight (November 1520) and the first to circumnavigate the globe. But you probably remember that from school. Big smile.

The seas made dinner a challenge for the wait staff. There were numerous crashes as plates and glasses slide off service stations and crashed to the floor along with trays of rolls and wine buckets. We luckily felt fine and enjoyed all four courses.

Dan and I were the only ones to brave the entertainment and we were so glad we did. It was a fabulous Brazilian tenor, Jorge Durian, and a violinist who lost their balance from time to time but performed enthusiastically throughout. They did not speak English but performed standards we recognized for the most part, so it made no difference.

To bed with more Dramamine. The ship was pitching up and down as well as back and forth, so it took some concentration to fall asleep with the rattling windows and a few things flying out of cupboards. The closet doors would have slammed open and shut all night, but we cleverly propped a chair in front of them anchored with tennis shoes so the chair would stay put.

Day two
We had a wake-up call for 10:30 to make sure we were at lunch on time and not subjected to the ‘did we wake you?’ ribbing of yesterday. We dazzled our pals by not only being there early but securing a table for six in a prime location by the window. After lunch W&C taught us their version of Hand and Foot. It looked dim for Walter and me, but we pulled it out on the last hand and remain undefeated.

Today we passed through the world famous Chilean fjords, known for their unrivaled beauty. Sadly wind, rain, and fog blurred our visibility considerably, but not so much that we couldn’t tell that it would have been specTACular with clear skies. We were truly sorry to have come this far and missed it…just like Cape Horn.

Cocktails at 5:30, per our routine, and then we splurged and had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants; we chose the steakhouse. I say splurge because specialty restaurants involve a surcharge of, in this case, $35/person. It was the last of three formal nights, so we went in our finery. My filet was divine! as were the potato/cheese croquettes. Dan raved over his cream of mushroom soup.

Our entertainment, which was lively and enjoyable, centered on singing and dancing and featured a professional dance couple from the Ukraine.

Day three
Hard to believe this is our last day at sea. Our little gang met for lunch (our first meal of the day) at noon. The Brazilian tenor did an encore performance to a packed house mid-afternoon, so we went to that and then set ourselves to the task of cramming everything back into our suitcases. We met for dinner and sat at our usual table with our usual waiter and assistant waiter, both Brazilians, who we enjoyed immensely. We took down their names so we could call them out when we reviewed the cruise. The entertainment tonight were spellbinding: a teeny tiny, strong woman and a strong guy did acrobatic things on long, flowing lengths of fabric, a suspended ring, and on the floor. A few times the audience did a collective sigh not quite understanding how they managed one move or another. Duo Free Action is their name. They are Ukrainian.

Chile was under Spain’s control until they decided enough was enough in 1810. Wanting to exert some control over the southern tip of South America, the new country of Chile saw a need to have a presence down there, so Punta Arenas was founded in 1843. It had a slow start as a failed penal colony, but in the 1880s began to attract a lot of immigrants from Europe, especially Croatia and Russia. It is now a university town of 150,000 with an economy based on sheep (think three million), fishing, and tourism. Like Ushuaia, it’s a jumping off point for Antarctica.

We found Punta Arenas to have a bit of a sophisticated flair, in a hodgepodge, no zoning kinda way. It was tidy and clean with comparatively little graffiti. Corrugated metal roofs were prevalent as were colorful (think pastel pink and blue, tangerine, aqua, mustard) buildings. We saw cottages; homes built of stucco, brick, wood, and siding; an Art Deco building; and a Tudor building as well as a handful of homes that looked like the suburbs of any major city in the States.

We took a ho-hum tour of the town. I say ho-hum because our guide lacked enthusiasm. But his story was interesting and typical: both his parents immigrated from England, met and married in Punta Arenas, and he has lived there his whole life.

We visited two small interesting museums, one indoors and one outdoors and went to an overlook for a panoramic view of the city. The guide made a respectable attempt at explaining that Punta Arenas is in the famous Straights of Magellan discovered by its namesake in 1520 and, back in the day, only available to ships belonging to the East India Company. Charles Darwin sailed these waters on board the Beagle.

Dan and I walked the cute streets, popping in and out of shops looking for treasurers, until time to board the ship and get ready for cocktails and dinner with our buds. All in all, another great day.

This jumping off point for Antarctica, population 80,000 or so, had a real frontier feel with low lying, utilitarian looking, weather beaten buildings. It’s situated right on the water at the base of beautiful mountains. Some were bald, some snow capped, and others lush green. The tallest is just under a mile high. The weather changed constantly but wind was ever present and luckily the sun popped in and out all day which we were told is rare. The high was in the low 50s.

The city started as a penal colony in 1896 for prisoners who failed to cooperate in prisons up north. Our first stop for the day was at the prison, now a museum, which is smack dab downtown. Ushuaia is remote by today’s standards; back then it was thought to be in outer darkness! The consensus was that a prisoner would be foolish to leave, so a fence or wall was unnecessary. Sure enough, a few prisoners did escape but most were caught or came back on their own accord when finding food and shelter proved a problem.

The Pan-American highway, which runs from the southern end of Argentina all the way to Alaska, has its beginnings near Ushuaia. W&C’s tour took them to the southernmost point of the highway. Our tour drove north for an hour or so which gave us an idea of how beautiful the route is. We especially loved the glacial valleys with steep mountains hovering on both sides. Peat bogs were prevalent in the low-lying places. The guide explained the formation and harvesting of peat, but I must have been dreaming about lunch or something because I basically didn’t understand.

Speaking of lunch, we had a fabulous barbecue lunch of lamb cooked over coals in the traditional way. Potatoes, bread, salad, wine, and coffee rounded out the meal. The meat and potatoes were served on small coal warmers brought to the table and placed on wooden boards. Such a clever idea! The restaurant was in the country in a beautiful setting, so once we had eaten our fill we walked around enjoying the views. On the same property as the restaurant was a sled dog kennel where dogs are trained to pull sleds and wagons in the winter. I’m not sure if this is for sport or for fun or necessary in certain weather.

On the way back to town the guide explained all the felled trees visible from the road. Seems someone had the bright idea a few years ago to import Canadian beaver and get a little fur business going. Seems the fur did not get as lush as expected due to a more temperate climate than in Canada, so the business never got off the ground. With no predators, the beaver have thrived and done a whole lot of damage in Patagonia. We saw some large beaver lodges from the road as well as areas they had dammed up.

Skiing season is four months long and popular. The glacial valleys are ideal for cross country and there are small ski resorts for downhill.

Dan and I roamed the downtown streets once the tour was over until time to return to the ship to shower and get ready to drink at 5:30, per plan, followed by dinner at 6:30. I caved and had two desserts AGAIN. Someone should just slap me. We had a real treat during dinner. The captain came on to say the skies had cleared and visibility was good, so if we cared to take a look off the starboard side, we’d see glaciers. Well yeah! They were beautiful and looked just like rivers of ice. One had a huge waterfall to deal with the summer melt.

Walter was the only one who took in the entertainment, an illusionist. Dan and I enjoyed a piano player before going to bed and the other party animals retired to their rooms right after dinner. And so ended another wonderful day on the high seas …or in our case… a day in the fiords.

First day
We enjoyed a perfect, lazy day bobbing around in the ocean. The skies were clear, the sun warm, and the seas as calm as a cucumber. Dan and I rolled out of bed around 10:00, hours after our cruise buddies, with just enough time to walk the deck, shower, and meet for lunch. I went out on a limb mid-afternoon and had a full body treatment in the spa. Head to toe massage and a mini-facial. Dan played some video poker and we both read and relaxed on the deck until time for (free) cocktails, dinner, and entertainment. Our entertainer was Salvatore Hasard, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who jammed on the piano, drums, harmonica, guitar, and a small horn that looked like a baby sax. He was high energy and very enjoyable. After our buddies headed to bed, Dan and I enjoyed a nightcap at the bar while listening to rousing ’50s and ’60s music, mostly sung in Portuguese. Lots of Elvis, lots of dancing.

Second day
We were told (forewarned) that the seas would most likely be rough and winds strong as we approached Cape Horn, the southern most tip of South America where the Atlantic meets the Pacific. As you history buffs remember, this was the primary Atlantic/Pacific shipping route for centuries until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 created an awesome shortcut with incalculable savings in money, time, and lives lost to the perilous journey ’round the Horn.’

As predicted, we woke up to hangers sliding back and forth in the closet, a couple of drawers sliding in and out involuntarily, wind, and rough seas. Enough activity to send us straight to our stash of sea sickness abatement meds. Dramamine for breakfast in other words. Our room is three floors from the top of the ship and in the way back, so we are in the prime location for lots of rockin and rollin, pitching and heaving.

We felt fine all morning thanks to our pharmaceuticals and went to lunch early having had nothing to eat but Dramamine. Around noon the captain came on to tell us that the Horn was experiencing 30 foot seas and winds up to 69 miles an hour. Not an oddity since the weather is less than ideal 80% of the time that far south. It was his decision, therefore, to change course and not continue to head into that kind of weather. We were disappointed to have come this far but very supportive of his safety-first strategy.

Our new course took us close to shore through fiords. Low lying, dark clouds, rain, and wind made the visibility poor for the most part, but when the sun made brief appearances, I could see low lying hills smothered in trees, presumably evergreens. Late in the afternoon, just as we were leaving for dinner, we spotted penguins clustered on small islands in the fiords and along the shore. Cute as a fricken button those little guys! We also passed Fort Williams, the southern most town in the whole wide world.

H&R had a lazy afternoon and we played Hand and Foot with W&C. Walter and I won by the skin of our teeth. The second formal night was tonight, so we all donned our fancy outfits and met for (free) cocktails, as usual. Red wine for me and gin and tonic for Dan. The entertainment was a lively country western review. All in English!

On a sad note: Dan found out that General Thompson, his boss in the early 80s and a longtime friend, died yesterday. He took a spill just before we left, but his passing was not anticipated.

My favorite day so far! We docked in the city of Puerto Madryn which is on Peninsula Valdés in northeastern Patagonia, about half way down the Argentine coast. The whole peninsula is a UNESCO world heritage site, actually, due to the abundance of wildlife.

We drove out of the city of 100,000 past the aluminum plant and fishing boats (squid is their best catch) headed to Punta Tombo, the largest penguin nesting ground in South America. It is home to upwards of two million Magellanic penguins from September to March each year. It was a two and a half hour drive through a flat, dry, windy landscape with low lying scruffy brush. Our guide explained that the Pacific winds go west to east and drop all their moisture in the Chilean Andes. By the time the wind gets to Argentina’s Patagonia, it is as dry as a bone and the soil and thirsty looking vegetation certainly attest to that.

We learned that Welsh pioneers settled here first, in 1865, at the invitation of the Argentine government. These pioneers had a tough start but within ten years they had devised an irrigation system and managed to produce wheat as a cash crop. Then came a railway and then other Europeans decided to go for it and started to arrive. To this day Wales is proud of the small Welsh towns in the area.

The Punta Tombo rookery is actually on a privately owned ranch homesteaded by an Italian family 100 years ago. They noticed more and more penguins over the years and brought it to the attention of the government. Although privately owned, it is protected today and opened as a park in 1979.

We really fell for these cute little guys that come each August from Antarctica to breed. The males arrive first and hang around the shore waiting for their mates. The couples spend September getting reacquainted, flirting, and cleaning out their burrows. Then they ‘get busy’ if ya follow me. Two eggs are laid … four days apart. Boom: 40 and 44 days later the chicks hatch.

Along with all these migrating penguins come loads of birds, foxes, and armadillos with one thing on their minds: feeding on eggs as well as the chicks of unlucky, inexperienced, and negligent parents. If all goes according to plan though, both parents incubate the eggs rotating in/out of the water to eat. Once the chicks arrive the parents take turns regurgitating semi-digested fish. Both chicks are fed but the first born is fed first and the second born gets what’s left. In January when the chicks are three months old, waterproof feathers start to replace their down. Pretty soon they are ready to enter the water and get with the swimming lessons. When the babies, who by now have grown like little weeds and are pretty much the size of adults, are skilled swimmers, they head north to Uruguay with a few adult females as chaperones. 15-20 years = life span.

In Punta Tombo, there is a long path and a few wooden overpasses set aside for human visitors. The penguins are literally everywhere. The babies had already begun their swim to Uruguay, so we saw mostly adults who were in the process of getting their new 2016 feathers. Little parades were waddling Charlie Chaplin style to and from the water to feed. Some pairs (they mate for life) were grooming one another, others seemed to be hanging out in the shade provided by scrub brush and the overpasses we walked on, and others were resting on their bellies in their burrows which are small holes in the ground. The best burrows had been dug underneath a scruffy shrub and were protected from wind, sun, and rain. The also-rans in the burrow world were dug out of the barren dirt and looked like pot holes open to the elements. I am clueless how they manage to return to the same nest each year, but we were told they do.

We walked the length of the path, which ended at the waters edge, where there were thousands of them just milling around. They did not approach us, but they didn’t waddle off fearfully either. By the end of next month the adults will head north to Uruguay to meet up with the youngsters. When the sea gods dictate they’ll all migrate to Antarctica where they’ll not set foot on dry land again until they return to Punta Tombo in September.

It might seem like a poor investment time wise to drive two and a half hours each way to spend two hours with penguins, but we thought it well worth it. It was such fun! We enjoyed boxed lunches on the ride back to Puerto Madryn. Our bus driver was long and lean with a chiseled face and reminded me of the quintessential tango dancer.

Near our ship were numerous large, old, rusted out fishing vessels. Apparently they were caught illegally fishing in Argentine waters, refused to pay the fine, abandoned ship, and just went on home. The coast guard or navy or someone towed the vessels to shore and parked them in a cluster hear the dock.

We talked penguins through cocktails and dinner and then enjoyed the entertainment and headed to bed after a great day.

Happy 60th Deb!

Out of bed at 10:00, yawn, stretch. Walked the promenade deck for 35 minutes before cleaning up to meet the gang for lunch. Played cards (hand and foot) with W&C all afternoon (Walter and I dominated) and then met for cocktails and dinner after freshening up. This is the life! For everyone but Hettie, that is. Her shingles flared up nicely from the heat yesterday, so she is very uncomfortable. ;~{

Seas are calm and the sun is out. Although we are heading south, the warm temperatures are holding, but when there’s a light breeze it’s a bit on the chilly side.

Tonight’s entertainment was put on by the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers and highlighted popular piano numbers over the years. Very upbeat and enjoyable but no match for the gauchos or the minimally clad violin player.

We cruised all of 150 +/- miles overnight to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which is just across the river from Buenos Aires. Hard to believe, but due to heavy traffic we arrived an hour late. This caused no problems for us since our walking tour of the old city did not start until 12:30. The dock was right downtown which made getting to and from easy.

We had a great guide who explained how the Spanish and Portuguese fought over Uruguay from colonial times forward with Brazil getting in on the act later. This meant it changed hands quite a few times and was not the independent country it is today until 1825. The downtown we visited was full of post colonial buildings, wide roads, impressive monuments, and pretty parks. Just like in Argentina, they like their grilled meat here as evidenced by all the barbecue places with an assortment of meat cooking over hot coals.

We went inside three impressive buildings. The first was the city’s most prominent home a century ago, now the Museum of Decorative Arts. It is within walking distance of the port in the old city and has gorgeous furnishings, framed tapestries, and a very sweet marble carving about two and a half feet tall of a small girl doing handwork. The second building was the theatre with its beautiful horseshoe shaped red and gold concert hall, and the third was the cathedral where we lit a candle for Josie’s Aunt Gerry.

We got back to the ship just in time to shower and change for dinner. Tonight’s entertainment was a pretty, energetic, young, Russian violin player who came to have a good time. Let’s just call her Inna Tolstova in case you want to YouTube her. She has either tied with the ball twirling, whip snapping, dancing gauchos or she is my favorite so far. Surprise #1: she did not stand still. Hard to picture I know, but she started each number in a sort of tai chi pose and then moved fluidly into waltz and ballet type movements, lunges, and mini-squats. It did not distract from the music at all. Surprise #2: the first third of the performance was done in a beautiful hoop skirt, 3″ strappy sandals, and what looked like a sleeveless leather top. Then fast as a flash, she released something around her waist and stepped out of the floor length skirt and played in the leather top and a thigh high, gold and black checked sarong. It is not so much that it was distracting as it made us ask why a costume change when she had us all so captivated with her music. Imagine our surprise when the little sarong dropped to the floor and she looked like a trapeze artist playing a wicked violin. She got a standing ovation and did an encore. H&R had been up since 5:00, so won’t they be sorry to know what they missed by heading to bed early? Cleone also passed.

Sad news today: W&C’s dear friend Don died this morning. They knew before they left home that it was a possibility, but it was still very sad to hear the news.

It was a challenge in this relaxed atmosphere, but we managed to be up, fed, and at the mustering station for our tour by 8:00. Once organized on the bus, our group of 22 drove an hour+ out of town and through the pampas (grasslands). Destination: a ranch, La Mimosa, where we spent the better part of the day enjoying a huge barbecue lunch, touring the grounds, and enjoying traditional dances performed by two couples dressed in gaucho and gaucho girlfriend outfits. A highlight was watching four gauchos compete in a ring race, a pastime dating back to the 17th century. One at a time they galloped at full speed toward a ring (the size of a wedding band) dangling on the end of a suspended bar. The idea was to snag it with a thin wooden stick loosely the size of a pencil. Boom! They actually did it. The next round was galloping toward a larger ring with a wooden lance and snagging it, knight-like. Not a problem.

The ranch, which has been in the same family for 150 years, is now too close to Buenos Aries to run cattle, so it is technically a soybean farm. The current owner met us at the gate along with gauchos serving fresh, warm empanadas, red and white wine, water, and soft drinks. An old, white, stucco hacienda sits in the middle of dense vegetation and looked just like a movie set inside and out. The owners no longer live there but have maintained it very well. After our warm welcome we wandered the grounds, took a short buggy ride, and were amazed by the menagerie. There were 14 big dogs, half of which were German shepherds, all well behaved and completely unfazed by all the visitors. There were also peacocks, chickens with their chicks, horses, goats, sheep, geese, and a few ostrich lookalikes for good measure.

The ride back into town was uneventful less being serenaded by the gentleman behind me. He had earbuds in and moved swiftly from tapping to humming to singing along to F. Sinatra, the Beatles, Peter, Paul and Mary, and others the whole way back. He was not, unfortunately, blessed with much of a singing voice.

We returned to the ship in time to shower and change for dinner. Dan and I ate light (shock) because we were still a bit full from the huge, melt in your mouth beef lunch. The entertainment was my favorite so far on the cruise: the Argentinian group Impacto. Three hunks in tight, light blue mom jeans and black boots that looked like the marriage of cowboy boots and tap shoes danced up a storm, played drums, sang, did a couple of guitar numbers, danced while whirling whips, played the Peruvian flute, twirled capes, and did amazing things with what I call gaucho balls. Excuse the name. They are baseball sized cement balls wrapped in leather and attached to the end of a long rope. Back in the day they were used to bring animals down…sort of like a cowboy’s lasso. Anyway, the hunks beat the hell out of the stage floor with these balls all the while dancing and twirling them around in the air frenetically. Impressive unless you were in the front row and worried a dancer might lose control and let one go flying by accident.

Dan ended his night dropping a few quarters in the slots while I read in our room.

In case you are wondering, H&R took a city highlights tour that overlapped lunch and included time to shop and W&C were on their own and walked into town to explore.

We woke to clear skies with not a hint of the rain from the night before. We enjoyed a light breakfast and coffee on our huge balcony before attending the lecture ‘Secrets to a Flatter Stomach.’ We came away knowing a lot about toxins, liver function, the lymphatic system, and the need to change up our lifestyle a wee bit. Lunch with the gang rounded out the morning followed by walking the deck with the hopes that the lecture leader would spot us diving right into a new routine. No such luck.

Naps, showers, and some light reading had us refreshed and ready for the first of three formal dining nights. But first we rallied for cocktails. OK, here’s how cocktails work: W&C and H&R have a lot of status with Royal Caribbean (we don’t) and each gets three coupons a day for complimentary happy hour drinks. This nets out that we drink for free thanks to their generosity. It’s a system we’ve grown to love.

Dinner was wonderful and the entertainment was very enjoyable. The headliner was a Brazilian chanteuse named Veronica (pronounced Ver-own-E-kuh by our Brazilian cruise director) Ferriani. In light of the fact that a) there are 800 Brazilians on board and b) we were still in Brazilian waters, most of her songs were sung in Portuguese with a couple in Spanish and English. From the enthusiasm (wild applause and singing along) of the the row behind us, it is safe to assume she nailed the Portuguese numbers.

We ended our evening with cookies washed down with coffee (H&R), tea (Walter), milk (Cleone), sugar free fruit punch (D&S) before heading to bed after a nice first day at sea. We turned our watches back an hour before lights out.

The second day at sea was an exercise in relaxation. Clear skies with temps in the high 80s. Dan and I were up and walking the promenade deck by 10:45 which got us back to the room in time to shower and meet the gang at noon. The ladies had a special ladies-only lunch, at Cleone’s invitation, in the dining room where she presented both Hettie and me with two beautiful Rustic Cuff bracelets in celebration of the 40th anniversary of her and Hettie’s friendship. I have made out like a bandit with these two beautiful bracelets and the scarf that Hettie knitted me. This is not counting free cocktails each night.

Cocktails at 5:30, dinner at 6:30, and entertainment (Brazil’s Luis Fernando on piano) at 9:30. I would have been more surprised by Louis’ orange shoes and orange tie except there was a gentleman seated behind us at dinner tonight with orange shoes and an orange shirt. Orange really is the new black in South America. We all agreed that the day was wonderful in spite of having done essentially nothing. And I do mean nothing.