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2023 Adventure ATW
  • Sonia Gelman
Jan – Jul 2023

2023 Adventure ATW

This is our third attempt to see Africa. Read more
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  • Trip start
    January 14, 2023
  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATWSonia Gelman

    The flight

    January 14, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 39 °F

    Thanks to Rachel and Arden, they drove us to the airport with plenty of time to go through check in and to the gate. The flight is on time.
    We landed just on time. It was interesting to see how all fields close to San Francisco are flooded. The clouds are very heavy and low, but when we landed, there were no rain. We are happy!

    We took taxi to the hotel and by 1:00PM we were in our room. We dropped our stuff and while the rain stopped went to find something to eat.
    We quickly discovered that there are no flat streets around Fairmont Hotel. The position of the hotel is on the highest point and everything is steep downhill. We walked about 1/2 a mile, but for Boris it was a very hard walk down. We found a restaurant, had quick lunch and walked up the “mountain” back to the hotel just in time before rain started again. The rain continued through evening, so we decided not to go anywhere.
    Tomorrow we will board the ship.    Read more

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    Boarding Insignia

    January 15, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 52 °F

    The morning started with a rain. We went outside the hotel to get breakfast. I told Boris to turn around and wait for me to bring breakfast…not the best weather for him to walk. And that was an excellent idea. I googled the breakfast restaurant and it said “mostly flat”. That was a surprise for me. The distance to that place is only 0.2mi, but all the the way steep down. For me it’s no problem, but for Boris would be impossible.
    Got the breakfast to go and on the way back to our hotel it was a 45 degrees climb.
    Had breakfast in our room, then walked around the beautiful area close to hotel.
    At 12:15 our bus came to transfer us to the ship.
    When we got to the check in desk, Boris discover he lost his phone. It took another 20 min to locate his phone on the bus. Luckily it was found on the bus and returned to us.
    Now on the ship we are busy unpacking and organising our cabin.

    After hard work, it was time to meet our friend Erin and Mui for a dinner and Mui’s birthday celebration.

    As usually the food, the company were fantastic with grand finale of birthday cake.    Read more

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    Ensenada, Mexico

    January 17, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ 🌧 54 °F

    After one day at sea, we docked at 8:30, but our wine tour starts at 9:30. We left ship as soon as it docked walked slowly toward tour bus.
    Ensanada greeted us with a rainy cold weather, but we got our new rain jacket when we boarded the ship and now we are not afraid of the rain. Plus we saw multiple rainbows.
    We were first for the tour and other four came shortly after that.
    The city itself is not very interesting. After driving through the city, we continued driving through the country side. The further we drove, the more grapevines we saw. There are 150 wineries in that region. Some are small, but few are very large.

    Our first stop was Cetto winery. It is one of the largest in this region. We tasted four wines, some bread, cheese and olives. In addition to grapes they are growing olives and many fruits and vegetables. The climate in this area is similar to some of Italy places.

    The second stop was small, private winery where we also got to taste four wines, three different kind of bread. One is sweet with fruits, one spicy with pepper and one is normal, also more cheese and garlic infused olive oil.

    The whole tour with driving took close to four hours and around 1:10PM we reached the city (actually touristy street) with lots of shops. Since we are not interested in any of these stuff, we walked back toward the ship. After drinking all these wines, I was pretty wasted. We came back on the ship and I fell asleep for few minutes.
    In the evening we are going to Terrace Cafe. The chef is cooking fish.
    Next two days are at see before we arrive to the next port.    Read more

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    Two Relaxing Days at Sea

    January 18, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    Tomorrow is another Mexican town, but today and yesterday we are at sea enjoying nice cool weather, painting classes, lectures, friends and food.
    The further south we go, the warmer it gets…. before we cross equator and it will get colder the more south we go.Read more

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    Manzanillo, Mexico

    January 20, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    It is warm and sunny here.
    We docked at 11:00AM and shortly after that got out. There was a pretty long walk out of the port.
    Our plan was to go on the beach. Playa La Audiencia is a calm beach about 25min taxi ride from the port. There are other beaches closer to the port, but as we understood, not as nice.
    I downloaded an app DiDi that works similar to Uber (no Uber in Manzanillo), unfortunately there were no cars available. There were lots of taxis, so we and another couple decided to share it.
    After approximately 25 minutes ride we got to the beach, rented chairs and umbrella and started to enjoy the beautiful beach and warm calm water.
    After few hours on the beach we were ready to go back on the ship. There were no taxis available, but I use the app and the car came two minutes after. The driver had a child in the car and since there were 4 of us, the child had to sit on our laps.
    Back on the ship, and after shower, we went for the afternoon tea.
    Then dinner at 7:30 in specialty restaurant.
    We had truly international table with people from South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and US. Had a great time with wonderful people.
    After dinner went to a show and enjoyed it very much.    Read more

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    1

    Zihuatanejo, Mexico

    January 21, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Zihuatanejo is a small town adjacent to a bigger resort town of Ixtapa.
    This is tender port. We were on the first tender boat and as soon as we arrived at the pier, we got tickets for water taxi.
    There were singers and dancers on the pier. Nice touch.
    We got into the water taxi and went to Las Gatas Beach.
    It took about 10-15 minutes to reach the beach. When we arrived it was not very busy. We found chairs, table and umbrella at one of the restaurants that lined up the beach and settle there. The water in the ocean was clean, warm but not much for snorkeling. Mui went to investigate and came back saying that we have seen much better. So Boris and I decided not to snorkel.
    It was still very pleasant to be on the beach.
    For lunch we ordered beer, guacamole, chips. I ordered octopus and Boris decided to have hamburger.
    Since it was Saturday, the beach became very busy, so around 2:30PM we took water taxi back to pier and then tender boat back to our ship.
    In the evening we went to Terrace Cafe for a special dinner with a menu from Red Ginger.
    The food was delicious and presentation is superb.    Read more

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    Acapulco, Mexico

    January 22, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    As soon as Insignia docked, we went out. We were met with a orchestra playing. Nice touch!
    We have been in Acapulco in 2017 and at that time had a tour and seen cliff divers.
    So today is an easy day on the beach.
    First thing we had to do is find ATM and get some pesos.
    It took us 15 minutes to walk to ATM. It was inside very nice store. On the way there, local guy by the name Raul started to walk next to us and asked us to go to his store. We told him we do not need anything, but he continue walking and talking. We got to the store and tried to lose him, but could not. By now he got a control of a wheelchair and Boris. The store, more like a market with a lot of trinkets was couple blocks from the ATM. We spent two minutes in the market and our “new friend Raul” pushed the wheelchair with Boris to the beach. We told him goodbye, gave him a tip and continue to the beach.
    Now on the beach, we rented umbrella and chairs and settled.

    I went swimming few times, but Boris was comfortable in the shade.
    Later, a group of 6 people rented a table with chairs next to us and we realised it is our cru from the ship.
    We had a nice conversation with them, but it was getting hot so we decided to go back on the ship.
    After lunch we parked ourself on the deck by the pool to enjoy outside and sea water pool. Also to wait for Mariachi band to perform and what a performance it was! The group of six players and singers and six dancers, gave us very good performances. The group performed together for the last 30 years in 19 countries. And we had a front row seats to this wonderful show.
    It is now time to take shower and dinner. Tomorrow will be a sea day.    Read more

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    Peru is Cancelled

    January 23, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Today was a relaxing day at sea. I started day with a 2 miles walk on the deck, then breakfast and a few hours by the pool, lunch, wine tasting and then…the news
    from cruise director. Our three ports in Peru have been cancelled due to the political unrest in the country and been replace with one port in Ecuador 🇪🇨 for two days. It is better to be safe.
    It is our first major change.    Read more

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    Puerto Chiapas. Iztapa and Chocolate

    January 24, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    This is our first visit to Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. Our friends, Erin and Mui visited this port 2 weeks ago and managed to set up a private tour for 4 of us.

    We stopped to see ruins of Izapa. It is an archaeological site dated 2500 years ago. The sites located on land of farmers. These sites are not supported by government since the traffic to see them is not heavy and can not bring big revenue. And it is sad, since the sites will not survive for much longer.
    Our driver/tour guide Fabio was very knowledgeable and explained many traditions and believes. Too many to list here.
    We visited three level pyramids and tried the game Maya people played a game ball ( it weighted 5kg). Our ball was light. We need lots of practice to play that game.

    After the ruins of Izapa, we drove to Tuxtla Chico. The town was preparing for celebration, which will be between January 23 and February 2nd. The streets were colourful with little flags and umbrellas.

    We were looking forward to a performance, but could only take pictures of woman in costumes. Beautiful costumes and ladies.

    Our next stop was in Chocolate La Parra house. The owner, Dona Josefina has an little shop and demonstrates the process of making chocolate. She won competition in Italy and France.

    We had hands on experience on making chocolate. We roasted beans, shell them and then grind them by hand until it forms as a paste. Then we ate our own made chocolate.

    After getting pretty full eating 100 percent bitter chocolate, we were invited to eat traditional meal of quesadillas and tamales. The drink was hot chocolate.
    In addition to hot chocolate it was very hot outside. 92 degrees. We really enjoyed this tour.
    This is our last stop in beautiful Mexico.    Read more

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    Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and Spa

    January 25, 2023 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    We visited the biggest attraction in Guatemala, La Antigua in 2017. So to find something interesting not too far from Puerto Quetzal, our choice was to go to a spa. The place is about 90 min drive from the port.
    So we booked a semi-private tour. We did not know how many people will be on this tour, but were happy to find out only us and our friends, Erin and Mui on probably 12 passenger van.
    On the way to the Santa Teresa spa, we made a quick stop to take pictures of Volcan de Fuego. There are 37 volcanoes in Guatemala and 3 are active. We witnessed an active one.
    Upon arrival to this place, we were directed to take a shower and then go for 10 min in the hottest pool of 105F (41C). After that to 75F pool, then 98F and the last one is 88F.

    During this process we were given Mango and Berries smoothies.

    Then we had a free time before one hour massage for $42 dollars. After massage, we were completely relaxed. The massage was amazing!

    After massage we were served lunch. Boris had a hamburger and I had grilled chicken.

    Full and happy, we got back in our van and drove back to the ship.

    We also made a short stop at Lake Amatitlan.

    Back on the ship, shower and a little rest.
    By 6:00PM, Erin and Mui came to our cabin and we had Mexican white wine on our balcony. Then light dinner at Terrace Cafe. After that we watch a movie in our cabin. That was the end to our day.    Read more

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    Acajutla, El Salvador

    January 26, 2023 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    The ship docked at 6:00AM today, but the departure is scheduled at 2:00PM.
    Because of such a short time in port, I was reluctant to book a private tour. We booked 4 hours highlights tour from the cruise ship. Departure was scheduled at 8:45AM.
    We departed exactly at 8:45 with 40 people on the bus.
    The country is pretty poor and pretty dirty.
    Our first stop was on the shoulder of the road to take picture of volcanos. The shoulder of the road was littered with garbage.
    Our second stop was Izalco town, where we had 15 minutes to take pictures of the church and see an artisan market.

    We continued driving in so called “Flower Road” named in memory of perished people during their 12 year of civil war from 1980 to 1992.

    We stopped in another town - Nahuizalco to take pictures of another church and visit another market.

    After that, we drove back to the ship. Can’t say it was a good tour.
    The tour guide was very good, but it was hard to understand him.
    We learned about national flower, tree and bird of El Salvador.

    Now it is time to rest and go for a nice dinner.    Read more

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    Manta, Eguador and Coffee Plantation

    January 29, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    For today’s trip we joined our friends from 2017 cruise Erin, Mui, Pat and Norm.
    It is our first time in Manta.
    The name of the tour is “The coffee and Beach Experience”
    We did not know much more what to expect.

    The tour started at 8:00 AM with drive to higher elevation to visit Dos Maños coffee plantation. Dos Maños is two monkeys in Spanish. When we got to the plantation, we could hear loud monkey howling, but could not see them.

    The owner and our host was Juan who was born in Puerto Rico, lived in many places in USA and after retirement settled in Ecuador. He is still working and doing philanthropic work to improve life of local people and especially children.

    He explained to us different methods to process coffee and then we went for a walk through coffee trees, tasting coffee beans right from the plants. They call them “cherry”. Actually, the outer layer of the beans is very sweet.

    After harvesting beans, they dry them at the sea level to avoid higher elevation humidity (which did not make sense to us).
    But I guess they know what they doing.
    During drying process, they rake beans and then grind them to a desired size depending on what equipment used to make coffee.

    After that we visited Juan’s house on the beach. The location, the beautiful house, the tasteful decorations and welcoming host were wonderful. He made us feel very welcome, telling us interesting stories about his life and philanthropic work, making coffee for us, which we enjoyed with a beautiful view of the ocean.

    He also showed us his collection of artifacts he plans to donate after his death .

    We met his daughter’s little dog named Monkey. His daughter died after car accident and this little dog is the closest thing he has.

    It was time to say goodbye and have lunch.
    We drove to a restaurant Fish Cevicheria. There were rows of restaurants on the beach, but this looked like most popular.
    I had ceviche and Boris has a fish soup.

    The next stop after lunch was beach break. Unfortunately, the waves were very high and it did not look safe to go into the ocean.
    I went for a walk on the beach with Pat. The water was warm, the sand was packed and easy to walk.

    After spending sometime on the beach, we decided it is enough and time to go back.
    On the way to the ship we stopped at the supermarket. I was looking for good dark chocolate, but did not find any. Instead I got two bananas and one mango for $0.55.
    Mango was very delicious.
    Overall it was a very good tour.

    In the evening Erin, Mui and us had a dinner at the Polo Grill with General Manager Claudio (from Italy) and Executive Concierge Julio (from Chile).
    Delicious dinner and a great company.

    We skipping a show, but heard it was a good one.
    Tomorrow is another port, we need a rest.    Read more

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    Guayaquil, Ecuador day 1

    January 30, 2023, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    It was an unplanned two days port instead of Peru.
    The day started with taking a free shuttle to the city. The ride was approximately 30-40 minutes. We arrived in the center of the city at Seminario Park. The park was build by colonial settlers in the 1690. It is also known as Iguana Park. The park is a home to endless number of iguanas 🦎.
    It also has palms, almond trees and artificial lagoons stacked with fish. The park has a statue of Simón Bolivar on horse and a sculpture of two fighting wild boars. Across the park is a very impressive the Apostle Saint Peter cathedral.
    From the park we walked to Administration Square. It is surrounded by beautiful heritage buildings: Municipal building, Governor Palace build around 1930.
    The square is full of impressive sculptures and also Fountains of Glory and Grace in honour of Marshal Antonio Jose de Sucre.

    We continue to Molecon 2000 which considered as one of the most successful urban projects of America. It is 2.5km walk full of nature, history tradition and modernism. For the start we decided to walk, enjoy and photograph this beautiful place. With the exception of heat and humidity, the place is really enjoyable. We finished the walk at the Anthropology museum which was closed on Monday.

    We turned back and decided to find a lunch place away from the crowds, unfortunately lots of places were closed. We found a small restaurant and had a light lunch, then walked back to the shuttle stop.
    We passed a Moorish Tower dated to 18 century. We also passed a Presidential Walk. The walk memorialised four former presidents, all born in Guayaquil.
    Another memorable sculpture is The Rotonda Hemicycle. It was inaugurated in 1938. The monument shows Bolivar and San Martin greeting each other surrounded by hemicycle formed by ten pillars and ten columns that have the flags of the South American countries they liberated.

    It was too hot to walk anymore, so we walked back to our shuttle.
    After another 40min ride on the shuttle, it was a relief to come “home” and take a shower. Tomorrow will be another day in the city.    Read more

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    Guayaquil, Day 2

    January 31, 2023, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Todays plan was to walk Diego Noboa y Arteca stairs. It is a popular tourist attraction. It begins at the foot of the hill and ends at the top. It is made up of 444 numbered steps.
    Boris did not want to go ashore today, yesterday was very hard on him.
    I would probably not go by myself, but Erin and Mui were generous enough to take me along.
    We took an 8:30am shuttle and from the shuttle an Uber to get to the steps as early as possible.
    There are actually two sets of stairs, but the other set is not safe for tourists. We wanted to take a picture of the other stairs, but were intersected by police and locals telling us to turn around. We explained we just want a photo and were told to hide our phones.
    Erin took a quick photo and we walked to another stairs patrolled by police.
    The walk to the top was very pleasant. We stopped many times to photograph little squares, art galleries, coloured buildings. In no time we mastered 444 steps and saw a small chapel, the lighthouse and Naval Museum that was closed.
    We decided to visit Santa Ana chapel first.
    It has nineteen stained glass windows. The chapel was build in 2002.
    On the opposite side of the plaza located the lighthouse. Also build in 2002. We climbed the lighthouse. It is allowing 360 degrees view from the top balcony. We could see an old neighbourhood and a modern luxury residential and commercial buildings.
    Another attraction on this plaza was a sculpture of Juan Pueblo. We had to take pictures with this character.

    Now it was time to navigate same stairs down. Very close to the bottom of the stairs is a beautiful cobblestone street with colonial houses painted different colours. The street was lined with art galleries. It is not a very long street, so it took us 15 min or so to walk the street both ways.

    Our next stop was the MAAC — Museo Antropologica y Arte Contemporaneo.
    I was looking forward to visit this museum, but when we walked in, I could not wait to get out. The place was not air conditioned. Inside was much worse then outside. Maui and I got out and Erin continued to see this museum. It did not take long before she gave up and went outside.
    Anyway it was time for lunch. We went outside of Malecon 2000 to find a place.
    We found a restaurant with A/C and ordered our food. We were the only customers.
    We washed our food with a cold beer. The food was delicious and very filling.

    After lunch, we went back to Malecon and walked back to our shuttle. Again, we admires sculptures and gardens along the way.
    We were back on the ship around 2:00PM.

    Tomorrow is a sea day to relax.    Read more

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    Scheduled stop. Callao, Peru

    February 2, 2023, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    As I previously posted, all our port stops in Peru were cancelled. Although we had scheduled stop in Callao, Peru to get new supply and some crew members had to get off and new crew members join.
    I went for a walk on the deck in the morning and it was so foggy, I could not see the ocean. The fog horn sounded constantly with the intervals between sound two minutes.
    Because of the fog, the ship was going very slow. We docked in Callao at noon instead of scheduled 10:00am.

    When we arrived in Callao, we saw lots of vendors waiting for us to disembark.
    Finally after pleas of the passengers, general manager agreed to let us get on the pier to pier. The passengers and especially vendors were very happy.
    Boris and I went to see the stuff and purchased a little stuffed llama for Arden.
    Glad that locals could make some money since there are no more tourists in Peru.    Read more

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    Steel and Iron Church
    Geoglyphs

    Arica, Chile

    February 4, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    After three days at sea and two hours of time change, we arrived to the northern port of Chile. Arica is only 11mi south of the border with Peru.
    Arica’s population is 222.000 and it is an important port for a large inland region of South America.
    We were a little late to dock, instead of 8:00am, we docked at 9:00am.
    Erin organised today’s tour. There were 6 of us, all friends from 2017 cruise.
    To meet our guide we took a port shuttle and after a short ride were outside of the port gates.
    The plaza in front of us was full of vendors preparing for three days Carnaval. Our guide offer us to walk a little bit around before The start of Carnaval.
    One of the interesting things was a steel and iron St. Mark Cathedral designed by Eiffel.
    The cathedral withstood two earthquakes of 1868 and 1877.
    Then we all got into a very nice van and drove costal road to El Morro hill. It is approximately 130 meters high. From the top we could se a panoramic view of Arica.
    Also at the top, there is the Historic and Weapons Museum of Arica. There is also a monument to unknown soldier.
    We continue driving thru desert toward River Mouth, observing numerous geoglyphs from 1100 to 1400 years ago.
    We passed one valley in which they grow corn, lattice, tomatoes and another valley where fruits and olive trees are grown. We stopped few times to take pictures.
    Arica was inhabited by different native groups dating back 10,000 years. These people are the first known culture to mummify their dead, 2000 years before Egyptians. We stopped at the very interesting museum containing 300 mummies and artifacts. The mummies were discovered as recently as 2004.

    We enjoyed the museum, unfortunately it was very hot and only mummies enjoyed the A/C. The time was 1:30pm and we needed lunch.
    This tour included lunch, so we stopped at the restaurant which was not air conditioned. The lunch was delicious and portions were huge.
    After lunch we stopped at one more stop for pictures and continued to the port gate.    Read more

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    EsmeraldaCaptaind CabinDining RoomSpecial Lift for BorisWalking Along Cavancha

    Iqueque, Chile (2nd time)

    February 5, 2023 in Chile

    This is our second visit to Iquegue. The first one was in 2018 when we went paragliding. Still remember this experience!

    Today we took a 9:00am required shuttle and in 10min were in the centre of the city at Plaza Arturo Prat with clock tower in the middle.
    We started to walk on pedestrian street toward the ocean, but then decided to turn around an go to highly rated Esmeralda Corvetta museum.

    This museum is a replica of the Esmeralda Corvette, which after 23 years of service sank in the Naval Combat of Iquique on May 21, 1879. It is a pride and the main attraction of Iquique.

    We came to this museum about 10 minutes before opening time, but they opened the gates for us and let us go in. We purchased tickets and audio guide in English.

    The original boat was build in England for Chilean navy. It is a sail boat with a steam engine. It was equipped with 9 cannons, which had a fire ring range of 3km.
    In this replica of the boat you could see how the officers and sailors lived, eat, worked and spent free time at the time in the sea.
    We spent about 45 min in the museum and walked back to the big plaza, stopping at the fish market. It is always interesting to see how locals live and shop.
    We walked back to pedestrian street and continued toward the ocean.
    At that time most of the businesses were closed. Probably due to the early hours or because it is Sunday.
    The waterfront walk was very pleasant.
    We walked pretty far, passing beautiful long beach. By noon there were lots of locals on the beach, but not many swimmers. The water was pretty rough and as we understood quite cold. There were many 🏄‍♀️.
    By 12:30 pm we turned around and decided to go back, but found a nice looking cafe with wonderful people. It was a small vegan restaurant. We ordered one vegetarian pizza. Delicious.
    The service was very slow, but we had nowhere to rush and had a nice conversation with a couple from our ship.
    We walked back to the shuttle and were on the ship by 2:30pm.    Read more

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    Coquimbo, Chile (2nd time)

    February 7, 2023 in Chile

    Today we docked at 7:00am, but our private tour did not start till 9:00am. We met with our group of 9 people and proceeded to meet our guide. We had to walk 10 min through cargo port to get out of the port. We met our guide and driver and started to drive north along the endless beach. The weather was cool and not sunny.

    The ocean in Coquimbo is always calm, but the water is cold and there were no people on the beach or the water. We saw few stands with vendors selling fresh fish.
    The further north we drove, the rougher the ocean became.
    We stopped at the lighthouse that was build 50 years ago.

    We also stopped at the 21st division of Chilean military, training facility.
    There are 500 recruits training there.
    Boris and Mui had a long conversation with a lieutenant colonel.

    We also stopped at the local market and then at the upscale stores to go to the bathroom and get some good chocolate.

    We had to be back on the ship no later then 3:00pm to arrive to the next port on time. The traffic was extremely heavy. Tomorrow, close to 200 passengers leaving us and more people are boarding the ship.
    In order to be on time, we cut Japanese gardens and going up on the cross out of our itinerary. In addition to that, everyone was hungry. It was not a very exacting tour, but we saw something different. We got back on the ship before 2:00pm, had late lunch and resting to be ready for tomorrow’s tour.    Read more

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    San Antonio, Chile (3rd time)

    February 8, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    This is our third time in this port. First time we went to Valparaiso, second time to Santiago. Both cities are a long drive. This time Erin arranged something different.
    We met with our group of 11 people at 8:30am, took a shuttle out of the port and met with the guide at 9:00am.

    Our first stop was Pablo Neruda house.
    Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature, Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old, and wrote in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems.

    Neruda occupied many diplomatic positions in various countries during his lifetime and served a term as a Senator for the Chilean Communist Party.

    Neruda died at his home in Isla Negra on 23 September 1973. Neruda is often considered the national poet of Chile.

    Casa de Isla Negra was one of Pablo Neruda's three houses in Chile. It is located at Isla Negra, a coastal area of El Quisco. It was his favourite house and where he and his third wife, Matilde Urrutia, spent the majority of their time in Chile. Neruda, a lover of the sea and all things maritime, built the home to resemble a ship with low ceilings, creaking wood floors and narrow passageways. A passionate collector, every room has a different collection of bottles, ship figureheads, maps, ships in bottles, and an impressive array of shells.

    The audio tour was very informative and we enjoyed going through this unique house. After the tour we went to see Pablo Neruda and his third wife grave and then to the coast.

    Our second stop was San Antonio valley winery. It is a small winery producing good wine. The winery starter by a woman and now continues production by her children.

    We had an extensive introduction to the operation and history of this winery. After that we tasted 5 different wines and purchased three bottles.

    A little drunk and happy we returned to our ship.    Read more

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    Fish soup

    Puerto Varas, Chile

    February 10, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    The plan for today was to take an Uber from Puerto Montt where the sender boat docked to Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas is a city in southern Chile's Lake District. It sits on the southwest banks of the expansive Lake Llanquihue, which offers commanding views of snow-capped Osorno Volcano and Calbuco Volcano, both still active. Traditional German-style architecture characterizes the town, reflecting its colonial past.
    After few minutes our Uber arrived and it took us around 30 min to get to the center of Puerto Varas.
    Erin and Mui went to climb the mountain and Boris and I went for a long walk along the lake. We decided to meet for lunch after our walk. We have been in this town three years ago at the beginning of the Covid outbreak and the town was very quiet. Not this time. Lots of people and an excellent weather made the town lively.
    We vent for a long walk along the lake and by 1:00pm arrived at the restaurant. Erin and Mui arrived 2 minutes later. Lunch was delicious and we went for another walk after lunch. By 3:00pm we met and called for another Uber. The traffic was very heavy and the driver was very crazy. But we got back on time.
    We were so full after lunch, so we skipped dinner and now are waiting for a show.
    Tomorrow is another port.    Read more

  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATWSonia Gelman

    Puerto Chacabuco to Coyhaigne, Chile

    February 11, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌧 57 °F

    Puerto Chacabuco is a tender port. The weather was cold, rainy and windy, but not as bad as yesterday. Our sister ship could not stop yesterday because of the high wind. We were lucky and by 11:45am we got on a tender boat and met our tour guide. Unfortunately, not everyone from our group took first or even second tender boat…but in an hour everyone in our 14 person group were ready.
    Our tour guide, Angelika, introduced herself as a German. She and her husband moved to Chile from Germany something like 15 years ago.
    After driving for a while we stopped at the lake to take some pictures, then at the wooden bridge. It was scary even to walk on this bridge, but we saw few cars driving over the bridge. We stopped to take pictures of a beautiful waterfall. Then we made a short stop in a small town Coyhaigne. The center of the town was full of vendors selling expensive useless goods.
    Our last stop was gated house of our tour guide where we had a chance to taste wine and have some German pastries with coffee.
    It was a long drive back to the port to take a tender boat. By now it was very cold and ☔️.
    Back on the ship, I took a hot shower, we had a quick dinner and now ready for a show.
    Tomorrow is a sea day.    Read more

  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATWSonia Gelman

    Sea Day/Super Bowl

    February 13, 2023, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌧 41 °F

    Today was a typical sea day with activities including lectures, games and….Super Bowl party!
    Since I know nothing about American football 🏈, right after dinner we went to Insignia lounge where the broadcasting of the game was set up and took few pictures.
    The culinary team prepared typical game food: hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken wings, baked potatoes and bacon chips. Lots of deserts.
    For us… it was time to go to bed.    Read more

  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATWSonia Gelman

    Punta Arenas, Chile

    February 14, 2023 in Chile

    After passing through large number of Chilean fjords, we arrived to the most southern city in Chile.
    We have been in Punta Arenas in 2018 and in 2020.
    Today, four of us (us plus another couple) decided to hire a taxi, go for a ride and then walk for an hour or so.
    We took a shuttle from the cargo port to the center of the city. There is also commercial port, but the bigger Oceania ship Marina was in the port.
    The shuttle brought us to the center of the city and we started to look for taxi. We found a taxi, but the challenge was to fit our wheelchair in a tiny trunk. I had to take the wheelchair apart to the last small part.
    The next challenge was to explain what we want. The taxi driver did not speak any English and non of us spoke Spanish.

    Our first stop was observation point.
    Then we visited Cemeterio Municipal Sara Braun. It is a huge 4 hectares cemetary build in 1923.
    Sara Braun was a Latvian-born Chilean businesswoman who became one of the principal employers in Patagonia. After emigrating with her family from the Russian Empire to escape persecution because of their Jewish heritage, the family toured Europe and then looked for work in Argentina and Paraguay, before moving to Magallanes, now known as Punta Arenas, in 1874.
    The next stop was the Nao Victoria Museum. The museum's goal is to be interactive and offer its visitors the experience of interacting with replicas of the ships that contributed to the discovery of the area, colonization of the territory, or have a special and historic heritage significance for the Magallanes Region of Chile.
    Nao Victoria, was part of the fleet commanded by Ferdinand Magellan that discovered the waterway around southern tip of the South American continent.
    Another replica is Ancud, the ship that, was under an 1843 mandate of the President of Chile, Manuel Bulnes, claimed the Strait of Magellan on behalf of Chile's newly independent government, building Fort Bulnes.
    Unfortunately, we could not spend more time there. It was very cold and started to rain and our taxi was waiting for us.
    We were getting outside the gate of the museum when I saw a couple we met in 2017 on Insignia and became very friendly. They happen to be in Punta Arenas for a day on another Oceania cruise ship. That was wonderful!
    Back in the taxi, we drove some more and then got back to the center of the city. We were prettier cold and decided to spend some time in a coffee shop.
    We had a delicious coffee and a muffin, found our shuttle and were back on the ship by 2:30pm.
    We are trying to warm up before dinner in a specially restaurant.    Read more

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