Day 21 - 10/27/23 - San Antonio, Chile

 It's hard to believe that we are now three weeks into our voyage.  Today we arrived at San Antonio, Chile which is the commercial port for Santiago, Chile.  It's by far the busiest industrial port we've been docked at so far in this voyage.  On our previous Antarctica voyage we departed from Valparaiso which is about 90 minutes drive north from San Antonio.  However, HAL's cruise ship operations were moved to this modern Saudia Arabia owned facility about 6 years ago.

Another passenger organized today's excursion and we joined 23 others in the Ocean Bar before heading down to deck 2 to disembark the ship.  On that deck, the line stretched about halfway down the length of the ship.  But once we could depart, the line dissipated quickly and we boarded shuttle buses to the passenger terminal where we passed through a security check for food being taken off of the ship.  We then found our tour guides and bus outside the port gates.  Mike, the owner, and Philippe, his assistant were our guides today.

For the second day in a row, we were going to be on a bus for about and hour and a half in order to reach Valparaiso for what was supposed to be a walking tour and a visit to a winery.  However, today was a new holiday, Reformation Day, which was relocated from October 31 to separate it from Halloween and provide another 3 day weekend.  So there was not a great deal of traffic on the highways or people in Valparaiso. And the wineries were all closed.  So Mike had a special surprize for us.

Upon reaching Valparaiso at the town square on the waterfront by the major war memorial, we began a walking tour through the former Wall Street.  Valparaiso is a very old and tired town and among the poorest cities in Chile.  Its downfall started with the opening of the Panama Canal just over 100 years ago.  Valparaiso was once a major bunkering port for ships sailing around the tip of South America.  While it still has an operating port, a major part of the reason for the shift of port operations to San Antonio is a result of labor troubles in Valparaiso.  The Saudi's own the facilities in both cities.  Crime is rampant and we were on high alert, and we had no issues with that aspect.  It was also a bit chilly in the mid 60's and I definitely didn't wear enough clothing.  My insulated parka is coming out of the suitcase for the coming ports.  

Our walking tour continued north and we eventually took a funicular ride up to the former wealthy area that's now a shadow of its former self.  Graffiti and street art cover virtually every flat vertical surface including stairs.  We had previously visited this area when we were here 7 years ago and not much had changed except that the graffiti and street art has been "refreshed,". When I get home, I need to compare my pictures from then to today. We wandered our way back down the hill and met our bus on the former "Wall Street".

The surprize that was ahead of us was that Mike was taking us to his condo located in an adjoining town of Vina Del Mar.  Yes, all 25 of us!  His wife had a area set up on the manicured lawn and all were invited to come up to their condo unit for finger foods and wine, but some of us elected to get some food at a nearby restaurant.  I elected to get food while Angela elected to participate in the condo experience which she really liked.  Afterwards we all gathered on the lawn and a young marionette artist delighted us with a superb show featuring a number of artists including a Ray Charles, Elvis, and Pavarotti along with a monkey and a Kermit the Frog look alike.  These tiny marionettes were about 14" tall and were operated in a lifelike manner down to their mouth being synchronized to the accompanying  music.  I can't post the videos due to copyright issues, but I'll put a few stills down below.

We then reboarded the bus and drove back to the port some 1.5 hours away on really nice roads. In comparison to the other Centeral and South American countries we have visited this trip, Chile appears to be the most developed.  However, they do have shanty towns and poverty.  Back at the port, we stopped for a bit in the terminal to catch up on internet before boarding a port shuttle bus around 3pm.  

Back on board, I asked the security person how many were left to board and was told 249.  That's a lot for 1/2 hour before our on board time.  We then watched the boarding process and noted that stores were still being loaded and refueling from tanker trucks was still occurring.  We watched for a while and the Captain came on to make his departure announcement.  He first said that our departure would be delayed by about 3 hours until 8pm so they could complete refueling.  Then he talked about the weather ahead of us and said he had some bad news and some good news.  The bad news was that the LIDO pools would be emptied to prevent some possible damage from sloshing water from expected upcoming swells.  Then he said that even with the departure delay, we would still make our port call at Isla Robinson Crusoe on time since we would be sailing at a faster speed and that our stabilizers (like airplane wings) would be more effective.  Over the past few days there's definitely been motion to the ocean onboard, and while some don't like it, it's really been nothing.

Our evening entertainment was a a movie 180º South about a fellow retracing the steps of a couple of his heros' 1968 journey through South America in search of excellent surfing waves.  It was well photographed and we really enjoyed it.  We wrapped the evening watching Game 1 of the World Series which Texas won in the bottom of the 11th inning with a home run.

Tomorrow is a sea day and Isla Robinson Crusoe should be reached the following day..