Lunch at Restaurante Sotito's in Punta Arenas

Looking out over the town.....




A fabulous meal at such good prices.....I would have taken photos of the food but we were so damn hungry we devoured it on site and only left these licked clean
plates and empty bottles!

Penguins and Punta Arenas

We saw these wonderfully sweet penguins today at Cena Otway outside of Punta Arenas...what a wonderful sight. They bray like mules thus the
nickname of "Jackass Penguins!"

Our room steward and others on the ship

Holland America certainly knows how to provide impeccable service, fabulous 5 star meals and always with a smile! Here are just a few of the folks who made our journey
fun and memorable.............

Here's Houdin (sp?) who we nick named "Houdini" as he could be in and out of our room so fast -leaving our room spotless-not to mention all the towel animals on our bed! Here's a few ..........









Eeeeek.......
don't try this at home!

Here are a few shots of the Pinnacle Grill
and the hard working kitchen staff!
First-here's a shot of the restaurant's interior.....




Waiter hustling through the kitchen


Marzipan being shaped into fruits and flowers


Putting the finishing touches
on the dessert-one of many desserts!

Melon artist.........

Ice carver hard at work...........

This sign says it all!


This dessert extravaganza was the epic
"cherry on top" of the tour.
The dessert chefs and assistants
worked days to present this sugary display!
We just looked-could not fill
our plates as some did...mama mia....burp!

Beauty on Board!!!

Here are all the Gorgeous Cruising Women Pals

First dressy night of four...it's fun to dress up!

Beauty in Patagonia

Southern Patagonia
Yesterday we went through the Darwin Channel. It is amazing to me to be here-so far away from anyplace. Seeing the glacier, the floating ice and traveling through fiords
is a big reason why I am here. I love being here.
Tomorrow we will be at Punta Arenas where we will disembark for a tour of Cena Otway where we will be able to see some Magellan penguins.
As we have been going by the coast of Chile I cannot imagine what it must have been
for the explorers and scientists. Here we are on the floating fully equipped city and they
had only the bare necessities for survival.

More fun than I thought!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

More Fun than I Thought
We arrived after 8 days of travel in Lima, Peru, Santiago, and Vina Del Mar , Chile. As I write this , our ship is rolling a little side to side....have not gotten my sea legs yet. After arriving at the dock at Valpariso, just up the hoarbor from Vina DEl Mar, the loading process was smooth. We boarded the ship and our bags magically appeared in our stateroom, which is compact but has a surprising amount of storage.Our butler/valet is named "Dodit", and he's from outside Djakarta, Indonesia. He smiles all the time, very unflappable, and left towels on the very comfortable bed in the shapes of fans, with little chocolates tucked into them. He hung up my clothes when I had to run out for dinner (I could get used to this)...Today I went to the gym at 6:45 and used the treadmill, although the pitch and roll while doing the treadmill is a little disconcerting!! Then the bike (better), then wandered over to the Lido dining room and met Harry--had breakfast, then a pedicure in the Salon, now I'm planning on going nto the Diamond and Tanzanite Show in the jewelry shop, or maybe play Team Trivia in the Explorer's Lounge...Wow!Patty

Oxleys Odyessy

Hi Family and friends! This is the first time I have been able to actually send something to our blog site because Kathe is helping me with all the techie stuff! So let’s just start at the beginning. Our plane flight was great, and LAN has food, unlike some of the other flights we have taken. (this trip is a lot about food!). Anderson’s, Stearns and we traveled together for the first little leg of the trip. So, we flew from LAX to Lima, and there is 3 hour time difference. We arrived in Lima around 12 midnight, went to our delightful hotel in Miraflores just outside Lima and settled at the bar. At 3a.m. we finally hit the sack! We were picked up for our first tour at 9 for a city tour. What fun. We started at the “kissing statue” and a beautiful park. Our guide showed us all around and without boring you, it was great sightseeing. Then out to lunch at a café outside, and lots of “pisco sours”, the national drink! It’s kind of a cross between a margarita and a silver fizz. Good! That evening we went to a wonderful dinner, really beautiful restaurant called the Brujas Cachetas. The dining was fabulous and the building lovely. Next day we went to some ruins, Pachecama, that were huge. We drove through the outskirts of Lima for about ½ hour. Lima is truly a desert, and they get NO rain. The most they get is a mist once in a while. All of their water comes from underground. Therefore, these ruins which were made out of just the sand from the huge dunes, and water, have remained quite intact. They have a huge immigration problem, but not from the outside. From their own people who are coming down from the mountains in search of work. Lima has to deal with about 10,000 immigrants a month! We spent a bit of time wandering around doing the tourist thing, shopping etc, and that evening went to one of the most beautiful restaurants I have ever been to, on the end of a long pier. It was elegant, the food superb, the service fantastic, and the ambience unbeatable. All in all a truly wonderful dining experience. (also the most expensive!!!!!) We had to get up at 3 the next morning to catch a 7 a.m.plane for Santiago, Chili. (This was NOT the part of the trip that we got a lot of sleep!). Uneventful and nice flight. AND, they served a nice breakfast! So, this is where we met up everyone else who was going on the cruise. People came in a different time during the next 2 days. The picture I am putting in the blog (and I am only sending ONE because it takes too long on the EXPENSIVE internet), is from when we took a tour of the Santa Rita winery outside Santiago. They are world famous and bottle over 1,000,000 bottles every year! Tom Rosen had made reservations for our group to have lunch there, and again, a fantastic experience. Truly unique, a 200 year old winery, a luncheon made for a king, and our waistbands are now experiencing tightness! We spent some of the rest of the afternoon walking around this lovely and very modern city. Both Lima and Santiago have surprised us with their modern development and look. When you get out in the countryside, it looks a little more like Mexico. Our next tour was to another winery, Veramonte, where everyone tasted and bought wines, as they had done previously at the other winery, to take to the ship. $15 corkage on the ship, but that’s better than $50 a bottle! It’s interesting how they trim the vines, to me anyway. They are practically FLAT, whereas the vines in California are very bushy. Must have something to do with the way they are picked. And at the end of each row, they plant roses. Is this common in other areas? They say that if the roses get a disease, the growers can immediately check the vines, because the roses are weak and the grapes, strong, as far as diseases go. That day was our anniversary and along our way, we all went to a lapis lazuli factory Where Harry bought me a lovely lapis and gold ring! Our friends gave us cards and we had a wonderful day! We then took a bus to Vina del Mar, where we stayed in a fabulous Sheraton, right on the beach. This is resort town, and lots of South Americans come here for vacation. Their summer vacation is just the opposite of ours, Jan, Feb. March, as are all the blooming plants and trees. It seems funny to see the crepe myrtles blooming right now! All the while on this trip between Santiago and Vina del Mar, we had a tour leader who told us over and over again, that we seeing the MOST important, the MOST beautiful, the BIGGEST, most FAMOUS etc, etc. everything. And probably we were, because this area is certainly one of Chile’s biggest in population and development, and tourism. So, this brings us to boarding the ship, the Rotterdam, in Valpariso, the port here. It is a lovely area, but bustling with activity. The boarding process is very organized, and we all were on the ship by 2:00 p.m. the 16th. Our rooms are varied, but all lovely. The ship is large, quiet, and is like a floating city. Everyone has lots to do if they want to, or just loll around and read. Last night we had a late dinner, but a nice dinner, however tonight we made reservations so we could eat at a better hour. There are movies, and tonight we are all going to a live show, music and dancing with costumes by Bob Mackie. Tonight is FORMAL, good grief, and Susan will be in her new red sequined dress from Lima, so our group will get much better service! and here's Rick and Susan.............. Keith and Patty Kathe and Russell Joel and Connie Lou and Dee Pam and Harry Connie Cobb and all her men.......... Tomorrow we have a tour of Puerto Montt on the coast of Chile. We have been at sea since we left, so it will be nice to touch down. Everyone is having a great time and we are a fabulous group together! Kathe will now help me get this to where it belongs and I will try to be shorter next time! Much love to all of you and please someone give my puppies a kiss! Besos, Pam and Harry

A better much improved group photo

Taken by Tom Rosen to accompany our group email to the Odone's!

We are finally all together!

Kathe and Russell survived an amazingly lousy flight via Delta from Atlanta to Santiago- bumped passengers, changed seating for them and overall not a great experience….but they got here and that is what ultimately counts ! Here’s a shot of all of us in Vina del Mar at the top of a tramway. First of many group shots I am sure!

from left to right we are:

Lou, Dee, Joel, Sue R., Susan, Connie C., Pam, Harry, Rick, Russell, Connie, Kathe, Keith, Patti, and Fearless Leader Tom!!!

Vina del Mar in the background..........

Last minute "fluff and buff" for Kathe

Who says blondes don't have more fun..............?

I dropped in to my knee docs office today to get a minor tune up on my right knee. I want it happy and not complaining on this trip!

Photos by Russell.........