January 31, 2020

PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE

This morning when we woke up we were tied up to the dock in the port of Punta Arenas. We didn’t book any orginised tours in this port. After breakfast we walked off board and took the complimentary shuttle bus to the center of town. From here we ventured off on foot. First we had a peak into an beautifull Church (very impressive architecture). Our next stop was an museum displaying the flora and fauna and the history of Chile. After the museum visit, we dropped in at the cemetery. This cemetery was the size of an whole city block. It was quite the vista with all of the grave stones and small family chapels. After the cemetery, we returned to the plaza down town. We stopped for lunch at a local hotel at the plaza and had some Chilean empenadas. Then we strolled through the local market for a while which was set up at the plaza. Shortly after 4:00 we boarded the shuttle bus back to the ship. One thing I forgot to mention, when we were downtown, there was an enormous amount of graffiti on the buildings and a lot of buildings had holes in the glass from rocks been thrown through it during the protests. The protest are against the government for better pensions and heathcare. After dinner, we took in a performance by the latin dance instructors on the ship. They put on a Tango show on the stage in the theatre. Then it was Orange night on the ship. This is to celebrate the dutch heritage with the cruiseline. A lot of ship passengers were dressed in Orange clothing and hats. We were offered dutch appies through out the night and the dutch drinks and cocktails were on sale. During all this, dance party music was being played. Carol and I were personally educated on Genever by the dutch beveridge manager on the ship. We had a couple of the old Genever’s as a night cap before we were heading to our cabin for the night.

Cheers

“South America” “Cruising” “Orange Party”