In the middle of the Drake Passage
One of our speakers told the perfect cure for seasickness: lie down flat under a tree. The room as silent for a moment, then followed by bursts of laughter.
Yesterday we were in Ushuaia, Argentina which is nicknamed “The End of the World”. It is the last city in South America. The landscape looked like Southeast Alaska with the clouds patched over the mountains, a little mist here and there, cool temperatures. It was beautiful. Plus all stomachs had returned to normal since the ship was docked.
Carter had signed us up for a Trek. There was no further explanation, so naturally, I began to worry. I knew that I would be the grande dame of this hike since it was crew only and I desperately didn’t want to embarrass myself. My worry was well-founded, but I survived and did NOT embarrass anyone, thank goodness. Kit had me well into a fitness routine and I have not missed a day of working out since the beginning of the cruise. We started out being taken by bus into the Tierra del Fuego National Park and walked for 3 hours. First we trudged thru peat bogs that went up to mid-calf of our Wellington’s. I did have a moment or two of stress when my boot became mired in the mess and I couldn’t extract it. It was sticky, brown and reminded me to quicksand. Of course, Carter and Alemitu were well ahead of me…..We then climbed up the side of a mountain and once at the crest, were served lemonade and “biscuits”. After that it was mainly downhill, through a forest ravaged by beaver. The beaver were introduced by some Canadians in the 1950’s and they are totally out of control. They have no predators, are fat (1/2 again the size of those in Canada) and have worthless pelts because it isn’t cold enough here to make good fur. Carter took numerous photos of the vegetation and experience. I hope he got one of the oozing peat. Since I focused my eyes mainly on the ground, trying to avoid tripping, that will be my memory of the trek.
Winnie
Hola,
Finished getting dressed for Formal nite and have a few minutes while Alemitu is boring a hole in the mirror getting herself together. I have posted a bunch of photos on flickr yesterday and today from both our Ushuaia trek and the food extravaganza in the Dining room today. The food displays speak for themselves and even the old time World Cruiser’s raved about the ice carvings and food displays…..Tasted excellent as well!
The Drake Passage thus far has been far less windy or rough than any of us expected and for this….I am thankful! Am gradually getting to know both the crew and guests and it has been fun. As I mentioned earlier the continuity of care is a real change from shorter cruises, and my EM practice and has been very rewarding personally. I have missed much of the educational talks but Winnie has been filling me in on the “abstracts.” Ship ran out of the Cold Weather Blue uniform material so I am back to my “civies” which are sparse in number….Shouldn’t last more that 2 weeks, so I will just make do.
Both Winnie and I feel we would love to return to So America again but want to master Spanish before hand….at least the cooler places for Win. We are settling into our room routine a bit better with Ale starting to spend more time with other crewmembers socially. George our wine Steward from the Phillipines laughed when I introduced my daughter with the story of the Princess and the Pea and he is now calling her “princess” and asking her to be nice to her future “father-in-law.” Alemitu is intermittent appalled and shocked that he has picked up on my teasing here….Oh well, time will tell. Off to dinner!
Carter
posted by Hills @ 10:44 AM
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