Home»South America Day 04

Not a lot say about today.  We packed and whiled away the time until our taxi came at 11.30 to take us down to the (makeshift) cruise terminal, which our driver did very efficiently.

At noon they still weren’t quite ready for us, and relative calm turned to pushing and shoving as multiple busloads arrived – mostly full of passengers transferring from Santiago.  The first order of business was to hand over luggage and complete a health questionnaire but staff had no sense of organization at that point and too many people were trying to force their way forward as if the ship would leave at any moment without them.  This too did pass and the actual check-in was smooth, orderly and efficient.

Explored the familiar Veendam, noted a few changes, had some lunch, got the non-flushing toilet in our cabin repaired and we were all set, and spent the next hour or so before the safety drill watching activity on the water including pelicans buzzing the ship and the growing plume of smoke over the city from a forest fire just a little way inland.

The exception to being ‘all set’ is that I had (have) developed a cold so I skipped dinner, while Thea joined her fellow airport volunteer (Joan) and her husband and brother/sister-in-law.  I’ll meet them on Sunday (we’re all sharing a dinner table for the duration) if I feel contagion-free.

Does anyone remember using an early Windows computer with a dial-up modem and watching the screen be redrawn one piece at a time?  Well satellite internet from the ship is a lot like that and it takes a lot of 40-cent minutes to get things done!

Sailed at 5 into a thick bank of fog offshore and very choppy seas.

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