We arrived safely in Santiago on Friday morning - ten minutes early even

after the snow and all.

We got to our hotel and then took the metro system to downtown and explored

the city. Good ice cream . Interesting to see people in short sleeves and

sandals with snowflakes at the mall and Christmas music. It is about 80

degrees and very comfortable.

Today we were near the down town plaza de Armas and the cathedral. Lots of

people doing some kind of line dancing. Artists and panhandlers mostly from

the university supplementing college expenses.

Tomorrow we leave for Valparaiso and the ship.

We think they have this internet session for about 75 cents - but that may

be for a minute and not an hour.

The panhandlers speak excellent broken English. I told them in Russian

that I could not speak English. Neither of us are very good at Russian.

Best wishes all until next time.

Bob and Joyce (on the road in Chile)

Bob and Joyce in Chile : part 2

We have made it to the checking area for the Ship. What an adventure. I will

have to learn some Spanish. But many angels have come to bless us with help.

We took a taxi to the bus station, a bus to the port and another taxi to the

place (which is not in Valparaiso due to a pilgramage on the road). We

checked out arrangements yesterday but the taxi took us to a different bus

station. I was told we could not go from that station to where we wanted to

go (Vina del Mar) .So I bought a ticket to VAlp. and then someone came up to

me and told me we could exchange the ticket for the bus leaving in 5

minutes. Any way we are here. Had a great day in Santiago. Rode the subway

many times at 50 cents each time. Ate at a resturant called El Beto . I

ordered a piece of lamb. It was about 1 lb and good! Joyce had a huge piece

of tenderloin and a great dessert. Quite a lunch! Chinese for dinner. Ice cream a few times (it is summer). We watched a movie or two in Spanish and here we go .... off to Cape Horn. People have amazing stories about getting here. It costs $100 US to get into

the airport (since we charged Chile residents that much for a Visa to the

US). Lots of cute little puppies sniffing for whatever.

We are looking forward to a day at sea. Departure at 5:00 pm .They are on

Atlantic Savings time so that will be 3:00 pm EST.

Best wishes to all.

Bob and Joyce : South American Adventurers

Bob and Joyce in Chile : part 3

Today we are in Puerto Montt about half way down Chile. They get 10 feet of

rain per year here, 290 days of rain. Today it is clear and warm. We were at

sea yesterday. <it was cold on the ship with 16 knot speed of ship and 30

knot head wind. Bob sat on deck and fell asleep in ski coat. Got very nice

(bad) sunburn.

This place has reputation for maybe biggest earthquake on earth in 1960

>(9.4 on the new scale). We saw the volcano that erupted also that year and

the next volcano that may go.

Great food and no seasick, but more interesting ocean to come. The ship is mostly people who have cruised before - some of them 30 times or

more. More competition for Bob telling travel stories. Haven{t found anyone

yet that flew a real (small) airplane to Alaska.

Excuse punctuation as keyboard is interesting.

We are looking forward to another day at sea then reaching Punta Arenas near

the end of the "world".

The sun comes up at 6:00 and it is dark by 10:00 PM.

I am conserving pictures so only 200 so far.

Hoping all is well with everyone.

Bob and Joyce : South American adventurers

Greetings to friends and family:

Today we are in Punta Arenas. This is the last city in the bottom of the

planet - 120 thousand people. Today we went to the National Park at

Magdelana Island. 2 hours by ferry to get there. There were approx. 2

Gzillion penguins of the Magellan species. Hard to translate Gzillion. They

recently mated and many young chicks in Burrows. Sounds like a fram of mules

with the braying going on. We spent two days at sea cruising through the

Chilean fjords and Magellan straits. Many glaciers and almost no people. no

houses of any kind. A few fishing boats. Very few animals aside from a few

dolphins, albatross, petrils.

The ship is fine. We have had no known illnesses other than my bad sunburn

which I got first day and slowly recovering.

Tomorrow we go to Ushuaia in Argentina and then an opportunity to swim

around Cape Horn.

The weather is nice. Yesterday in mid-50s. The wind is strong but in same

direction and speed as ship so it seemed calm.

The people in Chile have been very nice and proud of this beautiful long

narrow country.

Bob and Joyce : Adventurers in South America

We have arrived in Argentina. Ushuaia claims to be the largest town at the

end of the world (Fin del Mundo) - the last place was the largest city. The

population here is about 25 thousand. Started as a penal colony but now just

a neat colorful place.

Last night the sun set by around 11 pm. It was getting light again around 4

am. We got up to see a large field of glaciers as they went by our stateroom

window. Some things are nice to see in the privacy of your own room. Today we arrived in this port which is the main gateway to Antartica (about

1000 km - 600 miles away). We went on a bus trip to a National park , very

scenic with mountains all around. It is normally very windy here with summer

temperatures from about 35 to 60 F. Today it is calm with blue sky and 65

degrees. Most unusual. The angels are still here.

Then we went on a 3 hour ride on a catamaran to see the water and birds and

sea lions. We have seen maybe 60 different kinds of birds. Notable are

albatross, petril, several kinds of geese and ducks, and several kinds of

cormorant (imperial and magellanic), Gulls , kara kara skua, and others.

Many have young as it is close to first day of summer next Saturday.

I have taken almost 600 pictures and starting to delete the culls as many

new things each day. I have an itchy trigger finger with this camera.

My sunburn is getting better. I´m starting to wonder if I am eating too much

fruit and that is making a rash. I´ve cut back to five meals a day just in

case - still hanging on to three desserts at each meal though.

The money is strange for us. In Chile the exchange is 700 peso to the dollar

so that a five dollar meal costs $3500 (they use the $ sign). Here in

Argentina five dollars is only $17.50 so it looks like a lot less. They do

seem to like dollars.

We have the ability to get news but haven´t read much. I read 4 pages in a

novel in Miami - not sure where I put the books but no need as I sit on the

back of the ship or tour or sleep or eat. The shipboard entertainment is

good. Our table mates are charming. We have found that most people seem to

know about Rockville MD. A rather infamous place.

Tonight we set sail for Cape Horn which the outbound extent and then head

east and north for the Falklands. That will be back in the open ocean and

maybe something more exciting for rock and roll .

Best wishes to all

Bob and Joyce : South American Adventurers

Dear Friends and Family:

Earlier this week week we rounded Cape Horn. The weather, as you might

expect, was unbelieveable. We estimated the sea waves at about 600 mm and a

wind chill of 13 degrees with a wind of at least Force 1. Visibility was

good. The ship came in heading west and we got to about 2 miles from the

island. Then we turned around and had another view as we headed east. Joyce

and I had an opportunity to swim around Cape Horn. The water temperature was

9 degrees (46 F). About 30 seconds was the legal limit. The things we do to

get fame are incredible! Actually it was only in the pool on the ship as we

went around Cape Horn, but still refreshing.

Life on the ship is going well. No illness that I know of. The crew works diligently all the time cleaning everything over and over. For the

first week we could not get meat rare or medium rare because they wanted

everything ensured free of whatever. Now we can get anything done anyway.

While around the Horn the sun was coming up at about 5 am and it was dark by

10:15 pm. As we move east the sun comes up earlier and sets earlier. All is

in the same time Zone (Atlantic Savings Time which is EST + 2 hours).

P.S. :For those of you not familiar with metric system, 600 mm is about 2

feet and 13 degrees is about 55 F. With a gentle wind and the partly cloudy

sky it was like a rough day at the lake in the spring!

Best wishes to all

Bob and Joyce : Adventurers in South America

Dear Friends and Family:

Today we have arrived in Puerto Madryn Argentina. We visited the Falkland

Islands two days ago. No internet connection there so no messages about Cape

Horn or the Falklands.

We arrived in the early morning at Port Stanley. The weather there is often

bad. For us they arranged another day of partly cloudy with almost no wind.

It was cool enough to be comfortable in our ski coats, maybe 55 F. The

Zenith was anchored in the harbor and we went in life boats (tenders) for

about 20 minutes to the pier. After a walk through the town of about 1500

people, we arranged for another tour. A group of 11 of us boarded a power

boat and went out past the Zenith and across the harbor to a remote cove

called Sparrow Point. Then we got into two Land Rovers and rode for a few

miles across an open range of peat moss. The lady driving just drove

wherever. she would have quite a time on the beltway as I don´t think she

has ever seen a white line on a highway. She was born there. Anyway we

rocked and roll over the 10,000 acres of this sheep ranch out to see some

penguins.

There were two kinds of penguins Gentoos and Kings. Really awesome. We could

get up to about 15 feet away. Since this is the breeding time, we saw eggs

(about 4 inches long) and little chicks that were grey and furry and about 8

inches long. The Kings carry the eggs in a little pouch at their feet. We

could follow them closely as a few went the quarter mile trek to the ocean

to get food. We estimated 900 penguins (5 of them Kings). We stayed for an

hour and then returned by Land Rover to the launch and then to Stanley.

We asked about the war in 1982. The lady said it was pretty scary. They were

not in immediate danger, but they could hear the artillery and see soliders

on the hills and many planes and bombs. All of the this about this little

group of islands with no trees and a town of 1500. Margaret Thatcher was not

about to be messed with.

We visited a neat little museum and Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican). This

is definitely a British place with fish and chips and people driving on the

wrong side of the streets and talking in proper English, usually about as

understandable as the Spanish in other places.

Bob has been back into the pool on ship - salt water at 46 F - and the hot

tubs at the stern of the ship at 42 C (104 F). Alternating between them is

exhilirating.

We have not been able to see the Southern Cross yet. Although the weather

has been remarkable, it gets cloudy at night when it finally arrives.

Today we docked at Puerto Madryn on the east side of South American in

Argentina. Haven´t seen the town yet as we wanted to send these two notes.

It is very windy - maybe 30 knots. The ship had to approach the pier several

times before docking. We are not taking any tours here as they are mostly

penguins and we have "been there- done that". We are so arrogant sometimes!

Tonight we will have a sing-along with Christmas Carols. Should be

interesting as the ship is a mix of Americans, Canadians, Australians, and

the other half from just about everywhere. Must be ten different languages

going on. You never know what will happen when we sit down to lunch.

yeserday Joyce talked for an hour with a couple from Turkey. We still know

about ten words in Spanish - dos, por favor , gracias, and peso seem to be

enough.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas to all.

We will arrive in two days in Buenos Aires and may write again then.

Bob and Joyce - Adventurers in South America

Dear Friends and Family:

We have just about completed our visit here in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. A

relaxing day just walking and shopping a little ( not buying much). The day

has become warm ( maybe 70 F) with bright sunshine and stiff breeze. We had

a delightful lunch in a resturant where the crew from the ship seems to

come - thus it must be good!!

The city is about 50,000 people about 800 - 1000 miles from Buenos Aires.

Prices are very attractive to USA citizens. Not sure what is happening in

the banks. But dollars seem to work everywhere with a fair rate of exchange.

I bought a hat for 1/4 the price as in the Falklands. Maybe hats with

pénguins cost more than those with whales..

Maybe I said so earlier but place to email and internet on just about every

corner. More than resturants. Who needs food when you have the internet!!!

Best wishes to all

Bob and Joyce - Adventurers in South America

Dear Friends and Family:

As often happens, our cruise has come to an end. We docked in Buenos Aires

(BA) Saturday around 2 pm. The sky was clear blue and temperature in the

80s. When we awoke Saturday and looked out our cabin window we were

surprised to see the ocean had turned chocolate brown. We were in the delta

of the Rio la Plata, the river that flows out of BA to the ocean. Very busy

shipping channel with many large ships. Some of them came within 100 yards

from our ship. One sailboat went by within 30 feet - just to show off.

After we docked Joyce and I went into the city to see the sights. Fantastic

city center shopping areas with prices often 1/3 of what one might expect in

the USA. Money is a big issue here as the peso was devalued by about triple

one year ago. They have been expecting a big demonstration or riot this week

, but none so far. The big banks are covered with graffiti (not kind words)

and the doors and windows are covered with solid metal shutters with big

dents in them.

We went to a memorial to the Isla Malvinas (also known as the Falkland

Islands). Seems to be a different perspective to the Falklands than we found

when we visited the Falklands! I think the Argentine know they still own the

place!

We went to the very wide Avenue of 9th of July (about 200 feet wide) with an

obelisk that looks like a slightly smaller version of the Washington

Monument without jersey walls.

Then we went back to the ship to enjoy our last dinner there. Sunday we formally disembarked in a driving rain. We took a taxi to the

hotel. We were about to get right to our room at 9 AM. The Marriott here was

built in 1909 - nice but a little different than the typical.

We found an Anglican church and went to a service of lessons and carols in

English. About 20 people there, but a beautiful church with nice organ. Lots

of traditional Christmas carols. This is the first English speaking church

in South America. I think the Catholic churches have a few more attendees

than this church. We went to coffee hour and heard about the Falklands and

money again from Argentine perspective.

We have walked most of today in the rain. Very few people ont the street

even though this is a city of about 10 plus million. We had lunch for a few

hours (no kidding) and now ready to go back and sleep. Suppertime starts

around 10 pm around here so no problem.

When the sun comes out again we will go see where the Perons are planted.

We leave here on Dec 24 at 10 pm for a non-stop ride home to Washington.

Hope it isn´t cold when we get home.

Best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas.

Bob and Joyce : Adventurers in South America

Dear Friends and Family:

The heat is so-ooo nice here. Another blue sky and in the 80s with a light

breeze.

We have wandered through many of the neighborhoods of this wonderful city.

Taken some rides on the subway and taxis. Visited several flea markets and

huge shopping malls.

For those who wonder about these things, I noticed that the water rotates

clockwise as it goes down the bathtub drain. I have no idea which direction

it goes up north.

The other night we saw first-hand a little about the recycling programs

here. The less fortunate go out after dark and open the plastic trash bags

and remove the cans, bottles, and cardboard. Then neatly seal up the bags

again. We saw some street people with two wheeled carts that were six feet

high and about 4 feet in diameter. Must weigh several hundred pounds. When

they get a lot, there is a speical "ghost train" that takes only them to a

place where the stuff can be redeemed for a (very) little money. Last night we decided to go to a tango show. At 8:30 pm I went to the hotel

desk and asked if it was too late to arrange. "No problema". At 9:30 pm a

van picked us up and took us to a theater someplace. Many hundred people

there. We had a huge dinner at 10:15 pm and the 90 minute show which was

unbelievable dancing, singing, and music. We were promised it was the best

in the city. Two violins, two accordians, a piano, and a bass on a platform

directly above the stage provided the live music for the dancers. They dance

in a "memorable" fashion. After the show the van found us and took us home.

We were in bed by 1 am. Now we are certified visitors of Buenos Aires. Today we enjoyed the summer weather and walked and rode some more down by

the yachting docks near the river. Then over to an artsy place called "La

Boca" (very colorful building and people). Had a great lunch of tenderloin

beef with cold drinks for $7 for two.

Christmas is celebrated here, of course, but a much lower profile and much

less commericalized event than in the USA. It is now 4:30 pm and people are

still on the streets and eating and sunning themselves.

We leave for the airport in a few hours.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. Maybe we will see Santa on

the way to the southern hemisphere.

Bob and Joyce : Adventurers in South America

Dear Friends and Family:

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. We returned home to snow and freezing

rain this Christmas morning after flying over 1/5 of the way around the

world last night. The plane was almost empty so we each had a row of center

seats for our sleeping enjoyment. No sign of Santa at 39,000 feet; probably

tough on reindeer up there.

Hope you all enjoyed our messages as much as we did experiencing South

America and sharing a bit of it with you.

Bob and Joyce