December 8, 2017

     Today is a National holiday in Chile - Immaculate Conception Day. The ship arrived at the port of San Antonio, Chile, ending the first cruise.  About three days ago, people who had begged for transportation to Valparaiso (due to non-refundable hotel payments for two or three day stays in Valparaiso booked months ago) were advised that Celebrity had arranged for a bus to go from the ship to Valparaiso.  As part of the highway around and into Valparaiso is closed, they must be using a lot of back roads and we heard the trip will be over four hours instead of the usual under two hour journey.  Since we had altered our reservations before boarding the ship, we are staying in San Antonio overnight and plan to take a bus tomorrow.  We already have found the bus station, just a ten-minute walk from the hotel.
    This morning was cloudy and just 53 F with a slight wind. A high temperature of 68 F was predicted.  By mid-afternoon, the clouds allowed some sunshine to get through and it felt like the temperature was in the low 70s.
     Most passengers had left the ship by 10 this morning, about 200 were remaining for another 15 days to travel continuing around Cape Horn to Buenos Aires.
    All passengers needed to board a shuttle bus to take us from the ship to the terminal building, since the port is a working port, one of the busiest in Chile. Passengers cannot be wandering around. The ride took about 100 seconds. We handed in the Chile Agriculture Immigration forms, that the ship had provided two nights ago, as we were directed to the area where we could collect our luggage.  Then it was off for our San Antonio adventure.  Outside the terminal there were buses to take passengers to Santiago for flights or hotels or to Valparaiso as well as taxis to go to Santiago or hotels in San Antonio.  Doug and Jan were also staying at Hotel Puerto Mayor, but had a later time to get off the ship and were planning to take a taxi with their four pieces of luggage and backpacks. It was about 1.5 kilometers away and on a road about 200 meters above the port area.  We just had one suitcase each and took about 20 minutes to walk the sloped street up to the hotel. Hotel Puerto Mayor is a collection of little duplex cabins with a great view of the harbor and the ship. The hotel has Wi-Fi and includes breakfast.  The bus terminal is a 10-minute walk away without luggage so a little more pulling luggage.  From when we left the ship to when we stepped into our little cabin, just an hour had passed, and Jan and Doug had arrived just before us.
   In the March 1985 earthquake that struck the capital, Santiago (which is about 110 km away) and the region, a large part of San Antonio was destroyed and the port shut down. Again, in late February 2010, the port shut down for a few days after another earthquake.  Small earthquakes happen at least weekly in this area.  The most recent earthquake was three days ago registering 4.5 on the Richter scale – minor.
   We dropped the luggage and set out to explore San Antonio.  We met a couple from California, in the parking lot, who were taking the Celebrity Infinity ship today.  We saw Jan and Doug at their cabin just as we started our walk down to the road.
   There was a nice sidewalk with viewpoints as the road peaked and went down to the town center.  There was a large casino at the intersection. We found a bank ATM to get some Chilean pesos and then wandered around the city center through a market of fruit and vegetable stalls. Many retail stores were open. There were baskets of fresh artichoke, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, oranges, apples, cucumber and more. We saw several pairs of local unarmed police walking in different areas, quietly watching the crowds. As we got close to the harbor and the fishing bay, a fish market lined the road and people were buying fresh fish and watching them being filleted. We were right by the marina that was full of small fishing boats.  Next, we walked along the Bellamar Promenade, passing the Puertocito Pier and an old Crane #82 that was a reminder of the old port cranes.
   We stopped along the promenade to watch the Compañia Folklórica May group of Chilean folk dancers and singers perform.  Their show lasted 45 minutes.  Then we walked back toward the port, passing the gates and continued past the supermarket, Tottus, to the bus station. As we passed the port gate a voice behind us asked if we needed help and it was the young woman, at the information tent by the ship, who had given us a map and showed us to way to our hotel.  She had finished her shift. We told her we had found the hotel easily. The bus company that we want to use tomorrow had its ticket office closed which we expected as they only do the Valparaiso – San Antonio route and it was not running today.  We returned to the Tottus store and wandered around looking at the groceries, meat counter, produce department, bakery and diary.  It was after 1 pm and we bought a package of warm ¼ chicken and fries to share and a bottle of juice then went back to the hotel to eat the lunch.  We were greeted by the hotel receptionist who informed us that we had paid for a better room than she had given us and would we like to switch, so we did and had a great view of the ship and harbor.       Steps  13,423
   After lunch, we connected with the Wi-Fi and caught up on emails then joined Jan and Doug on the hotel patio and watched the activity in the harbor.  You could hear the buzzing of the ship’s public-address announcements, but not the words.  We heard the lifeboat drill around 4:30 and expected the ship to leave within an hour, but only 4 ½ hours later did the ship careful back out of its berth and head south to Cape Horn.
   We arranged to meet Jan and Doug for dinner at the restaurant above the hotel at 7 pm and had a clear view of the harbor and the ship and speculated on why it had not left yet.  Two of us ordered chicken with either risotto or potato balls and the other two ordered white pippin fish with rice or vegetables. We had either Kustman beer or a Pisco Sour.  The bill was less than $50.  At 8:45 the ship was still docked and it was another 30 minutes before it slowly began leaving port under the watchful eyes of two tugboats.  It was a tight channel between a car carrier and a container ship.  Next Friday the four of us will be on the Holland America Zaandam travelling south to Antarctica.
    No entertainment tonight, just reading and catching up the Canadian curling Olympic Trials.

Finals steps 14,074












  










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