World Cruise Day 40/152 - We're in Valparaiso, and I don't mean Indiana

Cruise day: 40/152
Ports days: 13
Sea days: 27
Countries: 5
Continents: 2
Ports: 9

Greetings from South America, Valparaiso, Chile, specifically.  This morning found it a little chilly in Chile in the low 60s and overcast.  Lucky for us, that eventually turned into the mid to high 60s and sun by mid-afternoon.

We got ready for breakfast, and of course, that meant a visit to the restroom.  Let's just say we didn't have to "rest".  Anyway, upon completion of said task, we pushed the magic button, and...nothing.  No sucking sound, no water jets, no anything.  Hmm...  We waited a few minutes and tried again - nothing.  As we left for breakfast, we saw Mohammed and he confirmed that the entire block of rooms had no toilet function whatsoever, but they were working on it.  We got back from breakfast with just a few minutes to get to our excursion, and still, no joy. 

As we left for the Star Theater, this gentleman was just closing up the plumbing panel and confirmed that we could once again go.  Woo!  Looking forward to that upon our return.  I'm starting to get a complex about the toilets, though.

Today's excursion was the included tour - a three-hour bus tour called Panoramic Valparaiso and Viña del Mar.

 For some reason, tour buses cannot get to the ship in this port.  When we got off the ship, other buses bussed us from the ship to a transportation depot where our actual buses were waiting for us.  Same deal upon our return - the bus dropped us at the depot and we boarded another bus to return to the ship.  A little cumbersome, but it worked.

The bus took us through Valparaiso to nearby Viña del Mar.  It seemed fairly metropolitan with modern buildings mixed with some older features. On the way, we passed buildings with canons, churches with great stained glass, a cool clock built into a hill, interesting buildings and sites, and stopped at none of them.

We finally did stop near the water in Viña del Mar and took a couple of photos, but that was it.

Signs like this remind me that I am happy to live in a place with no need for a defined evacuation route in the case of a tsunami.

After another short bus ride, we arrived at Museo de Arqueología e Historia Francisco Fonck - an archeology and history museum with exhibits on local culture, including an Easter Island Moai statue.

We learned that Rapa Nui or Easter Island is known as the navel of the world.  Ha!

The museum was small, but the guide was interesting.

Time for our return to, and drive through Valparaiso. There was an interesting "Valparaiso" sign, but we couldn't get a good shot as we zoomed by.  There was a lot of zooming by as we just drove through the town and then up into the hills.  It seemed like there would be a good place to get a nice overview of the city from up there, but that would have involved stopping the bus and that wasn't happening. All we could do was snap a few shots of things as we drove by.

One thing we did notice about Valparaiso is that while it is certainly larger and older than Viña del Mar, it was also dirtier and more run-down looking.  I guess that comes sometimes with larger cities.  The buildings looked like they needed repair and overall, the city looked a little worn.  Even with that, there were tons of people out and about and lots of markets all over the city as we drove through.

We finally did stop at Victoria Plaza in the center of the city.  There was a bustling open-air market with many vendors and strong potential for souvenirs.  But...we were told that we were not allowed to enter the tented area where the vendors were operating.

We stood in the square for ten minutes and did and saw nothing.  Here are some photos.

One interesting thing was this police bus that looked like it came out of the Road Warrior / Mad Max movie franchise.

It sure would have been nice to be able to spend 30 minutes or so browsing or looking around, but that isn't happening now.  We're hoping that Viking begins to loosen things up soon, but I don't know that will happen.

Back on the ship and in our room, Arlona took a look outside and spotted jellies all over the place.

Some looked to be large, perhaps 10-12 inches across, while most were only 3-4 inches.  

Then, this monster floated by.  We're guessing it was at least 5-6 feet long.

The day improved significantly from this morning, even though the temperatures remained cool.

We took advantage of folks being off on excursions and snuck in a load of laundry.

The ship was undergoing bunkering operations as well.  "Bunkering operations" is a fancy marine way of saying "filling up the gas tanks".  The Copec fuel vessel, Don Pancho, was tied to the Star on our port side and was filling our tanks with fuel.

Once bunkering was complete, we threw off the lines, and operators on the Don Pancho used huge winches to reel them in, both front and rear.

Unlike the Star, the Don Pancho does not have side thrusters.  To move away from the Star, two pilot ships were tethered to the Don Pancho's starboard side.

Both pilot ships cranked up their massive engines and yanked the Don Pancho away from the Star.

This allowed the Don Pancho to sail away under its own power once they were away from the Star.

Unless it is being used as a tender, I never want to be in a lifeboat.  Still, if the need arose, Viking would lower the boats relatively gently into the water.  Not so on a working vessel like the Don Pancho.  Take a look at this lifeboat - the orange vessel on about a 60-degree downward tilt at the back of the ship.

In an emergency, the crew would get into the lifeboat, release the lines that are holding it, and slide off the back of the ship, dropping 20 feet or more into the ocean.  I can't imagine what kind of impact that would deliver.  Better than sinking, but wow - certainly the last resort.

The wildlife continued to be interesting. These were all flying by our balcony this afternoon.

Pelican

Tern

Gull

Cormorant

And then...

I was standing on our balcony and heard what sounded like something falling into the water below me.  I looked down and saw these two adorable sea lions both grabbing lunch and having an intimate moment.

We enjoyed a nice dinner in the World Cafe - no theme tonight, just good food.  Filet mignon, baked potato (I also added grilled shrimp), and a tasty Moscato D' Asti.

Tomorrow is an early day with an 8AM departure.  We're going to try room service for breakfast tomorrow before our eight-hour bus tour to Santiago, Chile.

As the lights come on in Valparaiso, we shall say good night.