Around South America in 80 Days

January 20, 2019

Antofagasta, Chile

I decided not to do an excursion today. Very few cruise ships come to this port (we are one of three this year!) so there were only two excursions available and none really appealed. I made a lazy morning of it (I kept waking up all night) and finally left my cabin around 11:30 to take the shuttle bus into the main square. As it turned out, I left the ship at the right time because somebody was complaining they had been waiting 30 minutes and then three buses came in at the same time.

It was a very short trip into town. It was only a few blocks away from the port but you could not walk through the port itself and taxis are not allowed. It was take the shuttle or stay onboard. For some reason we were dropped by the main square but, being Sunday, almost everything was closed. Most people opted to make the 6-block walk to the mall.

I was on a quest for a fingernail file. Somehow I had left home without one but bought one at the dollar store in Fort Lauderdale. I must have left it in a pocket of one of my suitcases (which were taken away and stored somewhere) because I went through my entire cabin twice yesterday and it did not turn up. Luckily, the mall had a number of places where I could get one. I also had a Coke from McDonald’s and people watched in the food court before making the six block return trip to the shuttle. I was back on board by 1:15.

After lunch I worked on one of my knitting projects before afternoon trivia. We only had 11 out of 18 and the winning team had 15.

1) 90% of the world’s extractable amber is found in what country?

2) What was Madame Bovary’s first name?

3) Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren starred in the movie version of which musical?

4) True or false – Porcupines have the ability to project their quills to quite a considerable distance when disturbed by an enemy?

5) In what month is Australia Day?

Sat with my feet in the pool and read after trivia. The daytime temperatures are only in the low 70s so I think my swimming days may be over until after we round the Horn.

We did a little better in evening trivia with 12 out of 18 but two teams tied with 13.

1) What is Chubby Checkers real name?

2) What word means “of the world’s surface”?

3) What river flows above the Lincoln Tunnel?

4) In feet, how tall is a soccer goal?

5) Which two countries helped the Patriots in the War of Independence?

Only five of us present (one has gone on an overnight excursion to the Atacama Desert). I had tomato and mozzarella starter, and beef for dinner. ( I skipped dessert but had a piece of my favorite room service chocolate cake around midnight.)

Music Trivia was 60s, 70s, and 80’s. Alice often gives extra points for singing and/or dancing so we ended up with 30. The winning team had 32.

The show was Bailamos back with a new show. They were good again.

There is a lunar eclipse tonight and I stayed up to see at least some of it. The weather was not cooperative. For every 10 seconds of the moon being visible, there were four or five minutes of clouds. Finally gave up.

Street scenes...