1-15 At Sea

1-14 Day 9 At Sea

Another fun day at sea. Started the day with a port talk about Chile – Arica and Coquimbo. Our side trip in Arica was canceled and we have none planned for Coquimbo. Up in the air about what we want to do in those two ports. One of the things I want to look up when I return home is more about the pointed nose frog which Darwin discovered and is only found in Chile. The female lays about 20-30 eggs which are then swallowed by the male frog into some special pouch he has and kept there until they become tadpoles – at which time he somehow puts them back into the water. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details and how this works, so I plan to Google this later (when I'm not paying by the minute!)

I then went on a tour of the kitchen. It was very interesting and very clean! They even gave out samples as we went along. My favorite stop was the pastry station! Unlike other ships I've been on, all the pastries are really good on this ship – especially the cookies! Probably the thing I like least is the coffee – it comes from Holland (had no idea they exported coffee) and at least the way the ship prepares it, it is VERY strong and a bit bitter. Haven't found the coffee station on the ship that makes it less strong as yet. Just as a small sample, in an average week, the consumption of the food on board is as follows: 18,040 eggs, 20,000 individual sugar packets, 12,500 pounds of fresh vegetables, 8,500 pounds of meat and meat products, and 200 gallons of ice cream.

Doug and I have started our walking program again – it really feels good to get out in the fresh air too. They have a track that is covered on the 3rd level, so you can walk rain or shine. It also has lots of lounges around it which we have found to be a great place to read during the day. There is a jogging track higher up but it has been pretty windy on most sea days, so the protected area is much preferred. After lunch, I went to a beginning Spanish class to learn very basics. Also, sampled a couple of other things in the afternoon. The arts and crafts was a joke – so many people and too simple a craft (at least today). Maybe it's better on other days. I went to observe Duplicate bridge to see how good or mean the people were. It seemed OK and there seemed to be a variety of levels. I'm just not ready to commit two hours every sea day afternoon to it if there are more interesting things to do. They also have a book club. We are going to read Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. We will discuss it as we read it instead of waiting until we finish it. Will be interesting to see how that works out. And finally, I went to my 2nd creative writing class. I think I'm going to really enjoy this one – and learn a lot.

Tonight was a formal night. They had a theme: the Black and White Ball. The dining room was decorated really nicely, and everyone looked really super all dressed up – many in white and black to match the theme. Dinner was surf and turf with bananas foster as dessert. At 10 p.m. they had a ball in the theater area with their ship orchestra playing. Doug and I weren't interested in that. I went to the movies while Doug read. It was a very nice day . . . and tomorrow is another sea day to enjoy as well.