February 28th, Puerto Montt, Chile. We were awake before dawn wondering if we were going to be able to get off. It was foggy and raining llamas and alpaca’s. Debbie and I were doubtful the captain would let us tender but lo and behold we were told we would be able to tender this morning. We were in the 3rd tender to leave the ship and it was pouring rain. We got to the dock and had to find the tour guide because this was a private tour set up by Kay. We find them and walk to the van and it’s not what she was told we would have. Some of us were already in the van and now were told to get out and they were sending a bigger one for us. There were 9 of us to begin with. The 5 of us girls, me & Debbie, Karen, Deb & Kay then two older ladies that Kay knew from a previous cruise – Jean and Jeanette and Janis and Richard who had been with us on a tour in Buenos Aires. The second van comes and it is not much bigger than the first and we all pile in with our guide “Luiz” who looks like someone they picked up off the street but we begin our trek to “Fruitillar” which Kay and I find amusing—it is pronounced fruit-e-r. We arrived there about a half hour later and all pile out of the van. It is a cute little place on the big lake below the volcano which looks a lot like Helen with all the german people and the homes looked like chalets. It was before 10 AM on Saturday so nothing was really open yet but we did find one shop and looked around and then headed back to the van. Janis was looking for Luiz who was not visible and I asked her if something was wrong and she said she wanted him to find her a taxi back to the ship. And so the saga of the day begins. She and Richard were in the front row of seats with Luiz who could actually have had better hygiene habits and she and Richard transferred to another van there which meant there were now 7 of us. Jean wanted to get peso’s from a teller machine and there was a bank we had passed a few blocks away from where we were. She told Luiz what she wanted and he said in the next placed we were going. That was not good enough for Jean and she and Luiz had a disagreement. Now we are all on edge because Luiz doesn’t understand why Janis and Richard are gone and now he and Jean are having a spat about the teller machines. We did not stop until we got to the next town so I guess Luiz won and really I don’t know why there was such an “issue” but this city is called Puerto Varas which is the “city of roses” and it truly was—there were roses and bees everywhere! We left Jean and Jeanette with Luiz and the teller machine and went to a small market on the lake. We looked through all the booths and took some pictures, while Kay bought some jewelry and headed back to meet the van in front of the casino which you will all be proud to know we only entered to use the banos! Our next stop is the llama and alpaca farm which was on the way to the restaurant where we were having lunch and a very pretty spot across the street from the lake with a beautiful view of the volcano. The weather has gotten a little better at each stop and at least it is not raining anymore. The suspension system in the van and the road conditions left much to be desired and we were glad to get out of the van. They have a small shop where the owners are selling scarves and shawls made from alpaca yarn and a little luncheonette where you can buy snacks. Debbie and the girls buy scarves and I go for the coke since I was dying of thirst by now. We take pictures of all of the animals and there is a mother with a two day old calf which was so cute. Kay bought some food to feed them and she was so funny with them. They literally surrounded her trying to reach the food. We all laughed and had a great time there. We pile back in and head to the restaurant. We have two choices—salmon or meat according to Luiz before we arrive and we are greeted by an American who owned the restaurant, seated and we ordered. The food is brought our quickly and it was very good. The meat was roast beef that was very good which roasted potatos and fresh vegetables, Chilean wine, rolls and a local berry cheesecake for dessert. Everything was very good and it was enjoyable. Janis and Richard are already at the restaurant and we recognize a lot of people from the ship. Our next stop if the Petrohue Falls (photo above) so we are off again. We are sitting in traffic while they are paving the road and the Carnival Crew bus was behind us. We waited so long, they got off and walked past us and Jaime was in the group and they were going White Water rafting just ahead of where we were stopped so they walked the rest of the way. We finally get to the falls and walk through the park and it was worth the hike. This was absolutely beautiful place and I have never been anywhere where I have seen water rushing through and down rocks like that. The color of the water was that blue you see only in the Caribbean. Jean and Jeanette decide not to make the trek to the falls. Debbie and I passed Dirk our naturalist speaker on the way back from the falls. We also pass Jean and Jeanette who have decided after we had already been gone they wanted to go so now we wait for them in the heat as now the sun is shining and it’s hot and the bees are chasing me everywhere. On the way back we pay Luiz for the tour which they told us to bring “clean” American money—this put a whole new spin on money laundering. Debbie and I washed and pressed it and we all handed him our money and he had great difficulty counting it. This brought Kay, Debbie and I to near hysteria laughing while Deb tried to help Luiz count the $525. We finally get back to the dock and it starts pouring rain again and it is slippery and hard to get in the tender. We do make it back to the ship and have dinner reservations in the Pinnacle and we had 30 minutes to get ready. We do and enjoy their “tasting menu” which was 10 petite servings which took us 3 ½ hours to eat but it was very relaxing and the food was wonderful. The weather gets worse and they are having problems getting the tenders back to the ship so we leave late and apparently there are many that got sick in the tenders that came back after ours. We come back to the cabin after dinner and head to bed as it is not 10 PM.

March 1, 2009, Sunday and a Day at Sea. Debbie has laryngitis this morning so although we are up and moving, we order coffee from room service and she takes some medicine. We are working on downloading our pictures from yesterday and Kay and Deb come by to visit. We were exchanging pictures and flash drives so that we all had each others photos. We planned on meeting for trivia at 11:30. We did some hand wash and sent some things out, finished getting dressed and headed to trivia. Again, another misprint since Lauren didn’t know about it or have one ready. We visited with some others gathered for the same reason and headed to lunch in the dining room, the went up to Lido for the “chocolate buffet” which really wasn’t good so Debbie and I went to the casino and entered the slot contest. Yours truly was a final contestant and in the final 9 but came in 4th for the $500 prize—bummer! We came back and dressed for dinner since the Past Guest reception as being held the entire length of Deck 5 since there were 2500 this cruise so we joined 2500 of our closest cruisers for free cocktails before dinner. Romie was in good spirits tonight and was trying to talk me and Debbie into staying on with the other girls for the last leg. We went and had the old fashioned pictures taken as gun malls and about wet our pants laughing while we did it. We drew quite a crowd too and people were taking our picture so we can’t wait to see how funny that is tomorrow. Then we went to see VROOOM the production show and it was awesome and came back to get Debbie medicine and so I could write this and yesterday’s since we had no time to do this. Tomorrow is packing day and everyone is getting sad that we are leaving.