South American Tour: Punta Arenas, Chile and Montevideo, Uruguay

Friday, January 29, 1965 Punta Arenas, Chile

This would be our last day of heading south and we would also leave Chile before the night was over. The sun was shinning brightly when we got up. Then it became cloudy and rain squalls appeared and stopped. The wind blew a gale Winter had returned for a day. We were cruising between the 52 and 54 degree parallels approximately the same distance south of the equator as Calgary, Lake Louise and Banff is North of it. At 11 am we rounded the point in the Estrecho de Magallaneo which is the southern most point of the continental Western Hemisphere. There are many islands south of this and of course the large island of Tierra del Fuego (30,000 sq miles)

Everyone took pictures of the southern point and the ship came up with a long blast of the foghorn as it turned from southeasterly to northerly direction.  Now the Strait became very wide and quite rough. At two PM we came into Punta Arenas, the southernness city on the main continent. It is 1432 miles from Valparaiso the population is about 47,000. One third of Chile lies south of Puerto Montt but its land and climates is such that it can be put to little use. Less than 1% of Chile's population live in this area. It is one of the rainiest and stormest regions on earth -- 200 inches of rain fall on some of it. But it is beautiful to behold.

We went ashore shortly after landing I wore a top coat and Millie a heavy cloth one. When facing into the wind it was quite raw. The town is a freeport but there are many bargains, German films is three times the price of the same made in the U.S. We spent our last escudos, pesos, and centavos for local liquors and got eight quarts for $10 American.  We returned to ship for dinner. At 8:30 PM unloading was completed and at nine, still light, the ship backed away from the wharf. Next Montevideo, Uruguay -- 1300 Nautical miles away.

Saturday-Monday January 30-February 1st, 1965 Enroute to Montevideo, Uruguay

Our destination is 1300 miles away, without a stop, out of sight of land. The sea is slightly rough and the weather cloudy with quite a bit of wind. Sunday night we had the Captain's Dinner, preceded with hors d'Oeuvers and cocktails at five and a special dinner with the Scandinavian national drink. Monday was spent sorting our clothes and accessories following several days at Montevideo we sail across the and up the Rio de la Plata (170 miles) to Buenas Aires where we leave the ship for 10-14 days. We have to pack what we leave on ship as our cabins are to be redecorated. Monday Night we saw a satellite travelling northwest over the ship.

Tuesday, February 2nd, 1965 Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo was sighted around noon. Entry from the Atlantic Ocean is tricky altho the Plata River is at least 100 miles wide at this point. It was mid afternoon before we docked and another 1/2 hour for clearance. We took a taxi with the Finnertys to the center of town. Walking around we ran into the Nelsons, Montes, Hazel Lewis and Marian Pearl. We also saw Dorothy Wilson, all passengers on our ship. We did not see a negro. Our guide books tell us that there are very few in the entire country.

It was a delightful day with temperature of 77 but a stiff breeze. The city is located at 34 degrees south latitude and its midsummer here. Los Angeles is 34 degrees north latitude. We returned to the ship for dinner. I put on a heavier suit and Millie took a coat. We returned to town the wind was still blowing.  Millie bought a coat of baby antelope skin. We found the win too disagreeable to walk so we taxied back to ship. Oh yes! We received letters today from Mary Lou and Bill, Betty and Roy Walleson, Avis and Roger and Millie's Aunt Jenny.

South American Tour: Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas, Chile

Monday, January 25, 1965 Enroute to Puerto Montt, Chile

The surface of the sea was smooth but there were large swells underneath that caused the ship to pitch this is the first time the sailing has been uncomfortable. Shortly before we left the Pacific and turned inside thru the channels, bays and lakes, the most beautiful panaramas we have seen. At 8:45 PM and the sun is still shining, we anchored off Puerto Montt, a town of 25,000 people. The docks and the town itself were badly damaged in the earthquake of 1960.

Tuesday, January 26, 1965 Puerto Montt to Puerto Varas, Chile

Puerto Montt is the southern terminus of the central (state) railroad (from Santiago and also of the Pan-American Highway. It is a busy port exporting timber, wool, and leather. Last night we were told the agents boat would pick us up at 8:00 AM. All of us anticipated a beautiful scenic show ashore as this is one of the beauty spots of Chile and of South America. At 10 AM we were still waiting. The port has no lighters or barges for loading and unloading ships at anchor in the harbor. (The earthquake destroyed the docks.) The Navy came to the rescue with their navel landing craft and so the commerce moves. Our Captain says "This is the only place in the world where the navy really works."

At 10:30 AM the passengers received word that a small boat was coming out and small it was. Twelve passengers crowded, the pilot and wife boarded it. The women crowded into and filled the small cabin space. The men stood at the half door holding on to whatever was available. There was a fair sized afterdeck but not a seat on it much less a rail. The water was very choppy and there was a stiff wind blowing. As the bay, Seno de Reloncavi, is more than 25 miles across it, the wind can stir it up quite a bit. We landed and walked the 1/4 mile to dock gate and took a bus to main part of town.

The pilot, Manual Montaldo, took us in hand as he is familiar with the town. We window-shipped until 1 PM when we took a modern up-to-date, clean Mercedes Bus to Puerto Varas 20 KM Northwest on magnificent lago llanquihue (pronounced: yankee way). Puerto Varas is a tourism center having as a magnificent background, the most beautiful Chilean snow capped volcanoes- Osorno and Calbuco often called, "Punch and Judy." The lake covers 530 sq. miles and is 200 feet above sea level. It is the largest and best known of the Chilean Lakes. We ate at the Gran Hotel - lobster and fillet. Millie shopped at the gift shop in the hotel and purchased an exquisite vase and woven straw plate.

Walked back to the main street and took bus back to Puerto Montt at 4 PM. and then the street bus to dock area. The tide was out making the small wharf too high so we boarded by crawling on broken concrete and jumping to deck of small launch. The stevadors had taken a three hour sista 11 to 2 so 5 PM sailing had to be postponed. They finished at eight and then the crew began putting the long booms in their cradles - the first time since we left - indicating there was some rough weather ahead. WE sailed at 9 PM.

Wednesday, January 27, 1965

During the night the ship passed thru what is called, 'Canal Moraleda" between thousands of islands and heavily ofrested slopes of snow capped mountains on both sides. Somewhere about 45 S. Latitude the ship turned westward and headed for the Pacific Ocean. It was the roughest sea we had encountered so far. The ship pitched and rolled walking was difficult and the weather was gloomy.

Thursday, January 28, 1965

We rose at 7:30 looking out the window we could see the ship was back in the mountains. They rise sharply out of the water on both sides and we knew we were back on the inside tract. Leaving the Pacific the ship had crossed the Gulfo de Penas and entered Canal Messier. These "Canals" are not canals as we know them, but designated ship channels which have been determined by survey. The passage may be a mile or more wide or it may narrow down to three or four hundred feet. In this maze of fjord, bays lanes and islands, a channel for these large ships is most necessary. Sometimes so narrow that only one ship can pass thru. At 10 am the ship stopped and waited until 11:30 before we received clearance to proceed. In one section where it is necessary to follow on "s" curve thru the "English Narrow" the anchor is lowered to water surface and two crew members stand by ready to drop it electrically should the helmsman lose control of the ship to wind or tide. After we came out we passed another ship the first one we have seen on this run.

In this section of Chile, the sun breaks thru the clouds on the average of 51 days a year. It rains every day, anyway. With this rainfall, the mountains are heavily forested and there is plenty of snow with large glaciers. This has been a day of unique and wonderful scenery. Most of the passengers spent the morning and afternoon up in the bow except when a rain squall came along. Taking pictures and just looking thru binoculars. It was the most beautiful and unusual that we have ever seen.

South American Tour: Santiago, Concepcion, and Talcahuano, Chile

Friday, January 22, 1965 Santiago to Concepcion to Talcahuano, Chile

Up at 6:30. Packed to take the eleven hour trip to Concepcion. We were on a coach with all seats reserved. There were several other coaches, but ours was the only one going to Concepcion. Every coach was crowded and 2/3 were children, but the best behaved youngsters I have ever seen. Never was one allowed to run in the aisle or annoy adults. They just sat in there seats for hour after hour. We left the hotel at 9:30 AM., the train departed at 10 AM. It was pretty much of a milk run, but they amazing country side between two chains of the Andes Mountains. Excellent farming and grazing county. By the time we arrived in Concepcion there were at least 50 passengers without seats, standing in the aisle of our coach with their bags and boxes.

We became acquainted with a young chap, Alberto Duharn McInnes a native who spoke excellent English with a Scottish burr. One of his grandfathers was a Scot, the other a Frenchman and his mother a Chilean. We had an excellent dinner on the train, altho the waiter had trouble with our English. At Concepcion, our new friend for us a taxi and instructed the driver to take us to three hotels, in case one or two did not have double rooms with twin beds. Imagine our surprise when all three told us no rooms at all, neither could we find any at other hotels. The driver took us to some others, most pretty bad. So we told the driver to take us back to Railroad Station and we would prepare to sit out the night. The lunchroom, telephone, office were closed up, but the waiting room still was open. We left Tom with the luggage and Millie, Bea and I went looking for a phone to call ship's agent to find out where the ship was.

At a nearby hotel we started, the clerk knew no English, but he tried valiantly to help. Jones was the name of the agent, but the number we had was no good. There is no info dept. or phone co. We wanted to contact the park authority who might give us some info. The clerk finally spotted, "Maritimas" in the phone book, phoned it, and asked for Mr. Jones phone no. They had it! A contact was made with Mr. Jones and he told us the ship was in Talcahuano (pronounced: Talca WANA) the Chilean Navel Base 17 KM away. He was sure we could go thru the base to our ship if we had our passports, we did. Our spirits picked up as we hired a taxi. We checked at the gate of the naval base headquaters and were given definite directions to our ship. Apparently, Mr. Jones had phoned to expect us. Man o' Man did that bed feel good. It was one-forty five in the morning.

Saturday, January 23, 1965 Talcahuano, Chile

Today, large sacks of flour are being unloaded, donation by the U.S. to the starving Chileans. Some of the passengers walked the short distance over to the highway where they took the bus, after waiting an hour, to Concepcion. The town observes the "English Holiday" so little shopping can be done on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday, January 24, 1965 Talcahuano, Chile

Still unloading sacks of flour. Weather still beautiful. No rain since we left San Francisco December 14th. Temperature cool, very enjoyable. At 5 PM unloading had been completed and hatches closed and the ship took off. The pilot who will take the ship thru the inside passage and Strait came on board bringing his wife who will be with us until we reach Puenta Arenas. He does not go to work until we turn into the channel 390 miles away.

Awesome Weekend in Dallas

Saturday, November 1st, 2014 - To Dallas

About three months ago, I called up my friend Lynse Kae and asked her if she wanted to go to the Dallas Cowboys vs. Cardinals game. She is a big Cowboy fan and I'm a big Cardinals fan. I have been wanting to go to an away game for a while now so I thought this would work out great. 

My flight was at 9 am on Saturday. I had to go a little early because I decided to check my bag because I wanted to bring a bottle of Cline wine. We found the wine one night at Total Wine and we both liked it. So it is our wine. Hopefully, the bottle does break on the way.

The flight had a stop in El Paso, but we didn't need to change planes. 98 passengers stayed on the plane. I think everyone is going to watch the Cardinals play. 

Arrived in Dallas at 2 and it was much cooler than Phoenix. I didn't bring any jackets, but I packed pants instead of shorts! 

After the flight, I took a taxi to the Marriott Courtyard on Highlander Blvd. At first the taxi cab driver took me to Highland St., but it was quickly corrected. Lynse had arrived earlier than I did so she had already checked in. After getting my stuff put down we decided to go have lunch/dinner. 

The Marriott has a van service for anything within 3 miles. The driver's name was Jerre and he was 87 years old. He was very nice and he gave us a few recommendations. Also, he told us some stories about his life. We told Jerre that we wanted some Texas BBQ around. He recommended a place called Rudy's. I guess that it is pretty popular in Texas, because the person at the counter sounded shocked that we'd never been before. We both got brisket sandwiches and new potatoes. The meat was smoked just right! After the meal we sat and caught up. Lynse moved to Las Vegas four years ago and we hadn't seen each other since last September.

Once we were caught up, we went outside to look around. We thought we saw a bowling alley so we walked over to it, but it wasn't abandoned. So we decided to go to Chuy's to get Margarita's and Strawberry Daiquiris. We continued our talking there. After our cocktails we returned to the hotel. We spent even more talking and drinking wine. There is a bistro down in the lobby and we sat in there for a bit, but ended up in our rooms.

Sunday, November 2nd, 2014 - Dallas Texas

Bernadette and Lynse Kae

Since I was born and raised in Arizona, I have never experienced daylight savings time. So Sunday was the first day I got to fall back. I was grateful because we got to sleep in a little longer than we would have. After we were up, we got ready for the game and went to meet Jerre. He was giving us a ride to the stadium. Even though it wasn't within 3 miles he had the morning off and said he could get us to the stadium. When we got downstairs, we found out that Jose was going to give us a ride. Someone from the night before gave Jerre a ticket to the game, so he was going too! 

Unlike the Cardinals stadium the Cowboys Stadium was surrounded by houses and business. So it was interesting for me to see people walking from their houses to the game. Also, the tailgating is a little different. They had some in the parking lot like in Arizona, but once we got through security and had our tickets scanned in there was an outdoor tailgating that included bars, a stage with a band, and different activities. It was really cool to see. Since we had never been to the stadium before we had to walk go all the way up to level 400 in order to bypass the club level to get to our seats which were in section 203. It was quite a trek, but I got to see a lot of the stadium. It is huge. I only had a few people boo, or hiss at me for wearing a Cardinals jersey. 

Once we found our seats we decided to get something to eat, but made a detour to get a Cowboys jacket for Lynse. I got a hot dog and beer, Lynse got a hot dog and pretzel. Then we went back to our seats. It was just in time they just finished God Bless America. The opening ceremonies was really cool. They had fireworks and the cheerleaders were great dancers. Also, they had military people and a dog repel from the megatron! They had the coin for the coin toss. It was amazing! Cardinals won the toss so they decided to receive.

The game started with Cowboys ahead 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, but the Cardinals ended with 28-17. So Cardinals are now 7-1 better than any team in the league, the first time that has ever happened.

During the game I also got nachos and another beer, but I didn't finish the nachos, they were good, but too greasy. After the game we went outside and looked at the bricks around the Stadium. Lynse's family has a brick with their name on it so we tried to find it, but couldn't there were too many. Then, we walked down the street to the Quick Trip, so that we could be picked up by Jose. He took a little while getting there, but it all worked out. We rode back with a couple that said that dropped a lot of money on a lot of superbowl games in the past. They lost all the ones they talked about. Talk about unlucky!

Once we were back in the room we decided to get Mexican food at Mercado Juarez at Jerre's recommendation. I got Shrimp Fajitas which were so good. They had carrots and broccoli as some of the vegetables in the Fajitas, I've never had that before, but it was great! I also had another Margarita. Lynse had a chimichanga she said she has not had Mexican food in over a year. They don't have very good Mexican food in Las Vegas, I guess. 

After dinner we decided to go back to the hotel and see if we could catch the Broncos and Patriots game. It was still on but in the fourth quarter. We were both shocked to hear that the Broncos were losing. During the game we chatted, we chatted so much that we ended up watching the Steelers and Ravens game. What a football filled day!

Monday, November 3rd, 2014, Dallas to Phoenix

After all the greasy food from the last two days, Lynse and I decided to skip all the junk at the airport and fast for the day. We want to fast until Wednesday, then eat a raw food diet for two weeks. I don't know how well that will work, because there will be so much candy at work since it's the week after Halloween. 

Our flights left around 3 pm and we had to check out at noon so we went to the airport early. Jose drove us to the airport on his lunch break. We said goodbye to Jerre too. They were nice guys and very helpful and accommodating. We were at the the airport a little early so we just talked and waited for our planes. Lynse had to change gates twice for some reason, but it all worked out. We both had fun, but were glad to be getting home to see our dogs and families!