Day 29 7th February 2011

We are sailing north towards Valparaiso along the coast of Chile. Valparaiso is our last stop in South America. It has a long history as a major port for sailing ships rounding Cape Horn but since the opening of the Panama Canal its importance has faded. We are going on a trip to a Chilean Winery tomorrow called Casablanca. Many people are going to travel to Santiago, the capital of Chile but it is a 10 hour trip so we decided not to go. It apparently takes up to 2 hours to drive there due to the congestion.

Today, it has been cool and misty and at the moment from our balcony we can only see a mile or so due to the haze. The ship has been very quiet today. We went to see a Michael Douglas film called Solitary Man. It could be the worst film I have ever seen. It would be flattering to say the characters were two dimensional. They called scarcely be called one dimensional.  I went to reception which is the place you go for everything from seeking postage stamps to making a complaint. I was only seeking to change pounds for dollars but it was busy due to people querying their accounts except that listening to the conversations it was clear that they were more confused by the layout of the form that any errors.

At the moment we are GMT minus 3 so we are three hours behind you but as we leave Chile and go west across the Pacific we will fall further behind you. I think we will eventually be 12 hours behind. There are some odd effects of the position International Date Line in that I understand we will miss 24^th February entirely while experiencing another day twice. Anyway I will try to explain once it happens.