The Cargo Ship

So last Friday afternoon I boarded the Navimag Cargo Ship in Puerto Montt. From everything I´d read, the quality of the trip depends entirely upon the weather. Good weather reveals stunning views, calm seas, and a good time. Bad weather means, no views, and 3 days trapped on a boat with nothing to do except, of course, for getting sick. Friday morning I was pretty disappointed to see, after 4 days of sunshine, very cloudy skies. But in the afternoon, the clouds lifted, the sun came out and it was a really lovely day. We, the 64 passengers, boarded around 2 p.m. and chitchatted. Lot of European travelers, some Chileans, a handful of other nationalities (Canadian, Korean, etc.). We got off to a late start, about 7 p.m. but watched the shore with the green hills, volacanos, etc. and perfect weather. Meals are served cafeteria style in the dining room/ lounge area. Meals had been described as being like school cafeteria food but they were really a lot better than that. I got to know a lot of the other passengers...a really nice Dutch couple, a young Danish couple, the Italian newlyweds, and others. The weather the second day was equally as good and I spent most of the day on deck or on the bridge with the naviagation crew. That was probably the most fun part of the trip. They were great. They let anyone in there during daylight hours and they were all very funny, and nice guys. An Argentine girl hung out there a lot as well. The only rule there was no food or drink but the Argentine and I sat there in the Captain´s chair and nearby stool and they guys served us tea and cookies. The Captain would surface periodically (during narrow passages). So, the boat goes through very narrow inlets, between islands, fjords, etc. It was really beautiful with pretty clear blue skies and green hills, and snowcapped peaks on both sides. I´d hoped to see more wildlife but we did sea a few sea lions, and lots of birds: albatrosses, petrels, etc. Probably my best friend on board was Mauricio the maintanence man. He was funny and nice like all of the crew. They also had presentations each day to tell us about the flora and fauna of the area, geological information, the day´s itinerary, etc. The second night is when we left the inlets for the open ocean which was a little rough...large but steady waves. I worried about getting sick but it didn´t bother me at all which was great. The third day looked rather bleak, overcast, misty, you couldn´t see a thing but after breakfast, the clouds lifted and we had another great day. The last night was the most fun. It was Bingo night. Prizes included hats,jackets (with ship´s logo), wine, whiskey, etc. I was going for the polar fleece jacket and Mauricio assured me I would win as he performed some psychic voodoo on my bingo card but alas, he had no powers over the bingo gods. After bingo I stayed up well into the night drinking wine with the Danish couple (alert for Brian...I´ve invited them to come and stay with us in December while they are in New York) and the Riccis (Italian volcanologist husband, and his equally Phd´d geologist, French-Polish new wife). We stayed up ´til about 2 a.m. which made getting up for the 6 a.m. scenic pass through the very narrow strait a difficult wake up. I got up for it but "missed it by that much." I did see the very pretty pink-red sunrise though. So, yesterday a.m. we arrived in Puerto Natales, our destination after breakfast. I was a little sad to go as it was a pretty fun trip. As the crew bade me farewell, they said they´d be out in the village (it´s tiny) later that day and we´d meet up for drinks. Later that day was pouring down rain and extremely windy so I didn´t venture out. Some of the Germans from the boat are staying at the same guest house as me so I did go out to dinner with them later after the wind and rain had let up. It was very generous, but unnecessary of the 5 Germans to speak English through the entirety of the meal for my benefit alone but it was, nevertheless, appreciated. Now I await the arrival of my friend, Sang Kyoung, (from Korea who I met walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain 2 1/2 years ago). We will hike for several days at the reportedly beautiful Torres del Paine national park.