Around the World. Week 7 Wrap Up

Schedule

• Day 43 / February 17: At Sea

• Day 44 / February 18: Iquique, Chile

• Day 45 / February 19: At Sea

• Day 46 / February 20: Pisco / Nazca Lines, Peru

• Day 47 / February 21: Lima, Peru

• Day 48 / February 22: Salaverry, Peru

• Day 49 / February 23: At Sea

Day 43

Sea day, Sea day. What did I do on this sea day? I went to a country fair! This is the second time the cast and crew put on this event since I’ve been on the ship. All of the departments onboard create a game for the guests to play in order to receive raffle tickets. One of my favorite games that was new this time was from the Destination Services group where you had to guess where in the world the pictures were from. I did not get them all correct, sadly. What I did successfully though was dunk the Cruise Director by tossing a beanbag in the hole in a game Oceania calls “Baggo”, while the rest of the world calls it “Cornhole.” Also, even though there were lots of prizes to win, I did not win anything (again…), but fingers crossed that one day, I’ll win the glass ship!

Following a lazy afternoon, the evening was action packed!

Starting with a pre-dinner show with Patricio Roerhs, playing the accordion and piano. What I like most about his show is when he showcases the orchestra members by bringing them to the front of the stage and jamming along with them. This time, he surprised the audience by having the orchestra keyboard player (Manolo) join him in playing an accordion!

After the show, dinner was at Jacques with LeAnne #1. (In case I haven’t explained this yet, since we’re both named LeAnne with the same last initial, we’ve agreed to be known as LeAnne #1 and LeAnne #2. I’m #2.) If you recall a week or so ago, this is the lady who initially refused to eat with me when I saw her eating alone, also at Jacques, but this time, we actually coordinated to be seated together at the start.

We had some time after dinner before the next planned event, so we went to watch David at the piano. The night prior, LeAnne #1 joined me for the late show at the piano and I think she’s getting hooked!

Lastly, the entertainment team decided to surprise us with a second Blue Horizon party this segment! So back to the dance floor I went! (Sorry, Erin, I forgot to take any photos of the dancing maniac. I’ll try to remember next time.)

Day 44

Arriving in Iquique, I knew to expect a desert environment with some sand dunes, but the I didn’t expect was the magnitude of the hills that hugged the city. After my initial shock of the visual surroundings, the next surprise was the heat! The weather prediction said partly cloudy with a high in the 70s, but with the sun beating down, it seemed much, much warmer.

Another unexpected encounter was the sea lions playing in the water next to the ship. It was while I stood there, trying to capture some photos, when I realized how hot the day actually was going to be, so I headed back to my cabin to change and apply copious amounts of sunscreen. Then I was off to explore!

Into the city center on a shuttle bus, they dropped us off in a square by the historic bell tower and Municipal Theater. The night prior, I had watched the presentation on my TV about the various sights at this stop, and while there was information about the theater, it did not do this place justice! The historic interior had recently been refurbished with smart additions of modern elements, resulting in a pristine and beautiful showcase for the city. Interestingly, we were allowed to wander the entire building, so I wandered and wandered and wandered, including climbing to the top of the rafters to check if there was a Phantom living above the domed ceiling (there was not…).

Following the theater tour, I started walking down their boardwalk, which was a car-free street filled with restaurants and vendors. Since I was hoping to get a good photo of any sand boarders coming down the dunes, I continued to walk towards the end of the street without stopping, but my research the night prior indicated it was over a 2 hour walk, so I was really just hoping for a clear shot through the city buildings.

Continuing my venture and meeting up with a couple from the ship, we proceeded to walk all the way to the other side of the city, motivated by finding a nice beach bar to have a cold beer. Finally finding a restaurant at the other end of the beach, only to learn that they opened at 1pm. It was 12:56 pm, so we decided it was worth the wait. We realized there were quite a few sea lions playing in the bay. Somehow I captured one of these amazing animals jumping out of the water!

After a beer, they decided to head to the duty free stores and I walked back to the town square since the breeze along the waterfront felt so refreshing.

Once back on the ship and dressing for dinner. I met up with the Solo Traveler group to have cocktail hour before heading to the Main Dining Room. We had a special guest that joined us tonight, who performed magic shows onboard this segment. Due to “pre-existing conflicts”, I hadn’t been able to see any of his shows, but let’s just say he brought a unique experience to our typical Solo’s meal.

Post dinner went as normal - Evening show was Carson Turner, our Cruise Director performing his Broadway show, followed by hanging out with David at the Piano.

Day 45

Do you have different versions of yourself that you like to blame when things go awry? Well, today, it’s all Night Me’s fault. First of all, she stayed out way past her normal bedtime on Day 44 and reasoned that because it was a sea day, Morning Me should do laundry and set an alarm for 6:45am since the Launderette opens at 7am. What she forgot to account for is that we gained an hour time-wise and should have also updated my cell phone before going to sleep. So Morning Me dutifully got up when the alarm went off. Finished a load of laundry, showered, got ready for a full day of activities and headed up to Barista’s to get coffee (double shot) before heading to the Cooking Class. While there, someone mentioned the time being an hour earlier… (palm to forehead). Morning Me went back to the cabin for nap #1 of the day.

Jolted awake by the sound of my cabin phone ringing, I had yet another freak out moment since the clock on the display said 10:00 am. With cooking class supposed to start at 9:20 am, I thought I had missed it. Turns out the clock on the phone had not gotten the memo either, just like Morning Me.

After chugging the now cold coffee I brought back from the morning adventures, I actually got to the Culinary Classroom with a few minutes to spare, and was shortly rewarded with a glass of wine.

So to recap the day thus far - Less than 5 hours of sleep, load of laundry done, an hour nap, downed coffee, and wine glass in hand - all before 10 am! Welcome to Cruise Life…

On to the cooking class experience! This was my second class onboard, but the first time was very shortly after my malaria pill reaction, which as you can imagine significantly impacted my appetite to cook and eat anything. Today’s class went much, much better. The theme being Classic French Technique where we spent time making French Onion Soup, Scalloped Potatoes, Bistro Steak in a gravy, and finished with Ice Cream on Crepes. Plus two glasses of wine and a liquor cocktail. As I’m typing this recap, I continue to pause about how to even describe what makes these classes so special, so I’ll steal Chef’s grandma’s phrase: “Food is only Fabulous when surrounded by Friends & Family.”

Then I took another nap.

This evening as a bit more action packed than normal given that I went to both evening entertainment events (Our World show with the Production Cast and Sonia Selbie’s show) which sandwiched a private dining experience a the Privée room with Casey and Robbie. The Privée experience provides a unique in that we were given the menus from both Polo Grill and Tuscana, so we could order from either or both restaurants, and we were welcomed into the stunning dining room located on the back of the the ship. The guests were a mixture of others who are going around the World, as you may imagine, whom I had all met before.

After the Sonia’s evening show, I debated about closing the night with David at the piano as usual, but ultimately headed to may cabin to Wine Down and photo editing session. Miraculously, it did not take hours to distribute the results or to upload on social media sites.

(Post edit note: My photography is starting to get some traction in that Oceania Cruises social media asked if they could use my content on their sites, the Accordion player asked if he could use a photo as a backdrop in his next show, and I’m starting to see other entertainers using the photos I sent them in their social media updates!)

Day 46

Get off a ship to get on a bus to get on a plane to get on a bus to get on a ship. End of day.

Just kidding!

The day started an hour later again, but this time Night Me was much nicer to Morning me, thankfully! It also helped that I didn’t have anywhere I had to be until 11:20am, so the alarm wasn’t really required.

After just puttering about the ship until the meeting time, we boarded the bus to take us to the airport since today’s adventure takes us into the skies! Specifically to look back down at the earth to the Nazca lines, which are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil in southern Peru. Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants.

Once our tickets were in hand, we headed through security and onto the plane.

Interestingly, they had us line up by our seat number in order to board, even though there were only ten (10) of us to load.

In the pre-flight selfie, you can see that everyone is very excited about the experience. I didn’t take a post-flight selfie because not as many people were as excited as when we started. What wasn’t quite explained to the passengers was that once we got close to the Nazca Lines, the pilot would start making extremely sharp turns, once to the left and once to the right, in order for everyone to get a good view. There are sixteen (16) Nazca Lines on our schedule, so as you can imagine, felt like barrel rolling over and over and over again, didn’t quite align with everyone’s digestive systems. After the first sequence, my stomach settled and I was able to get into a rhythm with video recording with my GoPro and taking photos with my iPhone, all while dipping and whipping around the sky. The semi-unfortunate aspect of the GoPro is it smooths out the video so you aren’t able to truly get a sense of the bouncing, dipping, dropping, turning, etc., so try to keep your eye on a horizon and that might give you a better sense at how drastically we were turning. (Recap video is available on my Instagram since the internet on board doesn't support me uploading here...)

After we had worked our way through the list, we headed back to the airport where we reloaded the bus to go back to the port.

Luckily, it’s the day before disembarkation / embarkation day for the next segment, which means it was a very limited itinerary for the evening. However, I still found myself chatting and watching the sunset until way past my stomach preferred to eat dinner given we didn’t have lunch and it was two hours “later” than normal. I finally went to a quick dinner at the Terrace Cafe (buffet) then headed to listen to David at the Piano while I edited all the photos and videos from the day.

I’m actually writing this update the day of, so it’s almost 10:30pm and I’m having a very hard time staying awake. With that said, I’m waiting on the final recap video to post to Instagram (remember, it takes a long time…) so I decided to journal while I waited.

Bonus - Sunset photo!

Day 47

Early start with the excursion meeting time at 7:45 am. The plan of the day was to visit two ancient Inca ruins and have lunch, spanning eight (8) hours, returning to the ship just in time for All-Aboard. Once we boarded the bus, the guide explained most of our time would actually be spent on the bus due to traffic in Lima on a Saturday. While initially disheartened by that, I ended up napping quite a bit as we drove. (Apparently a significant portion of Cruise Life = Nap Time.)

At the first stop, our group entered the historic site, Pucllana, before it was even opened to the public. Once our guide gave the initial introduction about the location, she lead us around the paths explaining the significance of the brick work and various areas. A few things stuck out to me. The first was how the structure was constructed. The bricks were all hand made, stacked mostly vertically, with mortar being of mud and human hair. Yep, human hair. I looked closer at the binding and sure enough, you could see hair strands. Looks just like the dust in my house…

Another thing was that the structure was basically solid with no chambers inside like the pyramids.They dug holes in the ground and walls to bury people instead.

Lastly, the city only discovered the structure because someone fell motorbiking and exposed some of the bricks in the 1980s. Until then, they thought it was a big hill and built the city around it.

At the next location, Pachacamac, I wished we had more time to just explore by walking, but because the site covered many acres, we toured it by bus, getting out only twice to take some photos. The structures were similar to the first stop, but the guide explained how there were really many different eras of palaces and ruins built on top of each other here. The palaces housed the equivalent of Ambassadors for that time who represented the peoples of the various areas of Peru.

This tour didn’t really have a consistent theme as the afternoon was spent at a Hacienda that showcases Peruvian Horses. The lunch was beautifully served, even though there were a significant amount of flies that we had to keep swatting away. I assume the increased insect population was due to the horses and lack of wind in that area. Reminded me of my room a few weeks back…

Once lunch was finished, we moved over to watch the horses dance. As I am not an avid horse expert, (shocking, I know), the only thing I can really comment on is the their legs seemed so much smaller than needed for their bodies. The host explained that these horses have a unique gait due to having to walk in sand to the point that it is now genetic, bringing out a pony, just five (5) days old to make the point.

Arriving back to the ship just before All-Aboard gave me just a bit of time to get showered and over to the Solo Cocktail hour to welcome all the newbies who had just joined the ship in Lima.

Day 48

(Writer’s note: Today’s recap was written by LeAnne #1 and LeAnne #2 as the events of the day unfolded, so may be more detailed than other memories.)

The LeAnnes took a trip to the hospital today in Peru. Unfortunately, LeAnne #1 (not me) tripped on an excursion yesterday and fractured her wrist. Because the ship did not believe Lima hospital could provide sufficient care, she had to wait until today to go on this adventure. Since the onboard doctor didn’t know if she’s require significant treatment like being fully knocked out, the ship required she bring a friend - cue LeAnne #2. You may be surprised to hear that it was LeAnne #1 who fell and not LeAnne #2 give I have already slipped on the deck on Day 2 and fallen down the stairs a week or so ago.

The morning started off very unorganized as we waited to hear where and when to meet. After a bit of hurrying and waiting, we crammed into a port truck that took us to the front of the port and when I say crammed, I mean it. There were five (5) of us in a truck and three (3) of us had full backpacks while the other two (2) were the injured ones. Once we made it to the gate, they split us into two cars, basically Ubers, to be transported to the hospital which was approximately 25 minutes away. The other patient did not have a friend so the Port Agent Escort went in the other car with her, leaving the LeAnnes to trust that our driver knew where to go because he did not speak any English or if he did, he did not admit to it. But we made it!

Upon arrival, the waiting room was full, which did not encourage a speedy process. However, the Port Agent Escort took charge of getting the two patients processed and admitted. There were some fun interactions as the Agent doesn’t speak fluent English, so yet again, I became a translator, but not a good one. Who knows what questions I asked because quite a few times she answered something that I wasn’t curious about.

Both patients were admitted about 30 minutes later, around 12:00pm.

First, the general doctor came in, explained that the break was outside of his expertise so they would call another doctor in and also, LeAnne may get a shot in the butt. I only am certain of that statement because he pointed at his own. During a discussion in Spanish with the Agent, he expressed a dramatic “Oh No,.” However, we have absolutely no idea what he was talking about. My best guess is the he realized she needs an X-Ray. Shortly after this visit, another person came in, dressed in a Guess t-shirt with khakis and Crocs. I assume he works at the hospital because everyone else who works here also wears Crocs. Also, the Agent was with him. They did not pause to translate anything to us in English, so we’re left guessing at what was agreed to. Again, my guess is coordinating an X-Ray, but they could have been discussing giving LeAnne a shot in the butt.

Wait time - 1 hour until the next activity

Recap of the X-Ray per LeAnne #1 as I didn’t go with her. She, in a wheel chair, was rolled outside the building, past the janitors into another large building with white walls, wide corridors, and no other people around. Cue Horror Music. Going through several doors and then to the Xray room, where the radiologist was waiting. Language barriers caused a little confusion, but they took two X rays, one flat and one with a fist, but she couldn’t make a fist due to the pain, which frustrated the techs. However, once the tech said Goodbye, LeAnne #1 was pushed back just 15 minutes later to where I was waiting.

As we were waiting for the next set of activity, I asked LeAnne #1 to provide an honest review of the Hospital Excursion so far. She gave it Three stars, noting that it is calm, clean, not chaotic, and some of the staff speak limited English. Drawbacks being here (clearly not the fault of the hospital) and having to wait without really knowing what’s coming next or when.

Now for the main event - This section was written after returning to the ship by LeAnne #2 (me) for what may be obvious reasons after you’ve read it.

Remember the guy I described a few paragraphs ago with the Guess t-shirt? Well, that was actually the Orthopedic who was there to evaluate and provide options. He presented three options -

1. Local Anesthesia, followed by resetting the bone with some “quick” pain, and cast applied

2. Surgery with full Anesthesia

3. Surgery with full Anesthesia and possibly plates and screws

Afterwards, he clarified that as a doctor, he’s required to present all possible options, but recommended Option 1. While there are pros and cons of each, LeAnne #1 chose Option 1. I’m not going to go into detail about the next bit of time, but LeAnne #1 was truly a trooper because I can only imagine the pain she felt as he basically rebroke her wrist and set it back in place. This whole evolution took less than 30 minutes, with a fantastically awkward photo with the doctor and his patient as the finale.

Paperwork and payment ($500 US) took a while because we needed to get a form filled out by the doctor before we left. Otherwise, the ship would not let LeAnne #1 back onboard. We finally figured out why he was dressed so casually though; it was his day off and he was called in to fix LeAnne’s arm. Once he had it casted, he left the hospital. After quite a bit of back and forth, the clinic was able to confirm they could fill out the form on his behalf and we were (finally) on our way back to the ship.

After clearing security, we had to report to Medical to ensure all the i’s were dotted and t’s crossed, but then we were headed to FOOD! As you read this whole recap, there was no food to be seen because we didn’t eat the whole day. Well, that’s not exactly true, I had a protein bar sometime in the morning, but either way, we were both starving! Unfortunately, since we were back on the ship around 4pm, the only thing with snacks is Barista’s and then it’s typically small sandwiches and cookies. We agreed to just have a quick bite and plan on going to a full buffet at 6:30pm when Terrace Cafe opened.

Guess what I did during the in-between time? Yep, that’s right. I napped!

The solo group is amazing! Word spread that LeAnne #1 was back and where we were planning dinner, so many of the others showed up to show their support for her.  Our table was full of laughter and camaraderie as we recapped the events of the day and convinced LeAnne #1 to stay onboard for her recovery time.

Post dinner was like usual - Evening entertainment concert followed by hanging out at Martini’s with David at the piano.

Day 49

Pre-Embarkation, I had booked about one culinary class per month, but after the two classes I took being so fun, I signed up for two more this segment alone! However, I didn’t realize when I signed up that the first of the two would be just days after my last one. Again, cruise time seems to warp reality at times.

Today’s class focused on New World foods, meaning different fruits, vegetables, spices, etc. that were discovered and fused with Old World foods back in the late 1400s and beyond. We made sea scallops with browned pecans, vegetarian meat balls, and crepes. Along with more wine and a cocktail. You’d think that since I learned how to make crepes just a few days ago, I would have been an expert by now, but in reality, my first crepe needed a bit of reconstruction, but the second was basically perfection!

After class, I headed back to my cabin to edit photos and create the recap video. Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find BROWNIES in my room! This is a bit of a long story that should be short, so I’ll summarize for your sake - I don’t really enjoy nuts in my brownies and brownies are my absolute favorite dessert. On this ship, it seems that they always put nuts in the brownies. Given that the Executive Chef learned of my existence during the whole Malaria Pill incident, I felt comfortable enough to ask him if they would ever serve brownies without nuts. Lo and behold - BROWNIES WITHOUT NUTS! A whole batch of them all for me! Ironically, today is my nephew’s birthday and one thing we share is our love of brownies, so it seems very fitting that I can celebrate him by eating his share of my brownies!

With so much food, it must be time for another nap.

The rest of the afternoon was spent working on this update with my Do Not Disturb sign up. Feeling a bit of Deja vú when I say that the week flew by and I’m getting behind on my journaling and documentation again.

I’ll likely try to post this before dinner, but expect the evening events to go as usual - Captain’s Cocktail party, dinner at Polo Grill, Evening Entertainment in Vista Lounge, and music with David at the Piano. I’m starting to get a bit predictable with the nightly schedule.

Tomorrow is already WEEK 8…

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