Aruba

We had a wonderful day with Judith (from Toronto) in Aruba. We met Judith on the Nautica cruise Istanbul to Singapore and she lives in Aruba 2-3 months a year. She offered to pick us up and show us her Aruba paradise. The water is so turquoise and the beach absolute talcum powder. The Divi Divi trees bend in the wind.

Panama Canal

Here we are in the Panama Canal coming toward the Centennial Bridge that was completed recently and connects North and South America. We are entering the Gaillard Cut or the Culebra Cut and that is the narrowest part of the Canal. Currently ships that are categorized as Panamax can travel through the narrow part of the canal without compromising navigational safety.

You can see just the bow of our ship.

Manta, Equador

Manta is just great. The artisans have very colourful crafts and this is the place for the famous Panama hats, modelled by Peter. The beach was really beautiful and being Sunday it was full of families. The people in Equador have the most exraordinary features.

Lima, Peru

Lima has more museums than any other city. The architecture is elegant. The protaganists of Peru's independence from Spain were Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar, with San Martin declaring Peru's independence in 1821. The statue that you see is of San Martin.
20 minutes away, traffic dependent, is the seaside resort of Miraflores.
Miraflores is really the Riviera of Lima. We ate at a fabulous restaurant called Pescados Capitales.

Arica, Chile

Isn't this sky beautiful in Arica, Chile. The sky is hot and so is the weather. The specks in the sky are birds, believe it or not . Arica used to belong to Peru but was taken over by Chile in the 1800's. It is the one place in the World that they never see rain.

Vina Del Mar

Here we are in Vina Del Mar just outside Valparaiso and 1 1/2 hours from Santiago, Chile. The picture is of the Casino and hotel. Vina del Mar is one of the top three beach resorts in South America, after Rio and Punta del Este. Such a beautiful place, with a lovely long beach, perhaps 1 1/2 miles long. There is a German influence here and we ate schnitzel and purple cabbage at a fantastic Austrian restaurant.

Skua Glacier and Amalia Bay, Chile

Travelling the Chilean fjords we came to the Skua Glacier and Amalia Bay. Aren't the colours of blue gorgeous!

Punta Arenas

The statue is of Magellan, the Portugese sailor who was the first one to sail around the World. I guess we ,and he, have something in common except he did it in only 2 trips.
Punta Arenas was also the home of Sarah Braun and her mother was born in Riga, Latvia where Peter was born.
We ate in the pergola of a lovely restaurant. The pergola was once Sarah Braun's greenhouse.

Uschuaia

The absolute end of the earth freezing cold and snowing. Uschuaia is the jumping off point for people going to the Antartica. We have a favourite crab restaurant there called Kaupe.

Cape Horn (Cabo Hornos)

I can't believe that we are going around Cape Horn. The weather is a bit chilly but the sun is shining and the seas are incredibly calm. Where are the icebergs, storms, and strong currents?

Cape Horn is located in the Tierra del Fuego (land of fire) part of Chile. It is the southernmost point of South America.