On all the travels you do in your life, be it on foreign roads or just through familar grounds back home, you cross paths with strangers. Some you meet and greet, you spend some time together, you talk, you laugh. And then you go your separate ways. But then there are some that stay. Like Nina. We had met in summer 2011 on a tour through parts of Canada and Alaska. Then we met again for a short trip through the South of Sweden. I remember saying good bye at the train station of Copenhagen, Denmark on a day of early fall in 2012. And now, not even 2 years later it is time again for some roads to travel. Another continent. Another city. Another season … Down at the funicular that brings you up the Cerro San Cristóbal in Santiago de Chile was the starting point of our time together.
The first few days were spent sightseeing, shopping (as I had not seen too many shops in the last few weeks out in the wild and Nina is always up for shopping ;)), eating delicious Chilean food and talking about all the traveling roads that each one of us had walked since the summer of 2012. After just two days we took the bus to Valparaíso. The colourful city just one hour from Santiago. We recided up in the hills in a charming Victorian-English-Breakfast-Witch House. In a teeny tiny room where we could barely fit all of our luggage (I mean, we onlyl had like 5 bags ... :)) and you had to watch out to not hit your head while taking a shower in the bathroom, that was actually almost as big as the room itself. The views up there were entchanting. The hills steep. The Cerros (the city is devided in several cerros) alegre (joyful). And Nina became a star. She was discovered up at Cerro Alegre for a short documentary about the city of Valparaíso. We will see, maybe in a few years she’ll be famous around the world :)
Then it was time to go aboard, and after just one night on the Golden Princess we had our first stop at La Serena, Chile. Which also marked the last day in Chile. Unfortunately the guided tour organized by the ship was not so successful for us. Too many people in one group. The stops at the places too short. And too much time in the (oh yes, once again overly AC’d) bus. So we decided to cancel a few of the already booked tours and just get a guide ashore once getting there. This turned out to be the better choice. But still, I have to say, that for the future and for me, traveling through a country and not alongside it is the better choice as well. The stops are just too fleeting and unsatisfying for me. But that’s something everone has to decide for themselves …
Even though I wish I could have stayed in places like Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico a little while longer, it was still a fun and relaxing time aboard and ashore. I won’t forget the movies under the stars (and at the Lido Pool). The breathtaking and ever changing sunsets. The Piña Colada from the Pisco Distillery in Peru that we were allowed to take aboard, and the Dirty Bananas that were especially good when done by our very own bartender Narciso (see picture oft he day of March 27th). The colourful markets. The pretty horses in Peru. The seals at Islas Ballestas (especially the smell there) and all the other wildlife just passing by the ship. Like all the schools of dolphins playing alongside. Sea snakes. Turtles and so many more. And btw, our ship really does remind me of a hammerhead shark :) Then there was the crossing oft he Equator and kissing the fish. The tropical heat in Latin America. The volcano in Costa Rica we unfortunately did not see (it was just a white wall). Also the "pura vida" there. Lover’s Beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Where my lover unfortunately was not present and we had to find a Mexican lover (see picture of the day of March 30th). My first horseback ride at the beach with Apache. Going to sleep with the sound of the ocean as a constant partner, rocking you right to sleep. The singing people working on the ship. Our company at the dinner table. Doris, Detlef, Jo, Doreen and Christian. And who knows, maybe with one or the other the contact will remain …
The 16 days at sea and land have come to an end now. After two weeks of calm sea it has become a little rougher (memories of the cruise in January coming up, but just slightly …). The seats in the shadow at the Lido Pool have become empty. People are craving the space in the sun again. That means no more fighting for chairs, no more getting up early and reserving seats to actually get a chair at all. The hot and humid days have passed. Who would have thought that we would be chilly by the end of the cruise, when just a few days earlier we were complaining of the heat in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. But that’s how it is. The only constant is change. I have eperienced that a lot during the last 3 months. But isn’t that the exciting part about life? That nothing is the same. And that the things unplanned and surprising are the most wonderful!
I am back in Los Angeles, the "City of Angels", now. A familiar place to me. Having lived there for 9 months a few years back (or is it more than just a few years …). And having come back again in 2003, 2009 and 2011 to visit friends and places again. 3 weeks of hopefully sunny, relaxing days in SoCal lie ahead. I am looking forward to meet my sister’s friend and her family in San Diego. A few more people up in the LA area. And especially Liana, a girl that is not a child any longer, but has grown into a young and beautiful lady. And of course the rest of the Del Rosario bunch!
Dani California is back. I hope you are still traveling alongside :)
"Eat,
drink and be merry, and tomorrow we diet."
- Goofy -
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