06/02/13  -  Yesterday we had a great day in Valparaiso, Chile. The weather when we got off the ship was misty with drizzly rain until well into the afternoon when the sun came out and it was lovely and hot.  We took a taxi to to The old part of the city and pottered in and out of the local shops, lots of local crafts and I bought a small painting of the town.  There are a number of Finiculars that take you up and down the hills and we came down on one - they are not as scary as they look. We decided to walk back to the Port where the ship was berthed and my poor little feet were very tired when we arrived. We visited the fruit and vege market on the way and bought two very juicy,tasty nectarines. The Chilean wine is lovely so we stocked up on supplies at the local supermarket before returning to the ship. 285 people left the ship here and 185 boarded - we were meant to leave at 5.30 pm but as some of the new passengers hadn't arrived we didn't get away till after 8 pm. Today the clocks went back an hour so we had a sleep in and a relaxing day. Mase attended a lecture this morning while i went to morning tea with the Cruise Critc group. We played cards this afternoon for an hour or so and are now resting before joining the 25 Kiwis on board to celebrate Waitangi Day.

08/02/13  -  We have a few more sea days ( nine in all ) until we arrive in Papeete. We will be slow cruising past Easter Island and Pitcairn where, I think, the Islanders come out to the boat to sell their wares. It is amazing how you can spend your days doing nothing much!! I do wish I had bought my hard hardanger to do however there are some interesting lectures to attend. We are not going up to the dining room every night choosing instead to eat upstairs at the buffet. We find that having to dress up to the nines nearly every night is wearing thin. Casual dressing is only one night out of three. I have joined the Camera Club and that is interesting. See thatPaul Holmes has died - we are not getting any real NZ news  from home so would appreciate anyone giving us an overview by email. We , the NZ crowd - 25 of us, were entertained by the Cruise Director on Waitangi Day which was very nice of her. Just woken up and it's 6 .30 am so I'm off for a swim.