The ship was called the Cruceros Australis, and it was an exploration expedition around the end of the world. The biggest thing that I learned about myself from this trip was that I get severe sea-sickness. My roommates on the boat were Diana and Jessie, which was a lot of fun. It was hilarious to be stuck on a boat with sixty college students who basically could not get away from each other no matter how hard they tried. Of course there was a bit of cabin fever, but we managed to all have a great time together. We played card games and I got a lot of reading done. Most of the other passengers on the boat were over sixty, which made it even more hilarious. There were about one-hundred passengers on the boat in all. The boat had five different levels, with the dining room on the bottom, the majority of the rooms on the second, rooms and lounges on the third, rooms and lounges on the fourth, and the fifth was an open outdoor deck.
The first morning of the cruise we got up bright and early at seven o’clock to explore Cape Horn. We all hopped into the raft-like boats and headed for shore. I was a bit scared at first in the rafts, as I cannot swim, but Amy held my hand the first time, and after that I was all good. After climbing up a million stairs, we made it a flatter area and walked out to the look-out point with a giant sculpture and a light house. We all looked rather silly wearing our life jackets, as the told us not to take them off so that they would not get lost. This was the coldest day of the trip, as I had yet to discover. Walking around at Cape Horn was freezing! There was a little church there and a person even lives on the island. Some boys decided to jump over to another island and climb up it, and they got yelled at for destroying a national park. The view from Cape Horn was amazing, like nothing I have ever seen before. Many explorers and scientists died trying to make the same journey that we made. We took a huge group picture, spent some time enjoying the view, and then we were on our way back to the ship.
I spent the majority of the day sleeping, as I was feeling very ill. After a nap and the Dramamine kicking in, I started to feel a bit better. Luckily, I never actually threw-up, but I felt really close. Later that afternoon at around five o’clock we were told we were going to an island with Aborigine artifacts and ruins, but that was not what it actually was. It was a huge hike up a mountain. Some of the older people did not come with us, and opted for a beach walk instead. It was still neat though, and we hiked up pretty far. Well, we actually did not hike, we practically ran. Amy and I were right in the front with our program director Rafa, who was moving so fast up that hill that we practically had to sprint to keep up. After a good sweat, we finally reached the top, which was well worth it. The guy in charge of the tour told us to take a moment of silence to enjoy nature, which was of course interrupted by some boys farting. The old folks happened to think this was quite hilarious. After taking a ton of pictures, we ran back down the mountain to be welcomed with hot chocolate and water. Then back to the boat! That night on the ship there were a lot of activities going on. There were bingo games where you could win prizes, as well as a fashion show. My dinner table randomly was selected to model in the fashion show, which was extremely hilarious, as we all utilized our best “top model” skills. After all of this, we had a dance party, which was tons of fun.
The next day we got to sleep in, because we were not getting off the boat until five o’clock in the afternoon. We hung out all day playing games and I finished off a novel. The views around this area were the best so far, as there were many mountains and glaciers. The weather was sunny and cold, and we were very lucky because our guide told us that they only have had ten days like that in the four years that they have been doing the tour; it usually rains. Our excursion for that day was to take the rafts to a glacier. We had very fun boat full of people. The water was full of huge ice chunks and the glacier was huge. Pieces of ice would fall off every couple minutes, and there were several pretty waterfalls. It was breathtaking to just sit there watching the glacier for such a long period of time. All of the boats got close together and on the count of three we all yelled really loud in hopes that a huge chunk of ice would fall of the glacier, but we were unsuccessful. This was by far my favorite excursion of the entire cruise and trip.
The final place we visited on the last day was an island full of thousands of penguins! We got off the boat at seven o’clock and as our boat drove to the island we got to watch the sunrise. It was so amazing. On the island, there were tons of penguins everywhere and they would walk right by you, but you could not get close enough to touch them because they would run away. I was disappointed I could not pet one, but I was satisfied with getting so close. Once we got back onto the ship, we packed up and had breakfast. After hanging out for a few more hours, we docked at Puntas Arenas, Chile.
More on Puntas Arenas Later!
My Pictures:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047237&l=416ca&id=8506204
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047239&l=ae8f7&id=8506204
Amy's Pictures:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047118&l=dead2&id=8505998
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047120&l=0a00c&id=8505998
Pictures from Before the EFT:
http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047236&l=433ca&id=8506204
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