December 20, Tuesday – Valparaiso, Chile. Boarded the Vaandam.

We both managed about 12 hours sleep but we still weren't over the jet lag.  After breakfast we boarded our bus for the hour and a half drive to Valparaiso, the largest port in Chile.  

On the way in we saw Santa hanging from a balcony.

Valparaiso reminded us of Simla in Northern India in that the steep hills were covered top to bottom with wall to wall houses.

Processing and boarding went well and we were on board for lunch.  The harbor is very busy including many types of ships and small boats.  

There were huge stacks of ocean going shipping containers on the shore directly beside our ship.  

Refrigeration units on the end of the shipping containers.

One of the container ships directly behind our ship was being loaded by gigantic cranes…fascinating to watch and very colorful.  

We met Mike and Janet from Modesto at breakfast at the hotel and then again later on the ship.  We had a great time visiting.

Dinner partners were Richard and Christa from Thunder Bay Canada and Joe from Arizona.  We went to bed early…still trying to catch up on sleep.