02/24/2024 Chilean fjords

This was our next day at sea. We should now slowly immerse ourselves in the Chilean fjords. After a once again extensive breakfast and a visit to the fitness area, there was a culinary cooking demonstration. The chef demonstrated how to prepare fried rice and an Indonesian chef demonstrated how to prepare chicken according to an Indonesian recipe. The two worked live in the Rolling Stone Lounge (RSL) and it was also streamed to the main stage. The two of them not only worked on culinary matters, but also talked about the importance of rice on board, as the crew was made up of many nations in whose culture rice plays a major role. The chef said that he always has a large supply of rice on board that comes from the USA, because the employees don't like rice from Europe! He couldn't explain why either!? While frying the rice, we learned in passing that only special oil can be used for frying on the ship. No sunflower or rapeseed oil because higher temperatures are required before the oil catches fire. Safety above all! Also that the ship had to travel faster so that enough electricity could be used in the kitchen for preparation. The computer-controlled technology simply shut down the network to normal needs at such a low speed! It's very interesting to see it all in real life.

I switched from the culinary aspect to the artistic one. The world's largest art event house represented on board wanted to bring the surreal world of Salvador Dali closer! I was able to easily follow a 45-minute lecture and a film was also shown that emphasized the different eras of his work. But the most impressive thing was that an original by Dali was on display and for sale. During the casual sales animation, no prices were mentioned, the manager said that it would be stylish if guests asked for directions to the toilet and you could answer: “Please go straight to the first Picasso and then turn after that Dali to the right!” That wasn’t meant to be funny and I don’t know if anyone followed up!

Now our appetite was whetted and after a quick, small (?) lunch we went up to the upper deck, not only to smoke and drink coffee, but also to cross the Fallos Channel. We couldn't admire the passage for too long because our next item on the program was coming up. “Learn Spanish, Lesson 2”! We had completely overlooked the call for lesson 1, but we assumed that our previous knowledge should compensate for that. And that's how it was, but the four-page working paper offered also contained new content for us. It was our tango teachers who held the language course. Even when it comes to language training, a macho remains a macho, men in South America! But luckily there are others too!

We also got involved with Victor in the afternoon, after all it was time for the second tango lesson. Today we learned the “six pack”, but proper practice was out of the question! Far too many couples stood in the small area and wanted to try out their steps. Even setting up an outer and an inner dance circle, both of which were supposed to move in the same direction, hardly brought any spatial relief. And the point that there is often little space in the milongas (dance halls for tango music) didn't help me. I was supposed to lead and not collide with anyone and Karin finally wanted to do the steps repeatedly in one go!? My pressure level rose and my mood fell. Luckily, that hour was soon over.

We headed back up to the upper deck! We were supposed to cross the Ladrilero Canal and that's what we wanted to see. On such occasions, many passengers stood on the deck and everyone tried to get the best shots. The ship's photographers also encouraged the guests because the photo gallery was supposed to present new pictures. Since the food was right next to the deck and the open sea air makes you hungry, we were soon sitting again with our plates full and sampling what was on offer! And at the end of the evening our e-books were waiting in the cabin.