Day 19: Sunday, December 22, 2019: Houston

Hello Galveston!

Hello Houston. We arrived at 5:00 am.

Day 18: Saturday, December 21, 2019: Santiago and Heading Home

Today we disembark, drive to Santiago and catch a 10:45 pm flight back to Houston. When we get to Santiago, we will be "treated" to a tour of the city, then taken to a hotel where we can "lounge" until time to head to the airport.

We said goodbye to the sea lions still on the pier next to our cabin. They did not notice our salutations.

We drove through the Chilean wine area.

It took about two hours to get to Santiago. It took another hour of bumper-to-bumper driving to get across the city. It seemed most of the traffic consisted of empty public buses.

We stopped at the main square around which is the main cathedral, the presidential palace, and other public buildings.

The cathedral was very impressive. I also had my wallet stolen inside.

Goodbye Santiago.

Day 17: Friday, December 20, 2019: Valparaiso and Viña del Mar

Today is our last port of call. Valparaiso, one, if not them major economic centers of Chile. Founded in 1536, it has a mostly English and  French heritage. In 2003, the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site. With the restrictions associated with such a designation, the older part of the city is drab, crowded and uninspired. A little way around the bay is Viña del Mar which is beautiful, vibrant and very desirable.

Valparaiso was virtually destroyed on August 16, 1906 by a 8.5 magnitude earthquake which occurred about two hours after the San Francisco earthquake of 7.1 magnitude.