By Bob Van Leer

  (SANTIAGO, CHILE, Feb. 9, 2003) - This is the capital of Chile, which occupies the southern half of the west coast of South America. Betty and I arrived here today after a long flight from Los Angeles aboard an Airbus 340 operated by LAN Chile, the Chilean national airway.

  This is the first stop on a month-long cruise that will take us up the west coast of South America and then across the Pacific, winding up in Sydney, Australia.

  We drove to Medford Feb. 6 and boarded a Horizon Air flight to Los Angeles at 6:35 a.m. We flew on a CRJ 700, a small regional jet of a kind relatively new in Medford.

By Bob Van Leer

  (Coquimbo, Chile, Feb. 10, 2003) - We arrived here this morning after an overnight sail from Valparaiso and Betty and I took a tour up the Elqui Valley. We had never heard of the Elqui before but discovered the valley supplies part of our food supply.

  The table grapes from Chile you find in local markets in Gold Beach are grown here. There are miles of grapevines stretching across the valley. Grapes are grown here for two purposes. One is table grapes for export and the second is muscat grapes used to distill pisco, a type of brandy that is the Chilean national drink.

By Bob Van Leer

  (Arica, Chile, Feb. 12, 2003) - This northernmost city in Chile is located in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest areas on earth. Only on the valley floors where there is irrigation by water from the mountains is there anything green. Where there is no irrigation, there are only miles and miles of bare mineral soil. But where water is applied, the desert blooms. Our guide says olives are the largest export from Arica.

By Bob Van Leer

  (GENERAL SAN MARTIN, PERU Feb. 14, 2003) - This morning we were driven to Tambo Colorado, an Inca settlement that pre-dates the Spanish conquest of Peru. We were told that Tambo is the best preserved Inca settlement. Most walls are still intact.

  We arrived in Peru this morning after a two-day trip from Arica, Chile. Our arrival was timed so that we could see the enormous geoglyph called the "Candelabra" on a cliff wall near the entrance to the harbor. The light was not good at 6:30 a.m. but we were able to see the 593 ft tall glyph. It's name comes from its shape but what it supposed to represent and why it was made is not known. The morning was foggy and overcast, as apparently is every morning, but it hardly ever rains here.

By Bob Van Leer

  (Lima/Callao, Peru, Feb. 16, 2003) - Lima is the capital of Peru and by far the largest city. Callao, the port city, is now just a suburb of the metropolitan area with a population of 7.35 million people (1999). We arrived in the normal morning fog and took a guided tour of the city.

  Peru spreads across the Andes and our guide said 52% of the country is in the Amazon River jungle. Oil has been found in Peru and is now the number one export with fish meal, mostly going to China, second. This is not a rich country. We were told the minimum wage is $120 U.S. per month. Lima was founded by the Spanish in 1535 and was the seat of Spanish power in South America.

By Bob Van Leer

  (At Sea, Feb. 18, 2003) - We are in our second day at sea on our trip from Lima, Peru, to Easter Island. The island is one of the most remote places on earth, situated over 2000 miles from the South American mainland to its east and 1100 miles from Pitcairn Island to the west.

  Our ship is the Holland America line Amsterdam, a new ship delivered Sept. 28, 2000. It is Italian-built and has an overall length of 780 feet and a cruising speed of 21 knots. It is diesel propelled and can generate 66,500 horsepower. The mileage is not high, the ship gets 55 feet per gallon of fuel. The ship has a capacity of 1500 guest passengers.

(AT SEA, Feb. 19, 2003) - The highlight of today was an invitation-only dinner at the "Captain's Table". Hotel Manager Henk J. Mensink invited 24 of us to a dinner in a private room where we were given the full VIP treatment.

  Exactly why we were included I haven't been able to find out, but it was a memorable dinner. Each course was preceded by the ringing of a Chinese gong after which a steward announced the name of the course and how it was prepared.

  The main course was filet mignon, which was placed in front of each diner covered by a silver bell-shaped cover. At a signal, all the covers were removed by waiters at the same instant.

  Prior to the dinner, members of the ship's orchestra played for the diners' pleasure. The dinner was concluded with presentation of souvenir ceramic reproduction of actual Amsterdam Dutch houses imprinted with their addresses.

  Tomorrow our three-day sea interlude concludes as we anchor off Easter Island and board tenders to go to land for a tour of the stone moai (pronounced moe-eye), the outstanding feature of the island.

By Bob Van Leer

(EASTER ISLAND, CHILE, Feb. 20, 2003) - Today we toured Easter Island, a highlight of our tour across the Pacific, and by some accounting the most remote place on earth.
The most outstanding feature of the island by far is the collection of giant stone moai (pronounced moe-eye) erected on the island. Our ship anchored offshore as there is no harbor for anything larger than small fishing vessels. A substantial swell was running, making for difficult loading of passengers from the ship to launches to take passengers to shore.

  In the boat Betty and I went to shore in, one woman fell when boarding and took a crew member down with her, but they did not go overboard. We took a tour of the island in a mini-van. It is not a large island, 15-16 miles wide and a total of 45 square miles. It is volcanic in origin with four dormant volcano craters on the island.

  The island was settled by Polynesians around 400 A.D. and reached its zenith in about 1700 and population peaked at 10,000-20,000 people.

By Bob Van Leer

  (PITCAIRN ISLAND, Feb. 23, 2003) - This is the island made famous by Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789. Christian wrested control of the British navy ship, Bounty, and set Capt. Wm. Bligh and 18 seamen who supported him adrift in an open boat with a week's provisions. Bligh, after an epic sail of more than 3000 miles, made it to safety.

  Christian knew the British navy would be searching for the mutineers. He first returned the Bounty to Tahiti, sailed around the Pacific looking for a home and returned to Tahiti once more. There 16 sailors decided to stay in Tahiti and Christian left Tahiti on the Bounty with eight other mutineers, six Polynesian men and nine Polynesian women.

TRAFFIC JAMS IN POLYNESIA
By Bob Van Leer

  (PAPEETE, FRENCH POLYNESIA, Feb. 26, 2003) - Our first stop in French Polynesia was the capital, Papeete, (pronounced paah-pay-eh-tay) located on the island of Tahiti. This a bustling city of 69,000 residents and 4000 French soldiers, according to the ship's Daily Program.

  French Polynesia as a whole has 170,000-180,000 residents of which 70% are Polynesian. The size of the city, complete with traffic jams, is not what we associate with South Sea islands. Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia and the island of Tahiti accounts for almost a quarter of the land mass of French Polynesia.

By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, SOUTH PACIFIC , March 4, 2003) - Yesterday at about 2 p.m. we crossed the International Dateline so March 3 disappeared. We went from Sunday, March 2, to Tuesday, March 4. The reason for this is it was required by standardization of time.

  According to an interpretation in the ship's daily program, the dateline, and other time features were set in 1883 in a meeting in Washington, D. C. The world was divided into 24 zones of one hour each. The starting point for all zones, the Prime Meridian, was at Greenwich, near London, the site of the most prominent astronomical observatory of the day.

By Bob Van Leer

  (AUCKALND, NEW ZEALAND, March 5, 2003) - As our ship, Amsterdam, approached New Zealand, the country was subjected to what was to them a devastating blow. New Zealand lost the America's Cup to, of all countries, landlocked Switzerland.

  In a best out of nine series the Swiss boat won the first five. There is some bitterness over the outcome because the winning Swiss team was actually composed of New Zealanders, the team under Russell Coutts that successfully won for New Zealand in the last challenge in 2000.

  The syndicate that put up the Swiss boat, Alinghi, wanted a winning team so they put up enough money to hire the winning New Zealand team.

By Bob Van Leer

  (Wellington, New Zealand, March 8, 2003) - Instead of a tour, Betty and I spent much of the day in the National Museum - Te Papa Tongarewa. The museum is outstanding. We had been there before and wanted more time to visit it. It has wonderful Maori collections as well as much of the history of the Europeans in New Zealand.

  A special exhibit when we were there was the Lord of the Rings collection. The movies were made in New Zealand. On display were many of the costumes and artifacts used in the movies as well as background notes on how they were made and used.

  In the evening, Filipino members of the crew put on a special show of native dancing and skits. One that fascinates me is the Bamboo Dance. Two bamboo poles rest on a support about three-four inches above the floor and about 18 inches-two feet apart. Two men, one on each end, move the poles to a beat. Three times they tap the poles on the support, and on the fourth beat they slam the poles together in the middle. Dancers dance on each side of the poles and between them. If the dancer's timing is off and their feet are still in the space between the poles when they are slammed together, this would be very painful.
Tonight we will be underway on a two-day run to Sydney, Australia.

SOUTH ISLAND
By Bob Van Leer

  (Christchurch, N. Z, March 7, 2003) - We arrived here this morning after a day's sail from Auckland. Actually, we didn't arrive at Christchurch, but at Lyttelton, its port city, which is about five miles away over a 1500 feet high ridge.

  Christchurch itself is on the large, flat Canterbury Plain. It is a classic English city, the largest on South Island with a population (2000) of 341,000, set down in the South Pacific. It is a community planned by the English with an emphasis on the Church of England and is centered around Cathedral Square. It is called the "Garden City", and it is. Inside the city limits are many manicured parks and gardens, some public and some private.

By Bob Van Leer
  (At Sea, March 9, 2003) - Tonight we attended an Awards Dinner hosted by the captain. Holland America has a loyal clientele. Pins and medallions were presented for accumulating days of sailing on Holland America trips ranging from 25 days to more than 700. Betty and I received red pins for more than 50 days which makes us short timers on this trip.

  The other six people at our dinner table all had medallions which, depending on the color, were for more than 100 to more than 500 days. Five persons were awarded the President's Club medallion for more than 750 days. The cruise director said each had more than 1400 days. Do the math, and this is just shy of four years on a cruise ship.