I am sitting in the World Cafe of the Viking Jupiter Ocean Liner as we steam our way through the fjords of Southern Chile towards Punta Arenas, our last stop on our Chile train. We will arrive there tomorrow morning as we wend our way through this complex archipelago of Southern Chile, dipping in and out of the Pacific Ocean as the width of the passages requires. The good news for us neophytes at this is that this ship has made this same voyage one direction or the other five times this season alone, so I suspect they know every rock and current we are passing around and through. The World Cafe runs half the length of the ship on both port and starboard sides since the kitchen that serves it is positioned in the center. I am sitting in the middle of the port side in a banquette that faces the port-side windows that are floor-to-ceiling. That gives me a panorama view of the passing fjords, glaciers and mountains of this rugged and seemingly desolate area. It is this part of the world that has given rise to all the great shipwreck stories despite our collective consciousness that that must have all happened on warm tropical islands in the South Pacific and Caribbean. I’m sure there was a shipwreck or two in those hospitable climes, but the ones that have made the real stories like Robinson Crusoe, Mutiny on the Bounty and H.M.S. Wager, all happened in this God-forsaken area. I call it that not because it doesn’t have its special natural beauty, but because there is simply no habitation as far as the eye can see. Any passing ship, even a small local one, is cause for commentary since they are so few and far between.
I have been sitting right here for the past five hours, which may not sound like a very scintillating way to spend time on a cruise ship, but right now I am very pleased with myself about it for reasons I will explain. I began the day up here getting breakfast with our whole crew (minus Ann & Chris, who are simply not morning people and wander in for their breakfast whenever the spirit moves them). The plan was to view the Amalia Glacier in the mid-morning from the Promenade Deck, as advised repeatedly by the Assistant Cruise Director over the loudspeaker system. While others went here or there after breakfast, I stayed to work on my expert witness report to get as much of it off my plate as I can before we hit the Tierra Del Fuego part of the trip. I meant to go on deck for the glacier viewing for a few moments, but I was dressed in shorts and t-shirt since I had a scheduled spa service and felt no need to dress up this morning. The weather on deck was simply not conducive to shorts and t-shirt so one step outside convinced me that if you’ve seen one glacier from the deck of a ship, you’ve probably seen them all. When I headed down to the spa, I was on the starboard side, but I had time to sit in the spa lounge and watch all the small icebergs (it’s still late summer, remember) go by while the heartier passengers were bundled up on the deck taking more pictures than anyone could ever want of a glacier.
While sitting in the spa lounge a young attendant who hailed from Indonesia came in and was gob-stopped by seeing the icebergs. We were alone, so he confided in me (being new to all this and not wanting to get in trouble for speaking too much with a guest) that he had never seen ice or snow before in his life and that he had no idea what it looked like. He literally could not keep looking out of the window while he rolled up spa towels and towelettes. I told him it would get even more spectacular in the wintertime. We also discussed his impressions of working on a cruise ship for the first time. He admitted that it was his first time away from home and that he missed his family and that everything was anew experience for him. I asked about the accommodations and he said they were wonderful. I asked about the food and he said it was the best he had ever eaten. He was genuinely in a state of ecstasy and was anxious to see as much of the world as he could in his first six month tour. It reminded me of just how lucky most of us are and how much wonder and goodness there is in the world when we stop to observe it and get our collective heads out of our asses regarding things like tariff wars and drone wars.
Then I went in for my spa treatment. I long ago stopped getting massages per se on these trips because they never seem so special and are usually too expensive for the value received. But this time I saw something called an Arctic Cure, which seemed to be a Scandinavian treatment focused on detoxifying your system, especially the lymphatic system with brisk scrubbing, rock scraping and cupping to inspire the circulation and send all that excess lymph fluid back where it came from. I suffer from edema in my lower legs. It’s not so much that my doctor advises anything other than a diuretic and compression socks, but it still annoys me. Since that is all about lymphatic fluid, I though an Arctic Cure might be just the thing for me. I should have realized that the opening on the schedule coincided with the Amalia Glacier, but so be it. What I will say after my 80 minutes under the skillful and oh so respectful and service-oriented hands of another Indonesian spa therapist is that the Arctic Cure is just what the doctor ordered for me. It had its moments when I refused to submit to some eye-opening pain, but that was only a bit. Overall, the treatment felt great and actually made me feel like I was addressing a problem that needed to be addressed. That is always a good feeling. When I got up I literally had a spring in my step as I hoofed it back to the room where Kim decided she might like and Arctic Cure of her own. I even booked another treatment later in the cruise and they must be popular because I had to juggle times to get an appointment that worked.
I had just enough time to change and go to lunch in the World Cafe, where we had agreed to meet everyone for lunch. It was definitely feeding time at the zoo today in the Cafe. I imagine all that brisk arctic air out by the glacier made everyone hungry. Anyway, after lunch, I bid everyone good day as they toddled off to a movie or afternoon tea or a nap or whatever, while I stayed put and watched the Chilean fjord coast go by for the past five hours as I wrote my expert witness report to its first draft conclusion. I have ended the day with a need to go and change for dinner (NOT back here in the World Cafe, luckily), but I feel that my time today was especially well spent between my Arctic Cure and my report writing. I have sent the report off and will await feedback, but meanwhile, I do not feel like I missed much since his seat has afforded me a great viewing spot for all this wild and natural coastline as it floats by.