After our wonderful day yesterday, we could have happily stayed for more time in Valparaiso. But our cruise leaves today and we did not want it to leave without us! The directions in our boarding documents told us to arrive at the dock well before three o’clock. We figured aiming at one o’clock would give us time to return the car and find a place to put some more minutes on John’s phone. We decided against trying to do any more exploring this morning, as appealing as another walking tour might have been. Instead, we packed up quite deliberately this morning, determined not to leave anything behind.
Thanks to GPS, we had no particular problem finding our way to San Antonio. It was only when we got there that the problems began. San Antonio is now Chile’s largest port, but other than the container ship facilities it has nothing of interest at all. There is one long road, Barros Luca, that runs from one end of the town to the other. Everything looked simple enough on paper. The address given for the cruise ship was 1613 Barros Luca and the address for returning the rental car was 2550 Barros Luca. Our plan was to drop John off at the ship, I would return the car, and we would be happily on board in no time.
Needless to say, gentle reader, it did NOT turn out that way. 1613 Barros Luca turned out to be a commercial building with a branch of Banco Santander and some place that sold fried chicken. We could see the smokestacks of the ship from there, but a rail line and an unbroken stretch of warehouses may it impossible to reach it. We drove up and down and down and up the street looking for some way to get from Barros Luca to the port itself. We finally stopped a young man who patiently explained to us that we had to drive down on particular street for about a mile until we could find the entrance to the port. By this time I was already an hour late for returning the car.
We dropped off our luggage without problem, but we debated whether it would be possible for us to check in separately. We both figured that might be problematic, so John agreed to return the car with me. That proved to be no easier. Although we rented our car through Expedia from an outfit called NU, the actual car was provided by Rosselot. A lady in the tourist office gave us directions to the Rosselot office at 2550 Barros Luca. But when I arrived there, they refused to take the car and kept pointing me down the street. We drove up and down the street a couple times more until we finally found ANOTHER Rosselot office. This was indeed the one we were expected at, but it was definitely not at 2550.
By this time, it was nearly three, the hour by which all passenger were supposed to be on the ship. One of men from the rental agency drove us back to the ship, saving me the agony of trying to find a cab in San Antonio. We checked in without any particular problem, though by that time I was testier than Donald Trump in a Twitter fit. They put us on a small shuttle bus and in a few minutes we were at the ship. As I left the bus, the driver gave us all a small candy and wished us “Feliz Navidad.” He was the highlight of the afternoon.
John had hoped that our room was going to upgraded, but this did not happen as the ship was not only full but apparently had been overbooked. I understand how they do that on airplanes, but I wondered how that worked on cruise ships. Had we come a little later would they have given our cabin away? Fortunately, they had not and as it turned out we had a nice cabin on a high deck with a small balcony. John was exhausted after all of this and I let him rest while I unpacked.
We had the usual emergency drill at four o’clock. John dropped his brand-new phone on the way there, and despite having a good case on it the screen cracked. After the interminable drill, we had a truly mediocre meal on the stern as the ship started to pull out of port. We did some exploring of the ship. In the evening we stopped by to see the show. They had four guys, all of whom I think were Filipino, impersonating the Beatles. They were just awful, and we left after a few minutes.
I am hoping tomorrow will be much better.
