And now for penguinos!

So - here we are on a lovely evening in the South Atlantic. We got to see the tailend of a sunset at sea (usually we are a dinner at that time) and it was a lovely closer to a divine day. THe past two days have seen us exerting very little effort but we are using them to practice relaxing and getting into the whole thing. Yesterday Dale burnt his knees and I burnt one of 2 shins so we both look ridiculous but the BEET red Germans and Brits have us beat in the sunburn department. Yikes! They should warn Northerners about the thin ozone down here in the Southern Hemisphere. It is somewhat gratifying that even the latino skin appears to be burning under theses skies. Anyway, I digress. The past 2 days have been glorious with a light breeze, sunny skies and around 15-17 degrees. Lots of pages have been read, I listened to a latin band and watched some live tango, wrote out some postcards for the occasional person back home and sipped Perrier and Lime. All this heady activity was followed by a couple of hours in the spa having my toes smoothed, my heels polished and my hands scrubbed so that everything is presentable for the near future and no penguins will be horrified by the sight of my untended feet tomorrow! I have no idea what Dale did all day though I did see him a few times and he sipped some Scotch while I nursed the afore mentioned fizzy water. I believe the writings of Charles Darwin had him dreaming a few times and napping the other times!

We are now below 50S which is one of 2 measurements for people truly 'rounding the Horn'. the other is to get BACK to 50S after being below it. Tomorrow we approach the Falklands and pitch our anchor into the ocean somewhere nearby (we hope). Stanley is a tender port meaning we get off the ship in little boats and have to head to shore that way rather than just hopping off the ship and onto a pier. We are slated to go see a protected penguin rookery and apparently there are also lots of sheep and woolen things about the islands which should also be of some interest - and no, I am not dragging any authentic yarn home for Sharon to sell in the shop...

We are looking forward to the next few days and hopefully I can figure out how to get some photos out to those of you who are following this. They are not making it easy as I can neither connect camera nor card to the computers. Apparently I have to burn a disc somewhere else on the ship and then upload at these stations. Our apologies for the technical difficulties - but then - we have some serious relaxing to do so don't get all upset on us. We also see by the internet information that the prairies are not suffering any horrible January weather. Please do not bother to save it for when we return - we really don't mind if you get it over with right now...

Tomorrow - the penguins and the Falklands war - now - a chocolate on our pillows and a gentle rolling motion to rock us off to sleep -

Till tomorrow -

D&M