3/5     A few more observations...
1.  All light bulbs in the 3 countries so far are the energy efficient ones.  The lighting is very poor.
2.  There is a very, very large percentage of buildings that are only partially constructed. Most of them don't have windows or doors, some not even roofs. We have not yet figured out why.
3.  Unless a town is a tourist town, it seems the towns are rural and very run down.  Even the sections in cities that are not the touristy areas are the same way.
4.  Everyone speaks really fast even when they know you don't really speak spanish and are just learning.  In Chile, they speak really fast.

Today we started our first day at sea. We are cruising the Pacific, but more inland. It is very much like the Alaskan Inside Passage. We have gotten so lucky with the weather. This morning at 6:55 an announcement came over the loudspeaker to wake up and come outside to view and take pictures of the narrowest part of the strait that we will be going through. So, we all got up, put on all our warm clothes and went on deck. It was beautiful. At 8 was breakfast, at 9:30 was a mandatory safety briefing about lifeboats and such, at 12:30 lunch was served (pork loin and fixings), at 1:30 a National Geographic movie on Patagonia(this was cool because we had just visited and seen a lot of what was in the movie), at 4 was a side sight seeing trip to view the Blanco Glacier. This glacier was enormous and so blue. Parts were actually blue striped. We even got lucky and got to see a huge chunk fall off. This is why I wrote that we were so lucky with the weather. It had actually been raining the whole day except for when we viewed the narrow strait early this morning and when we were at the glacier. We then spent the rest of the afternoon reading up in the pub in the comfy leather chairs and playing cards. Dinner was at 7:30. They served baked chicken with mashed potatoes that had spinach mixed in. They were delicious and I am going to make them at home. We took an evening stroll on deck bundled up in fleeces, wind jackets, hat and mittens (the wind is super strong), had a couple glasses of wine, and am now reading in our bunks.
I never expected there to be activities on board. Tomorrow is the following:   lecture on birds, sailor knot demonstrations, Hugo movie,  March of the Penguins movie,  lunch is hake and dinner is pasta.
The motto here is "this is not a cruise ship", but it's just as good, only in a different way. I am so glad we decided to go this way and not to fly. I have heard a couple of women complain that there is no freshly brewed coffee (it's instant) and the meals are served cafeteria style. What did they expect... it's a cargo ferry!