Shiver me timbers

After several days of enduring the brutal Patagonian winter, we felt we deserved a luxurious cruise to thaw out. Unfortunately, the best we could afford was hitching a ride for a few days on a freight ferry:

We were able to thaw out, though, thanks in part to the copious quantities of methane gas emanating from the boxcars of cattle at the back of the boat:

It was a pretty cool trip, though. There was plenty of action to keep us entertained...

We got to invade the bridge and bug the skipper with lots of questions... where are we, where are we going next, how fast are we getting there, are we going to hit that other ship, when do we get to see dolphins.... and most importantly... when´s lunch?

I climbed up to the crow´s nest to check out the view. I´m not really sure I was supposed to be up there, but hey, it wasn´t locked or anything. I was tempted to replace the Chilean flag with the Jolly Roger (you know... the skull and crossbones pirate flag), but I couldn´t figure out how to make one. Besides, I´d had enough fun with the Argentinian authorities... no need to get the Chileans involved.

The best part of the trip was the coffee-in-bed room service... delivered with a smile by Mr. Early Riser himself: dear old Dad. He saw more sunrises that trip than anyone else on board. I saw them too... for a few seconds. Out the porthole. From my bunk. Right after Mr. Cheerful woke me up to see them. Then I went back to sleep for another couple of hours. Hey, we were recovering from the brutal Patagonian winter, remember?

We also had fun with Dad´s GPS unit... for example, we figured out exactly which heading to take if we felt like a 6,873-mile swim north to Crescent City.

And of course, the main attraction was the pictures-don´t-do-it-justice scenery:

Lots of rugged mountains, snow-capped peaks, and cool islands...

...and plenty of spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate´s life for me.