Day 4

December 24^th 2007

Today is our one year wedding anniversary. That was quick. That was eventful. That was awesome. If that’s how every year is going to be going forward, I can’t wait to look forward to every single one of them. Neha, living up to the “Year 1 = Paper”, got me a very nice card, while I on the other hand have yet to give her anything paper like. Does cash count?

Today was spent mostly on the ship as we cruised the Pacific Ocean toward the Lake District and the city of Puerto Montt where we will be docking for the first time since departing Valparaiso.

We were still getting used to the whole idea of “freestyle” cruising and the fact that both of us slept in after missing the alarm (Neha’s quick reflexes toward the shrieking alarm were not surprising) resulted in us having a very cold breakfast out on the top deck where winds were gusting up to 30 miles/hr! My cup of OJ definitely learnt to fly and Neha sensing further atrocities toward her already cold breakfast decided to inhale whatever was on her plate and disappeared inside.

With breakfast over and Bingo being the only other onboard activity going on, Neha and I decided to go workout. It was amusing to see 70 year olds in the gym trying to get into shape. It was also amusing to see myself in the gym. I think both Neha and I felt good in there because we fared so much better against the rest of the aerobically challenged. There was an old Chinese lady outside the gym trying to sell us acupuncture sessions at sky-high prices. I wanted to throw some needles at her and see how she felt about paying that much.

It’s very easy to get lost on a cruise ship – that’s all I really have to say about that. Good thing is while we were trying to get our bearings right, we ran into the casino on the ship. This being our wedding anniversary (Neha thought that would equate to luck) and a whole lot of time to kill, we decided to sit down at the slots. I got lucky for the most part. Neha didn’t. She would say the nicest things to the slot machine and all it would say back is “Insert Coin to Play Again”. We had fun nonetheless. Blackjack resulted in both of us getting irritated at one of the players trying to school us. We took his cards away and made sure he didn’t win anything.

Dinner at one of the nicer restaurants on the ship resulted in an hour and a half wait. We finally ended up seated with 2 Russian guys from NYC. No they were not part of the mafia mob – just regular New Yorkers. Neha is happy that we’ve finally met people our age on this ship. I am slightly relieved. We ended the evening with a nightcap and wishing JC a very Happy Birthday at the stroke of midnight.