Hiding In Plain Sight

When I went outside this morning, there was a particularly large rabbit moving across our front lawn. The instant that it became aware of my presence, it froze. Standing still in that manner made it barely visible against the background of the bushes under which it had been running, and you might say that the animal was quite literally "hiding in plain sight!" That naturally got me to wondering if there was a label for this kind of behavior, but what I found was a somewhat different perspective. Contrary to popular opinion which states that an animal's response to danger is "fight or flight," it appears that there is actually a third response, which is to "freeze!" So it is more correct to say that indeed there are three responses to perceived danger, "fight, flight or freeze."

Next week Lisa and I are finally going to put our home on the market. Like the rabbit on my front lawn, we have decided to "hide in plain sight!" By this, I mean that we will be on a cruise around South America for three weeks, during which time, we fervently hope that we will receive an offer on our home. We are not fleeing in the sense that we are going to disappear and be unreachable, rather we are going to hide in plain sight on a cruise ship where we are but a phone call away. I know that the idea of being away while we attempt to sell our home may seem a little crazy, but to anyone who has gone through the process they surely realize how stressful it can be. So we came up with this crazy idea, and we will see how it goes.

Therefore this Tuesday we will fly to Dallas where later that evening we will board an overnight flight to Santiago Chile. We will remain there for several days thus allowing plenty of time for any lost baggage to catch up with us before driving to the port city of Valparaiso on February 3rd. There we will board the largest ship in the Silversea fleet, the Silver Spirit. When I say that this is the largest ship in the fleet, it still only carries approximately 500 passengers. So by comparison to the giants offered by many other cruise lines, this is truly to be considered a small ship.
Starting at Valparaiso, we will sail southward along the South American coast eventually entering into the famous Chilean fjords. We will exit the fjords along the Beagle Channel to arrive at the most southern city in South America, Ushuaia, Argentina. From there, the ship heads Northeast to visit Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands. After that, it is two days at sea until we reach Montevideo in Uruguay, and then just a short jaunt to our final port of call, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

After spending a day in Buenos Aires, we will board an early morning flight to Miami, and from there a direct flight back home to Kansas City. All of this will take about 21 days.
So at this point, I don't have much to write about except to tell you what lies ahead. Lisa and I have been to virtually all these locations before, but as I have learned many times, adventure can be found in the strangest places--so I am excited about what awaits us.

I hope that everyone is getting off to a good new year, and that you will enjoy once again traveling with us as we hide in plain sight.
Jim