Our last day

Oct 14, 2010  81 degrees and still humid

We have alot of finishing up things today. Joan made her last purchases. I have done enough. Joan went to learn how to fold napkins and I listened to a talk on Ft Lauderdale. Then we heard the disembarkation talk so we know how to get off the ship. We are meeting another couple who are on the same plane and will share a taxi with them. After the talk we learned another recipe from one of the chef’s (pic 2). After lunch we learned how to make cake decorations out of marzipan (pic 3) – very interesting. We sat in on a chit chat with the cast of the showroom. I picked up the computer lesson papers that we have missed. We went to the last bingo and I won a game, so we shared $168. That might pay our bar bill!!! From there we changed and went to the Chef’s dinner, where they end with the baked alaska  (pic 1)parade. We sat with a couple from New Mexico and a man from Vancouver, WA and a lady from Oregon. The show tonight was Paul Pappas, the pianist and John Lenahan the magician/comedian. We enjoyed them very much again. Now we have spent an hour and a half trying to get our luggage to weigh the right amount!!! We’ll be home tomorrow.

Sailing the Caribbean Sea

Oct 13, 2010  - 31 degres, with a breeze

It was fairly rough during the night with a wind pushing against the side of the ship. Still rocky in the morning so Joan decided to stay in bed with her bands and medication. I went up for breakfast then sat in on a question and answer with the members of the cruise activities staff. They told us about their life aboard ship  - how they work and live. Next I watched some people play bocci. I picked up a recipe for stir-fry beef, then went to change for lunch. Today we were invited to a brunch with the captain for previous HAL sailors, for which Joan was feeling better, and hungry. We had a nice meal, champagne and got our tile coasters for being previous cruisers. The motion has settled down and is supposed to get very calm later today. It was very warm in the dining room, and we heard it was nice and cool up in the crows nest on deck 12 so we went up there to cool off. Whew, much better. Joan went to the back pool to enjoy the sun and I went to a class on tandoori chicken, by Chef Bitta, second in command and Indian, so he used his traditional recipe with a few extras not on the ship’s recipe. I also attended a trivia game about chocolate. A group of ladies were sitting there when I went in and called me over, so I sat with them and they were very smart, as we won and received some pins as well as some chocolate. We met up again for happy hour and the men from yesterday joined us while their wives were practicing for a skit they are doing tomorrow. We had made a reservation for dinner in Canaletto, the Italian restaurant tonight and it was very good. The show was a variety of music by the band, the string orchestra, and a guitarist as well as 2 of the singers (Pic 3) from the ship’s cast. It was very good. From there we went to the oceans bar to listen to the trio there who play music from the 40’s etc. As we were there Dan the Cruise director (pic 4) came along and sang a few songs with the band. All very entertaining. Tonight was the dessert extravaganza, and we went up to take pictures (pics 1 & 2). It was so hot and humid even though they had the roof open a little. We took a walk around and took pictures, and were talking to people when all of a sudden there was rain coming in through the roof that was open and a great scramble to shut the roof and move the audio equipment that was set up. Water was all over the floor and we couldn’t stand the heat so came back to the room where it is nice and cool.

 

Cartagena, Columbia

Oct 12, 2010  38 Celsius and hummmid

Happy Birthday Chuck!!!

We sailed into Cartagena about 10am. A very large city, which has a new town and an old town with 14 million people. The heat just hits you like a wall when you get off the ship. Fortunately we found out there was a shuttle to the entrance to the port where the taxis are. There were parrots all over the area (pic). Another couple, Buttons and Terry, who we talk to frequently are leaving at the same time so Terry negotiated for a taxi - $20 for all of us. It takes about 15 minutes and the air conditioning is not very good. He lets us off at the entrance to Old Town, which is where we decided to go. We only have 5 hours here so can’t do everything. We go into the walled city and the architecture (pic 2 & 3) from centuries ago is everywhere. We start walking and darting into one shop after another. Of course they all have much the same stuff, but many of them are air conditioned so we go in for the reprieve. Buttons and Joan are leading the way from shop to shop, while Terry and I are trying to take pictures, then we look around for the girls and the people on the street tell us where they are. Finally we ask where we can go for a cerveza, (pic 6) and one guy says just a minute and another runs down the street, and comes back with a guy with a cart with drinks!! We said “no” we want to sit down, so he tells us where there is a place to sit down. Just a few blocks away there were several small restaurants, all with tables outside in the square, but you don’t know who’s is who’s so we start bargaining with the girls for 2 for 1. We get $3 but sit down at someone else’s table and try to get her down to $3 but they won’t budge. Another girls comes to us and says $3 and takes us over to her table, so after all that the beer was so good. There were people with their wares constantly after us, but we just kept brushing them off. We saw women carrying fruit and baking (pic 5) on their heads. We also saw Juan Valdez and his donkey (pic 40. After our rest we start heading back towards the gate we came through in the wall. Eventually and many shops later we find it and as we emerged, Joan said she didn’t think there was a taxi when all of a sudden there were about 15 right there, and we said we would pay $15 and he said ok, so we headed back. Many people speak English well. It is a great city to visit (pic 1). Once back on board we had lunch and then into the pool. It doesn’t feel quite as cool today, but was very refreshing anyway. At happy hour we chatted with a couple of the men who were at the Indian village tour I went on. One was from New Jersey and one from Calgary. At dinner we sat with 3 people from Seattle, and a couple from Arizona. The show tonight was a female singer Robin Fellows. She was a good singer, but too much theatrics. Back to our room where it is much cooler and we have to turn our clocks ahead one hour anyway.

    

 

Panama Canal

Oct 11, 2010  cloudy, hot and muggy

Happy Thanksgiving Canada

We started into the canal about 6:30, after getting into our spot in the line-up. Someone is commentating the entire process. Joan and I head out to the front deck on level 6 but it seems too low, so we go up the level 9 and we can see everything from there. They explain the process of the building of the canal and how the locks work. The ships are sailed through the locks, as the mules on the tracks on either side are just to keep the ship in the middle of the lock (pic 1). The doors that open from one lock to another are still the originals from 1914! We are in a lock next to the Celebrity Mercury so we are all waving to each other. There is coffee and Panama buns (filled with fruit and custard) on deck – yum. All along the way they are building new locks which will carry larger ships. Bothe sets of locks will operate simultaneously. The cost for the Statendam to go through the canal was 436 thousand dollars. Today 36 ships went through the canal. We watch the process then go for breakfast while in the first lake. It is very hot now as we are moving so slowly and are enclosed in the narrow channel through the continental divide (pic 3) where they had to clear the longest part of the canal, blasting through the mountains. After that we cross the manmade lake, Gatun, – verrrrry large. Joan has been out on deck by the pool since breakfast – after shopping of course. After lunch I also get into the pool. At 1pm the cruise director and his staff had a swim the canal event (pic 4). We had to get in the pool and swim (or walk) the length for a certificate!! We stayed by the pool for the last of the locks, then back to the room to shower. We had a glass of wine and Joan read while I blogged. We had happy hour and talked to a fellow from our dinner table last night. At dinner we sat with a couple of ladies from Calgary, a lady and her son from Minnesota, and 2 ladies from Kansas. Most of us had turkey – yummm. The service was very slow tonight, so we skipped coffee. Joan was getting a scratchy throat so the went for a cup of tea from the lido and went to bed. Ruth went to the show which was Paul Pappas, a pianist who played everything from Bach to honkey tonk. He was very entertaining. We are tired from all the heat today, so an early night.

 

Fuerte Amador

 

Oct 10, 2010  90’s sun/cloud/rain

We arrived in Fuerte Amador about 9am. It is the end of a peninsula about 1/2 hour from Panama City (pic 1 above). The peninsula is actually 3 bunkers built by the US when the canal was being built to give protection. They are no longer bunkers and are connected by a road and on to Panama and the rest of the former canal zone. Ruth is going on a tour to an Indian village. Joan has decided to stay around and just go to the marina area where there is a little shopping. I found out about the Indian village tour by connecting with folks online who were also on this ship and had arranged for this tour. I met with them after they got on the ship in San Diego. By the time this day has come around we ended up with 14 people for the tour. We drove about 40 minutes to a small village on the Cagres river. On the way we were stopped by the tourist police to find out where we are going, and they followed us to the village and stayed until the dugout canoes (pic 1 below) came for us, to be sure we were safe. We got into 2 canoes and set off for the camp. It was about a 35 minute canoe ride down the river and into Alhajuela Lake and across that. We arrived in the Embera tribe camp and were greeted by the men playing music on instruments they made from trees (pic 2 below), animals etc. from the jungle. We walked up to a very large open sided building with 3 sides lined with tables of the crafts they make. There were beautiful baskets, jewellery and carved ironwood. They put a price on the items of $1 per hour it took to make the item. Most items were over $20 each. We were served lunch (pic 2 above) of fried plantain and fish in a cone made of a leaf, and fruit. Next we sat on benches in the middle of the large building and were shown how they make the thin pieces fiber from the leaves, that they use to make the baskets and how they color them, using soil, parts of trees etc. They also showed the ironwood and how they carve with the knives they make and how they polish the wood. They also showed the nuts they use to carve animals out of to show their children all about the animals. Next they did a couple of dances and got us all up to dance. They are completely self sufficient and have no modern conveniences. They start their day at sunrise and end it at sunset. Their homes are made of wood and palm leaves for the roof. They are built on stilts (pic 3 below) because they have 9 months of rain and frequent flooding. There were about 25 children (pic 4 below) running around, helping or swinging in hammocks under the tables. It was all very educational and fascinating. We got back to the ship about 6 pm. Our guide Ivan was very knowledgeable. It was a great day. I went looking for Joan and found her fairly quickly, and we went for dinner. She had a good day too. She shopped a little at the marina, and spent the rest of the day at the pool, and reading. At dinner we sat with a couple from New Jersey, one from Minnesota, and one from Mexico. After dinner we went to the Lido to listen to a Marimba band brought on board for a few hours. They also had a fund raiser for the needy. They have been collecting money and clothing all cruise for the 10-10-10- event, so they took donations tonight and all who donated got to push an officer from the engineering dept into the pool. It was quite entertaining. They also had appies and chocolate fountains and fruit available. We decided to call it a night after a little fruit. Tomorrow the canal!!!

 

At sea again

Oct 9, 2010  It’s hot again, with a few clouds and showers at times.

Lots of activities again today. After breakfast Joan went to the sun. Ruth attended a cooking class about crepes(pic 1). After that were talks about the Panama Canal, and some of the cruises coming up in the next few years. The ship’s officers made themselves available to mingle about the room and answer questions(pic 2).Joan caught up with me and we went to a singles and solos get together. Talked to a few of the ladies briefly then off to lunch. After lunch it was another talk on emeralds and other stones. The tour guide told us all about the next 2 stops we will be making. Joan went back out into the sun. Ruth went to a computer class, but I had already done that one, so I checked emails etc. It is formal night so we dress for dinner and have our wine while catching up on CNN. At dinner we sat with a couple from Lynden WA and a couple from Richmond who we had dined with before – a good meal and conversation. The show tonight is the cast of the ship’s show, and they are excellent as usual (pic 3). Nothing else we are interested in so Joan is watching a movie while I do this. There is a camera watching the ships go through the locks that anyone can access at   www.pancanl.com . We are scheduled to start through about 5am tomorrow, which is 7am in Vanc.

 

Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua

 

This morning we arrived in Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua. It is the only seaport for Nicaragua, so very busy with containers, but the cruise ship is somewhat separated. We have a tour this morning at 8:30 to the major city of Leon and the bubbling mud pots. We are grateful for the air conditioned bus. Our tour guide is Gerald and he speaks english very well. On the way he tells us all about the agriculture – sugar cane, coffee, cotton. Near the sea is swamp and it produces some black sea shell creature that is collected from the mud and the locals eat and apparently it tastes muddy, but they all like it. There are also many active and inactive volcano's in the country, and we go by San Cristobal which is active and spewing steam. Unemployment is high and making textiles and selling to tourists is a major way of making money. There are carts carrying stuff, little drink stands, and children begging all along the highway. Their homes are often connected and look run down(pic 1) but many have beautiful courtyards. We get to the city of Leon and stop at the central square. We go first to the cathedral, which doesn’t look like much from the outside (pic 2), but is beautiful inside, and we start climbing a very narrow stone stairway. We stop at 2 different levels and look at the view, and on the 3rd level we go out on the rooftop and can see all over the city and the surrounding countryside. It is very hot and no shade up here, so we are happy to go back down the stairs. Outside is a market of handicrafts – textiles and pottery. Much the same stuff we have seen all over except the pottery. Gerald tells us there is a good coffee house nearby, so we find it and have a cold coffee drinks. It is very refreshing, and sit in a little courtyard behind the counter – there is internet here, and many students. Next we are off to the bubbling mud pots (pic 4). It is a geothermal area at the base of one of the volcano's, which is only active on the sides and these mud pots. The area belongs to the gov’t, but there is a little town beside them and these people get the money from the tours – admission is $1. The children (pic 3) of the village follow you around and ask for a dollar. They also sell mud and artefacts supposedly found in the area. On the return drive Gerald tells us the history of Nicaragua, including the political regimes. It connected all the dots from the news stories I remember over the years. Once we returned we went for a little lunch – Joan’s tummy was a little upset as she wasn’t able to see the road from her seat on the bus. After a little rest she came with me to the local Corinto market – nothing new. We came back for a dip in the pool, and it was so refreshing – that’s 3 times in the pool for me. After a shower to remove the salt water it was time for happy hour. At dinner we sat with a couple from Red Deer, AB and a couple from Delta BC. The show tonight was a comedian by the name of Dave Konig. He was pretty good.