Installment #9

Romancing The Stone was filmed in Cartagena, but not the Cartagena we pulled into this morning! We were shocked to find a shoreline filled with high rises, shipyards and yachts. A huge metropolitan city sprawled over the coast. What an enormous difference in comparison to all the other stops we have had on this trip! Now, don’t get me wrong, we are still in a South American country. We took an Old City Tour and had a great time despite the pounding heat.

The day started on the highest hill in Cartagena, La Popa. On top is the site of a Spanish monastery with an incredible view. We drove to a fort, Fort San Felipe, and enjoyed a tour of the massive fortress. Our next stop was the old city. The old city has really cool Spanish-colonial architecture. We had a great walk to the Plaza Bolivar, and then made our way to the main Cathedral. We ended our time in the old city at a historical nautical museum. We ended the tour with … shopping! I found an emerald ring (famous in Columbia) for only $57,000—still can’t figure out way Sir wouldn’t lay down his credit card!

By time we returned we were hot, tired and late! We grabbed some lunch on board then headed to our balcony to watch us depart. As we were leaving Sir and I decided we would like to return to Cartagena. After a nice dip in the pool and hot tub, I am ready to curl up for the evening. But I guess I am still going to be drug to dinner!

I will catch you tomorrow from Aruba!

Installment #8

The Panama Canal. Wow! What an amazing feat our ancestors built in the early 1900’s. Sir and I set the alarm to get out of bed early—yes it was a short night! We awoke in time to watch as the ship went under the Bridge of the Americas and pulled into the opening of the Panama Canal on the Pacific Ocean side. This was at 7am and we left the final lock just after 4pm. It was a long but interesting and rewarding day.

I kept track of times on our map of the canal (when we arrived at each lock and then finally passed through). We made it through the first set of locks just as our room-service breakfast arrived at 9am. The voyage through the locks was not enough to get the kids out of bed, but the breakfast on the balcony was! Yes, it was a special champagne meal which we enjoyed immensely!

Sir and I had a great time going to different parts of the ship to get the best view of what was happening at the time. The first set of locks they raised us three times—two locks, followed by a small waterway, and then another lock. It was cool to be eye level with the shore then watch as the ship was lifted higher and higher. After the first set of locks, we traveled through the manmade portion of the canal, hard to navigate and the narrowest passage of the whole trip. We traveled over the Continental Divide. Finally we reached Gatun Lake and spent a couple hours sailing through this picturesque area. Islands and boats littered the lake as we traveled through on our designated route. We arrived early to the last set of three locks which led to the Caribbean Sea. Now, arriving early did not help us; it still took us over two and a half hours to pass through the locks. Most of it was waiting, so I had the opportunity to take a quick nap! It was helpful that on the TV and PA system, they had commentary all day long. So, Sir and I lay down and let the TV wake us up when we were finally moving through!

The most interesting: watching the locks open and close. The most entertaining: waving at crews from the international freight ships that were in the locks right beside us. The most tiring: my feet.

A day at sea would not be complete without watching the Rose Bowl on a GAINT screen, complete with pizza, chips and guacamole! We had to leave the game early so we could dress for dinner, followed by the International Crew Show which was entertaining and impressive. We are heading to bed early so we can get up for our stop in Cartagena Columbia.

Happy New Years

Happy New Years Everyone! Hope everyone has had a great day!

Enjoy the football games, your loved ones and good food!

I still can't download pictures. I will upon my return to the USA!

Installment #7

Happy New Years Eve! What a wonderful day at sea we had today! So relaxing—it is going to be hard getting back into the grind of everyday life once we return home. I like this—someone cleaning my cabin, someone cooking three meals a day for me, and someone planning all my social activities!

Our boat holds a little over 2000 passengers and 900 crew members. It is not the newest and biggest ship in the Princess Line, but it is just the perfect size to get through the Panama Canal. We are four to a cabin with Sir and I in a double bed. Daughter 2 is in a bunk that comes out from the ceiling over Daughter 1’s extremely uncomfortable hide-a-bed. The diversity of the passengers on board is amazing. Tall, short, dark skinned, tan, pasty, men, women, young, old, manicured feet, feet that need manicures, looks good in a Speedo, should not wear Speedos, sleeping styles in lounge chairs, books being read, and languages being spoken. The food has also been very diverse. Main courses have included dishes such as: salmon, steak, chicken, pheasant, duck, frog legs, veal, halibut, rabbit, shrimp, and lobster. Daughter 1 and Daughter 2 have been adventurous with their appetizers—I have been proud of them. The caviar was not a big hit and poor Sir had to help Daughter 2 eat it!

While Sir and I were taking our morning walk, we watched beautiful birds flying with the ship. We rounded the back of the boat and were shocked to see two birds sitting on deck. Lap 5 around deck we ran into an officer and he was telling a group that the birds were injured. I am not sure what they were going to do with the birds! The other birds followed the ship all morning—it was a beautiful sight.

The rest of the day was spent playing cards, indulging in afternoon tea, attending a computer class, competing in a trivia game, and, once again, getting ready for a formal dinner. Dinner was a lobster feast celebrating the New Year! We went to see a great show then headed to the top deck for dancing and bringing in the New Year. Sir and I left just after midnight and the Daughters danced for a while longer.

What a great end to a great day. Tomorrow we are going through the Panama Canal. Check back for an update!

Installment #6

Costa Rica was our stop today! We docked at Puntarenas. We had a different experience today; we were docked right beside the Coral Princess’s (our boat) sister ship. They are identical ships and made quite a scene docked side by side. This stop there was very little security and the only place that we saw locals trying to get onto the secure pier!

Daughter 1 and Daughter 2 slept in while Sir and I went ashore and strolled through the markets on the beach. The beaches are black sand beaches, inviting but not beautiful. We walked into the center of town but didn’t stay long because it was so hot and humid. Once we returned to the ship we roused the Daughters out of bed, went to lunch, and then loaded up for our zip lining adventure.

We enjoyed our drive into the countryside for our zip lining trip. What a step up economically from Nicaragua and Guatemala. But the roads are not in the best shape and there was a lot of traffic. The zip lining was lots of fun. We went on one last time we were in Costa Rica and here goes the comparison. This time: fewer platforms, thru the trees not over the trees and therefore not as high up, and the platforms were sturdier but in my opinion still a bit scary!! On our hike out from the platforms we heard and then spotted the loudest Howler monkey I have heard since the Amazon. A bit intimidating! We were the last tour out today, so we returned home in the dark.

We had a nice evening together: watched a movie side-by-side on our couch, got ready for a night out on the boat, went to dinner and ended the evening with the nightly entertainment—a juggler!

Tomorrow we are at sea. What a great way to spend New Years Eve!

Installment #5

Nicaragua. Welcome to a land of volcanoes, sugar plantations, sesame oil, peanuts, and fruit. For a minute I thought I was in China: factory after factory lined the major roads we traveled on. Once again we pulled into a commercial port, Puertro Corinto, the only seaside port in Nicaragua capable of handling large international ships. Again, the government provided us with a small market within the walls of the shipyard. As with our other stops, they had “built” a secure perimeter around boat. Military and machine guns—did we feel safe?

We loaded up in a bus and headed to the city of Leon, an old colonial city. In just over an hour we traveled through small villages, by metal houses and colorful adobe houses, and agricultural fields and dry farm land where cattle roamed in search of food. Once we arrived in the center of Leon at our first stop we were greeted by vendors, but this time they were not forceful and aggressive.

Our first stop was a poet’s house. He is now “the most famous poet” but, unfortunately, none of us had ever heard of him! The architecture of the house has beautiful—the typical courtyard surrounded by a single room deep perimeter. Next, we walked a couple blocks to an art gallery. Now Daughter 1, our lover of art history, was both amazed and appalled. This is the best gallery in Nicaragua and they are very proud of the artwork. Well, first off, the gallery is in a house, built just like the poet’s house, but with more courtyards. The doorways, windows and some of the walls are all open. The artwork is in the open air—there is a roof covering the galleries. Anyway we were shocked—some of the pieces were from the 1500’s and they won’t last long. The guide assured us that the paintings were fine. They close the gallery one day a week to check the paintings! Daughter 1 was not impressed. Our final stop was the cathedral located a few blocks away on the central plaza. The church was cool: Roman Catholic built in the early 1600’s. We enjoyed seeing the art work, the sculptures and the architecture. Sir and Daughter 2 headed to a local café in search of iced coffee while I went with Daughter 1 to the top of the cathedral. The guide kept saying you can see for miles and you will see the volcanoes. When I got up to the top I was thrilled to see the architecture. I took some great pictures and can’t wait to see what I can do with them.

Once back at the boat, I went in search of food. Sir, Daughter 1 and Daughter 2 went to the market, but came home empty handed. A lazy afternoon on board the ship, a mile walk, dinner and going to see a ventriloquist filled our evening. Costa Rica is our destination tomorrow. We don’t have an early morning shore excursion. Thank goodness! Goodnight all.

Installment #4

A warm welcome from Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. The sun was rising as we watched the captain navigate the ship into port. We didn’t dock at a resort or marina but in a commercial area. Of course, the Guatemalan government set up a nice tourist shopping area where we docked, but most people headed out on tours for the day. We headed to Lake Atitlan, a two and a half hour drive through the countryside. What an interesting drive—We drove through such diverse terrain: mountains, pineapple fields, sugar cane fields, rubber trees, and volcanoes. The drive was surprising—the roads were great! Guatemala is proud of their main roads: smooth, new and large. The rest of the drive was an expected sight with tin and wooden shacks (houses) lining the roads, small towns with fruit stalls lining the streets, and minivans with passengers hanging out the sides driving down the roads. We stopped in one town to walk by the fruit stands. One poor guy got lost (we still don’t know how) and we waited a while for the guide to find him. When he walked on using his cane and moving slow, not a word was spoken. I guess the rest of us had to struggle with our own sense of our inevitable aging.

Once we arrived at Lake Atitlan, we pushed our way through the hoards of vendors, young and old, begging for us to buy their goods. We climbed onto a rickety tourist boat and headed an hour across the lake to a resort. We had a great lunch, listening to music, watching the lake and being amused by another set of vendors hanging at the gates begging people to buy! We were a bit disappointed—we were supposed to spend time in the village but didn’t have time and the vendors were so aggressive it would have been scary to go too far. We made the three and a half hour trip back to the port and warily climbed aboard the cruise ship!

Sir and I are off to dinner tonight. Daughter 1 and Daughter 2 are making their way around the boat. We will meet up to go to bed and get up on the morning to head to Nicaragua!