Aruba

Sunday November 16, 2008

Oranjestad (O~ronge-ja-stat) ~ The Capital of Aruba

Coming into port is the most “beee..ut..tee..ful” water ever seen ~






As we are docking the rain starts, the first on our trip. This island is full of shopping, cars, buses, people and bldgs.

It is humid here as well but nowhere near the other countries, maybe the rain is helping. The Aloe Factory is closed on Sundays so we have canceled our booked tour of a 3 ½ bus tour with now 2 short stops. We opt for just taking in the sights, sounds and flavor of the country. Feel for those that had beach trips planned for today.


The rain starts again so we head to a covered porch eatery for a taste of the local Beer. It is 85* today. Later we enjoy the 'flavors' of the city. There is a lot of jewelry shops here, with every gem imaginable.





Dinner tonight is Rack of Lamb ~ we enjoy this so much as it’s hard to find at home!

It's been a very enjoyable 2 week cruise ~ highly recommended for those that are considering and just maybe you will be able to see Costa Rica!

4,863 Nautical Miles

Nov 4th - 19th, 2008

Cartagena

Saturday Nov. 15th, 2008 South America on my Birthday!!

The 1984 movie “Romancing the Stone” mentions Cartagena thru out. The movie characters of Jack and Joan undergo several perilous adventures in the wilds of Colombia. The treasure turns out to be a valuable jewel, an Emerald the size of a baseball. This is what Columbia is known for, Emeralds!

Interestingly, the destination of the bus she got on, Castillo de San Felipe, is in Cartagena and where she was instructed to go to hand over the ransom later in the movie. We went by this as well as other locations thru out the movie. The Castillo took 19 years to build and was finished in 1566.





Cartagena has a population of 900,000. The average temp is 90* with 40 inches of rain a year right at the Caribbean Sea so you can imagine the high humidity here coupled with the extreme heat!

This was a heavy slave trading center. It is a walled city and was attacked for it’s ‘white gold’, the emeralds. The walls are 12 feet high; a lot of the stone work is coral rock. There are 2 forts upon entering the harbor, one on each side.

One fort coming into harbor

12' walls surrounding the city

High tides flood the streets everyday. There is talk of the city erecting a sea wall.




Narrow streets, with many flower boxes, it is a beautiful city. The architecture is definitely Spanish. Very clean environment, we saw no liter on the streets.





There are many street vendors as in the other countries but not as pushy. There are beggars here with their cups out for coins, some are handicapped. We are told that kidnapping is frequent, just for the ransom monies. A lot of silver jewelry as well as necklaces being sold, a constant flow of vendors in your face as you keep up with tour guide. T-shirts, leather goods from wallets to shoes, sandals, coffee are sold.

We go to the theater for a local folk dance.

As we enter we are given our choice of a free water or Pepsi bottle. A swarm of us around the table as we are told it’s on the other side too. We turn and take a step towards the other table when another tour guide is showing someone where something is. She has her back to me and as her right arm flings out… Bull’s-eye! Her knuckles right into my left eye with my contacts in. Yes, it is very painful! I’m worried tho about where the contact went cuz I can’t see ~ it’s been pushed off the eyeball and upwards leaving behind a nasty blood blister. Next thing I know someone is saying my eye is bleeding and B dabs for me.

My vision is not lost altho I have a huge red eye and a big bruise on the eyelid. The lady that hit me quickly disappears into the crowd w/o uttering a word. It was an accident and an “I’m sorry” would have been nice. We thankfully have brought our own wet washcloth for the heat and we soak with water to use in keeping the swelling down for the remainder of the tour.

I don’t see much of the dance but B captures the pics. Also thankful the theater was dark and air conditioned. I don’t think I could have survived as well in this intense heat. This is not the souvenir nor birthday present I expected!



There are mimes thru out the city in various poses, until one moves a small bit, you would never know!





"Flavorful" Cartagena!



Tonight is a formal night and B has ordered a small cake, Riesling with dinner and all the specialties for the evening. Balloons have been placed outside our cabin door and here I am with a horrible eye.



But it was a fabulous birthday that I will never forget!

Panama Canal

Friday Nov 14, 2008

We have an early start today, by 6 am we are past the Bridge of the America's and the beginnings of our journey thru the Panama Canal.



The Canal was built in 1913 and opened in 1914. It's still in it's original state altho there is talk now of expanding it with all the traffic.

Travel thru the Canal saves 20 days and over 5,000 miles. Three sets of locks go up 85 feet then another 3 sets to go back down 85 feet. Length of Canal is 50 miles and was built on a mountain top 9 miles long, hence the steps up and down to connect the oceans. All the locks are fed by Gatun Lake by gravity. The Canal is 94 yrs old in 2008. Each gate is equivalent to 3 Statues of Liberties in height. Gates are run by 40 hp motors. The Canal operates 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

Each ship pays according to their weight and our cost is $245,600, the highest toll paid by a cruise ship.

All ships are pulled by electric locomotives called 'mules' thru each individual lock. We have a total of 8 pulling us, 2 each quarter side. Cables connect mules to ship. Note the mule hills as we ascend/descend the Canal.



The 'mules'



We go from Pacific to Caribbean Sea:

~ 1st lock ~ 27 feet raised
~ 2nd lock ~ 31 feet raised
~ 3rd lock ~ 27 feet raised

The ship in front of us ~





Overview picture of the Canal ~




Our locks down are pretty much the same divisions as the locks up. Each ship takes approximately 8 - 12 hours to transit the Canal. Our day ends with 12 hours total time thru the Canal. The weather was fabulous at 85*!

Panama City

Thursday Nov 13, 2008

We sailed on to Puerto Amador (Porto Ah-ma-dor) and dropped anchor around noon. There is rain in the distance. We have decided to do this on our own thru taxi only to find 2 facts that stop us.

~ It's $30.00 a person one-way to the city and another taxi will be needed there. That's $120.00 just to go into the city!

~ We have to go ashore by tenders. With the weather, the sea is a little choppy so the tender is bobbing as well as the ship's platform and they aren't connected. There are NO rails to hold on to, you have to jump from one to the other.



On second thought, we stay onboard for the day. Best we did as when the others returned we heard stories of short trips due to long tender rides that were very slow in boarding due to the weather and then being stuck in traffic jams for an hour or two. Not our idea of fun!

I spent the time in a Bible study with 3 other ladies, 2 Brits and one from Kansas. Then played Taboo with 5 others and we all won the luggage tags.

At lunch we dined with a couple that had a Baush Lombe telescope set up on a tripod. We could see a lot of Panama, the city and the bridge leading into the canal.



Visited the library, was it ever nice! He returned to the cabin and I found the game room and 3 sisters playing RummiCube ~ I joined in and came away the winner! Later we had a quick snack in the Horizon Court and then saw the movie in the Universe Lounge "Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" with about 50 other people. It was an enjoyable day onboard.

Costa Rica

Wednesday Nov 12, 2008



Up for brkf at 6 am this morning, seems we can't sleep in no matter what.

From our balcony we notice we are creeping into port. We see 3 to 4 larger fishing boats on our port side. They are quickly sailing towards up and cross right in front of us! It's a wonder we didn't hit them.

At brkf our Captain tells us they are blocking our dock. Communication is underway with LA to find the problem. There is another port an hour away, Puerto Caldera, so we try and then find taxi cabs blocking all the roads in and out of the dock area. Seems some problems within the country itself and it isn't safe for our departure. So no excursions for us here. Stewards tell us this is a first, it's never happened anywhere before! (In checking since being home, we find nothing on the net telling us what happened. So it remains a mystery!)

As the nightly comedian said "We all saw Coastal Rica today, how did you like it?" Here is a 'coastal' pic from our port side.

Nicaragua

Tues Nov 11, 2008

Puerto Corinto (Porto Cor-rin-toe) Nicaragua

Not a cloud in the sky and broiling hot. Stifling hot and we've not reached the most southbound yet. This small town is very VERY poor, more so than Guatemala since we didn't see a town there, but as you can see from the pictures, a clean town. When you have nothing, there isn't any liter.



Street children aged 5-7 yrs old tapping your arm with a begging look and one finger held up "One dolla?" is all the English they know. Less than an hour in town and 5 are asking me. It is very sad to say no but we know the child will not be able to keep the money. It's heartbreaking.

Dogs and mules pulling carts are starving, all their ribs are showing. I pray these people know Jesus and will one day enjoy Heaven with us. Here too are the Pedi carts that were offered several times to us.



We buy coffee and a small curio. I pull out my umbrella for some shade as I'm dripping wet from the humidity and heat.

We return to our ship with almost a guilty feeling of what we have compared to them. Yet another country where w/o education the children will never leave.

Talk overheard all around us at dinner was about the poor country and starving animals. It affected us all.

Guatemala

Monday Nov 10, 2008

Puerto Quetzal (Porta QuezSal) Guatemala

There is an industrial area all around this picture or plain land as far as the eye can see. It looks to be black sand (volcano) beaches altho there isn't a beach nearby. We stay local today since all excursions are far away; a long bus ride is not our idea of fun. High 80's expected with high humidity as well.



A lot of merchandise all basically the same from tablecloths to napkins to jade jewely to belts, hats, opurse, t-shirts, carry alls etc all supposedly "hand made" People here are very poor and very pushy. Not able to stop to look w/o "Lady, come look, good prices!! I show you!" As they are unfolding and almost touching you with the item. "How much you pay?" They are constantly pushing. "No .. no thank you .. No gracias" gets you NO-where. They don't take 'no' for an answer. You have to be rude and walk off only to be accosted by the next person trying to sell the same items with the same spiel. Very annoying and uncomfortable.

On the other side of 'town' they weren't as pushy. This is a typical stall



Here is child labor or what to do with the kids so they don't fight. Makes one wonder how much of the "hand made" is made by children.



There is a Jade Museum here and it's air conditioned, a welcomed relief from the heat. Whitish purpled lite shades are the most valuable but also the most drab. Nephrite and Jadeite are both white in their pure state. All colors in jade (from light greens to black) are caused by slight inclusions of other minerals. Copper inclusions cause dark spinach green color, Chromium inclusions cause bright emerald green color, Manganese and ferrous iron cause black color, Cobalt inclusions cause blue color.

We set sail at 4:30 pm with groups of ones with their children sitting on the rocks and ground to watch our departure. Sad to realize the children will most likely never be educated enough to ever leave their country. They will remain poor and beg shoppers to buy their overstocked goods.

If you know me, you can see my journal filled with many more pictures and information from this cruise.

Huatulco, Mexico

Sunday Nov 9, 2008

Huatulco (Wa-tul-co) was founded in 1968 but started development in 1976. The eastern part will be for tourist and the rest will remain natural; lessons learned from the destruction of Acapulco. High rises will not exceed 4 levels with only Mexican or Mediterranean styles allowed.

There are 9 bays here, 4 will be communities and 5 will be left natural. With in the 9 bays there are 36 beaches!



Coral reefs abound, white coral but small animals make a protective coating changing the color. Within 6 months, 84 cruise ships visit this area. There are trees with long beans on them littering the ground. And instead of concrete pavement in parking places, large stone/rocks are buried in the ground with grass growing thru.

Marine soldiers with rifles and guns and everywhere but we are told do not take their pictures. There is no breeze or stirring in the air and it's very humid. Tremors are felt 5 times a week but they are short. Long spindle cactus grows among the brush on the hillsides with only 7 to 8 inches of rain a year.

Supposedly there is no crime except prices in the restaurants! Hotels range from $300./night for ocean view to $40./night for non-ocean view.



We are told of the unusual airport here and to find it online. It is very different!



A short stop for samples of Margaritas made with Mescal (cactus juice) and 3 types of Mole (mo-LAY). I like the one with the bite best. Then the 'piece a la resistance' ~ fried grasshoppers! They are very crunchy and leave a buttery taste afterward. The secret to trying 'new' things like this is not to look at what you are eating, just pop it in and give it a try. I had 3 samplings and can't tell you what they looked like other than they were whole and brown.

Tidbits: "Alto" Stop signs. Biggest painting of Virgin Mary in the world is in a church here in the downtown area. Petro translates to $3.80 to $4.00 a gallon. Oaxacca (wah-HAH-kah) is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. It is 35 miles from Huatulco.

If you know me, then you can see many more pictures and info from my album from this cruise.

Cabo San Lucas

We flew out to LA on Election Day, Nov. 4th, 2008 and stayed overnight. Boarded Coral Princess next day and spent the following 3 days at sea traversing down the 700 mile long Baja Peninsula. It's 50 miles at it's widest, mostly hot patchy desert and actually is Mexican territory.

Had a 911 at sea, so transported off ship at Cabo San Lucas, right at the tip of Baja. Transport ship was right below us, a man with his hand bandaged, perhaps broken. Thankfully not a life or death matter, but a real treat for us as we would not be this close in otherwise.

Talk about property development!