to El Salvador 5/5

Ed’s 75^th birthday

We were in San Juan del Sur Nicaragua. This is a tender port and the seas looked pretty calm but the water excursion was such that it made it hard to transit the ship to the tender and visa versa. However the ride both ways was great.

Francis had told us to watch out for the pelicans and they were all over the place including perching all over the masts of the little ships in the harbor.

Grenada

Our tour took us 1 ½ hrs from the shore to this city which is important in Nicaraguan history. It is a UNESCO site and thus the buildings are preserved intact. They must also maintain the same colors on the houses. The colors are bright and very Caribbean in feel. The architecture runs the gamit from Spanish, British and American colonial all side by side are on each side of the streets.

The countryside changes as you move along, becoming more lush and hilly. Nicaragua is divided into 3 zones and we are in the dried zone which has 6 mos of rain and 6 mos of dry. The central section and the eastern section. The latter is very rainy (10 mos of year) and thus not very hospitable: only 10% of population lives here.

We saw many horses, donkeys and some cattle along the way and all looked undernourished. The crops are typical tropical crops but thee were vast expanses of scrub and African looking trees.

Grenada

In the city we stopped at a monastery (called a convent but that’s a long story) where we had a bathroom break. I didn’t need to go (sweating it all out I assure you) but following my mantra that you never miss a bathroom break when travelling, I waited  for the sharp elbows and went in among the last. I got locked into the stall as the lock desperately needed oil and I didn’t have the strength to turn it. The tour guide got a ladder came into the stall and released me. I had something similar in Cuba and had it not been for Ed, I suppose I would still be there in the bathrooms stall. It must be my karma.

Art work

They have nice displays of artifacts mixed with very modern displays of art. The indoor courtyard was lovely. And with cool breezes.

Vendors

We have been very lucky on this trip not to be inundated by street vendors but they made up for it here with things that I’m sure were mass manufactured and not handmade as described. Kids were as rampant as adults. I was surprised at the Spanish I could dredge up (not all of it accurate I’m sure) but when I told a lady I didn’t want any and called her senora, she quickly asserted: Senorita! But she did move on.

Plaza

All of these cities have large central plazas in the cities adjacent to a cathedral. Ed and I got a diet Pepsi and asked for filtered ice (thanks to tour guide for details) and we were brought what was clearly not filtered (which have a recognizable shape) so we drank them sans ice.

Cathedral

Beautiful spacious, with several side altars. In one there was the 40 hours adoration going on and I felt bad I hadn’t noticed this right away so we moved on. The next altar is an exact duplicate of Fatima in real size. I’ve never seen this before and it was a nice addition. Our guide had told us that the ceiling was being painted like the Sistine Chapel and so there are several gorgeous sections. The breeze and lighting in this cool area were a nice respite.

We walked around checking out the tent vendors of the predictable, but clearly locally oriented, souvenirs.

Lake Nicaragua

On the way back, we stopped at Lake Nicaragua with two volcanos, one an island, near it. I’m glad we did this as I have long been curious about this Lake, which Balboa thought to be the ocean (?)

Nicaragua canal

Have long been interested in this and our guide, who spoke excellent English and was a good teacher, explained all the impediments to this ever happening, including, practice (weather on the Caribbean side and political boundaries), cultural (fresh water without a feeder river like Lake Gatun in Panama), and the cost of course. There’s so much more but it was a fascinating detail about the possibilities.

Ed’s “surprise” birthday party

I had invited 8 people we’ve become very fond of, for a surprise celebration of Ed’s birthday. He had signed up for the chef’s table but I recruited the matre de, Oscar, who is a great plotter and so a hidden area was set aside for 10 of us to have dinner quietly. He also made it possible for Francis, our usual waiter, to be there. The ship’s photographer came around to get a pic of us, and the pastry chef made a small cake with 75^th on the plate.

Ed had brought 2 bottles of a special champagne from home to use for his celebration. I had to sneak it to the dining room so it could be cooled for today. Well yesterday he tore the cabin apart looking for them. This made him suspicious and I had an idea he suspected since he didn’t bellow at me about where they had gone.

I had made a quiz with questions covering Ed’s life and career to serve as a discussion source, as if we needed one. One family brought him a stuffed frog with a small bottle of some liquor and the wife wrote a darling poem about Ed. I had distinctly said no gifts and she said what about a joke. That’s OK I said and that’s what she did.

Overall it was fun I think. We stayed so late we all missed the entertainment. I gave each one a magnet and keyring from the Photo gallery where they can add photos from the trip.

Photo raffle

We had accumulated about 14 of these tickets I asked Ed to go down and put them in for the raffle. It was his birthday and maybe he’d get lucky. Well he won two of the three prizes and one I had really wanted so I had to laugh at that. He said when the last prize was being drawn, he hid as he’d be horrified if he had won all three. There will be one more drawing but we won’t have many for that one.

Trivia

We put together an ad hoc group and we tied for the winner. However we lost on the tie breaker question which was a guess on the age of the dancer who was doing the trivia. We were way off. So close and yet so far.