Last sea day tomorrow

Really windy

All night and all today. Beautiful day at sea with sometimes deep waves. Temperature was moderate. The sunsets so late now though: after 8!

Interview with dancers and singers

This is the group that were on at the beginning of the cruise. One of them, Walker, is from Lejitas Texas, a little wide spot on the border. It seems there was a ballet diva who married someone from the area and she offered free ballet classes to the kids who were interested, so he took these classes. And now here he is dancing on the around the world ship.

Trivia

We did OK but didn’t win. However, this afternoon, much to our surprise, we tied with another team. Had there not have been a miscommunication in our group, we would have won outright. Nonetheless, after 3 tie breaker questions, WE WON. The tie breaker question was how many pints of blood are there in the human body. Ed had this right at hand. Someone with the other group came over to point out that (she had an American accent by the way—and the group behind them included an MD) the Brits were counting it in British pints. Now really folks: the beer is in those kinds of pints but you’d be hard pressed to convince me that their answer translated into the correct amount in cc or ounces!

Lunch with a transplant nurse from near Dallas. Nice couple; enjoyed their conversation.

Interview with Linda Gray

Who used to play Suellen on Dallas. I had it wrong, as did others, as I thought it was Linda Evans from Dynasty. It was a nice enough puff piece interview. She is 75, looks great, and has a book she is selling. She also took photos with passengers.

Formal night: did the photo routine, had our lobster.

Captain’s farewell was in the atrium with some of their champagne (which we could all live without).

Dance production show

Was quite well done. Very modern different set and that spiced it up.

Dread tomorrow which is packing day. If we could just take all our luggage off at once, I might not dread it so much (well it probably wouldn’t make a difference) but deciding what to keep and what to send forward is a pain. Then there are the things you must take with you like valuables. We have to be out of our room by 8 am. We leave the ship at 9:30 since we live locally. Then we will have the wonderful job of finding a large enough cab, willing to drive 40 miles to get us home.

Two more sea days and then LA

La Paz

We did a highlights tour with a really good tour guide. He was a true naturalist with good English and who used people in skits to illustrate some of his points.

The pier was over 30 min drive from the city which is 350,000 people but you couldn’t tell it from what we saw.

Ceramics

This was kind’ve unimpressive but you did get to see and feel the clay, see how they are made and painted. There was a lovely large fountain near the rear of the property. We saw some clever designs such as a dish especially for putting salt on the edges of margarita glasses.

Church

Of course there was a church! But what puzzled me is that it was 10 am on a Tuesday and they were having Mass including a sermon. The church is pretty inside, cool and breezes going through but you couldn’t take pics inside because of the Mass. It was made of solid stones not like you often expect of Spanish style designs in Mexico.

Museum

While small, it had many nicely displayed dioramas and other displays of old historical (Spanish Conquistador outfits and equipment) and real skeletons. The building was cool with marble floors, very quiet and with personnel everywhere while still being unobtrusive.

Police

At some point it dawned on us that we were never without police around us. They held the traffic for us to cross the street, and a police van with rotating red light on the top was always nearby. We were told several times how “safe” the town is. There was one aside about “narcos” but it slid by quickly.

Cultural center

Had two displays: one looked like a May shrine to the Virgin Mary and the other room had much boxing memorabilia.

The weather was actually very nice with a mild temperature and breeze. But the sun was very hot. The bus was a nice one with two bathrooms (which were very handy) and good air conditioning.

Cacti

The tour guide was actually a wonderful naturalist and he took time to tell us a lot about the various cacti around. I certainly learned a lot.

The Malecon

Or the beach side. Had many vendors set up and you could walk along and see the neatly spaced and very interesting public sculptures. The wares actually looked very good but there wasn’t anything I was interested in dickering for.

The water

Is incredibly clear for a long distance out to sea.

Old Mexican coins

I had taken the old money had has had forever and when I put it on the counter to pay the donation (to take photos in the museum), the young lady took all but two coins out and said they were too antique and could not be used. The bill and two coins left did not make enough for the $3 donation. At supper one of the wait staff who is from Mexico told us that several years ago the government had totally changed the currency (in the 80s?) and there were several of the coins, with Aztec designs, that she had never seen. Perhaps a collector would be interested.

So now we have 3 different types of defunct currency we have to figure out what to do with them.

Return to ship

Around 12:30 and there were several vendors set up outside the ship but again, nothing of much interest unless you are into cheap dresses, artificial fabric hammocks and serapes, jewelry of unknown provenance, etc.

We had lunch in the buffet and then spent the afternoon watching the movie “Woman in Gold” about the restoration of the Klimpt painting. Helen Mirren stared and she is always superb in all that she does.

So would I return to La Paz?

If you like sea sports: deep sea fishing, whale watching, snorkeling and scuba diving, boating. And/or laying on the beach frying—and getting drunk and wild at night, then this is the place for you. Otherwise, it’s pretty sparse and dank. There are no direct flights but you can come by car 1 ½ hrs from Cabo San Lucas or flight from Mazatlan or ferry from the same for 12 hrs.

Trivia

We don’t have to hang our heads in shame but Frances bought happy hour margaritas so I had to help her out by drinking one of them. These had real alcohol in them and the result was predictable.

Entertainment

Singers and instrumentalists.Ed went. I passed.

It is almost 8 pm and the sun has just gone down. It seems very strange. The sail away from La Paz showed islands and interesting terrain in the far distance.

Getting ready to disembark

I have thrown away my dried flower experiments and am straightening up other things. I got two cardboard boxes for crushable and I hope it is just left for me to take care of. The usual way is for me to simply leave the cabin for several hours and let Ed do his thing.

This has been a wonderful journey. I have enjoyed it even more than the previous two if that is possible. I love the routine and predictability of it all. The way the staff arranges so many interesting activities. The people you come to know and enjoy. It is the best assisted living I could imagine.

Tomorrow La Paz

As I write this, it is 7:40 pm and the sun shows no signs of setting yet. We are now travelling north toward La Paz and will be crossing from mainland to Baja California for La Paz tomorrow

Celebrity Liar’s club

We four “liars” and 4 words. You cannot imagine the stories these people make up to get you to believe that their definition is the right one including visual aids! We laughed at so many funny remarks and the really almost dirty sounding words. In the end, 6 teams tied (including ours) so no one went home with a prize.

DVD presentation

Of the transiting of the Panama Canal. It was interspersed with Go Pro footage and interviews with the on board expert. Also showed some airplane views including the new canal and discussion about it. I was glad for this as we had not seen the other canal from the ship. And I learned even more about the mechanics and challenges of maintaining the canal even today.

Trivia: we didn’t win either time today but it was interesting and we learned a lot. This morning was brutal. This afternoon just challenging. In the end, as usual, we missed winning by one point.

Captain’s wine club

Francis and Ed went to this fancy schmantzy luncheon today where they tried out various wines including one at $189 a bottle which they both declared very good.

Harmony Choir

Had their final concert and as always it is amazing to see what is accomplished in such a short period of time. And I’m glad to see such participation by the passengers in showing up for this unique show.

Tonight’s show

I passed on this which has two entertainers we’ve seen before. They’re ok but I’m not interested.

Festival of the Masks

This evening at 9:15 pm. I probably wouldn’t go except that I made a mask for it and I want to see what other people’s masks look like. Not so many were wearing masks but the music was very good and there were a lot of folks working hard at the dances. The young man I’ve spoken of who is  special needs asked me to dance again and it is amazing how good he has gotten. It is heartwarming to see how all the crew and especially the dancers work with him to show him dance moves. He puts us to shame now.

We left after an hour because we have a tour in the early morning but we did get some exercise in before leaving. However, the snacks they provided weren’t low calorie. I had a deviled egg, small quiche, churro and 3 olives. I’ll have to walk a lot more tomorrow to pay for those sins.

It'll soon be time to go back to normal

Gorgeous day on the sea

Ed was still sleeping when I snuck out for the interdenominational service. The Deputy cruise Director, who we found out had once been a choir master in a church in England, prepared and did most of the service. The clergyman was from Australia, ordained Episcopalian and now a vicar in the Church of Scotland in Australia. He remarks were nice but he didn’t hold the mike close enough to his mouth so hard to hear.

Sharks again

This speaker’s focus today was on why and how to preserve sharks. They are apex predators and important to the ecology of the ocean. He gave many examples over time where reefs had been renewed and increases in species of fish in an area could be credited with protecting the sharks in those areas.

Trivia: both were fair: am and pm, but we didn’t win though it was fun to go through the process of deciding on a group answer.

There was so much good food. The staff were all Mexican costumes. We closed the dining room as we were talking with ramona and Craig.

Masks

There will be a festival of masks tomorrow so I make a quick attempt at a presentable mask for the event tomorrow.

Champagne waterfall

Decorations red, white and green, colors of the Mexican flag. Oscar was outin full Mexican attire including make up. Ed and I each took a turn at photos.

And speaking of photos” we have so many and several (well frankly LOTS) from the Panama canal passage and I have been trying to share pics with some of the guests who came to our cabinfor the passage. In the process, I am now confused about which are my pics, and which are someone else’s. sigh

Phantom of the Opera

A lady who did this for 3 yrs. In LA with Michael Crawford. I stayed for two pieces. Her voice is really not one I’m crazy about.

Boxes

I have begun to collect them to make the packing a little less hectic since we have no concerns about flying.

Celebrity Liars club

Tonight which is always fun. I hope we go and if so I’ll write about that tomorrow.

another sea day tomorrow

Rocky seas

Looking at the waves it looks more treacherous than it feels though there is definitely rocking of the ship and you do need to hang on. The outdoor entries are blocked to protect dumb people from stupid decisions.

La Paz

Deb gave us an introduction to La Paz Mexico and I had  a totally erroneous image of where it was geographically. There are a number of fun opportunities here but Ed and I haven’t made a decision yet. The port is some distance from the town apparently.

Trivia: horrible quiz. We don’t have to hang our head in shame but it was tough. The afternoon session wasn’t much better. We were all kind’ve cranky afterwards. If it was like this every day, few would show up.

Photos

We had a huge stack of photos to pick up and then Ed and I went over them to be sure all of them had been scanned onto the digital USB ship we have.

Lunch: I chose vegetarian and it was very good

Complaint mill

Many  people were unhappy with yesterday’s port in El Salvador. We were only the 4^th ship into that port and they did provide us with entertainment all day and a fire boat welcome. Still as my blog yesterday suggestions, they have a lot of learning to do. Many are trying to insist it never be a port again. I think that’s extreme as Atasco was amazing and those who went to the Mayan ruins were ecstatic about that tour.

Getting into LA mode

I transferred all my stuff by to my purse. Also took out the Mexican pesos for us to hopefully make use of in La Paz. When it comes time to pack, I will leave out what I must have for Friday morning and leave the cabin for Ed to do what he wants. With Ed this is not a team event. I’ve learned.

Entertainment

A comedian singer. He was OK; few good chuckles along the way. Clever. Kind’ve a good ole boy. There is a crew talent show tonight late but I think I’ll miss it. Kind’ve in a low mood this evening.

Sea day tomorrow

Sail in was rather uneventful. There were local dancers entertaining us on the pier as the ship came in. this was around noon. The temperature was certainly warm, humid but not as bad as last port, but still not fun for exertion.

Today’s tour

Started around noon when we joined a somewhat rickety motor coach. However, we could have had an open window school bus with metal seats so it’s all relative. It did have airconditioning that was acceptable. There was a modest amount of padding left on the seats still. And since the bus was not crowded, we had plenty of room to spread out.

I like to take photos through the window as we go along. One photo was a lady carrying a burden on her head. You could see the burden and the skirt, but no torso. Why? Because I think, while they did wash the windows, they did it with dirty water and the streaks covered up many areas.

A day to remember

The tour guide spoke good enough English (he had lived in the states for a while), but the day clearly got ahead of his limited tour guide skills. He said they changed the busses on him at the last minute and the microphone never worked properly. All we heard for the first few hours was “uno uno uno…” Eventually he gave up. It might have worked if he didn’t choke the mike when it did work, that is, hold it a little away from your mouth instead of eating it while you spoke which just sounded like muffled speech to us.

Firststop

Was to be a demonstration of some crafts and tour a museum. From this point and the rest of the day we were pretty much on our own. There was no coordination. He seemed not to know what we were supposed to do or when. So eventually we joined the other bus group, walked along the cobblestone streets (still a challenge after all these years) went to the chocolate making factory where we had been assured we would be enchanted by the demonstration (she only roasted coffee beans in a skillet and passed some around to taste) and get to drink some great chocolate. None of this happened.

Eventually we rejoined our original group who were all grumbling by this time. Ed said if he could find a taxi, he would have gone back to the ship.

Back on the road

Did I mention that the driver thought he was in the Indianapolis 500? Along these narrow streets and dogging equally insane tuk tuk drivers who were determined to mow down pedestrians. One of the passengers asked if there was a speed limit and the tour guide seemed not to understand at first. Finally said 90 KM. this driver clearly hadn’t gotten the message. And given the dodgie mechanical status of many of these vehicles in some countries, not very reassuring.

Climbing 5000 ft.

This really was a beautiful drive through gorgeous countryside which eventually had coffee plantations everywhere. Along the way were 3 volcanos in the distance. There was a viewing pad right near the road where we could have gotten off and taken some good photos. As it was we were confined to the cabin and pics through the smeared window.

Ultimately we were in this delightful little town high in the mountains called Atasco. The weather was wonderful and with a slight breeze. All along the way we saw school kids in their uniforms, all so cute and delightful.

Arabica coffee

We were told to sit down and it would be brought to us. After at least 20 min  two tiny cups with about ¼ c of coffee arrived and Ed declared it better than he thought but he wasn’t interested in buying any and taking it home.

On our own

Again. We saw others advancing down the street. We are the only bus in town by this time.Someone said the group was headed to the cemetery: we never found it but along the way we saw small shops with lots of local crafts. There was a delightful plaza with lots of trees and an enormous fountain. A lovely spot just to sit and breathe the air.

We saw a church in the distance and were trying to decide if we dare go see it since, again, no tour guide and no instructions. Someone said he was getting a beer.

Another couple wanted to see the church too so I said to the wife: if 4 of us don’t show up on the bus, they’ll have to wait for us. So off we went to explore this lovely little church. Again it took me by surprise to find that they were having the 40 hrs adoration (does all of Central American do this at the same time?) so we took some no-flash pics and left. At this point one of the ship’s staff who was also on the bus tour said the group was headed to a weaver’s place 2 blocks straight down from the street in front of the church. So off we whisked, mastering the cobblestones, and found something we thought might be it. Lots of lovely things in side but the looms were still as the workers weren’t around. So we never saw any of this.

We wandered down the street looking at other vendor’s wares and saw a pretty church in the distance. If we had known our time line, we would have hiked up to it to explore but I satisfied myself with a photo from the distance. We found a fruit and vegetable market and the wares looked fresh, healthy (they do not use fertilizer we were told) and with lots of smiling faces.

And back to ship

Pretty soon we noticed other Americano looking folks headed back toward the weaver’s shop and we heard the bus was to meet us there. After a while this was true. Along the journey back down the mountain, (I dared not look ahead with speedy Gonzales at the wheel). Again gorgeous lush vegetation all around and varying kinds of habitations along the way. School kids coming home in their uniforms everywhere.

Before I forget: there was a delay in leaving the town as someone said one person was missing from the bus. The tour guide never took a count and so he went on a wild goose chase. The woman had changed her seat to the back of the bus from the front. A simple head count, de riguer for all tour guides we’ve known, would have quickly cleared this up.

Along the way  we were given some water (some didn’t trust it) and a bag of Japanese style peanuts, whatever that means. I liked them but they had a harder crust than I was used to.

Late back to ship

But ship had a late departure and our group was not the only latecomer. I had heard there was a Mexican buffet as it is cinco de mayo, in the dining room so that’s where we went. It turns out it was up in the top buffet. However, Sunday is the big Mexican buffet as La Paz is our next and last port.

Motorcity

This was tonight’s production show. We had seen it before but our memories aren’t what they used to be and we enjoyed it just as much this time.

Yeah: tomorrow is a sea day. But now I realize it is less than 7 days before this remarkable journey ends and we go back to real life.

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.