Monkeys and mangrove

 

Quepos, Costa Rica

 Our tour here started at 7am with a tender to the port and a bus ride to another vanilla farm where they showed us the whole process of making vanilla which is quite labor intensive and the reason it costs so much to buy pure vanilla in the stores. They served us great tasting vanilla ice cream, turmeric ice cream, and a cacao ice cream which we absolutely loved as the temperature was 96 degrees. They also made an incredible chocolate candy (70% cacao)   As you all know, I’m not a fan of chocolate, but I loved this one. After a bus ride to the mangroves, we waited patiently for the tide to rise enough for our boats to float in the water, but it was taking forever and we were on a strict timetable to get back to the ship. So we hopped back on the bus and headed to a restaurant that could serve us quickly making it possible to return to the mangrove when the tide rose up. Our lunch was called a “cassaba” meaning” marriage “.  Rice is for the bride. Beans are for the groom and the sides are for all the children they will have. Ha ha 

The mangrove tour was great. We saw several bird species and white face monkeys on our hour ride. Turns out you shouldn’t smile when looking at the monkeys as they take it as a form of aggression and will attack. Yikes!  

The mangrove trees are very adaptable to the salt water that comes in with the tide.  The leaves are a lush green, but one leaf on each branch will sacrifice itself for the rest of the tree by absorbing the salt, turning yellow, and falling off into the water only for another leaf to take its turn to sacrifice itself.  Pretty amazing how neater adapts itself.

We made it to the last tender getting onto the ship all hot and sweaty and ready to jump in the shower.  It was a good thing that the next day was a sea day because we all needed it  

I stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some Claritin for allergies, and would you believe it cost me $23 for 5 pills!!! I thought being in the ocean I would not have to bring any not taking into account all the lush green forests we take in at every port.

I’m told that where we are stopping tomorrow in Mexico there will be a WALMART!  I think everyone will be headed there from our ship to pick up whatever they forgot to bring.  It will be a zoo.  Not much different from normal.  

During the night last night we hit a gale force wind storm around 2am which woke up the whole ship.  The life boats had to be tied down extra tight and I’m told that paint chips peeled off and were thrown all over the promenade deck this morning.  I’m glad I was in bed.  Today there isn’t even a wave in the water just gentle swells.  The ocean has so many personalities.  

Vanilla beans drying in the sun

Panama Canal

 We entered the canal early this morning going under the Atlantic suspension bridge and into the Gatun Locks which slowly lifted us up through 3 locks to the level of the Gatun Lake. 3 hours later we are sailing the fresh green water lake.  The locks prevents the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean to enter the fresh water of the lake which is used for the water supply to the surrounding area. In a few hours we will enter another set of locks to lower us into the Pacific Ocean. It’s all so amazing. 

These (mules) pull the ship through the narrow canal and keep the ship from bumping into the walls of the canal. On average, 32 ships pass through the canal every day at a cost of 1/3 of a million dollars each. 

Sea day

 Today is a sea day with waves about 14 feet high. I haven’t been sea sick yet thank goodness for stabilizers. We all walk around like drunken sailors!  Tomorrow we enter the Panama Canal. There won’t be waves there for sure. 

Photos

Chicha doll

The bridge slides open horizontally to allow boats to pass through (it is not a draw bridge) and it sits on about 25 row boats. 

 

Curaçao

 Curaçao is known for its liquor by the same name made with the peel of the Valencia oranges. It is usually a right blue color although they also make several varieties in other bright colors. I think they said it was 70 proof. We got to sample 3 varieties at the distillery. It actually looks like bottles of mouthwash. 

We visited an aloe farm next and of course they had a shop full of ever imaginable product with aloe in it. She had us taste the aloe gel straight from the plant. I thought it was disgusting. Like slimy jello with no flavor. 

Our RS tour guide is from Israel and is Jewish.  She took those of us who wanted to go visit the oldest Jewish synagogue in the western hemisphere. She explained so much of what we saw and that was very enlightening. The floor of the synagogue was covered in sand. The chandeliers had wax candles. When the wax dripped onto the floor, the flame was extinguished and didn’t burn the place down!  

I then ventured out on my own along the wharf and walked in and out of several shops before returning to the ship via a floating bridge. 

Birthday pictures

Not all R S were in the picture, but 19 of them showed up. 

 

Catching up

We visited a spice farm on Grenada. Everything smelled so nice. Afterwards we has a nice rum punch. At one point right before we boarded our bus we spotted some cute monkeys in a tree making very sweet squeaky noises. 

Coffee

Vanilla bean

Nutmeg

Clove

The nutmeg is the most important spice for them that they include it on their national flag. They also had cinnamon bark, lemon grass, allspice leaves and on and on.  

Sunday was a sea day and also my birthday. My Road Scholar group arranged a high tea for me which was very sweet. The ship captain sent me a cupcake. No candles allowed but everyone sang. 

 

 

 

Rain Forest Walk

 Unfortunately, I have had a cold for several days causing me to miss Monday’s tour of Parintins on a type of 2 person tuc tuc which like a rickshaw throughout the city. 

Yesterday I felt a little bit better for the walk in the rain forest. It was pretty warm for the 11/2 hour bus ride there and I had to wear my mask the whole time as well as in the forest. I’m glad I did it though. We saw no animals which was a big disappointment for me but we heard the loudest bird ever calling out over and over. He is called Captain of the forest. We never did see him though. 

Our machete carrying guide showed us the rubber trees and how they were harvested during the rubber boom which is similar to maple syrup harvesting. Certain trees are called the cell phones of the forest because when you tap on the very large roots very hard the sound carries up to 3 miles which was helpful for hunters.  Tarzan vines and medicinal trees were everywhere.  The sounds were the most amazing. 

We actually had three guides: our Road Scholar guide, our rain forest guide, and our day tour guide Pierrino. Pierrino’s mother had driven ahead our our bus and set up a lovely mini lunch for us to eat at the end of the tour. We had ham and cheese finger sandwiches, mango, bananas, Brazilian pineapple (like no other you’ve tasted-so sweet) Brazil nuts and a special rum drink made with 40 proof sugar cane rum, and limes. Our “bar tender” made each drink individually. Needless to say a good time was had by all. Before the lunch, unfortunately one of our fellow travelers became so weak he couldn’t walk and had to be held up by his wife and another fellow until we got to our lunch area. We thought it was water dehydration but the result today is that he has Covid. 

On the drive back to the ship, we saw large areas razed for cattle grazing. Believe it or not cows are the biggest industry here and the main reason for deforestation. The Amazon river has a lot of burnt lumber floating in it. The only tree protected by law is the Brazilian nut tree. No one can cut them down so they dot the razed acres of land.

Today we crossed back over the equator and we will be cruising for 3 days before we hit another port. Should be adequate time to recover from this darn cold! 

Authentic Brazil

 Yesterday we spent 4 hours in Boca de Valeria, a small Amazonian village. Getting off the tender, we were greeted on both sides of the foot path by about 100 villagers wanting to hold our hands and show us their pets. The various pets were sloths, iguanas, monkey, turtles, parakeets, a Tucan etc. For every photo taken you were expected to pay one dollar!  Picture a boatload of tourists traipsing through the village. 

I made eye contact with a woman and her mother watching us from their house on stilts and she was very insistent that I come into her house to look around. I decided that she was sincere in her invitation so I climbed up the stairs and went in. Of course it was all open air - no door or windows. They were christians by the pictures on the wall. It was divided into 4 rooms. 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a sewing room with a Singer sewing machine and a chest freezer for all the fish they catch. I assumed the power came from a generator. It had a thatch roof and a porch on all sides. She proudly showed me their fruit trees out back. I asked to take a photo of the 2 women and paid them a dollar. I was the only one in our group who got this experience. 

Gen and I decided after that to climb into a hand made boat with a small motor on the back for a cruise up a small tributary for $5 a person. Vic was our driver for the half hour ride. After a while we noticed that the boat was taking on water and Vic was scooping the water out with a cut off plastic coke bottle!  

Up the river we visited a rustic hotel that is only accessible from the water and further down the river we stopped at a place with a very steep incline that led to Vic’s village. We got out of the boat and we’re told we could walk up the steep incline or for $1 we could hop on the back of a motorcycle to go up. We took the motorcycle!  What a ride it was in the rain of course. It started pouring so hard we were dropped off at a church where we could get out of the rain for about 20 minutes. At that point we were down to only one motorcycle. The driver took Gen down to our river boat and I prayed in the church that he would return to take me down too. Sure enough he did. We climbed back onto our leaking boat and returned to the village ending up being 11/2 hour trip. No one else in our group had such a grand tour!

The saddest part of the village were the emaciated dogs. All skin and bones. All the people were clean and well dressed and fed. 

I must go for now. Pictures to follow. 

Amazon River

 We are about an hour away from entering the Amazon conflux - where all the tributaries of the Amazon empty out into the Atlantic Ocean so we are warned that the turbulence will be strong for several hours until we get further in to the Amazon river itself. It is lunchtime so there could be some upset tummies. 

I am amazed that this large ship can even sail the Amazon but the river itself can vary between 1-6 miles in width and the depth is deep enough if we stay in the middle. 

Tomorrow morning we cross the equator. 

We will be sailing for 2 days now while the Brazilian authorities come on board to check our health system and all sorts of documents as well as mechanical parts of the ship. 

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Tobago

We had an early start today for our first outing to Tobago which was 5 hours long on a bus with several stops and seaside lunch in a tree house. We had fish, but no one knows what kind!

It being a Sunday, no shops were open. Churches here run the gamut, but most seemed to be Methodist.  We saw many men milling about “liming”. (Drinking and having good visits with each other), but no women. I assumed they were getting ready for Sunday School that runs from 7:30 pm to 5 am. One big party.  That is not a typo and there is not much bible learning going on!

The beaches were deserted not even young children dipping into the water. It was 92 degrees here and sunny with about a 10 minute downpour while we were on the bus!

How do you tell a goat from a sheep here?  Well, I’ll tell you. The sheep don’t have wool, so the difference is that the sheep’s tail hangs down and goat’s tail points straight out!  Otherwise they both look the same. 

This a pretty much a third world country with poverty everywhere.  There is no industry. Tourism and fishing exports are dominant. 

We are just about to sail away for another day at sea and on to Devil’s Island a prison island where Papillon was filmed. 

Bermuda Triangle

 Yes, we are skirting along the edge of the Bermuda Triangle. I may just disappear and you’ll never hear from me again!!

We moved our clocks forward last night and we are still sailing south. 

Project Linus volunteers are on board knitting or crocheting comfort blankets for children in distress from any type of situation, so I’ve picked up yellow yarn to make one. I will probably crochet it since it only uses one needle to take care of. 

I’ve walked my daily mile on the promenade deck this morning and attended the Bermuda Triangle lecture. I continue to get to know each of my travel companions by rotating dinner partners. The main dining room meals last 2 hours and I’m a bit tired of that, so I may eat at the buffet tonight.  

Embarkation Day

 Getting onto the ship was a piece of cake and so smooth none of us could believe it. I got to my room and both of my luggage pieces that were forwarded were waiting for me at my door. The second suitcase I opened had a problem.  The bottle of Woolite I packed had exploded. I was able to salvage everything, my clothes were not affected, but the inside of the suitcase is covered with soap and so was my umbrella. I washed the umbrella off in the bathtub and let it dry there. I’m debating whether to do the same with the suitcase or just let it dry out. What a waste.

There are 22 in my group, 6 of them men. We all ate dinner together in the main dining room which took 2 long hours!  They are training a new crew so things should pick up. The food was great. 

We were to leave port at 4:30, but it wasn’t until 7:30 that we finally sailed out of port. I feel the side to side rolling of the ship but I am not seasick. Thank goodness. It is nice and warm today. I got my Brazilian visa this morning and had several copies made. My Sri Lanka one came last Sunday morning. Now I am less stressed. 

Cocktail party with our small group in an hour and then dinner again!