Soooo. What happened at Suva?
It’s about 8:30 am and we can hear sirens on shore. There is a tender boat near the ship and Ed overheard the prediction of a substantial tsunami wave at 10 am. So I’ll keep writing this simultaneously while doing other things so you can get it from an on site reporter (as if I thought I had those skills!) Ed is debating taking photos of the wave as it comes in but he’s not sure the Captain won’t tell us to stay in our cabins and off the open decks.
Ed noticed the bridge taking water samples (my part of the story) and depth readings (his part of the story). I once asked the Captain about this practice in port and was told that they do specific gravity readings as that helps them in determining the density of the water. This information is helpful for so many things the ship must take into account in movement. I think they can take the measurements of depth and such much more accurately with the instruments they have on board as opposed to the old piano wire method.
And so we waited…..and waited….and listened to Fox News(the only outside feed we have) which is carrying no other news except that about the tsunami headed toward Hawaii and American Samoa, while we wait. Ed’s outside using his camera as binoculars to see things on shore.
Locked out
Our table mates told us of being on their balcony and the sliding door closing and locking on it’s own. It took them about an hour to get released. At least the cabin stewards come in twice a day to do the room. Well just now I automatically locked the sliding door while Ed was on the balcony. I hear his tap on the window and realize I’ve locked him out! Was that Freudian perhaps? He howled when we saw that I was going to put that in my blog.
Ship turning to face the direction of the incoming wave. We saw ships nearby doing that several minutes ago. The wave is expected to come from the side of the bay rather than directly into it since we are on the SW side of this island. I presume we are circling around our anchor(s).
And then
The captain came on to announce that the tsunami warning was just removed and that we would be given 2 additional hours on shore to make up for the 2 hrs we lost this am. We are still watching the Hawaii information. Here folks were driving to the pier and so one wonders if they were lookieloos or if they knew something earlier than we did.
So then we
Headed down to the Cabaret Lounge for our tour group to form. We were in group 2; those are the latecomers. That’s my destiny for years now. So I’ve been looking at the advantages of always being late; there must be something good about it, right? Otherwise why would so many people be late all the time? Well for one thing, you always get the back of the bus. That may sound awful but as an example today, we got the biggest window and had a bench each our own (this bus was more like a school bus and no a/c of course. The breeze coming through the window ensured a degree of coolness but it also assured one of wind burn on your face and rats in your hair that will take half a bottle of conditioner to straighten without drawing blood.
But before all this, we were overflowed (is that a word?) to a third bus. One of the tours had been cancelled because of the late start and so those folks were interested in other tours. I would have been too. Well there’s always one person or group that everyone knows. Lisa F. recognizes these folks in my descriptions because she’s met them on other tours! Soo now for the dip s__t on today’s tour. She forgot her ticket. And then she also forgot her cruise card. This meant she had to go down to the purser’s desk to get a new one. Eventually, she did get her card, money, and ticket so that she could go on this tour. But in the meantime we all waited on the bus for her to finally arrive. All the while her new (from this cruise) friend in an unbearably shrill voice is insisting that we have to wait for “my friend.” When the friend finally arrived, she had to know: did you find your card? How did you get into your room? Did you find your ticket? And this was not soto voce either.
But we have no right to talk (much anyway). We had our card, tickets, bottled water, cameras, trekker stick, hats, bug spray, sun screen, sunglasses (this is the list I ask before we leave the room so I’m not waiting while there’s a return trip to the room). Yeah right. We were initially routed to one bus. The fellow at the door took my ticket; because of some other confusions I’ll spare you, Ed told me to go to the overflow bus so I jumped off and asked for my ticket back which I got. Then I’m on the other bus in a seat waiting for Ed. I’ve relinquished my ticket at the door you recall. I have a nice bench seat with a great window for photos and I’ve saved space for Ed—near the back but not totally at the rear of the bus. And one of the locals comes on and calls for “Mrs. Feldman”. So I go off and it turns out we have our tickets for Vila Vanuatu not the Fiji ones. Not to worry, the tour guy for the ship was right there and simply took our cabin number and I assume we’ll work it all out tomorrow. So I climb onto the bus again and some couple has rushed to take my seat!
People’s manners.
There’s a friend we’ve made on this trip who has mobility problems. And we’ve been having conversations about how folks will knock a handicapped person down in their rush to get out of a place. He told me he was waiting for the elevator the other day and a fellow in a wheelchair was also waiting there. Some able bodied guy came u and it turns out the latter two were going the same direction. The elevator opens up and the able bodied guy gets in the elevator, hits the button, and says to the poor guy in the wheelchair: “I’ll send it back down to you.” Now there’s plenty of room for both in that elevator.
So as I had initially gotten on the bus, I saved a seat for this new friend up front so he’d have easy ingress and exit. I tried to save the seat behind it for his wife but to no avail; Some folks rushed to take that seat. His wife sat almost as far back as we did. At one point today, he is waiting to climb 2 stairs out of the stadium. He had been waiting for a while and folks were just charging ahead. I put out my arm to make space for him and folks just kept going around it. Finally, I moved over a little more (I should do this right away in the future) and told him to go ahead. What ever happened to manners and courtesy? These folks are not teenagers by a long shot.
USA
That the name of our guide. At least that’s what he said and the other “guys” called him that but who knows.
Massage?
Well that would be putting a really positive spin on our experience. There are many speed bumps along the road and the driver was sure to try to get over then with as little delay as possible—kind’ve like some drivers going through our complex back home. This meant that those of us in the back of the bus got the worst of it! The roads are paved but clearly they aren’t up to NTSHA standards. The tatas were sore when we got back and I wear a compression garment on my chest! I forgot to ask Ed about the family jewels.
We didn’t have to worry about sunburn. It was overcast; it’s so gloomy outside right now that I can’t read by the light of the window which is the best reading light for me. There was rain all through the performances (more later) but we were under a covered stadium style seating and it was a slow sprinkle that continued through the whole time.
The countryside
Is lush and green and beautiful. Many yards are tastefully decorated with various colors of indigenous plants including lots of the ti plants. Many of the homes look like sheds and Usa explained—what little I could hear over the din of the motor and wheels and wind: one more disadvantage of the back of the bus without a microphone. Well anyway it was something about asking permission of the chief for land and it not belonging to you and was maybe temporary so folks don’t spend a lot on their homes. Then there’s the 15% of the land that is free hold and can be sold. We did see some very palatial homes along the way but most were very modest but for the most part, nicely kept up. Many are on stilts and it seems a LOT of them have the carcass of their last vehicle “tastefully” arranged on a hill of dirt on the periphery of their land. There are lots of tired used for decorations here. They line driveways. You see them painted white at the base of trees presumably to keep the pests away. Kids use them for everything including swings. I sure hope they drill drainage holes in them though.
Many houses are in clusters and often there is a large building in the center which is the local church. This was Sunday and we saw families leaving services. Everywhere you go you are greeted by wide waves and big smiles as children and adults wave and holler to you. It’s usually “bulla” which is their equivalent of “aloha.” There are lots of fields with plants; some appear more formalized than others.
Cannibals
If someone looks at your white face with a smile and says “yumi yumi” (yes that’s the local phrase) you’d be wise to get the hell out of there. They play a lot on this image of their history. When one warrior/chief defeated/killed another, they cooked him in an underground oven and had him for dinner.
Along the way
We saw 2 prisons. I hope this was just coincidence. The guide said their only drug problem was marijuana and that most folks were there for that crime. Robbery is apparently also a frequent occurrence. 85% of the population are Fijian; most of the rest are Indian ancestry who were brought here to work the sugar cane fields since the natives wouldn’t work (honest. That’s what we were told)
We saw plenty of schools, a few stores here and there but not as many of the latter as you’d expect. Maybe it was the route we were taking.
There were plenty of mountains, some of which are volcanos, in the distance but they were hidden with fog and clouds today. And we saw some of the bays around Suva with the tide out and some thought this was evidence of the expected tsunami arriving later than predicted. As well all know: they were surely wrong. But it does illustrate the power of expectation and people’s desire to be “in-the-know” and to be the “first-to-know”.
Firewalkers
We were taken to an arts and crafts center where our guide told us not to buy anything because it was too expensive there. He’d drop us off for souvenirs in town at the end of the tour. He may have been right but I also suspect there’s a tie in with the “mall” where we were dropped in town. Whatever, we never bought anything anyway but it is interesting to watch these folks who HAVE to buy something everywhere. The clothing that was offered here was extremely flimsy 100% cotton and had to be hand washed. I don’t think so!
Back to the show: there’s a very elaborate ceremony to get the stones ready and we were a captive audience to the extended version. By the time the priest said it was OK to do the fire walking, none of us much cared. I suspect they piddled around with their various rituals and in the interim, the rocks cooled off. But it was fun to observe the posturing including standing on the top of the hot stones and pausing and clapping to encourage the audience to give them bravos which of course we well trained tourists were glad to do.
Dances too.
Then they had various dances by the male dancers which of course showed them as very brave and great heros. In one instance the winner would have gotten all the women of the loser’s village as wives. So of course there was a skit where the “saved” women of the winner’s village were appropriately grateful to the courageous warrior, their chief. The female dances were graceful and the costumes, especially the headpieces, were cute. We have photos I’ll try to fix up tomorrow. At this point I can’t afford to get behind with blog or photos.
Then there were some cute skits that dealt with cute mischief in their culture. We enjoyed it all.
Back in town
We were ambivalent about going to the shopping mall but so many folks were leaving the bus that we thought if we don’t do it, we’ll always wonder. So we trekked off too. The prices and quality were not very good. I suspect I could get most of it at Pier One Imports without the problem of lugging it home. I did see one thing I hadn’t seen before. Remember the men in the barrel carvings? You remove the barrel and the guy’s standing their naked with his pride and joy at high mast? Well they have them with women here but in this case the tatas are sticking straight out but they aren’t particularly attractive. Still they’re funny. There were some things made out of tapa cloth which might have been of interest but none had a price on them and I’m always turned off by that.
They had a tattooed warrior to greet you at the door and then he did some vicious looking war dances solo in the aisles. He certainly made enough frightening noises to be impressive. We never went beyond the one store; I doubt there were any other stores open. We walked back to the ship through the drizzle.
Afternoon “snack”
Except for a power bar, we hadn’t eaten since room service at 6:30 am so we went up to the Panorama Café for something to eat. This will definitely mess us up for dinner tonite. And since I don’t drink much caffeine lately, and I had over 1 glass of iced tea, I may have problems sleeping tonite. That’s certainly not Ed’s problem; he’s sleeping as I write this. Of course, when caught at it, he’ll protest that he was just resting his eyes. Yeah right.
Ed used the opportunity to use VOIP to call some folks. He did speak to Jeff, Mike and Trudy, and Pat. There’s something surreal about talking on a cell phone half way around the world, via the internet, as if it was right next door. But I am relieved to know that we do have the theoretical potential to call folks when we are in port.
View from our room
We can’t even see the land on the other side of the bay it is so overcast and foggy. Who would have thought this of Fiji? I have no regrets. It meant no burning sun today and cooler experiences.
It’s 5 pm and tonite is Island night so I think I’ll get some more wear out of the cute Hawaiian dress I got in December. Lord knows if I don’t use it in the tropics, it may be years before there’s a need for it again and who knows if I’ll fit it then! And I sweetly “suggested” to Ed that he should change into an island shirt. Those of you who know Ed’s dressing habits know that I didn’t even finish the sentence before he was making his selection among his many “quiet” shirts.
Rumors
It’s interesting the rumors that get started in any large organization and a ship is a case study. There’s murmuring that there will be a tsunami wave of some magnitude that will hit Fiji around 6 pm. Of course this gets passed from one to another and after a while it assumes a credibility all it’s own. We’ll see what form it takes before and after 6 pm passes.
Health update
Well my cold seems to be on the downside thank God. I thought perhaps Ed was getting it but he assures me it’s just his usual post nasal drip. But you did hear a lot of deep, productive coughs, sneezing, and nose blowing all over the ship. And many of the staff as well as passengers are clearly not at their best. Well hopefully it will run it’s course and we’ll have smooth sailing for the rest of our time. We can only hope.
Oh darn! We missed it!
We went to dinner and there was only Bob and Peg there. It did give us an opportunity to get to know them better and we shared stories of wild animals in urban areas and other jolly vignettes. But at tonite’s show (more later) Barbara told us that there was a “brilliant” show put on by the National Fijian Police Corp on the key side of the ship around the time we were at dinner! Not only do I love marching bands and precision drills, but their uniforms are very unique. I’m not sure I got a good photo of it either. Basically the top looks like, but sure isn’t, dark wool serge material with wonderful colorful badges, sashes and such. The bottoms are a white lava-lava type skirt that has sharp handkerchief type hem that end about the knees. Then of course the shoes. It’s quite impressive and I can only imagine how impressive it was to see them playing and marching.
Daniel Oliver
The show tonite was done by the fellow who plays every night in the Casino Lounge. We’d heard things positive about him now and then but hadn’t really listened to him mostly because all the times I recall going by that area when there was music, it was someone caterwalling to karaoke. Well he’s quite good and we all thoroughly enjoyed his show.
Another hour!
It seems that we get another hour tonite AND another hour tomorrow nite. Yippee! But then I think we have to give one back when we go to see the kiwis in New Zealand.
I’m glad I trusted my gut
You may recall that I was inclined to take the rain forest walk but was hesitant given my experience in Hawaii with depth perception and balance issues. So yesterday we saw the astronomer and she has a fractured funny bone. It turns out that she went on this trek and it was very muddy and slick. She was helping a lady with a cane (there goes that screening I think they ought to do for some of these tours) and in the process she fell and fractured her elbow. The lady with the cane is fine I assume. This involved a not so easy attempt to get her out of the rain forest; thank goodness she could walk but she was in severe pain. They did get her back to the ship and Nikolas casted her beautifully. So now she’ll have to make her way back home by plane with this arm in a cast.
Island Party
Since the weather conditions were too severe near the pool, this party was moved into the Pacific Lounge. There wasn’t as much decoration as I’d expect but most folks were in tropical attire. The band didn’t play music that was especially tropical but we certainly survived.
I’m constantly amazed at the games the staff come up with for us to play. Last night they had one where you had to pick a port. The four ports were Sydney, LA, Honolulu, and Suva. One would be eliminated and the people who had picked that port would have to sit down. Then there was an opportunity for folks to switch ports. Again one would be eliminated and everyone would have to sit down from that port and that port would then be eliminated. Anyway, I stuck with Suva s did most in the group and WE WON! I got the grand prize of a Princess LUGGAGE TAG. It will join the 4 or 5 others we have. (I really should start putting them on our luggage to replace the rag tag stuff we now have.) There were other funny stories, including several involving the “woman who shows her knickers” as one of the other passengers refers to her. But since I don’t know who’s reading this blog, I’ll save these stories for private conversations.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
a little excitement perhaps?
We’re anchored off Suva
This is a special post in case some folks might be concerned. It is about 8 am and we are anchored in the harbor of Suva, Fiji. Because of the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami which is spreading over the Pacific at the rate of 500 mph, we are unable to do anything until after the tsunami warning is removed in approximately 2 hours. The tsunami wave is expected to be 9 ft high so this will be another experience for our memory log of our travels. Although Suva is not on the Eastern side of the islands, there can be repercussions. American Samoa is directly East of us and it is also under warning.
If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to continue our tours after the warning is lifted and the time in pier can be extended. Otherwise we’ll roll with the punches.
I feel sorry for the cruise staff because suddenly they have to scare up some activities to entertain the passengers. Since so many of us were preparing to go on tours, we were up and already dressed. We always order room service when we have tours so we had already finished breakfast. JJ, the Cruise director has just come on in the cabins, a very unusual way they make announcements.
This is a special post in case some folks might be concerned. It is about 8 am and we are anchored in the harbor of Suva, Fiji. Because of the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami which is spreading over the Pacific at the rate of 500 mph, we are unable to do anything until after the tsunami warning is removed in approximately 2 hours. The tsunami wave is expected to be 9 ft high so this will be another experience for our memory log of our travels. Although Suva is not on the Eastern side of the islands, there can be repercussions. American Samoa is directly East of us and it is also under warning.
If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to continue our tours after the warning is lifted and the time in pier can be extended. Otherwise we’ll roll with the punches.
I feel sorry for the cruise staff because suddenly they have to scare up some activities to entertain the passengers. Since so many of us were preparing to go on tours, we were up and already dressed. We always order room service when we have tours so we had already finished breakfast. JJ, the Cruise director has just come on in the cabins, a very unusual way they make announcements.
almost to Fiji
February 27 2010
The weather overall was better today. In fact as the day went on, it got downright pleasant and the seas had that indescribable blue color that cannot be seen anywhere else except on the open ocean.
Ed went to the gym and I finished up the blog and then uploaded everything while saving our seats in the Cabaret Lounge.
Port Talk: Vanautu
The beaches in these places are unbelievable and as we’ve been sailing toward our ports, we’ve seen islands in the distance, some occupied, most not. And several atolls too. Many of these islands are simply volcanic results and Vila Vanautu is no different. We reach here Tuesday. Again this port talk lady is warm and seems amused by much of what she’s telling us.
Trivia
We didn’t do well at all in the morning which had an awful selection of questions. In the afternoon we did better but didn’t win. The membership in our group fluctuates so it’s hard to get a handle on people’s abilities and it seems rude to reject someone when we have an opening but many folks don’t contribute anything. So you wonder why they come.
Lunch
We sat with the astronomy afficianados from lunch yesterday. Sweet lady; rather proper but genttel and a nice conversationalist. Since I’ve stopped ordering dessert and ordering fruit I see that Ed occasionally asks for blueberries but overall he still orders dessert. Just so he doesn’t push it off on me I’m Ok with that. Ha.
I chose to catch up on my Discovery magazine and a few others rather than going to this afternoon’s lectures. One was by the WWII guy and it was on hurricanes and volcanos including a discussion of Katrina. Ed took a nap; any time he sits still for a minute he’s dozing off.
I’m sorry I missed the “What’s new in astronomy?” but it conflicted with the boat building contest which was held today. Boy some folks really put a lot of work into them. If any of the photos turn out, I’ll post a selection. One was a submarine that wouldn’t sink. All did float though many listed dangerously. The supplies used were clever including a watermelon hull as the boat for one entry. A member of each team got up and described their boat and some folks got carried away droning on and on. I just wanted them to get on with the competition after a while so we could see who won. But it is hilarious when folks get into it and many did; lots of folks didn’t go to the dining room because they were engrossed in building their boat.
Dinner
Everyone was here and Nancy made a comment about what a fun table we are. I absolutely agree. It is a delight to have such a fun group. They served their champagne to everyone which we agreed we’d start consuming as soon as we sat down to the table. We talked about a wide ranging group of subjects but we often come back to the trivia questions since many of us play trivia.
Laundrymat update
Ok so Peg said she went to the laundry room without incident today. Someone else said that when one of the boat contestants was describing her team’s entry she said that their ship had a laundry mat with 4 washers and 4 dryers on every deck. This got a big hurrah as did several other decorating and architectural features their ship had such as a tub in each stateroom. Well you get the picture. It was a riot.
And speaking of that, I have to go do my hand laundry, squeeze it out with a beach towel, and hope it will dry by the morning. If it doesn’t then I have to hide it in the closet above the small refrigerator we have in the cabin. The heat from the fridge helps to dry my unmentionables but the cabin steward changes the ice bucket in there so he’s exposed to their shocking site of my medical bras. Poor fellow. Probably better than a lot of things he’s seen in his job I’d bet.
The weather overall was better today. In fact as the day went on, it got downright pleasant and the seas had that indescribable blue color that cannot be seen anywhere else except on the open ocean.
Ed went to the gym and I finished up the blog and then uploaded everything while saving our seats in the Cabaret Lounge.
Port Talk: Vanautu
The beaches in these places are unbelievable and as we’ve been sailing toward our ports, we’ve seen islands in the distance, some occupied, most not. And several atolls too. Many of these islands are simply volcanic results and Vila Vanautu is no different. We reach here Tuesday. Again this port talk lady is warm and seems amused by much of what she’s telling us.
Trivia
We didn’t do well at all in the morning which had an awful selection of questions. In the afternoon we did better but didn’t win. The membership in our group fluctuates so it’s hard to get a handle on people’s abilities and it seems rude to reject someone when we have an opening but many folks don’t contribute anything. So you wonder why they come.
Lunch
We sat with the astronomy afficianados from lunch yesterday. Sweet lady; rather proper but genttel and a nice conversationalist. Since I’ve stopped ordering dessert and ordering fruit I see that Ed occasionally asks for blueberries but overall he still orders dessert. Just so he doesn’t push it off on me I’m Ok with that. Ha.
I chose to catch up on my Discovery magazine and a few others rather than going to this afternoon’s lectures. One was by the WWII guy and it was on hurricanes and volcanos including a discussion of Katrina. Ed took a nap; any time he sits still for a minute he’s dozing off.
I’m sorry I missed the “What’s new in astronomy?” but it conflicted with the boat building contest which was held today. Boy some folks really put a lot of work into them. If any of the photos turn out, I’ll post a selection. One was a submarine that wouldn’t sink. All did float though many listed dangerously. The supplies used were clever including a watermelon hull as the boat for one entry. A member of each team got up and described their boat and some folks got carried away droning on and on. I just wanted them to get on with the competition after a while so we could see who won. But it is hilarious when folks get into it and many did; lots of folks didn’t go to the dining room because they were engrossed in building their boat.
Dinner
Everyone was here and Nancy made a comment about what a fun table we are. I absolutely agree. It is a delight to have such a fun group. They served their champagne to everyone which we agreed we’d start consuming as soon as we sat down to the table. We talked about a wide ranging group of subjects but we often come back to the trivia questions since many of us play trivia.
Laundrymat update
Ok so Peg said she went to the laundry room without incident today. Someone else said that when one of the boat contestants was describing her team’s entry she said that their ship had a laundry mat with 4 washers and 4 dryers on every deck. This got a big hurrah as did several other decorating and architectural features their ship had such as a tub in each stateroom. Well you get the picture. It was a riot.
And speaking of that, I have to go do my hand laundry, squeeze it out with a beach towel, and hope it will dry by the morning. If it doesn’t then I have to hide it in the closet above the small refrigerator we have in the cabin. The heat from the fridge helps to dry my unmentionables but the cabin steward changes the ice bucket in there so he’s exposed to their shocking site of my medical bras. Poor fellow. Probably better than a lot of things he’s seen in his job I’d bet.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Cannibals?
Tomorrow the Cannibal Islands
Suva, Fiji is our port tomorrow. Carolyn, where were you guys when you went scuba diving here?
Ed and I woke up this morning before 5 am and really didn’t go back to sleep. He got up and left for the gym. I should give him credit here: this is the 3rd day in a row that he has gone to the gym. Since they are enforcing the 20 min rule on the treadmill, he’s using a variety of equipment. He’s feeling very self righteous of course and commenting on how his body is responding to this. So we’ll see how it goes. I can only wish as I think it helps his diabetes so much.
Our day February 27th
Trivia
We are all laughing at ourselves because playing trivia makes you look at the world differently. Those of us who play are constantly reliving the questions and trying to etch the information in our brains because questions in different forms often reappear.
Yesterday the library had a quiz on where various straits are located in the world. So several of us are studying these answers to have them ready if a question comes up.
We played this morning with 5 of us. We came in second I think on an awful quiz that wracked our brains. We didn’t go in the afternoon as it was formal night and it’s too tight a time line to do that and get ready for formal portraits and get to the captain’s cocktail party (the drinks aren’t that good so don’t be too jealous). One of the couples at our table won a bottle of champagne which we will all have with dessert tomorrow evening.
My reading
I’m trying to get through the journals and magazines we brought from home. One is a medical journal that has a special article about exotic infectious diseases you can get travelling in foreign countries. Diseases I’ve studied but don’t remember much about such as dengue fever, and several I can neither pronounce nor certainly spell that sound absolutely awful. So considering the content of this article, I decided against leaving it in the library where we donate our read magazines. Instead I’ll drop it off at the medical clinic.
Sickness on the ship
There is a cold (the one I was lucky enough to get thanks to the Prednisone I had taken for the previous respiratory condition I had—one can’t win for losing) that is rapidly spreading around the ship. One of the dancers has it and the poor dear continues to trudge on good sport that she is.
The personal trainer in the gym, who is the girlfriend of that cute male nurse in the medical clinic, was taken to the hospital in Honolulu and had surgery for appendicitis so we have no idea if and when she will return.
Culinary expertise again
The Commandatore put on his usual interesting, and deceptively easy looking, demonstration of preparing a meal in 20 minutes. Of course he has a phalanx of busy bees preparing everything beforehand so all he has to do is look smart. AS usual some of the equipment acted up—probably because he was in a hurry because of the time and the salt never comes out of the shaker. But of course, this is a humid environment on the sea. I did get the impression that I could make the basil pesto and freeze it to be used throughout the year. Never cook it either.
Lunch
We were lucky enough to have the astronomer as one of our table mates. She is so bright in fields far beyond astronomy and has such an interesting personal story. She currently has projects for JPL and NASA. She did the exhibits at the newly refurbished Grifftih Park Observatory and we had a fun discussion about the astronomical jewelry exhibit that shows the evolution of the cosmos in one of the walkways there. I remarked on her well modulated voice. To condense a very long story, she decided to take acting including voice acting so she could narrate the documentaries they do. She’s debating doing a PhD and I think it would be a breeze for her given her rigorous scientific mind and all her experiences.
We’re still waiting for the right opportunity to do a star party on the upper decks but there are considerable considerations well beyond the obvious weather cooperation problems. Safety issues are of great concern as the lights will have to be turned off and folks really do stupid things some time.
Port talk: Suva
Bula Bula! Well supposedly that’s the Fijian equivalent of “Aloha”. These folks were cannibals up to fairly modern times so we must be on our best behavior. Ed and I debated several tours but as always we’ll be going into the countryside. I encouraged him to take a rain forest walking tour while I did another tour but he won’t do it. I’m not sure about my vision and balance to get into that kind of situation unless I can see it first. This is going to be a problem for me if he insists on only doing those things I’m comfortable with. I don’t want him to restrict himself simply because I need to be more cautious to feel safe.
I’m ambivalent about getting some tapa cloth which is a local product I’d be interested in. It’s made out of beaten mulberry bark and is quite durable. But we’ll see what’ s available.
This port speaker is a delightful and lovely lady who clearly has fun with her topics. She will be with us for several ports. Port talkers are an important part of any cruise experience and we have seen passenger groups up in arms over a poor port speaker (see my previous blogs).
Corporate Money in Politics: What next?
This was pretty much a discussion of the recent Supreme Court decision in the case Citizens United vs. FEC. Again his ponderous, overly cautious speaking style leaves me very fidgety. He does try to give both sides but he eventually came down on the side of it being a good decision. I suppose we couldn’t expect any different from the 19 yr. President of the Association of Corporate Counsel. As you may expect, he had rebuttals for all the concerns about this decision. We’ll all just have to wait and see.
Elite benefit
Each evening of a formal event, we are given a form to order hordoevers (or however it’s spelled). So Ed and I had a ball, just like little kids, eating chocolate covered strawberries before getting into our glad rags.
I wore my Oriental tunic from Shanghai and got lots of remarks on it. It is a gorgeous piece and it is rare for me to find a tunic that is long enough for me. We had formal portraits taken and we’ll see if our colds and unrestful sleep shows in our wrinkled countenances.
From there we went to join the other Captain’s Circle members on this ship. There are over 500 of us which only means that we’ve cruised with Princess before. There are about 670 passengers maximum on here. There are about 150 Elite members on this cruise so the Cruise Consultant had us stand up so folks could see our nice clean clothes. Ha.
Dinner
Since we missed the afternoon trivia, John and Nancy reviewed some of the stickier questions. I was given an assignment to see what the previous name of Surinam is. Turns out, it’s Surinam. And then I researched the name of a female donkey (jenny) and female mule. For the latter when it’s the product of a male horse and a female donkey, it is called a hinney. I remembered that name but I didn’t know the distinction. I just recalled my Dad referring to them as he had a great respect for mules.
Since Nancy and Bob won a bottle of champagne at the Captain’s Circle party tonite we discussed the right time to have it and eventually we settled on tomorrow for dessert.
Entertainment
This was one of the casts over the top productions with lots of dancing and great singing. We were not disappointed. Every night JJ tries to talk folks into going to the Casino Lounge for karaoke and each evening we all howl with irony.
And then we settled down to see how much rest we could get.
Suva, Fiji is our port tomorrow. Carolyn, where were you guys when you went scuba diving here?
Ed and I woke up this morning before 5 am and really didn’t go back to sleep. He got up and left for the gym. I should give him credit here: this is the 3rd day in a row that he has gone to the gym. Since they are enforcing the 20 min rule on the treadmill, he’s using a variety of equipment. He’s feeling very self righteous of course and commenting on how his body is responding to this. So we’ll see how it goes. I can only wish as I think it helps his diabetes so much.
Our day February 27th
Trivia
We are all laughing at ourselves because playing trivia makes you look at the world differently. Those of us who play are constantly reliving the questions and trying to etch the information in our brains because questions in different forms often reappear.
Yesterday the library had a quiz on where various straits are located in the world. So several of us are studying these answers to have them ready if a question comes up.
We played this morning with 5 of us. We came in second I think on an awful quiz that wracked our brains. We didn’t go in the afternoon as it was formal night and it’s too tight a time line to do that and get ready for formal portraits and get to the captain’s cocktail party (the drinks aren’t that good so don’t be too jealous). One of the couples at our table won a bottle of champagne which we will all have with dessert tomorrow evening.
My reading
I’m trying to get through the journals and magazines we brought from home. One is a medical journal that has a special article about exotic infectious diseases you can get travelling in foreign countries. Diseases I’ve studied but don’t remember much about such as dengue fever, and several I can neither pronounce nor certainly spell that sound absolutely awful. So considering the content of this article, I decided against leaving it in the library where we donate our read magazines. Instead I’ll drop it off at the medical clinic.
Sickness on the ship
There is a cold (the one I was lucky enough to get thanks to the Prednisone I had taken for the previous respiratory condition I had—one can’t win for losing) that is rapidly spreading around the ship. One of the dancers has it and the poor dear continues to trudge on good sport that she is.
The personal trainer in the gym, who is the girlfriend of that cute male nurse in the medical clinic, was taken to the hospital in Honolulu and had surgery for appendicitis so we have no idea if and when she will return.
Culinary expertise again
The Commandatore put on his usual interesting, and deceptively easy looking, demonstration of preparing a meal in 20 minutes. Of course he has a phalanx of busy bees preparing everything beforehand so all he has to do is look smart. AS usual some of the equipment acted up—probably because he was in a hurry because of the time and the salt never comes out of the shaker. But of course, this is a humid environment on the sea. I did get the impression that I could make the basil pesto and freeze it to be used throughout the year. Never cook it either.
Lunch
We were lucky enough to have the astronomer as one of our table mates. She is so bright in fields far beyond astronomy and has such an interesting personal story. She currently has projects for JPL and NASA. She did the exhibits at the newly refurbished Grifftih Park Observatory and we had a fun discussion about the astronomical jewelry exhibit that shows the evolution of the cosmos in one of the walkways there. I remarked on her well modulated voice. To condense a very long story, she decided to take acting including voice acting so she could narrate the documentaries they do. She’s debating doing a PhD and I think it would be a breeze for her given her rigorous scientific mind and all her experiences.
We’re still waiting for the right opportunity to do a star party on the upper decks but there are considerable considerations well beyond the obvious weather cooperation problems. Safety issues are of great concern as the lights will have to be turned off and folks really do stupid things some time.
Port talk: Suva
Bula Bula! Well supposedly that’s the Fijian equivalent of “Aloha”. These folks were cannibals up to fairly modern times so we must be on our best behavior. Ed and I debated several tours but as always we’ll be going into the countryside. I encouraged him to take a rain forest walking tour while I did another tour but he won’t do it. I’m not sure about my vision and balance to get into that kind of situation unless I can see it first. This is going to be a problem for me if he insists on only doing those things I’m comfortable with. I don’t want him to restrict himself simply because I need to be more cautious to feel safe.
I’m ambivalent about getting some tapa cloth which is a local product I’d be interested in. It’s made out of beaten mulberry bark and is quite durable. But we’ll see what’ s available.
This port speaker is a delightful and lovely lady who clearly has fun with her topics. She will be with us for several ports. Port talkers are an important part of any cruise experience and we have seen passenger groups up in arms over a poor port speaker (see my previous blogs).
Corporate Money in Politics: What next?
This was pretty much a discussion of the recent Supreme Court decision in the case Citizens United vs. FEC. Again his ponderous, overly cautious speaking style leaves me very fidgety. He does try to give both sides but he eventually came down on the side of it being a good decision. I suppose we couldn’t expect any different from the 19 yr. President of the Association of Corporate Counsel. As you may expect, he had rebuttals for all the concerns about this decision. We’ll all just have to wait and see.
Elite benefit
Each evening of a formal event, we are given a form to order hordoevers (or however it’s spelled). So Ed and I had a ball, just like little kids, eating chocolate covered strawberries before getting into our glad rags.
I wore my Oriental tunic from Shanghai and got lots of remarks on it. It is a gorgeous piece and it is rare for me to find a tunic that is long enough for me. We had formal portraits taken and we’ll see if our colds and unrestful sleep shows in our wrinkled countenances.
From there we went to join the other Captain’s Circle members on this ship. There are over 500 of us which only means that we’ve cruised with Princess before. There are about 670 passengers maximum on here. There are about 150 Elite members on this cruise so the Cruise Consultant had us stand up so folks could see our nice clean clothes. Ha.
Dinner
Since we missed the afternoon trivia, John and Nancy reviewed some of the stickier questions. I was given an assignment to see what the previous name of Surinam is. Turns out, it’s Surinam. And then I researched the name of a female donkey (jenny) and female mule. For the latter when it’s the product of a male horse and a female donkey, it is called a hinney. I remembered that name but I didn’t know the distinction. I just recalled my Dad referring to them as he had a great respect for mules.
Since Nancy and Bob won a bottle of champagne at the Captain’s Circle party tonite we discussed the right time to have it and eventually we settled on tomorrow for dessert.
Entertainment
This was one of the casts over the top productions with lots of dancing and great singing. We were not disappointed. Every night JJ tries to talk folks into going to the Casino Lounge for karaoke and each evening we all howl with irony.
And then we settled down to see how much rest we could get.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
on the ocean again
February 26th Catch up on 2/25/10
So I managed to get my blog written, download the rest of the photos, do some slight photoediting, and upload them before the first lecture of the morning yesterday.
Cosmos lecture
This lady has the most refined but pleasant voice and her content is scientific and up to the minute, yet her audience follows her as if we knew it all. Today she went over the planets and explained why Pluto got demoted. We also learned that there are terrestrial and gas planets. She told us a little about asteroids, coments and such.
Lunch
Sat with the Captain’s Circle staffer and found she is from Coronado, Ca. The rest of the table conversation was pretty mundane particularly since it was pretty much dominated by one woman. One of the staff joked with her by simulating spilling coffee on her. It was clearly a joke and everyone found it harmless. But she remarked that she didn’t like it and that she had a very serious heart condition and the unspoken part of course was that a joke like that could send her into some kind of serious heart problem. She certainly doesn’t look like a frail violet to me.
Disasters
This is the guy who was doing WWII lectures. This time he discussed and showed some pretty stark photos of tsunamis, tornados,earthquakes and such. His next lecture is on hurricanes and such.
King Neptune’s ceremony
This is always fun even when they’ve greatly watered it down. One woman on this cruise has the knack of positioning herself to get attention and the staff fell for it again I guess because she was a single pollywog to be initiated. The rest were staff as is the usual practice. It was fun as always and Frankie played Mrs. Neptune so campy. He was the star of the show. One of the ship’s officers was sent for a dunk in the pool in full dress. Prior to this he was adorned with the stinky kipper award. Other staff were swathed in spaghetti, whipped cream, eggs, ice cream…well you get the picture. There was a good turn out for this. Since it competed with the wine tasting, which is free for us, this was a difficult choice for us to make. Ha. These two events were held at the same time.
When we came back to our room, each of us had a certificate attesting to the fact that we had crossed the equator and the international date line. BTW: after you have gone through the Neptune ceremony, you are now known as Trusty Shellbacks.
Trivia
We pulled in another lady to our group; that meant we were only 5. It was a tough quiz and we had the usual experience of someone actually having proposed the correct answer and the group settling on something else. We didn’t win as you may have guessed but we had a lot of company. This one twisted our brains in painful ways.
Full table tonite
What a delightful group of tablemates we have. Conversation is light hearted but fun. Barbara remarked that before she came on the cruise they were wondering what ever would they do with 6 days at sea! Now she’s thinking, my goodness, we have only 2 more days left until we’re in port. She likes the relaxes pace of the sea days.
I”ve started foregoing the rolls and butter, and settling for fresh fruit for dessert as I’m concerned I’ll gain too much weight. I have no idea what I do weigh and my clothes fit fine but you never know. I still take the stairs with few exceptions and I assume Ed does too. But going from the 5th deck to the 10th is a real test of discipline.
In between events, we lay in the room and read. These are calm and pleasant times. Since my cold continues unabated, and I’m sleepy and tired during the day, I welcome these times when my muscles seen to melt into the flat surface I’ve merged with.
Malaria
We started our pills this evening so we’ll be taking them every week for a while. The only disease we are not prepared for Japanese encephalitis and that’s only in some esoteric area in Africa. Maybe one day we’ll get there but not for a while.
Tonite’s entertainment
It was Donnie Ray again but this time he sang soul songs. He was the young fellow who did the Nat King Cole tribute a few nights ago. He did a fair selection of old standards you’d recognize. And he has a good voice and a wonderful style with the audience. Ed especially enjoyed him.
Precious
They’re showing the movie tonite from 10-midnight. I’d love to see it but I’m just dragging with this cold so Ed’s going to go for both of us.
Rethinking our overland tours
We’ve definitely ruled out the Australian outback and we’re reconsidering the Taj Mahal once again. Both are horribly overpriced and in the case of the Taj, they are changing the itinerary for the worse in our opinion. We figure we can perhaps do these things some other time for less money per day and stay longer and really enjoy these two sites.
On the other hand, there’s a rumor that there may be an overland that goes from Beijing to Xian, The Three Gorges and then to Hong Kong. For the right price, we may consider that one. No details yet; this one is all rumor so far.
FEBRUARY 26 2010
I woke up early and couldn’t tell if Ed was awake. Eventually he got up and we opened the drapes to a gray, unpleasant day. The wind is less fierce and the humidity is suffocating when you go outside. Who would have figured that it would be so unpleasant at the equator? It’s warm but not blistering hot though the sun is really fierce at this latitude. Your skin definitely feels it bearing down.
Health Care summit
Fox News is all we can get and it comes in loud and clear. How is it possible that Fox News comes in so clear anywhere and the others are not available? You figure it out.
In any event, it is interesting to see the interviews and the live broadcast of the proceedings. It is terrible how the interviews with private citizens are so planted; the folks often stumble over the usual talking points and their information is so in accurate it makes one afraid for the intellectual curiosity of our citizenry. And the professionals, elected officials of all stripes and association officials, also include their fair share of inaccuracies. The advertisements mix accurate data with blatant falsehoods. What happened to intellectual honesty?
I do think the reporting of the poll results out to be stratified by age group, disability, pre-existing conditions, etc. I think from a political perspective that would be more revealing than the labeling that is currently going on.
The Brits around the ship are just agog at this whole issue of health care in America. They are frightened to travel without insurance and each has heard a story of someone travelling in America without insurance who came home with hundreds of thousands of dollars in health debt for their care in America. I haven’t had the opportunity to have discussions with folks from other nations but hearsay shares that all are afraid of needing health care in America.
Well so much for politics at his point.
So I managed to get my blog written, download the rest of the photos, do some slight photoediting, and upload them before the first lecture of the morning yesterday.
Cosmos lecture
This lady has the most refined but pleasant voice and her content is scientific and up to the minute, yet her audience follows her as if we knew it all. Today she went over the planets and explained why Pluto got demoted. We also learned that there are terrestrial and gas planets. She told us a little about asteroids, coments and such.
Lunch
Sat with the Captain’s Circle staffer and found she is from Coronado, Ca. The rest of the table conversation was pretty mundane particularly since it was pretty much dominated by one woman. One of the staff joked with her by simulating spilling coffee on her. It was clearly a joke and everyone found it harmless. But she remarked that she didn’t like it and that she had a very serious heart condition and the unspoken part of course was that a joke like that could send her into some kind of serious heart problem. She certainly doesn’t look like a frail violet to me.
Disasters
This is the guy who was doing WWII lectures. This time he discussed and showed some pretty stark photos of tsunamis, tornados,earthquakes and such. His next lecture is on hurricanes and such.
King Neptune’s ceremony
This is always fun even when they’ve greatly watered it down. One woman on this cruise has the knack of positioning herself to get attention and the staff fell for it again I guess because she was a single pollywog to be initiated. The rest were staff as is the usual practice. It was fun as always and Frankie played Mrs. Neptune so campy. He was the star of the show. One of the ship’s officers was sent for a dunk in the pool in full dress. Prior to this he was adorned with the stinky kipper award. Other staff were swathed in spaghetti, whipped cream, eggs, ice cream…well you get the picture. There was a good turn out for this. Since it competed with the wine tasting, which is free for us, this was a difficult choice for us to make. Ha. These two events were held at the same time.
When we came back to our room, each of us had a certificate attesting to the fact that we had crossed the equator and the international date line. BTW: after you have gone through the Neptune ceremony, you are now known as Trusty Shellbacks.
Trivia
We pulled in another lady to our group; that meant we were only 5. It was a tough quiz and we had the usual experience of someone actually having proposed the correct answer and the group settling on something else. We didn’t win as you may have guessed but we had a lot of company. This one twisted our brains in painful ways.
Full table tonite
What a delightful group of tablemates we have. Conversation is light hearted but fun. Barbara remarked that before she came on the cruise they were wondering what ever would they do with 6 days at sea! Now she’s thinking, my goodness, we have only 2 more days left until we’re in port. She likes the relaxes pace of the sea days.
I”ve started foregoing the rolls and butter, and settling for fresh fruit for dessert as I’m concerned I’ll gain too much weight. I have no idea what I do weigh and my clothes fit fine but you never know. I still take the stairs with few exceptions and I assume Ed does too. But going from the 5th deck to the 10th is a real test of discipline.
In between events, we lay in the room and read. These are calm and pleasant times. Since my cold continues unabated, and I’m sleepy and tired during the day, I welcome these times when my muscles seen to melt into the flat surface I’ve merged with.
Malaria
We started our pills this evening so we’ll be taking them every week for a while. The only disease we are not prepared for Japanese encephalitis and that’s only in some esoteric area in Africa. Maybe one day we’ll get there but not for a while.
Tonite’s entertainment
It was Donnie Ray again but this time he sang soul songs. He was the young fellow who did the Nat King Cole tribute a few nights ago. He did a fair selection of old standards you’d recognize. And he has a good voice and a wonderful style with the audience. Ed especially enjoyed him.
Precious
They’re showing the movie tonite from 10-midnight. I’d love to see it but I’m just dragging with this cold so Ed’s going to go for both of us.
Rethinking our overland tours
We’ve definitely ruled out the Australian outback and we’re reconsidering the Taj Mahal once again. Both are horribly overpriced and in the case of the Taj, they are changing the itinerary for the worse in our opinion. We figure we can perhaps do these things some other time for less money per day and stay longer and really enjoy these two sites.
On the other hand, there’s a rumor that there may be an overland that goes from Beijing to Xian, The Three Gorges and then to Hong Kong. For the right price, we may consider that one. No details yet; this one is all rumor so far.
FEBRUARY 26 2010
I woke up early and couldn’t tell if Ed was awake. Eventually he got up and we opened the drapes to a gray, unpleasant day. The wind is less fierce and the humidity is suffocating when you go outside. Who would have figured that it would be so unpleasant at the equator? It’s warm but not blistering hot though the sun is really fierce at this latitude. Your skin definitely feels it bearing down.
Health Care summit
Fox News is all we can get and it comes in loud and clear. How is it possible that Fox News comes in so clear anywhere and the others are not available? You figure it out.
In any event, it is interesting to see the interviews and the live broadcast of the proceedings. It is terrible how the interviews with private citizens are so planted; the folks often stumble over the usual talking points and their information is so in accurate it makes one afraid for the intellectual curiosity of our citizenry. And the professionals, elected officials of all stripes and association officials, also include their fair share of inaccuracies. The advertisements mix accurate data with blatant falsehoods. What happened to intellectual honesty?
I do think the reporting of the poll results out to be stratified by age group, disability, pre-existing conditions, etc. I think from a political perspective that would be more revealing than the labeling that is currently going on.
The Brits around the ship are just agog at this whole issue of health care in America. They are frightened to travel without insurance and each has heard a story of someone travelling in America without insurance who came home with hundreds of thousands of dollars in health debt for their care in America. I haven’t had the opportunity to have discussions with folks from other nations but hearsay shares that all are afraid of needing health care in America.
Well so much for politics at his point.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
atolls here and there
What happened to the 24th?
Well we had a lecture on Corporate Business and the Law. There was some interesting content but I wanted the speaker to hurry up and get on with it; give us the meat of his talk. Overall it was a pretty forgettable presentation. However, I won’t miss tomorrow particularly in view of the recent Supreme Court decision about corporate “speech”. His topic is Corporations and politics.
We had lunch with others including the Captain’s Circle lady, Sandy. She was telling that their computers can only deal with two numerals for age and they had a man on who was 100 yrs and 3 mos. Since the computers had him down as 3 mos old, he couldn’t get served liquor. Well you can imagine the rest of the mischief because of that little glitch, which remains the same btw.
Then went to the reunion of the world cruise in 2008. The 2009 group were there as well. We got caught up on some gossip and had (not very good champagne) compliments of Princess. Several folks are already signed up for next year’s world cruise as are JJ and Frankie and some other staff.
We passed on the WWII talk this afternoon since we’ve about had as much of the speaker as we could deal with. Instead Ed watched Fox News (ha ha ha ha) and I read some journals while the light from the window was good.
Weather
It has been blowing fierce winds all day and it reminds me of a blizzard outside. The wind howls through the windows on the patio and is overall not very inviting. I did go to the library at one point and it was humid and warm up top but the wind would blow you over if you weren’t careful. It was waayy too hot in the library to stay up there. We are coming into areas where we’ll need to keep our curtains closed during the day to keep our room cool.
There’s much discussion about when we cross the international date line. We’ve about got it right that we cross the equator at 1:30 am and that the date line is sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Trivia
We’ve been picking up strays to complete our team as there are 4 regulars and the team size is 6. We had one very good participant this morning and another who meant well but wasn’t much help. We didn’t win. BUT this afternoon, we tied with 2 other groups. So the tie breaker question was: how many countries share a border with Brazil? There are 10. We got 7 of them---as did the other two groups! So she gave up and gave all of us winning tokens. Such a deal
Dinner
One couple were at the Chef’s dinner tonite so the 6 of us cozied up and joked about many things. Then the Brits asked us about our health care system and we asked about theirs. It was very revealing particularly since one couple is in a precarious position regarding health care reform. They are clearly Republican in leaning but they have a 40+ y/o single dtr who has been diagnosed with MS and is undergoing some very expensive treatments. She’s still working but what happens when she can’t work and is disabled. How will she get care? Like most things, the personal experience can change one’s political realities. I’m not sure they have an idea about what should be done about health care reform but they like their Medicare and don’t seen too enthused about any health care reform that’s been proposed. Nothing’s perfect. They’d better hope something breaks loose soon or they will personally know the heartbreak of our failed non-system.
Tonite’s entertainment
A singer and instrumentalist. The young woman had played Evita in a traveling version in Europe. She is originally from Texas and her voice borders on shouting. She uses low growls frequently. She won’t have a voice for long doing these things. It’s interesting how many people are reacting to singers who shout. The instrumentalist collects various unique instruments and plays them. He is Polish and leans toward the vibraphone (metal version of a xylophone). He’s clearly very talented. They met on a ship and are now married. I thought it was interesting that she said, while telling about their CDs they were selling, that they wanted to start a family soon. Coincidence?
Hoe down
They had a country and western themed night up in the Pacific Lounge so various areas on ship have cowboy decorations and the staff are in Western garb. I doubt they’ll get many takers unless they are the second seating folks who tend to lounge around the swimming pool. Others are tired from the activities all day.
February 25th
I won’t go into the details about how, why and when we lost a day but we are now ahead of all of you. There is supposed to be a King Neptune ceremony on the upper deck this afternoon weather permitting but the weather this morning still looks pretty ominous with lots of wind, overcast, and I suspect horribly humid outside. I’m surprised that I’m having trouble getting my hand washing dried overnight as I’m accustomed to. The a/c system is very drying but clearly it’s being overrun by the ambient humidity.
Photos
I finally downloaded the last of the pictures before Honolulu; I only took a few with the Elph in that cfity. Sol I’ll see about posting a few later today. Also check my gmail. ;)
Pulit’zer for the National Inquirer!
Well wonders never cease. Apparently they are being considered because of their investigation related to the John Edwards child issue. It is true that the mainstream media has been reducing the amount and quality of their investigative reporting but who would’ve thunk it?
Well we had a lecture on Corporate Business and the Law. There was some interesting content but I wanted the speaker to hurry up and get on with it; give us the meat of his talk. Overall it was a pretty forgettable presentation. However, I won’t miss tomorrow particularly in view of the recent Supreme Court decision about corporate “speech”. His topic is Corporations and politics.
We had lunch with others including the Captain’s Circle lady, Sandy. She was telling that their computers can only deal with two numerals for age and they had a man on who was 100 yrs and 3 mos. Since the computers had him down as 3 mos old, he couldn’t get served liquor. Well you can imagine the rest of the mischief because of that little glitch, which remains the same btw.
Then went to the reunion of the world cruise in 2008. The 2009 group were there as well. We got caught up on some gossip and had (not very good champagne) compliments of Princess. Several folks are already signed up for next year’s world cruise as are JJ and Frankie and some other staff.
We passed on the WWII talk this afternoon since we’ve about had as much of the speaker as we could deal with. Instead Ed watched Fox News (ha ha ha ha) and I read some journals while the light from the window was good.
Weather
It has been blowing fierce winds all day and it reminds me of a blizzard outside. The wind howls through the windows on the patio and is overall not very inviting. I did go to the library at one point and it was humid and warm up top but the wind would blow you over if you weren’t careful. It was waayy too hot in the library to stay up there. We are coming into areas where we’ll need to keep our curtains closed during the day to keep our room cool.
There’s much discussion about when we cross the international date line. We’ve about got it right that we cross the equator at 1:30 am and that the date line is sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Trivia
We’ve been picking up strays to complete our team as there are 4 regulars and the team size is 6. We had one very good participant this morning and another who meant well but wasn’t much help. We didn’t win. BUT this afternoon, we tied with 2 other groups. So the tie breaker question was: how many countries share a border with Brazil? There are 10. We got 7 of them---as did the other two groups! So she gave up and gave all of us winning tokens. Such a deal
Dinner
One couple were at the Chef’s dinner tonite so the 6 of us cozied up and joked about many things. Then the Brits asked us about our health care system and we asked about theirs. It was very revealing particularly since one couple is in a precarious position regarding health care reform. They are clearly Republican in leaning but they have a 40+ y/o single dtr who has been diagnosed with MS and is undergoing some very expensive treatments. She’s still working but what happens when she can’t work and is disabled. How will she get care? Like most things, the personal experience can change one’s political realities. I’m not sure they have an idea about what should be done about health care reform but they like their Medicare and don’t seen too enthused about any health care reform that’s been proposed. Nothing’s perfect. They’d better hope something breaks loose soon or they will personally know the heartbreak of our failed non-system.
Tonite’s entertainment
A singer and instrumentalist. The young woman had played Evita in a traveling version in Europe. She is originally from Texas and her voice borders on shouting. She uses low growls frequently. She won’t have a voice for long doing these things. It’s interesting how many people are reacting to singers who shout. The instrumentalist collects various unique instruments and plays them. He is Polish and leans toward the vibraphone (metal version of a xylophone). He’s clearly very talented. They met on a ship and are now married. I thought it was interesting that she said, while telling about their CDs they were selling, that they wanted to start a family soon. Coincidence?
Hoe down
They had a country and western themed night up in the Pacific Lounge so various areas on ship have cowboy decorations and the staff are in Western garb. I doubt they’ll get many takers unless they are the second seating folks who tend to lounge around the swimming pool. Others are tired from the activities all day.
February 25th
I won’t go into the details about how, why and when we lost a day but we are now ahead of all of you. There is supposed to be a King Neptune ceremony on the upper deck this afternoon weather permitting but the weather this morning still looks pretty ominous with lots of wind, overcast, and I suspect horribly humid outside. I’m surprised that I’m having trouble getting my hand washing dried overnight as I’m accustomed to. The a/c system is very drying but clearly it’s being overrun by the ambient humidity.
Photos
I finally downloaded the last of the pictures before Honolulu; I only took a few with the Elph in that cfity. Sol I’ll see about posting a few later today. Also check my gmail. ;)
Pulit’zer for the National Inquirer!
Well wonders never cease. Apparently they are being considered because of their investigation related to the John Edwards child issue. It is true that the mainstream media has been reducing the amount and quality of their investigative reporting but who would’ve thunk it?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Another glorious day
February 23, 2010 still on the high seas
The seas have been pretty high with good winds but the ship stays relatively stable. Of course, you’ll be walking along a hallway and suddenly be slammed into the side but that’s not the norm.
Laundromat update
Someone said they were in the Laundromat the other day and there were only two washers in there and one was not working. Apparently they were in there when the repair man came to check and as they told the story, the repairman checked the number of the washer against his repair order. The washer number he had was operating. The one next to it, which of course had a different number, was not working but he left nonetheless. Now who knows if this is true but it was an interesting tale.
So although we’re very familiar with this ship and especially the laundrymat from previous voyages, I went to check it out personally. As always, it has 4 washers, 4 dryers, 2 ironing boards with irons and one plastic chair inside.
One of our new table mates said she had gone down there one day and it was like “World War III”. AS the story goes, the Irish priest who was on the first leg of the journey (and who is from a very small village in Ireland and one has the impression has led a rather sheltered life; this was his first cruise) had put his washing in and left the laundrymat. So the women were upset because he wasn’t there to remove his belongings. I’m sure he never made that mistake again. In fact, I can’t imagine why anyone would leave their laundry washing or drying and then walk out but there you have it.
This ship is the one used to film “The Love Boat.”Does anyone recall any episodes that involved problems in the Laundromat?
Dinner Sunday night and Monday night
We met our new table mates, some of them anyway. Barbara and John I believe we told you about already. Nancy and Bob arrived last night; they are from Texas though not natives. Monday night Peg and Bob showed up. They are from Colorado and were both in the computer field; This Bob used to teach at the University of Wisconsin but had a stroke and is now unable to talk. It is so sad to see because he is clearly a very bright fellow. So we had a full table Monday night and had a ball. This is a jolly group. Nancy and Bob are on for the full cruise; the others get off at Sydney.
Entertainment Sunday night
This was a young man who did a repertoire of Nat King Cole songs and his imitations are very credible. Clearly he enjoyed Cole’s music and this is an homage to him. He is tall, black and wore a dinner jacket such as you’ve all seen on Cole. The singer’s next show will feature soul and jazz that he likes in his own style.
Monday
We woke up before 8 and I heard Ed’s tap tapping again; he hasn’t done that until now on this trip. I guess Amy had told him about it. We got ready and wound up at the lecture on WWII. The photos are interesting but this is a hobby for him and the content isn’t as thorough as one would like. If we hadn’t had the benefit of the lectures 2 yrs ago, we wouldn’t have a clue as to why things happened the way they did. And no sense of the Japanese frame of mind. Ed and I are also disappointed at the “them and us” orientation of the presentation; the ones 2 yrs ago were much more balanced and professional. I was also annoyed because I went up to suggest a book about Bataan that I thought he would find interesting and I waited patiently for my turn and others were just butting ahead. This guy made no effort to stop this stuff and so I left when I got tired of that tacky behavior. The people who butted ahead should have been more sensitive but the speaker also had some responsibility in this. I know it’s hard but those of us who have been in this position, I think learn to try to be sure that those who were there first, get priority in asking questions or sharing information. And the analysis of his presentations predates this experience; Ed and I discussed this at length earlier.
Trivia
We pulled in 2 ladies this morning and if we had chosen other answers for several questions, we would have won since more than one of us had written down the right answers. In one instance, our scribe hadn’t written down the answer accurately even though it was written in the original form correctly. So we lost. Se la vie. It’s just a game.
BUT this afternoon, only 3 of our core group were there and we pulled in 3 others who were handy. They really didn’t contribute much but we won nonetheless. It was the luck of the draw of the questions and I think a little more focus on the part of our scribe. We were 4 women and 2 men; I wonder if that played a role? So we now have a trove of 20 tokens to redeem later for “prizes” since Ed and I are pooling our “winnings.”
Lunch
Just Ed and I for a change. I’m happy with this but Ed clearly prefers a large audience at the table. Since meeting new folks take a lot of emotional energy on my part, it was a nice treat to just enjoy the meal without making conversation with new folks. I don’t want to emphasize this part too much, but it is a clear difference in how Ed and I approach new experiences. I can do it, but it takes a lot of energy for me. Whereas, for Ed, he thrives on such opportunities.
Our Sun
The astronomer did another excellent job of discussing the cosmos, today our sun. While she’s very scientific, she’s also accessible for everyone whether they know her field or not. While I may never use any of the knowledge she’s given us, I still enjoy the explanations of how they determine certain things.
Star party: they’re going to try to arrange this but the weather is unpredictable and so it’s going to be a last minute decision with an announcement shortly beforehand. The wind up top today was way too strong for folks to be up there despite how gorgeous everything is.
FOX news
Rarely or almost never can we get CNN now but Rupert Murdock is ever predictable: Fox news comes in loud and clear. On some programs it is possible to squeeze out the background info in such a way that you feel satisfied that you’ve been able to tease our the real story rather than a digested version that hardly resembles the original data.
Monday night’s entertainment
It started off with JJ singing a song. He has a lovely voice and was a lead singer for many years. He got a standing ovation from everyone: men and women.
This was a magician (you all know how I feel about these guys) comedian. He’s British and absolutely hilarious. The magic is an excuse for his dry wit. He works with the audience largely and this isn’t easy. In some instances, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.
Bingo: side observation.
We’ve been talking about the zeal and focus of the bingo players because today was a jackpot bingo where someone had to win. Of course, many folks only show up for the big jackpots, including, occasionally, Ed and I (but not this time). One woman told that a lady leaving the ship in LA bequeathed her daubers to this lady still on the ship. Another lady told me that in the real world, one can buy a small machine and it will keep track of the numbers. You don’t even have to use a dauber or push the holes thorugh. This lady was from Las Vegas so we were talking about how silly it all is; why bother?
International Date Line
We are all anticipating this event as we will lose a day. So while we are now behind you guys, soon we will be ahead of all of you. We’ll lose a day I think 2/24. So there’s a ceremony usually when you go across the equator and when you cross the international date line. The ship may decide to do them together. The international date line isn’t straight down; there are areas where it’s worse than a dog’s hind leg. The ship can decide when to observe the latter but the equator crossing is more definite.
Reading we brought
I brought some of the magazines that had collected in the few weeks we were gone so we’re slowly plowing through them. But Ed also bought calendars on sale and so I’m currently racing through Click and Clack the tappet brothers. Those guys are nuts and their calendar pages are a riot. I have some nurse calendar ones as well and they also have quizzes on the reverse.
Oh yeah: they had a meeting of medical professionals today. A lady asked me if I went. Told her no, you wouldn’t find me there. She said there were 3 MDs there (I don’t know if that’s all or not).
Remember
We get an extra hour tonite but we lose Wednesday when we go over the international date line so tomorrow is Tuesday and the next day for us is Thursday.
Tuesday 2/23/10
We woke before 7 and finally opened the drapes to a gunmetal gray sky and blue steel ocean with good swells and some white caps. We watched a little TV; no satellite of any kind EVEN Fox news wasn’t available. We are out in the middle of no man’s land truly. Ed eventually made his way to the gym and I caught up on some reading while trying to decide if I had a severe sensitivity reaction to something on the ship or a real cold. Since I had been on a good pulse of Prednisone, which depresses your immune system, and since I have two genuine pimples, there’s evidence the immune system is still depressed. So I eventually unearthed the pseudophed and took some to help stop the dripping. It seemed to help a little and I made my way to the Cabaret Lounge to get a good seat for the Corporate Lawyer speaking this morning. I so want to asking him if ethical corporate lawyer is an oxymoron but of course I won’t. But perhaps I’ll silently cheer if someone else does.
The seas have been pretty high with good winds but the ship stays relatively stable. Of course, you’ll be walking along a hallway and suddenly be slammed into the side but that’s not the norm.
Laundromat update
Someone said they were in the Laundromat the other day and there were only two washers in there and one was not working. Apparently they were in there when the repair man came to check and as they told the story, the repairman checked the number of the washer against his repair order. The washer number he had was operating. The one next to it, which of course had a different number, was not working but he left nonetheless. Now who knows if this is true but it was an interesting tale.
So although we’re very familiar with this ship and especially the laundrymat from previous voyages, I went to check it out personally. As always, it has 4 washers, 4 dryers, 2 ironing boards with irons and one plastic chair inside.
One of our new table mates said she had gone down there one day and it was like “World War III”. AS the story goes, the Irish priest who was on the first leg of the journey (and who is from a very small village in Ireland and one has the impression has led a rather sheltered life; this was his first cruise) had put his washing in and left the laundrymat. So the women were upset because he wasn’t there to remove his belongings. I’m sure he never made that mistake again. In fact, I can’t imagine why anyone would leave their laundry washing or drying and then walk out but there you have it.
This ship is the one used to film “The Love Boat.”Does anyone recall any episodes that involved problems in the Laundromat?
Dinner Sunday night and Monday night
We met our new table mates, some of them anyway. Barbara and John I believe we told you about already. Nancy and Bob arrived last night; they are from Texas though not natives. Monday night Peg and Bob showed up. They are from Colorado and were both in the computer field; This Bob used to teach at the University of Wisconsin but had a stroke and is now unable to talk. It is so sad to see because he is clearly a very bright fellow. So we had a full table Monday night and had a ball. This is a jolly group. Nancy and Bob are on for the full cruise; the others get off at Sydney.
Entertainment Sunday night
This was a young man who did a repertoire of Nat King Cole songs and his imitations are very credible. Clearly he enjoyed Cole’s music and this is an homage to him. He is tall, black and wore a dinner jacket such as you’ve all seen on Cole. The singer’s next show will feature soul and jazz that he likes in his own style.
Monday
We woke up before 8 and I heard Ed’s tap tapping again; he hasn’t done that until now on this trip. I guess Amy had told him about it. We got ready and wound up at the lecture on WWII. The photos are interesting but this is a hobby for him and the content isn’t as thorough as one would like. If we hadn’t had the benefit of the lectures 2 yrs ago, we wouldn’t have a clue as to why things happened the way they did. And no sense of the Japanese frame of mind. Ed and I are also disappointed at the “them and us” orientation of the presentation; the ones 2 yrs ago were much more balanced and professional. I was also annoyed because I went up to suggest a book about Bataan that I thought he would find interesting and I waited patiently for my turn and others were just butting ahead. This guy made no effort to stop this stuff and so I left when I got tired of that tacky behavior. The people who butted ahead should have been more sensitive but the speaker also had some responsibility in this. I know it’s hard but those of us who have been in this position, I think learn to try to be sure that those who were there first, get priority in asking questions or sharing information. And the analysis of his presentations predates this experience; Ed and I discussed this at length earlier.
Trivia
We pulled in 2 ladies this morning and if we had chosen other answers for several questions, we would have won since more than one of us had written down the right answers. In one instance, our scribe hadn’t written down the answer accurately even though it was written in the original form correctly. So we lost. Se la vie. It’s just a game.
BUT this afternoon, only 3 of our core group were there and we pulled in 3 others who were handy. They really didn’t contribute much but we won nonetheless. It was the luck of the draw of the questions and I think a little more focus on the part of our scribe. We were 4 women and 2 men; I wonder if that played a role? So we now have a trove of 20 tokens to redeem later for “prizes” since Ed and I are pooling our “winnings.”
Lunch
Just Ed and I for a change. I’m happy with this but Ed clearly prefers a large audience at the table. Since meeting new folks take a lot of emotional energy on my part, it was a nice treat to just enjoy the meal without making conversation with new folks. I don’t want to emphasize this part too much, but it is a clear difference in how Ed and I approach new experiences. I can do it, but it takes a lot of energy for me. Whereas, for Ed, he thrives on such opportunities.
Our Sun
The astronomer did another excellent job of discussing the cosmos, today our sun. While she’s very scientific, she’s also accessible for everyone whether they know her field or not. While I may never use any of the knowledge she’s given us, I still enjoy the explanations of how they determine certain things.
Star party: they’re going to try to arrange this but the weather is unpredictable and so it’s going to be a last minute decision with an announcement shortly beforehand. The wind up top today was way too strong for folks to be up there despite how gorgeous everything is.
FOX news
Rarely or almost never can we get CNN now but Rupert Murdock is ever predictable: Fox news comes in loud and clear. On some programs it is possible to squeeze out the background info in such a way that you feel satisfied that you’ve been able to tease our the real story rather than a digested version that hardly resembles the original data.
Monday night’s entertainment
It started off with JJ singing a song. He has a lovely voice and was a lead singer for many years. He got a standing ovation from everyone: men and women.
This was a magician (you all know how I feel about these guys) comedian. He’s British and absolutely hilarious. The magic is an excuse for his dry wit. He works with the audience largely and this isn’t easy. In some instances, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.
Bingo: side observation.
We’ve been talking about the zeal and focus of the bingo players because today was a jackpot bingo where someone had to win. Of course, many folks only show up for the big jackpots, including, occasionally, Ed and I (but not this time). One woman told that a lady leaving the ship in LA bequeathed her daubers to this lady still on the ship. Another lady told me that in the real world, one can buy a small machine and it will keep track of the numbers. You don’t even have to use a dauber or push the holes thorugh. This lady was from Las Vegas so we were talking about how silly it all is; why bother?
International Date Line
We are all anticipating this event as we will lose a day. So while we are now behind you guys, soon we will be ahead of all of you. We’ll lose a day I think 2/24. So there’s a ceremony usually when you go across the equator and when you cross the international date line. The ship may decide to do them together. The international date line isn’t straight down; there are areas where it’s worse than a dog’s hind leg. The ship can decide when to observe the latter but the equator crossing is more definite.
Reading we brought
I brought some of the magazines that had collected in the few weeks we were gone so we’re slowly plowing through them. But Ed also bought calendars on sale and so I’m currently racing through Click and Clack the tappet brothers. Those guys are nuts and their calendar pages are a riot. I have some nurse calendar ones as well and they also have quizzes on the reverse.
Oh yeah: they had a meeting of medical professionals today. A lady asked me if I went. Told her no, you wouldn’t find me there. She said there were 3 MDs there (I don’t know if that’s all or not).
Remember
We get an extra hour tonite but we lose Wednesday when we go over the international date line so tomorrow is Tuesday and the next day for us is Thursday.
Tuesday 2/23/10
We woke before 7 and finally opened the drapes to a gunmetal gray sky and blue steel ocean with good swells and some white caps. We watched a little TV; no satellite of any kind EVEN Fox news wasn’t available. We are out in the middle of no man’s land truly. Ed eventually made his way to the gym and I caught up on some reading while trying to decide if I had a severe sensitivity reaction to something on the ship or a real cold. Since I had been on a good pulse of Prednisone, which depresses your immune system, and since I have two genuine pimples, there’s evidence the immune system is still depressed. So I eventually unearthed the pseudophed and took some to help stop the dripping. It seemed to help a little and I made my way to the Cabaret Lounge to get a good seat for the Corporate Lawyer speaking this morning. I so want to asking him if ethical corporate lawyer is an oxymoron but of course I won’t. But perhaps I’ll silently cheer if someone else does.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sunday at sea
OPEN GORGEOUS BLUE SEAS 2 21 10
I had some oranges and Ed went to the gym while I started to catch up with these blogs.
WWII lecture
This fellow is very good and is providing us with different perspectives than other speakers we’ve had on this topic. He was a HS social studies teacher and there’s some of that quality that I find off putting but overall he’s very good and obviously loves his topic which counts for a lot.
Trivia
We played in the am and the pm. Chuck and Evelyn were glad to see us return but we need to find 2 more solid members: one Brit and one young. In the afternoon a couple from Canada joined us. We didn’t win either time but we didn’t have to hang our heads in shame either. I gave the staff member my collection of trivia questions with citations in case they wanted to use any of them and be able to provide the malcontents with a citation to dispute. He seemed glad to get them though I don’t know if they’d ever use them since I’m on here. I couldn’t possibly remember all those answers so I’m probably pretty safe.
Sunday brunch
This was a zoo. Probably because so many folks waited until noon to arrive and wanted to get out for an event at 1:30. As always we visited with some delightful people who are getting off in New Zealand and will be driving around the country for 2 weeks. We have met several folks who have done that. The food as you may expect was terrific.
Cosmos lecture
They have an astronomer on board and she did a good job of introducing us to astronomy and showing us various ways scientists get information about the cosmos. She has several other lectures and though I’m not absorbed by this topic, she is interesting and I’ll get the answer to some questions. There is a hope that there will be a “star party” one night if the weather cooperates. We will bring our flashlights and binoculars.
I had some oranges and Ed went to the gym while I started to catch up with these blogs.
WWII lecture
This fellow is very good and is providing us with different perspectives than other speakers we’ve had on this topic. He was a HS social studies teacher and there’s some of that quality that I find off putting but overall he’s very good and obviously loves his topic which counts for a lot.
Trivia
We played in the am and the pm. Chuck and Evelyn were glad to see us return but we need to find 2 more solid members: one Brit and one young. In the afternoon a couple from Canada joined us. We didn’t win either time but we didn’t have to hang our heads in shame either. I gave the staff member my collection of trivia questions with citations in case they wanted to use any of them and be able to provide the malcontents with a citation to dispute. He seemed glad to get them though I don’t know if they’d ever use them since I’m on here. I couldn’t possibly remember all those answers so I’m probably pretty safe.
Sunday brunch
This was a zoo. Probably because so many folks waited until noon to arrive and wanted to get out for an event at 1:30. As always we visited with some delightful people who are getting off in New Zealand and will be driving around the country for 2 weeks. We have met several folks who have done that. The food as you may expect was terrific.
Cosmos lecture
They have an astronomer on board and she did a good job of introducing us to astronomy and showing us various ways scientists get information about the cosmos. She has several other lectures and though I’m not absorbed by this topic, she is interesting and I’ll get the answer to some questions. There is a hope that there will be a “star party” one night if the weather cooperates. We will bring our flashlights and binoculars.
Honolulu: back on ship
WE GOT ONTO THE SHIP!
But not without hitches! We woke up fairly early and had agreed that we would eat on the ship. Everything got packed up fairly easily and we made our way out to the cab stand. The cabs are pretty nice here and the drivers seem more laid back than you get in LA.
We arrive at the ship’s terminal. Ed remains with the luggage while I go to the door and try to achieve entry. The security eventually agreed to call a porter and this involved calling the gurka security on the ship. By this time, Ed has me guarding the luggage and he’s gone to move things along. Eventually, the head of ship’s security shows up and agrees, after our long sad story has been recounted several times, that we can come on board. After some time, a poor much-too-skinny-for-the-job deck attendant appears with a rolling carrier for our bags. We are given cruise cards. Ed’s is blue and this indicates your first cruise with Princess. Mine has the right dates but is gold, far below the elite status we’ve come to enjoy using. Nevermind, as eventually we are again allowed back on the ship including a new photo in their security system.
We are welcomed by Edison who courageously protected our belongings in our absence and forbid anyone to even think of clearing out our cabin. We learn that the voyage across was pretty rocky with the upper decks and the promenade deck closed off for 3-4 days with lots of folks upchucking and eating very little. We parked everything and went to eat at the Panorama Bar where we ate on the back of the ship and enjoyed the wonderful weather.
So then we took a cab to the Iolani Palace, the only foreign palace on American soil. The barracks are a brick building that resembles something you’d see in Britain. The Palace itself was very modern for it’s time due to the modernity of one of the Hawaiian kings who had travelled the world, the first monarch to do so. He was also the first monarch to address a joint session of Congress. He asked to meet Thomas Edison and as a result his palace was the first to have electric lights even before any in DC.
The embarrassing history of the American military’s complicity in the take over the monarchy resulted in an apology from President Clinton in 1993. Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned here for quite a while and during that time she and her lady in waiting made the most gorgeous crazy quilt I have ever seen. There is delicate embroidery all around and the fabric pieces are said to have come from some of her dresses. The finest china and crystal were used to serve guests from all over the world.
On the same grounds is the state capitol which is of a peculiar architectural style. There was no tour on a Saturday so I don’t know the thinking behind it but it is different. In front of it stands a statue of Father Damien, the lepers saint, which looks like a Botero piece. Across the street from all this is the governor’s mansion. The current governor is a woman who is a UCLA graduate.
We walked back to the ship from here, a trek of perhaps a mile through different neighborhoods of Honolulu. We had no trouble getting back on the ship, mercifully. We spent most of the time unpacking the various bags and rearranging our “things” so we could maneuver in this cramped space.
At 4 pm a folklorico troupe of young children came on to dance hula. This is the same group Nancy and I saw on the ship in December but it was different seeing them in a more intimate space. They were equally as good as they were in December.
We have a new table and it seats 8. Only one other couple were there: Barbara and John from Lincolnshire in Britain, a thoroughly delightful couple. This table is also served by Max and Carolina so it felt like home.
The entertainment tonite was a movie in the lounge so we went back to the room, completed our rearranging and then settled down to read and finally back on the open sea.
But not without hitches! We woke up fairly early and had agreed that we would eat on the ship. Everything got packed up fairly easily and we made our way out to the cab stand. The cabs are pretty nice here and the drivers seem more laid back than you get in LA.
We arrive at the ship’s terminal. Ed remains with the luggage while I go to the door and try to achieve entry. The security eventually agreed to call a porter and this involved calling the gurka security on the ship. By this time, Ed has me guarding the luggage and he’s gone to move things along. Eventually, the head of ship’s security shows up and agrees, after our long sad story has been recounted several times, that we can come on board. After some time, a poor much-too-skinny-for-the-job deck attendant appears with a rolling carrier for our bags. We are given cruise cards. Ed’s is blue and this indicates your first cruise with Princess. Mine has the right dates but is gold, far below the elite status we’ve come to enjoy using. Nevermind, as eventually we are again allowed back on the ship including a new photo in their security system.
We are welcomed by Edison who courageously protected our belongings in our absence and forbid anyone to even think of clearing out our cabin. We learn that the voyage across was pretty rocky with the upper decks and the promenade deck closed off for 3-4 days with lots of folks upchucking and eating very little. We parked everything and went to eat at the Panorama Bar where we ate on the back of the ship and enjoyed the wonderful weather.
So then we took a cab to the Iolani Palace, the only foreign palace on American soil. The barracks are a brick building that resembles something you’d see in Britain. The Palace itself was very modern for it’s time due to the modernity of one of the Hawaiian kings who had travelled the world, the first monarch to do so. He was also the first monarch to address a joint session of Congress. He asked to meet Thomas Edison and as a result his palace was the first to have electric lights even before any in DC.
The embarrassing history of the American military’s complicity in the take over the monarchy resulted in an apology from President Clinton in 1993. Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned here for quite a while and during that time she and her lady in waiting made the most gorgeous crazy quilt I have ever seen. There is delicate embroidery all around and the fabric pieces are said to have come from some of her dresses. The finest china and crystal were used to serve guests from all over the world.
On the same grounds is the state capitol which is of a peculiar architectural style. There was no tour on a Saturday so I don’t know the thinking behind it but it is different. In front of it stands a statue of Father Damien, the lepers saint, which looks like a Botero piece. Across the street from all this is the governor’s mansion. The current governor is a woman who is a UCLA graduate.
We walked back to the ship from here, a trek of perhaps a mile through different neighborhoods of Honolulu. We had no trouble getting back on the ship, mercifully. We spent most of the time unpacking the various bags and rearranging our “things” so we could maneuver in this cramped space.
At 4 pm a folklorico troupe of young children came on to dance hula. This is the same group Nancy and I saw on the ship in December but it was different seeing them in a more intimate space. They were equally as good as they were in December.
We have a new table and it seats 8. Only one other couple were there: Barbara and John from Lincolnshire in Britain, a thoroughly delightful couple. This table is also served by Max and Carolina so it felt like home.
The entertainment tonite was a movie in the lounge so we went back to the room, completed our rearranging and then settled down to read and finally back on the open sea.
what to do on sea days
AT SEA: a typical day
Folks always say they’d be bored at sea. We never are so I thought I’d give you a run down of the things that are offered each day at sea. I’m using today’s Princess Patter as an example. It isn’t a daily, predictable routine, but it’s close enough.
For example, today we didn’t have breakfast available in the dining room. Instead, since it is a Sunday, we had the brunch from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. Usually it goes to 2:30 but they have a lecture that begins at 1:30. But otherwise, days at sea are pretty much the same in structure.
Meals
The Panorama Café has meals all day. There is room service though on a small ship like this, it isn’t usually available 24 hrs. There is of course the formal dining room where one can have breakfast and lunch on an open seating plan. At dinner, it is assigned seating and there is a first and a second seating.
In addition, there are specialty restaurants. There is a steakhouse and Sabatini’s which is a multicourse restaurant where reservations are required and there is an additional charge per person of about $20 I think.. Actually the charge is true for both restaurants.
Pizza and burgers are available on the upper deck most of the time.
And don’t forget afternoon tea!
Snacks
There is ice cream for an hour in the afternoon and at 3 pm everyday in the Club bar, there are fresh baked cookies. There are candies in a bowl as you exit the dining room and some people load up their pockets as if they were starving. Many times, by the time we leave the dining room, the bowl is empty and we are first seating so you know it must be refilled for second seating.
We are given bowls of fruit in our staterooms and we can order as much as we want and can specific fruits if they are available.
For Elites
There are hordoervers every evening but you buy your own drinks. These may be chips and salsa or sushi as they had last night.
Swimming pools
There are several up top along with hot tubs. There are always lounge lizards out there burning their skin into leather. There is a jogging track above this level and it’s a great place to just walk around. The ocean is visible on all sides and is glorious on most days. The wind is wonderful and you feel renewed when you’re done.
Gym
They have all new equipment here and they have begun to enforce the 20 min limit on the treadmills so things are moving along better.
Bars
These of course are everywhere. Each day there are special drinks including non alcoholic. Doday’s signature cocktail is the Raspberry fizz at $6.75 + 18% gratituity. The mocktail of the day is Princess smoothie. Martini of the day is “ole blue eyes”.
Spa and salon
Everyday you can be pampered and fleeced up there. They don’t offer every service you’d find in an LA salon and the ladies are usual new grads so be forewarned.
Internet center
There is wifi but the best signal is near the forward part of the ship or the panorama café near where computer classes are given (for a $25 fee). There are internet terminals and a fee for internet use. AS Elite members we get a nice chunk of free internet usages---when we’re able to access it.
Satellite TV reception
Doesn’t seem to be related to the internet. We now have FOX news, CNN irregularly, HLN sometimes. There are movies, cartoons, Discovery channel, the ship’s channels where you can see the web cam, find out about other Princess ports and ships, view the DVDs for this trip, see previous entertainment, and get information on shore excursiolns.
Photo and Video center
They have some supplies for sale but mostly they are there to sell you the DVDs of this trip and photos that they seem to be taking everywhere all the time. They are not cheap and this is a huge revenue center for the ship.
Boutiques on board
There are sales and features everyday so we always pass through this area to see what’s available. They have a small sundries section and fragrances and some clothing are available.
“Fine arts” & arts and crafts
They have paintings all over the place for sale and auction, many of these auctions include champagne and lessons on artists. They are also a money trap. Today’s “lecture” is the birth of modern art.
There is a knitting, crocheting and needlework group that meets periodically. Ceramics at sea allows you to paint your own masterpiece; I have a few from other cruises..k
Watercolor art: this is a get together and a class depending on the time. One guy said my flower looks exactly like it did when I was in the fifth grade. That would be me.
Future cruise sales and Captain’s Circle
These are to deal with frequent cruisers and will handle any questions you have related to future cruises or your Captain’s Circle account (our elite status).
Grand Casino
Oh Wow! We can’t forget this place. They even have complementary gaming lessons; such a deal. There is a poker tournament going on at the moment. And of course, the ever present slot machines and black jack tables.
Medical Center
Nurses and Nikolas, the MD, are available 24/7 but there are clinic hours in the am and pm.
Religious services
There is a priest on board and Mass is held every day. There are Shabbat services on Fridays and sometimes the staff will do nondenominational services on Sundays.
Library
There are puzzles, soduku of the day, and lots of wonderful books. Passengers donate magazines of various stripes and there are always folks up there reading and sometimes researching various topics. It is a quiet respite and enjoyed by all at various times
There is a book club that meets periodically and books are provided by Princess.
Bridge
These folks are fanatics. They meet sometimes twice a day and the world revolves around their lectures and playing.
Classes
Dance: These are done by the dancers of Princess for the most part though the female part of the Exhibitionists is doing hula classes for other passengers.
Computer: for a small $25 fee you can learn to do a lot with photoshop and other programs.
Photography: lots of different offerings here.
LECTURES
These aren’t quite classes but they often include academically oriented topics. Today there were lectures on WWII and Visions of the Cosmos. They average two lectures a day.
I’m not sure this counts as a lecture, but periodically the tour/excursion desk puts on presentations about tours. Likewise, other staff present slide shows about other cruises.
Games
There’s ping pong, shuffle board, carpet bowls, deck quoits (I don’t have a clue), outburst, and simulated golf somehow. There are more I’m forgetting. There’s a card room with Scrabble, monopoly, and other games. A lady asked me today if I played Canasta and though it’s been years, I think that would be fun to do again. There’s always laughter coming from that card/game room.
Special games: these are often done for theme nights. Right now they have a boat building contest going on and we’re all looking forward to seeing the results which are usually hilarious.
Get togethers
The COPD group meets now and then. Today’s there’s Aviator, flight attendant and ground personnel get-together. Friends of Bill W meet daily. And the RED HATS are listed often to meet but so far there are only 3 of us. And today is Canada, Canadian, and Canooks.
BINGO!
OMG don’t get in the way of these folks and their bingo. They are serious and hard core.
Tonite’s entertainment
Finally, there is the evening entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge which is usually a big show and is shown twice, once for each seating group. There is often pre-show dancing with the band. The Pacific Lounge, the large area at the front and top of the ship, has bands playing until late at night. The Casino Lounge has a band and piano entertainer and often karaoke (whoopee)
So that’s a quick and dirty of what’s official. You can still sit on the promenade deck, read, sleep, or simply do nothing which some folks seem to have down to perfection.
Folks always say they’d be bored at sea. We never are so I thought I’d give you a run down of the things that are offered each day at sea. I’m using today’s Princess Patter as an example. It isn’t a daily, predictable routine, but it’s close enough.
For example, today we didn’t have breakfast available in the dining room. Instead, since it is a Sunday, we had the brunch from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. Usually it goes to 2:30 but they have a lecture that begins at 1:30. But otherwise, days at sea are pretty much the same in structure.
Meals
The Panorama Café has meals all day. There is room service though on a small ship like this, it isn’t usually available 24 hrs. There is of course the formal dining room where one can have breakfast and lunch on an open seating plan. At dinner, it is assigned seating and there is a first and a second seating.
In addition, there are specialty restaurants. There is a steakhouse and Sabatini’s which is a multicourse restaurant where reservations are required and there is an additional charge per person of about $20 I think.. Actually the charge is true for both restaurants.
Pizza and burgers are available on the upper deck most of the time.
And don’t forget afternoon tea!
Snacks
There is ice cream for an hour in the afternoon and at 3 pm everyday in the Club bar, there are fresh baked cookies. There are candies in a bowl as you exit the dining room and some people load up their pockets as if they were starving. Many times, by the time we leave the dining room, the bowl is empty and we are first seating so you know it must be refilled for second seating.
We are given bowls of fruit in our staterooms and we can order as much as we want and can specific fruits if they are available.
For Elites
There are hordoervers every evening but you buy your own drinks. These may be chips and salsa or sushi as they had last night.
Swimming pools
There are several up top along with hot tubs. There are always lounge lizards out there burning their skin into leather. There is a jogging track above this level and it’s a great place to just walk around. The ocean is visible on all sides and is glorious on most days. The wind is wonderful and you feel renewed when you’re done.
Gym
They have all new equipment here and they have begun to enforce the 20 min limit on the treadmills so things are moving along better.
Bars
These of course are everywhere. Each day there are special drinks including non alcoholic. Doday’s signature cocktail is the Raspberry fizz at $6.75 + 18% gratituity. The mocktail of the day is Princess smoothie. Martini of the day is “ole blue eyes”.
Spa and salon
Everyday you can be pampered and fleeced up there. They don’t offer every service you’d find in an LA salon and the ladies are usual new grads so be forewarned.
Internet center
There is wifi but the best signal is near the forward part of the ship or the panorama café near where computer classes are given (for a $25 fee). There are internet terminals and a fee for internet use. AS Elite members we get a nice chunk of free internet usages---when we’re able to access it.
Satellite TV reception
Doesn’t seem to be related to the internet. We now have FOX news, CNN irregularly, HLN sometimes. There are movies, cartoons, Discovery channel, the ship’s channels where you can see the web cam, find out about other Princess ports and ships, view the DVDs for this trip, see previous entertainment, and get information on shore excursiolns.
Photo and Video center
They have some supplies for sale but mostly they are there to sell you the DVDs of this trip and photos that they seem to be taking everywhere all the time. They are not cheap and this is a huge revenue center for the ship.
Boutiques on board
There are sales and features everyday so we always pass through this area to see what’s available. They have a small sundries section and fragrances and some clothing are available.
“Fine arts” & arts and crafts
They have paintings all over the place for sale and auction, many of these auctions include champagne and lessons on artists. They are also a money trap. Today’s “lecture” is the birth of modern art.
There is a knitting, crocheting and needlework group that meets periodically. Ceramics at sea allows you to paint your own masterpiece; I have a few from other cruises..k
Watercolor art: this is a get together and a class depending on the time. One guy said my flower looks exactly like it did when I was in the fifth grade. That would be me.
Future cruise sales and Captain’s Circle
These are to deal with frequent cruisers and will handle any questions you have related to future cruises or your Captain’s Circle account (our elite status).
Grand Casino
Oh Wow! We can’t forget this place. They even have complementary gaming lessons; such a deal. There is a poker tournament going on at the moment. And of course, the ever present slot machines and black jack tables.
Medical Center
Nurses and Nikolas, the MD, are available 24/7 but there are clinic hours in the am and pm.
Religious services
There is a priest on board and Mass is held every day. There are Shabbat services on Fridays and sometimes the staff will do nondenominational services on Sundays.
Library
There are puzzles, soduku of the day, and lots of wonderful books. Passengers donate magazines of various stripes and there are always folks up there reading and sometimes researching various topics. It is a quiet respite and enjoyed by all at various times
There is a book club that meets periodically and books are provided by Princess.
Bridge
These folks are fanatics. They meet sometimes twice a day and the world revolves around their lectures and playing.
Classes
Dance: These are done by the dancers of Princess for the most part though the female part of the Exhibitionists is doing hula classes for other passengers.
Computer: for a small $25 fee you can learn to do a lot with photoshop and other programs.
Photography: lots of different offerings here.
LECTURES
These aren’t quite classes but they often include academically oriented topics. Today there were lectures on WWII and Visions of the Cosmos. They average two lectures a day.
I’m not sure this counts as a lecture, but periodically the tour/excursion desk puts on presentations about tours. Likewise, other staff present slide shows about other cruises.
Games
There’s ping pong, shuffle board, carpet bowls, deck quoits (I don’t have a clue), outburst, and simulated golf somehow. There are more I’m forgetting. There’s a card room with Scrabble, monopoly, and other games. A lady asked me today if I played Canasta and though it’s been years, I think that would be fun to do again. There’s always laughter coming from that card/game room.
Special games: these are often done for theme nights. Right now they have a boat building contest going on and we’re all looking forward to seeing the results which are usually hilarious.
Get togethers
The COPD group meets now and then. Today’s there’s Aviator, flight attendant and ground personnel get-together. Friends of Bill W meet daily. And the RED HATS are listed often to meet but so far there are only 3 of us. And today is Canada, Canadian, and Canooks.
BINGO!
OMG don’t get in the way of these folks and their bingo. They are serious and hard core.
Tonite’s entertainment
Finally, there is the evening entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge which is usually a big show and is shown twice, once for each seating group. There is often pre-show dancing with the band. The Pacific Lounge, the large area at the front and top of the ship, has bands playing until late at night. The Casino Lounge has a band and piano entertainer and often karaoke (whoopee)
So that’s a quick and dirty of what’s official. You can still sit on the promenade deck, read, sleep, or simply do nothing which some folks seem to have down to perfection.
Ok we're on our way to Suva
ON TO HONOLULU
We got up before 6 and managed to get all of our “stuff” into the assigned bags. Mike and Trudy picked us up and we went to Weiler’s for brunch. Mike treated us. How’s that for a deal: brunch and a free ride to the fly away, where we did manage to get the bus that was ready to go despite the porter’s protestations (he was being held hostage by a spiked heeled woman who wouldn’t give him his tip until she was damned well ready) that we would have to wait until the next bus 30 min. later.
So we arrived at LAX and got through security and such in fine time. So fine in fact, that we had at least an hour and a half to people watch.
The flight was packed and I mean not an inch left anywhere. It was longer than I recalled at well over 5 hours. I had a very interesting book which I call “An Homage to the Physical Exam” and it was such that I could read it fairly comfortably, a minor miracle in itself these days. The actual title of the book is something like “What patients say to us” and is by an internist who is quick to exposure mistakes, something we all find refreshing. But over and over again she tells stories where , had the clinician simply done the thorough physical exam, a disease would have been uncovered early on. I was frankly shocked to hear her tell about the practice part of the learning of the physical exam; she is a Yale graduate and teaches there. We do sooooo much a better job in nursing! (small yeah here)
Honolulu airport
We unkinked ourselves from our seats and the first thing you are aware of when you enter the building is the smell of those lovely leis! It was around 7pm. We got a comfortable cab to the Ala Moana Hotel which was a real surprise since we got such a great price. The room was modern, clean and with a great view of the mountains. The weather was misty/rainy and that continued through Thursday—more later. The bed was unbelievably comfortable. And we had free high speed internet access which worked great except for bringing down my email which I decided to leave alone.
We got up before 6 and managed to get all of our “stuff” into the assigned bags. Mike and Trudy picked us up and we went to Weiler’s for brunch. Mike treated us. How’s that for a deal: brunch and a free ride to the fly away, where we did manage to get the bus that was ready to go despite the porter’s protestations (he was being held hostage by a spiked heeled woman who wouldn’t give him his tip until she was damned well ready) that we would have to wait until the next bus 30 min. later.
So we arrived at LAX and got through security and such in fine time. So fine in fact, that we had at least an hour and a half to people watch.
The flight was packed and I mean not an inch left anywhere. It was longer than I recalled at well over 5 hours. I had a very interesting book which I call “An Homage to the Physical Exam” and it was such that I could read it fairly comfortably, a minor miracle in itself these days. The actual title of the book is something like “What patients say to us” and is by an internist who is quick to exposure mistakes, something we all find refreshing. But over and over again she tells stories where , had the clinician simply done the thorough physical exam, a disease would have been uncovered early on. I was frankly shocked to hear her tell about the practice part of the learning of the physical exam; she is a Yale graduate and teaches there. We do sooooo much a better job in nursing! (small yeah here)
Honolulu airport
We unkinked ourselves from our seats and the first thing you are aware of when you enter the building is the smell of those lovely leis! It was around 7pm. We got a comfortable cab to the Ala Moana Hotel which was a real surprise since we got such a great price. The room was modern, clean and with a great view of the mountains. The weather was misty/rainy and that continued through Thursday—more later. The bed was unbelievably comfortable. And we had free high speed internet access which worked great except for bringing down my email which I decided to leave alone.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
We're off again!
Wednesday February 17th
While I did manage to get to sleep at midnite (finally) I woke up around 4:45 am and eventually got up about 5:30 am as it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to sleep any more though I am glad that Ed did.
KP reimbursement
Since I saw Nikolas on the ship, I need to submit for reimbursement from KP. They have difficulty dealing with ship visits because they are a one page summary which includes everything. As a part of my documentation, I copied my cruise card and noticed that it had been changed from 5/15 as the disembarkation date to 2/14/10!!! Yeech. So the dreaded computer STILL doesn’t have it right! That means we’ll have to go through registration AGAIN in Honolulu
In the meantime I called KP to see what else I needed to submit to get this claim processed. They need a copy of our ship board billing plus the credit card to which it was billed so they can see that we have actually paid for it. OMG I’m wondering if it’s all worth it as the bill is $72 ($13 of which is a small bottle of Robitussin btw). However, it is the principle of it all so I’ll trudge ahead. Can use that money for other things.
Princess computer limits?
So I called Princess to see if I could try once again to be sure we don’t have problems. I spoke with a nice (but aren’t they all? That’s no sign of results) man named Caesar and I had to give him our flight information and the name of our hotel. He is notifying the ship that we are returning to the ship in Honolulu and gave me a number to call in case of any further changes. Mercy!
Sympathy cards
The spouses of several friends died while we were gone so I’m writing notes. I usually make all the cards and don’t have time right now so I’m trying to write notes to each. Better the thought than silence.
And speaking of sympathy, I am very touched by the folks who are saying prayers on my behalf that the shots in my eyes work. I believe in all those healing vibes but I am humbled by the spontaneous gestures. People can be so touching.
Technology
It’s wonderful to have the desktop computer to use for email and such. You forget how much we take it all for granted. I don’t use my iPhone on the cruise because of the fear of incurring outrageous charges so just the ability to use all of it’s features is a real treat.
Beautiication?
We have more appts today to prepare our aging bodies to be presentable and of course the usual things that have to be done while we’re here.
So…what have we forgotten?
This is always the concern of course. We have lists everywhere. Thank goodness our plane leaves tomorrow afternoon.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 18th (already?)
We finished marathon appts and Ed even had a chance to go visit his Mom. Her trajectory continues downhill mentally but she is still interested in conversation and seems happy enough.
Dinner
Ed picked up Sami and later Jeff and Dani joined us. Sami had to go to Hebrew school (her Bat Mitzvah is later this year) and so the rest of us went to supper and caught up on the family news. I’ve eaten waayyy too many calories these past few days rewarding myself for enduring these procedures so I’ll need to get back on track on the ship. Ed has been a gem through all of this in shlepping me around. We eneded the day by taking my Staples check to their store and replacing some ink cartridges; boy it seems we’re always changing them out.
Early rising
I had set the alarm for 6 am and got up about 10 minutes before that. I folded the laundry we left drying last night and got all the last minute stuff arranged on the bed for Ed to pack. For those of you new to our routines, I stopped trying to pack years ago; Ed would simply undo it as he had a better way. So now I lay it all out and get out of his way. From the looks of everything we have laid out to go with us, we’ll need a sea container to get everything back to LA at the end of the tripp.
Sooo
This will be my last posting until perhaps Sunday.
While I did manage to get to sleep at midnite (finally) I woke up around 4:45 am and eventually got up about 5:30 am as it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to sleep any more though I am glad that Ed did.
KP reimbursement
Since I saw Nikolas on the ship, I need to submit for reimbursement from KP. They have difficulty dealing with ship visits because they are a one page summary which includes everything. As a part of my documentation, I copied my cruise card and noticed that it had been changed from 5/15 as the disembarkation date to 2/14/10!!! Yeech. So the dreaded computer STILL doesn’t have it right! That means we’ll have to go through registration AGAIN in Honolulu
In the meantime I called KP to see what else I needed to submit to get this claim processed. They need a copy of our ship board billing plus the credit card to which it was billed so they can see that we have actually paid for it. OMG I’m wondering if it’s all worth it as the bill is $72 ($13 of which is a small bottle of Robitussin btw). However, it is the principle of it all so I’ll trudge ahead. Can use that money for other things.
Princess computer limits?
So I called Princess to see if I could try once again to be sure we don’t have problems. I spoke with a nice (but aren’t they all? That’s no sign of results) man named Caesar and I had to give him our flight information and the name of our hotel. He is notifying the ship that we are returning to the ship in Honolulu and gave me a number to call in case of any further changes. Mercy!
Sympathy cards
The spouses of several friends died while we were gone so I’m writing notes. I usually make all the cards and don’t have time right now so I’m trying to write notes to each. Better the thought than silence.
And speaking of sympathy, I am very touched by the folks who are saying prayers on my behalf that the shots in my eyes work. I believe in all those healing vibes but I am humbled by the spontaneous gestures. People can be so touching.
Technology
It’s wonderful to have the desktop computer to use for email and such. You forget how much we take it all for granted. I don’t use my iPhone on the cruise because of the fear of incurring outrageous charges so just the ability to use all of it’s features is a real treat.
Beautiication?
We have more appts today to prepare our aging bodies to be presentable and of course the usual things that have to be done while we’re here.
So…what have we forgotten?
This is always the concern of course. We have lists everywhere. Thank goodness our plane leaves tomorrow afternoon.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 18th (already?)
We finished marathon appts and Ed even had a chance to go visit his Mom. Her trajectory continues downhill mentally but she is still interested in conversation and seems happy enough.
Dinner
Ed picked up Sami and later Jeff and Dani joined us. Sami had to go to Hebrew school (her Bat Mitzvah is later this year) and so the rest of us went to supper and caught up on the family news. I’ve eaten waayyy too many calories these past few days rewarding myself for enduring these procedures so I’ll need to get back on track on the ship. Ed has been a gem through all of this in shlepping me around. We eneded the day by taking my Staples check to their store and replacing some ink cartridges; boy it seems we’re always changing them out.
Early rising
I had set the alarm for 6 am and got up about 10 minutes before that. I folded the laundry we left drying last night and got all the last minute stuff arranged on the bed for Ed to pack. For those of you new to our routines, I stopped trying to pack years ago; Ed would simply undo it as he had a better way. So now I lay it all out and get out of his way. From the looks of everything we have laid out to go with us, we’ll need a sea container to get everything back to LA at the end of the tripp.
Sooo
This will be my last posting until perhaps Sunday.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Moday and Tuesday 2/15 and 16
Happy Birthday Lisa!
February 15th and 16th
MD appts
I got up early and called Kaiser to get an appt with my primary doctor to follow up on the coughing which is only slightly better and wearing both of us out. Got an early one fortunately, and when the doctor came I the room, I covered my eyes and said: “Oh no! She’s back again!” He remarked that I was far from being a frequent flyer. We finished with the exams and such and he put me on a course of oral steroids for three days. Told Ed I’d be happy, hungry and the doctor added I’d have insomnia. We then spent some time talking about health care reform and KPs position since it is one of the models being used for discussion. It turns out that since KP is a federally recognized HMO it MUST offer a so called “cadillac” plan of services and this also means that it—and the subscribers—will be charged an extra fee if the Senate version of health care reform passes. Although I know KP has a n excellent array of services and benefits, I never thought of it as a “Cadillac plan”. Then we discussed adverse selection. As an example, KP was the first to cover HIV drugs so of course, lots of folks who were HIV+ flocked to KP. There are other examples. Because of some problems with drug issues, KP, like most other health coverages, may soon reduce our medication supplies to 30 days. We have enough trouble getting the meds for these long cruises!
In the afternoon, I had the 3rd shot in my left eye. I am still stunned that it has improved what vision I have left in that eye. We set the appt for tomorrow for the last I my right eye.
In between
We were frantically trying to get other things done in between all these anchoring appointments. We did manage to go to the Bistro at Nordstrom’s for lunch, something we both enjoy as they have great salads. And I dropped off ink cartridges at Staples so we can get a coupon for credit toward more. Those sorts of things.
And we picked up the check for Ed’s car. So that chapter is over for the time being.
Ol d cronies
Since Ed went to lay poker with his HS buddies (he told them he came off the ship especially to do this. Ha), I rewarded myself for my medical ordeals with a Big Mac. It was good but I would have liked it better with lots more secret sauce. Maybe I should have just opted for a Whopper from Burger King.
FEBRUARY 16TH
Amy was good enough to switch patrons around so we could get everything in today. So she started with me, cut Ed’s hair and then finished me. We took subway sandwiches to gulp down.
I had the final shot for the time being, in my right eye which does not seem to be making any difference. Since there’s not much out there to offer me, I may just need to learn to adapt to that loss over time. I was left with a big blood clot on my eye this time and I have a good story to tell folks: Ed finally whopped me when I said the wrong thing. Ha.
We then went to Fidelity to deposit the check for the car and to get info about Roth IRA conversions and get the nitty gritty about the new rules for conversions. That took longer than we expected.
We picked up a world map and atlas since, in my organizing zeal, I put the old ones somewhere logical and of course now cannot find them and am not willing to obsess any more about it. Besides, the geopolitical boundaries have changed a lot in the intervening time since we bought the last one.
I could only get a few of the mail hold cards so we went to more than one PO and I still need a few more. We got cash for the trip, picked up Ed’s favorite shirt from the tailor, dropped off stuff at the thrift store…well you get the picture.
We had an anniversary card from Daily Grill, which despite my food poisoning incident at the LAX branch in December, I still enjoy, so we went there for an early supper. Afterwards we hit Costco to restock Ed’s supplement supply while they were on sale. Boy was that a pleasure! Almost no one there and we breezed right through the checkout.
Withdrawals
Ed had to watch some of his taped programs so it was back to the Feldman routine of zoning out in front of the enormous TV in the LR while I catch up on things. This meant no lights out until midnight. I wanna go back to the ship where he keeps decent hours. And I’m the one that started Prednisone today so I should be the one who is the night owl!
February 15th and 16th
MD appts
I got up early and called Kaiser to get an appt with my primary doctor to follow up on the coughing which is only slightly better and wearing both of us out. Got an early one fortunately, and when the doctor came I the room, I covered my eyes and said: “Oh no! She’s back again!” He remarked that I was far from being a frequent flyer. We finished with the exams and such and he put me on a course of oral steroids for three days. Told Ed I’d be happy, hungry and the doctor added I’d have insomnia. We then spent some time talking about health care reform and KPs position since it is one of the models being used for discussion. It turns out that since KP is a federally recognized HMO it MUST offer a so called “cadillac” plan of services and this also means that it—and the subscribers—will be charged an extra fee if the Senate version of health care reform passes. Although I know KP has a n excellent array of services and benefits, I never thought of it as a “Cadillac plan”. Then we discussed adverse selection. As an example, KP was the first to cover HIV drugs so of course, lots of folks who were HIV+ flocked to KP. There are other examples. Because of some problems with drug issues, KP, like most other health coverages, may soon reduce our medication supplies to 30 days. We have enough trouble getting the meds for these long cruises!
In the afternoon, I had the 3rd shot in my left eye. I am still stunned that it has improved what vision I have left in that eye. We set the appt for tomorrow for the last I my right eye.
In between
We were frantically trying to get other things done in between all these anchoring appointments. We did manage to go to the Bistro at Nordstrom’s for lunch, something we both enjoy as they have great salads. And I dropped off ink cartridges at Staples so we can get a coupon for credit toward more. Those sorts of things.
And we picked up the check for Ed’s car. So that chapter is over for the time being.
Ol d cronies
Since Ed went to lay poker with his HS buddies (he told them he came off the ship especially to do this. Ha), I rewarded myself for my medical ordeals with a Big Mac. It was good but I would have liked it better with lots more secret sauce. Maybe I should have just opted for a Whopper from Burger King.
FEBRUARY 16TH
Amy was good enough to switch patrons around so we could get everything in today. So she started with me, cut Ed’s hair and then finished me. We took subway sandwiches to gulp down.
I had the final shot for the time being, in my right eye which does not seem to be making any difference. Since there’s not much out there to offer me, I may just need to learn to adapt to that loss over time. I was left with a big blood clot on my eye this time and I have a good story to tell folks: Ed finally whopped me when I said the wrong thing. Ha.
We then went to Fidelity to deposit the check for the car and to get info about Roth IRA conversions and get the nitty gritty about the new rules for conversions. That took longer than we expected.
We picked up a world map and atlas since, in my organizing zeal, I put the old ones somewhere logical and of course now cannot find them and am not willing to obsess any more about it. Besides, the geopolitical boundaries have changed a lot in the intervening time since we bought the last one.
I could only get a few of the mail hold cards so we went to more than one PO and I still need a few more. We got cash for the trip, picked up Ed’s favorite shirt from the tailor, dropped off stuff at the thrift store…well you get the picture.
We had an anniversary card from Daily Grill, which despite my food poisoning incident at the LAX branch in December, I still enjoy, so we went there for an early supper. Afterwards we hit Costco to restock Ed’s supplement supply while they were on sale. Boy was that a pleasure! Almost no one there and we breezed right through the checkout.
Withdrawals
Ed had to watch some of his taped programs so it was back to the Feldman routine of zoning out in front of the enormous TV in the LR while I catch up on things. This meant no lights out until midnight. I wanna go back to the ship where he keeps decent hours. And I’m the one that started Prednisone today so I should be the one who is the night owl!
FEBRUARY 13 & 14TH
February 13-14
We spent Saturday doing our usual ship board routine and consulting again with the purser to be sure we are listed as still being on the world cruise but taking a medical “leave” in LA to rejoin in Honolulu. Each time one of us has gone down, we’ve been assured it’s in the computer and each time we go down again, it isn’t right. It has not been a good sign that we’ve got luggage tags to disembark and our cabin steward keeps asking us if we are going to vacate our room.
Packing
We packed a duffle bag with things to drop off in LA. That didn’t take long! And then we left our stuff in the cabin in good order.
Trivia
Yep we won, big time. These haven’t been the easiest trivia quizzes and so the scores are always low. We had a tie breaker which we eventually lost this morning but we won by several points over the next highest team this afternoon. I dread trying to assemble a good team when we return as 2 are leaving in LA and of course, we are gone for 6 days too.
Dinner
With all it’s good byes. We’re losing Glen and Mickie back to the cold frozen Wisconsin tundra. The rest of us remain on the cruise.
Entertainment
This was a hilarious guy who would get info from folks in the audience and then make up songs with lyrics referring to this information. Very difficult to do and extremely clever. So it was worth going to.
February 14, Valentine’s day and our 26th wedding anniversary
We woke up early and finally saw the dawn peeking over the So Cal Coastline. I’m struck by how any heavy cranes are visible in the Long Beach and LA ports. Our ship berthed a few slips away from the usual site of Princess ships; that slot was occupied by the Golden Princess.
Room service delivered, bless their hearts because on disembarking days no room service is usually available.
Getting off the ship
Well first of all EVERYONE on the ship had to show up personally with their passport for Customs and Border Patrol inspection and interview. Some folks were getting some tough questions too. The supervisor of all these folks is about 4’8” tall too. We passed and reminded ourselves to keep our passports instead of relinquishing them as we usually do.
Eventually we made it to the Caberet Lounge after spending hours watching the process of tieing up the ship and the various forklifts and supply trucks setting their goods on the pier. One lady was sent to an ambulance and that went quickly. She was the first one off the ship and quickly the lines of folks in order of timing began to trail off the ship.
Our turn to leave
I suppose it’s only fair to say that the logistics of embarking and disembarking numerous passengers, staff and entertainers from a vessel of any size is a logistical nightmare. So now we go from that kind position to reality.
Despite all our efforts, when I put my cruise card into the machine, all kinds of awful bells and whistles went off. So back to the purser we went. Everything in the computer was OK we were told. She we merged into the long line again. This time I let Ed go first. Guess what? ( I know you’re going to get it right) BELLS AND WHISTLES! This is getting old. We are routed visually back to the purser who is hollering to the ghurka on security to let us go, it’s OK. So F I N A L L Y we are released from our metal cage.
Jeff picked us up and we went to Brent’s for brunch (it’ll be a long time for bagels). Then home to unpack and repack the duffle with things we want for backup on the rest of the cruise. Yes, we planned it this way. Ed has collected probably 150# of diet sodas, plus other toiletries and such. I drove back down to the ship with him to hold the car in case of parking problems. He got a porter (a small but very powerful—he tells me—woman) to help him get the stuff to the ship. There were places of a few feet where she was not allowed to go (go figure). Without recounting the whole miserable story, he had to run the gauntlet to get back on the ship including the fact that despite a transit slip, he was out of the ship’s computer.
Eventually he managed to get to the cabin and store most of the sodas and other things out of the way so that if the staff decide to do repairs in the cabin while we’re gone, it will be minimal disruption.
Supper with family
We were late after all this order but eventually Mike and Trudy, Jeff and Lisa, and Pat and Sylvia joined us at Marie Callender’s for a celebration meal. We had found a 3 legged pig, a sign of good luck in Peru and Chile as it turns out, for Mike as that is his favorite joke. It took him a while to notice the significance since he initially didn’t notice that it only had 3 legs.
Grocery shopping for the bananas for cereal and milk and then we were home and to bed.
Celebrating our anniversary
In our zeal to get the stuff on the ship, the cards I made for our anniversary and Valentine’s Day were taken to the ship so Ed will have to wait until Honolulu to get them. We agreed we didn’t feel cheated because we didn’t get each other anything nor do an anniversary routine. Whew!
We spent Saturday doing our usual ship board routine and consulting again with the purser to be sure we are listed as still being on the world cruise but taking a medical “leave” in LA to rejoin in Honolulu. Each time one of us has gone down, we’ve been assured it’s in the computer and each time we go down again, it isn’t right. It has not been a good sign that we’ve got luggage tags to disembark and our cabin steward keeps asking us if we are going to vacate our room.
Packing
We packed a duffle bag with things to drop off in LA. That didn’t take long! And then we left our stuff in the cabin in good order.
Trivia
Yep we won, big time. These haven’t been the easiest trivia quizzes and so the scores are always low. We had a tie breaker which we eventually lost this morning but we won by several points over the next highest team this afternoon. I dread trying to assemble a good team when we return as 2 are leaving in LA and of course, we are gone for 6 days too.
Dinner
With all it’s good byes. We’re losing Glen and Mickie back to the cold frozen Wisconsin tundra. The rest of us remain on the cruise.
Entertainment
This was a hilarious guy who would get info from folks in the audience and then make up songs with lyrics referring to this information. Very difficult to do and extremely clever. So it was worth going to.
February 14, Valentine’s day and our 26th wedding anniversary
We woke up early and finally saw the dawn peeking over the So Cal Coastline. I’m struck by how any heavy cranes are visible in the Long Beach and LA ports. Our ship berthed a few slips away from the usual site of Princess ships; that slot was occupied by the Golden Princess.
Room service delivered, bless their hearts because on disembarking days no room service is usually available.
Getting off the ship
Well first of all EVERYONE on the ship had to show up personally with their passport for Customs and Border Patrol inspection and interview. Some folks were getting some tough questions too. The supervisor of all these folks is about 4’8” tall too. We passed and reminded ourselves to keep our passports instead of relinquishing them as we usually do.
Eventually we made it to the Caberet Lounge after spending hours watching the process of tieing up the ship and the various forklifts and supply trucks setting their goods on the pier. One lady was sent to an ambulance and that went quickly. She was the first one off the ship and quickly the lines of folks in order of timing began to trail off the ship.
Our turn to leave
I suppose it’s only fair to say that the logistics of embarking and disembarking numerous passengers, staff and entertainers from a vessel of any size is a logistical nightmare. So now we go from that kind position to reality.
Despite all our efforts, when I put my cruise card into the machine, all kinds of awful bells and whistles went off. So back to the purser we went. Everything in the computer was OK we were told. She we merged into the long line again. This time I let Ed go first. Guess what? ( I know you’re going to get it right) BELLS AND WHISTLES! This is getting old. We are routed visually back to the purser who is hollering to the ghurka on security to let us go, it’s OK. So F I N A L L Y we are released from our metal cage.
Jeff picked us up and we went to Brent’s for brunch (it’ll be a long time for bagels). Then home to unpack and repack the duffle with things we want for backup on the rest of the cruise. Yes, we planned it this way. Ed has collected probably 150# of diet sodas, plus other toiletries and such. I drove back down to the ship with him to hold the car in case of parking problems. He got a porter (a small but very powerful—he tells me—woman) to help him get the stuff to the ship. There were places of a few feet where she was not allowed to go (go figure). Without recounting the whole miserable story, he had to run the gauntlet to get back on the ship including the fact that despite a transit slip, he was out of the ship’s computer.
Eventually he managed to get to the cabin and store most of the sodas and other things out of the way so that if the staff decide to do repairs in the cabin while we’re gone, it will be minimal disruption.
Supper with family
We were late after all this order but eventually Mike and Trudy, Jeff and Lisa, and Pat and Sylvia joined us at Marie Callender’s for a celebration meal. We had found a 3 legged pig, a sign of good luck in Peru and Chile as it turns out, for Mike as that is his favorite joke. It took him a while to notice the significance since he initially didn’t notice that it only had 3 legs.
Grocery shopping for the bananas for cereal and milk and then we were home and to bed.
Celebrating our anniversary
In our zeal to get the stuff on the ship, the cards I made for our anniversary and Valentine’s Day were taken to the ship so Ed will have to wait until Honolulu to get them. We agreed we didn’t feel cheated because we didn’t get each other anything nor do an anniversary routine. Whew!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
IF YOU HAVENT' HEARD FROM ME
It's because your emails havea gone to gmail which I have not checked! So I'll try to catch up and be better about checking it.
BUT to email me and be sure I get it, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT bfaherty@me.com
Thanks.
we're home until Thursday. I'll try to post catch p info tomorrow.
BUT to email me and be sure I get it, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT bfaherty@me.com
Thanks.
we're home until Thursday. I'll try to post catch p info tomorrow.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Almost back to LA
TOPOLOBAMPO
This is the third deepest port in the world after Sydney and San Francisco. This is Princess’ first time here and I suspect for many other lines as well. Yesterday Holland America was here, Oceana we know also, and Regency was here for 2 days thus their passengers went up one day, stayed overnight, and then returned. The experience for passengers from any of these cruises is exactly the same we were told by the guide.
We did manage to roll out of bed at 3:30 am; even though we turned our clocks back one hour last night, we didn’t get much sleep I guess it was just as well. Ed got dressed quicker than I recall and went up to the buffet (which opened at 3:30 for us: poor staff). The 4 groups gathered in the Cabaret Lounge at 4:40 am off we went to 4 busses. It is pitch dark of course so we can’t tell much about anything along the bus ride to El Fuerte, about an hour and a half away, where we pick up the train. I do recall that the guide, Lupe (a guy: first time I’ve met a male with that name) said we’d get a “massage” along the way. There are areas of the highways, let’s call them “patches”, where there are numerous speed bumps. They are never spaced the same nor are the numbers of them the same. In between you can get your speed up for a while but not for long. There are 500 of these speed bumps along the way.
Security
Let’s get this part out of the way. We see men with assault weapons everywhere. They are always dressed in dark uniforms but not always the same. At the canyon, I had a photo take with four or 5 of them. All I could think of was: “Copper Canyon Blackwater group.” They were smiling broadly unlike the fierce visage soldier on the train who stared at you as if daring you to even think of opening that door to the back of the train. When the train stopped for water or to wash the windows (we were told anyway), we were not allowed to leave the train and we could see armed men all around us. This area is the heart of the drug cartels so who knows. I can’t call all of this unobtrusive, but they never bother you.
The train
Princess (and other cruise lines) charter the whole first class passenger train from Chepe, the Ferromex train line for this area. We had 3 cars and we were in car “c”. There was also the locomotive of course, a dining car (where all of our food and such was prepared and stored), a break car for the staff, and a bar car (wouldn’t you know).
The staff, and there were a lot of them: all male, must have mopped the floors at least once an hour; we could never figure out why except to emphasize what a special car this was. It is the typical older passenger train car of poorer countries. Amtrak and the Metroline have nothing to fear.
We were given a bottle of water upon arrival and a box breakfast about 8:30 am. It had a lot of food: banana, yoghurt, pan dulce, granola bars, a bottle of apple juice—I’m sure I’m forgetting something. We left some of the food hidden under our stuff while we were off the train at the Hotel Mirador, and when we returned to the train nothing was missing except this food we had saved. We were given small trash bags in the morning and there were signs asking us to help keep the train clean.
In the evening at 6:30 pm, we were given another box supper which had a ham sandwich, apple, snickers bar, potato chips, nectarine drink. Ed always brings snacks along for his blood sugar and we found the granola bars of the morning to be vey helpful for that.
The restroom had a red and green light but it never changed from green so you can imagine the fun stories from that. And the door was not easy to figure out. You were asked to put your tissue in the trash near the commode; this is common in many foreign countries but you really have to think not to do it. I suppose this is because most of these old trains simply dump the waste on the tracks. And we are often reminded on busses and this train to only do “#1” in the rest rooms.
El Fuerte
So we eventually reach the train at this city; it’s still pitch dark and we are directed to the train car indicated on our sticker. After a while, the sun begins to come up over the adjacent hills. We begin to see high desert and Lupe describes the various trees and tells us about the animals none of which we can see along the way. At some point we sense we begin to climb. The train is ever so slow and never really goes fast anywhere. The maximum incline it will manage is 15 degrees.
The terrain changes with some regularity as we abandon more arid like environments for more mountainous. At one point the mountains look like they have fur all over them. The trees are so lush and thick they appear carpeted. Streams are seen with regularity, many with enormous boulders. The cliff sides have such a variety of colors and streaks across them. We see small villages near the train, some built to support the development of the railroad. The homes are brick and appear pretty solid actually.
Laundry at home
I’ve been meaning to remark on how much laundry you see hanging on lines and fences in these central American (Mesoamerican) countries. It seems women are never finished with washing. I’ve never seen a bra on a line however. At the canyon rim we saw a little girl of perhaps 7 or 8 washing clothes on a flat rock.
Finally we reached the canyon rim
The different geological formations are interesting and it is fun to see the train make it’s way around the tight curves (for a train). There are also places where we can see the tracks we just traversed farther down (or up) from us. It always seems farther away than the actual experience of it.
And there was S N O W ! Yep, you read right. Apparently, it had fallen in the night and was a light dusting. Many of the open areas had lost the snow but the shadows were still full. The waterfalls were easy to see along the way. And it was cold of course, as you’d expect with snow being maintained.
The train stops and we are asked to get off and go to the school busses waiting for us. While we are off the train, it will be cleaned, the locomotive will switch places to the opposite end of the train (so now what was car #1 is now car #3) and our seats will be turned around for the return trip. We have been asked to switch across the aisle with our neighbors so that all can have an opportunity to see both sides of the scenery.
The busses are their own experience. They are clean but clearly meant for kids. The bus drivers have a few hats to sell on their own for modest prices. We drive a way over dirt roads, rocking from side to side and eventually begin to climb a hill (all the while watched over from a distance by “Sierra Security.”) and at one point, I can’t see the road bed as I look straight down the side of the bus.
Our lunch
The Hotel Mirador is the site of our lunch. It is a clay colored building beautifully decorated in modest Mexican style (no serapes here) buildings. The lunch is buffet style with chicken, fish, rice, beans, flan for dessert, water, other drinks for purchase. The chicken and fish are on the dry side but still tasty. The beans, rice and salsa are very good. The flan is thicker than we usually see. I would have liked to have more rice and beans but you get the message that lunch is quickly over; no seconds here.
We go out on the lookout for some great photo ops. Folks say it is better than the Grand Canyon. They are simply different experiences.
Copper Canyon
This is actually 7 canyons in a complex and only one is “copper” canyon. We don’t even get to the site of the deepest canyon (in the world?). It is unique but I think the part I most enjoyed was getting to see the Tarahumara people and how they live. They are the most swift footed people in the world and it is believed that they are an off shoot of the Hopi in New Mexico. Their costumes are certainly similar. They live in isolated small communities of a few families. Kids go to boarding schools for elementary school. Women still deliver their own children and usually have very large families. They are beginning to go to regional clinics to deliver.
We went down 250 steps and probably as many meters to visit a place where a few families have built their homes in caves. They have a water source here both for washing and bathing and drinking. These people are totally self sufficient producing their own corn,zucchini, goats, pigs and such. They get milk and cheese from the goats.
They make these baskets from long pine needles nearby, or the leaf of a sotel plant. They usually dye the materials with charcoal and other natural dyes except red which is done with red shoe polish. The reeds are boiled in the colored water and then dried.
One neat trick: if you basket gets out of shape, soak it in water and then reshape it to dry.
We saw a woman fixing her daughter’s hair (probably for our photo ops) and the little girl doing the laundry on the canyon rim. One lady was selling wares with a baby on her back papoose style. Eventually she very modestly breast fed the baby; if you didn’t know what was going on, you couldn’t tell. These American women who are in your face about breast feeding in public could learn a lot from these native women. The issue focus should be on feeding the baby, NOT exposing your breasts. Ok I’ll get off the soap box now.
We had some dances done by a man accompanied by 2 men one of whom played a guitar and the other a local instrument akin to a violin. These were unimpressive: both the dance and the music. I couldn’t tell that there was any difference in the melody or the dance steps . Then we were shown two games of competition, one by the men, one by the women dressed in beautiful dresses. They do look Hopi.
The elevation
It is 7000 ft at the canyon rim. I got a little headache as we approached the end of the line but started drinking a lot more water. You can tell it is high elevation but it is manageable. I saw at least one older man who appeared to be ill with altitude sickness.
The vendors
At the water stops, there were often vendors, who we were told, had traveled by foot an hour and a half to sell their little baskets to us. These baskets are made of pine needles or a leaf called sotel. They are beautifully done and very inexpensive. Women can bargain out the windows between the train cars to purchase them for a few dollars. We are all impatient with the women who dominate the “window” and can’t make up their minds thus denying the other potential purchasers from an opportunity to make their contributions to the local economy.
On the train, there were some souvenirs offered. An apron, bucket style hat, duck billed hats…you get the picture. Ed got a bucket hat in his size with Copper Canyon Mexico emblazoned on it ala Indiana Jones style. While it isn’t the fedora style that Harrison Ford wore, I’ll be worried when Ed starts cracking the whip.
When we get off the train to go to the bus at the rim, and at the hotel, there are vendors everywhere. Almost never does a vendor approach you and when they do, it is subtle and unobtrusive. Children do this as well as adults and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference since they are so small. Prices are very reasonable. The baskets are clearly handmade here and you see women everywhere working on the baskets while they sit with their neatly displayed products.
The trip back
This was pretty anticlimactic. Some folks are able to sleep; most of us do not. The foliage changes with the elevations again and the view is different both because we are on the opposite side of the train and because the sun is setting producing great shadows.
About 2 pm, we were given complimentary margaritas (not too bad; about 4 ounces) or small beers. You could then buy another for (?) $3. There was a mariachi singing in the bar and later he went through the cars. I asked him if he knew Borrachera but he didn’t. Too bad, it’s a cute song about a drunk.
As always, it seems longer to return to the ship. We are all tired. We get to El Fuerte and our busses about 8:20 pm and load quickly. No one cares if they have a good seat: it’s pitch black. We got back to the ship at 10:20 p and were told there was a buffet for us upstairs. OMG: people want more food! Ed said something about going up there and I looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. We went to bed pretty quickly.
What we missed
A local folklorico group of kids came on board the ship and we always enjoy these performances. Our tablemates affirmed it was very good and it’s too bad we missed it.
What happens on the ship while we’re in port
So many people never get off of the ship. I can’t imagine this but… So there are often games, meetings, and the usual such as afternoon tea. There are movies on the TV and replays of the lecturers and performances. Ed’s annoyed because he missed seeing “Angels and Demons” on the TV while we were gone.
This is the third deepest port in the world after Sydney and San Francisco. This is Princess’ first time here and I suspect for many other lines as well. Yesterday Holland America was here, Oceana we know also, and Regency was here for 2 days thus their passengers went up one day, stayed overnight, and then returned. The experience for passengers from any of these cruises is exactly the same we were told by the guide.
We did manage to roll out of bed at 3:30 am; even though we turned our clocks back one hour last night, we didn’t get much sleep I guess it was just as well. Ed got dressed quicker than I recall and went up to the buffet (which opened at 3:30 for us: poor staff). The 4 groups gathered in the Cabaret Lounge at 4:40 am off we went to 4 busses. It is pitch dark of course so we can’t tell much about anything along the bus ride to El Fuerte, about an hour and a half away, where we pick up the train. I do recall that the guide, Lupe (a guy: first time I’ve met a male with that name) said we’d get a “massage” along the way. There are areas of the highways, let’s call them “patches”, where there are numerous speed bumps. They are never spaced the same nor are the numbers of them the same. In between you can get your speed up for a while but not for long. There are 500 of these speed bumps along the way.
Security
Let’s get this part out of the way. We see men with assault weapons everywhere. They are always dressed in dark uniforms but not always the same. At the canyon, I had a photo take with four or 5 of them. All I could think of was: “Copper Canyon Blackwater group.” They were smiling broadly unlike the fierce visage soldier on the train who stared at you as if daring you to even think of opening that door to the back of the train. When the train stopped for water or to wash the windows (we were told anyway), we were not allowed to leave the train and we could see armed men all around us. This area is the heart of the drug cartels so who knows. I can’t call all of this unobtrusive, but they never bother you.
The train
Princess (and other cruise lines) charter the whole first class passenger train from Chepe, the Ferromex train line for this area. We had 3 cars and we were in car “c”. There was also the locomotive of course, a dining car (where all of our food and such was prepared and stored), a break car for the staff, and a bar car (wouldn’t you know).
The staff, and there were a lot of them: all male, must have mopped the floors at least once an hour; we could never figure out why except to emphasize what a special car this was. It is the typical older passenger train car of poorer countries. Amtrak and the Metroline have nothing to fear.
We were given a bottle of water upon arrival and a box breakfast about 8:30 am. It had a lot of food: banana, yoghurt, pan dulce, granola bars, a bottle of apple juice—I’m sure I’m forgetting something. We left some of the food hidden under our stuff while we were off the train at the Hotel Mirador, and when we returned to the train nothing was missing except this food we had saved. We were given small trash bags in the morning and there were signs asking us to help keep the train clean.
In the evening at 6:30 pm, we were given another box supper which had a ham sandwich, apple, snickers bar, potato chips, nectarine drink. Ed always brings snacks along for his blood sugar and we found the granola bars of the morning to be vey helpful for that.
The restroom had a red and green light but it never changed from green so you can imagine the fun stories from that. And the door was not easy to figure out. You were asked to put your tissue in the trash near the commode; this is common in many foreign countries but you really have to think not to do it. I suppose this is because most of these old trains simply dump the waste on the tracks. And we are often reminded on busses and this train to only do “#1” in the rest rooms.
El Fuerte
So we eventually reach the train at this city; it’s still pitch dark and we are directed to the train car indicated on our sticker. After a while, the sun begins to come up over the adjacent hills. We begin to see high desert and Lupe describes the various trees and tells us about the animals none of which we can see along the way. At some point we sense we begin to climb. The train is ever so slow and never really goes fast anywhere. The maximum incline it will manage is 15 degrees.
The terrain changes with some regularity as we abandon more arid like environments for more mountainous. At one point the mountains look like they have fur all over them. The trees are so lush and thick they appear carpeted. Streams are seen with regularity, many with enormous boulders. The cliff sides have such a variety of colors and streaks across them. We see small villages near the train, some built to support the development of the railroad. The homes are brick and appear pretty solid actually.
Laundry at home
I’ve been meaning to remark on how much laundry you see hanging on lines and fences in these central American (Mesoamerican) countries. It seems women are never finished with washing. I’ve never seen a bra on a line however. At the canyon rim we saw a little girl of perhaps 7 or 8 washing clothes on a flat rock.
Finally we reached the canyon rim
The different geological formations are interesting and it is fun to see the train make it’s way around the tight curves (for a train). There are also places where we can see the tracks we just traversed farther down (or up) from us. It always seems farther away than the actual experience of it.
And there was S N O W ! Yep, you read right. Apparently, it had fallen in the night and was a light dusting. Many of the open areas had lost the snow but the shadows were still full. The waterfalls were easy to see along the way. And it was cold of course, as you’d expect with snow being maintained.
The train stops and we are asked to get off and go to the school busses waiting for us. While we are off the train, it will be cleaned, the locomotive will switch places to the opposite end of the train (so now what was car #1 is now car #3) and our seats will be turned around for the return trip. We have been asked to switch across the aisle with our neighbors so that all can have an opportunity to see both sides of the scenery.
The busses are their own experience. They are clean but clearly meant for kids. The bus drivers have a few hats to sell on their own for modest prices. We drive a way over dirt roads, rocking from side to side and eventually begin to climb a hill (all the while watched over from a distance by “Sierra Security.”) and at one point, I can’t see the road bed as I look straight down the side of the bus.
Our lunch
The Hotel Mirador is the site of our lunch. It is a clay colored building beautifully decorated in modest Mexican style (no serapes here) buildings. The lunch is buffet style with chicken, fish, rice, beans, flan for dessert, water, other drinks for purchase. The chicken and fish are on the dry side but still tasty. The beans, rice and salsa are very good. The flan is thicker than we usually see. I would have liked to have more rice and beans but you get the message that lunch is quickly over; no seconds here.
We go out on the lookout for some great photo ops. Folks say it is better than the Grand Canyon. They are simply different experiences.
Copper Canyon
This is actually 7 canyons in a complex and only one is “copper” canyon. We don’t even get to the site of the deepest canyon (in the world?). It is unique but I think the part I most enjoyed was getting to see the Tarahumara people and how they live. They are the most swift footed people in the world and it is believed that they are an off shoot of the Hopi in New Mexico. Their costumes are certainly similar. They live in isolated small communities of a few families. Kids go to boarding schools for elementary school. Women still deliver their own children and usually have very large families. They are beginning to go to regional clinics to deliver.
We went down 250 steps and probably as many meters to visit a place where a few families have built their homes in caves. They have a water source here both for washing and bathing and drinking. These people are totally self sufficient producing their own corn,zucchini, goats, pigs and such. They get milk and cheese from the goats.
They make these baskets from long pine needles nearby, or the leaf of a sotel plant. They usually dye the materials with charcoal and other natural dyes except red which is done with red shoe polish. The reeds are boiled in the colored water and then dried.
One neat trick: if you basket gets out of shape, soak it in water and then reshape it to dry.
We saw a woman fixing her daughter’s hair (probably for our photo ops) and the little girl doing the laundry on the canyon rim. One lady was selling wares with a baby on her back papoose style. Eventually she very modestly breast fed the baby; if you didn’t know what was going on, you couldn’t tell. These American women who are in your face about breast feeding in public could learn a lot from these native women. The issue focus should be on feeding the baby, NOT exposing your breasts. Ok I’ll get off the soap box now.
We had some dances done by a man accompanied by 2 men one of whom played a guitar and the other a local instrument akin to a violin. These were unimpressive: both the dance and the music. I couldn’t tell that there was any difference in the melody or the dance steps . Then we were shown two games of competition, one by the men, one by the women dressed in beautiful dresses. They do look Hopi.
The elevation
It is 7000 ft at the canyon rim. I got a little headache as we approached the end of the line but started drinking a lot more water. You can tell it is high elevation but it is manageable. I saw at least one older man who appeared to be ill with altitude sickness.
The vendors
At the water stops, there were often vendors, who we were told, had traveled by foot an hour and a half to sell their little baskets to us. These baskets are made of pine needles or a leaf called sotel. They are beautifully done and very inexpensive. Women can bargain out the windows between the train cars to purchase them for a few dollars. We are all impatient with the women who dominate the “window” and can’t make up their minds thus denying the other potential purchasers from an opportunity to make their contributions to the local economy.
On the train, there were some souvenirs offered. An apron, bucket style hat, duck billed hats…you get the picture. Ed got a bucket hat in his size with Copper Canyon Mexico emblazoned on it ala Indiana Jones style. While it isn’t the fedora style that Harrison Ford wore, I’ll be worried when Ed starts cracking the whip.
When we get off the train to go to the bus at the rim, and at the hotel, there are vendors everywhere. Almost never does a vendor approach you and when they do, it is subtle and unobtrusive. Children do this as well as adults and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference since they are so small. Prices are very reasonable. The baskets are clearly handmade here and you see women everywhere working on the baskets while they sit with their neatly displayed products.
The trip back
This was pretty anticlimactic. Some folks are able to sleep; most of us do not. The foliage changes with the elevations again and the view is different both because we are on the opposite side of the train and because the sun is setting producing great shadows.
About 2 pm, we were given complimentary margaritas (not too bad; about 4 ounces) or small beers. You could then buy another for (?) $3. There was a mariachi singing in the bar and later he went through the cars. I asked him if he knew Borrachera but he didn’t. Too bad, it’s a cute song about a drunk.
As always, it seems longer to return to the ship. We are all tired. We get to El Fuerte and our busses about 8:20 pm and load quickly. No one cares if they have a good seat: it’s pitch black. We got back to the ship at 10:20 p and were told there was a buffet for us upstairs. OMG: people want more food! Ed said something about going up there and I looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. We went to bed pretty quickly.
What we missed
A local folklorico group of kids came on board the ship and we always enjoy these performances. Our tablemates affirmed it was very good and it’s too bad we missed it.
What happens on the ship while we’re in port
So many people never get off of the ship. I can’t imagine this but… So there are often games, meetings, and the usual such as afternoon tea. There are movies on the TV and replays of the lecturers and performances. Ed’s annoyed because he missed seeing “Angels and Demons” on the TV while we were gone.
Copper Canyon
TOPOLOBAMPO
This is the third deepest port in the world after Sydney and San Francisco. This is Princess’ first time here and I suspect for many other lines as well. Yesterday Holland America was here, Oceana we know also, and Regency was here for 2 days thus their passengers went up one day, stayed overnight, and then returned. The experience for passengers from any of these cruises is exactly the same we were told by the guide.
We did manage to roll out of bed at 3:30 am; even though we turned our clocks back one hour last night, we didn’t get much sleep I guess it was just as well. Ed got dressed quicker than I recall and went up to the buffet (which opened at 3:30 for us: poor staff). The 4 groups gathered in the Cabaret Lounge at 4:40 am off we went to 4 busses. It is pitch dark of course so we can’t tell much about anything along the bus ride to El Fuerte, about an hour and a half away, where we pick up the train. I do recall that the guide, Lupe (a guy: first time I’ve met a male with that name) said we’d get a “massage” along the way. There are areas of the highways, let’s call them “patches”, where there are numerous speed bumps. They are never spaced the same nor are the numbers of them the same. In between you can get your speed up for a while but not for long. There are 500 of these speed bumps along the way.
Security
Let’s get this part out of the way. We see men with assault weapons everywhere. They are always dressed in dark uniforms but not always the same. At the canyon, I had a photo take with four or 5 of them. All I could think of was: “Copper Canyon Blackwater group.” They were smiling broadly unlike the fierce visage soldier on the train who stared at you as if daring you to even think of opening that door to the back of the train. When the train stopped for water or to wash the windows (we were told anyway), we were not allowed to leave the train and we could see armed men all around us. This area is the heart of the drug cartels so who knows. I can’t call all of this unobtrusive, but they never bother you.
The train
Princess (and other cruise lines) charter the whole first class passenger train from Chepe, the Ferromex train line for this area. We had 3 cars and we were in car “c”. There was also the locomotive of course, a dining car (where all of our food and such was prepared and stored), a break car for the staff, and a bar car (wouldn’t you know).
The staff, and there were a lot of them: all male, must have mopped the floors at least once an hour; we could never figure out why except to emphasize what a special car this was. It is the typical older passenger train car of poorer countries. Amtrak and the Metroline have nothing to fear.
We were given a bottle of water upon arrival and a box breakfast about 8:30 am. It had a lot of food: banana, yoghurt, pan dulce, granola bars, a bottle of apple juice—I’m sure I’m forgetting something. We left some of the food hidden under our stuff while we were off the train at the Hotel Mirador, and when we returned to the train nothing was missing except this food we had saved. We were given small trash bags in the morning and there were signs asking us to help keep the train clean.
In the evening at 6:30 pm, we were given another box supper which had a ham sandwich, apple, snickers bar, potato chips, nectarine drink. Ed always brings snacks along for his blood sugar and we found the granola bars of the morning to be vey helpful for that.
The restroom had a red and green light but it never changed from green so you can imagine the fun stories from that. And the door was not easy to figure out. You were asked to put your tissue in the trash near the commode; this is common in many foreign countries but you really have to think not to do it. I suppose this is because most of these old trains simply dump the waste on the tracks. And we are often reminded on busses and this train to only do “#1” in the rest rooms.
El Fuerte
So we eventually reach the train at this city; it’s still pitch dark and we are directed to the train car indicated on our sticker. After a while, the sun begins to come up over the adjacent hills. We begin to see high desert and Lupe describes the various trees and tells us about the animals none of which we can see along the way. At some point we sense we begin to climb. The train is ever so slow and never really goes fast anywhere. The maximum incline it will manage is 15 degrees.
The terrain changes with some regularity as we abandon more arid like environments for more mountainous. At one point the mountains look like they have fur all over them. The trees are so lush and thick they appear carpeted. Streams are seen with regularity, many with enormous boulders. The cliff sides have such a variety of colors and streaks across them. We see small villages near the train, some built to support the development of the railroad. The homes are brick and appear pretty solid actually.
Laundry at home
I’ve been meaning to remark on how much laundry you see hanging on lines and fences in these central American (Mesoamerican) countries. It seems women are never finished with washing. I’ve never seen a bra on a line however. At the canyon rim we saw a little girl of perhaps 7 or 8 washing clothes on a flat rock.
Finally we reached the canyon rim
The different geological formations are interesting and it is fun to see the train make it’s way around the tight curves (for a train). There are also places where we can see the tracks we just traversed farther down (or up) from us. It always seems farther away than the actual experience of it.
And there was S N O W ! Yep, you read right. Apparently, it had fallen in the night and was a light dusting. Many of the open areas had lost the snow but the shadows were still full. The waterfalls were easy to see along the way. And it was cold of course, as you’d expect with snow being maintained.
The train stops and we are asked to get off and go to the school busses waiting for us. While we are off the train, it will be cleaned, the locomotive will switch places to the opposite end of the train (so now what was car #1 is now car #3) and our seats will be turned around for the return trip. We have been asked to switch across the aisle with our neighbors so that all can have an opportunity to see both sides of the scenery.
The busses are their own experience. They are clean but clearly meant for kids. The bus drivers have a few hats to sell on their own for modest prices. We drive a way over dirt roads, rocking from side to side and eventually begin to climb a hill (all the while watched over from a distance by “Sierra Security.”) and at one point, I can’t see the road bed as I look straight down the side of the bus.
Our lunch
The Hotel Mirador is the site of our lunch. It is a clay colored building beautifully decorated in modest Mexican style (no serapes here) buildings. The lunch is buffet style with chicken, fish, rice, beans, flan for dessert, water, other drinks for purchase. The chicken and fish are on the dry side but still tasty. The beans, rice and salsa are very good. The flan is thicker than we usually see. I would have liked to have more rice and beans but you get the message that lunch is quickly over; no seconds here.
We go out on the lookout for some great photo ops. Folks say it is better than the Grand Canyon. They are simply different experiences.
Copper Canyon
This is actually 7 canyons in a complex and only one is “copper” canyon. We don’t even get to the site of the deepest canyon (in the world?). It is unique but I think the part I most enjoyed was getting to see the Tarahumara people and how they live. They are the most swift footed people in the world and it is believed that they are an off shoot of the Hopi in New Mexico. Their costumes are certainly similar. They live in isolated small communities of a few families. Kids go to boarding schools for elementary school. Women still deliver their own children and usually have very large families. They are beginning to go to regional clinics to deliver.
We went down 250 steps and probably as many meters to visit a place where a few families have built their homes in caves. They have a water source here both for washing and bathing and drinking. These people are totally self sufficient producing their own corn,zucchini, goats, pigs and such. They get milk and cheese from the goats.
They make these baskets from long pine needles nearby, or the leaf of a sotel plant. They usually dye the materials with charcoal and other natural dyes except red which is done with red shoe polish. The reeds are boiled in the colored water and then dried.
One neat trick: if you basket gets out of shape, soak it in water and then reshape it to dry.
We saw a woman fixing her daughter’s hair (probably for our photo ops) and the little girl doing the laundry on the canyon rim. One lady was selling wares with a baby on her back papoose style. Eventually she very modestly breast fed the baby; if you didn’t know what was going on, you couldn’t tell. These American women who are in your face about breast feeding in public could learn a lot from these native women. The issue focus should be on feeding the baby, NOT exposing your breasts. Ok I’ll get off the soap box now.
We had some dances done by a man accompanied by 2 men one of whom played a guitar and the other a local instrument akin to a violin. These were unimpressive: both the dance and the music. I couldn’t tell that there was any difference in the melody or the dance steps . Then we were shown two games of competition, one by the men, one by the women dressed in beautiful dresses. They do look Hopi.
The elevation
It is 7000 ft at the canyon rim. I got a little headache as we approached the end of the line but started drinking a lot more water. You can tell it is high elevation but it is manageable. I saw at least one older man who appeared to be ill with altitude sickness.
The vendors
At the water stops, there were often vendors, who we were told, had traveled by foot an hour and a half to sell their little baskets to us. These baskets are made of pine needles or a leaf called sotel. They are beautifully done and very inexpensive. Women can bargain out the windows between the train cars to purchase them for a few dollars. We are all impatient with the women who dominate the “window” and can’t make up their minds thus denying the other potential purchasers from an opportunity to make their contributions to the local economy.
On the train, there were some souvenirs offered. An apron, bucket style hat, duck billed hats…you get the picture. Ed got a bucket hat in his size with Copper Canyon Mexico emblazoned on it ala Indiana Jones style. While it isn’t the fedora style that Harrison Ford wore, I’ll be worried when Ed starts cracking the whip.
When we get off the train to go to the bus at the rim, and at the hotel, there are vendors everywhere. Almost never does a vendor approach you and when they do, it is subtle and unobtrusive. Children do this as well as adults and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference since they are so small. Prices are very reasonable. The baskets are clearly handmade here and you see women everywhere working on the baskets while they sit with their neatly displayed products.
The trip back
This was pretty anticlimactic. Some folks are able to sleep; most of us do not. The foliage changes with the elevations again and the view is different both because we are on the opposite side of the train and because the sun is setting producing great shadows.
About 2 pm, we were given complimentary margaritas (not too bad; about 4 ounces) or small beers. You could then buy another for (?) $3. There was a mariachi singing in the bar and later he went through the cars. I asked him if he knew Borrachera but he didn’t. Too bad, it’s a cute song about a drunk.
As always, it seems longer to return to the ship. We are all tired. We get to El Fuerte and our busses about 8:20 pm and load quickly. No one cares if they have a good seat: it’s pitch black. We got back to the ship at 10:20 p and were told there was a buffet for us upstairs. OMG: people want more food! Ed said something about going up there and I looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. We went to bed pretty quickly.
What we missed
A local folklorico group of kids came on board the ship and we always enjoy these performances. Our tablemates affirmed it was very good and it’s too bad we missed it.
What happens on the ship while we’re in port
So many people never get off of the ship. I can’t imagine this but… So there are often games, meetings, and the usual such as afternoon tea. There are movies on the TV and replays of the lecturers and performances. Ed’s annoyed because he missed seeing “Angels and Demons” on the TV while we were gone.
This is the third deepest port in the world after Sydney and San Francisco. This is Princess’ first time here and I suspect for many other lines as well. Yesterday Holland America was here, Oceana we know also, and Regency was here for 2 days thus their passengers went up one day, stayed overnight, and then returned. The experience for passengers from any of these cruises is exactly the same we were told by the guide.
We did manage to roll out of bed at 3:30 am; even though we turned our clocks back one hour last night, we didn’t get much sleep I guess it was just as well. Ed got dressed quicker than I recall and went up to the buffet (which opened at 3:30 for us: poor staff). The 4 groups gathered in the Cabaret Lounge at 4:40 am off we went to 4 busses. It is pitch dark of course so we can’t tell much about anything along the bus ride to El Fuerte, about an hour and a half away, where we pick up the train. I do recall that the guide, Lupe (a guy: first time I’ve met a male with that name) said we’d get a “massage” along the way. There are areas of the highways, let’s call them “patches”, where there are numerous speed bumps. They are never spaced the same nor are the numbers of them the same. In between you can get your speed up for a while but not for long. There are 500 of these speed bumps along the way.
Security
Let’s get this part out of the way. We see men with assault weapons everywhere. They are always dressed in dark uniforms but not always the same. At the canyon, I had a photo take with four or 5 of them. All I could think of was: “Copper Canyon Blackwater group.” They were smiling broadly unlike the fierce visage soldier on the train who stared at you as if daring you to even think of opening that door to the back of the train. When the train stopped for water or to wash the windows (we were told anyway), we were not allowed to leave the train and we could see armed men all around us. This area is the heart of the drug cartels so who knows. I can’t call all of this unobtrusive, but they never bother you.
The train
Princess (and other cruise lines) charter the whole first class passenger train from Chepe, the Ferromex train line for this area. We had 3 cars and we were in car “c”. There was also the locomotive of course, a dining car (where all of our food and such was prepared and stored), a break car for the staff, and a bar car (wouldn’t you know).
The staff, and there were a lot of them: all male, must have mopped the floors at least once an hour; we could never figure out why except to emphasize what a special car this was. It is the typical older passenger train car of poorer countries. Amtrak and the Metroline have nothing to fear.
We were given a bottle of water upon arrival and a box breakfast about 8:30 am. It had a lot of food: banana, yoghurt, pan dulce, granola bars, a bottle of apple juice—I’m sure I’m forgetting something. We left some of the food hidden under our stuff while we were off the train at the Hotel Mirador, and when we returned to the train nothing was missing except this food we had saved. We were given small trash bags in the morning and there were signs asking us to help keep the train clean.
In the evening at 6:30 pm, we were given another box supper which had a ham sandwich, apple, snickers bar, potato chips, nectarine drink. Ed always brings snacks along for his blood sugar and we found the granola bars of the morning to be vey helpful for that.
The restroom had a red and green light but it never changed from green so you can imagine the fun stories from that. And the door was not easy to figure out. You were asked to put your tissue in the trash near the commode; this is common in many foreign countries but you really have to think not to do it. I suppose this is because most of these old trains simply dump the waste on the tracks. And we are often reminded on busses and this train to only do “#1” in the rest rooms.
El Fuerte
So we eventually reach the train at this city; it’s still pitch dark and we are directed to the train car indicated on our sticker. After a while, the sun begins to come up over the adjacent hills. We begin to see high desert and Lupe describes the various trees and tells us about the animals none of which we can see along the way. At some point we sense we begin to climb. The train is ever so slow and never really goes fast anywhere. The maximum incline it will manage is 15 degrees.
The terrain changes with some regularity as we abandon more arid like environments for more mountainous. At one point the mountains look like they have fur all over them. The trees are so lush and thick they appear carpeted. Streams are seen with regularity, many with enormous boulders. The cliff sides have such a variety of colors and streaks across them. We see small villages near the train, some built to support the development of the railroad. The homes are brick and appear pretty solid actually.
Laundry at home
I’ve been meaning to remark on how much laundry you see hanging on lines and fences in these central American (Mesoamerican) countries. It seems women are never finished with washing. I’ve never seen a bra on a line however. At the canyon rim we saw a little girl of perhaps 7 or 8 washing clothes on a flat rock.
Finally we reached the canyon rim
The different geological formations are interesting and it is fun to see the train make it’s way around the tight curves (for a train). There are also places where we can see the tracks we just traversed farther down (or up) from us. It always seems farther away than the actual experience of it.
And there was S N O W ! Yep, you read right. Apparently, it had fallen in the night and was a light dusting. Many of the open areas had lost the snow but the shadows were still full. The waterfalls were easy to see along the way. And it was cold of course, as you’d expect with snow being maintained.
The train stops and we are asked to get off and go to the school busses waiting for us. While we are off the train, it will be cleaned, the locomotive will switch places to the opposite end of the train (so now what was car #1 is now car #3) and our seats will be turned around for the return trip. We have been asked to switch across the aisle with our neighbors so that all can have an opportunity to see both sides of the scenery.
The busses are their own experience. They are clean but clearly meant for kids. The bus drivers have a few hats to sell on their own for modest prices. We drive a way over dirt roads, rocking from side to side and eventually begin to climb a hill (all the while watched over from a distance by “Sierra Security.”) and at one point, I can’t see the road bed as I look straight down the side of the bus.
Our lunch
The Hotel Mirador is the site of our lunch. It is a clay colored building beautifully decorated in modest Mexican style (no serapes here) buildings. The lunch is buffet style with chicken, fish, rice, beans, flan for dessert, water, other drinks for purchase. The chicken and fish are on the dry side but still tasty. The beans, rice and salsa are very good. The flan is thicker than we usually see. I would have liked to have more rice and beans but you get the message that lunch is quickly over; no seconds here.
We go out on the lookout for some great photo ops. Folks say it is better than the Grand Canyon. They are simply different experiences.
Copper Canyon
This is actually 7 canyons in a complex and only one is “copper” canyon. We don’t even get to the site of the deepest canyon (in the world?). It is unique but I think the part I most enjoyed was getting to see the Tarahumara people and how they live. They are the most swift footed people in the world and it is believed that they are an off shoot of the Hopi in New Mexico. Their costumes are certainly similar. They live in isolated small communities of a few families. Kids go to boarding schools for elementary school. Women still deliver their own children and usually have very large families. They are beginning to go to regional clinics to deliver.
We went down 250 steps and probably as many meters to visit a place where a few families have built their homes in caves. They have a water source here both for washing and bathing and drinking. These people are totally self sufficient producing their own corn,zucchini, goats, pigs and such. They get milk and cheese from the goats.
They make these baskets from long pine needles nearby, or the leaf of a sotel plant. They usually dye the materials with charcoal and other natural dyes except red which is done with red shoe polish. The reeds are boiled in the colored water and then dried.
One neat trick: if you basket gets out of shape, soak it in water and then reshape it to dry.
We saw a woman fixing her daughter’s hair (probably for our photo ops) and the little girl doing the laundry on the canyon rim. One lady was selling wares with a baby on her back papoose style. Eventually she very modestly breast fed the baby; if you didn’t know what was going on, you couldn’t tell. These American women who are in your face about breast feeding in public could learn a lot from these native women. The issue focus should be on feeding the baby, NOT exposing your breasts. Ok I’ll get off the soap box now.
We had some dances done by a man accompanied by 2 men one of whom played a guitar and the other a local instrument akin to a violin. These were unimpressive: both the dance and the music. I couldn’t tell that there was any difference in the melody or the dance steps . Then we were shown two games of competition, one by the men, one by the women dressed in beautiful dresses. They do look Hopi.
The elevation
It is 7000 ft at the canyon rim. I got a little headache as we approached the end of the line but started drinking a lot more water. You can tell it is high elevation but it is manageable. I saw at least one older man who appeared to be ill with altitude sickness.
The vendors
At the water stops, there were often vendors, who we were told, had traveled by foot an hour and a half to sell their little baskets to us. These baskets are made of pine needles or a leaf called sotel. They are beautifully done and very inexpensive. Women can bargain out the windows between the train cars to purchase them for a few dollars. We are all impatient with the women who dominate the “window” and can’t make up their minds thus denying the other potential purchasers from an opportunity to make their contributions to the local economy.
On the train, there were some souvenirs offered. An apron, bucket style hat, duck billed hats…you get the picture. Ed got a bucket hat in his size with Copper Canyon Mexico emblazoned on it ala Indiana Jones style. While it isn’t the fedora style that Harrison Ford wore, I’ll be worried when Ed starts cracking the whip.
When we get off the train to go to the bus at the rim, and at the hotel, there are vendors everywhere. Almost never does a vendor approach you and when they do, it is subtle and unobtrusive. Children do this as well as adults and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference since they are so small. Prices are very reasonable. The baskets are clearly handmade here and you see women everywhere working on the baskets while they sit with their neatly displayed products.
The trip back
This was pretty anticlimactic. Some folks are able to sleep; most of us do not. The foliage changes with the elevations again and the view is different both because we are on the opposite side of the train and because the sun is setting producing great shadows.
About 2 pm, we were given complimentary margaritas (not too bad; about 4 ounces) or small beers. You could then buy another for (?) $3. There was a mariachi singing in the bar and later he went through the cars. I asked him if he knew Borrachera but he didn’t. Too bad, it’s a cute song about a drunk.
As always, it seems longer to return to the ship. We are all tired. We get to El Fuerte and our busses about 8:20 pm and load quickly. No one cares if they have a good seat: it’s pitch black. We got back to the ship at 10:20 p and were told there was a buffet for us upstairs. OMG: people want more food! Ed said something about going up there and I looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. We went to bed pretty quickly.
What we missed
A local folklorico group of kids came on board the ship and we always enjoy these performances. Our tablemates affirmed it was very good and it’s too bad we missed it.
What happens on the ship while we’re in port
So many people never get off of the ship. I can’t imagine this but… So there are often games, meetings, and the usual such as afternoon tea. There are movies on the TV and replays of the lecturers and performances. Ed’s annoyed because he missed seeing “Angels and Demons” on the TV while we were gone.
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