Cruise Part 10. Costa Rica and the rainforest.

Panama to Limon was 191 nautical miles and our average speed was 18.6 knots. Temperature was 25 C or 77 F with a breeze. It was glorious!

Hellooooo Costa Rica!

Our tour today wasn't until 12:20 so we had a leisurely breakfast at the Bordeaux, bacon and eggs for him and French toast for me. It was "real" French toast, made with a brioche bread and I'm pretty sure the maple syrup was genuine.  I could have eaten more (I actually could have ordered more, but I didn't want to appear so piggish first thing in the morning.)  After that we went to the Lido deck and Steven hot-tubbed with his cronies for a bit while I read and people watched. The crew had their mandatory fire drill, so it was sort of fun to watch them scrambling to their places. We had been told earlier that they had to (by maritime law) enter a certain % of cabins to make sure they were empty, so if you didn't want to be disturbed, or just plain didn't want them in your room, to hang out your "do not disturb" sign.  It was over within 30 minutes or so, but good to know they're on the ball.

I went to the buffet and got some buns, cold cuts, and fruit, and went back to our room and made a small lunch to bring as we weren't going to be near a restaurant for a while. Unlike organized bus tours that have a free breakfast included but absolutely frown on take-away, this was ok and I know this because I asked. I would think that if they frowned on it, there would be no room service, because a person would order the buns etc to their room and when it was delivered they would simply just pack it up. This way there is not a bunch of waiters running to rooms all day, plus more tables available in the buffet. 

We disembarked and found our driver and off we went. It was a 45 minute drive through small villages and towns with an interesting and informative guide.

The houses seemed to be all nicely kept, and they all had a satellite dish on top. I guess the entire world is connected these days. Unless you live in North Korea or Cuba.

I won't bore you with the history of Costa Rica, but I will mention that they have no military at all, one of the few countries in the world that do not. They have police of course, but no army of any kind.

We drove through the banana plantations of Dole, Del Monte and of course Chiquita.

I knew that bananas grew in bunches upside down (in comparison as to how we hang them) but I didn't know that they were covered with blue plastic to keep them from ripening too soon, and also to keep bugs away. But...and I'm getting chills here, that is also why you sometimes find spiders in the boxes of bananas, they crawl in the bags and can't get out. Ewwww. Ewwwww. Ewwww. 

I did not walk into a banana grove if there was the slightest chance that a tarantula was going to fall on me. Some things are best observed from a distance.

We then arrived in a small village and boarded an old train on the historic railroad that was the beginning of the banana industry. I won't get into boring history, but about 100 years ago, the banana train ran all through Costa Rica, and Central America to deliver bananas to the ports. As time went went by and trucking and airlines became the better way, the railway slowly fell apart. There are small sections still running (like this one) mostly for tourists, but some workers still use them to get to and from their homes to the fields for work.

Out guide was really informative, plus the scenery was fabulous, and I loved  the train. It was like an old museum. Lots  of wood and leather.  Some people were complaining that it was "an old piece of junk"  (what part of "ride an old historic train from the turn of the century" didn't these people understand?) 

The one part that had me a little concerned was when we passed this river:

And the train stopped and backed up (it was only 4 cars long) and stopped on the bridge and we were to marvel at how sturdy the bridge still was...after 100 years. I quickly made sure I knew where the windows and window latches were, and hoped that the crocodiles were not waiting underneath for a bridge collapse and a train full of snacks.

 

But all was well and we were given bags of banana chips as a reward for not panicking. Oh, there was also a bathroom on this train, but I was too afraid to look into it. I can only imagine....

  About now it started to rain. It had been drizzly the past couple of hours, but this was rain. And rain and rain and rain. Our guide reminded us that we are in the rainforest, but man, this was a deluge of biblical proportions. Everyone on the left side of the train quickly moved to the right side as the rain was almost coming directly straight in the windows! You could close the windows, but then the humidity was too much. 

We soon burst out of the rainforest (where we had seen a few monkeys and a couple of sloths) and I was surprised to see the ocean right beside. In my usual "always lost" way, I thought we had been going towards the centre of Costa Rica.

The train soon stopped and our bus drove right beside it so that we could hop from one to the other without getting drenched, thus I didn't get a good photo of the train.

We stopped at a huge (yuuuuge) artisan market with maybe 100 little shops, the whole thing was under a roof, so it was rain-free and fun to look at all the crafts and goodies. The walk from here to the gangplank was only a few minutes, but sometimes the actual wait to get in is longer, so I bought two of those plastic raincoats for $2. I only have a dozen or so at home in my travel drawer, and they take up virtually no space.....someday I will remember to throw a couple in my backpack.  We covered ourselves up and made the mad dash to the ship, along with everyone else. It was a "bump to pass" affair and the rain didn't let up. Luckily the wait was pretty much non-existent, but we were still dripping with rainforest tears. (If I phrase it that way it makes the rain sound more appealing, but it really wasn't.)

Getting on the ship requires (in every port) passing through security screening, just like an airport. All phones, cameras, electrical devices, purses and bags have to be put in a tray and go thru the X-ray machine. That's what sometimes holds the line up.  Plus you have to get your princess card scanned as well. I guess the staff  has it down to a fine art in cases of rain and crowds, because it went pretty smoothly.  My big fear was losing  my card, and I'm  sure it happens a lot, but I wonder what kind of hassle it is? I guess that's why they tell you to take your passport with you as well.

So we headed upstairs to shake off the rain and checked out the Bordeaux, which had nothing appealing, so we headed up to the buffet which was having Bavarian Night! All the staff were dressed in lederhosen (they always dressed in the appropriate costume on theme nights, and I'm sure they hate every second of it)

There was schnitzel, spaetzle, bratwurst, knockwurst, weisswurst, bierwurst and something called currywurst. There was sauerkraut in many shapes and forms, saurkraut with bacon, with cheese, with bacon and cheese, there was pork and sauerbraten and a whole suckling pig. Of course desert was Black Forest cake, but also many stollens and other pastries. It was pretty awesome.

We gorged ourselves and then made a couple of laps around the boat before we went to the show, which was "Do you wanna dance?" an extravaganza of dance throughout the world....flamenco, Irish step dancing, Argentinian tango, and a lot of good old rock n' roll. It was a lot of fun and everyone was toe-tapping and/or singing along. I think more than a few folks had had a beer with their schnitzel. (You could also order drinks in the theatre, and every seat had a tiny table, so I mean, how could you not utilize that?)

Bed by 11 and yet another time change tonight. What kind of area is Central America? The time zones are crazy-wonky.

Good night.

Cruise Part 9-Panama!!

We travelled 269 nautical miles last night, at a speed of 19.6 knots, faster than normal. They said the temperature was 30 C or 86 F, but I'm sure it was hotter than that.

I forgot to mention last nights dinner, which was Italian night in the buffet. All sorts of pastas and antipastos and every kind of Italian meat and sweet you could think of. Ate far too much. The entertainment at the theatre was a broadway-type production called "On the Bayou" and it was so good! It started out at a funeral, and after the mourners left, the coffin sprung open and an old man got out, wishing he could see his New Orleans just one more time. The set changed to the past and the show began from his childhood to his teens and then marriage and finally to his old age and eventual death, but they incorporated all things New Orleans.....voodoo, Mardi gras, jazz and blues, food and life in the bayou. It was really funny in places, with lots of good music. The stage had secret trapdoors and things were appearing and disappearing all the time. It was pretty amazing. It ended as he crawled back into his coffin and the mourners and a band returned to carry him away, of course playing "As the Saints came Marching in...." Everyone really enjoyed it. I would have liked to have been able to see it again.

Anyhow, back to today. The Panama Canal is simply astounding. It was so much more impressive than I had expected. I have always wanted to go through the locks, ever since I first heard about them (probably in school), and I was pretty sure I knew what to expect, but it was so much more than that.

There was a lot of information on the ship's TV channels on the few days prior, as well as lots of pamphlets in our mailbox, and even on our beds. The two main things were:  that all times were very much approximate and subject to change because the transit depends on other canal traffic, so to expect delays and be understanding about it, and the second thing was, there is no way to leave the ship and go to shore on your own unless you are with a Princess Line excursion. (The other ports all gave you the opportunity to come and go as you please during the hours the ship was in port) Needless to say, once that was announced the tours sold out in a heartbeat and there were a lot of disappointed people, but to be fair, that was all very plainly stated in all the pre-cruise documents. There were a lot of folks who chose to stay on the boat, but there were also a lot who had no choice. All I can say is, do your research folks.

In a nutshell, it worked like this: at approx 6 AM, the first of three Panama pilots board our ship, along with a Panama crew, they do all the technical stuff. It takes two hours to through the three locks.  At that point the ship is in Gatun Lake, where a tender takes us to shore, where we take our various tours. The remaining tour-less passengers stay on board and get to see the locks a second time, plus they've got the ship almost to themselves, so it's not a horrible day for them at all.

The ship then swings around, gets in line with other ships and goes back through the locks and docks in Colon. At that point, those remaining tour-less passengers can get off and visit the port of Colon, so at least they can say they were in Panama. It's a rather sketchy place and there are no tours from there at all. It's not a town, it's just a port with a large souvenir and duty-free store. Those of us on tours are returned here eventually and we all get back on board the ship.

So they suggested to be up at 6 AM and go to the front of the boat for the best view of the whole thing. I set my alarm for 5:30 and for those of you who know me, that's pretty astounding in and of itself. I went up to the front and at 6 AM it was fairly crowded and so horribly humid already. The front of the ship is enclosed in plexiglass, so you didn't get a crystal clear view. I went to the buffet and got a breakfast selection; coffee, juices, pastries etc and returned to our room. Steven was up and showered by now, so we had our crummy Nescafé and  then went back upstairs....where it was hotter and more crowded than ever, and you had to jostle for a spot. I'm thinking it was the passengers who had an inside stateroom with no window. We decided to go back to our room, our balcony was on the right side, and also the right side (as in "correct") for a perfect view. 

At this point, about 7-ish, we were just first in line for the first lock. I couldn't believe how many massive ships were behind us. Close to 100 go through every day. And expensive? Close to half a million bucks in port fees and taxes to go through these locks, which were the older ones, and close to one million dollars for the newer, larger ones. But, it shaves off approx 8,000 miles, so the time saved and the fuel saved must be worth it.

This is just going under a huge new bridge that spans the canal. There was live footage of the view from the  front of the boat on the giant TV, as well as on our stateroom TV's. I thought they might play a little Van Halen as we arrived, but nada. I sang a little "Panama-ah-ah-ah" to amuse myself and others who might get it. 

There are two canals, side by side, which I didn't realize. We were in the left one, so we could look down from our balcony and see all the mechanics in the middle. They hook the boats up to locomotives called "mules" (because back in the day they used actual mules) and they run on a small cog railway and guide the ships. There is between 11 inches and 22 inches on either side of the ships!

In this pic I am looking at the canal beside us. 

In this pic I am looking straight down. You can see two of the mules below me. There were 4 others; two midship and two at the front. You can also see the balconies below me. Steven was always drying his clothes on our balcony and I had fears that they'd fall below and I'd have to go asking for lost boxer shorts. Or I'd see his stuff sailing off into the ocean, to join that garbage patch in the middle of the pacific. 

Looking ahead to the first lock.

 "Hello. I am the grouchy maitre'd of the canal. Please be seated and don't leave a mess."

It was really neat to be able to sit on the balcony and see what was going on and then to watch the TV and see the front view. This pic shows the two canals side by side and the mules and machinery in the middle. We are just heading to the first lock

Then a smaller ship came up into the lock beside us, which was very cool because we were able to see exactly how the gates opened, and how the locks filled and raised the ships up. We were fortunate to see that, if we had been on the other side of the boat we wouldn't have had that experience. Plus, it's not often that another ship comes through at that exact right time.

Gates open, ship comes in, gates close, something like 61 million gallons of water flow in in 7 minutes, the ship floats up and the front gates open to let it enter into the next lock, where the procedure starts again. The lock they just came thru is drained of that 61 million gallons until its sea level again and the gates open for the next ship. It's incredible. You can visually see the water draining like a bathtub,

The last lock and you can just see Gatun Lake ahead.

Just a nice scene partway through.

An old railway track going somewhere unusual?

Here's a few interesting Canal tidbits.

It opened in 1914, fulfilling a 400 year old dream first imagined by the Spaniards in 1519. 

The Gatun Locks that we went through raise the ships a total of 85 feet. 

A complete transit to the Pacific Ocean is two more sets of locks, one lowering the ships 31 feet and the next set lowers them 58 more feet. 

It took more than 34 years to complete and 27,000 lives were lost due to landslides, accidents and tropical diseases.

The islands you see in Gatun Lake are actually the tops of hills that peek up out of the water from when the area was flooded, to make Gatun Lake. It's not a natural lake  at all.

So now we are through and in Gatun Lake. We are assigned a group number so that everyone doesn't crowd to the gangway at once. We get called to our designated waiting area, and before long we disembark onto a  small tender that takes us to shore for our excursion.

Impatient waiting. 

The tender had weird windows and made everything look like a dream sequence.

We found our bus and driver and started our tour through this area of Panama. To be honest, it was fairly boring. We drove through the old Panama Zone and Military area, which was slightly interesting, drove through a town called Margaritaville, which was not so interesting, it was like a gated community, so nothing special to see there. We did stop along the road to see a sloth, some howler monkeys and some coatimundi's running around, that was fun. Especially the sloth, since they're so popular right now.

Then we arrived at the little area/township called Agua Clara, on the edge of Gatun Lake. They had a theatre which showed a (free) documentary of the building of the canal, which normally wouldn't interest me, but it was air-conditioned so we went in, and the coolness alone would have been worth paying big bucks. This was the most humid day yet. And, the documentary was surprisingly fascinating and only 20 minutes long. Steven really enjoyed it too, it was well done, I was glad we went in. 

Then we saw a restaurant nearby so we stopped in and had a Panamanian beer and a Panamanian soft drink. I thought the heat was going to kill me. I had no hesitation in drinking the water and ice which probably wasn't wise (especially since we were told not to), but I was just dehydrated, even though we brought our own water. Luckily, it didn't bother me, I'm fortunate to have a pretty good gut system, as well I was taking pro and pre biotics, the same ones I took prior to going to India.

 There was a short ecological walk we could take, through the rainforest, so we prepared ourselves for some more humidity and off we went. We saw some more coatimundis, you guys have probably seen them, they're the sweet looking creatures that resemble a raccoon and you see them a lot in Mexico, Cuba and other Central American places. We saw a lot of them in the Amazon too.

 

We also saw a lot of howler monkeys, but they swung so rapidly through the trees that it was hard to get a picture. They also threw stuff at us, which was probably shit, so I wasn't into gazing upwards with my camera. I'm not a fan of monkeys at the best of times.

It was shady at least, which cut the heat down a little bit. Not by much though and I was happy to return to our air-conditioned bus. Spoiled North Americanns. Such whiners we are.  

We drove past the new locks, which are very cement-ish and sterile looking and saw a massive yet colorful ship going through. Just look at the height of this thing! It could not fit under the bridge at the old locks, so it had to pay the higher price to go through the new ones. Probably a million dollars. 

So then we had a choice. We could take the bus back to the port and wait for our ship to return through the locks and pick us up, or we could get off in the city of Colon and spend a few hours in a local mall and shopping area with instructions on how to get back to the ship. Of course weplanned to   get off the bus, but as  we drove to this area, I'm thinking, "Nope. Not getting off here."

But then it turned into quite a nice part of the city.

There was a large supermarket that we were going to check out, but instead we spotted this (with such an awesome name!)

The first thing Steven spotted was a beer vending machine that sold you beer for $1.00. Sheesh, $7.95 American for a beer on the boat, and a buck in the casino. We had a beer and played some slots.

The beer was good, the casino was cool, the machines were hot. I put in $10.00, hoped for the best as we couldn't read anything, played for 1/2 hr or so and cashed out at $10.70. They sadly take taxes out before you get your money so I actually took home $10.11. Yes. 11 cents profit, less a dollar for the beer. It was a lot of fun for 89 cents.  

We then walked backed to the ship, it was only a 10-15 minute walk through a construction area, and  it was an easy-not-to-get-lost walk. We had been told repeatedly that if a person got off the boat at the port of Colon, that there was nowhere to eat, nowhere to sit, no shade, no bathrooms, and a small souviner shop. They made it sound hot and sketchy and extremely unpleasant. That it is just a port in an industrial town.

But here we are:

It was air conditioned with lots and lots of seating, it was like an airport waiting area. Huge clean bathrooms and to my left was a massive souviner store/duty free liquor store that also sold snacks and all sorts off other things.  It would hardly be the same as going on a tour and at least getting to see some of the country, but it would still be a way to step outside and "be in Panama"

This waiting room rapidly filled up, and this was the part that demanded patience. The pick-up time was an estimate since the ship had to wait its turn to get back through the locks again, so no one was sure of any times. I think it was about 45 minutes, but we checked out the store and schmoozed with other folks. Once the boat arrived and set up for embarkation, and had the gangplank down, we all filed back into the ship. At that point, those people who wanted to get off the boat and buy a souviner were allowed to disembark and come in here for an hour or two. They could have run over to the casino area and shops if they wanted, but time was limited and the boat waits for no man.

It was 6-ish by now, and we were starved! I had packed two buns, two bananas and two granola bars in our backpack, but that was all we had eaten since 6 am. So we decided to race to the sit down restaurant without changing since the other 1,000 folks who had been out and about probably were hungry too and all the restaurants were going to be crowded and were probably going to have a wait to get in. I was pretty pushy getting back on the boat. You can see from my pic in the waiting room that we were one of the first ones there, and when we were allowed to board, people who literally just walked in the door tried to walk right in front of me! I just said "Umm....sorry, we've been here much longer than you, and end of the line is waaaaay back there."  The woman said "We're in a hurry" and I said "We all are and the ship isn't going anywhere until this room is empty. And there are bathrooms right over there" and I pushed my way past her, and told Steven to "get over here", which he meekly did. Sometimes enough is enough.  Especially when I'm in need of coffee, even if it's only Nescafé.

So we got on the boat, and an elevator happened to be right there, and empty, so we zipped up to the Bordeaux and were sitting down when most people were still stuck in the waiting room. We ate heartily, and had two starters each. He had shrimp cocktail and chicken chicharonnes, surf n' turf for his main and a chocolate mouse for dessert. I had bacon wrapped pork terrine with a tiny baguette and chilled granny smith apple cider soup with calvados and spices, and duck l'orange for my main and for dessert a "Burned rhubarb Napoleon with nectarine ice-cream" OMG! 

The entertainment show was a comedian, and this guy was hysterical. Not cheesy at all, he was actually a bit off-colour and some older folks left, but we loved it. A good belly laugh at poop and fart jokes is needed now and then by everyone, don't care who you are. 

Another time change tonight, another hour back. We were in bed by 11 once again. 

Good night.

Cruise Part 8. Colombia!

From Jamaica to Colombia is 592 nautical miles, at an average speed of 16.5 knots. Just before 7 AM the ship backed into its berth. Backed a 1,000 ft ship into a berth???  I can hardly back a 10 ft car into a double wide garage. It was very impressive.

The weather is another hot day, 33 C or 91 F. And humid. My Brillo hair sprouted almost instantly, but the beautiful blue sky made it worth while.

I was beyond excited to go to Cartagena, I don't know why, but it's one of those places that has always been on the top of my "gotta see" list. The fact that the shipped stopped here was one of the reasons I chose this tour. The other islands didn't matter, I was fine with seeing any of them, but Cartagena was a must. I was really nervous that the weather might be awful, or that the itinerary would suddenly change, which happens more frequently than one would think, but luckily, all worked out.

We had a room service breakfast today, just to check it out and see if they really did deliver at the time you asked (and they did) and to see if everything arrived fresh and hot (or cold, as in the case of juice) and it did.  We had to get up at 6:30 In order to be ready to disembark by 7:30 and I couldn't bear the thought of early morning line ups in the buffet before I even had coffee. Steven had his egg mcmuffin sandwich and juice on the balcony and watched the "backing in" procedure. 

The little tug you see was our pilot boat to assist in docking.

"Hello, I am a pelly-can....my beak can hold more than my belly-can"  (I had to spell it that way to make sure you read it in a rhyming way. Of course I know it's "pelican" 😊)

The port of Cartagena was one of the ones where you wouldn't (and weren't allowed anyhow) wander around by yourself, not so much the danger aspect, but there was nothing to see or do. These containers stretched almost as far as the eye could see and reminded me of every action movie ever made that had wild chases and gunfights. I was disappointed to not see someone running and leaping from container top to container top. I also wondered how many were filled with drugs and stowaways. Everything looked extremely clean and organized.

We took a partial tour. We hopped on a bus and drove through the port and through an older, poorer part of the city and then parked outside the walls of the old city. We walked to this main square in the below picture where we were given a little rundown of the history of Cartagena, we were given a map with sights to see and locations of clean bathrooms, and then we went walked through the gate you see (those are the walls that surround the old city). After a quick orientation we were on our own. Let me tell you, at 8:00AM it was HOT! HOT! HOT! already. I could feel, literally, the sweat running down my neck. Omg. It was deadly.

But the city is stunning and was as enjoyable as I had hoped. We didn't really follow the map we were given because we tried to stay on the shady side of the street. The buildings were really colorful and the balconies were covered with bougainvillea and hibiscus, and the fragrance was noticeable, even down where we were. They have competitions every year as to who has the loveliest balcony, which is fun, it encourages the owners to take pride in their little area....and not to string underwear and laundry across the rails!

We would walk a couple of blocks and then head back to the main square and then head a couple of blocks in another direction. I didn't want to go too far and get disoriented and miss the bus back to the port. I get turned around way too easily and I'm quite lost all the time. Later in this trip, I actually led a plane load of people the wrong way. Not a shining moment. I'll talk about that in a couple of posts from now.

This is the square we were to return to to meet our driver. You can see it had virtually no tourists, partly because we got there early, and partly because it's the beginning the off-season and partly because Hurricane Micheal deterred a lot of people, and probably partly because of the heat. 

I know these ladies dress like this and pose for tourists, but it's still a beautiful sight and they are in their national costumes.

The street signs were the same as in Havana, and they didn't always match the names written on our map, which was another good reason fo us to continue our "back and forth" meandering from the main square. Steven is incredible in the forest and woods and backcountry for knowing his way around, but not so much in a city, and me? Well, I'm always turned around.

We came across a little park, where we tried to sit and escape the humidity and heat, but to no avail. It was just as hot in the shade as in the sun, but it was still a nice place to sit and people watch, or, I guess bird watch since there was only one old fellow who was cleaning the cannons. You can see his lawnchair by his cannon in the third picture down. I say "his" cannon because he seemed to get quite huffy at me when I took a photo. We scurried off because I wasn't sure what he said and if I had done something wrong. Colombia isn't the kind of place you want to get in trouble in, even if its just picture taking!

We came across a brightly colored restaurant and decided to stop for a cold drink. The narrow staircase was quite steep and dark, and had no hand rail, I was hoping I'd make it to the top without falling all the way back down again. Upstairs was a small area, maybe 4 tables and a tiny bar. The balcony was just as small, two tiny tables with 2 chairs each. After we sat down, I hoped that I hadn't walked into someone's home and plunked myself down on their personal balcony! Hahahah, that would have been awesome!

However, a waiter came out and I tried to speak to him in my extremely limited Spanish, I guess I did ok because I wanted 2 Coke and 2 Cake and this is what I got:

 And soooo good, some sort of nutmeg/cinnamon cake with a caramel topping. I could have eaten Steven's slice as well. 

We continued wandering and found and old church and the library. Sadly, both were closed as I'll bet they were both cool inside

The doors all have fancy doorknockers, and the larger the knocker, the wealthier you are. Also, the more majestic the knockers, the wealthier you are. So a huge lion is "better" than a small lion, but a small lion is still better than any of these. A caste system, if you will. It's very strictly adhered too.

I like this picture because it shows the new city just past the walls of the old city 

A bit of a closer view

A lovely apartment building. I'm not sure why all the chairs and tables are covered

The church where we were to meet our driver, and below that a lime juice vendor. He'd squeeze the limes and add some sugar and ice. So very refreshing. I tried it at home, but it wasn't the same. Lack of ambience I suppose.

Before long, our day in Cartagena was over. I'd love to come back and spend more time there, there was so much more to see....museums, galleries, bars and restaurants. It looked so intriguing.

Outside the city walls. 

Here I am, back on the ship, watching Cartagena slip away....

Look how gorgeous.