THE PANAMA CANAL
Rebecca and I have discussed the possibility of taking a cruise for a vacation while down here at the Winter Residence. We have thought about going either north or south. Or perhaps even taking a ship instead of a plane to get here. Cruise ships routinely stop in Puerto Vallarta. Unfortunately one can only get off and not on. A trip through the Panama Canal seemed to be a logical way. I have always thought the Panama Canal would be a wonder to see. And so we investigated what was available, making sure the itinerary included a stop in P.V. and that we could indeed disembark there, and booked our passage on the Celebrity Century, one of the smaller cruise ships of the major lines by today's standards.
Unfortunately nearly all cruises originate in Florida, either Ft. Lauderdale as did ours, or Miami. So we needed to book a flight and hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale. We had to go to Mexico City and then Atlanta before finally reaching Florida. Things went rather smoothly except for a small glitch for some immigration papers to get us back into Mexico. And our hotel had shuttles from the airport and to the port. However, it was a fifteen-hour travel day.
Boarding the ship was straightforward; the port authority folks have the system down. There were people from many countries, all anxious to get going. Most prominent were Germans; as we would later hear most of the on-board announcements in English and German. There were a smattering of Japanese and other Asians. And we heard other languages – Swedish, Italian, French, etc. – during the cruise
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Below Mrs.T reviews our first stop, Cartagena, Colombia, which was our only stop on the Atlantic side of the canal. As are several of the places we stopped, Cartagena is a major seaport for cargo. Most of the shipping these days is containerized and we were to see them stacked and being moved about during our times in ports; Maersk, the company of Captain Phillips, was noticeable. As a note, even though the Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the canal itself goes north and south.
As some of you know, Dan and I went on a cruise through the Panama Canal. The cruise was on a very big ship. Dan who seems to have a natural sense of direction immediately figured out where everything was. With 12 different decks I think it is understandable that I sometimes became confused. Fortunately they had little 'You Are Here' maps by each elevator. (There were three banks of elevators. –dt) The ship had 5 or 6 each of lounges, bars, restaurants, and stores - also a theater, a cinema, a medical clinic, and a customer service area, not to mention cabins for 1800 passengers and 900 crew.
On the first night at the traditional toast held in the theater, the captain introduced the main officers only one of whom was a woman, the ship's doctor. She was from Columbia and quite nice looking. Dan commented that he wouldn't mind her taking care of him. (Maybe that will be another part of the report. –dt) Sigh! We settled into our cabin which was snug but had a very nice window.
The passengers were people in our age range who evidently liked to eat. There were about 4 or 5 passengers on the skinny side but most were either average or shall we say well-rounded; we fit right in the demographic. And eat we did! We had breakfast, we had a midmorning snack, we had brunch, we had lunch, we had a midafternoon snack, we had tea, we had dinner, we had a postprandial tidbit, and then of course a snack before bed. Well we did not eat at all of these times, but passengers did munch their way through the days. Actually Dan and I pretty much restrained our gluttony to breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack before bed. But the food was very good in both quality and quantity. One person I met stationed herself by the ice cream bar and whenever they brought out a new flavor rushed over to investigate. She could not understand how she gained 15 pounds. I will admit I personally consumed substantial amounts of bread pudding and many different exotic chocolate desserts. It is disconcerting to think that we took this tour during Lent but all I can figure out is that we gave up healthy eating and abased ourselves in decadence.
Of course we worked off a lot of these extra calories with strenuous on board activities such as reading; watching movies - Dan saw Captain Phillips and found it good; shows - we went to one but Dan fell asleep; lectures - we went to one but I fell asleep (It really was bad. –dt); trivia contests, I won twice; chess games - Dan lost twice which made him grumpy (I hung some rooks. –dt); and sitting in the lounges listening to music.
The third night was the first "formal" dinner. A couple of people were a little late arriving. "They probably did not have someone bullying them into what to wear!" explained Terry, the other male at our table, who looked very nice in a dinner jacket. Dan growled in agreement. It was the first time I had seen Dan in a tie in many years. (We had a very nice group of six table mates; we enjoyed meeting all of you. –dt)
Our first stop was at Cartagena, Columbia. Even though it was Sunday and also Election Day, the locals were ready for us. When we disembarked we walked around a little park at the base of the fort (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas -dt). We were surrounded by street vendors. There were ladies dressed up like Chiquita Banana (Actually probably Carmen Miranda even though she was from Brasil. –dt) who wanted money to take their picture with you. (You will see me warning her in one photo. –dt) I made the mistake of buying a couple of tee shirts and was mobbed by vendors throwing articles of clothing and jewelry on me. (Our vendors in Bucerias are sedate by comparison. –dt) Finally I was rescued by the guide – we were last on the bus - and we went on to our excursion.
We had scheduled a shore excursion that featured a tour of the city in a horse drawn carriage. The horse was fine; I think he had memorized the route and would have placidly taken us around with no driver whatsoever. The carriage was fine, picturesque and well kept, it seated four of us. The tour part, however, left a bit to be desired. It was in fact non-existent. After we had covered a couple of blocks I said to Dan, "I wish he would tell us about these buildings." The driver who evidently understood English quite well asked me in Spanish, "Do you speak Spanish?" "Yes, some," I admitted. He then proceeded to give us a very nice tour in Spanish which I translated for the other three. The only problem was when he gave dates - which was quite often as this was a historical kind of tour - I could not keep up. Dan who is good with numbers in any language took to translating the dates and then we did fine. The buildings were from three to five hundred years old and included a lot of churches and convents not to mention the fort and city wall. There were many statues; my favorite was fat saint somebody or other. I do not make this up, they really do have a statue of a fat saint; I just can't remember her name. (Not really a saint, although the locals may call her that. It is the bronze Mujer Reclinada by Fernando Bortero. From another's post: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Cy3bgafPA6STMJnRoioI4Bf1bRGfAiytkKNUqXeQXV39AKhidffInhv52z9fM1jkT6NyOaGFRBQssKLK4iinyRKe9kIItHBRjtsN6xv65EK2C9WF7OAZgrdzkeUGMkin01mE0D8DfE_h/s640/IMG_7100.JPG -dt) I had a little problem with Dan because when the tour was over he thought I should get a cut of the tips. We went on to a local market where things were a lot more subdued. Here I was able after a bit of haggling to buy a little puzzle to take back to our group in Bucerias.
Here are a few photos of this stop: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157642876659795/
I expect Mrs.T will provide us with some additional stories about the trip. But soon we return to the Summer Estate and need to prepare for that. Will spring be there when we return?
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
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