Honolulu, Saturday, February 9, 2013

Sunrise over Diamondhead as we pull into Honolulu Harbor

This huge Macy's store is closing.....in downtown Honolulu and is going to be a WALMART!!

I thought we were in downtown Honolulu, but looks like Knoxville, TN 

Some of the beautiful sculptures we saw as we ventured back and forth from the ship to Starbuck's.......where we sat for 3.5 hours, working on the blog about the Panama Canal....only to discover, after a LOT of coffee and angst and typing, they have no bathroom!!!!  and they are closing!! A painful walk back to the ship.....tend to necessities.....

And lucky day,  we find a Hooter's near the ship with better beverages AND two college basketball games on the TV!!  We finish blogging for the day....rather for the week because the ship is just too slow

Los Angeles, Monday, February 4, 2013

These birds would flock the ship as we were nearing or leaving a port.  They glide, don't fly....white under their wings and on their chest......nose dive for their lunch.....which occasionally meant our balcony.....scared the _____out of me one day as one started to land on our railing.....they are called, believe it or not....BOOBIES!!

Enroute to Los Angeles, we played lots of bridge with Karen and Gary from the Villages in Florida.  They beat us!!! (most of the time)

Here are our very fun tablemates for our first segment, Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles.  On the left are Angela and Michael, a lovely Brit couple with whom we played Rummikub following dinner many nights.....Michael was the BIG loser, but a good sport!  Next to them are Shan and Martyn, another great Brit couple.....they had the distinct honor of their boat being selected for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee regatta....they were kind enough to share videos of that experience with our table in a private showing.....a wonderful experience!  Thanks again, Shan and Martyn.  Next to us are Louise and Calvin.....or at least that is what I called him for three days....until Louise called Tom Bob and me Pat at bridge one day.....In my most subtle way, I corrected her and mentioned that Tom was Tom, not Bob and I am Kathy, not Pat......"Well, she said, my husband is Don, not Calvin!".....One of those times when you just needed to be there!  Hysterical!  A wonderful, fun dining table!

In line with the dining table, I must mention the dress attire.....Cunard has only three types of dinner attire:  formal, semi-formal and elegant casual.  Semi-formal is coat and tie:  elegant casual is jacket only.  Tom packs himself for our journeys....and he shows up with only one sport coat....we were all so very tired of looking at the same rag, night after night after night....when we made it to Los Angeles, I told Tom we were buying him another sport coat!!!!  "Why?", he asks!  The ship had a shuttle to a Walmart....worst Walmart ever.  Fortunately, there were other stores around.  Tom joined fashion society when we purchased a new sport coat with a tie to go with it....two new solid color shirts (purple and charcoal) and a white tie!!!!  As we were then waiting for the bus, we discovered that we had left our iPad in the store.  Tom races back and is gone for what seemed an ETERNITY, bout 20 minutes.  Thank God, he found it!  Many moments of panic!    

The HIGHLIGHT of our journey thus far was meeting Jamie's dad George and Helen for lunch in Los Angeles!!!!  Jamie is Kristin's husband and father of new baby Lucy..... It is our DEEP regret that we didn't get any pictures of that joyous occasion!  We had delicious Greek food at a restaurant called, guess what??  George's!!!  

But we DID get pictures of Lucy (and Kristin) to show George and Helen, results of one of the few Face Times.  

Manzanillo, Mexico, Friday, February 1, 2013

Tom and I agreed that this was the warmest, most hospitable reception we have EVER enjoyed.....anywhere....these school children were so thrilled to be out of school, certainly, but they were obviously very proud and happy to greet us with:  "Welcome to Manzanillo!!!", as they "high-fived" whoever would accommodate.  Their teachers were closely monitoring every move, beaming and also welcoming us.

Just steps from that heart warming welcome was the disappointing reminder of corruption and violence in our neighbor to the south......there were armed guards on many street corners with guns longer than their bodies, but I discouraged Tom from taking THOSE pictures....this is as close as we got.

Dominating the center of town is this sculpture of a marlin, the major "trophy fish" caught in these waters.....fishing is a big industry in Manzanillo.....it is the location of the "Instituto Nacional de Pesca" which directs research and supervision of fishing in the entire South Pacific.

Look VERY closely......nearly EVERY branch has an iguana resting on it.....we stood for several minutes, watching them crawl around,  making my (Kathy's) skin "crawl"

A baby.....he didn't fall out of the trees, thank heaven.....just found him crawling on the sidewalk.....took the picture.....AND RAN!!!

Together with another couple from the ship, we hired Felipe as our taxi driver.....and yep, that is the taxi....which we did not know when we hired him....a bit tiny for 5 of us.....poor long legged Tom was always in the back seat since our cruise mates were native Argentinian and could speak Spanish with Felipe.   

Somewhere down there is Felipe's favorite cove......where he used to take his girlfriends during his high school years.

Las Hadas means The Fairies......a luxury golf/beach resort built in the 1950's.....the tour buses stop at the gate, but good ole Felipe got us in....

Here are The Fairies......the ones dressed in WHITE!

Las Hadas.......a lovely spot, then AND now, including hundreds of condos all over the hillside and hundreds of rooms, all with spacious balconies facing the Pacific.

Felipe took us to Portofino's, one of the many restaurants in Manzanillo owned by one of his many, many cousins......His uncle, an Italian native, taught the whole family how to make pizza....according to Felipe, the secret is in the amount of salt in the dough, keeping the crust thin and crispy....and fresh basil.....it was delicious.....

And this was the delicious view from our dining table.....best pizza, best view!

Felipe with his cousin and family......they all like the pizza......and love life!!!!  Thanks, Felipe!

Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Costa Rica's main source of income used to be coffee......coffee is now #9 on that list, replaced by eco-tourism and microchips (Intel).  Progress by some definition, but not a universal Costa Rican definition. The total population of this country is currently 4.5 million......2/3 of those people live in the capital, San Jose, primarily because of jobs and the climate.......San Jose is located in the center of the country, nestled high in the mountains where the air is much cooler and less humid.   Quite different than many countries and cities we have visited, the closer to the ocean, the poorer the people.....the middle class resides in the meadowlands.....and the wealthiest live in the mountains.....all because of the CLIMATE!

Welcome to Costa Rica!  Puntarenas is located on the western, Pacific side of the country.....where there are only two seasons....wet and dry....we arrived at the start of the dry so everything was still lush and green.  The eastern, Caribbean side has only one season.....WET!  Hence, they have all the flora, fauna, rain forest, fruit.

Not a flattering picture, but a VERY accomplished guide...Glorianna Sanchez Castro....a native Costa Rican, married to a Danish Jew whom she met on one of her tours,  lives on 5 acres at the top of a mountain, in the clouds, 7,000' altitude...with 22 dogs....and eats lunch at her mother's every Sunday with the whole family......all 50 of them!!!!  Glorianna and her sister hope their Mom lives forever because the Sunday dinners will become their responsibility when Mom is unable.

We are on our way to Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit) Coffee Plantation....so named in thanks to God for saving the local village and its people from an earthquake.  Looking closely, you will see the rows and rows of coffee plants.

A closer look

Espiritu Santo is a coop, encompassing hundreds of farmers in the area....and the harvesting is a family affair....done by hand, as demonstrated by Karen, another wonderful guide.   The school 3 month vacation in Costa Rica is Dec., Jan., and Feb. so that the children may help their parents harvest the coffee beans.

The baskets of beans are dumped into the above machine which "dehusks" the bean.....the pickers are paid by the basketful, $2.00/basket, and each basket is manually counted on the abacus looking apparatus.   Pickers average 3 - 20 baskets/day.....the ones who only pick 3/day quit and become guides!

After "dehusking", the beans are "set out to dry".....literally.....and then manually tested for dryness...by weight (the lighter the better), color (whiter the better) and by rubbing in your hand to hear a "crackle" sound.....

Finally, out of the roaster, judged by color only, and then on to the cooler.....the aroma was DELICIOUS!!

As you see, much of the ENTIRE operation is MANUAL!!

But in the beginning, each farmer brought his own coffee beans down the mountain to the port.....and the families would custom decorate their oxcarts. 

A perfect cup of Costa Rican coffee....NEAR boiling water poured over the beans in a "cloth"(which is rinsed after each use and can be reused 20-30 times).  Glorianna's Mom drinks 12!!!!! (twelve) cups a day and has no high blood pressure!

The "schmoozer" (the one on the left) thanking Karen for a great tour!

Panama Canal Transit, Sunday, January 27, 2013

Some of you, perhaps many of you, have made the transit of the Panama Canal.....if so, bear with us on this portion of the blog.....or SKIP IT, if you wish....

Just a few interesting facts that we learned in various lectures or commentary during the transit:

The French were the first to attempt the construction....and gave up after losing 20,000 laborers.

The U. S. completed the construction in 1914, two years ahead of schedule, but with a loss of 6,000 laborers......malaria research and ridding the area of the dreaded mosquitoes gratefully diminished the casualties.  At the peak of the U. S. construction, the labor force numbered 97,000, primarily black Caribbean people.

During 2010, there were 14,200 transits of the Canal.  Over the years, the cost to transit has ranged   from 36 cents (for a swimmer) to thousands and thousands of dollars.....our Queen Elizabeth paid $390,000, including the pilots and the tugs.

China is proposing a railroad across Columbia which would impact the Canal.....negatively!!

The current enlargement of the Canal is projected to cost $5.25 billion.

Entering the Canal 

Our assigned "mules" so-called because they will do the work of a mule and pulling us side to side to keep us centered.

Hooking on

The locks open....and fold back flush into the wall.

Exiting our FIRST set of locks.......we will repeat the process THREE TIMES!!! Beginning at 8:00 a.m. and finished at 5:00 p.m.

The Bridge of the Americas.....connecting North and South America.......connecting actually two sides of Panama.

The "newer" bridge to alleviate traffic......are we back in Charleston???????

Panama City, Panama.......not Florida

Worthy of a second look......a beautiful skyline.....Panama City, Panama is becoming a well-noted LEGAL financial capital.

End of a beautiful day.....and it took us about as long to do this bloody blog as it did to transit the Canal!!!!!