South Of The Border

Cartegena, Columbia is a city divided by old and new. We sit on board in the harbor and from our porthole we can view the loading and unloading of massive cargo ships. Nearby is an ocean of overseas containers. In the distance is the “new city” of Cartegena, steel and concrete high rise buildings just glistening from the tropical sun. We board a bus and are taken to the walled “old city” under the protection of two massive forts from the sixteenth century. The walking tour takes us to the oldest of the Catholic Churches in the city and we are escorted through some of the narrowest cobble stoned streets I’ve seen in some time. We are shown historical statues, government buildings and beautifully restored brightly colored homes that are now businesses. All buildings in this part of town must be maintained historically and kept in good repair. This part of the city is clean and my only problem is that we are inundated with licensed peddlers hawking t-shirts, jewelry, leather and other tourist trinkets. In fact, everywhere we turn, someone is trying to sell us a hat or sunglasses. It interesting to note there is no welfare for younger people and some try to earn money by performance art. We came upon a statue of four fishermen. I took a picture, thinking it was three statues and one person imitating a statue. Then I realized all four were human. They wore all black clothes, heavy black makeup and stood on blackened stumps while holding blackened fishing gear complete with a blackened fish. In front of these “artists” were buckets for offerings from passersby. That was the only time you saw any movement. It’s a type of art that demands endurance and dedication to the project. Towards the end of our tour, we were allowed just twenty minutes to purchase our souvenirs before returning to the ship. This is a novelty for us. Normally, shore excursions are the main vehicle used to lure people off the ships and into the shops.

Sanitation and Other Measures

We have picked up someone from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta to check on the ships’ attempts to get a handle on the virus that is making an impact on so many people’s cruise. We have heard that this virus has affected 5 cruise ships including the Holland America’s Oosterdam that was berthed next to us in San Diego. The specialist says the ship is doing everything right and it seems the number of people reporting to the ship’s infirmary is decreasing daily. At our dining room table, three of the four couples endured quarantine and one couple went through it twice, once for him and then a day later, her. All food and condiments are given to us by staff whether it’s in the dining room or upstairs at the buffet. Salt and pepper are dispensed for you, cream is poured into your coffee and even the butter has made a transformation from clover shaped hand cut pats to foil wrapped prepackaged tablespoons. There has been so much disinfectant used on the ship that all shiny surfaces have cloudy film on them, the handrails in the stairways are constantly wet, the covers from the pool chaise loungers have been stripped and in some cases the varnish has been stripped away on the woodwork. We’ve heard reports of people’s clothing being ruined by the bleach and the staff is forbidden from shaking hands with the guests. On the night of the 11th, after the lifting of our curfew, two stewards came into our room and sanitized everything we might have possibly touched.

The Panama Canal

Today, we travel through the Panama Canal, the highlight of this trip. We’re up early for the sunrise. It’s one of the few places geographically that the sun actually rises in the west and sets in the east. We will be traveling northwest in order to go east. Directionally, this place is all mixed up. There’s tons of statistics that I could pass on here but I don’t want to use up the space. I will tell you that our ship paid $259,000.00 to pass through the canal. We travel under two bridges, the Bridge of the Americas which connects North and South America and the Centennial Bridge that was constructed to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the completion of the Canal. The Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks lift us up 85 feet so that we can travel through the Gaillard Cut, the nine mile long, most narrow part of the 47 mile trip. Currently the Canal operates 24 hours a day and all traffic is inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. Large ships pass each other in the second largest man made lake, Gatun Along the way, we view construction on the third and much wider series of locks for the post Panamax freighters, ships with beams wider than the 108 feet the current locks can accommodate. Finally, we are lowered back down to sea level by the Gatun locks and enter the Caribbean Sea.

Illness Strikes

I’m sorry to report there will be no beautiful photos from Costa Rica today. It started the night before last with a 6.2 magnitude earthquake striking near San Jose and La Paz. We had been scheduled to tour the beautiful waterfalls of La Paz and were not surprised but definitely upset to find that our shore excursion had been cancelled along with several others. We’re not sure if it’s because of a concern regarding aftershocks or if there is significant damage to streets and facilities. So we, like hundreds of other guests scrambled to find an alternate tour to fill our time while we are docked in Puntarenas. At dinner last evening, Carl began feeling awful. He was hot, felt clammy to the touch and his stomach was doing the Macarena . By 10:00PM, he had thrown the entire contents of his stomach up and I do mean violently. He collapsed into bed and was up again at 4:30 this morning with a mad dash to the bathroom. By 8:00AM, he was weak, had a pounding headache and ached all over. It won’t surprise any of you to know that we were off to the ship’s doctor moments later. He pronounced us under quarantine-me for 24 hours and Carl for 48. That means our shore excursion is cancelled and refunded plus we cannot leave the cabin for the stated times. Normally room service and confinement would appeal to us both. Too bad he feels so lousy. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that he got a very painful shot in the behind to stop his vomiting and some pills to take before he eats anything else.
Maybe it was the motion of the ocean or maybe it was the breast of duck he had for supper. Maybe it was just his turn to get the virus that’s been ghosting about the ship. We may never know. I can’t say it’s ruined the vacation but it sure has put a stopper on the next day or two’s activities. The photo posted was taken two nights earlier, a perfect end to a beautiful day.

Shore Excursion

Today ‘s activities included an hour ashore in Huatulco, MX, and I took several interesting photos depicting what I thought made up this tiny slice of heaven. It turns out the real town is a mile down the road from where we were. The contrasting colors on some of the buildings was unusual and I’ve found the lighting gets more intense as we travel closer to the Canal. This part of the Mexican coastline is inundated with tiny bays which we are told have been set aside as marine sanctuaries and will not be developed. It’s the only part of the coastline where sewerage is not dumped back into the ocean and they have three treatment plants in the area. I must say the beaches were clean and so were the streets.
Last night we went to one of the many bars to have a drink and catch some music before bed. We settled on a Jazz group because they were easy to listen to and they interacted often with us few members of the audience that were there at that time of night. We found out the leader/drummer was from New Zealand. While on deck this afternoon, we happened upon an intense game of shuffleboard being played between this kiwi and the sax player. We chatted for some time about how open and friendly we found the New Zealand people to be and how we had much enjoyed their hospitality three years ago. He was so pleased to hear it that he gave me a hug in spite of all the sanitation procedures the ship has placed into effect. I guess this norovirus has the shipping line concerned because they are in touch with the CDC regarding measures to be taken to get the ship healthy once more. Rumors abound about the number of passengers affected.
After a day at sea tomorrow, we’ll be docking in Costa Rica. I’m wondering if we actually cross over the equator on the 10th.

The Baltimore Four

Today is the first day I’ve really felt like myself. Fortunately, my head cold is letting up and I spent some time reading up by the pool while we’re docked in Acapulco. We’ve been here before, too. So it was a lazy Day. Carl went for a walk along the harbor and watched the local fishermen bring their catch to the beach while other guys sold the fish to passers by. For the past four nights we’ve been eating dinner at the second sitting, 8:30PM. We had asked to be seated at the early dinner, 6:00PM. Our request was made possible this evening and the phrase, “Be careful What you Wish For” certainly rings true. We are seated with two older couples from Baltimore. Now, it’s bad enough to spend the meal with Orioles Fans but I have to tell you, it’s quite an ordeal to act interested. One lady orders her appetizer and when it arrives she take a bite and decides she want something else. In fact each of the three courses, she sent back. I felt so bad for our waiter. It’s his first cruise and now I’m thinking he’s rethinking his career choice. Her husband is a retired judge and they’ve been on 39 cruises over the years. The other couple was something else as well. Both ladies coughed their heads off assuring me they weren’t contagious. All the while, we’re noticing the sanitation process ship wide has been stepped up because there are several cases of stomach virus on board. And to add insult to injury after giving up our quiet late table for two for the earlier sitting with the “Baltimore Four”, I missed the most beautiful sunset of the cruise to date.

Cabo Or Bust

First port of call is Cabo San Lucas which started out as a sleepy little fishing village at the very tip of Baja California, gateway to the Sea of Cortez. We watched breaching humpbacks while having breakfast. Our plan was to do a jeep caravan through the rain forest and dessert in the surrounding hills but this was sold out. Since we’ve been to Los Cabos before, as it is commonly referred to, we decided to pass on a substitute. Carl did have to go ashore to find a particular brand of tequila made famous by Sammy Hagar of Van Halen ( He owns the Company ) called Cabo Wabo. Apparently it’s good stuff and a couple of people where Carl works asked him to pick up a bottle for them. Of course, now we’ve filled our customs quota and can’t bring anything back for ourselves. It’s okay, though because we’re not going anywhere near the Amaretto Di’ Sarona factory ( my favorite). When you get off the ship in Cabo, you are immediately assaulted by the street peddlers with their “gringo trinkets”. I almost laughed out loud when I heard them hawking their beautiful silver for just $1.00. And if that isn’t funny enough, we even walked by a vendor who was selling t-shirts for $1.00 For that price you could buy a dozen. You’d have to because you could never wash them, just wear them once and toss into the textile recycle bin.

First Leg Of The Trip

I’m making an entry from San Diego today. We’re on board the Celebrity Cruise Ship, “Mercury” for our two week tour down the coast of Mexico, through the Panama Canal, a stop in Cartegena, Columbia, and our final destination, Fort Lauderdale, FL. The ship is good size and as always, it takes several days to become accustomed to where everything is. I wish I could have taken a picture of us during the mandatory life boat drill. The majority of the passengers are older with robust figures if you know what I mean and then to put these bright orange floatation devices on, well it’s just too comical. I can’t see down to my feet without holding the vest and tipping sideways. Once the drill is over, we can proceed with the fun. We were berthed in the part of the harbor next to the USS Midway which has been retired from active service and is now a floating museum. Her tower number is 41 but there are two other ships nearby with the tower numbers 78 and 68. I took several pictures from the dock just before we left. Does anyone know these ships? I'll post a photo later. Since my original post, I was able to discover the CVN 68 is the USS Nimitz, a nuclear powered air craft carrier.