HE’S NOT SLEEPING … HE’S DEAD!

We found a new friend where we sit by the pool and named him Juan. He was quite a smoker and a drinker...but not much of a conversationalist. We let him join us around the pool for the day. He had a swim with Tina and lay around on the air mattress for a while – but turned out he was just looking for someone to procure him drinks and smokes. I think he was waiting for some seniorita to sweep him off his feet – so no doubt he will be gone by tomorrow.

This fisherman comes along daily to fish from the shore. Not sure what he is trying to catch, but he has an empty plastic pop bottle with string wrapped around it and he puts some bait on the hook and throws the line out into the receding tide and then reels is it. I haven’t seen him catch anything but with all the activity of the pelicans (or penguins as Tina calls them) diving in the waters not terribly far from shore, there must be good eats out there. The most common white fish that is readily available at most buffets is Dorado – it is a really ugly fish but a firm white fish and so good.

One of the couples in the group we are with are Leo and Joan from Comox. Leo is quite the artist and painted a picture of Willy the owner of the restaurant Tequila Willy’s. It is such a great likeness and he took it to the restaurant yesterday and gave it to him. A bucket of beer was $6 contained 6 beer.

We took some laundry to the Laundromat and for 450 pesos we had our clothes washed, dried and folded. I will certainly be taking all clean clothes home at those rates – what a deal. Right next door was an esthetician and Barb and I had French manicures done for 80 pesos each. A pesos is approximately 8 cents. So if you do the math – it is cheapie cheapie - hey amiga almost free!

OUR DAY IN LA PINEDA

We took the short cab ride to the town on La Pineda. On Thursday they have a market downtown with lots of vendors with lots of stuff. It was fun to look around at the huge array of clothing, jewelry, purses, souvenirs, bathing suits, pottery, carvings etc.

When it was time for lunch, we met Ernesto (a waiter from the resort) with his wife and 2½ year old son, Iker – what a cutie. It took a while, but eventually he had lots of smiles and even a few giggles.

For dinner, we walked down the beach to a restaurant called Totinos. The dinner was absolutely fantastic. The had the most amazing large shrimp wrapped in bacon and cheese and then grilled. Most of us had that, but the other dishes were good too. A few had fish, one had coconut shrimp, one had stuffed shrimp which was stuffed breaded and deep fried, and one person even had chili relinos. There were 14 for dinner and with drinks and a 15% gratuity, the bill came to 20,000 pesos or 200 dollars. The drinks were on that bill too – so it was so very reasonable.

While we were at dinner, the moon was visible in the sky and appeared as a small sliver. I tried setting the camera on a post and pressed the button to take a time lapse photograph and it worked out beautifully. I have had fun playing with that feature and even having a bit of success now and then.

We walked back to the resort through the town of Guyabitos and I couldn’t believe that the stores were still open. So many families ith small children were out in the streets. A very social and festive atmosphere and so very different than home, but I can’t get used to seeing small children out so late at night.

HEY AMIGO .... NICE NUTS!!!

I took a picture of this fellow who walks along the beach every day selling candy and nuts. I bought some Spanish peanuts, some coated peanuts and some hot and spicy nuts from him. They were very tasty. There are so many vendors but none of them are very pushy and some of them come right up to the area by the beach restaurant at night and sell their wares there.

Today we rented a taxi van and 10 of us went into Bucerios. It’s a town about 50 minutes south of here. We met some people for lunch at a place called Miguel Angel. Tina and Barbara knew them from a previous vacations t in the Dominican. Oh my goodness – what a lunch it was. They had fresh fish and prawns caught first thing this morning and some of the catch was displayed on a platter. I took a picture of it and you can see how lovely it was. Peter had prawns cooked in garlic butter and he loved every slurpy mouthful. Tina, Linda and I all enjoyed avocado stuffed with shrimp. It was absolutely delicious. The mango marguerita was delicious too. We certainly aren’t suffering from lack of good food!

There is a market in Bucerios that we wandered around for about an hour or so. The market was just off the beach and the waves and the wind were quite strong there. You could feel the grains of sand blowing at your legs and stinging as they hit. There were a lot of little shops and a lot of the same stuff. I bought a hat for the sun and bought some figurines for Matthew. Peter found me a lovely pendant and earrings to go with the ring we saw the other day. Not very much money and they are really pretty fire opals in silver. I really like them.

Peter got talking to this man that I helped with the internet yesterday and it is very possible that Peter and his parents and this fellow and his wife came over on the same ship from Europe. They came over on the Colombia on September 23 or 25 of 1953 and landed in Quebec. It was a very stormy ride with lots of Germans on board. Peter knows that he came over when he was 2 and a half. That would make the timing about right and his mom has always said it was such a rough crossing. We will ask his mom when we get home. It seems the world gets smaller and smaller with each trip.

That’s it for now

I CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE....CAN YOU SEE HE DIFFERENCE

So…another difference between a 3^ and a 5^ well imagine being in a secluded resort, no phones, no tv’s, no stereos, no construction noise, hardly any wildlife or life sounds – got the picture? Now hold that thought – ok now you are thrust onto mainstreet downtown Penticton on the July 1st weekend! Car alarms going off, ice-cream trucks cruising the 4 bloch long strip playing the Pink Panther theme song over and over….dogs barking, birds singing (if you can call it that) roosters crowing…jeeps with boomboxes – no not inside the cars, the are so huge they need to be SECURED TO THE ROOF TOPS – with music blaring and microphones inside to advertise whatever it is that they are advertising but I can’t understand because they are talking away so very quickly and loudly in Spanish. Meanwhile jackhammers and pick axes are tearing up something next door – don’t quite know what or why, but they are working hard anyway.

OK so all that being said, would we come back here one day? Sure we would – in a heartbeat – because you make real honest to goodness friends here and the staff remembers you and greets you very warmly and because Momasita is making omelets in the small restaurant outside our resort every morning while two of her sons are waiting table in the main buffet. Tina knows their wives and children and they have been working here for several years. In fact when we go to La Pineta on Thursday, we will have lunch with one of the sons and his wife (who is expecting baby #2) and the little 18 month old.

While we were walking back from lunch down from the beach, we saw this interesting mode of travel – had to take a picture of these fellows who all had friendly smiles and waves – you do see almost everything here. There was even a 6 car parade that went down the street this morning – not sure why, but more music and fan fare - little children some sitting on the hoods of trucks and some dancing in the boxes of trucks – no floats, just old battered vehicles sparsely decorated with people smiling and waving. Someone thought it might be because tomorrow is the beginning of Lent? But I don’t know for sure. Probably just because it was Tuesday in Guyabitos, Mexico and people were able to start their vehicles today!
Hasta la juego

94 DEGREES IN SHADE AND LOVING IT

We had a lovely day today. Started out like the previous ones with a leisurely breakfast at the buffet and then up to the pool to lie around until it’s time for lunch. After coming back to the room for a visit to the banos the fellow next door pointed out a little bat that was clinging to the wall just outside our room – so of course I had to take a picture to share with the blog. He didn’t move so I was able to get a little closer.

We walked down to Tequila Willy’s last night and one side of the wall had this painted on it. Imagine all the way to Mexico and he knows about Surrey Girls!! We didn’t have dinner there as on this once a week steak night, he was out of steak, potatoes, lettuce and bread. So back to the buffet for our dinner!

This is where I compose my blog entries and download the pictures I have taken each day. The table is so slippery I put a facecloth on it so the computer wouldn’t slide off and if I didn’t put the phone book under the one leg, it would slide off! But at least I can type what I want to and save it to my little thumb drive and walk it down to the internet café and plug it in and it works! The hardest thing about using their computers if finding the @ sign – you have to do alt and then 6 4. You can’t use the numbers that are part of the keypad, you have to use the ones on the numeric part of the keypad. Oh well, thanks to the neighbour on the other computer that told me that or I would still be stuck down there trying to figure it out.

We walked into town today and saw store after store of the same stuff – one wonders how they all manage to eek out a living when they all sell the same things. I almost found an apron for Eileen, but it said lift this flap and under it was a man’s unmentionable part. The lady and man shop owner laughed so hard. I did not see that coming – oh well I asked her if she had any other aprons and she said there is one for a lady – I said no gracias and went on my way – they were still laughing …sheesh Haven’t done any bargaining yet, saving it for market day at La Pinita on Thursday. That sounds like a fun day.

Buenos Noches for now

SO HERE WE ARE IN MUEY BUEÑO PUERTO VALLARTA

We’ve arrived and the weather is muey bueno! Our resort is interesting! Very rural, rustic and friendly. The blenders whirrrr from dawn til well after dusk and the staff is very accommodating and friendly. So far it seems that about 30 – 40 percent of the guests have been here before. Tina is forever sharing hugs with people she has met before. I can certainly see why this is her favoured vacation spot.

I have seen the differences between a 5* and a 3* first hand. On the one side, there are no elevators and as you can see in the picture – there are many stairs from the lobby up to the first floor or our four story building!! You must bring your own shampoo (soap is in the room) there is no towel art, however there is facecloth and toilet paper art. People are allowed to bring their pets and even bathe them in the open areas. No pillow chocolates unless you happen to drop one of your own there.

Tina and Linda had a visitor in their room when they arrived and so far I have only found one working outlet to plug anything into. On the other side, the food and drinks are plentiful and delicious, the rooms are clean and fresh towels are provided every day…the staff is so very friendly…because we are so far away from the city, the birds and their songs are incredible…10 minute walk to Guyabitos and quaint and rustic town…oh and did I mention the blended drinks? Well, they certainly bear mentioning again!

There is a fellow on the beach who sells bbq’d fish and shrimp on a stick-today I will find out just how much they are – they sure look delicious and he also sells those wagon wheel chip things that I like so much – so I will pay him a visit

On my next blog, I will include pictures of the table in our room where I type my journal and blog each day.

Adios for now and I will drink a cervasa for each and every one of you!

THE GRAND FINALE

Today we woke up to brilliant sunshine, What a lovely end to a perfect holiday. Didn’t get really mobile til about 10:00 and that was just perfect. Pam decided not to emerge til about 3:00 – she even had room service bring her lunch. – the lazy sod.

I went to the room to see if Pam was still alive and much to my dismay, there was Stacy – almost mortally wounded - she had opened the stateroom door and scraped the top of her third toe – almost right off. However, because you are not supposed to be sick or injured outside the clinic hours, we had to wait from 12:00 until 2:00 to get some attention. They poured hydrogen peroxide over it and then applied some bacitracin and then a supply of bandaids to keep the dressing changed – as of 9:30 this evening, it is still weeping, stinging and uncomfortable. No doubt she will be riding on Nana’s knee on the wheelchair to disembark. An unfortunate end of a wonderful journey for her. I’m sure it will take a while to heal.

Some of us saw dolphins swimming and playing along side the ship, (some of us were gambling and saw nothing). Later there was a sighting of a pod of orcas and Pan, using dad’s camera’ was able to get some closer shots than the rest of us. Then it was time for dinner.

We enjoyed our last dinner in the dining room and had the parade of the baked Alaska and the Filipino farewell song. Lots of sparklers and lots of baked Alaksa for all to have dessert. We waved our napkins high in the air in appreciation for the dining room wait staff. Lots of fun tricks and really bad jokes. I think we will all remember why the giraffe didn’t come to Tarzan’s birthday party!

Well, since this is the last post before we debark tomorrow, I will keep it short and sweet. So good night all, and we will be seeing you very soon now

Cheers

Ketchikan...and rain, rain, and rain!

Thursday August 30, 2007

We arrived in Ketchikan at 1:30 in the rain. It is mostly drizzle, but rain nonetheless. There were three other ships in port with us, but the shops never seem to run out of merchandise.

Stacy and Shannon went on a sea kayak trip for 3 hours. They were rained on, but not terribly wet because they had the proper clothing. Shannon said it was very hard work as “the seas aren’t exactly glass, you know”. They saw lots of eagles and enjoyed their ride.

Pam didn’t get to go on her float plane trip today – it was cancelled due to the wind and rain and visibility. She ended up doing a zip line and said she was scared at the beginning but like the adventure. She does have a picture, but it will have to wait until tomorrow as I can’t find her or her camera right now!

Eileen, Mom and I didn’t do very much this morning and when we docked in Ketchikan, Eileen and I went out to find the Silver Thimble Quilt store. We came out empty handed and just couldn’t quite understand how that happened. Could it be possible that we finally have everything? We will have to check our stash when we get home. We called home to find out that the temps were soaring and we are about 60 degrees F here – we both decided that we are glad that we are here! We were off the ship for about an hour and a half and came back to the ship and then the heavy rain started.

The casino has been closed all day because we are still in port, however as we are set to sail in a few minutes, the jingling should start soon! I know mom is ready to play the little machine with the squirrel and the money tree. That has been a favourite for all of us on this trip!

Well, nothing more to report – no great wins – yet – I’ll let you know tomorrow!

Ciao

MAN THAT MARGERIE - SHE IS ONE COLD BITCH!

Today we awoke to the rude clock alarm set to go off at 5:00 – we were told that you could see whales beginning at 6:00 and we didn’t want to miss a thing. Well the “DAM” whales forgot to show up! So there we were all dressed and nothing to see. The weather report from the Navigator’s log said that it was partly cloudy – he must have been on another ship. It was raining here and continued to rain until we were in Glacier Bay. Then the skies lifted and although not sunny, we had a great day there. Pea Soup was served on deck as well as in the Crow’s Nest Observation lounger – where we were. Then at 10:30 we were invited to partake in wine and cheese with Margerie – the glacier.

We bundled Nana up on our balcony and she was able to have an excellent view right at her own door. All in all it was a great day!

There was lots of activity – which interprets into lots of calving at the her base. She is reported to be moving forward at a rate of 7 feet per day. Also, the glaciers here are thinning in depth. It will be interesting to compare pictures from 2 years ago, although I think it would take more than that to see a significant difference.
After a very long luxurious sleep (none of this 5:00 am stuff) and her own personal beautification, Pam arrived on deck at approximately 10:30 to take in the wonderful sights and of course had missed nothing. She was playing poker last night and walked away – or should I say danced away - from the table with $150.00 in her pocket. She began taking more photographs.

She took a great one of Shannon, Stacy, Eileen and I. We were all smiling beautifully for her when all of a sudden Margerie let out a huge crack and we all (but Eileen) spun our heads around at precisely the moment that Pam pressed the button. Another great picture for scrapbooking.
Some of us had a nap this afternoon after our early morning – I needed it and slept soundly until it was time to get up to dinner. We had dinner in the nice restaurant on board – the Pinnacle Grill. It was nice, but I think I would rather just eat in the dining room or the Lido – too fancy for me.
After I went to the internet café and was able to chat on line with Matthew, Colleen and Kim. It was nice to be in touch even though it was brief. I might try again tomorrow as I just noticed that there is a web cam on board. So that might be fun too.

Well – on to the casino to try our luck again. I am staying even and Pam is the big winner! We’ll see what luck she has tonight!

Love to everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BRIAN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Happy Birthday Brian! We are all thinking of you on your special day and Eileen and I phoned to sing to you, but you were not home.

Now phoning turned out to be quite an experience and a story for the blog. The phone we called you from – oh pardon me attempted to call you from, was out of service, however we did not find that out until after we had put 25 cents in TWICE. So we moved to another payphone up the street and as I went to get my wallet opened to put some coins in, my wallet fell and all my coins dropped through the slats in the boardwalk. A special memory of Skagway to be sure! Now at that particular phone there was no dial tone anyway, so we moved to another phone – got the dial tone, tried to put a coin in and the coin got jammed in the slot! Finally, not to let this get the better of us, we went to an internet café where they always have payphones in good repair and we were finally able to connect to your number – but you were not home. So I hope you are able to read the blog tonight to get your special greeting!

Now for Pam and Stacy’s intimate encounter with “Spot” the humpback. Pam took the most amazing pictures of this whale with our camera – she was in the right spot (haha) at the right time and I think National Geographic should be calling her any time. I am working very hard to get a picture of the whale that Pam took up on the blog, but the resolution was too high I think – so I will give it my best shot.

We cannot believe our luck with the weather. Before we left home, there were a lot of internet weather sites that indicates the weather up here was going to be quite dreary – however, as I told Pam, if you don’t like what one site says, keep looking until you find one that you do like. So that’s exactly what we did and found a website that indicated we would have sunny and partly cloudy days – and that is exactly how lovely our weather is! Beautiful sunshine and actually wore T-shirt and shorts today.

We walked around the town and poked our noses in some shops. There were 4 ships in port altogether today and that makes for a busy day in this little town of Skagway. We are completely surrounded by mountains except for the ocean on one side. It is quite a lovely place to be. Right off the side of the ship there were several fish swimming about (don’t ask me what kind) and there was a seal who moved into the area – the fish disappeared – that is all but one – and the seal played with it like a cat plays with a mouse or bird. Catching it – letting it go and swim away – then catching it again and so on and so on. Poor fish. I guess the seal wasn’t very hungry at that particular moment and was just looking for some amusement.

Mom sat out on the balcony for quite a while today. She really enjoyed the fine weather and all the fresh air. Eileen and I were gone about 3 hours and she had her nap, watched some TV and then moved out to the deck to take in the glorious sunshine.

The girls rented bikes and went for a nice bike ride. I haven’t seen their pictures yet, but they said they had a great time and it was a nice easy ride. They are enjoying their holiday together. I am so glad they are having this opportunity.

Love to all and enjoy your day Brian!

2nd POST FOR MONDAY THE 27TH

Well today was quite lovely – the weather shaped up very nicely and even ended up quite hot for a day in Juneau. Juneau is in the natural rain forest and rainy days are way more common that sunny ones, but today was absolutely gorgeous t-shirt weather here.

Our trip up the Tracey Arm was disappointing as we were unable to get to the end to see the twin Sawyer Glaciers. There proved to be too much ice to chance the narrowest part of the channel, so we turned around, but we are promised to have a very close encounter with the active Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay on Wednesday.

This is a picture of Mom enjoying the scenery up the Tracey Arm.

We arrived in Juneau earlier than expected and shopping was on the agenda! We went to the famous T-Shirt Company and picked up a few things – I was lucky enough to get two great jackets for Peter and Eileen and Shannon got some sweatshirts and t-shirts and a few other knick knacks. Pam and Stacy went up on the gondola (we think) to visit the top of Mt. Roberts and then they were to be twilight whale watching out of Auk Bay. We will be anxious to get them home to hear of their adventures!

Eileen, Shannon and I took a cab to go to Fred Meyer to buy some walkie talkies for the girls to use on this ship. We learned a valuable lesson today – before you ask a cab to take you someplace, it is wise to find out approximately how far it is and the approximate cost of the trip. As it turned out, we got the walkie talkies for a very good price on sale for $39.99 but the cab ride there and back for $50.00 – oops!

I bought a $5.00 phone card and phoned Peter – the card is good for 15 hours of talking, so I let Shannon use it to call Tom too. I don’t even know enough people myself to talk for 15 hours in one week. We will make some more phone calls later in other ports and then I shall give the card to the cabin steward so he can call his family at least once.

We went and had a peek in the Red Dog Saloon – they have sawdust floors, an old honkey tonk piano with an equally old honkey tonk piano man. They were all singing along and drinking $6.00 beers. The lady at the door wouldn’t let me come in to take pictures cause they were too busy, so I asked her if I could please take one from the door and stepped inside and took a picture and then left – what a crabby pants! I sure wasn’t going to wait for a table and drink a $6.00 beer in there!! It did look neat though,

Right now, Nana, Shannon and Eileen are playing tile rummy and arguing about the rules, I am so glad that I am typing the blog J

Oh I forgot to tell you – this morning at 4:00 there was a signal of 6 bells. While I was counting and hoping it wasn’t the dreaded 7 short blasts and 1 long one which means get your lifejackets on and get to the muster station, Eileen was madly smacking the night table trying to shut off the phantom alarm clock – Mom was saying what’s happening – what’s happening…

Anyway 6 short blasts means FIRE! However, there was no fire. Just a whole bunch of fire alarms going off at the same time in the engine compartment. The chief officer came on to tell us that is was a false alarm and go back to bed etc. Then a couple of minutes later, as we were beginning to fall asleep again, the captain – who sounded like he was just woken up also, told us that no fire was detected – it was a false alarm and go back to sleep. We used this mid-night interruption for a pee break and then we did all fall asleep again before anyone could come on the blower and tell us to do just that.

Well, once again I will try to upload a photo or two – we have tried to use less resolution and that might help – other wise you will have to be satisfied with my ramblings!

I will report tomorrow from Skagway.

FIRST OF TWO POSTS TODAY

Well yesterday was good for Pam! She was the great grand champion of gambling. She won $176.00 at bingo – then she won $48.00 at the little 2 cent machine after putting in only $10.00 and when I left her she was grinning like mad at the 21 table. I played one shoe with her at the 21 table and was up $4.00 from the $20 I put down and then it was time to take mom home and give her a snack and put her to bed. Pam’s lesson today is NEVER SPLIT TWO JACKS! A mom can still teach her 26 year old daughter a thing or two!

The clock went back one hour through the night. So we awoke at 6:00 am to take in the beautiful sights of Tracy Arm. We are looking forward to more whale spottings – specifically humpbacks and orcas - throughout the day especially near the mouth of the channel. Spotting grizzlies, black bears and mountain goats along the route is entirely possible too. Tracy Arm is a true fjord and is just south of Juneau. Although there are no guarantees, as the twin Sawyer Glaciers at the upper end of Tracy Arm are retreating at the rate of about 2 feet per day, seeing glacier calving is a possibility. We arrive at Juneau at 2:30 in the afternoon and leave at 10:30 at night so this is a long day for us. All that shopping and one of the best little quiltshops is so close to where we dock.

We look forward to seeing the Red Dog Saloon – it still has the original dirt floor and is on the historical registry.

Interesting asides – Bruno Marti of La Belle AuBerge and the producer/judge of “The Next Great Chef” is aboard with us and enjoying the fabulous meals and chatting with all that know him.
My neighbours, the Dryfout’s are on board also and I have run into them from time to time.

Well, time to take in some of the amazing views – will write more later when I have seen it all and bought it all in Juneau!

p.s. having trouble putting picture up on this site – will keep trying

Here we are at last!

Sorry for the delay in blogging, but the day went by so darn quickly or should I say “dam quickly” since we are on Holland America’s Zuiderdam ship it took a bit of time to get set up, but here we are on line at last.

The trip by limo to the ship was uneventful and we moved quickly along through the lines. We were aboard by 1:00. There was a great buffet lunch set up and after lunch, getting all the stuff put away, it was time to get out on the deck for the lifeboat drill – that’s always a thrill. Pam took a great photo of Stacy and Shannon while Mom, Eileen and I were struggling away on the other side of the ship with our lifejackets and the belts and belts and paraphernalia … thank God it wasn’t a real emergency!

Dinner was served and Stacy tried to be electrified by the big brass ball – didn’t work. After dinner, we all tried our hand in the casino and although we did come away with a little bit, overall the machines were pretty stingy. Lots of 1 and 2 cent machines to keep us amused though.

Pam even tried poker. She had won $40 on the machines, so she took her winnings to try her hand at the Texas low limit no holdem poker table. She had fun and after playing for about an hour, left the table with $15 remaining from her $40 win.

Oh my gosh typing up in the crows nest and just saw a whale (probably a hump back) surface and then he and his tail submerged for another feeding frenzy. Ho Hum just another day in paradise!

Well today we played trivia and came 2nd with about 6 other teams! No fancy luggage strap for us! Now we are waiting for the Majority Rules game that will be starting after ballroom dancing. So relatively quiet today which is fine by me.

Tomorrow we are in the Tracey Arm in the morning and then in Juneau in the afternoon from 1:30 until 11:00 pm - a late one! So I will resume blogging tomorrow with some more photos from the kidlets! I think they are deciding between whale watching or Pam is thinking about helicopter adventure! Wow sounds exciting. Eileen and I will stay on board except for our adventure to the quilting shop!!!!! Talk to you tomorrow!

ALASKA BOUND AUGUST 2007

Well the sisters are on the move again! . We are sailing to Alaska on the Zuiderdam on August 25, 2007 to share another wonderful time together with more of our family! Mom, Eileen, Stacy, Shannon and Pam and I will be together for this voyage. Who knows what fantastic sights await us on this journey! We will be going to Glacier Bay and up the Tracy Arm. I wonder if the quilt store in Juneau will recognize us - or the other little shop in Skagway.

The laptop will certainly accompany me, and as I believe I have some credits awaiting us as far as internet time goes, I will try and reserect the site with some more stories and I hope even more chuckles. I have been very firm with Eileen, that we are not snorkeling! Also I am not buying another new bathing suit - perhaps ever! I'm sure we will find some other tales that need to be told and shared "privately" with EVERYONE!

til then ......

The last post

Well the last day has arrived and we will be home in less than 24 hours. What a wonderful trip and such memories we are taking home with us…along with Mexican, Colombian and Jamaican treasures.

The Bingo jackpot that kept running for the two weeks was finally won today and 2 people shared $8750.00 US - what a nice way to end the cruise.

It has cooled off considerably and long pants and long sleeves are definitely the order of the day. The pool deck is empty and because of our speed and the large swells, the pool looks like a tsunami zone!

It will be good to get home. Even the ship is full steam ahead now as we make our way up the peninsula to San Diego by 7:00 am tomorrow morning. We are in the first group to disembark and our plane leaves at 12:15 pm
So Adios amigos and talk to you all in person soon! Thanks for all your responses – we enjoyed that so much as we hope you enjoyed coming along on our journey with us. It made us feel closer to home!

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo was beautiful and the weather wasn’t too unbearable. Peter and I took a later tender than Tom and Eileen. This time we were docked quite close to Los Arcos and the view was definitely breathtaking.

We wandered around and shopped some and found a bar with free phone and free internet. So of course I had to phone home – must say that the connection was lousy, but it was good to talk to Mom Troje, Pam and Kit. If it seemed that I couldn’t hear you – that’s exactly what happened. Mom Herrin and Colleen, I wanted to call you took, but it was 12:15 so I knew that you would be at lunch. We had drinks there of course and they made me a lime margarita that was actually on the sweeter side! I also had a shot of Pomegranate Tequila – It was absolutely delicious and was as smooth as ice wine – wow too bad we don’t have anything like that at home! Or maybe that’s a good thing!

Then it was time to head back to the ship and a fellow tried to sell me a bracelet just like the one I bought for $15.00 in Acapulco for $1.00. I’m sure it wasn’t sterling silver - God I hope not! When I got back to the ship I made sure that mine had the stamp on it and thank goodness it did! Whew!

Thank goodness I am feeling better than I did yesterday! Tonight is crab and lobster and the last formal dinner! I think I convinced Peter to put pants on for this one!

Puerto Vallarta

Got off the boat to see Puerto Vallarta and it was a lovely day – either is wasn’t as hot as the other ports we have seen or we am gradually getting used to it. Peter’s so dark now or should I say Pedro, I think he rivals the natives! Saw the fliers in town – I think they are called the Papallenta Fliers or something like that – they hang from ropes upside down and play music and twirl down to the ground.

Eileen and Tom went one way and Peter and I went another. P.V. is quite safe and easy to navigate and it was good for them to have some time to really do the things they wanted to do. Each day Tom has faithfully gone to the shopping lectures and had yet to follow his own agenda. A perfect opportunity in P.V. as the lovely Malacon is the most beautiful walk with shops on one side and the beach on the other. The statues are weird and lovely at the same time.

There were 4 ships in P.V. and the shopkeepers were delighted! We bought a few things and then made a trip to Walmart to buy a suitcase for our return trip home. Our biggest piece of luggage blew up on the way here – well not exactly, but there was a rip in it and one of the wheels was off. Kind of like how I felt yesterday. Oh well, 2 immodiums later I think I will be able to handle the tender into Cabo!

I will post again later this evening! - 2 in one day!!!!

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES ....OH HOW I WISH

Sorry I missed you all yesterday. Montezuma kept me close to the banos. I'm sure you can figure that out. We are in Cabo San Lucas today and after 3 immodium tablets, I am feeling considerable better!

Found another internet cafe with a free phone and phoned Mom Troje and Pamela. Sorry Colleen - you and Mom were at lunch!

There will be actually 3 posts today this one and two others, so make sure you see it all. Only one more day and then we are home!

Miss you all and look forward to face to face communication and frequent phone calls!

At Sea #5

Last night there was a farewell to Acapulco and Mexican midnight buffet. We didn’t sail until 12:00 midnight, so we were able to see the city all lit up. It was quite beautiful. And as an added attraction, the neon lights on all the busses and many vehicles was quite something! I tried to get a picture, but as you can see it was dark and they were moving. As we left the port, Eileen and I were hot tubbing. It was a lovely warm evening for all the festivities.

No rushing around today, just got up and had breakfast and then tried to catch up on the journal, but the battery was running low so we quit and came back to the room to read and sit on the deck to watch for turtles. Peter is the turtle spotter, but by the time he says – hey there’s a turtle – it’s gone. You really have to spot them for yourself. There are certainly lots around!

At 2:30 we went to the Day 5 of Trivia Challenge. I like to call it Cut Throat Trivia. The teams have been formed since the first day of the cruise and the people ruthless – tattling on each other if one has more than 6 members. And to think it is all for the grand prize of a pen or a key chain. Eileen and I sat close by but we worked on Sudoku and let the others fight it out. The next Challenge Trivia is the last one and will be on the next at sea day. I think I will come to see the carnage when one team is finally declared the winner. They do have morning triva and that is fun but this is stupid.

Tonight is our Mystery Theatre dinner. It starts out with Champagne and hors d’ouvres in one of bars and then we go to dinner in one of the other restaurants where we are part of the investigative team to figure out who dun it! Should be a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we are in Puerto Vallarta – more shopping and maybe another wonderful lunch of beer and shrimp in an outdoor restaurant!

Acapulco

Hola from Acapulco!

We are having fun here and the internet cafe is right across from the ship, and the price is certainly better than the ship. We had fun today. Went to the old city and shopped a bit. Took a taxi for $12.00 there and $12.00 back. When we got back to the ship, we walked around the corner and a guy said - "hey I'll take you to the old city for $1.00 per person!" Oh well. That's Mexico.

We went out for lunch and had taco's and beer and huge shrimp and good guacamole and some fresh salsa to die for. The restaurant right overlooking the harbour. We had lunch with our friends from the ship, Terry and Curtis. It was lots of fun. We bought buckets of 5 Coronitas - you know Pat - the tiny ones for $4.00 and we had a few buckets and then we were in great shape to bargain with all the silver jewelry guys on the way back. It was so much fun. I remember the first time I went to Mexico, I was afraid to barter, but not any more! He kept telling me what a good deal I was getting and telling me not to tell anyone. Yah right! Oh well I ended up with bracelets on my wrists and a necklace and didn't mind paying him for the experience - it was so much fun.

Now I am ready to get on the ship and get into air conditioning again. It is so hot and sweaty here. Now another day at sea and then P.V. and finally Cabos. Won't be long til we are home.

Oh and for anybody that wanted to see Tom's battered knees, here is a good look! Poor Baby!

Talk to you later!