St. Charles, MO The Greatest Camping Trip Ever

Yesterday we began our Lewis and Clark Trip here in St. Charles, MO. This has been said to be The Greatest Camping Trip Ever! We had orientation in the afternoon with our 35 guests and Bill & Carol Hamilton, our friends since 1972, who are going to be our tailgunners. We have a total of 21 RVs and 39 people. We have 3 single women!

That evening we had a delicious dinner in the banquet room here at the campground and had two guest speakers in full costume. They were from the Discovery Expedition for the Bicentennial Reenactment of the Lewis & Clark Expedition from 2005 – 2006. It was hard for us to believe that a band of men in their 50s (the average age for the original expedition was 27) reenacted the entire L&C trip! It was exciting to hear their stories! Each person in the expedition portrayed someone from the original expedition. They stopped at schools all along the way to educate children about L&C.

Today a trolley came to our campground and took us to downtown St. Charles for their Heritage Days Celebration. We started with a tour of the first State Capitol of Missouri with a retired school teacher who took us back to the 1800s. At 11 the Parade started down Main Street with people dressed in period costumes.

We then toured the L&C Boat House and Nature Center where we saw replicas of their boats. We walked along the river to the encampment that had 100s of people in period costumes living in tents as they did in the 1800s.

From 5-16 St. Charles, MO

Florida to St. Louis, MO

We arrived back in Florida March 21 and visited with friends at our RV Park, Deercreek, until the 23 when we went back to Oliver’s house in North Port, FL, to pick up our RV which he repaired making it better than new! His house is near completion – YEAH!!! When you go to the photos from here, there are several photos of his house.

We were only at Olly’s house a few days then we returned to Deercreek so Bobby and I could work a little at Disney. Spring is a beautiful time to be in Florida, it’s warm during the day yet cool at night and everything is in bloom (but it always is!). Disney had its Flower Power Concert series that ties in with their Flower & Garden Show at Epcot. We just love these concert series because we can see groups from our generation for free! They have all developed a wonderful sense of humor about getting older! We were able to see Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Turtles, Herman’s Hermits and The Ventures.

The end of April Bobby bought a 2007 R1200RT Silver BMW. This has been his dream bike ever since it came out. It is more of a touring bike so it is extremely comfortable, has lots of carrying capacity and is 40 lbs. lighter than his other bike. Bobby’s brother Harry and his wife Theresa visited with us April 26 on their way to Alaska on their motorcycle. While they were there, we went to Bike Fest in Leesburg, FL. As with any bike event, you have more than your share of “interesting” people.

May 5 our “nephew”, Eric Moore graduated with an Engineering Degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona. The day before we took his parents and grandparents to Animal Kingdom for the day and feasted at Cape May buffet for dinner. Tuesday we got up early and drove to Daytona for his graduation, returned to Deercreek for the RV and headed west at 5 pm.

Wednesday evening we arrived at our friends Harry and Barbara Breece in Smyrna, TN. Friday and Saturday we took the motorcycle to Crossville to visit with Bob & LuAnn who went on the cruise with us. Sunday and Monday were spent with the Breece’s. Today we left at the ungodly hour of 5 am so we could miss Nashville’s rush hour. We drove all day and arrive in St. Louis at 4:45 pm.

From Olly's House

March 21, 2009 San Francisco & Assorted Photos

We went under the Golden Gate Bridge around 4 am this morning – we slept right through it. We had our last breakfast with friends and then had to go to the Spectacular Lounge and wait about 45 minutes for the ship to be cleared and the buses to arrive. We can’t believe 50 days have come and gone! It was a fabulous trip!

We didn’t find out what airline we were flying home until a week or so before the cruise was over. We were THRILLED when they told us South West because we were each allowed to 50 lb suitcases and a carry on. Lots of our friends had to pay for their luggage. I was prepared either way – I brought two good suitcases and two disposable ones and I told Bobby most of his clothes might be disposable too (was going to give them to someone working on the ship). He was very happy we didn’t have to do that!

By the time our bus left the ship terminal we had our doubts about making our noon flight out of San Jose! When we arrived at the airport, there was a very long line to check in but a kind lady at the front of the line let us in front of her (there are so many good people in this world!!!). After we checked in and were ready to RUN for the plane, he said, “Oh, your plane is running 20 minutes late!” Thank Goodness!!!

It was a beautiful flight over the mountains to Las Vegas where we had to change planes. I was lucky enough to get a window seat – we flew over the Grand Canyon and the Hover Dam; you just can’t believe how incredibly beautiful it was. I was so upset I didn’t have my camera!

From San Franciso & Assorted Photos

March 19, 2009 Los Angeles, CA

California is as busy as ever. We rented a car here and headed for the Petersen Car Museum. It took us about 2.5 hours and the four of us really enjoyed it. Cars that made you question what they were thinking, cars of the stars, cars of alternative fuels, on and on.

We then headed for an In-n-Out burger for Bobby and LuAnn and a El Pollo Loco for Bob and me. Our last stop of the day was Grauman's Chinese Theater.

From Los Angeles, California

March 16, 2009 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

March 16, 2009

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This morning when we went to breakfast and first saw the city we were extremely impressed by its beauty. The mountains were in the background and a clean city on the beach stretched in front of us. The funniest part was Wal-Mart and Sam’s were right across the street. We disembarked at 9 am with Bob and LuAnn and started looking for a cab to go to the old town. The first one wanted $10 p/p after walking a block to the main street we got one for a total of $5 for all of us. He dropped us off on the beach front and we walked a block to the church then the market. After a short time, the guys said they were going to the Internet so LuAnn and I had plenty of time to explore what we realized was one of the largest markets we had been to.

We met up with the guys and walked toward the ship along the Malacon, which is a concrete boardwalk along the beach with beautiful statues. We walked to the end; about a mile and caught another taxi back to the Wal-Mart where we all went in for drugs! There are three stains of a virus on the ship (we call it the Carnival Crud) and everyone has had it at least once and some are working on two and three times. I finally caught it in Lima and the cough just keeps hanging on. Terry had to be different. Last night after dinner he felt really bad so he skipped the show. Heidi went to check on him and he was extremely ill. She finally talked him into going to the doctor and they said he had passed a kidney stone or as they said kidney sand since it was so small. No matter what the size was, it was extremely painful! This morning he was doing so well he went to the gym!

We all went back on the ship for lunch then Bobby went back to an Internet and LuAnn and I went to a craft market right off the ship until 5 pm. Time flies when you are having a good time! We all agreed we could come here and spend a winter – what a beautiful place with so much to do in the area.

From Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

March 14, 2009 Acapulco, Mexico

I can’t believe it – we only have 7 days left on this cruise – we don’t want it to end!!! We were told we shouldn’t look at it as only 7 days left but as a 7 day cruise. The last time we were in Acapulco was 1991 – it certainly has grown!

From Acapulo, Mexico

March 8th

March 8, 2009

Lima, Peru

We heard a lot of negative things about Lima….it is overcrowded, polluted, noisy, extremely dangerous and it even has wretched weather. Well, we were pleasantly surprised to have found it the total opposite. I’m sure a lot of it had to do with the day being a Sunday and the weather perfect. We walked out of the port and found a taxi driver who would take the four of us around for $15 an hour in a large Volvo. We docked in Callao and had a 40 minute drive to downtown Lima, the capital and largest city in Peru. We drove to Plaza Mayor, the district that houses the educational and historical sights. We were extremely impressed with the architecture, it was some of the most beautiful we have seen in South America! We toured the San Francisco Convent and Museum, which was incredible but the most fascinating part was our descent into the catacombs, which were dug beginning in 1546 as a burial ground for priests and others. This was a huge maze that you could easily get lost in. As many as 75,000 bodies were interred here. Several years ago archeologist and scientist wanted to make it more orderly so they separated all the body parts, legs, arms, heads, etc. and put them in separate pits. In one large circular pit about 10 feet they really got carried away and made a spiral design with heads and leg bones – very grotesque!

After this we needed something a little more cheerful, so we went to a local park where teenagers dressed in local costumes were dancing for the tourist. We continued walking around the area looking at the beautiful sites.

Our driver then took us to the town of Miraflores to their Indian Handicraft Market. This was the best market we have been to on the entire trip! This is one of the times I’m lucky I live in and RV because I have no room to really buy anything!

Four hours later we went back to the ship after a wonderful day.

From Lima, Peru

March 10, 2009

Manta, Ecuador

Ecuador straddles the equator and is the smallest of the Andean countries; it’s about the size of Nevada. Again, we found a taxi drive to take the four of us around for $15 an hour – such a deal! We gave him the itinerary of what the ship tours were doing. Our first stop was an overlook of the city of Montecristi, we then went to Montecristi, which is the birthplace of the Panama hat. The reason it is called this is Teddy Roosevelt was given one as a gift when he was visiting the Panama Canal and when he returned to the US and was asked where he got it he said “Panama.” The name stuck and Panama has received all the credit for making these beautiful hats even though they are made here in Ecuador.

There was a wonderful market at the base of the cathedral so we spent an hour visiting everything. I even bought myself a hat. These hats can cost up to $200 for the best quality. They are handmade and take a month or more to make. My hat is a step down from the best and an excellent deal at $22! The hats can be rolled up, washed and ironed! They keep you head cool on the hottest of days.

On our way back to Manta we stopped at a tagua nut button factory. Tagua nuts, also known as the “vegetable ivory nut”, becomes solid like ivory and artisans use special tools to transform it into beautiful buttons, figurines or jewelry. This unique tropical palm takes 24 years to reach maturity and grows deep in the rain forest. The pod that holds the nuts weighs about 25 lbs and holds about 200 nuts!

When we arrived back in Manta, LuAnn and I went to the Archaeological Museum while Bob and Bobby went to the Internet. From there we walked back to the ship to go for a swim to cool off!

Tonight we crossed the equator for a second time!

From Manta, Equador

March 7th

March 3, 2009

Valparaiso, Chile

Valparaiso is the second largest city in Chile. It is also home to the Chilean navy. This blue collar city is a jumble of colorful clapboard houses and Victorian mansions balancing precariously on a circle of steep hills. We wandered around the lower part of the city, our favorite place being the fruit and vegetable market. We have never seen produce as beautiful as we saw here – it looked fake it was so perfect! There are about ten funiculars or ascensors as they call them that take people between the lower parts of the city to the upper part. These are all extremely old, many built in the late 1800s and they looked and felt it! Unfortunately for us it was a cloudy day so the views from the top were not as spectacular as they would be on a sunny day.

LuAnn and I wanted to visit Vina del Mar their sister city on the Pacific which was only five miles away. Vina del Mar was founded as a weekend beach retreat and garden residence for the wealthy of Valparaiso and Santiago. We took a bus and the bus driver took us under his wing making sure we got off at the correct stop for the center of town and told us what bus to get back. Vina del Mar wasn’t quite what we expected which was a beach town, it was more like a city so after an hour we caught another bus back to Valparaiso and headed back to the ship.

From Valparaiso, Chile

March 5, 2009

Man Overboard

This morning we went to breakfast at 9 with Bob & LuAnn. A shot time after we arrived they asked Dennis Lowe (I think that is the spelling of his name) to call the purser. A little later Bob said, “It looks like we’re making a U turn.” We all joked it was to get someone who fell overboard. They then made the announcement that it was URGENT that Dennis Lowe call the purser. About 10 they said a man had gone overboard around 4:30 am and we had to go back to the place he was last seen. So, yes we were making a U turn and heading back to where we had come. Of course, the rumors began. On a ship this size with about 3,000 people you can just imagine all the stories we heard! We found out the truth the evening of March 6 when they gave us all a letter saying….A 63-year-old make guest traveling on board the Carnival Splendor was reported missing by is wife while the ship was off the coast of Chile. The guest’s wife notified shipboard personnel at 9:30 am after she found a note that suggested a planned suicide.

The ship’s command immediately began a vessel-wide search for the missing guest and returned the vessel back to the area where the guest was last seen. All appropriate authorities have been notified of the situation.

At 3 pm we arrived at the location they thought he had jumped from and the ship began its search under the direction of the Chilean Navy Coast Guard. They had a lot of help from guest out on deck with their binoculars. We sailed in a grid pattern until 8:30 pm when they called off the search.

It’s very sad you know his wife and friends have to be grieving yet life goes on the same as usual all around the ship.

March 6, 2009

Arica, Chile

I think we made a wrong turn and are in Morocco! When I walked outside this morning, I was shocked to see this small town tucked into the sand! Arica is known at as “The City of Eternal Spring,” the temperature is always perfect! If you don’t like rain, this is the place to live because it rains only 2 to 3 times in every 100 years! The port is located just below the El Morro Hill (a huge sand hill!). It is located in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth. They get their water from underground lakes in a nearby valley or from a river flowing down from the Andes. They are only about 10 miles from the border with Peru.

We arrived at 12:30 instead of 8 am so several of the all day tours had to be cancelled. We had planned on just wandering around the city so we had plenty of time. The main site we wanted to see was the Cathedral of San Marcos. This was designed by Gustave Eiffel and built in iron and made the 3rd iron church of his that we have seen. The others were in Costa Rica and Baja.

There were several handicraft markets selling knitted garments, hand-made jewelry, alpaca sweaters and musical instruments that are popular items here. There is one street, 21 de Mayo, that is basically closed to traffic that is just lined with shops, Internet locations, pharmacies and restaurants. Of course, we had to check them all out!

The guys went to the Internet and LuAnn and I decided to hike up El Morro after saying “NO WAY” because it was so steep and we both had coughs! Well, when we ran into three women who just raved about the views we knew we had to do it. Yes, it was well worth it, even tough it felt like it was straight up at times! There was a statue of Christ the Redeemer on top similar to the one in Rio.

From Arica, Chile

March 2 Puerto Montt, Chile

February 28, 2009

Puerto Montt, Chile

Puerto Montt was founded in 1853 by German immigrants and named after the then President Manuel Montt. It is the capital of Chile’s southern Lake District and is the fastest growing city because of the explosive growth of salmon fishing.

At 9:30 we took a tender into the port. The sun was out, it was in the 50s and the water was calm. Immediately we were surrounded by taxi and van drivers all bidding for our business. We choose Irving because he had a new car, charged us $100 for 5 hours (for all of us) vs $60 p/p and he spoke perfect Spanish.

We drove through the city to the outskirts then finally we were in the country! We have spent so much time in cities we all were missing the country life. As we drove along the shore of Lake Llanquihue, the largest lake in Chile, we stopped at the upscale resort town of Puerto Varas. We felt as though we were in Germany, right down to the homes and farms. We walked around the center of town for a half hour stopping at an authentic German bakery to pick up lunch for later.

We continued around the lake stopping at two farms. One raised llamas and had a two day old male. The other had your regular farm animals along with an emu that kept putting it’s head in the kitchen window and the owners kept shooing him away and a female llama, obviously in heat, tied up in a fenced in area and a male on the outside of the fence keeping guard. Whenever anyone or anything came near, he would scream at the top of his lungs and run towards her – it was the funniest thing. I will try to put this in the blog later.

30 miles from port we arrived at Vicente Perez Rosales National Park. We hiked through the forest along a well marked path to the Petrohue River where the turquoise waters plunge over hard volcanic rocks to form wild, gushing cascades. Mount Osorno, the perfectly shaped, snowcapped volcano towers over the park. Unfortunately, it only peaked in and out today. We are incredibly lucky to have such beautiful weather because this area has rain 300 days a year!

Heading back to town we stopped at a bee keeper’s place for our picnic lunch then an overlook of Puerto Montt. We had Irving drop us all off at the handicraft market. Again, the guys ditched us and headed back to the ship. LuAnn and I had to check out all the little shops with their alpaca or wool sweaters and shawls all hand-spun and hand-dyed, jewelry, llama rugs, penguins in all shapes and forms, leather goods and carved wood figures.

We decided to walk to the center of town, got half way there and stopped to take a photo of the ship when we noticed a big, black rain cloud heading our way. We got about 50’ and it poured! We each had our waterproof jackets, hers had a hood but mine didn’t. We ran about two blocks and came upon a huge tent with about 30 craft stands – perfect! LuAnn found a unique scarf on the third time around. We decided to bite the bullet and run back to the pier to catch our tender. When we arrived, I looked like a drowned rat – both of our jackets failed the waterproof test! Several hundred other people decided to come back at the same time so it ended up taking about 45 minutes to catch a tender and then we had an exciting ride back through the choppy waves. We got back at 7:15, missed dinner with the group so we went to the buffet and then joined them at the show. We were quite surprised when we left on time at 8 pm; in fact, we took bets that morning as to when the ship would leave knowing it wouldn’t leave on time.

From Puerto Montt, Chile

March 1st

February 23, 2009

Cruising Cape Horn

Today we rounded the southernmost tip of the Americas! The scenery was spectacular and the weather was cloudy and in the upper 40s. We thought it would be a lot rougher than it was. The ship sent one of the tenders to a post office on the shore to have their manifest stamped. Quite an exciting day!

From Cape Horn

February 24, 2009

Ushuaia, Argentina

Ushuaia is the world’s southernmost city, and is known as the Port at the End of the World. It is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, a large triangular island beyond the Magellan Straits. It was originally colonized as an Argentinean penal colony in 1902 and remained a prison outpost until 1947. It is now a major S.A. tourist destination rivaled only by Buenos Aires for ship traffic. Ushuaia is one of the few cities on earth that offer the sea, mountains, and forests all in one place. When we arrived, we felt as though we were in Switzerland; complete with chalets! In fact, it was breathtakingly beautiful; and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. One of our friends took a cab and the driver said he had lived there for 21 years and this was the prettiest day he could ever remember! It was a little cool in the morning but you could wear short sleeves by the afternoon.

LuAnn and I disembarked at 8 am to visit the tourist office to come up with a plan. We had so many choices but settled on doing everything by cab. When the guys arrived at 8:30, we negotiated and finally found a driver who would take us to Tierra del Fuego National Park and back for $100 for all of us (better than $60 per person charged by the ship). The park is about 10 miles outside the city spanning almost 30,000 square miles. I thought this area received its name due to volcanoes in the area – wrong, there aren’t any. When Ferdinand Magellan first traveled here in 1520, he saw the light from all the Yamana Indian’s campfires along the shore, hence the name land of fire. Within the park is the end of the Pan-American Highway, which begins in Alaska and literally brings you to the end of the world 17,848 km away! Our driver, Mario (he’s 44 with 7 children and 2 grandchildren!) wanted to make sure we experienced everything. He would take us to an area, drop us off and then we hiked to where he would pick us up. We walked along the shores of lakes, down a mountain and through a forest – all beautiful walks (Bobby even enjoyed them!).

We returned to town around 1 pm. Bobby still has his cold so he went back to the ship. We walked down the main shopping street to the grocery store (always a thrill to see what they have to offer!) where Bob got beer and LuAnn and I bought chocolate/coffee liquor ($4). Bob then went back to the ship and we wandered back going in and out of shops. Our last stop was a local craft market beside the pier. I don’t buy much (I have no room in the RV) but I did find a woman who dies and spins her own yarn and then makes beautiful wall hangings. I chose one with a tree that they call a flag because it is usually extremely windy here and most trees angle the same way like a flag blowing in the wind.

Unfortunately, we had to be on the ship by 3:30 pm. When we walked out of the market to the pier entrance we almost had heart failure because the line to get into the pier area was over a block long and we had allowed only 10 minutes! We started asking people what ship they were on and were relieved when we realized most of them were on our ship! We knew they wouldn’t leave all of us! We finally boarded at 4 pm, which was when we were supposed to depart. We didn’t leave until 8:30 pm! They kept telling us we couldn’t leave because of high winds in the channel. Well, the water where we were was just like glass and two ships came in and a smaller one left hours before us so no one believes the high winds story!

Tonight our entertainment was all people who had performed on their own on different evenings so we had a trio - Peter Fisher played the violin, then Tom Sutton, a comedian and we ended with Annette Wardell who has sung opera many times at Kensington Palace and with Sarah Brightman. Annette is a little bitty thing, about 5’3” with beautiful, powerful voice!

From Ushuaia, Argentina

February 25, 2009

Day at Sea

Today we were told that due to the high winds we would not be able to go into Punta Arenas, Chile, especially since we would have to tender in. I have to tell you, like the day before it was a perfect day with seas so calm you could water ski on them! They really aren’t telling us something! They said we would spend the day cruising the Strait of Magellan so we could see everything in the daylight. The Strait of Magellan separates S.A. from the Tierra del Fuego and other islands south of the continent and is one of the most scenic waterways in the world.

At noon LuAnn and I ran into the three entertainers from the previous evening and they told us they were supposed to leave the ship in Punta Arenas to get to their next engagement and weren’t sure what they were going to do. At 2 we had an announcement saying we were going to stop in front of Punta Arenas so we could take a photo and the Chilean Immigration Officials would be boarding for a short time. I told LuAnn the entertainers were leaving so I called Peter Fisher and he said they had to be in the lobby to depart immediately. He asked me to meet him in the lobby to give us and another friend a CD! The tender then swept them away!

From Strait of Magellan

February 26 & 27, 2009

Days at Sea

The 26th was spent cruising the Chilean Fjords along the Pacific coast of southern Chile. This area is similar to the fjords found in Northern Europe. It is a dissected region of islands, channels, inlets, straits and bays. The Chilean Fjords are sparsely populated with only a few small towns and cattle ranches seen along the shores.

After breakfast, Heidi, Terry, LuAnn and I jumped in the hot tubs to watch the incredible scenery! It was about 45 out and the water was around 100; a perfect way to spend the morning! I couldn’t believe it; I didn’t bring a towel since they give us all warm terrycloth robes….my robe fell off the railing into a small pool of water leaving me with a 12”dry square – I about froze trying to get in and to my room!

Today we saw two huge glaciers - one in the sunshine of the morning and the other in the rain at 5 pm. I have now used all my clothes – summer and winter!

At 10 pm Bobby went up to the Lido deck and watched The Godfather on the big screen. I stayed in the room and watched another movie. When he returned around 1 pm, I was asleep and woke up as he was taking off all his clothes, right down to his underwear because it was all wet. I asked him what happened and he said there were 90 mph winds with high waves so the ship was rocking and rolling. He said the next thing he knew a huge wave got him and several others soaking wet. It was warm, since they had the roof closed, so they all stayed till the end of the movie. I said “WOW, that’s unbelievable!” and went right back to sleep. The next morning in aerobics I was telling Heidi and she asked if it was from the pool….sure enough, it was!

The 27th we did laundry after breakfast. This takes a couple of hours since there are not many washers. But, this is where lots of the drama and gossip takes place – the stories from the laundry are unbelievable!

Tonight was another elegant evening where we all dressed up. After dinner, we had a harpist as entertainment. She was fantastic, playing lively, popular music!

From Chilean Fijords

February 19

February 19, 2009

Montevideo, Uruguay

Another beautiful city! Montevideo is the capital of the country and called the “Switzerland of South America.” It is considered by many to be the most beautiful city on the continent. They have an excellent standard of living; considered to be the highest in South America. They have a high literacy rate and low crime rate (they seem to go hand in hand). The four of us took a cab to the Gaucho Museum in the old city and were pleasantly surprised to learn museums are free!

We decided to walk back to the ship stopping first at their theater. LuAnn and I wanted to go on a tour so the guys ditched us and said they’d meet us back on the ship. We had a wonderful time checking out all the museums (some for the buildings that were old mansions) and shops. We found it interesting that almost everyone was drinking mate in their gourd – the policemen, workers and people on the street. Lunchtime we headed to the Mercado and were shocked to find that all they sold at every café was barbecued meat over an open fire. It smelt wonderful but this isn’t what we wanted to eat on such a hot day. Earlier that day we went into a shop that sold quiche and decided we would try to find something like that. Walking up the street a women who spoke perfect English asked us if we wanted to go on a wine tour, we said no but asked her if she knew of anywhere that sold quiche and she said her daughter Sophie who was 12 was just leaving to get them some and would be happy to take us. Sophie was delightful; she was bilingual and happy to practice her English. She took us to a perfect place with delicious food! After lunch, we went to the Palacio Taranco where Rona just happened to see us standing on the balcony so she joined us. We all went to the Carnival Museum, which was disappointing.

We couldn’t believe our day had come to an end and we had to head back to the ship. We were supposed to leave at 5 pm but the channel was blocked. While waiting to leave, a group of folkloric and tango dancers came and performed for us on the pier – they were wonderful!

From Montevideo, Uruguay

February 20, 2009

Da At Sea

We are all shocked at how time is just flying by – we don’t want this cruise to come to an end. The ship is so large; we still get confused going from one place to another. We always seem to have something to do – so much for all those good books I was planning on reading! Tonight was our third “elegant night,” second captain’s party and second time to have lobster! We weren’t sure if they were going to repeat the entertainment on each of the three legs and were happy to find out it is almost all different. The only thing that is the same is their dance cast numbers and none of us mind seeing them again!

From Heidi

February 21, 2009

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

This morning we awoke in the city of Puerto Madryn in Patagonia. Town is a 10 minute drive from the port so they provided free shuttles for those that wanted to go. The town was founded in 1865 by 150 Welsh immigrants. Later the Spanish and Italians came.

Today LuAnn and I are taking the only tour we booked to Punta Tombo Penguin Rookery because it is 100 miles away and we didn’t want to take a chance of going out to see the penguins and have our vehicle break and then miss the ship. Somehow LuAnn got an extra tour so she gave it to Heidi. We left at 8 am on a nice, modern bus. It was 62 – finally cool weather – YEAH!!! We drove though a lot of nothing – over two hours of this! The last 20 minutes was on a dirt road. As we neared the rookery, the landscape went from brown to a little green and a few rolling hills. Punta Tombo is the largest penguin nesting ground in South America. Early September every year the males arrive and repair the burrows from previous years. Later the females arrive and early October these females lay two eggs. The chicks hatch after forty days of incubations, where both parents play an active role. Penguins are monogamous. Some penguins walk over an hour off the shore to their nest.

Both parents look after the burrow and feed their chicks. As chicks hatch, they are covered by dark gray fluffy down; in February these feathers are shed to be replaced by juvenile plumage. Only after the molting in the following year will they grow adult plumage. Throughout their adult life they will molt once a year. During this time they will not go to sea.

When we arrived, we were told to stay on the path and penguins have the right of way. As we started up the wooden walkway, we saw a couple of penguins here and there and took lots of pictures. There were three young penguins having a conversation right in the middle of the path – it didn’t bother them in the slightest that people were constantly walking around them. We walked about an hour and arrived at the beach where about 2,000 penguins were hanging out, swimming, diving in and out and just talking to each other. It was amazing! They are brought up with humans so it didn’t bother any of them that we were there. In fact, some were extremely curious and would come right up to you, walk with you or play with your shoelaces.

Three hours later, it was time to go so we all got on the bus, pulled out of the parking lot and our beautiful bus died! Our guide said don’t worry, they keep an extra bus there for things like this. Unfortunately, this was a Mexican bus…no AC, just little windows at the top, my seat was broke – it would only lie down and it had no shocks – we know because we sat in the next to the last seat! The driver flew over the dirt road – we think he was of the mentality that this way you would glide of the holes – didn’t work! By now it was about 80 so we had to have all the windows open. You just can’t imagine all the dust that came in – I looked up front and it was a haze. When we finally got to the pave road, we were like Pigpen in Charlie Brown – you would pat your clothes and puffs of dust would rise!

We arrived back at the ship at 4:45 pm and at 5 we were having local dancers perform on the ship so we all ran to our rooms, changed clothes, shook out our hair and washed what dirt off we could so we could see the show. The show was worth rushing to! We then had another delicious dinner and went to the evening entertainment Peter and fabulous violinist who played something for everyone. He has been playing since he was 12 in London, played for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and has been on his own for about 5 years.

From Puerto Madryn, Argentina

February 21

February 17, 2009

Buenos Aires, Argentina

It has just surprised us that every port we have been to so far has a skyline similar to New York’s in the early 1900s with 29 low skyscrapers. Buenos Aires is Spanish for “fair winds” and is now our favorite city! It is so nice for us to be back to a country that speaks Spanish so we can talk to the people! It was difficult communicating in Brazil – not many people spoke English. Buenos Aires has a European feel with gorgeous architecture, beautiful parks everywhere, extremely clean and very few homeless in the city center. The most amazing thing is the people….very nice looking and they stand in straight lines for everything unlike the Brazilians or Mexicans who are comfortable with chaos. It was funny, while we were in Brazil the people always talked about what snobs the Argentineans are but we found them very friendly and helpful.

Looking at the map places looked very close so Bob & LuAnn and Bobby and I decided we could walk everywhere, we meandered through a neighborhood with several Embassies and the Presidential Palace (they really knew how to live in the early 1900s!). We walked up Avenue 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world (11 lanes each way!) and enjoyed checking out the wonderful shops. The people in Argentina drink a tea out of a gourd called mate. They fill the gourd (which is about 8 oz) half way with the tea leaves, then fill it will hot water, let it steep and then drink it through a silver straw that has a strainer on the end. When you are about half way done, you put in more hot water from your thermos. Everyone has their own gourd and in the morning you see everyone drinking this. Of course, LuAnn and I had to have one so we were on a quest to find one at a good price.

In the center of the Avenue 9 de Julio is an Obelisk, similar to the Washington Monument – so we felt right at home. We met a tour guide in the morning who recommended a restaurant where the locals eat. By the time we arrived we were extremely hot and tired so it felt great to just sit down. Bob got a big beer but water cost the same as wine so that’s what LuAnn and I ordered and Bobby got his standard Coke. The main item on any Argentinean menu is steak because it is said they have the best in the world. Bob is a vegetarian – he hasn’t had meat in 10 years so LuAnn asked him what he was going to eat and he said “steak” which just shocked all of us! Each couple shared a tenderloin, which was plenty. We agreed it was the BEST steak we had ever had!

Cabs are so cheep here; we took several and at the end of two days paid about $10 a person. After lunch we took a cab to La Recoleta Cemetery. Not only is Evita Peron buried there, but the ornate mausoleums of the rich and famous that line the labyrinth of the walkways provide a unique historical glimpse into the wealth and opulence that was once Argentina. Buenos Aires is divided into 47 distinct neighborhoods or barrios. La Recoleta is reminiscent of Paris with fashionable shops, wide avenues and sidewalk cafes. We walked to their library and then to the Museum of Decorative Arts that is housed in a beautiful mansion from 1857. We decided to take a cab back to the ship since the afternoons seem to be really hot and steamy!

Today the guests who were only taking the first leg of the cruise departed and new guests arrived. We noticed there are quite a few more children. We requested and were able to keep our same table for dinner. We think we have the best waitress on the ship. She is from Thailand, remembers everything and is always laughing. Since many of the guests were going to a Dinner & Tango Show they had open seating in the dining room. We had totally different servers so this made us really appreciate Chutima and her assistant Jerome! After dinner, we went to the show and were thrilled to find out the entertainment was a local dancing family – Mom, Dad, 3 boys and 3 girls from about mid teen to late 20s. They performed folkloric dances in beautiful costumes. One of the brothers & sisters was the 5x national tango champions for the country – they blew us away with their dance!

From Buenos Aires, Argentina 1

February 18, 2009

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We are so fortunate to be able to spend two days here – we could spend a month; in fact, we just might come back and rent an apartment and motorcycle and see what we’ve missed! We got off at 8:45 and took a cab to Plaza Congreso, where the magnificently imposing Congress building is located. We arrived before it opened so we went to an Internet café to kill time. I was thrilled because I could now take some time to put my photos in my blog. On the ship it is about $ .40 a minute yet here it is about $ .30 an hour! Unfortunately, the photos on our flash drive came up as numbers and Bobby wasn’t quite sure what to do so we just stuck them in. Later I’ll try to fix it so you know what you are looking at. So, right now good luck trying to figure out which of the preious blogs they are from….sorry! We went to the Congreso and found out they didn’t give tours today – DARN! We decided to ride their Metro on the A line which is the oldest with wooden cars dating back to 1913 – that was really neat! We rode it to Plaza de Mayo to see Casa Rosada where Evita and President Juan Peron gave their famous speeches from its balcony. We also went to the Cathedral that is on another corner and the Town Hall on another.

We took another cab to the colorful barrio of La Boca to Caminito Street that is famous for its brightly colored buildings, street fair atmosphere, outdoor cafes, vendors, shops, tango dancing and music in the streets. LuAnn and I found the deal of the century here and bought a mate (gourd with silver trim), silver straw and a good size bag of tea for $3! We can’t wait to try it!

LuAnn was kicked out of the gym on the ship because she didn’t have “proper” tennis shoes so we decided to take a cab to the most exclusive mall in town, Galerias Pacifico. We all had an excellent lunch in the food court and she was able to find bright orange Keds that look great on her feet – mission accomplished! It was now time to head back to the ship. We walked down Florida Street checking out all the wonderful shops, through a park with lots of dog walkers, lovers and people enjoying the day to the port. Another incredible day!!!

From Buenos Aires, Argentina 2

February 19, 2009

Montevideo, Uruguay

Another beautiful city! Montevideo is the capital of the country and called the “Switzerland of South America.” It is considered by many to be the most beautiful city on the continent. They have an excellent standard of living; considered to be the highest in South America. They have a high literacy rate and low crime rate (they seem to go hand in hand). The four of us took a cab to the Gaucho Museum in the old city and were pleasantly surprised to learn museums are free! The gaucho Museum had and excellent mate exhibit. After seeing that we noticed everyone was drinking out of them....shopkeepers, police (who were on just about every corner) and people on the street. Mate is an herbal tea


We loved Montevideo!!! Very walkable and very affordable. The guys split off from us at the Theater since they wanted to check out stores and LuAnn and I wanted to see all the museums. Most were located in beautiful, old mansions.

For lunch we had to have this great looking quiche but we were disappointed to find that the Mercado del Puerto which was recommended for lunch only had grills and lots and lots of meat. As we were standing on a corner a local woman who spoke English asked if we needed directions to the downtown. We explained that we were looking for quiche and she said we could follow her daughter to the cafe. The daughter was 12 and named Sophie. We zigged and zagged through the city and found the best quiche ever and it cost $1.36 US a slice. Quite a change from th $9 lunches in Buenos Aires. Turns out after all that zigging and zagging we were back where we started our day.

We found Montevideo to be unlike any of the travel documents we read. They said there wasn't anything special to see. We found it would be a great two or three day stay.

Since we were not returning to Uruguay we needed to get rid of our pesos. We decided on buying local wine. That was a lot harder than we first thought. We only had $6.00 and wine was between $2 and $20 per bottle. The young man helping us obviously thought we could afford more. We finally showed him all the money we had and ended up with 2 bottles of wine and one 1.5 liter soda.

From Montevideo, Uruguay

February 12th

February 12, 2009

SALVADOR, BRAZIL

Think Africa but with a Portuguese flavor. This was Brazil’s main seaport during the slave trading era (16th and 17th centuries). 80% of the population is direct descendants of African slaves. The city is broken into two sections. The lower section is the commercial area or new section. The upper section is the historic district. Like everywhere in Brazil they have their share of petty thieves and street people.

We left the ship at 8:15 am and took the H. Stern free shuttle to the historic district in the upper section. The architecture here is spectacular! Being so early it was nice to be able to have the area to ourselves for a little while. Our first stop was the church and convent of St. Francis built between 1708 and 1750 and is considered the richest church in all of Brazil. The convent has beautiful tile work but the church is truly impressive because it is covered in more than 100 kilograms of gold. It was built by slaves of the sugar barons and is covered with 100s of the ugliest cherubs you have ever seen. I found out later this was the slaves’ way of rebelling. They gave them the bodies of midgets, homely faces and penus covered with fig leafs. Years later the leaves started falling off raveling their peanus. The Catholic Church was horrified so they chiseled all but two off.

We walked across the plaza to the Cathedral Basilica then wandered around the area with their beautiful pastel buildings, cobblestone streets and many shops.

The city has a 225 foot 100 year old elevator that takes you to the lower section in 15 seconds.

We went to the Mercado Modelo at the bottom, which is indoors and outdoors with a large selection of handicrafts and art work. The following day we were going to celebrate Bobby’s birthday so we wanted to get some liquor that is only made in Brazil cachaca that is similar to moonshine or white lightning. LuAnn and I lost Bob & Bobby in the market but we found out the closest liquor store was only 3 blocks away. We started walking; of course, the street the liquor store was on didn’t look safe. We each agreed that if it wasn’t the first store we would go back. We lucked out – it was! I have to tell you so far in Brazil we have noticed hardly anyone speaks English or Spanish so we mainly have to rely on our sign language. Everyone knows what cachaca is so that wasn’t a problem but getting directions and then trying to select which of the 7 different cachacas to buy wasn’t easy! We settled on a bottle for $2 because we think the owner told us it didn’t matter what it costs since we were going to be mixing it with juice.

We returned to the ship late afternoon and watched us sail away.

From Salvador, Brazil

February 13, 2009

BOBBY’S BIRTHDAY

Today we had a tour of the kitchen. We had a cheese and cracker platter delivered to Bob & LuAnn’s room (since it was the largest with a window) for Bobby’s 61st birthday party at 4:30. We got orange juice, lemonade, guava juice and fresh lemon and limes to mix with our cachaca. We decided it is similar to tequila – our drinks were delicious!

From Bobby's Birthday

February 14, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO

We couldn’t believe it - this is a port we were really looking forward to having a sunny day but we were greeted with rain and fog! Friends recommended Neyla as a tour guide so we gathered 10 of us and for $35 plus admissions she and her van driver drove us from 8 – 5 pm. Neyla was excellent!

We went to Sugar Loaf (Pao de Aquear) first. This is a rock that juts straight up from the bay and is accessed by two aerial trams for $22. We were early so we were able to go right up. By the time we arrived at the top, the rain stopped and the fog started to lift.

From there we drove to Corcovado to see the statue of Jesus Christ that is 2,200 feet above the city and can be seen from just about every vantage point throughout the city. We arrived at 11 and had Neyla buy our tickets because they wanted to charge us $50 instead of $23. There are three cruise ships in and thousands of people. We couldn’t get a train to the top until 12:40 so we decided to go to a local street market till it was time. Neyla had us try many fruits, pastries and drinks that we had never seen. One of these was the jack fruit that was brought here to feed the slaves. It is a large fruit, almost the size of a small watermelon, and very sweet, I can’t relate the flavor to anything I have ever tried. Now the trees grow all over the jungles.

We returned and took the cog railway to the top. The train goes through Tijuca National Park (the largest national park within a city in the world), a rainforest with beautiful trees and flowers. When we arrived at the top, the clouds came and went so we had to take quick photos.

We then stopped at H. Stern because this is their largest shop. We had a tour of their “factory” where they cut their stones, visited their museum, shop and each received a gift of three uncut stones.

We drove by the café where the song “The Girl from Ipanema” was written.

Unfortunately, due to the weather the beaches were deserted so the guys didn’t get to see the beautiful Brazilian women in their little bikinis.

We got back to the ship at 5 because we thought we were sailing at 6. We wanted to watch us said away but dinner for us is at 5:45 pm. We were surprised we hadn’t left at 7:30 when we finished so we dashed out on deck to see us sail away. We didn’t leave until 8:30 pm because so many people (including the Captain and lots of crew) were in line at Corcovado so they held the ship!

From Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

February 15 & 16

AT SEA

We really enjoy our time at sea – the days just fly by! Somehow Bob was able to get a tour of the bridge but he wouldn't tell any of us how. The 15th was a formal night followed by a spectacular dance show.

From Formal Night

February 10th

February 10, 2009

Recife, Brazil

We disembarked this morning at 8:30 am and had to take a shuttle outside of the port area if we didn’t have a tour scheduled. When they dropped us off, we were surrounded by van and taxi drivers. Today we had 8 thinking we might have to take two cabs. We wanted to be taken to Olinda so we started negotiating. They started at $35 each just to take us there but we finally found Carlos who couldn’t find his group from our ship. He agreed to give us a 4 hour tour of Olinda and Recife for $25 each and he spoke excellent English (most of the others spoke NO English!). At 9 am we were off in his air conditioned van (this is REALLY important!). We saw Marco Zero Park, which is the actual center of the city.

While we were there, the group Carlos was supposed to meet called and told him where they were so we had to go pick the 8 of them up. We told Carlos we were not happy about this so he agreed to drop the price to $20 each. By now we were thrilled with Carlos and wouldn’t have traded him for anything but he didn’t know this!

We drove to Olinda, which has been appointed a world cultural Heritage City by UNESCO. The architecture of the colorful colonial houses and the steep, narrow streets give Olinda a quaint atmosphere. We parked and walked around the center of town for a fascinating hour. During this walk, we all joked that we didn’t realize we had so many sweat glands! It was extremely hot and humid.

Carnival is only ten days away so in both cities we saw viewing stands, stages and decorations being erected. Many people rent their home for a week. Carlos said when he was young and single 40 – 50 guys would get together and rent one of these homes and just party the entire time – scary! Carlos is now 44 so I asked him if he would ever rent out his house to kids and, of course, he said “NO WAY!”

We piled back in the van and drove up a long, steep, winding street to the highest point of the city to the Alto da Se Square where we had incredible views of Recife and the beaches and walked among the many vendors to the Se church.

We drove back to Recife along the coast and decided these were not the best beaches to swim. Yet, Carlos said if you go out to the reef, there is plenty of food for the sharks so they don’t bother the divers. Carlos is a scuba driver and he said the diving is excellent because of the warm, clear water and the reef has loads of different fish.

Recife, which means reef in Portuguese, is known as the “Brazilian Venice” because of its many canals and waterways and innumerable bridges that span them. There are actually three main islands. We spent 45 minutes in the Casa da Cultura, which used to be a prison. It is in the shape of a cross and all the cells are now little shops. They had a lot of hand-made lace products as well as arts and crafts.

Like Barbados they have Baobab trees. It took 8 of us women to encircle the tree standing finger tip to finger tip!

From here we drove through the city. We saw the Kahal Zur Israel, the first synagogue in the Americas. Carlos, who is Jewish, told us that in 1654 twenty-three Dutch Jews went to New Amsterdam (New York) to start a new life. When they arrived, they saw there was a natural wall like they had in Recife so they called it Wall Street. In 2004 they had their 100 year celebration in NY, and his mother was selected to go to represent Recife!

Five hours later we sadly had to bring our tour to an end. Carlos dropped us all off at the shuttle that brought us back to the ship. Everyone went back but LuAnn and me. It was only 2:30 pm and we didn’t have to be back till 5:30 so we took H. Stern’s (the jewelry store) free shuttle to their store at the other end of the beach so we could see more of the city. Bobby gave me the copy of our passport because he just knew we wouldn’t make it back in time. We were back by 4:30.

After dinner, we went up to the pool at 10 pm to watch the movie Casino Royal on the big screen under the full moon and stars. It is wonderful – they give you a big soft blanket so you can curl up on your lawn chair. Yes, it was still 80 but when you are sailing there are little breezes so that blanket feels really comfy, cozy!

From Recife & Olinda, Brazil

February 11, 2009

We love these days at sea, especially after a day in port! The women all try to go to the 8 am aerobics class followed by breakfast. They have a restaurant on the ship that is optional at $30 p/p – we all think this is a little much! But, today they had their second cooking class where they make an appetizer, entrée and dessert that they serve. Of course, we get large samples of everything! After this, we went to get a bowl of soup for lunch and saw they had a Chocolate Buffet for dessert! We just couldn’t pass this up!

February 8, 2009 Fortaleza, Brazil

February 8, 2009, Fortaleza, Brazil

We arrived in Fortaleza, Brazil, and disembarked at 8 am. It took us all by surprise to see all the high rise buildings along the beach. We took the H. Stern (a jewelry company) van to town since it was free and then 6 of us crammed into a taxi and had it take us to the center of town for $7 – such a deal! He dropped us off at a four-story market. We found the prices to be very high. We then walked to the Cathedral, which is the third largest church in Brazil.

We were glad we started early because it was warming up quick. Being a Sunday the streets were almost deserted. It was an easy walk to the visitor’s center that also was another market with more handicrafts. The printed tourist information said to see the Englishmen Bridge. We had a map so we started walking; the closer we got to the water the more graffiti we saw and bums. We were told not to wear any jewelry and keep everything close because there is a lot of petty crime in this city. When we arrived at the beach, we saw quite a few people set up to spend the day. We were going to walk out to the bridge but several people came up to us speaking Portuguese (we didn’t understand a word) and told us with hand gestures to leave NOW because it was very dangerous! We took their advice and headed back to the ship. You know it’s bad when the bums and prostitutes also come up to you and tell you to leave their neighborhood. (That evening on the ship we were told that 6 guests from the ship were mugged!)

By now it was REALLY HOT so we stopped and Bob got a cold Artica beer. He tasted it and said it tasted like chocolate so we all had to try it – it was delicious! Next stop a grocery store where we got money from an ATM and I bought an Artica beer that Bobby and I shared – it hit the spot! We now arrived at the Malacon which is about a two mile walkway along the beach. It was a lot cooler here and more interesting seeing all the families at the beach for the day and the vendors. We walked to the end arriving at the hotel that H. Stern was in and took their van back to the ship.

Tonight was Heidi’s birthday so we celebrated in their room with wine. The head waiter said he would send a cheese platter to their room for us. At dinner he asked how we liked it and we said it never arrived – he was shocked. Come to find out, housekeeping transposed the numbers! To make up for the mistake, they sent us a bottle of champagne and a delicious birthday cake!

From Fortaleza, Brazil

February 9, 2009

Today several of us played 9 holes of miniature golf outside. The guys stayed and played another round so we met them for lunch at noon. When we got to the restaurant, they looked totally exhausted so we asked them what they had done and they said “you’d be exhausted too if you had just played 18 holes of golf without a cart!”

February 5, 6 & 7, 2009 At Sea

February 5, 6 & 7, 2009

These were days at sea and they just flew by! Richard and Heidi are both personal trainers. First Richard spent time with LuAnn and me giving us a routine we can do in our homes with weights. LuAnn took what we thought were very good notes, that is until the next time we went to work out. So many people came up to us to offer suggestions we knew we needed more help – it also didn’t help that every time we looked up someone was watching and trying to hide their laughter. Heidi then went over everything again and added a few more. LuAnn and I are hoping we can master this after 50 days!

The 7th we had a crossing the equator celebration. We also had a harry man contest that Richard entered. I have to tell you he “enhanced” his chest hair. He carves carnival horses so brought a horse tail and taped it to his chest! Even with this and his grand entrance he didn’t win – we think he did great for 82!

From Harry Chest Contest

February 4, 2009 Barbados

February 4, 2009, Barbados

Today we were off the ship in Barbados by 8:30 am. Seven of us hired Bob (that made for 3 Bobs in the van) for $25 each. Bob has been a tour guide for 27 years so he was excellent! We said we wanted him for 5 hours – he said if we needed him that long he would take that long with us. In 1536 the Portuguese “discovered” Barbados and gave it the name “the bearded one” because of all the fig trees that have roots resembling thick beards. The British landed a century later and ruled until 1966 when they claimed their independence. It is 21x14 miles and quite flat; the highest point is only 1,115’. The island is blanketed in sugarcane, their main crop.

We drove around the entire island, weaving in and out of the interior to see all of the little towns. It surprised all of us how many oil rigs they had.

Our first stop was Sunbury Plantation a 300-year old plantation followed by a church on top of a hill with beautiful views of the ocean. I have to say they have perfect weather here – always in the 80s! The coldest day ever was 65!

By 12:30 pm we were back to town. Bob dropped us girls off to check out all the shops while the boys went back to the ship. Heidi checked out the fish at the market to see if they were fresh.

From Barbados

February 1, 2009 First Full Day on the Ship

February 1, 2009

We are pleasantly surprised at how big our room is! We are in a perfect location on the sixth floor right in the middle of the ship. The décor is quite interesting – they really like the color pink!

We are traveling with several friends – you might just know some of them: Bob Mauhar & LuAnn Patterson, Terry & Heidi Young, Richard & Rona Cummins, Bob & Connie Sykes, Dave & MaryLou Thun and Lee & Lois White.

We met a couple that was lucky enough to be on the ship before the bomb scare so they were able to take pictures of what was happening. This is a photo of the little robot (looks like Wally) that checked out all the suspicious luggage. They said they didn’t allow any traffic around the port for miles and wouldn’t allow any ships to come in. Also, they had two helicopters looking for a man who had run away when all this happened. CNN was there recording all this.

We spent the first two days at sea catching up on our eating and sleeping. The ship is so large; it’s going to take at least a week to find our way around!


February 3, 2009, Dominica

We arrived in Dominica at noon. Eight of us hired a van for $20 each. Our driver Hawkins had a wonderful sense of humor and was an excellent tour guide. Dominica is a beautiful mountainous island. In 1493 Christopher Columbus and his crew were the first Europeans to sight the island. They sailed past it on Sunday and named it Domingo (Spanish for Sunday). It is 29x16 miles, has a lush mountainous interior of rainforests, waterfalls, lakes, hot springs and more than 200 rivers.

We drove through the town of Roseau, where we docked, then up to the Morne Trois Pitons National Park where we did a 15 minute hike through the hot, humid rainforest (we’re not used to the heat yet) to the Emerald Pool with a 50’ waterfall. We were tempted to dive in and would have if we had dryer clothes to put on!


We returned through the Layou Valley through banana and citrus plantations – it was beautiful! We then drove through the botanical gardens where an African Baobad tree blew down during Hurricane David in 1979. Fortunately, no one was in the bus at the time.

We arrived back to the docks at 3 pm. We checked out all the little handicraft stalls where spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and cloves are popular items as well as a few handicrafts; nothing exciting.

When we got back on the ship, it was time to try out the pools and BIG water slide!

From Dominica

February 5, 6 & 7, 2009

These were days at sea and they just flew by! Richard and Heidi are both personal trainers. First Richard spent time with LuAnn and me giving us a routine we can do in our homes with weights. LuAnn took what we thought were very good notes, that is until the next time we went to work out. So many people came up to us to offer suggestions we knew we needed more help – it also didn’t help that every time we looked up someone was watching and trying to hide their laughter. Heidi then went over everything again and added a few more. LuAnn and I are hoping we can master this after 50 days!

The 7th we had a crossing the equator celebration. We also had a harry man contest that Richard entered. I have to tell you he “enhanced” his chest hair. He carves carnival horses so brought a horse tail and taped it to his chest! Even with this and his grand entrance he didn’t win – we think he did great for 82!



February 8, 2009, Fortaleza, Brazil

We arrived in Fortaleza, Brazil, and disembarked at 8 am. It took us all by surprise to see all the high rise buildings along the beach. We took the H. Stern (a jewelry company) van to town since it was free and then 6 of us crammed into a taxi and had it take us to the center of town for $7 – such a deal! He dropped us off at a four-story market. We found the prices to be very high. We then walked to the Cathedral, which is the third largest church in Brazil.

We were glad we started early because it was warming up quick. Being a Sunday the streets were almost deserted. It was an easy walk to the visitor’s center that also was another market with more handicrafts. The printed tourist information said to see the Englishmen Bridge. We had a map so we started walking; the closer we got to the water the more graffiti we saw and bums. We were told not to wear any jewelry and keep everything close because there is a lot of petty crime in this city. When we arrived at the beach, we saw quite a few people set up to spend the day. We were going to walk out to the bridge but several people came up to us speaking Portuguese (we didn’t understand a word) and told us with hand gestures to leave NOW because it was very dangerous! We took their advice and headed back to the ship. You know it’s bad when the bums and prostitutes also come up to you and tell you to leave their neighborhood. (That evening on the ship we were told that 6 guests from the ship were mugged!)

By now it was REALLY HOT so we stopped and Bob got a cold Artica beer. He tasted it and said it tasted like chocolate so we all had to try it – it was delicious! Next stop a grocery store where we got money from an ATM and I bought an Artica beer that Bobby and I shared – it hit the spot! We now arrived at the Malacon which is about a two mile walkway along the beach. It was a lot cooler here and more interesting seeing all the families at the beach for the day and the vendors. We walked to the end arriving at the hotel that H. Stern was in and took their van back to the ship.

Tonight was Heidi’s birthday so we celebrated in their room with wine. The head waiter said he would send a cheese platter to their room for us. At dinner he asked how we liked it and we said it never arrived – he was shocked. Come to find out, housekeeping transposed the numbers! To make up for the mistake, they sent us a bottle of champagne and a delicious birthday cake!

From Fortaleza, Brazil

February 9, 2009

Today several of us played 9 holes of miniature golf outside. The guys stayed and played another round so we met them for lunch at noon. When we got to the restaurant, they looked totally exhausted so we asked them what they had done and they said “you’d be exhausted too if you had just played 18 holes of golf without a cart!”

January 31, 2009 The Adventure Begins

The Adventure has begun! At 6:15 am Michael Jackson picked us up and took us to catch our 7 am bus a to the port in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We had two stops so we didn’t arrive until 12 noon. We were surprised to see a double line of people for our cruise in front of the terminal. We got to the rear and finally got into the terminal around 2:15 only to see more lines – first to see if we had our Brazilian Visa. We are traveling with Legendary Journey and were told we would not be able to board the ship if we didn’t have a Brazilian Visa. Over 100 people out of the 3,000 didn’t get this message so they were not allowed on the ship; they had to get to Miami, go to the Brazilian Consulate on Monday, apply for a visa (hope they get it that day or the next) and then join the ship in Barbados! I’m sure those people are going to have words with someone!

Next we went through security like an airport then we had to go upstairs and this is when we found out why there was a major delay….the two escalators and one of the two elevators were broken! We were the next people to take the elevator upstairs to be processed onto the ship when several wide eyed carnival employees ran up to us and said, “Evacuate the building immediately!” It didn’t matter to me that I had been standing in that line for 3 whole hours; I grabbed our carry on and walked really fast out of that building and across the street. I told Bobby I was going to stand near an ally so I could get totally out of the way if it blew up.

One of the friends we were with had his niece on the ship. He was able to call her and found out they weren’t going to evacuate the ship. We thought it would only be a short time but by 4 pm, an hour later, they brought in bottled water. Outside they put yellow tape around everything like a crime scene, the street was blocked by about 20 police cars with their lights on, the FBI, Homeland Security, Bomb Squad and local police were everywhere and the little bomb robot was there as well. If you walked outside with your camera, they’d immediately say no pictures, no pictures – DARN!

We were so lucky because one of our friends saw a vendor truck on the corner about a block away. So he and Bobby walked down and got the last four hotdogs. Bobby knows I really don’t like them but we had not eaten for 9 hours. Walking back he spotted four friends that had not had breakfast yet. Since it was around 3:30 he gave them one of our hotdogs to share. When he walked back into the building with the hotdog, everyone asked him where he got it. He probably could have sold it for $20.

By 5 pm they started bringing in fruit – things weren’t looking too good for us! We found most of our friends so we had lots of catching up to do! Unfortunately, they only had about 100 seats in the building so you had to stand or sit on the floor.


6 pm they brought in skimpy sandwiches – either cucumber and tomato or shaved turkey and coffee or hot tea. It was several hours before they told us anything at all and when they did all they said was they were securing the building as quick as possible. At 6 they only said they found suspicious luggage. Finally at 7:45 pm they started letting us back into our terminal starting with deck 1 – we were on deck 6! After 10 minutes they called deck 2 and 5 minutes later they called decks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7! It was back through security but this time the escalators were working so it went lots faster. By 8:30 we were processed and walking on the ship – YEAH!!! Needless to say, we were all starving and exhausted! We went to our room and were so happy to see our luggage outside our door! We threw it into the room and went to the buffet for a delicious dinner (really, anything would have been delicious!). Bobby then talked me into going to the 10:30 floor show, which I think I may have slept through. We finally fell into bed at 12:45 am!

While we were in line for dinner, we were talking to a couple who was behind a man that was handcuffed and taken away for having three suitcases with bomb making materials in it! Scary!!!

It turns out we were upgraded twice. We thought we had the smallest room on the ship according to the floor plan we saw on the internet. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was much larger then we expected.

From The Adventure Begins

February 1, 2009

Today was dull compared to yesterday – mind you, I’m not complaining! We ate, explored the ship (I’ll send photos later), ate, unpacked, ate, Bobby watched the Superbowl on the big screen by the pool while I checked out the shops with the girls. What a nice day!

January 30, 2009

Welcome to the first day of our our blog!  Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures!

We just left North Port, FL, after spending a week with our good friend Oliver Beal.  For the past six years he has been building his dream house.  Oliver is a graphic artist and a perfectionist so when it is finished it won’t surprise us if it appears in Architectural Digest.  When we return in March, I will post photos of the interior.  He does have something that I have never seen before…..his toilet.  When you walk toward it, the seat rises.  You then sit on a heated seat.  It has a row of about 20 buttons with things to select so I studied all these while I was doing my business.  If you do #2 you press the rear flush and a stream of warm water cleans you.  You can direct how far forward or back you want it to go and you control the water pressure.  Or you can select clean the front and you have all the same options.  When you are finished, you then press dry and, yes, warm air blows on you!  I have to tell you it was quite the experience!

This is Oliver in front of his house.  Notice the stainless steal door and design in the chimney.  I couldn't get the 4 car garage in the photo.   

Yesterday we drove back to Davenport, FL, and sold our old RV to a gentleman from West VA.  He was happy to get it and we were THRILLED that he bought it!  Last night and tonight we spent in the Ward Hotel in our RV park.  Our friends, Dick & Becky Ward have a cassita on their lot and many of our friends have stayed in it but this is our first time – it was extremely comfortable! 

Tomorrow is our big day – it is the start of our 50-day cruise around South America!  We booked this a year ago and find it hard to believe it is finally here.  In fact, that is the purpose of this blog.  

Tonight 13 of us ordered carry-out from different restaurants and all had dinner together in the clubhouse.