Wednesday, March 24th At Sea

We slept late and Jack missed his seminar today. There are more swells here in the Caribbean and there is a wind which we haven't seen since we left Santiago. The ship is swaying a little today, but it is certainly not bad! We had a lazy day just walking around and talking with people. We sat on deck chairs and watched the ocean go by for a while. This will be the Very Last Time that we book a "closet room"! We just have to be able to see outside...even if it is just a porthole. We visited a "Family Suite" that a couple we toured with are in. It was ok, but really not great. After dinner with our usual crowd we went to the theater for the show. Tonight was The Flying Fingers of Piano Man! He was ok!

Thursday, March 25th Cartagena, Columbia

Although many people think it is "dangerous" to go to Cartagena, we had no difficulties at all. We were met at the bottom of the gangway by Lee Miles and Claudia. Le Miles is an American who owns a small but very nice emerald store in the "new city". Claudia was our guide for the day. Today it is just Jane & Gilbert from Memphis and us, plus Claudia and a driver. We had a wonderful tour of the city and some of the highlights. It was very, very hot and humid! We visited La Popa Monastery at the top of the highest hill in Cartagena and it was very beautiful, but full of roaches! UGH, UGH...there were thousands of them! Gross...Gross!! Anyway, when we finished our tour we went to Lee Miles store, Mr Emerald. I saw a pair of earrings that would go with my ship pendant and I asked to see them! AHA...they were beautiful and cost $1000.00 less than the ship earrings! I decided that I must have them! After picking a pendant for Stacey we bought all. I kept going back to the pendant that matched the earrings, but I just couldn't justify buying another pendant! Long storey short...got back to the ship and decided that I must return the ship emerald and buy the store one! Now only two hours before we sail and I am going nuts! We called Lee at his store and he said "no worries"! He met us at 4:15 at the gangway, pendant in hand. He gave us his Wachovia Bank Account number and asked us to drop a check for deposit to him when we get home! We talked until they starting pulling up the gangway and we were off to our room with another pendant! Dinner with our regular crowd and then back to our closet instead of going to see the Comedian......

Tuesday, March 23rd Panama Canal

We got up early and planted ourselves in a good viewing spot on the 11th deck. We watched our approach to the Mirafores Locks and we were guided into the lock with a few mild bumps, like threading a string in a needle! The gates were closed and we began our first of three climbs, for a total of 85 feet, to Lake Gatun. Then we sailed across the lake to the next set of locks that took us down the 85 feet into the Caribbean Sea. We stayed onboard to watch the activities as we cruised between seas, but some people got off to go on shore excursions. We were amazed at how smooth the process went, although there were very few other boats in the Canal. The crew were surprised that there were so few other boats about! We stopped at Cristobal Pier to pick up the returning passengers, but we decided to stay onboard because it looked like there were just a lot of trinkets and we were not going to go shopping! Dinner was again with a table of Cannucks!

Wednesday, March 24th At sea

We slept lake and Jack missed his seminar today. There are more swells here in the Caribbean and there is a wind which we haven't seen since we left Dallas. The ship is swaying a little today, but it is certainly not bad!

Thursday, March 18th

We slept late today. Jack went off to a seminar on Mammals of the Pacific and then we met in the Lido for Brunch. There is norovirus on the ship and we are being very careful. The ship is also working hard. You can't walk near the food areas without a crew member spritzing your hands with sanitizer. We napped a little, walked a little and eventually we went for dinner. We arrived at the Dining room at just 6:00pm and we were seated at a table for two! After dinner we headed for the theater for the evening entertainment. Tonight was a French Canadian singer. At the first note, I knew it would be unmemorable, and I wasn't wrong. Jack is always a fan of any entertainment, so we stayed until the end....snore, snore!! Back to the room and to bed asap, as it is another early morning get up!

Friday, March 19th Lima, Peru We met up with our tour group and guide on the pier this morning, and before we began, we knew that this would be a fun day! Trish and Dave from the UK, Kathy and Bob from Jersey, Caroline and Joe from New York/Florida, our guide a driver and Jack and I. Driving through the streets of Lima is like driving through Rome! Today was a "free day" to drive in the city, which made it even worse. We were off about 7:45am and we headed straight through Lima to Pachacamac, a very ancient archaeological site in the desert. There were remains of pyramids from a era before the Inca. Thank God they drove us from one place to another, as it must have been 200°s there! Next to a private Gold Museum, which also had a large collection of weapons and other artifacts. Now on to another archaeological site in the city before we came to the main square of Miraflores for lunch. We enjoyed a free Pisco Sour and then some of the gang decided to have more Pisco! Our trip back to the ship was hilarious, even the locals were laughing along with us. Back at the ship we showered and raced off to dinner and then a Variety Show, which was pretty good.

Saturday, March 20th At Sea

Jack was up early for his recurring seminar, today Fire and Ice..Volcanoes and Glaciers. Again we meet for Brunch after the talk. At 1:30 we joined the throngs of cruisers for the Captain's Club Event. It was once a special luncheon, but today just some finger foods, tiny sandwiches, sushi, fruit k-bobs and crepe with ice cream. The drinks and champagne also flowed. There was some entertainment and also an acknowledgement to a family who had sailed 77 times and a couple who had sailed 72 times! After dinner we went to the show, Boogie Wonderland, a 70's thing, which was so-so!

Sunday, March 21st Manta, Ecuador

Up early again, we headed off for our first and only ship shore excursion (cattle coach). We chose our seats and settled in for a 2 hour drive from Manta, along the coast to Machalililla National Park. Immediately we could see that Ecuador was much nicer than Chile or Peru. Although it is still poor here, there is almost no graffiti and it appears much cleaner. It was very hot again today, closest to the equator, Arriving at the National Park, we were surprised to find that there was very little to see. I decided to stay behind, while the group trouped off through the bug-infested grasses, etc. So glad I did, as the rest were all sweaty, tired and unimpressed! Next we boarded the bus and headed for a beach. The beach was very clean and pretty. One could swim, but we had only 45 minutes. Most just sat on plastic chairs under tents, set up for the cruisers....quite bazaar! It was a race to the shower for us again, and then off to the Dining room. Too early again, we were seated at a table for two! After dinner, we passed on the Juggler and singer and went back to our room for some TV.

Monday, March 22nd At Sea

Jack is off to his seminar again this morning. We meet for Brunch and then raced off to the Emerald talk, hoping to win another coupon! No such luck!! They opened to Emerald collection and we waded through the crowd to get a look! Emeralds are expensive! Of course, I did find a small pendant that I couldn't live without. The $250 coupon helped some....I asked Stuart Chapwick, the gemologist, and he said it was a steal! Two other shop crew people also agreed, so I guess we did ok! Jack went to collect our passports, which were taken from us on embarkation. Now we are back to having to worry about where the passports are! After a short nap, we are ready to get dressed for dinner and the another early evening so that we can be up early and watch the entrance into the Panama Canal.

Saturday, March 13th

All is quiet here, thank God! We sleep with slacks, shoes, jacket and flashlight right by the bed in case we have to dive out of the room! These poor people, who have to live with this fear. The Chileans believe that there is going to be a much bigger earthquake soon. I hope that this is not true.

Today, after breakfast, our tour guide and driver came to pick us up. It turns out that we are the only ones on the tour. We spent the whole morning driving and walking around Santiago. We got to see everything in the city that we missed while we were in the shopping mall! They returned us to our B&B and we decided to stay in the rest of the day%u226..waiting for Jack%u219s bag to come!!! We ordered Domino%u219s pizza and ate in our room. Ha Ha..Jack%u219s bag came! Too late to try and return all of the bought things t the mall! So now we have double the clothes for the bag! Oh, the joy of travel!! We spent the evening stuffing things into bags..thank God we had decided to take more lighter bags than less fuller bags%u226we don%u219t have to pay to check bags on American!

Sunday, March 14th Valparaison Chile The tour bus came at 9:00am to claim us and we were ready. We loaded the crammed bags into the van and we were off, with another couple, down the highway, through the vineyards, from Santiago to the coast city of Valparaiso. Our tour took us through the city. The guide did a walking tour, but I decided to stay in the van%u226this city is built on hills, very steep hills! We then drove to the adjoining city of Vina del Mar, the beach resort area. We had a nice lunch in a restaurant on the beach, then we were taken to the port for check in. Finally on the ship! Arriving in our %u21Ccloset%u21D, we put some things away and then headed for the %u21Cdrill%u21D. Our bags did all come, eventually, and we unpacked and went to dinner, then early to bed!

Monday, March 15th La Cerena Chile

Up early ! Docked in La Serena (Coquimbo) Chile...We had organized a tour online for today. There are three other couples, two couples from Florida and a couple from Memphis. We were picked up at the pier in a mini van and taken out into the country for the day. It was interesting to see the landscape and visit the little towns. We stopped at a craft market, but most of the stuff was shabby. Many interesting tales were had about "potty" stops, etc! Back to the ship and dinner, the show and to bed.

Wednesday, March 17th Arica Chile

Up at 6:00am, we quickly got ready to meet our group on the pier at 7:45am. We have a very wonderful day today, traveling almost to the Bolivia border through the most extraordinary mountains. We had breakfast and lunch in very strange little places. Had you seen the outsides, you would never have gone in. But our group of four couples, today, were very congenial and we had a great time. We finally returned to the ship about 6:00pm and we are all exhausted, We were all quite queasy, as the turnaround town was at 14,000 feet. We were happy to be back at sea level. Tonight will be a quick snack, a shower and early to bed!