Adventure with the Garden Guy

Wed January 11, 2023 We woke this morning to a harbor view of Manta, Ecuador. Distant green tropical hillsides set back from the bay filled with numerous small fishing boats.After catching our breath we hurried off for a quick breakfast of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns with a tall glass of prune juice and coffee. David had his usual everything vegetarian omelet.  We moved on to the Ocean Bar to meet our tour arranged by ‘Mary’ and we we placed on  group four. After an easy disembark from the Volendam we went to the beautiful port depot and waited and had the opportunity to purchase some local Tegu Nut carving, Ecuador hats and a nice variety of other locally produced handcrafts. I found two hats I liked very much and regret not buying them but figured I could pick them up on the return. Our first stop was the fish market where Tuna are the main attraction. There were of course a number of other fishes, shrimps, crabs, octopus and some other disgusting creature...

 10:00 pm Tuesday Jan 10, 2023 Today I wanted to acknowledge Margret Thatcher Day, a holiday commemorating the visit of the Iron Lady’s visit to the Falklands in 1983. We will be among the fortunate to have the opportunity to visit these islands in part because of her resolve to not let the Argentine invaders from the islands. Without delivering a history lesson Argentina claims the islands belong to Argentina and in 1982 they sent a military force to seize the islands. Prime Minister Thatcher said no way and courageously sent in the British forces to liberate the islands and free the people. While the Argentine forces were busy planting land mines and rounding up the Falkland Islanders the British set sail and within a short time defeated the Argentine forces and set the islanders free to determine for themselves who they wanted to be. They chose freedom. A freedom we now can celebrate.  So as we remember Mrs Thatcher’s bold decision, walk amongst the Elephant Seals, penguins...

 Monday January 9, 2023 4:51 PM                                                                        Aztec Ant Nest This mornings Monkey Cruise got off to a slow start. With two gargantuan cruise ships docked side by side and about 3000 excited tourists that is to be expected. David, our new friend Missy and I were among the last to be called. We meandered through the bowels of our ship the M.S. Volendam to the Gateway and down the plank to the bus. It is about a 45 minute drive to the river boate and we could see more Howler Monkeys, Capuchins and Jeffrey’s Tamarins. Once we arrived we had time for a quick potty break before boarding our small boat where David struggled to adjust his life jacket. I wasn’t sure he would need it as it would make it more difficult for a crocodile to swallow him in case I ...

10:06 PM ‘Sunday Jan 8, 2023 No Mickie Bachrow is not chopped liver.  Both David and I were up late in anticipation of our transverse of the Panama Canal. The timing was unsure but we knew it would be early so we left the Bain curtains open. Sometime between 5:30 and six I was startled out of my sleep and saw lights from my bed outside. I practically stumbled out of bed and looked to see we were already in The canal. I tried to wake David but he was in a deep sleep so I quickly dressed and ran up the stairs, grabbed some hot coffee and made my way to the deck only to discover I had missed going under the first bridge. Apparently we had entered around 4:30am. It is really unbelievable what this canal with its locks and technology can achieve. I won’t bore you with facts and details as you ca read all that elsewhere just to say it is mind boggling. Let alone this was done in 1914. As the day went on the ship seamanly made its way through the locks and dams guided by a series of small...

11:40 PM Sat Jan 7, 2023   We woke up this morning to a beautiful day, our ship the Volendam was docking at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. After quickly dressing I headed out to the deck and grabbed a quick coffee at the Lido Restaurant. Once on deck I was greeted by a vision of palm trees and lush hillsides dotted with homes and small building. The shy about swirled with flocks of Magnificent Frigate Birds and numerous Petrals and other smaller seas birds. David showed up with his daily oatmeal while I chowed down on a small bowl of stewed prunes. I went back for some real food which has become my usual scrambled eggs, fruit, hash browns, bacon and a chocolate croissant. We ate on deck and I chatted with several semi professional birdies and we talked about the Frigate. It was beautiful morning and we were hurried to catch our eco-tour to see the spectacular endangered Green Macaws at the Ara Manzanillo Refuge. To get there we Set out with a  small group  of 25 privilege...

  January 6, 10:20 PM  January 6th. On this historic day on the good ship Volendam it is a Sea Day. David and I slept in a bit after a night where I was troubled with bad dreams, in one I dreamt about my cat Bela. It could have been any cat and for some reason her lower jaw came off. No idea why or what that meant but in my dream I was scared and protective of my precious kitty. As this is a Sea Day the Daily Program was filled with educational programing and entertainment.  We have been asked, told to wear masks for the first three days and today was mandatory Covid testing for all the passengers. If we were under a certain threshold making would be lifted for all except the wait staff. There are a significant number of passengers who refused to wear masks. It clearly says, MASKS REQUIRED. Yet despite this a good number of passenger refused. Today was no different. At breakfast one of the waiters mask slide down his nose as he went out of his way to please a group of 6 p...

6:35 PM Thursday Jan 5 Ocho Rios, Jamaica  Welcome to Jamaica. We walked off the ship to be welcomed by the most intense rainbow I think I have ever seen. Then boarded our tour bus for a city tour and visit to the Konoko Gardens. Our tour guide was the mother of several children so much of what she told us about was the duration system. Children begin school as soon as they are potty trained. The education system is based on the British Colonial model and all student must wear a uniform bought and paid for by their parents. Parents also pay for student work books as each student has their own as a way to make it impossible for students to cheat or share their school work. Because parents have to pay for these fees most Jamaicans are well educated. Also teachers are strong disciplinarians and the kids live in fear of the teacher who are free to beat the students to keep them in line. There is no messing around. The students are also required to take vocational classes and most do so...

 10:30 PM Wed Jan 4 Today was a Sea Day and the folks here in the Volendam provided us with plenty to keep us busy. Each day we get a Daily Program that gives you the ACTIVITIES at a glance. These range from educational lectures, movies, live entertainment, special promotions and evening attire. Tonight was ‘Casual’. We started with breakfast in the formal dining rooms and we had an amazing selection of choices. I had stewed prunes and prune juice. Need I say more? Along with this I had ‘Swedish Pan cakes, hash browns, scrambled eggs, corned beef hash. David had oatmeal, and buckwheat pancakes. We attended several lectures focused on our shore excursions, essentially what to See and Do Ashore. One focused on tomorrow when we go to Ochos Rios, Jamaica and the other on Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. We were told while in Jamaica to expect to be offered Cannabis every few minutes and to ‘enjoy’ but not to bring any on board. We are going to a Garden and I’ll,write about that tomorrow....

 11:45nPM Tuesday Jan 3, 20023 We have been planing and packing and researching and preparing and after three days on the train and a night in the hotel we are now safe and on board the HMS Volendam. At the time of checkout we were fortunate to join the bus taking our shipmates to the Port and avoid having to drag suitcases and deal with another Uber and just ride to the ship. It felt so exciting to go through the processing and get on board. I felt the prices went well but of course there were many people complaining and finding fault with everything. both David and I were pulled aside and searched/scanned very similar to boarding a plane type of security. Then we went up and we welcomed and greeted and were dazzled by the beauty of this luxury ship. I’ll post pictures later as I was having a difficult time with the internet. Our room is very nice with a deck, safe, refrigerator and much more. Super nice. Once we got our key we went to the Lido Restaurant for lunch. We were treate...

  Whew… We made it, too the Elements Ft. Lauderdale. After a rather pleasant and relaxing bus/train ride we are finally settling in for the night. We had a lovely cabin attendant from Guatemala on the train. She rely did a wonderful job seeing to our every comfort. We got off the train to beautiful weather, palm trees and cycads. No lost luggage or issues with Amtrak. If you haven’t traveled by train it is worth the extra time; it forces you to relax and just let the train roll on. The food is nothing to brag about but the staff are wonderful. Once we got off it should have been a simple Uber to the hotel but not the case. We chose the Uber X or big car as we have all this luggage, the driver however had no idea where he was going. He went the opposite direction and from 5 minutes away suddenly was 20 minutes away. I could see he was going the wrong way and called him 3 times and he didn’t answer other than a text saying he was, “on his way.” He answered on the 4th call and said he...

We spent the entire day on the train. I forget how loooooong a state Florida is. I think we were just north of Jacksonville when we woke up,this morning, then the train stopped in Orlando before zig-zaging to Tampa and now we are getting closer to Ft Lauderdale. We still have another hour of more on the train. I will be anxious to get to the hotel, get our luggage and I will take a deep breath before opening up a suitcase to find a short sleeve shirt. My fear is that 1. Our luggage got lost or when I try and open it the whole thing bursts! I literally have all three stuffed to capacity. No one would believe how much I got into these three cases. I am also wearing these giant boots and my other shoes will have to wait till I get on the ship.  In the meantime our cabin steward has been exceptional. The train food has become rather dreadful. There is just three items and it doesn’t change. I can’t imagine how awful it would be to have to eat train food for even one more day. Even wors...

 7:21 PM Sun Jan 1, 2023 So here we are in the first day of the year. I some ways it feels uneventful and even anti-climactic. It is a long train ride. I feel a bit anxious about my luggage. Yet at this time tomorrow we will be in our nice hotel with a real bed and a real shower. The shower here on the train is a joke. There is a time shower room that you can hardly turn around in. Then the water is nothing more than a dribble. Apparently there is another button you can push to get a bit more but exasperated I just rinsed what needed rinsing and headed back to out roomette. On this train, the Silver Star, it is a bit nicer than the Capital Limited. Frankly these trains need a major upgrade. Not bad for one but defiantly small for two people. David of course has been very kind and patient, at least we have some WiFi which only means I can use my iPad. We just pulled into Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. There is nothing to see as it is dark however there is a giant lit up Christmas T...