I had breakfast up in the Horizon Court buffet at 7am this morning.  We were already docked in Port Everglades.  When I returned to the room to gather my things, I was met with a sad notice.  Our door name tag had been removed and replaced with that of our room’s next occupants who will board the Coral Princess this afternoon.  Our steward was already cleaning the cabins that had been vacated earlier this morning.

We sat around the Provence Dining Room for probably 40 minutes before we finally were notified that it was our turn to disembark.  While waiting, we sat at a table with a couple and their two young daughters.  Dad pointed out to me that the older, 5-year-old was the girl who had gone on stage during the comedy magician’s act and assisted him much to our humorous delight.  I’d taken some good photos of her and told the mother who was so excited to hear this because that was the one evening she didn’t bring her camera along.  I gave her my card so she could contact me for the images.

When we departed the ship in Vancouver on our last cruise, we didn’t meet our bags until reaching the airport.  Here, we met them right off the ship because U.S. Customs was the first thing we encountered rather than at the airport.  After breezing through security with our declarations, we boarded a coach bus for the 40-minute ride to MIA.  Talk about a bad airport, despite it being nominated the best by the TSA in 2008.  American Airlines was all over the place, and we had to keep going from one check-in area to another to find one servicing our flight through Chicago.

While we were sitting at our flight gate, waiting for our plane to arrive, I looked out the window across the aisle and asked myself, “Are we moving yet?”  Quickly I realized that we are no longer on a ship waiting to leave port.  I keep looking around for familiar faces from the past two weeks, but I don’t see any.  It’s sad.  Although I didn’t get to know too many people closely, it’s disappointing to leave my fellow passengers.

As we flew over Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, I looked down below and found the Coral Princess docked at pier two.  I kept it in my vision for as long as I could, my final farewell.  Back in Minneapolis, our van’s thermometer read 22°.  I made a comment of being in the same temperature that morning, except it was in centigrade. *sigh*

8:32PM
Minneapolis

I told Dad that I’m glad we were on the same ship as from five months ago.  The same surroundings and even some of the same crew have made the Coral Princess feel like home.  I gave my business card out to a few of our fellow diners and some of the crew, so hopefully I will remain in contact with them for awhile to make the memories last a little longer.

So now it’s time once again to say thank you for reading!  Please bookmark katsinger.com, my daily photoblog, as I’ll start posting photos from this trip.  And if you haven’t checked Flickr recently, I’ve posted more photos in my Panama Canal Cruise set, specifically from Aruba.

We are rounding out our last two days at sea before docking in Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) tomorrow morning.  The evening after departing Aruba, the ship held a top-deck party similar to the New Year’s Eve party.  The parents had no interest in checking it out, so around 11pm, I went up top.  I wandered around for awhile, observing people.  I looked out to the surrounding darkness and saw a half moon shining above along with Orion.  Far ahead of us on port side I could see another cruise ship burning with electric brightness.  It made me wonder what it would be like to encounter a floating hotel in the middle of nowhere at night.  If I were Nimo searching for P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way or Tom Hanks with his volleyball friend and suddenly came upon this multi-lit, multi-tiered building holding 2,800 people.

I finally made my way to a chair and sat for a bit.  I then recognized two women who I believe we’d had dinner with during one of the very first few days.  They recognized me and waved, so I got up and joined their dancing.  When the song ended, they kindly invited me to join their table near the pool where their husbands were sitting.  The four of them are from Wales and probably in their 60s (?).  They had just ordered another bucket of beers and offered one to me.  We all had a lovely chat plentiful with laughter.  When I asked if they usually stay up this late, they said they tend to close the place down every night!  We all called it a night around 12:30am, so I slipped quietly back into my room and soundlessly up into my bunk.  Unfortunately, that led to my not getting out of my bed until noon.  However!  I finally saw the movie “Roman Holiday,” which was playing on the TV, and good ol’ “Overboard.”  After a lethargic lunch, I spent a lethargic afternoon in the sun with a book and a nap.  The evening time was spent by seeing comedian Cary Long and laughing a lot.

Today, I attended a lecture by Senior 1st Officer Paolo Ansaldi about the history of navigation and how today’s ships, including our own, are navigated.  His talk made me want to start a career toward captaining my own large sea-going vessel someday!  If only…  I had thought that with today’s GPS, navigating a ship wouldn’t really be that hard, but indeed it is (duh).  Instead of navigating a straight line from A to B, a sailor has to take into account the water’s current that moves the vessel from its straight course, so the line must be continually redrawn.  Of course, with today’s technology, a ship’s computer system can be put on autopilot to do just that.  After Paolo’s excellent (and humorous, especially with his wonderful Italian accent) talk, I stayed in the Princess Theater for a Q&A and behind-the-scenes tour with the ship’s production staff.  If you’ve ever taken a tour of a theater before, then it’s the same on the Coral Princess, complete with a hydraulic stage, backdrops that are stored above the stage three floors up, and costume changes backstage.

The coast of Cuba could be seen off of our port side for most of the afternoon.  I started a new book by the indoor pool and went in the pool and Jacuzzi a couple of times before meeting the parents and our now good friends John and Lydia (a lovely elderly couple from Canada, though she’s English and he’s Polish) for one last round of trivia with them.

This evening, after our final sit-down, multi-course meal, Dad and I attended the final trivia team challenge.  We were one point away from winning, but I still had fun.  Then Dad returned to the cabin to pack and put our luggage in the hall for pick-up (it’ll get delivered to the airport for us in the morning) while I stayed for the ship’s rendition of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  Since then, I’ve retired to the room to type this up.  After posting this, I’m off to bed.  Our disembarkation group meets at 7:50 in the morning after which we’ll be whisked off to the airport in Miami.

More photos to be posted in the next few days!

We docked in Oranjestad, Aruba at 1pm yesterday.  Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and is quite beautiful, even from the cabin window of our stateroom.  The three of us were signed up for excursions, but this time I went alone so I could experience snorkeling.  Our excursion groups were to meet at the dock’s terminal at 1:20, but since practically everyone on the ship was getting off first thing, there was a long, long line to get out winding its way through the ship.  I think it took me a good 20 minutes to exit.  While the parents went on a submarine excursion to view a shipwreck, my group of almost 50 boarded a deceivingly large catamaran and set sail to the same shipwreck, the Antilla, about 30-45 minutes away.  The clouds were plentiful in the sky that afternoon, and it rained on us quite a bit.  I was quite cold and sought shelter under the roof.  The clouds finally parted when we set anchor.

The Antilla is a German cargo ship that anchored off the Aruba coast at the outset of WWII.  At that time, Holland was neutral until Germany invaded it, so then they had to take a side.  They tried to capture the German ship, so the captain decided that rather than surrendering, he blew up his own ship and there it lies at the bottom of the sea.  Our group was debriefed on how and where to snorkel.  The water is about 60 feet deep around the shipwreck, so some parts of it almost touch surface.  We were warned against standing on the shipwreck itself.  As I put on my flippers and mask, I realized that I had gone snorkeling before, in Acapulco after the band finished its Mexican tour.  The snorkeling equipment this time around, though, was much better and didn’t leak.  I had a hard time adjusting to breathing only through my mouth and spent more time readjusting my mask and spitting out water.  This is all too bad, since I didn’t pay as much attention to the shipwreck.  What I did see, though, was really cool and just like shipwrecks I’d seen on TV!  After 20 minutes, we reboarded and sailed closer to shore for some shallow snorkeling.  This time, I had the hang of things and swam around viewing the coral formations and many varities of fish–brain coral, trumpet (is there such a thing?) coral, striped fish, spotted fish, big and little fish, one fish two fish, red fish blue fish (just making sure you’re paying attention).  Back on board, the crew served complimentary rum punch and other beverages as we sailed back to the dock.

Upon return, I made a beeline to the shower because I was quite cold.  We scurried off to dinner after I was dressed and enjoyed Chef’s Dinner, a menu prepared by the head chef himself.  My choices included goat’s cheese souflee, Boston bibb salad with shallot dressing, sorbet pallet cleanser, Alaskan king crab, dessert menage a’trois, and decaf coffee (yes, this is how we have eaten for almost two weeks straight).  After finishing, we headed to the night’s entertainment, “Adrian Zmed in Concert.”  Adrian Zmed was the original star in the Broadway “Grease” and later was the star of the movie “Grease 2.”  He also co-starred with William Shatner in the TV show “T.J. Hooker,” in “The Love Boat” and in the movie “Bachelor Party” opposite Tom Hanks.  I never watched reruns of “The Love Boat,” but did you know that it takes place on the Princess line?  I didn’t!  Tonight, the entertainment crew is hosting a tropical deck party atop the ship, so I’ll pop up there for a bit to check it out and then crawl up to my ceiling fold-out bunk bed for another sleep at sea.

After we left the Panama Canal on New Year’s Day, we sailed east along the Caribbean coast of Colombia.  Friday morning, we docked in Cartagena.  Dad and I went on one excursion and Mom on another.  Ours was titled “Fortress and the Best of Cartagena.”  I think Dad and I were both interested in this because our visit to El Morro, the fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was really fascinating and we were hoping for the same with Cartagena’s Ft. San Felipe.  Our chosen excursion was quite popular as first evidenced by the Universe Lounge being so packed by passengers that we had to sit on the stage to wait for disembarkation. Once we did, the 350+ group was split into about 20 buses.

Our tour guide, Claudia, is a retired history teacher and knew her stuff pretty well.  We first visited the fort but spent only 10 minutes there, walking up and around part of it.  The weather was quite hot and humid, so rather than wearing my backpack around, I left it on the bus everytime we got off.  The fort was built by the Spanish when they realized Cartagena was becoming quite an asset to them.  The city was sacked many times, and each time thereafter they kept adding onto the fort.  It’s a beautiful structure built on a high point giving a good view of the city.

After the fort, we rode up a tall mountain to an Augustinian monastery to have a look around.  This spot gave an even better view of the entire city.  Claudia pointed out the poor area down below which was evidenced by the makeshift roofs.  She mentioned that there is no middle class in Cartagena, only very rich and very poor.  The inside courtyard of the monastery is actually open to the elements and has a very Spanish feel.  In fact, it’s very similar to the hotel that the St. Olaf Band stayed at in San Miguel, Mexico.  Very beautiful with flowers growing and balconies.

aliWe descended the mountain and made our way to the old town, part of the city that was originally, and still is, walled by the Spanish.  We first stopped at a market area located in one long building, one shop after another.  Dad forgot his wallet and I didn’t bring cash on this trip, so we had nothing to spend and thus nothing to buy (which is ok with me).  I explored a bit and walked up a ramp of the city wall which led me to the roof of the market building.  After people spent some of their money, we then walked through town and ended up at a church that was named after a priest who was sent from Spain to evangelize the slaves of the area, before they died hopeless, and set the tone of Catholicism.  We made our way next to a place (I don’t quite know what it was, a museum or other) that has miniature mock-ups of the city during different sieges, complete with tiny 3D ships at bay and such.  They gave a good visual for how countries such as France and England, tried to capture Cartagena.  We were given a free beverage and treated to some folkloric dancing of Colombia before being shepherded back onto our bus.

Lastly, we were dropped off at a jewelry center (Colombia apparently being known for its emeralds, who knew?  Not I) where we had 40 minutes to kill for shopping.  Without money nor interest, Dad and I walked to the beach area and sat on the big coral rocks by the shore.  Many people were at the beach that day, so we watched the locals setting up beach tents.  I’m led to believe that Colombia’s population, more than any other country we’ve visited so far, is more influenced by the African slaves.  People here are much darker.  Even their folk dancing has hints of African influence.  Back at the shopping center, we ran into Mom who was also wrapping up her excursion in which they were also dumped at this tourist trap.

We arrived back on the Coral Princess by 1:30 in time for us to set sail.  I was tired, so I napped until 2:30 and then had some semblance of a lunch.  I then walked by the Crooner’s Bar in time to catch afternoon Pictionary and joined Cathy and Zach against one other team.  We won and were rewarded with luggage tags, so now I have two.  From there, I went straight to afternoon trivia where our team almost won.  Which company buys the most sugar and vanilla in the world?  Coca-Cola!

Passing through the great engineering feat that is the Panama Canal yesterday was quite the experience.  As I said yesterday, I was awake by 6:15 in time to catch our pass under the Bridge of the Americas which is part of the Pan-American highway.  A number of people had already claimed spots at the bow of the ship on the top deck by 6am, but I weaseled my way to the front and sat on the floor.  Deck 14 is the only deck with an outdoor front view (other than Deck 15 which doesn’t extend to the front as 14 does), but for safety reasons it is obstructed with colored plexiglass about seven feet up.  The glass panes are spaced apart leaving five-inch gaps for a clear view.

The harbors at both ends of the canal are dotted with many of those dinosaur-looking freight container lifters, and we saw many many containers stacked on ships and along the port.  Just before 8am we reached the Miraflores Locks which are on the southern or Pacific side.  The canal is built on a diagonal, so we traveled from the southeast to the northwest.  All three sets of locks on the canal have two lanes, but the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) allows one-way transit for a set number of hours and then reverses traffic.  We were met by a few ACP boats to guide us to the canal.  Upon arrival, we were met by eight electronic locomotives called mules, four on each side, which are truck-sized vehicles that run on tracks along the locks.  ACP workers boarded our ship and hooked one-inch steel cables from each of the mules to the bow and stern of the ship.  The mules, with the help of the taut cables, keep our vessel in the correct position while transiting each lock.  The Coral Princess is a Panamax vessel, meaning that it was built to maximum size for canal transit.  On each end of the ship, we had only two feet of clearance which heightens the importance of the mules.

Once connected to the locomotives, we slowly were pulled into the first of two chambers (and thus two levels of ascendency) of the Miraflores Locks.  Once we were fully in the chamber, the gates behind us (height of the gate leaves range from 47-82 feet and are each 7 feet thick) closed.  The locks all operate by gravity.  In other words, the water level in the next chamber was higher than our chamber, so what needed to happen was for water from the second chamber to drain into the first, making our boat rise until the levels of both chambers match.  Once that happened, the gates in front of us would swing open and we would proceed into the next chamber.  When the water drains and fills from one chamber to the next, it does so through culverts in the bottom of the chambers.  We could actually see water drain, because large oxygen rings the size of the culvers would bubble to the surface.  I can’t remember how much water is involved in each draining and filling of the chambers, but it is a LOT.  We could actually see our ship, in comparison to our stationary surroundings, rise or fall in the locks.  After Miraflores, we proceeded to the Pedro Miguel Locks which houses only one chamber.

During the lock transits, I went about the ship to gain different view points.  While in one of the lower chambers, deck 7 of the Coral was level with the top of the lock’s wall.  I could have reached out and touched Panama, but I chickened out.  While in Pedro Miguel, we had caught up to a ship who was transiting through the other lane.  Since we were proceeding at a faster pace, we asked for permission to exit the locks ahead of them.  Once both vessels had agreed, we did.  Once out of Pedro Miguel, we then sailed through a narrow passageway called the Gaillard Cut.  This area was dug out of the highest mountain area of the canal area, right through the Continental Divide, and construction caused many problems.  Everytime land was blasted with dynamite or dug by machine, the rains would cause landslides filling in what had just been removed.  Even today, landslides still cause problems and the ACP is constantly dredging the canal 24/7.  We saw a few dredging units at work, the large scoopers afloat on barges and dumping soil in more barges.  To me, it seems like a never-ending task.  Because the Cut is narrow, visible targets are set up far ahead along the way.  The ship lines up its nose to the next target which allows it to sail in the centermost part of the water.

After the Cut, we reached Gatun Lake, the largest man-made lake at that time (I’m not sure if it still holds the record).  We traveled about 40 kilometers through Gatun Lake, and it’s amazing how much land was flooded in order to make this body of water large enough to cruise through it.  Higher portions of land still stick out from the water’s surface.  Before embarking on this trip, I read David McCullough’s “The Path Between the Seas,” a fascinating book about the canal’s construction.  He talks about how early pioneers would have a nearly impossible time trying to cut their way through the dense jungle of Panama.  I could see why; the area is extremely lush with vegetation.

Finally we reached the northern end of the canal, the Gatun Locks, a set of three levels.  At Gatun, we had caught up with another vessel, a monsterous beast that was carrying well over 2,400 cars.  This thing was huge and kept my attention.  At the back of it was a large ramp that was folded up, the ramp where cars would be driven on and off the ship.  The cars were safely inside and couldn’t be seen, so it had a big, tiered, blocky body along the front half.  It seemed to be having a tough time moving forward in one of the chambers, because its big smoke stack, which was actually angled toward our ship, kept chugging but the ship wasn’t moving.  At this end of the canal, our ship was this time lowered through the chambers so we could exit at sea level out of Limon Bay and into the Caribbean Sea.  By this time, I was up at the Lotus Spa taking advantage of a massage discount.  When I was done, we had left the canal, but the sea on this side was dotted with ships waiting for the one-way traffic to reverse and for their assigned transit time.

Our transit took 8 hours.  The cost for the Coral Princess to go through the Panama Canal totaled at $245,600.  The average toll for ocean-going commercial vessels is $35,000.  Ships are charged by net tonnage, meaning however much weight the ship can hold (not including the weight of the ship itself), not how much weight it has when passing through.  Freight ships are a bit different; they are charged $65 per freight container that it can carry.

The French began their attempt of the canal in the 1880s and failed, mainly because the technology and knowledge of disease (malaria and yellow fever took many lives during the canal’s construction).  In 1904, the Americans picked up where the French had left off and completed the modern marvel in 1914.  To build the Panama Canal today would cause headlines, even with the advancements in technology and equipment, so to do it nearly 100 years ago is mind-boggling.  The rest of the day was low-key.  Some people went to watch the Orange Bowl (satellite permitting), while others attended the International Crew Show, which is where you would’ve found us.  We were quite entertained by a number of crew members (cooks, bar attendants, engineers, stewards) who either sang or played guitar, the majority of them being Filipino (Filipinos love their karaoke).  Bedtime couldn’t have come soon enough after a late New Year’s Eve followed by an early rise for an all-day canal transit, but what a unique treat it was.

FYI: I’ve uploaded more photos on Flickr, so check them out!  And thanks to all who’ve left comments on here so far!

Happy New Year! What a packed 24 hours it has been. Yesterday, on New Year’s Eve, I spent the day taking it easy. I attended a couple of trivia sessions, including one where my team won baseball caps. Good prize as I forgot to bring a hat with me. I spent yet another afternoon sunning before retuning to the room to shower and dress for our second formal evening. Just as in Alaska, Dad rented a tux from the ship for his formal wear. Before dinner, we attended a special cocktail event for members of the Princess Captain’s Circle, passengers who have completed more than one cruise with Princess. Free cocktails were handed out while the band played music. After awhile, Mariano Manfuso, the captain of our ship, spoke greetings to us. Then the top three most-traveled passengers were recognized. Number one was a couple who is currently on their 49th cruise with Princess for a total of over 560 days at sea! Crazy. At dinner, we requested a small six-person table so we could have a more intimate conversation with whomever we sat with. Two women from Canada joined us, and we all enjoyed an excellent New Year’s Eve dinner.

The evening entertainment featured a woman who spent her career on and off Broadway. She presented songs by famous women, including Tina Turner, Patsy Cline, and yes, even Celine Dion’s “Titanic” ballad. I thought I might puke when she announced that last one, but the live band had a nice arrangement that wasn’t so cheesy. We still had three hours to kill before ringing in the New Year, so we went back to our stateroom to relax. We were surprised to find a bottle of champagne in ice and two trays of assorted cheeses greeting us. Earlier in the day, our toliet leaked a few times, and it didn’t leak just clean water. It stunk. So our steward and a maintenance person had to come take care of the mess and finally fix it. The steward and his boss apparently schemed and left this surprise as a way of making up for the inconvenience. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that Warlie, our steward, and his boss are both Filipino, but all of the crew on board are very accommodating and always in pleasant moods. I can never fully describe how funny they can be too. So, we killed time with some bubbly, tasty cheese, and TV.

Around 11:30, we headed for the Universe Lounge, located in the aft of the ship, to check out the big band scene. Balloons were everywhere on the floor, and more were stored on the balcony level to surely be released at midnight. After peeking in, we went up to the pool area on top where the majority of people were gathered. A live band was playing music, hats and noise makers were being handed out, champagne was being sold, and excitement was in the air. Father Time and Baby New Year were making the rounds together. A projection screen was set up which displayed the time (EST) and countdown. At ten seconds to midnight, the captain led us in counting down, and at zero the ship blasted its horn! An exciting touch as we sailed through the darkness. Everyone went crazy and blew their noisemakers, a few kids jumped fully clothed into the pool, and the band struck up “Auld Lang Syne.” After taking it all in, we headed to bed. However, our cruise director informed us today that the party up top lasted until 3am, and the dance floor below wrapped things up around 4:30 this morning. Uff da! Me, I was up at 6:15 to catch the beginning of our trip through the Panama Canal!

I’ll upload more photos to Flickr at a later time.

9:41PM
At Sea
Our ship met Puntarenas, Costa Rica today.  We were in port from 7am to 8pm, our longest docking by far on this trip (in all previous ports, we have been back out to see by noon or 1pm).  Approximately 1,400 passengers aboard the Coral were gone on shore excursions today, but we hung back.  For breakfast, I had my first bowl of cereal on this cruise.  Previously, I’ve consumed full breakfasts consisting of sausage, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, juice and milk; I think that maybe I’m starting to get sick of food, or at least food in large quantities, so the cereal provided a nice break.  After breakfast, we went ashore and browsed the local vendors along the beach.  We happened upon some unique items that I’ve never seen before.  The vendors here were much easier to deal with.  Rather than getting in your face, they let you browse on your own which I prefer.  I ended up purchasing a necklace for $2 and some pretty, wooden coasters for $13.  Dad is the only one of us who brought cash on this trip, so he has been serving his duty as The Bank (more withdrawals than deposits).  Although we have been hopping to different foreign countries, we have been able to do business with American currency.

We hit 90-degree weather today.  The beach is very nice, and I thought about going back after lunch, but I then remembered that sand and salt water the funnest elements to deal with after.  Instead, I parked myself on a lounge chair by the ship’s outdoor pool and hot tubs.  The pool area is usually flocked with people, but since everyone was on land today, the place was practically vacant.  I made first-time use of the swimming facilities during breaks from my book and later napped.  At 4:15, the three of us attending afternoon trivia and came one question away from winning.  We actually attended morning trivia today, too, where we each one luggage tags.  Oooooh.  Speaking of trivia, the answers are Stu ??? (oops, I already forgot the last name), Chile, and “The Lion King.”

Tonight’s headline entertainment featured a juggler whom the kids in the audience liked very much.  We are at sea tomorrow, but the ship has many activities and celebration events planned for bringing in the New Year.  I would like to stay up for the countdown, but I also want to be fully awake when we reach the first lock of the Panama Canal on New Year’s Day.  We’re almost there!

Our ship started getting a little bumpy during dinner this evening and picked up in frequency.  When we left the dining room, and headed for the doors to the promenade deck outside, we were blockaded by yellow “caution” tape and a sign warning passengers of very strong winds outside.  The tossing of the ship is making everyone’s walking look like we’re all slightly tipsy.  We never encountered this in Alaska because we mostly sailed within the protection of the Inside Passage, but out on the Pacific it’s sometimes a different story.

We dock in Puntarenas, Costa Rica tomorrow and I somewhat feel like we’ll be missing out on what the lush country has to offer by not taking an excursion.  On the other hand, it’ll be nice to relax and I now have an excuse to return to the isthmian country another time.  The Coral Princess will be docked with its identical twin the Island Princess, so Ron the cruise director has encouraged everyone to get off the ship and take photos of this sea-faring pair.

At 7am this morning, our ship docked in Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua.  I’m usually awakened by the navigation bridge’s intercom announcement, played in the hallways of the staterooms, that we have arrived and that the gangway can be found on deck 5.  Luckily, our excursion didn’t meet until 9am, so I was able to sleep in.  Knock on wood, but I am feeling much, much better today.  Huzzah!  Usually, we hit up the buffet court for our morning meal, but since we were ready for breakfast just before 8am, we decided to try breakfast in the Bordeaux Dining Room where we usually eat our sit-down dinners.  Bordeaux serves similar breakfast items to the self-serve buffet, but waiters are on hand to take care of you instead.  They even place your napkin on your lap.

For our Art and History of Leon excursion, about 44 people signed up.  Our tour guide for the day was a young lady, probably in her mid-late 20s, who is a Nicaraguan native whose mother sent her to a private school so she could learn English.  School is not compulsory in Nicaragua.  In Guatemala, our guide told us that education is not highly valued, because the parents want the children to help on the farm or in making money for the family.  Our guide today talked about various Nicaraguan topics while we bused to the town of Leon.  Leon is not too far from Puerto Cornitas, but because the countries in Central America lack good infrastructure, travel takes at least twice as long to get from point A to B.  Looking out the window, I could have easily assumed that we were in the Philippines–trash along the road, cows “mowing” the roadside grass, people just hanging out outside their doors, the Nicaraguan version of Filipino pedicabs (passenger cabs attached to bicycles for taxi service), two people riding on one bicycle.  The various traffic signs were fun to look at (e.g. how they draw the icon for “school crossing”).

In Leon, we first visited one of the childhood homes of writer and poet Ruben Dario, Nicaragua’s version of Spain’s Cervantes.  We learned a bit about his life and works.  Then we headed to one of the best art museums in the country.  This is not an art museum in the formal sense, with paintings behind glass and in temperature-sensitive environments.  Instead, the collection hangs in building that has very open architecture, no glass on its windows, the doors opening onto the courtyard.  They have a Picaso and a Diego Rivera in the collection, but those are the only two artists I recognized.  Afterward, we walked a few blocks to the town’s cathedral which is the largest in Central America.  This cathedral is large in size, but it would be dwarfed by Notre Dame de Paris.  Still, it covers perhaps half a block and is painted white.  We were able to ascend to the roof and take in beautiful views of the city below and the many volcanoes dotting the landscape.  The sky was perfectly clear that we could see volcano San Cristobal smoking.  Vendors were in the town square that is adjacent to the cathedral and were selling mostly ceramics.  A few kids were giving some sort of performance and then asking for money.  Apparently someone in our group said to the boy, “I’m not going to give you money; go find a job.”

On the bus ride back home, our guide gave the whole Nicaraguan history.  Quite impressive and I wish I’d have listened, but I kept zoning out while watching the country go by.  We had no time for lunch while on our trip and returned back to the boat at 3pm.  We waited until 3:30 to return to Bordeaux for the daily Afternoon Tea.  At tea time, the wait staff serves tea (obviously), finger sandwiches, various biscuits/cookies, and scones with my beloved clotted cream (YUM) and jam.  After our snack, we headed up to the Wheelhouse Bar for daily afternoon trivia where one of the entertainment staff members asks 20 questions and groups of no more than six jot down their answers.  The team(s) with the most correct answers wins a prize, such as a snazzy Princess luggage tag (hot stuff, I know).  Here are a few of today’s questions: Which founding member of the Beetles gave the group its name? Which country in South America is home to the world’s two tallest active volcanoes? and Which children’s movie was the highest-selling video in the 20th century?  Answers next time!

A lot has happened since my last post because our ship has now docked three times, each in separate countries.  Two days ago, in Huatulco, Mexico, the parents and I exited the ship to explore the small town area near the dock.  As you can imagine, many shops were available for tourists to spend their money in.  I’m not much of a shopper as I am an explorer, so I bummed around with my camera.  Among other things, I came across a very cute little parrot who was hanging around the outside of its cage by its owner’s restaurant.  A wedding began in the tiny open church near the open square of the town.  The outdoor restaurant nearby was meanwhile putting up the final decorations for the post-ceremonial luncheon.  Beautiful white paper streamers cut into 3D shapes of bells and flowers were hanging.  Awhile later, I saw some kids making their way across town with various band instruments in hand.  They ended up gathering–about 15 kids total–near the pier to play Mexican songs with trumpets, clarinets, saxes, and drums.  Everyone had to reboard the ship by noon so we could set course again.

Overnight, the Coral Princess sailed southeast for Guatemala and docked in Puerto Quetzal at 7am the next morning.  We had signed up for an excursion this day, and we had to gather in the ship’s main theater at 6:30am.  I slept as late as I could then hurried up to the buffet court for a quick breakfast.  I accidentally timed myself well enough to catch the sun peaking halfway above the horizon and watched it rise into the sky.  That’s probably the only time I’ll see the sunrise unless I have to wake up so early again.  I don’t think the lack of sleep the night before helped my cold, because I was more miserable than content yesterday.

Our excursion took us to visit Lake Atitlan in the Mayan Highlands.  The bus ride to this area lasted just over two hours in which we climbed 5,000 feet above sea level.  We had been cautioned to bring a sweater for cooler mountainous weather, and I was happy I’d worn jeans.  On the ride up, we had excellent views of volcanoes in the area.  At the lake, which is surrounded by a few more volcanoes, we were shepherded off the bus and onto boats which transported us across the lake.  A much-needed restroom break was given first which provided the locals time to haggle us with their handmade crafts.  One lady, Lucy, caught my attention with her woven fabrics.  I told her that if I were to buy, I would purchase something on the way back so I wouldn’t have to carry anything beforehand.  She said, “Ok, I remember you and will look for you.”  Lake Atitlan is very large, but you don’t realize exactly how large until it takes your boat 30 minutes to cross it (granted we were at cruising speed, but still).  We had good views of the various towns around the lake that are built up onto the mountainsides.

Upon docking at the other side, we were met by more locals with trinkets and table runners for sale, and at a “special price, just for you!”  The 120 or so of us (three bus loads) were led into a private resort facility which had a buffet laid out for our lunch.  Included were guacamole, salsa, tortillas, carne asada, chicken, black beans, and even potato salad (definitely not their forte).  I finally indulged myself in my first soft drink of the trip, as Coca-Cola et al cost extra on the ship.  I would have tried Gallo Cerveza had I not been feeling crummy.  Before reboarding the boat back across the lake, Lucy found me; I was surprised that the locals follow us over.  I ended up making a purchase from her but first not without bargaining down her price.  On the bus ride back to port, I napped.  That evening, we decided to eat up in the buffet court as we were tired from the excursion and not up to having company.  A hot shower afterward made me feel better, so I accompanied Mom to the second show given by the comedy magician, Timm Metivier, we had seen a few days earlier.  After that, I wrote some postcards and then wandered to the Universe Lounge and caught the end of “The Liar’s Club,” a gameshow similar to Balderdash put on by the entertainment staff.  You can always find something to do at all times of the day on a cruise ship.