Ft Lauderdale to LA via the Panama Canal, holy cow, are we really retired or is this just another one of those crazy dreams? It is kind of setting in that yes we might be retired after all. At the start of this trip we have been away from home for almost 5 weeks (minus 2 days between previous trips) and still have almost 3 more weeks to go. The plan for this trip? Do everything we can on the ship during cruising days, and be the first ones off and the last ones back on during port days. BUT, at all costs, don't be the subjects of a video showing two old farts running (well ok, trotting slowly at our age) to beat the gangway being separated from the ship. So with that in mind, here we go on portion #3 of our retirement party celebration!
Hey, wait a minute, didn't we just cruise out through that channel last week?
So here we find ourselves on the Island Princess, cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale once again, on our way to Cartagena Columbia. So, after spending a week on the big party mega ship, we are now on our usual laid back old farts kinda cruise where it does not take 3 weeks to walk from the front to the back of the ship. PLUS we get two whole days to relax, take advantage of all our prepaid consumption's, eat and gain more weight, and whatever other activities we get roped into before our first port stop. Oh Darn, we have to put up with ship life for two whole days, DARN....
Cartagena Columbia
First Stop of a 16 day cruise is Cartagena, where we find ourselves getting off the ship about 7am and heading south west to Aviario Nacional de Colombia. For a little info up front, Columbia is the country with the most bird species of any country in the world. The national aviary of Columbia is a conservation, rehabilitation and education center housing over 170 species of birds. All we can say is WOW, WOW, WOW and OH MY GOD.... We spent about 3 hours here, and took hundreds of pictures and still did not capture it all. Here is a few pictures, but if you want to see a lot more, CLICK BELOW, it is well worth your time!
So once again we find that Columbia fits the Central American narrative of CRAZY INSANE drivers. With seemingly NO practical order or sanity, Columbia is in a fierce battle for absolute worst roads and driving with Ecuador. We were absolutely amused watching all this unfold outside and laughing at the others inside that were on their first road trip experiencing the insanity. Hands over eyes, gasps, groans, a few "OH MY GOD'S" and such were the main source of entertainment for us while on the bus. Sure the nutso drivers were good, but the reactions inside the bus were absolutely fantastic to watch. The motorcycles are like the buzzing bees hovering around moving flowers swaying in the wind. They have their own journey while the flowers (in this case the rest of the traffic) are moving with no particular order either. If you ever have the wonderful opportunity to visit Central America (any of the countries), do yourself a HUGE favor and DO NOT rent a car and drive yourself!
Anyway, after a 2 hour bus ride back to the ship, we did our formal dining thing, and hit the evening activities, and sailed onward towards the old section of the Panama Canal. The next morning at sea was very strange. We woke up and it felt like the ship was not moving. We knew we were supposed to be on our way to Panama and the canal, but it felt like no ship movement at all. Well, have you ever heard stories of being lost at sea with nothing but a raft and a sail? Stories of days and days with no wind? Well that's what was happening. The sea was so calm that it felt like we were docked in a port for the entire day right up to when we got to the canal the next day. Funny part was, people were still wearing the little patch behind their ears for sea sickness??? Can't imagine being on a 120 day cruise if your suffer from sea sickness, but hey, whatever floats your boat. We do have to inject here that we have now found out that we boarded the ship on it's last leg of a 120 day world cruise. So a large percentage of the people onboard have been on the ship for 100+ days and feel like they own the place. Well in a way they do as the crew knows them all and treat them like royalty compared to us pewee short timers of two and half weeks. Anyway, who would have ever guessed we would be in the middle of the Caribbean Sea and have waters so dead calm?
Panama Canal
The canal day was WAY more interesting than we thought it would be. It took a full day to cruise from east to west, but we arrived in the Pacific Ocean just after sunset. The one thing that was very prominent during the passage through the canal, was the rudeness of the people on board. These people were up on deck before daylight staking their claim to their deck space and god help you if you tried to step into their "private" area to take a picture. But we prevailed and got some great shots of the journey. But we did have fun, and as we do have that Geocaching addiction, there was two virtual caches going through the canal that we scored from the ship to add to our collection for Panama as well.
One of the most interesting parts of the canal for us was the amount of work it took on the canal part, not the locks. Both of us being from the Seattle area originally are used to seeing the Ballard locks, and these are much larger but still hoh hum. But the canal itself in it's size and length was an amazing feat to pull off. Miles and miles of cruising through the canal and only being 100 feet off the shoreline. The canal is deep right up to the shore and the amount of earth that had to be moved is insane for the standards 100 years ago. It was very peaceful though, very little human activity going through, and very quiet. Not much wildlife which surprised us after being in the jungle during our previous trips. We found a quiet spot on the lower decks and sat and watched Panama go by.
The old Miraflores locks on the left, the new Cocoli locks on the right.
Costa Rica
So we leave Panama right at sunset and spend another day onboard the ship before arriving at Puntarenas Costa Rica. Puntarenas is a small coastal town to the west of San Jose. The pier and port were made entirely to draw tourists to the little fishing village to add some sort of economy to this impoverished area. But our target today has to do with the orchids of Central America and of course, COFFEE!!!. We board our tour bus and head off for a little town called Atenas and the Botanical Orchid Garden La Garita. We were a little disappointed as we thought it would be more wild than tourist, but the place was filled with awesome orchids and we did enjoy that.
From orchids to COFFEE!!! Now were talking... So we then traveled to Sabanilla to visit the Doka Estate Coffee Plantation that has been growing award winning beans for over 100 years. We learned a LOT about growing coffee, such as growing three separate and individual rows of coffee plants planted about 4 years apart. The maximum production and quality of beans grows from the 4 year mark to 8 year time frame. After that production and quality falls off and those plants are then removed and new ones planted in their place. So it takes about 4 years to grow, 4 years for maximum production, and so with the rotation you get sustainability as well as maximum return on your land. The other thing about coffee plantations is that they do not pay their workers in cash. They are awarded business tokens which are then used for purchasing supplies/food/housing in that companies corporate stores and supply houses. Workers are paid by the basket for beans picked, which is not very much, so they put in hours and hours to make a minimum wage. We're glad we drink it and not try to make money at picking it, thus the term for their jobs is "for the beans"....... So to jump forward, after all our Central American visits, Ecuador still has our vote for BEST COFFEE!!!!! Not sure if it is just the beans, or the way they brew it, but it was FANTASTIC and not so commercialized as others!
Black Sand Beaches of Costa Rica
So after having lunch here at Doka, we headed back to the port and spent some time on the beach here grabbing Geocaches (of course, addictions have to be fed) and then back on ship just in time to change and grab dinner in the formal dining room. Next stop after a day cruising is Puerto Quetzal Guatemala...
Guatemala
OK folks, we have been looking forward to this one for quite awhile. Today we get to take a trip through the volcanoes into the back country of Guatemala. No big cities, no tourist traps, but on an adventure to visit and learn about the Mayan culture. We are off to Sitio Arqueológico Iximche, the site of ancient Mayan ruins that date back to the 15th century. This is just outside the city of Patzun, about a 2.5 hour drive from port. So flippin cool, AMAZING, what else is there to say. No it does not have the huge pyramids, but it also does not have the huge hoards of tourists. So peaceful, mystic, and educational it met all our expectations. It is just astounding how the Mayans had the universe figured out so long ago, amazing!
Today was Sunday, and it is traditionally one of the days that the local priests and priestesses make offerings and communicate with the spirits. We were told to stay way back and not interfere so most these pictures are make do so to speak. What is very interesting, is the ceremonial alters, which there are four, are placed on the east, west, north and south sides of the temple (what is left of it at this point) each representing a different god/spirit. Depending on how they want to communicate they choose which side of the alter to make their offerings. Today was east and west, the east was the single priestess in progress, and the west side was the people setting up what looks like colored beads around a center offering. Turns out that the "beads" were actually different colors of incense with different fragrances. When finished building they will set it on fire, do their ceremony, and afterwards they can tell what was communicated back to them by what fragrance their skin smells like. Amazing thing to witness, and an amazing feeling standing on ground that dates back so far into such a magnificent culture...
I did forget to mention that today was mothers day here in America. So happy mothers day late in coming! In Guatemala mothers day was Saturday, the day before we got here. But after the ruins we stopped for a bite to eat and couldn't help but take advantage of this:
After a quick bite and a local brewsky, we headed back to port, spent a little time touring the shops around the ship, and then once again onboard in time for a great dinner in the formal dining room. Tomorrow is another sea day, and then we are in Puerto Vallarta Mexico!
Puerto Vallarta Mexico
Yesterday was another day at sea so we did the usual trivia and other such time passers that are on every cruise. Another great dinner in the dining room, and nothing much different for the evening. But this morning we docked in Puerto Vallarta and were one of the first off the ship. This port is small in comparison to most others, but the tourist trap portion was huge! Almost a maze trying to get out and onto the streets for ship freedom. We grabbed a geocache just outside the compound (first to find as it had just been placed) and walked about a half mile to another one on the beach. That is where we thought from a distance there was a huge turtle on a little spit in the river, but as we got closer that turtle was much bigger than first observed, and it had great big wide open jaws with teeth. Huh, that dang turtle was a crocodile! The locals were yelling at me that they are fast, so I stayed quite a bit away but still got it's photo with it sporting a great big smile. I think I heard it say " here human, here human, I want breakfast"...
So after walking for another couple geocaches, grabbed a Uber and headed into downtown on the beach in old town. Today's adventure? We had booked a class to learn how to make traditional Mole Poblano at the chocolate museum. How surprised we were to find out that it was just the two of us in this class and we got to spend the entire day shopping in old town markets, prepping and preparing ingredients, and actually cooking our Mole! WOW, we had no idea how hard it was, and using traditional methods (well ok not a rock to grind things but a hand grinder). Nine different seeds and nut's including cocoa went into this plus the other peppers and such. We also picked up FRESH tortillas after watching them being made, wow yum yum! Anyway, it was a great time and we learned a lot about local culture and customs. Before and after the class we spent time on the beachfront and enjoyed ourselves immensely before hoping a taxi back to port.
And of course, how can we not post a picture of the wonderful bronze statue on the waterfront?
The one with brilliant white teeth and moves!
Surprise!!!
And with that, we are off on the last leg of our retirement journey, another day at sea and then, Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
Well well... Good and bad feelings about LA.... On one hand, we are about to head home, on the other hand we are about to head home. I'm sure those that take an extended vacation will know this feeling! Today is the last day of an almost 8 week AMAZING journey to celebrate our new retired life!
So of course our return home involves 2 flights, first to Seattle, and then to Redmond where the second and third portion of our journey began over 3 weeks ago. The flight out of LAX was after 5pm, so hey, lets grab a shuttle that takes about 5 hours to get there from the ship. So after the rig-amoral of getting off the ship, finding our luggage, we boarded yet another tour bus and headed to Venice Beach. Well turns out they were filming some movie and the crowds left no parking for a tour bus at the beach so we walked around Venice Canal Historic District instead. Well ok, it did kill time and it was better than sitting in a airport! Then we boarded the bus and headed for Santa Monica and the pier. We had been here when our oldest son was about 5 years old, so 35 years ago. Tom's parents were both from the LA area so we took a trip to visit his extended family way back then. But today we found it cool, and over cast with a hint of rain. After almost 8 weeks in tropical hot and humid weather, this was a welcome and almost familiar oddity. But, it kept the crowds away and we had a great time just walking around, grabbing the 4 geocaches on/under the pier, and a "non shipboard" margarita. We then got back on the bus and headed to LAX where we had a couple hours to kill before boarding the beginning flight back home. While LAX was relaxing and laid back, Seattle turned out to be a littoral "Run For Our Money"... We had 20 minutes and 2 concourses to cover to make it to the next terminal and catch the flight back to Redmond. We made like bandits immediately, did the old people run (walking rather fast as no running anymore) and made it while they were calling for group 6 to board. WHEW, we made it, out of breath and right through the entrance door and down the gangway. We were the last to board, but we made it and had about 40 minutes to catch our breath before landing in Redmond and seeing our son waiting for us at the baggage claim. WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!
Our last selfie.. Can you tell it's been a long hard 8 weeks on the road? Kinda bummed it was over, right? The big smiles were just not happening at this point. From here we walked across the street and had that last margarita watching it rain... Then... on to LAX and Homeward Bound!
And with that, this story is done, but... Are We? Heck No!!! We are home for a couple weeks catching up before heading out for a week camping in our RV and fishing Wikiup for Kakanee... Yup you got it, the retirement party is still in progress!!!!