FROM COSTA RICA TO COLOMBIA

PUERTO LIMON, COSTA RICA:  We had a private tour with a couple from Vancouver and two couples from Spain who don't speak English.  Our guide did a great job of explaining everything in both English and Spanish.  He was born in Austria and apparently German is his first language.

Puerto Limon is a city of about 65,000 and appears to be very poor.  We drove through some middle class areas and then through an area where the "wealthy" live.  The main difference was that there was more barbed wire in the "wealthy" area.  We visited a banana plantation.  Here the workers harvest very large bunches, carry them to a "zip-line" and when they have 25 bunches on the line they pull them for long distances to the boxing area.  Looks like impossibly hard work.

The highlight of the day was a ride in the Tortuguero canals where we drifted in a small boat and saw wildlife (howler monkeys, iguana, cayman and many different birds).

In the evening we had dinner with a couple from Tel Aviv and a couple from California.  The American couple appeared to be in their late fifties.  When they told us they were 84 and 86 we were floorstruck.  Turns out we were the babies at the table.  That certainly doesn't happen very often.

PANAMA: As we were nearing the end of our cruise and had on-board non-refundable credits to spend we took a ship's tour.  Normally we only book private tours as they are less expensive and we get to travel with smaller groups.

We boarded our bus and drove through what can only be described as the ugly city of Colon on our way to a national park.  During the approximately one hour drive we basically looked out the windows at garbage strewn everywhere.  It makes one think that the national pastime of Panama must be littering.  Recycling appears to be throwing your garbage out the front door and if the wind comes up the garbage is recycled to your neighbour's yard.

At the sad little town of Portobelo we visited a modest church and the ruins of the San Lorenzo Fort which dates back to the days of the pirate Henry Morgan.  Portobelo, strangely enough, has a world heritage site designation, which is an attempt to save the ruins of the fort.

PANAMA CANAL:

The second part of our tour was a visit to the Gatun Locks.  Even though we travelled through the Panama canal a few years ago, this was an interesting view of both the old locks and the new Post-Panamax system.  The canal is a huge source of income for Panama.  Ships reserve passage up to one year in advance.  A large cruiseship can pay as much as $ 400,000. passage.  One of the new giant container ships can pay one million dollars.  And what seems bizarre is that payment is made 48 hours in advance and only in cash.  One wonders where the money goes, as it is certainly not visible on the streets or in the countryside.

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA:  This is the second time we visited Cartagena, a truly beautiful city. Of course this time it was in stark contrast to Colon, Panama.  We didn't have a lot of time in the city center as there was a parade (Miss Colombia contest) about to start and many of the streets were closing.

Cartagena surrounds a spectacular harbour and is guarded by a giant fortress.  Once in the city the streets are clean, orderly and although the architecture is not stunning it is very eye-pleasing.

The social structure of the city is very rigid.  There are six social classes and each class lives in its own section(s) of the city.  These traditional divisions are based partly of race and partly on historical economic considerations such as different tax rates in different parts of the city.  We would have liked to have more time here and this is definitely a city to place on the list of where to return.

                                           FROM COZUMEL TO BELIZE

COZUMEL:  Cozumel is a Mexican island that has developed in recent years as a tourist/cruiseship Mecca.  There are many beautiful beaches, and the city is clean, safe and great for shopping.  We decided not to do a beach day but instead walked into town, through several shopping areas, had a couple of cold beers, and returned to the ship for an afternoon of sleeping by the pool.

Wheras Key West's shopping district specializes in tee-shirts and sunglasses, Cozumel has endless jewellry stores, most of which feature the gems Zultanite and Tanzanite.  Prices are very, very good. Of course, they also have something on offer for the men.  There are tiny pharmacies on almost every corner, each with large signs letting the men know that they sell Viagra.

COSTA MAYA (MAHAHUAL):  Twelve of us (from two different cruise ships) contracted with a local tour operater for a visit to Chacchoben, about one hour from the pier.  At Chacchoben there are the ruins of an ancient Mayan city which dates to around 400 B.C.  Mayan civilization peaked around 600 A.D.  They built large cities, grew corn, were the first to grow tomatoes and to eat chocolate. They were very sophisticated mathematically, having developed the concept of zero (something the Romans never did).  They also developed a calendar as accurate as ours.  Although they abandoned their large cities around 900 A.D. Mayans still exist today in several Central American countries. Incidentally the Mayans preceded the Aztecs.

Our driver and our pure lineage Mayan guide were very pleasant and helpful.  Upon returning to the van after a couple of hours of walking in the heat we were presented with ice-cold beers to sip on our drive back to the ships.  When we ran out of beer the driver stopped in the middle of the highway, ran across the road and purchased more cold beer.

On Saturday evening we had another great meal at Jacques.  Our four dinner companions were what Trump calls Coastal Elites.  The political discussion at dinner certainly had a different tone than that at the meal I described in my earlier blog.

HARVEST CAYE:

We thought we were going to visit Belize on this trip.  However, it turns out that our stop was at Harvest Caye, an island off the coast of Belize that is owned by the cruiseline.  Despite the disappointment of not seeing anything of the country, the day turned out to be very pleasant.  The island/caye is quite beautiful, the weather was sunny and warm and the 7 km beach had enough umbrella-shaded lounge chairs to serve a dozen cruise ships.

We spent most of the day on the beach returning in time for an enrichment lecture which was followed by a Captain's reception.  We ended the day with a dinner for 10 made up of on-line friends with whom we shall be touring in Costa Rica.

CENTURY CLUB:  I went on line to see if Betty and I were eligible to join the Century Club (not the one for really, really old people, but the one for travellers who have been to at least 100 different countries).  Not eligible, we miss the critical number by 4.

MARCH 2017 CRUISE


FIRST DAY:   In order to make our flight connection (Halifax/Newark/Miami) we rolled out of bed just before 3:00 a.m.  There were so many people catching flights that the shuttles were stuggling to accomodate.  However we got to the airport as scheduled, and from there to Miami all went smoothly. We made the ship in time for a late lunch of Kobe burgers and Mexican beer.  After our luggage arrived we unpacked in time to go to the compulsory lifeboat drill (boring).  This was followed by a small social event organized by an Italian couple with whom Betty has been corresponding on e-mail.

We then had a magnificent supper at Jacques' (the ship's French restaurant).  Everything from the Foie Gras to the Crepes Suzzette was delicious.  With the exception of Betty's starting glass of Champagne, however, we drank Californian wines throughout the meal rather than French.  We hurried from the table at 9:25 and rushed to the theatre and managed to find two seats in the second row just as the curtain rose.  It was not long before the two of us were quite asleep and I hope the spotlights sufficiently blinded the singers so that they were not aware of our boorish behavior.

KEY WEST: I always wanted to visit Key West but never made it until this trip.  I hope the other places on my bucket list are more interesting.  The island of Key West is about 2 x 4 miles and has a population of about 25,000.  The only employment is tourism.  We took a hop-on-hop-off open bus and got a good tour.  There are lots of hotels and restaurants but only two small beaches.

We had planned on walking along the main shopping street, but decided that there are only so many tee-shirt shops that one wants to visit.  If I purchased all the tee-shirts for sale in Key West, the entire Chinese army could be outfitted without making a dent in the supply.  Perhaps I am being unfair in picking on tee-shirt shops.  After all there are just as many places that offer sunglasses.

CUBA: This is the first Oceania ship to be allowed into Cuba.  There are lots of Americans onboard who are very excited about being allowed in Cuba.  As both Betty and I have been to Cuba on several occasions we were less keen.  Not all of the Americans are/were so positive.  Several were upset with what I thought was an even-handed enrichment lecture on Cuba's history.

We had dinner with one guy who refused to get off the ship at Havana.  But, then he told us that he would like to see the United States invade and annex Cuba.  I bit my tongue and didn't bring up the Bay of Pigs.  He also told me in no uncertain terms that one couldn't get modern health care in Canada.

It has been a few years since we were to Havana.  Driving around the city on a hop-on-hop-off bus showed us that Havana is less decrepit than it was a few years ago.  There are still abandoned buildings but there are many that are being carefully restored.  As well, the streets have the classic cars from the 50's but intermixed are now newer Japanese and German models.