Manta - Ecuador

 This is the guy that Ed aspires to be - hammocks are the best - so comfortable.

Manta is a great place to visit, very interesting, friendly and lots to see. We were told that over 150 tons of tuna fish are landed every day and this does not include all of the other kinds of fish brought ashore.
This is also the home of the Panama hat would you believe. They are hand woven and the best quality take several weeks to make. We saw large wooded fishing boats being built by hand on the beach - labour is very plentiful and very cheap. We visited a factory where buttons are made from nuts . very noisy and very labour intensive.

 Christine is wandering around the market looking for Ed while he is taking her photo from the steps of the church on the hill.

 Local lady hand weaving a Panama hat.

Tuna fish being offloaded from fishing boat - they are flash frozen on board - hence the steam-

We are now in Mexico and the blog is up to date as of this morning - it has been hard to keep on top of it with very limited internet acces but no worries we are on holiday.
We have taken our trips given as gifts from the kids - thanks a bunch Roxcie, Scott, Katie and Adam we have had great fun.
Ed still has his white water rafting day to come and he will report on that as soon as he is able to.
Take care all and have as much as we are having.

Guayqil - Ecuador

Guayaquil is a beatiful river town 15 km or so inland from the ocean. Very quiet and the locals were so friendly and very approachable. We had avery enjoyable vist to a nature reserve and got a snap shot of local wildlife, birds and butterflies. The area is suurounded by mangrove swamps and backwaters and was a favourite hangout of pirates back in the day. Ed is convinced there are still some hanging around today.

 Make your boat from a tree and get going - all you need is a good axe and a strong back.

 The Malecon is a paved walkway along the river side through town and is a great place to hang out and see how the locals go about their day.



Callao - Lima - Peru

Callao is the main port of entry to this part of Peru and Lima is the main city but both are joined with a population of 9 milliion people. We have never seen a port so busy - there were fishing boats by the hundreds, car transporters from Japan and China, cargo boats, container ships and the list just goes on- The port operates 24 hours too - as a ship leaves another took its place.

 We took a trip into the city of Lima proper -- noisy, busy, traffic which was mostly gridlocked - what a nightmare to live in. There are some very attractive buidings and the square was a very interesting place to people watch and be watched. There was a very obvious and visble police and military presense which I suppose was there to help tourists feel safe but it had the opposite effect. We visted the catacombs below a monastery and though it was very interesting it was a bit off putting - there were the bones of 20 000 bodies down there - arms legs, skulls, fingers, ugh!!!!

 As you can see we are having a great time and just loving this long time together. Take care all and we will see you soon.



Salaverry - Peru

 We woke up to the sound of the ships horn - fog horn - the place was enveloped in the stuff - very spooky. All shipping except ours was prevented from entering the port - did we feel special. The ship was guided the last few hundred feet to the dock by the headlights of many cars and trucks lined side by side on the pier. All of the coastline in this part of South America is affected by this pnenomenum. The Humbolt current flows up from Antarctica at 15 degrees C and mixes with 30 degree air on the surface of the ocean. The fog clears as the sun rises during the mid morning.

When the fog cleared we found a very strange landscape - desert - it only rains perhaps once in 8 to 10 years and very lightly.

We visited some pre-Inca ruins which were very inpressive being built from clay and mud. At first you think amazing they lasted a thousand years but without rain what else is going to happen. The buildings were built low and wide to sustain earthquakes. This particular site once housed 50 to 60 000 people. We saw the remains of temples, palaces and regular homes. Very cool.

When we were at the sea shore we saw fishermen in reed boats which looked very fragile . The  locals were offering rides but we didnt take up any offers.

Panama day 2

 The second day in Panama we took a trip into the rainforest to visit an indian village. We kept our fingers crossed and hoped that this was not staged for the tourists. We were not disappointed - very authentic.
We were transported up the river to the village in dug out canoes - not the most stable transport but fun. Christine was very happy that she could wear a life preserver.
On arrival at the village we were treated to dancing and lunch. We ate Tilapia fresh from the river and fried plantains - very tasty too. We ate the same food as the villagers and it was served in bowls made from palm leaves. No doing the dishes required. Even the dog looked on in anticipation of leftovers.

 Christine brought a few candies for the kids for after their meal and she made friends for life. We were invited to dance after eating and the kids made a beeline for Christine and Ed, and we had so much fun with them.

Later we wandered around the village and asw exactly how they lived. It is a very spartan life but the villagers looked healthy and seemed quite happy.
This was a very special day which we both enjoyed immensly.

Panama

We arrived in Panama at the port city of Fuerte Amador - very hot and sticky but we can escape the heat by venturing up into the mountains. The port city is full of cargo ships and is a very busy place. This is the port of entry for all ships to travel through the Panama Canal from the Pacific Ocean.
We took a tour of a protected ecological and wildlife area inside the caldera of an extinct volcanoe. The photo below is of us all togged up and ready to set off into the "wilderness" - if we don't return, liquidate our assets. The air was cool and comfortable and there were lots of birds and butterflies. The real treat though was when we returned to the coach and saw this three toed sloth wandering across the road. Man they are slow - if you look at it's back you can see the green algae in its fur and it carried a colony of bugs too.

 The clay pottery in this area is very pretty and decorative. I expect it would be tough to get home in one piece though.

Nicaragua

 Welcome to Nicaragua - the view is from the primitive dock in Corinto.  The sun is high and it is very warm - just what we wanted, right? I am pleased I have my trusted beanie hat with me, it has saved me from severe sunburn many times. The hat is a souvenier from Katie's soccer days - thanks Katie.

 Active volcanoes can be seen smoking away on the horizon and you can see in the photo how hazy the sky is. This picture was taken from the roof of the cathedral - quite the climb but well worth the effort.

 This partof the world does all of its trading on the street - this is a shot of a used book seller.

 Unemployment runs at around 40% in this country and once outside the towns, some of the homes are very spartan. Rainfall is very low in this area so a roof is only required to keep out the sun.

 The kids are very cute in this part of the world but not very energetic - too warm maybe.

Eh! it's allowed -  we are on holiday. Mid afternoon beers are very refreshing after a hard days sightseeing.
85F and high humidity is hot and the evaporation needs to be replaced.
Catch you all later.

Wecome to Guatemala

Guatemala is the land of active volcanoes and frequent and devastating earthquakes. The people seem to take it all in their stride and are very open and friendly folks. The kids particularly are very sweet and love having their photograph taken. They laugh and squeal when they are shown their image in the camera screen.

 A lot of the day to day commerce takes place on the street, the example above is a fruit and treats stall.

There are many beatiful buildi.ngs which date back to colonial times but most exhibit signs of severe earthquake damage. Above is the remains of what was once a very ornate church.

Taxi sir?

We will blog again as soon as able.

Sea Days

We visit a port or two and then have a sea day - this is when we catch up on reading, wash out our bathers or just laze around. We spend a fair amount of time peering over the deck rail hoping we see wildlife and we have not been disappointed.
We have seen many groups of whales and even a big shark - that was quite a treat - very exciting. One day we saw literally hundreds of turtles floating by on the currents. We estimated they were about 2 feet across the back.
We have seen numerous pods of dolphins and it is great to see them speeding past the ship doing back flips and generally just having fun in the water - they are amazing creatures.
We saw a stingray,  lots of flying fish and birds fishing or just following the ship. Christine and I were walking the promenade deck one evening and came across a little bird that had hopped on board for a rest and a little ride.
It goes without saying that the ship has awesome food and we are not spoiled for choice - Ed often has too many good choices and has difficulty deciding what to eat. There a are a few nice quiet bars to choose from, a library to spend time in and of couse ice cream in the afternoon. Life is good.
Our next post will be Guatemala followed by Nicaragua. We will try to not keep you waiting too long. 

Puerto Vallarta

Sorry to keep you waiting for this update but finding internet cafes and hot spots has been difficult. We do have a limited time account on the ship but it is slower than molasses  anyway here goes.

Puerto Vallarta is nothing special and it was a cool 65F with a breeze not what we were expecting.

Onthe way down from Cabo we saw quite a few whale pods and got all excited and hoping we would see lots more.

When the ship docked we took a taxi into the old town and had a good stroll and took pictures of the colonial buildings - very interesting.

Below is a shot of the cathederal.

 Kids are the same the world over, give them something to climb on and they are happy.

Along the promenade there were some amazing sand sculptures.

We will try and make our next update sooner rather than later - we have visited some amazing places and took some great photos. Standby.

Cabo San Lucas

We first visited Cabo about twenty years ago and it was a quaint fishing village - sadly times have changed

and there is quite a lot of development with condos, hotels, etc. We walked into the old town and wandered around the marina. It was sunny but cool in the low 60sF - warm enough while we were in a sunny spot but cooler in the shade.

One of the bars we passed was offering the Cabo version of a face lift - I guess if you drink enough beers, everyone looks good - didn't give it a try this time but maybe later.

Overnight we sail down to Puerto Vallarta and hopefully warmer climes. No complaints about the weather though as we are in shorts and tee shirts and the white we are looking at is sand and not snow.

Winter vacation continued

When we returned to Calgary and were reminded that a month away in January does not move you into picnic season, it was an easy decision to get on with doing laundry and repacking our suitcases to head South again to warmer climes.

This is what we got in the trade off - not too bad a deal in our estimation.
Our journey began in Calgary with a flight to San Diego to pick up a cruise ship. In spite of being surrounded by poor weather and aircraft delays our flight was on time and we arrived at the ship with no issues. The following day was at sea - very blustery and cool so we wandered the ship, did a little reading and got our bearings and layout of the ship - a very easy and somewhat lazy day.

As you can see, we were not alone in our RELAX mode - even the gulls were taking it easy.

Because of the wind, the seas were quite rough and some suffered on the sail down to Cabo San Lucas but not us we are happy to say - both Christine and I slept like babies. As we travel South the weather has become warmer and the winds more calm - very pleasant.
Cruise ships are known for the quality and quantity of food and our ship is no exception. anyone that knows Ed will know that he loves fish and seafood - he is making the most of eveery opportunity to fill up on a variety of piscatorial dishes -mmmmm!!!!!!
The pelicans are also very well fed too - below they are about to enjoy a tuna sandwhich.

Internet time and WiFi is hard to access in some of the areas we are in, but we will add posts as often as possible - please hang in there and keep visiting. We will try to keep the blog as interesting as possible.
Stay warm and have fun.