ALASKA BLOG #1
12 June 2009
College Fjord, Alaska.
Hello to all from on board the Diamond Princess sailing the Gulf of Alaska,
Thanks to an early delivery by Andrea and Dorri, we arrived at the San Francisco Airport bright and early with plenty of time for a bite of breakfast before our 7:30 am flight to Vancouver and our embarkation on the Diamond Princess. We arrived earlier than the ship had announced we could go aboard but luckily they took us aboard. We decided later that we were probably in the first dozen passengers to board. Considering that there are more than three thousand passengers on this tour, we felt very lucky.
Our early arrival allowed us plenty of time for naps, to recover from our 3:00 am wake-up call, and unpacking before the planned activities of the afternoon and evening began. The Zarcone’s arrived shortly after we did and we enjoyed dinner the first evening with them.
Our second day on board was “at sea” as we traveled the passage between Vancouver Island and British Columbia on our way to our first stop on Monday at Ketchikan, Alaska. Ketchikan likes to call its self “Alaska’s First City” because it is the first port where ships can stop when they enter Alaska from the south. Ketchikan is located on an island and began as an Indian fishing camp. In the early 1900’s, when gold was Alaska’s claim to fame, fishing and timber industries were established in Ketchikan and have developed with the state. The growth of these industries have helped this Inside Passage town become Alaska’s fourth largest city.
We opted for a local bus tour that took us around parts of the island in a twenty passenger bus driven by a 31 year resident lady who began by offering her two teen age kids for sale. Her introduction to Ketchikan informed us that those who love mold and moss growing on everything they own ought to consider moving to Ketchikan. She was quick to note that the local paper’s listing of rentals currently included a two bedroom house without running water, inside toilet or electricity for $1700 a month. Her humor and knowledge of everything Ketchikan made our two and half hour tour go by very quickly. Our tour took us, over a couple of miles of dirt rode, to a little waterfall that led to the Tlingit Indian name for the island, which translates as “eagle with spread-out wings”. The little waterfall would be called a “riffle” in Yosemite but since it was the only one of its kind on the island every tour bus stopped to see it. We stopped at a little inlet where dozens of bald eagles were seen fishing a stream that carried little salmon from a nearby hatchery to the sea. It seemed to us that someone ought to be scaring the eagles away to allow more of the little salmon to reach salt water but our guide told us that the “ecosystem” demands we feed the eagles so there you are.
Our next stop took us to the famous display of totem poles booked as the world’s largest display of totems. We dutifully took pictures of the totems as were told the story of some of the more prominent poles. Since Abraham Lincoln was President when Alaska was purchased from the Russians, a pole depicted Lincoln on top of a pole that had a shield and American flag at the bottom. Lincoln looked like Lincoln except that his legs were those of a man four feet tall. We were told that the carver only had a picture of a bust of Lincoln so that was the way he was carved except that the carver knew he must have legs and added some. Another pole depicted Seward, the author of the “folly” that told the story of his having received gifts from three local tribes without returning the courtesy. Seward will forever sit atop his totem pole with red ears depicting a stingy person.
Our trip through downtown Ketchikan took us by “Dolly’s House” which heads a procession of restored houses on Creek Street, the former red light district of town. Dolly’s House was open for “viewing” but not for business. We decided against a visit because of the block long line of cruise passengers from Kansas waiting to see what sinning is all about.
Our next stop at Juneau gave us an opportunity to do a walking tour of town that took us to the top of a hill where a Russian Orthodox Church was erected in 1894. The church was built in Russia and shipped to the new Russian settlement by a czar who wanted to be sure that his subjects in the new world would behave. Our trip up the mountain was made possible by the fortification provided by the “Red Dog Saloon” in downtown where sawdust on the floor, a ricky-tick piano and walls covered with artifacts of the past made the crowd feel as though they were experiencing the real Alaska. We sampled the local Alaskan beer and left believing we now knew what Juneau must have been like a century ago.
We chuckled on our walking tour as we were passed by a garbage truck with its company motto displayed in large print; “Your satisfaction absolutely guaranteed or double your garbage back”.
Skagway’s history is the Alaska we all knew from our childhood studies. Today’s Skagway has less than a thousand inhabitants that live off the sales to tens of thousands of cruise passengers that stop by during the summer months. In its hey day, Skagway was home to more than twenty thousand who supplied the needs of the thousands of gold rushers that used Skagway as a jumping off point to the gold fields of the Yukon and Klondike. Today the streets offer boardwalk sidewalks and dozens of stores to buy diamonds and such that cruise passengers must like to buy in large quantities. We were amused at the number of shops that proudly announced to US cruise passengers that there would be “no duty” on jewelry purchased. We supposed that most folks aren’t really aware that Alaska is a part of the United States. Our walking tour notes included a call at a grocery store to buy some nibbles to quiet the growls inbetween meals. After asking directions from locals, we found the town’s one super market on a side street a couple of blocks away from the tourist traffic. We found our peanuts and such and prices that seemed to be about double Pleasanton prices for food. We came away thinking that Skagway would be a money making spot for a Grocery Outlet franchise.
Skagway presented dozens of opportunities to buy all kinds of clothing with Alaska boldly displayed, marvelous hats that let the world know where you have traveled, shot glasses and such for collectors and a local curiosity called a “bird fart” that seemed to sell like hotcakes. Upon returning to the ship, we found that many of our fellow passengers felt the stop in Skagway was a huge success because they were now the owner of a contraption known as a “bird fart”. The idea was more than a little offensive to us but now we know we must look into possible ownership on our return next week.
The next two days were glacier days. We spent the best part of Thursday in Glacier Bay following a serpentine of cruise ships that crawled along at reduced speed as we enjoyed the beauty of God’s unusual creations. Three rangers from the Glacier Bay National Park accompanied us and provided a running commentary all day about the sights we were enjoying. John Muir made his first trip through the bay in the late 1790’s and wrote about the marvels of the glaciers. Others followed to measure, study and name each of the ice flows. Some of the glaciers we were told are more than twenty miles and have their beginnings on the slopes of mountain peaks as high as 15,000 feet.
Friday was spent touring College Fjord where the glaciers seemed a little bit less spectacular but none the less beautiful in their icy way. Each of the glaciers in the fjord carried the names of eastern colleges. Yale, Harvard, and a series of formerly women only schools were represented. We didn’t hear an explanation for the naming of glaciers after girls’ schools but maybe the reference was made because girls who attend schools without boys are known to be cool, or cold, or whatever.
We haven’t found the time or the inclination to don our swim wear and sun ourselves by the pool to date. We’ve noted with a giggle that the usual pool side booths that typically offer beach towels to sun bathers are in the business of passing out brightly colored plaid wool blankets to deck chair enthusiasts. On the other hand, we’ve had some sunshine on most days which in itself is a rarity to be cherished in this part of the world.
We love you all.
Dottie and Bill, Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
HAWAII SPRING 2009
4 April 2009
Our Hawaiian Adventure
Early in 2009, friends Marie Hoemoeller and Clay Haller suggested that it might be fun to travel to Maui, Hawaii with them where they have a time share condo. We didn’t have to think about it very long after Marie announced that as a retired United Airlines employee she could arrange low cost stand-by air fares for us. Marie also knew of a nice condo that she had used in the past that would probably be available.
We checked on the availability of the Condo a the Kahana Reef and when we found it available when we wanted to go we sent a deposit and started dreaming of blue skies, warm sunshine, sparkling seas and a chance to turn off the rest of the world for a week and lay back and enjoy..
On Friday March 27 we picked up Marie before sun-up and headed for the San Francisco Airport. Clay had business to attend to and followed us to Maui the next day. We unloaded our suitcases on the sidewalk where Marie was greeted by skycaps as one of their own. She then took our car to park for free in the employee parking lot as we made our way through the usual stuff you need to to do to get to your intended gate. Marie caught up with us and we checked in at the gate as “stand-bys” and waited for assurance that there would be space for us on the flight. We got word that we could board and then an announcement was made that the flight crew found the plane unsuitable and another plane would need to be brought to the gate. Our original flight was scheduled for 9:20 AM, our replacement flight 11:45 AM. We were airborne about two hours later than we had planned but our “stand-by” status was working.
An uneventful, but sleepfull for Bill, flight took us to Kahului Airport on Maui and we were soon in our rented car heading for our condo at Kahana Reef. The community of Kahana marks about a mile of beach frontage with Kaanapali on the South end and Napili on the North; all connected by Honoapiilani Road. While these exotic names are accepted for directions, the State of Maui and the U.S. Post Office consider these communities a part of the city of Lahaina which is about eight miles away.
Once settled in, we joined Marie at the Sands of Kahana, her time share, where we enjoyed $3.00 “happy hour” Mai Tais before a light dinner of fish and chips. The long day we had spent getting to Maui easily convinced us that an early bedtime was in order and we all crashed. Marie spent the evening with us in our condo because her time share wasn’t to be ready until the following day.
On Saturday, we all drove back to the Kahului Airport, about 33 miles, and picked up Clay. On our return from Kahului we stopped for an early dinner at Buzz’s Wharf, a well known eatery at Ma’alaea Harbor abut half way between Kahului and Lahaina. We decided that the reputation of Buzz’s Wharf had been well earned as we enjoyed some delightful seafood.
Sunday found us on the road for the day with our first stop at a beautiful small Catholic Church on the crest of a hill overlooking the little town of Pukalani. After service, we continued on along a winding Hwy 37 in search of the little town of Ulupalakua and the Tedeschi Winery. The winery is a part of one of Hawaii’s old estates that has remained very much as it was in the 19th Century when a sea captain purchased a tract of land covering 6,500 acres. The land has had six owners over the years and each owner has tried to improve the quality of the ranch and its profits. A wide range of farm products have been developed over the years but sugar cane and beef have been the major crops. The winery claimed to be “famous” for its pineapple wine that sells like hot cakes to tourists. Our dry red wine tastes didn’t match the sweet pineapple wine so we passed on buying a bottle to take home. Our tasting covered a few other samples of the winery’s products but none seemed ready to compete in the world wine market.
A small museum featured pictures and stories about past owners and their families. It was interesting to note that the Hawaiian cowboys from the ranch have fared well in Rodeo competition on the main land. One hand from the ranch was actually the top cattle roper in US competition in the early part of the 20th Century. The stories of owner families told about many of the heirs who gave up their Hawaiian roots in favor of living out the second half of their lives in California.
We walked across the highway to a family owned pupu (snacks) and sandwich shop to buy our lunch which we ate at one of the several picnic tables nearby. We sat near a man who occasionally snapped a bull whip for the fascination of children who were picnicking with their families. We talked with the man who was weaving a lariat from rawhide. He described the rawhide lariat as a favorite for cowboys around the world. He told us that synthetic fabric lariats were available and used but they tended to be stiffer and much heavier than the preferred rawhide lariat like the one he was making. He didn’t look like a cowboy or an Hawaiian but we enjoyed meeting and talking with him.
The highlight of our day on the northwest end of the island was yet to come. The winery announced its schedule of activities, to bring people to taste their wine, which included a “Polo Match” featuring ranch hands doing their polo thing. Since we were there and the time was right, we walked down the road a quarter of a mile and 150 yards across a pasture to a seat on a felled tree overlooking a remarkably tailored polo field. In due time, the polo ponies and their riders took the field and gave the 25 or 30 polo fans on the hillside, the four of us included, a wonderful display of polo play or whatever it’s called. We sat on our tree with aching behinds through the first seven minute quarter during which one team scored a goal much to the concern of the other team. We duly applauded the fete and collectively decided that we had seen more polo than we needed for the day and motored back to our respective homes for the week.
By the end of third day in our island paradise, we took stock of what we had found to date. Our condo was beautiful in every way. Our fourth (top) floor balcony faced directly onto the sea where Molokai stood prominently in front of us. Only we rarely saw the island because it was covered by winter clouds. Several towering coconut palms swayed wonderfully in our view except that the high winds of our first few days moved them so briskly the flapping of the fronds drowned out the gentle lapping of the waves on the sea wall thirty feet in front of our room. The swimming pool below us featured dozens of lounges for sun bathing except that the high winds discouraged only the hardiest and most determined from gaining their Hawaiian tans. Being in Hawaii with our friends made up for these few wintertime shortcomings and we knew early on that our Maui get-away would be memorable.
Monday we spent most of the day enjoying Lahaina and its myriad of tourist oriented shops. We avoided buying tee shirts with slogans such as “How many times must I tell you I’m not stupid” and “Buy me another drink ‘cause you’re still ugly” and “Spooning often leads to Forking”. Ugh!! We found several art galleries that displayed dozens of art works featuring sunsets, whales and beautiful Hawaiian girls. Our tour wound its way to Bubba Gumps restaurant where we managed another round of Fish and Chips, this time made with Mahi Mahi. It was great. In the evening we searched for and found a nice restaurant at Napili Bay, The Sea House. The dining area opened onto the bay and featured a Guitar/Ukele playing singer that provided a wonderfully romantic ambience. We knew we had found the right spot when the performer sang the arrangement of “Over the Rainbow” that was played at our December 20 Family Wedding. We thanked him on our way out and stayed a while longer to dance to his music on a postage stamp sized dance floor.
Tuesday we drove to the opposite side of the island to drop Marie and Clay off at the Waiehu Municipal Golf Course where they played a round of golf in near gale wind conditions. While they were battling the greens, we headed out on our exploration of that part of the island. Our first stop was at the Iao Valley State Park and the Iao Needle. We knew we must be in an important place because several tour bus loads from the cruise ship anchored in Lahaina Harbor had already deposited their tourists at the site. We walked through most of the beautiful park, took a few pictures to remind us how lucky we were to be at such a special place and enjoyed the marvelous scenery. Dottie waited below while Bill climbed the 144 steps for a better view of the Iao Needle with a back drop of the nearby ocean.
A short ride from the Iao Needle we found Kapaniwai Heritage Gardens that displayed several gardens designed to celebrate the various nationalities that have immigrated to Hawaii in the past. At each garden a plaque told the histories of the immigrant groups that included Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and, much to our surprise, Puerto Ricans. We wandered through the various gardens taking exception to a family that we watched who were netting Coi out of a pond in front of a large sign that told visitors not to remove fish or plants from ponds.
We found a place called “Maui Plantation” where we knew we could find a restaurant. We arrived a few minutes before 2:00 PM and were told by the greeter that the lunch service usually ended at 2 but we could make it if we hurried. We did and were pleased that we did. The lunch room was one that looked as though it could serve a half dozen tour busses at once. Obviously, the purpose of the business was to cater to cruise ship tourists in large numbers. As we ate near a window overlooking a beautifully landscaped area, an elephant train loaded with tourists passed by. We were certain that the guide/driver was pointing us out to the attentive tourists as some form of life unique to the region. We later took the train ride and found that there were actually some unique flora near our window that caused the gawking in our direction. The ride took us through the plantation where quarter acre plots featured all of the fruits and flowers associated with the South Seas. We saw Bananas, Guavas, Avacados, Papayas, Mangos, Coconuts, sugar cane and several varieties of orchids and tropical flowers. We almost missed the ride because everyone else had purchased tickets at a ticket booth two hundred yards away. As I started to run for the tickets, the young greeter spotted us and gave the guide the high sign to allow us to ride sans tickets as his personal guests. We figured he must be a real Hawaiian.
After our Maui Plantation visit we sought out the Maui Historical Society Museum at Wailuku. The museum was housed in a residence that once was home to an early Mormon settler who seemed to include everything and anything in his resume. He formed a school for girls on the site while he managed a sugar cane mill, farmed, served as mayor and wrote books on the side. One of his sons is listed among Hawaii’s most notable early artists. The one remaining building from the girls’ school is now used as a gift shop where visitors can purchase some really nice things to take home and forget about.
Since we still had some time before we believed Clay and Marie would be finished with their round of golf, we set out to find a yardage shop where we could buy some Hawaiian looking print material to replace the table cloth and bench covers on the Lanai at home. We received some mixed directions from several sources that set us off across Wailuku in search of the local mall that we were told had a yardage shop. We found the mall and were looking for a parking spot when Marie called to say that they were looking for a ride home. When we arrived at the golf course the wind was at its full strength making it difficult to open the car doors and, once outside, to stand up without hanging on to something solid. Marie and Clay were happy as clams with their day chasing the little white ball and seemed to hardly notice the breeze.
The next several days were spent 1) trying to find a spot out of the wind to enjoy the warm sunshine, 2) revisiting Lahaina to continue our shop explorations and 3) enjoying several more of the outstanding restaurants in the area. We had a great lunch at the old Pioneer Inn next to the Banyan Tree in Lahaina and enjoyed reading about the history of the Inn. The account we read said that an English immigrant to Canada went to work with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This “giant of a man” who was unusually tall and weighed more than 300 pounds was sent to Hawaii in 1901 to arrest a suspected criminal who had fled Canada to avoid prosecution. No one knows what really happened but the RCMP didn’t catch his man and he resigned his post and stayed in Hawaii. During his first year on Maui he sold $50 shares to build a hotel. With the $7500 he raised, he built the Pioneer Inn and repaid his investors within two years. He operated the Inn successfully for over thirty years. One of his sons moved toTahiti where he spent a half dozen years. He returned to Maui, minus his French Polynesian wife, and worked to take over the management of the Inn. For the next dozen years or so the son successfully managed the business adding to the original holdings and establishing a liquor distributorship on Maui, all the while spending most of his days imbibing freely under the Banyan tree across the street. It is said that he spent so much time under the tree that he had his mail delivered to his bench under the tree where he spent most of his days and managed his various businesses. The original Pioneer Inn stands today as one of the most popular tourist attractions in Lahaina.
We enjoyed a Hawaiian breakfast with two friends who just happened to be vacationing on the Kaanapali coast while we were there. We drove into Lahaina with Joy and Paul Scribner for breakfast at one of the many nice places to eat on Front Street. It was a first meeting with Paul for Bill but Dottie and Joy had known one another for many years. Joy works with Dorri in the same dentist’s office where she is a Dental Hygienist. She knows more about Dottie’s teeth than anyone else but she wouldn’t tell me a thing pleading professional confidentiality. Joy and Paul enjoy traveling and we had a grand time hearing of their most recent travel adventures.
A search through local phone books led to the discovery of a large yardage shop at Kahalui and a GPS aided search ensued leading us the to shop we needed. With so many Hawaiian prints in stock, it became a challenge to select just the perfect match for our Lanai. Once found, it didn’t seem right to only buy one of the lovely prints so an additional five yards of fabric was added to the bill and we left for our ocean front home with thirty more pounds to be added to our homeward bound luggage.
On Friday, Clay left for home early and was greeted with the stand-byers constant hope….first class seating all the way home. Marie, Dottie and Bill followed the next morning to find their favored 11:45 AM flight sold out. Settling down for the next flight at 8:45 PM with fingers crossed hoping that room for these happy but pooped travelers would be available, or maybe the next flight…or the next flight.
Our love to all, as always….
Gram and Grandpa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
PS: We finally made it onto an eleven o’clock flight that only had two seats for these three weary “stand-bys”. Seasoned stand-byer Marie volunteered to wait for the next flight that would probably not have any seats until Monday after the Sunday rush to go home. Thank you Marie. Thanks again to Marie and Clay for inviting us to join them on our wonderful stay on Maui. And thank you Clay for making sure we got home after we arrived in San Francisco.
Our Hawaiian Adventure
Early in 2009, friends Marie Hoemoeller and Clay Haller suggested that it might be fun to travel to Maui, Hawaii with them where they have a time share condo. We didn’t have to think about it very long after Marie announced that as a retired United Airlines employee she could arrange low cost stand-by air fares for us. Marie also knew of a nice condo that she had used in the past that would probably be available.
We checked on the availability of the Condo a the Kahana Reef and when we found it available when we wanted to go we sent a deposit and started dreaming of blue skies, warm sunshine, sparkling seas and a chance to turn off the rest of the world for a week and lay back and enjoy..
On Friday March 27 we picked up Marie before sun-up and headed for the San Francisco Airport. Clay had business to attend to and followed us to Maui the next day. We unloaded our suitcases on the sidewalk where Marie was greeted by skycaps as one of their own. She then took our car to park for free in the employee parking lot as we made our way through the usual stuff you need to to do to get to your intended gate. Marie caught up with us and we checked in at the gate as “stand-bys” and waited for assurance that there would be space for us on the flight. We got word that we could board and then an announcement was made that the flight crew found the plane unsuitable and another plane would need to be brought to the gate. Our original flight was scheduled for 9:20 AM, our replacement flight 11:45 AM. We were airborne about two hours later than we had planned but our “stand-by” status was working.
An uneventful, but sleepfull for Bill, flight took us to Kahului Airport on Maui and we were soon in our rented car heading for our condo at Kahana Reef. The community of Kahana marks about a mile of beach frontage with Kaanapali on the South end and Napili on the North; all connected by Honoapiilani Road. While these exotic names are accepted for directions, the State of Maui and the U.S. Post Office consider these communities a part of the city of Lahaina which is about eight miles away.
Once settled in, we joined Marie at the Sands of Kahana, her time share, where we enjoyed $3.00 “happy hour” Mai Tais before a light dinner of fish and chips. The long day we had spent getting to Maui easily convinced us that an early bedtime was in order and we all crashed. Marie spent the evening with us in our condo because her time share wasn’t to be ready until the following day.
On Saturday, we all drove back to the Kahului Airport, about 33 miles, and picked up Clay. On our return from Kahului we stopped for an early dinner at Buzz’s Wharf, a well known eatery at Ma’alaea Harbor abut half way between Kahului and Lahaina. We decided that the reputation of Buzz’s Wharf had been well earned as we enjoyed some delightful seafood.
Sunday found us on the road for the day with our first stop at a beautiful small Catholic Church on the crest of a hill overlooking the little town of Pukalani. After service, we continued on along a winding Hwy 37 in search of the little town of Ulupalakua and the Tedeschi Winery. The winery is a part of one of Hawaii’s old estates that has remained very much as it was in the 19th Century when a sea captain purchased a tract of land covering 6,500 acres. The land has had six owners over the years and each owner has tried to improve the quality of the ranch and its profits. A wide range of farm products have been developed over the years but sugar cane and beef have been the major crops. The winery claimed to be “famous” for its pineapple wine that sells like hot cakes to tourists. Our dry red wine tastes didn’t match the sweet pineapple wine so we passed on buying a bottle to take home. Our tasting covered a few other samples of the winery’s products but none seemed ready to compete in the world wine market.
A small museum featured pictures and stories about past owners and their families. It was interesting to note that the Hawaiian cowboys from the ranch have fared well in Rodeo competition on the main land. One hand from the ranch was actually the top cattle roper in US competition in the early part of the 20th Century. The stories of owner families told about many of the heirs who gave up their Hawaiian roots in favor of living out the second half of their lives in California.
We walked across the highway to a family owned pupu (snacks) and sandwich shop to buy our lunch which we ate at one of the several picnic tables nearby. We sat near a man who occasionally snapped a bull whip for the fascination of children who were picnicking with their families. We talked with the man who was weaving a lariat from rawhide. He described the rawhide lariat as a favorite for cowboys around the world. He told us that synthetic fabric lariats were available and used but they tended to be stiffer and much heavier than the preferred rawhide lariat like the one he was making. He didn’t look like a cowboy or an Hawaiian but we enjoyed meeting and talking with him.
The highlight of our day on the northwest end of the island was yet to come. The winery announced its schedule of activities, to bring people to taste their wine, which included a “Polo Match” featuring ranch hands doing their polo thing. Since we were there and the time was right, we walked down the road a quarter of a mile and 150 yards across a pasture to a seat on a felled tree overlooking a remarkably tailored polo field. In due time, the polo ponies and their riders took the field and gave the 25 or 30 polo fans on the hillside, the four of us included, a wonderful display of polo play or whatever it’s called. We sat on our tree with aching behinds through the first seven minute quarter during which one team scored a goal much to the concern of the other team. We duly applauded the fete and collectively decided that we had seen more polo than we needed for the day and motored back to our respective homes for the week.
By the end of third day in our island paradise, we took stock of what we had found to date. Our condo was beautiful in every way. Our fourth (top) floor balcony faced directly onto the sea where Molokai stood prominently in front of us. Only we rarely saw the island because it was covered by winter clouds. Several towering coconut palms swayed wonderfully in our view except that the high winds of our first few days moved them so briskly the flapping of the fronds drowned out the gentle lapping of the waves on the sea wall thirty feet in front of our room. The swimming pool below us featured dozens of lounges for sun bathing except that the high winds discouraged only the hardiest and most determined from gaining their Hawaiian tans. Being in Hawaii with our friends made up for these few wintertime shortcomings and we knew early on that our Maui get-away would be memorable.
Monday we spent most of the day enjoying Lahaina and its myriad of tourist oriented shops. We avoided buying tee shirts with slogans such as “How many times must I tell you I’m not stupid” and “Buy me another drink ‘cause you’re still ugly” and “Spooning often leads to Forking”. Ugh!! We found several art galleries that displayed dozens of art works featuring sunsets, whales and beautiful Hawaiian girls. Our tour wound its way to Bubba Gumps restaurant where we managed another round of Fish and Chips, this time made with Mahi Mahi. It was great. In the evening we searched for and found a nice restaurant at Napili Bay, The Sea House. The dining area opened onto the bay and featured a Guitar/Ukele playing singer that provided a wonderfully romantic ambience. We knew we had found the right spot when the performer sang the arrangement of “Over the Rainbow” that was played at our December 20 Family Wedding. We thanked him on our way out and stayed a while longer to dance to his music on a postage stamp sized dance floor.
Tuesday we drove to the opposite side of the island to drop Marie and Clay off at the Waiehu Municipal Golf Course where they played a round of golf in near gale wind conditions. While they were battling the greens, we headed out on our exploration of that part of the island. Our first stop was at the Iao Valley State Park and the Iao Needle. We knew we must be in an important place because several tour bus loads from the cruise ship anchored in Lahaina Harbor had already deposited their tourists at the site. We walked through most of the beautiful park, took a few pictures to remind us how lucky we were to be at such a special place and enjoyed the marvelous scenery. Dottie waited below while Bill climbed the 144 steps for a better view of the Iao Needle with a back drop of the nearby ocean.
A short ride from the Iao Needle we found Kapaniwai Heritage Gardens that displayed several gardens designed to celebrate the various nationalities that have immigrated to Hawaii in the past. At each garden a plaque told the histories of the immigrant groups that included Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and, much to our surprise, Puerto Ricans. We wandered through the various gardens taking exception to a family that we watched who were netting Coi out of a pond in front of a large sign that told visitors not to remove fish or plants from ponds.
We found a place called “Maui Plantation” where we knew we could find a restaurant. We arrived a few minutes before 2:00 PM and were told by the greeter that the lunch service usually ended at 2 but we could make it if we hurried. We did and were pleased that we did. The lunch room was one that looked as though it could serve a half dozen tour busses at once. Obviously, the purpose of the business was to cater to cruise ship tourists in large numbers. As we ate near a window overlooking a beautifully landscaped area, an elephant train loaded with tourists passed by. We were certain that the guide/driver was pointing us out to the attentive tourists as some form of life unique to the region. We later took the train ride and found that there were actually some unique flora near our window that caused the gawking in our direction. The ride took us through the plantation where quarter acre plots featured all of the fruits and flowers associated with the South Seas. We saw Bananas, Guavas, Avacados, Papayas, Mangos, Coconuts, sugar cane and several varieties of orchids and tropical flowers. We almost missed the ride because everyone else had purchased tickets at a ticket booth two hundred yards away. As I started to run for the tickets, the young greeter spotted us and gave the guide the high sign to allow us to ride sans tickets as his personal guests. We figured he must be a real Hawaiian.
After our Maui Plantation visit we sought out the Maui Historical Society Museum at Wailuku. The museum was housed in a residence that once was home to an early Mormon settler who seemed to include everything and anything in his resume. He formed a school for girls on the site while he managed a sugar cane mill, farmed, served as mayor and wrote books on the side. One of his sons is listed among Hawaii’s most notable early artists. The one remaining building from the girls’ school is now used as a gift shop where visitors can purchase some really nice things to take home and forget about.
Since we still had some time before we believed Clay and Marie would be finished with their round of golf, we set out to find a yardage shop where we could buy some Hawaiian looking print material to replace the table cloth and bench covers on the Lanai at home. We received some mixed directions from several sources that set us off across Wailuku in search of the local mall that we were told had a yardage shop. We found the mall and were looking for a parking spot when Marie called to say that they were looking for a ride home. When we arrived at the golf course the wind was at its full strength making it difficult to open the car doors and, once outside, to stand up without hanging on to something solid. Marie and Clay were happy as clams with their day chasing the little white ball and seemed to hardly notice the breeze.
The next several days were spent 1) trying to find a spot out of the wind to enjoy the warm sunshine, 2) revisiting Lahaina to continue our shop explorations and 3) enjoying several more of the outstanding restaurants in the area. We had a great lunch at the old Pioneer Inn next to the Banyan Tree in Lahaina and enjoyed reading about the history of the Inn. The account we read said that an English immigrant to Canada went to work with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This “giant of a man” who was unusually tall and weighed more than 300 pounds was sent to Hawaii in 1901 to arrest a suspected criminal who had fled Canada to avoid prosecution. No one knows what really happened but the RCMP didn’t catch his man and he resigned his post and stayed in Hawaii. During his first year on Maui he sold $50 shares to build a hotel. With the $7500 he raised, he built the Pioneer Inn and repaid his investors within two years. He operated the Inn successfully for over thirty years. One of his sons moved toTahiti where he spent a half dozen years. He returned to Maui, minus his French Polynesian wife, and worked to take over the management of the Inn. For the next dozen years or so the son successfully managed the business adding to the original holdings and establishing a liquor distributorship on Maui, all the while spending most of his days imbibing freely under the Banyan tree across the street. It is said that he spent so much time under the tree that he had his mail delivered to his bench under the tree where he spent most of his days and managed his various businesses. The original Pioneer Inn stands today as one of the most popular tourist attractions in Lahaina.
We enjoyed a Hawaiian breakfast with two friends who just happened to be vacationing on the Kaanapali coast while we were there. We drove into Lahaina with Joy and Paul Scribner for breakfast at one of the many nice places to eat on Front Street. It was a first meeting with Paul for Bill but Dottie and Joy had known one another for many years. Joy works with Dorri in the same dentist’s office where she is a Dental Hygienist. She knows more about Dottie’s teeth than anyone else but she wouldn’t tell me a thing pleading professional confidentiality. Joy and Paul enjoy traveling and we had a grand time hearing of their most recent travel adventures.
A search through local phone books led to the discovery of a large yardage shop at Kahalui and a GPS aided search ensued leading us the to shop we needed. With so many Hawaiian prints in stock, it became a challenge to select just the perfect match for our Lanai. Once found, it didn’t seem right to only buy one of the lovely prints so an additional five yards of fabric was added to the bill and we left for our ocean front home with thirty more pounds to be added to our homeward bound luggage.
On Friday, Clay left for home early and was greeted with the stand-byers constant hope….first class seating all the way home. Marie, Dottie and Bill followed the next morning to find their favored 11:45 AM flight sold out. Settling down for the next flight at 8:45 PM with fingers crossed hoping that room for these happy but pooped travelers would be available, or maybe the next flight…or the next flight.
Our love to all, as always….
Gram and Grandpa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
PS: We finally made it onto an eleven o’clock flight that only had two seats for these three weary “stand-bys”. Seasoned stand-byer Marie volunteered to wait for the next flight that would probably not have any seats until Monday after the Sunday rush to go home. Thank you Marie. Thanks again to Marie and Clay for inviting us to join them on our wonderful stay on Maui. And thank you Clay for making sure we got home after we arrived in San Francisco.
Friday, December 5, 2008
SOUTH AMERICA BLOG #5
SOUTH AMERICA BLOG #5
5 December 2008
The last couple of days, before entering the Strait of Magellan, our shipboard daily schedule included a number of lectures and slide shows on Magellan, his exploits and his discovery of the Strait of Magellan. Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - 1521) was a Portuguese soldier that left the service of his King after an incident and offered his services to the King of Spain who wanted to find a quicker route to the Spice islands of Indonesia and the cloth that Europe desired. The Spanish crown provided five ships and 270 men to accompany Magellan on his expedition. One speaker described the largest of Magellan ships as about 75 tons or the size of a large tug boat.
Magellan’s crew was changed before he left so that the crews of his ships were made up of Spanish rather than Portuguese sailors. His expedition was the first known successful attempt to circumnavigate the earth and to prove that the earth was really round. He was the first person to lead an expedition sailing westward from Europe to Asia and to cross the Pacific Ocean. He was the first European to reach the archipelago of what is now known as the Philippines. Arab traders had established commerce with the Philippines centuries earlier.
Magellan was fatally wounded in a battle with the islanders of the Philippines. Upon his death, Sebastian Elcano completed the voyage as commander of the King’s fleet. Of the five ships that left Spain, only one returned. Of the original 270 crew members only 18 made it home. Even with such losses, the cloth brought back to Spain from Indonesia made the expedition profitable.
Magellan, like Columbus, was not sailing blindly on a hunch. It was reported that maps and charts from the travels of Marco Polo and other Arab and Asian travelers provided much of the information that was used in their respective quests. Magellan’s expedition searched for weeks along the southern tip of South America, exploring each inlet and bay, until they found the passage that ultimately was named for Magellan. The Strait is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. It was considered a difficult route to navigate by wind powered ships because of the inhospitable climate and the narrowness of the passage. The 350 mile long passage is two to fifteen miles wide. Chile took possession of the Strait in 1848 after libertador Bernardo O’Higgins feared that England or France might occupy the territory. Until the completion of the Panama Canal, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for shipping between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Our sailing of the Strait of Magellan was piecemeal because our ship was too large with too deep a draft to sail through safely. We managed to sail through most of the Strait during the day with escapes to the safety of the Pacific Ocean at night. We sailed into the port of Punta Arenas where we were “tendered” into town due to the lack of deep water docking for our ship.
Punta Arenas likes to call itself the “largest” city closest to Antarctica in the world. It is the largest city of its size but Ushuaia and even smaller Puerto Williams are actually closer to the South Pole. With that caveat, Punta Arenas plays an important role in the government of the region and as a focal point for the management of mining and sheep ranching operations. We went ashore and wondered through Punta Arena finding the kind of shops that people who live in such a remote area need. The people on the streets and the limited number of cars we saw didn’t suggest the 130,000 population we were told about. We did find a marvelous tour that took us out to the coast where we could see nesting penguins by the hundreds. The penguins return to the particular cove we visited for about four months each year to give birth to babies and raise them until they are old enough to go to sea. The penguins then spend the best part of eight months living in the sea away from land. Our visit was on a cold and rainy day but the source of a lot of fun and a few sneezes.
The next day our ship spent about four hours creeping through the dozens of glaciers on the south side of the Beagle Channel. We dutifully snapped dozens of pictures as we glided by one after another of the icy slopes heading eastward. The Beagle Channel gained its name from its discovery by an English expedition sent by the English King in mid nineteenth century to explore and map the tip of South America named Tierra del Fuego by earlier explorers. Charles Darwin accompanied the HMS Beagle as the ship’s naturalist. In the process, he wrote voluminous notes on his observations and collected thousands of specimens for further study upon returning to England. Darwin later wrote his notable book, “Origin os the Species” based on his study of his collections and observations.
The Beagle Channel took us to Ushuaia which also likes to call its self the world’s “southernmost city”. Whatever it might be called, Ushuaia is certainly the capital of Tierra del Fuego and a jumping off place for explorers and visitors to Antarctica. The 30,000 square mile land mass at the tip of the continent was named Tierra del Fuego in 1520 by Magellan who observed huge bonfires built by the local Yamana Indians who populated the area. Some believe the Indians set the fires to scare away the unwanted visitors but the fires were probably maintained to keep the locals warm in the extreme climate of the area.
Developing Ushuaia was slow due to its remote location, pirate attacks and extreme weather. A whaling station was established in the area and a prison colony was located at the site. The prisoners gave the town its name Ushuaia which means “the end“. The prisoners were eventually used to build the infrastructure of the town and a railway to transport forest products. The railway continues to run and is a popular tourist attraction called “El Tren del Fin del Mundo” or The End of the World Train.
The Norwegian Sun next took us to the Falkland Islands; an “Overseas Colony of the United Kingdom”. Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, is a popular stop for cruise ships with 37 different companies including the stop in their itineraries. We were lucky that our ship was the only one visiting Stanley during our stop. The Falkland Islands include two large islands and over 740 smaller ones. Nearly all of the smaller islands are not populated. The Falklands are home to 2,478 with 2115 living in Stanley, not including the military personnel stationed in the islands.
The Falklands were sighted first by English navigator John Davis on board the “Desire”. The first recorded landing was by British Captain John Strong aboard the “Welfare” in 1690. The British administered the islands continually from 1833 until 1982 when Argentina invaded the islands and took control. A few months later the British defeated the Argentine forces and once again restored British control.
Tourism and sheep ranching provide the primary source of income for island inhabitants. We chose to walk around Stanley rather than take another shore excursion to visit with penguins. Our stroll was on a beautiful sun shiny day with the temperature somewhere in the forties accompanied by a 20 knot wind. Our first stop was in a souvenir shop to buy an extra shirt to ward off the chills. We walked a little over a mile through the local homes to a museum that was touted in our literature. The museum displayed artifacts from early settlers, seafaring gear, whaling tools and a small display of memorabilia from the 1982 war with Argentina. The latter display contained an Argentine land mind similar to the thousands that still remain where they were planted to discourage the landing of troops. Fortunately the British avoided landing in the mined areas but, unfortunately, the mines still remain where they were planted in 1982. With the exception of an occasional sheep that trips a mine, no lives have been lost. The mined areas are all well posted.
After our museum visit, we decided to call a cab rather than walk back to town in the chilling wind. One of the museum docents called a cab for us with the report that the cab would be at the curb in five minutes. Forty-five minutes later, the docent noticed us patiently waiting. Instead of making another call she offered to take us back to town in her car. Along the way, Dottie’s conversation revealed that the good Samaritan lady had lived all of her sixty or so years in Stanley with only one brief visit to the mainland for needed surgery. She was pleased with the wonderful weather we were experiencing noting that the previous day the wind was raging at over 50 knots with rain squalls……usual Falkland Islands weather.
A two day sail from the Falkland Islands took us to Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The shore excursion listings included a number of day long trips where passengers could see more penguins, herds of sea lions, beached seals, all kinds of birds and an example of local forestry. The length of each of the trips encouraged us to spend our day ashore exploring Puerto Madryn. The port is the largest serving Patagonia and a sizeable fishing fleet according to our shipboard information. From where are ship was docked, we could see none of these. We guessed that these activities are located in an adjacent bay out of sight of occasional tourists.
We were pleased with our choice for the day. The town appeared to us to be a “real” town serving real people, not just another tourist town. One had to look hard for a place to buy a postcard or t-shirt with the town’s name. The shops we strolled by were there to sell to the locals not the tourists. Our visit to the town’s Plaza revealed little of that which older towns display. The local Catholic Church was smaller than surrounding buildings so that one really had to look for it. We asked a vendor where the church was and he had to look in all four directions before he could spot it. The other sides of the plaza were filled with non descript shops rather than the expected government buildings and such.
The town is a recent addition with the first settlement by a group of 150 Welsh immigrants arriving in 1858. The Welsh moved inland but the city remained. Eventually a railway was constructed that connected Puerto Madryn with surrounding towns leading to the growth and importance of the town.
Today tourists seek Puerto Madryn as Argentina’s top scuba diving destination. Good visibility in the local waters and the presence of several shipwreck make it great if you like that sort of thing. The area is a sought after venue for ecotourists with one of UNESCO’s World Biospheres nearby.
As we write, we are headed for a day at Montevideo, Uruguay before disembarking in Buenos Aires. We’ll be busy most of the day repacking for our departure with just a short shore excursion to see the sights in Montevideo. After more than a month aboard the Norwegian Sun, we’ve tucked our things into every nook and cranny of our stateroom. The real challenge will be to try to find everything we’ve so expertly hidden from view. Wish us luck!
We’re looking forward to getting home and anxious to see each one of you. We send all our love.
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
5 December 2008
The last couple of days, before entering the Strait of Magellan, our shipboard daily schedule included a number of lectures and slide shows on Magellan, his exploits and his discovery of the Strait of Magellan. Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - 1521) was a Portuguese soldier that left the service of his King after an incident and offered his services to the King of Spain who wanted to find a quicker route to the Spice islands of Indonesia and the cloth that Europe desired. The Spanish crown provided five ships and 270 men to accompany Magellan on his expedition. One speaker described the largest of Magellan ships as about 75 tons or the size of a large tug boat.
Magellan’s crew was changed before he left so that the crews of his ships were made up of Spanish rather than Portuguese sailors. His expedition was the first known successful attempt to circumnavigate the earth and to prove that the earth was really round. He was the first person to lead an expedition sailing westward from Europe to Asia and to cross the Pacific Ocean. He was the first European to reach the archipelago of what is now known as the Philippines. Arab traders had established commerce with the Philippines centuries earlier.
Magellan was fatally wounded in a battle with the islanders of the Philippines. Upon his death, Sebastian Elcano completed the voyage as commander of the King’s fleet. Of the five ships that left Spain, only one returned. Of the original 270 crew members only 18 made it home. Even with such losses, the cloth brought back to Spain from Indonesia made the expedition profitable.
Magellan, like Columbus, was not sailing blindly on a hunch. It was reported that maps and charts from the travels of Marco Polo and other Arab and Asian travelers provided much of the information that was used in their respective quests. Magellan’s expedition searched for weeks along the southern tip of South America, exploring each inlet and bay, until they found the passage that ultimately was named for Magellan. The Strait is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. It was considered a difficult route to navigate by wind powered ships because of the inhospitable climate and the narrowness of the passage. The 350 mile long passage is two to fifteen miles wide. Chile took possession of the Strait in 1848 after libertador Bernardo O’Higgins feared that England or France might occupy the territory. Until the completion of the Panama Canal, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for shipping between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Our sailing of the Strait of Magellan was piecemeal because our ship was too large with too deep a draft to sail through safely. We managed to sail through most of the Strait during the day with escapes to the safety of the Pacific Ocean at night. We sailed into the port of Punta Arenas where we were “tendered” into town due to the lack of deep water docking for our ship.
Punta Arenas likes to call itself the “largest” city closest to Antarctica in the world. It is the largest city of its size but Ushuaia and even smaller Puerto Williams are actually closer to the South Pole. With that caveat, Punta Arenas plays an important role in the government of the region and as a focal point for the management of mining and sheep ranching operations. We went ashore and wondered through Punta Arena finding the kind of shops that people who live in such a remote area need. The people on the streets and the limited number of cars we saw didn’t suggest the 130,000 population we were told about. We did find a marvelous tour that took us out to the coast where we could see nesting penguins by the hundreds. The penguins return to the particular cove we visited for about four months each year to give birth to babies and raise them until they are old enough to go to sea. The penguins then spend the best part of eight months living in the sea away from land. Our visit was on a cold and rainy day but the source of a lot of fun and a few sneezes.
The next day our ship spent about four hours creeping through the dozens of glaciers on the south side of the Beagle Channel. We dutifully snapped dozens of pictures as we glided by one after another of the icy slopes heading eastward. The Beagle Channel gained its name from its discovery by an English expedition sent by the English King in mid nineteenth century to explore and map the tip of South America named Tierra del Fuego by earlier explorers. Charles Darwin accompanied the HMS Beagle as the ship’s naturalist. In the process, he wrote voluminous notes on his observations and collected thousands of specimens for further study upon returning to England. Darwin later wrote his notable book, “Origin os the Species” based on his study of his collections and observations.
The Beagle Channel took us to Ushuaia which also likes to call its self the world’s “southernmost city”. Whatever it might be called, Ushuaia is certainly the capital of Tierra del Fuego and a jumping off place for explorers and visitors to Antarctica. The 30,000 square mile land mass at the tip of the continent was named Tierra del Fuego in 1520 by Magellan who observed huge bonfires built by the local Yamana Indians who populated the area. Some believe the Indians set the fires to scare away the unwanted visitors but the fires were probably maintained to keep the locals warm in the extreme climate of the area.
Developing Ushuaia was slow due to its remote location, pirate attacks and extreme weather. A whaling station was established in the area and a prison colony was located at the site. The prisoners gave the town its name Ushuaia which means “the end“. The prisoners were eventually used to build the infrastructure of the town and a railway to transport forest products. The railway continues to run and is a popular tourist attraction called “El Tren del Fin del Mundo” or The End of the World Train.
The Norwegian Sun next took us to the Falkland Islands; an “Overseas Colony of the United Kingdom”. Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, is a popular stop for cruise ships with 37 different companies including the stop in their itineraries. We were lucky that our ship was the only one visiting Stanley during our stop. The Falkland Islands include two large islands and over 740 smaller ones. Nearly all of the smaller islands are not populated. The Falklands are home to 2,478 with 2115 living in Stanley, not including the military personnel stationed in the islands.
The Falklands were sighted first by English navigator John Davis on board the “Desire”. The first recorded landing was by British Captain John Strong aboard the “Welfare” in 1690. The British administered the islands continually from 1833 until 1982 when Argentina invaded the islands and took control. A few months later the British defeated the Argentine forces and once again restored British control.
Tourism and sheep ranching provide the primary source of income for island inhabitants. We chose to walk around Stanley rather than take another shore excursion to visit with penguins. Our stroll was on a beautiful sun shiny day with the temperature somewhere in the forties accompanied by a 20 knot wind. Our first stop was in a souvenir shop to buy an extra shirt to ward off the chills. We walked a little over a mile through the local homes to a museum that was touted in our literature. The museum displayed artifacts from early settlers, seafaring gear, whaling tools and a small display of memorabilia from the 1982 war with Argentina. The latter display contained an Argentine land mind similar to the thousands that still remain where they were planted to discourage the landing of troops. Fortunately the British avoided landing in the mined areas but, unfortunately, the mines still remain where they were planted in 1982. With the exception of an occasional sheep that trips a mine, no lives have been lost. The mined areas are all well posted.
After our museum visit, we decided to call a cab rather than walk back to town in the chilling wind. One of the museum docents called a cab for us with the report that the cab would be at the curb in five minutes. Forty-five minutes later, the docent noticed us patiently waiting. Instead of making another call she offered to take us back to town in her car. Along the way, Dottie’s conversation revealed that the good Samaritan lady had lived all of her sixty or so years in Stanley with only one brief visit to the mainland for needed surgery. She was pleased with the wonderful weather we were experiencing noting that the previous day the wind was raging at over 50 knots with rain squalls……usual Falkland Islands weather.
A two day sail from the Falkland Islands took us to Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The shore excursion listings included a number of day long trips where passengers could see more penguins, herds of sea lions, beached seals, all kinds of birds and an example of local forestry. The length of each of the trips encouraged us to spend our day ashore exploring Puerto Madryn. The port is the largest serving Patagonia and a sizeable fishing fleet according to our shipboard information. From where are ship was docked, we could see none of these. We guessed that these activities are located in an adjacent bay out of sight of occasional tourists.
We were pleased with our choice for the day. The town appeared to us to be a “real” town serving real people, not just another tourist town. One had to look hard for a place to buy a postcard or t-shirt with the town’s name. The shops we strolled by were there to sell to the locals not the tourists. Our visit to the town’s Plaza revealed little of that which older towns display. The local Catholic Church was smaller than surrounding buildings so that one really had to look for it. We asked a vendor where the church was and he had to look in all four directions before he could spot it. The other sides of the plaza were filled with non descript shops rather than the expected government buildings and such.
The town is a recent addition with the first settlement by a group of 150 Welsh immigrants arriving in 1858. The Welsh moved inland but the city remained. Eventually a railway was constructed that connected Puerto Madryn with surrounding towns leading to the growth and importance of the town.
Today tourists seek Puerto Madryn as Argentina’s top scuba diving destination. Good visibility in the local waters and the presence of several shipwreck make it great if you like that sort of thing. The area is a sought after venue for ecotourists with one of UNESCO’s World Biospheres nearby.
As we write, we are headed for a day at Montevideo, Uruguay before disembarking in Buenos Aires. We’ll be busy most of the day repacking for our departure with just a short shore excursion to see the sights in Montevideo. After more than a month aboard the Norwegian Sun, we’ve tucked our things into every nook and cranny of our stateroom. The real challenge will be to try to find everything we’ve so expertly hidden from view. Wish us luck!
We’re looking forward to getting home and anxious to see each one of you. We send all our love.
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
South America #4
SOUTH AMERICA BLOG #4
November 27, 2008
Buenas Dias a todos,
Our return to sea level was just a plane ride but our arrival in Chile was something to write home about. The landing was picture perfect, our deplaning nothing unusual except that the stewardess told us we would need to stop holding hands long enough to go single file down the rickety landing steps, but customs left us with a memory to write books about. We did our usual thing with our carry-ons x-rayed and our bodies scanned for contraband. We walked out of the terminal into a late morning sun that was pleasant for the first few minutes until we realized it was hot and muggy. We boarded our bus and sat in our seats for the next two hours as rumors of whatever spun as the clock turned. The final story came out that two of our fellow passengers had fresh fruit in their luggage. Apparently that’s a no-no in Chile. The two ladies in question were interrogated, threatened with arrest, guarded by policemen with rifles at the ready as probable monetary fines were received by phone from some one with authority. The threatened three months in jail diminished to a shaking finger and the proposed $500 fine for each apple was reduced to whatever the tour operator agreed to. The culprits were finally released with a tongue lashing in Spanish which neither one understood. They ultimately entered our waiting bus with heads bowed and we were allowed to return to our Norwegian Sun vacation home. With free fruit delivered to our rooms for the asking, it was beyond the rest of us why the ladies thought they had to bring a few apples and oranges from Cusco.
Our quick trip from the airport to our ship moored at Arica, Chile gave us a new insight into South America. We passed hundreds of homes and dozens of multiple storied apartments that looked as though they could be transplants from Arizona or any of our southern border towns. TV antennas and satellite dishes sprouted from roof tops and cars were parked in front of well tended houses. We quickly decided that Chile’s economy was world’s apart from that which we had observed on our travels through Central America, Guatemala and Ecuador. We couldn’t see them but we were informed that several chemical processing plants were in the area that prepared for export Chile’s unending supply of nitrate products. This part of the world was the primary supplier of nitrates used in the production of gun powder prior to World War II when Atlantic shipping was vulnerable to German submarine attacks and other sources were developed.
Our stop at Coquimbo and Valparaiso similarly impressed us with the apparent difference between Chile and the other countries we visited on this trip. Our shipboard view of Valparaiso showed us well tended hillside neighborhoods with passable streets. Generally, the rule is that in underdeveloped and developing countries, poor people live on the hillsides and the more fortunate live on the flats. Here it appeared we were looking at the opposite and that which we would expect at home.
A “city tour” at Coquimbo gave us a good opportunity to mingle with the real people of Chili. Our guide took us by bus into the center of Coquimbo where we hit the streets and walked through town on a busy Saturday morning. It was interesting to walk through crowds of people who looked just like us but all spoke a a different language. Our walking tour took us by stores that looked just like those we were familiar with at Stoneridge Mall. The brands advertised were the same we are used to. The fact that most of the clothing we buy is made in the far east somehow made it American rather than Chilean. That reasoning soon seemed not as plausible.
Our walk took us to a downtown museum that displayed artifacts from the Inca period. For some reason we were surprised to find the place packed with local families describing the exhibits to their children.
We had to change cabins at Valparaiso due to a “goof” by the online travel agent we used. The change was a pain in the neck but the crew was more than helpful. We were able to talk the travel agent into a $500 on board credit to make up for our discomfort. Our new cabin was a tad smaller but with a much larger balcony and we were satisfied.
The Norwegian Sun was less than full during the first 19 days even though outside cabins were selling for less than $50 a day per person. We talked to a few passengers that had signed-on just five days before the November 4 sailing. We were pleased that our accommodations were less than half of book value.
Our first stop after Valparaiso was Puerto Montt, Chile. Puerto Montt is interesting and different because the Chilean government in the 1850’s actively recruited Germans to colonize the area. The town was named after the President of Chile at the time, Manuel Montt. The German immigrants found a climate and terrain similar to Germany and immediately found success as farmers. A railway into the area in 1912 increased the areas importance as did the introduction of salmon farming in the decade before 2000.
Local museums chronicle the history of the German immigration. Although a devastating earthquake destroyed much of the town in 1960, many historic homes still stand beside the town’s oldest building dating back to 1856. We hired a cab for our private tour of the area. We drove to Lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile, and a favorite vacation venue for Chileans. The lake is surrounded by the Osomo and Calbuco volcanoes and is fed by several streams that wind through nearby Andes Mountains. Beside the lake is a small German town, parts of which look like the homes in California’s Solvang. Older farm houses in the area look as though they were transplanted from Germany. Our return trip took us through Puerto Varas that faces the Pacific Ocean on one side and a beautiful lake surrounded by vacation hotels on the other. The beautiful spring weather during our visit left little doubt in our mind that this part of Chile would be high on our list for our vacations if we were Chilean.
November 27, 2008
Buenas Dias a todos,
Our return to sea level was just a plane ride but our arrival in Chile was something to write home about. The landing was picture perfect, our deplaning nothing unusual except that the stewardess told us we would need to stop holding hands long enough to go single file down the rickety landing steps, but customs left us with a memory to write books about. We did our usual thing with our carry-ons x-rayed and our bodies scanned for contraband. We walked out of the terminal into a late morning sun that was pleasant for the first few minutes until we realized it was hot and muggy. We boarded our bus and sat in our seats for the next two hours as rumors of whatever spun as the clock turned. The final story came out that two of our fellow passengers had fresh fruit in their luggage. Apparently that’s a no-no in Chile. The two ladies in question were interrogated, threatened with arrest, guarded by policemen with rifles at the ready as probable monetary fines were received by phone from some one with authority. The threatened three months in jail diminished to a shaking finger and the proposed $500 fine for each apple was reduced to whatever the tour operator agreed to. The culprits were finally released with a tongue lashing in Spanish which neither one understood. They ultimately entered our waiting bus with heads bowed and we were allowed to return to our Norwegian Sun vacation home. With free fruit delivered to our rooms for the asking, it was beyond the rest of us why the ladies thought they had to bring a few apples and oranges from Cusco.
Our quick trip from the airport to our ship moored at Arica, Chile gave us a new insight into South America. We passed hundreds of homes and dozens of multiple storied apartments that looked as though they could be transplants from Arizona or any of our southern border towns. TV antennas and satellite dishes sprouted from roof tops and cars were parked in front of well tended houses. We quickly decided that Chile’s economy was world’s apart from that which we had observed on our travels through Central America, Guatemala and Ecuador. We couldn’t see them but we were informed that several chemical processing plants were in the area that prepared for export Chile’s unending supply of nitrate products. This part of the world was the primary supplier of nitrates used in the production of gun powder prior to World War II when Atlantic shipping was vulnerable to German submarine attacks and other sources were developed.
Our stop at Coquimbo and Valparaiso similarly impressed us with the apparent difference between Chile and the other countries we visited on this trip. Our shipboard view of Valparaiso showed us well tended hillside neighborhoods with passable streets. Generally, the rule is that in underdeveloped and developing countries, poor people live on the hillsides and the more fortunate live on the flats. Here it appeared we were looking at the opposite and that which we would expect at home.
A “city tour” at Coquimbo gave us a good opportunity to mingle with the real people of Chili. Our guide took us by bus into the center of Coquimbo where we hit the streets and walked through town on a busy Saturday morning. It was interesting to walk through crowds of people who looked just like us but all spoke a a different language. Our walking tour took us by stores that looked just like those we were familiar with at Stoneridge Mall. The brands advertised were the same we are used to. The fact that most of the clothing we buy is made in the far east somehow made it American rather than Chilean. That reasoning soon seemed not as plausible.
Our walk took us to a downtown museum that displayed artifacts from the Inca period. For some reason we were surprised to find the place packed with local families describing the exhibits to their children.
We had to change cabins at Valparaiso due to a “goof” by the online travel agent we used. The change was a pain in the neck but the crew was more than helpful. We were able to talk the travel agent into a $500 on board credit to make up for our discomfort. Our new cabin was a tad smaller but with a much larger balcony and we were satisfied.
The Norwegian Sun was less than full during the first 19 days even though outside cabins were selling for less than $50 a day per person. We talked to a few passengers that had signed-on just five days before the November 4 sailing. We were pleased that our accommodations were less than half of book value.
Our first stop after Valparaiso was Puerto Montt, Chile. Puerto Montt is interesting and different because the Chilean government in the 1850’s actively recruited Germans to colonize the area. The town was named after the President of Chile at the time, Manuel Montt. The German immigrants found a climate and terrain similar to Germany and immediately found success as farmers. A railway into the area in 1912 increased the areas importance as did the introduction of salmon farming in the decade before 2000.
Local museums chronicle the history of the German immigration. Although a devastating earthquake destroyed much of the town in 1960, many historic homes still stand beside the town’s oldest building dating back to 1856. We hired a cab for our private tour of the area. We drove to Lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile, and a favorite vacation venue for Chileans. The lake is surrounded by the Osomo and Calbuco volcanoes and is fed by several streams that wind through nearby Andes Mountains. Beside the lake is a small German town, parts of which look like the homes in California’s Solvang. Older farm houses in the area look as though they were transplanted from Germany. Our return trip took us through Puerto Varas that faces the Pacific Ocean on one side and a beautiful lake surrounded by vacation hotels on the other. The beautiful spring weather during our visit left little doubt in our mind that this part of Chile would be high on our list for our vacations if we were Chilean.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
November 22, 2008
SOUTH AMERICA BLOG #3
22 November 2008
Costa Rica is trying hard to become attractive to travelers. Our stop at Puntarenas (Sp = Sandy point) introduced us to some wonderful sandy beaches, typical Central American life style, a warm muggy climate and not much that would steal vacationers away from Cancun and Acapulco. We chose a shore excursion that would show us the exotic side of jungle bound Puntarenas.
Our tour entitled “Train, Bus and Boat adventure” did indeed feature all three forms of transportation as we explored the sea shore, the interior jungle and looked for crocodiles and exotic birds in a river flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Everything went smashingly well until we came to a wide spot in the road where we were to meet a train on a narrow gauge rail line next to the road. We left the bus and stood in the shade it created for the best part of an hour waiting for our train ride. A series of frantic calls by our guide finally determined that something had gone wrong with the track and the train couldn’t reach us. It was decided that if the train couldn’t come to us we would go to the train. Our bus rattled over country roads, past meager homes and small tilled fields as we fought our way deeper into the jungle. We found the train parked next to a small school in a village that featured a half dozen homes, a dozen or so smiling inquisitive kids and a beleaguered looking crew. We scrambled aboard the little train and began our ride through the Costa Rican jungle which looked something like Tarzan films minus hanging vines for dramatic tree to tree jungle travel. Our train whistled along for a while before slowing to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Looking out the opened window of our coach we watched a crew of a half dozen workers as they stared questioningly at a section of track as we crept by. Apparently a rain storm earlier in the day had washed out a small section that had just been jury rigged for our passage. Not a single one of the staring workers looked as though he believed our train could really make it through…but we did. We eventually popped out of the jungle at the spot where we had waited an hour for our train.
Our bus now picked up speed racing over rough winding roads to take us to our boat ride segment of the tour. The boat was a part of a local concession that promised sightings of alligators and rare birds, and maybe an iguanas or two as we explored the Tarcoles River. We began with an immediate sighting of a crocodile who appeared to be chained to the pier. We did see flocks of Macaws, at least that is what our guide called a bunch of birds that flew over, and a gazillion or so snowy egrets. We were a bit disappointed not to be introduced personally to a spoonbill or a jacanas that our advertisement had touted for the area. We did spot a number of crocodiles that seemed to smile in anticipation of dinner when we floated by. It surprised us to see a family of locals out for an afternoon swim just a couple of hundred yards up stream from the advertised meanies. The promised treat of local fruit while listening to authentic local marimba performers was shortened to a quick stanza or two while we off loaded the boat and climbed aboard our bus where we found a plate of fruit on each seat. Dottie found that Costa Rican fruit is kind of squishy as she sat down before realizing lunch had been served. The Norwegian Sun delayed its planned departure for our late arriving tour bus and our wonderful visit to Costa Rica ended.
Our visit to Manta, Ecuador left us with an entirely different feeling about Central America. Manta, a city of more than 200,000, is a bustling port community serving the sea going transportation needs of the country. The Pacific beaches of Ecuador provide breath taking views of the sea meeting the land. Manta beaches were selected for the sixth annual South American Wind Surfing Championship. Ecuador’s tuna fishing industry works out of Manta with literally dozens of tuna boats unloading tons of tuna around the clock. We were fascinated as we watched cranes lower nets into the holds of the boats and return with huge loads of fish that were dumped into trucks for transport to local canneries.
We learned that the area we now know as Ecuador was originally visited by a Spanish scouting expedition in 1526. Francisco Pizarro and his conquistadores invaded the country six yeas later. Following Pizarro’s death, his brother Gonzalo took over and led a rebellion against Spain. Gonzalo’s independent rule lasted until 1548 when the Spanish Crown defeated his small army.
The independence leader, Simon Bolivar, finally defeated the last vestiges of Spanish colonial rule in 1822 when several future South American countries formed the Republic of Colombia including what is now Venezuela, Panama and others. Ecuador withdrew from the the Republic in 1830 and has been a self governing country since.
The grand adventure of our cruise was our three day shore excursion to Macho Picchu, and ancient Inca city and a site that is now one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World. We began with a 6:00 AM ride by bus to the Lima, Peru International Airport. An hour long flight took us from sea level at Lima to 11,000 feet at Cusco, Peru. We had been warned to expect some difficulties with the sudden altitude change and we did. Just walking from the plane to a bus which would take us to our hotel was breath taking, like it took a lot more breath than we had to give.
Our hotel was as grand as we have ever known and our guide’s admonition to take a nap was followed by Bill as Dottie managed to arrange our few things for our two night stay. Our lunch and afternoon tour of Cusco introduced us to the local sights and Inca lore that pervades everything. During our visit to the Cathedral of Cusco our guide pointed out the many ways that Inca beliefs were woven into the Catholic ideology. Incas worshipped nature and their descendants have created a form of Catholicism that incorporates the ancient worship of Inca idols in small but observable ways. A prominent statue of St. Paul holding a large cross included an obvious sun carved in the middle of the cross to indicate the Inca worship of the Sun. Our guide spoke of the confusion that the mixing of beliefs has caused, especially among young people. It was suggested that although the country is basically Catholic, few if any of the younger generation attend church or refer to themselves as Catholic.
Our city tour took us to the Plaza Recogido, Plaza de Armas, Santo Domingo Convent and the winding ancient streets of the city of 400,000. All of the sites visited contained portions of previous Inca stone architecture. Along the way we learned that Peru, a country of 24 million has 19 million cell phones. The country is slowly growing out of a long period of inflation and lack of financial growth. We saw few cars outside the city indicating low income among a large part of the population. We did observe that everything seemed very clean as compared to other developing countries we have visited.
On our second day, we were up before 4:00 AM to catch a bus at 5:00 AM that would take us to the Macho Picchu train. During our first night at Cusco, Dottie was kept awake by a constant cramping and involuntary movement of her legs caused by the sudden change in altitude. The train ride took us from Cusco at 11,000 feet, across a pass at 13,000 feet, to Macho Picchu at 8,000 feet in the high jungle of Peru. Our train followed the Ollantaytambo River which flows down the eastern slope of the Andes into the Amazon River. The rapid descent of the river provided wonderful views of white water rapids along the way. Occasionally we passed small farms where corn and potatoes were being grown.
Macha Picchu was awesome, to say the least. The Inca city built in 1450 and abandoned in 1540 was never visited by the Conquistadors. There are several theories about why people abandoned the site. The most logical seems to be that the terraced fields were unable to feed a growing population. Another theory is that the Spanish gift of smallpox invaded the town through visitors from Cusco and drove the inhabitants away thru fear. Whatever the case, the site was soon overgrown by jungle and not known to the outside world until 1911 when an American professor/explorer, Hiram Bingham, visited the site after learning about it from neighbors. The site was subsequently cleared of jungle to display what is seen today.
Pictures of the site show huge buildings built Inca style with large limestone blocks amazingly shaped and fitted without mortar so that they have remained through the centuries’ many earthquakes. We climbed the many stone stairways connecting buildings until our legs were numbed. Even though the altitude difficulties we were experiencing told us otherwise, we couldn’t imagine not seeing everything there was to see. Our four hours at Machu Picchu left us with some marvelous memories of what the amazing Inca civilization accomplished
Our knowledge of the Inca Empire was enriched by each of the guides along the way. The Incas built one of the largest and wealthiest empires in the western hemisphere between 1100 and 1500 AD covering much of the region now included in present day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The empire was ruled by a king who was worshipped as a god. The empire disintegrated when the king and his brother fought for control.
The ancestors of the Incas are interesting people. They farm areas of the Andes as high as 19,000 feet. We saw productive farm operations at 13,000 feet. They continue to follow a conservative set of rules to live by that were written by some ancient Inca king. One king dictated that no couple would have sex during the month of November each year. To this day August birthdays are the most popular among Peruvians. Peruvians are friendly and outgoing with visitors, especially if the visitor appears to be in a mood to pose with a Llama for a photo or by some handiwork created by a semi-talented housewife.
We managed a few poses but avoided collecting Peruvian handicrafts. Even though we knew in our hearts that our family members would really be excited about receiving a hand made flute for Christmas, our luggage was overweight before leaving home and we simply are not using enough tooth paste and deodorant to make more room for such good stuff.
Smelling good with pleasant love you all
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
22 November 2008
Costa Rica is trying hard to become attractive to travelers. Our stop at Puntarenas (Sp = Sandy point) introduced us to some wonderful sandy beaches, typical Central American life style, a warm muggy climate and not much that would steal vacationers away from Cancun and Acapulco. We chose a shore excursion that would show us the exotic side of jungle bound Puntarenas.
Our tour entitled “Train, Bus and Boat adventure” did indeed feature all three forms of transportation as we explored the sea shore, the interior jungle and looked for crocodiles and exotic birds in a river flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Everything went smashingly well until we came to a wide spot in the road where we were to meet a train on a narrow gauge rail line next to the road. We left the bus and stood in the shade it created for the best part of an hour waiting for our train ride. A series of frantic calls by our guide finally determined that something had gone wrong with the track and the train couldn’t reach us. It was decided that if the train couldn’t come to us we would go to the train. Our bus rattled over country roads, past meager homes and small tilled fields as we fought our way deeper into the jungle. We found the train parked next to a small school in a village that featured a half dozen homes, a dozen or so smiling inquisitive kids and a beleaguered looking crew. We scrambled aboard the little train and began our ride through the Costa Rican jungle which looked something like Tarzan films minus hanging vines for dramatic tree to tree jungle travel. Our train whistled along for a while before slowing to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Looking out the opened window of our coach we watched a crew of a half dozen workers as they stared questioningly at a section of track as we crept by. Apparently a rain storm earlier in the day had washed out a small section that had just been jury rigged for our passage. Not a single one of the staring workers looked as though he believed our train could really make it through…but we did. We eventually popped out of the jungle at the spot where we had waited an hour for our train.
Our bus now picked up speed racing over rough winding roads to take us to our boat ride segment of the tour. The boat was a part of a local concession that promised sightings of alligators and rare birds, and maybe an iguanas or two as we explored the Tarcoles River. We began with an immediate sighting of a crocodile who appeared to be chained to the pier. We did see flocks of Macaws, at least that is what our guide called a bunch of birds that flew over, and a gazillion or so snowy egrets. We were a bit disappointed not to be introduced personally to a spoonbill or a jacanas that our advertisement had touted for the area. We did spot a number of crocodiles that seemed to smile in anticipation of dinner when we floated by. It surprised us to see a family of locals out for an afternoon swim just a couple of hundred yards up stream from the advertised meanies. The promised treat of local fruit while listening to authentic local marimba performers was shortened to a quick stanza or two while we off loaded the boat and climbed aboard our bus where we found a plate of fruit on each seat. Dottie found that Costa Rican fruit is kind of squishy as she sat down before realizing lunch had been served. The Norwegian Sun delayed its planned departure for our late arriving tour bus and our wonderful visit to Costa Rica ended.
Our visit to Manta, Ecuador left us with an entirely different feeling about Central America. Manta, a city of more than 200,000, is a bustling port community serving the sea going transportation needs of the country. The Pacific beaches of Ecuador provide breath taking views of the sea meeting the land. Manta beaches were selected for the sixth annual South American Wind Surfing Championship. Ecuador’s tuna fishing industry works out of Manta with literally dozens of tuna boats unloading tons of tuna around the clock. We were fascinated as we watched cranes lower nets into the holds of the boats and return with huge loads of fish that were dumped into trucks for transport to local canneries.
We learned that the area we now know as Ecuador was originally visited by a Spanish scouting expedition in 1526. Francisco Pizarro and his conquistadores invaded the country six yeas later. Following Pizarro’s death, his brother Gonzalo took over and led a rebellion against Spain. Gonzalo’s independent rule lasted until 1548 when the Spanish Crown defeated his small army.
The independence leader, Simon Bolivar, finally defeated the last vestiges of Spanish colonial rule in 1822 when several future South American countries formed the Republic of Colombia including what is now Venezuela, Panama and others. Ecuador withdrew from the the Republic in 1830 and has been a self governing country since.
The grand adventure of our cruise was our three day shore excursion to Macho Picchu, and ancient Inca city and a site that is now one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World. We began with a 6:00 AM ride by bus to the Lima, Peru International Airport. An hour long flight took us from sea level at Lima to 11,000 feet at Cusco, Peru. We had been warned to expect some difficulties with the sudden altitude change and we did. Just walking from the plane to a bus which would take us to our hotel was breath taking, like it took a lot more breath than we had to give.
Our hotel was as grand as we have ever known and our guide’s admonition to take a nap was followed by Bill as Dottie managed to arrange our few things for our two night stay. Our lunch and afternoon tour of Cusco introduced us to the local sights and Inca lore that pervades everything. During our visit to the Cathedral of Cusco our guide pointed out the many ways that Inca beliefs were woven into the Catholic ideology. Incas worshipped nature and their descendants have created a form of Catholicism that incorporates the ancient worship of Inca idols in small but observable ways. A prominent statue of St. Paul holding a large cross included an obvious sun carved in the middle of the cross to indicate the Inca worship of the Sun. Our guide spoke of the confusion that the mixing of beliefs has caused, especially among young people. It was suggested that although the country is basically Catholic, few if any of the younger generation attend church or refer to themselves as Catholic.
Our city tour took us to the Plaza Recogido, Plaza de Armas, Santo Domingo Convent and the winding ancient streets of the city of 400,000. All of the sites visited contained portions of previous Inca stone architecture. Along the way we learned that Peru, a country of 24 million has 19 million cell phones. The country is slowly growing out of a long period of inflation and lack of financial growth. We saw few cars outside the city indicating low income among a large part of the population. We did observe that everything seemed very clean as compared to other developing countries we have visited.
On our second day, we were up before 4:00 AM to catch a bus at 5:00 AM that would take us to the Macho Picchu train. During our first night at Cusco, Dottie was kept awake by a constant cramping and involuntary movement of her legs caused by the sudden change in altitude. The train ride took us from Cusco at 11,000 feet, across a pass at 13,000 feet, to Macho Picchu at 8,000 feet in the high jungle of Peru. Our train followed the Ollantaytambo River which flows down the eastern slope of the Andes into the Amazon River. The rapid descent of the river provided wonderful views of white water rapids along the way. Occasionally we passed small farms where corn and potatoes were being grown.
Macha Picchu was awesome, to say the least. The Inca city built in 1450 and abandoned in 1540 was never visited by the Conquistadors. There are several theories about why people abandoned the site. The most logical seems to be that the terraced fields were unable to feed a growing population. Another theory is that the Spanish gift of smallpox invaded the town through visitors from Cusco and drove the inhabitants away thru fear. Whatever the case, the site was soon overgrown by jungle and not known to the outside world until 1911 when an American professor/explorer, Hiram Bingham, visited the site after learning about it from neighbors. The site was subsequently cleared of jungle to display what is seen today.
Pictures of the site show huge buildings built Inca style with large limestone blocks amazingly shaped and fitted without mortar so that they have remained through the centuries’ many earthquakes. We climbed the many stone stairways connecting buildings until our legs were numbed. Even though the altitude difficulties we were experiencing told us otherwise, we couldn’t imagine not seeing everything there was to see. Our four hours at Machu Picchu left us with some marvelous memories of what the amazing Inca civilization accomplished
Our knowledge of the Inca Empire was enriched by each of the guides along the way. The Incas built one of the largest and wealthiest empires in the western hemisphere between 1100 and 1500 AD covering much of the region now included in present day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The empire was ruled by a king who was worshipped as a god. The empire disintegrated when the king and his brother fought for control.
The ancestors of the Incas are interesting people. They farm areas of the Andes as high as 19,000 feet. We saw productive farm operations at 13,000 feet. They continue to follow a conservative set of rules to live by that were written by some ancient Inca king. One king dictated that no couple would have sex during the month of November each year. To this day August birthdays are the most popular among Peruvians. Peruvians are friendly and outgoing with visitors, especially if the visitor appears to be in a mood to pose with a Llama for a photo or by some handiwork created by a semi-talented housewife.
We managed a few poses but avoided collecting Peruvian handicrafts. Even though we knew in our hearts that our family members would really be excited about receiving a hand made flute for Christmas, our luggage was overweight before leaving home and we simply are not using enough tooth paste and deodorant to make more room for such good stuff.
Smelling good with pleasant love you all
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
Monday, November 17, 2008
South America Blog #2
SOUTH AMERICA BLOG #2
17 November 2008
The Big Guy is looking after us!
Back in July on board the Norwegian Jewel, the crew told us that all one had to do to get married on board was to let the staff know. Later, in August on board the Norwegian Jade, the same message came across loud and clear. Just ask and it happens.
Just before sailing, Bill called Norwegian Cruise Lines to see if there was anything we had to do before boarding to have a marriage take place. We were told, for the first time, that requests had to be made thirty days before sailing! Yikes!
Hoping that rules were made to be broken, we made contact with the officer in charge of such things as soon as we boarded the Norwegian Sun on November 4. We found that 1) this captain did not do marriages and 2) there was no ship’s Chaplain on board on this cruise. We asked what options were open to us. Marvelous Claudia Lay, Group Services Coordinator, went to work on our behalf and look for ways to get us married. The best she could do was a civil ceremony at Manta Ecuador on November 15. Since this seemed like our only option, we asked that arrangements be made. We were required to furnish legal proof that Bill was not married. He emailed his attorney to have the document faxed to Manta. A few days later Manta reported that a copy would not do and that an original document was required. Since the piece of paper was locked in Bill’s safety deposit box Manta was scratched.
It next occurred to us that Bill’s brother Loran could fly down and join the cruise in time to meet our November 16 hoped for wedding date. Loran quickly agreed and Bill set about to rent a cabin for his stay on the Sun. Bill immediately found that NCL doesn’t allow passengers to join a cruise mid stream (so to speak). Bill called the NCL offices at Miami and talked to a line of supervisors who refused to budge on the issue. Brother Loran was scratched as an option.
We met with the travel company sponsoring the Machu Picchu shore excursion to see if he could arrange something at 8,000 feet during our visit to Cusco, Peru. He was quick to state that he knew of an Inca Shaman who regularly did “Commitment Ceremonies” and went to work making arrangements for us. We thought about the idea for a few days and decided against a ceremony squatted in the dirt while a brown skin native danced around sprinkling us with good luck potions.
We decided that the eggs in our basket had dwindled down to a final few that required that we find a passenger on board who could do the deed for us. For more than a week we had told everyone we had met of our lack of success in making our marriage a reality. We had half of the passengers saying hello to us and nodding their heads negatively to report on their searches. Bill offered our room steward $50 if he could find a minister among the 900 staff on board.
Finally, on Saturday November 15, we had two hot leads. A couple we had never met tackled us in the dining room and told us of a father and son they had met one of which had claimed to be a minister. At the same time, Denny, the man who bought Bill’s contracts for five cruises, reported finding a retired prison Chaplain he had met over the bridge table. Before we made contact, Claudia Lay called to tell us about the same man. Claudia met Reverend Joe Rigby when he asked if he could conduct a Sunday morning service on November 16 in the absence of anything planned by the ship. She suggested we go to the service and introduce ourselves.
On Sunday morning, November 16, we met Reverend Rigby after the service and arranged to have lunch with himnd his wife Shirley. Over lunch we found that Reverend Rigby would be pleased to marry us. We quickly contacted Claudia Lay who busted her buns making everything happen. Within a few hours, the Chapel was reserved, the Four Seasons Dining Room arranged a separate room for our wedding party dinner, Dottie called a number of our shipboard friends and invited them to our wedding and wonderful Claudia scratched up a handful of little flowers and arranged them in a small bridle bouquet.
A dozen couples arrived at the Chapel precisely at 6:00 PM and Reverend Rigby made us man and wife. Friend Marty Finver, the Bridge Director, was our official photographer providing a nice record of our big moment.
Our wedding dinner at the Four Seasons Restaurant was a masterful touch. New friend Roger Kent, who with his wife Anne served as our witnesses, offered the first toast as the one person in the room who knew us better than any others. Roger and Anne met us in the embarkation line at Francisco on November 4. The two dozen guests consumed nine bottles of ship’s wine that we provided as they enjoyed two and half hours of enjoying the moment with us.
When we had an opportunity to toast the moment, we thanked our new friends for making this big moment in our lives memorable. We also recognized that we had been blessed by our savior with a rich new future that we accepted with the realization that his expectation of us is that we would share with all we meet, through our example and actions, that love can be and should be a part of each senior citizen’s life. As two who have passed their seventy-fifth majority, we know that the richness of life found in a loving relationship can be possible if we learn to expect and work for the happiness that follows.
We love you all so very much,
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Bill and Dottie Berck
17 November 2008
The Big Guy is looking after us!
Back in July on board the Norwegian Jewel, the crew told us that all one had to do to get married on board was to let the staff know. Later, in August on board the Norwegian Jade, the same message came across loud and clear. Just ask and it happens.
Just before sailing, Bill called Norwegian Cruise Lines to see if there was anything we had to do before boarding to have a marriage take place. We were told, for the first time, that requests had to be made thirty days before sailing! Yikes!
Hoping that rules were made to be broken, we made contact with the officer in charge of such things as soon as we boarded the Norwegian Sun on November 4. We found that 1) this captain did not do marriages and 2) there was no ship’s Chaplain on board on this cruise. We asked what options were open to us. Marvelous Claudia Lay, Group Services Coordinator, went to work on our behalf and look for ways to get us married. The best she could do was a civil ceremony at Manta Ecuador on November 15. Since this seemed like our only option, we asked that arrangements be made. We were required to furnish legal proof that Bill was not married. He emailed his attorney to have the document faxed to Manta. A few days later Manta reported that a copy would not do and that an original document was required. Since the piece of paper was locked in Bill’s safety deposit box Manta was scratched.
It next occurred to us that Bill’s brother Loran could fly down and join the cruise in time to meet our November 16 hoped for wedding date. Loran quickly agreed and Bill set about to rent a cabin for his stay on the Sun. Bill immediately found that NCL doesn’t allow passengers to join a cruise mid stream (so to speak). Bill called the NCL offices at Miami and talked to a line of supervisors who refused to budge on the issue. Brother Loran was scratched as an option.
We met with the travel company sponsoring the Machu Picchu shore excursion to see if he could arrange something at 8,000 feet during our visit to Cusco, Peru. He was quick to state that he knew of an Inca Shaman who regularly did “Commitment Ceremonies” and went to work making arrangements for us. We thought about the idea for a few days and decided against a ceremony squatted in the dirt while a brown skin native danced around sprinkling us with good luck potions.
We decided that the eggs in our basket had dwindled down to a final few that required that we find a passenger on board who could do the deed for us. For more than a week we had told everyone we had met of our lack of success in making our marriage a reality. We had half of the passengers saying hello to us and nodding their heads negatively to report on their searches. Bill offered our room steward $50 if he could find a minister among the 900 staff on board.
Finally, on Saturday November 15, we had two hot leads. A couple we had never met tackled us in the dining room and told us of a father and son they had met one of which had claimed to be a minister. At the same time, Denny, the man who bought Bill’s contracts for five cruises, reported finding a retired prison Chaplain he had met over the bridge table. Before we made contact, Claudia Lay called to tell us about the same man. Claudia met Reverend Joe Rigby when he asked if he could conduct a Sunday morning service on November 16 in the absence of anything planned by the ship. She suggested we go to the service and introduce ourselves.
On Sunday morning, November 16, we met Reverend Rigby after the service and arranged to have lunch with himnd his wife Shirley. Over lunch we found that Reverend Rigby would be pleased to marry us. We quickly contacted Claudia Lay who busted her buns making everything happen. Within a few hours, the Chapel was reserved, the Four Seasons Dining Room arranged a separate room for our wedding party dinner, Dottie called a number of our shipboard friends and invited them to our wedding and wonderful Claudia scratched up a handful of little flowers and arranged them in a small bridle bouquet.
A dozen couples arrived at the Chapel precisely at 6:00 PM and Reverend Rigby made us man and wife. Friend Marty Finver, the Bridge Director, was our official photographer providing a nice record of our big moment.
Our wedding dinner at the Four Seasons Restaurant was a masterful touch. New friend Roger Kent, who with his wife Anne served as our witnesses, offered the first toast as the one person in the room who knew us better than any others. Roger and Anne met us in the embarkation line at Francisco on November 4. The two dozen guests consumed nine bottles of ship’s wine that we provided as they enjoyed two and half hours of enjoying the moment with us.
When we had an opportunity to toast the moment, we thanked our new friends for making this big moment in our lives memorable. We also recognized that we had been blessed by our savior with a rich new future that we accepted with the realization that his expectation of us is that we would share with all we meet, through our example and actions, that love can be and should be a part of each senior citizen’s life. As two who have passed their seventy-fifth majority, we know that the richness of life found in a loving relationship can be possible if we learn to expect and work for the happiness that follows.
We love you all so very much,
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Bill and Dottie Berck
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
SoAmerica Blog #1
South America BLOG #1
12 November 2008
Our South America adventure began wonderfully as Joy volunteered to drive us to Pier 35 on the San Francisco Embarcadero. Even though we arrived early we were greeted by several hundred fellow passengers waiting in line for the embarkation process. Within minutes we were well acquainted with a wonderful couple, Ann and Roger from Hawaii. We knew we would see them often during the next 34 days.
Our first port of call was Los Angeles harbor at San Pedro. As one of the world’s largest container ports, our landing had all of the characteristics of arriving in Chicago by train. We really didn’t plan to go ashore but our unpacking found a couple of necessities missing. Since walking anywhere from the port is 1)a long way and 2) not particularly safe, we opted for a cab to take us to the nearest Walmart or whatever. The cabs that were available were choosing passengers that wanted their $75 quickie tour of LA highlights and not particularly interested in short hauls. After waiting patiently for the best part of an hour, we found another couple with a similar need and decided to share a rented car. The car rental turned out to be a godsend. It was cheaper by far than a local cab and gave us an opportunity to make some new friends; Debbie and Trevor from Texas.
Arrival at Acapulco followed three great days at sea as each day became warmer and longer. We took the city tour that included a stop at the famous Mirador Hotel where Mexican divers have been diving off a cliff into 12 feet of water for forty years to entertain guests. After a quick Marguerita we were treated to the famous spectacle of normal looking men diving 110 feet into a rising tide to make us happy. Since the divers do their thing five times a day, seven days a week they must know how to do what they do. We enjoyed the dives and a ten minute folkloric show and we were on our way.
We learned a lot about Acapulco from our seasoned guide who still smiled after telling the same jokes for the twelve years. The wonderful bay was home to the Nahua tribe for 2000 years before they were conquered by the Aztecs a hundred years or so before Hernan Cortez and his sailors took the port in 1521. Acapulco ultimately became the jumping off point for later Spanish exploration of Mexico and points south as far as Peru. Later it became the only port authorized by Spain to receive Spanish galleons from the Philippines and China. Legend has it that the first foreign visitor to Acapulco was a Chinese monk named Fa Hsien sometime around 417 AD.
Our ship parked just below the Spanish Fort San Diego constructed in 1616 and rebuilt in 1776 after a great earthquake. The fort is now a national museum that we decided not to visit.
J Paul Getty recognized the resort potential of the area and built the first major hotel, the Pierre Marquez, in 1957. In the fifties an international airport was built and the Mexican government encouraged the development of more resort facilities. Today the bay is surrounded by luxury hotels that attract visitors from all over the world. Acapulco is the major vacation spot for Mexicans. Just a four hour drive from Mexico City, many Mexicans frequent the area annually. Today, the older area, known by locals as Acapulco Traditional, has hotels available for as little as $10 a day per person.
Our tour took us by the “Black Lagoon”, the site of many movies including the African Queen, Tarzan, Papillon and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. We drove by the Acapulco Princess Hilton and the Pierre Marquez all near the little neighboring town of Puerto Marquez.
After our tour, we set out on foot to explore the Zocolo, the town square, and strolled along the waterfront where local fishermen were selling the catch of the day.
Another day at Sea brought us to the Guatemala port of Puerto Queztal. The temperature had now reached the mid eighties accompanied by a humidity of 95%. We opted to go ashore and visit the small group of merchants who live off of the cruise ship tourist trade. Some fellow passengers took excursions into Guatemala City and/or Antigua, an hour’s drive away.
Our stroll ashore gave us an opportunity to be confronted by the usual aggressive merchants of all kinds of handicrafts, watch mothers teaching their kids how to weave the wonderful stuff that folks like us will pay big bucks for, tour a “Jade Museum” where we learned a lot of stuff about Jade and it’s many colors, listen to some marvelous marimba music played by eight marimba players working two huge marimbas and see a staged fashion show where lovely ladies and handsome gentlemen modeled Guatemala traditional clothes that one would never see on the street.
The next few days we will be visiting ports every other day with days at sea in between. As we creep closer to the Equator it gets warmer and muggier; but not inside where the ship’s air conditioning system keeps all at a marvelous if not a bit chilly 70 degrees.
We’ve had some interesting moments during our first week at sea that we will tell about later. For now, we’re happy as clams, we are well and smiling, life couldn’t be better….unless maybe if we could spot one of those giant sea turtles that people keep seeing pass our ship.
We send our love to all……
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
12 November 2008
Our South America adventure began wonderfully as Joy volunteered to drive us to Pier 35 on the San Francisco Embarcadero. Even though we arrived early we were greeted by several hundred fellow passengers waiting in line for the embarkation process. Within minutes we were well acquainted with a wonderful couple, Ann and Roger from Hawaii. We knew we would see them often during the next 34 days.
Our first port of call was Los Angeles harbor at San Pedro. As one of the world’s largest container ports, our landing had all of the characteristics of arriving in Chicago by train. We really didn’t plan to go ashore but our unpacking found a couple of necessities missing. Since walking anywhere from the port is 1)a long way and 2) not particularly safe, we opted for a cab to take us to the nearest Walmart or whatever. The cabs that were available were choosing passengers that wanted their $75 quickie tour of LA highlights and not particularly interested in short hauls. After waiting patiently for the best part of an hour, we found another couple with a similar need and decided to share a rented car. The car rental turned out to be a godsend. It was cheaper by far than a local cab and gave us an opportunity to make some new friends; Debbie and Trevor from Texas.
Arrival at Acapulco followed three great days at sea as each day became warmer and longer. We took the city tour that included a stop at the famous Mirador Hotel where Mexican divers have been diving off a cliff into 12 feet of water for forty years to entertain guests. After a quick Marguerita we were treated to the famous spectacle of normal looking men diving 110 feet into a rising tide to make us happy. Since the divers do their thing five times a day, seven days a week they must know how to do what they do. We enjoyed the dives and a ten minute folkloric show and we were on our way.
We learned a lot about Acapulco from our seasoned guide who still smiled after telling the same jokes for the twelve years. The wonderful bay was home to the Nahua tribe for 2000 years before they were conquered by the Aztecs a hundred years or so before Hernan Cortez and his sailors took the port in 1521. Acapulco ultimately became the jumping off point for later Spanish exploration of Mexico and points south as far as Peru. Later it became the only port authorized by Spain to receive Spanish galleons from the Philippines and China. Legend has it that the first foreign visitor to Acapulco was a Chinese monk named Fa Hsien sometime around 417 AD.
Our ship parked just below the Spanish Fort San Diego constructed in 1616 and rebuilt in 1776 after a great earthquake. The fort is now a national museum that we decided not to visit.
J Paul Getty recognized the resort potential of the area and built the first major hotel, the Pierre Marquez, in 1957. In the fifties an international airport was built and the Mexican government encouraged the development of more resort facilities. Today the bay is surrounded by luxury hotels that attract visitors from all over the world. Acapulco is the major vacation spot for Mexicans. Just a four hour drive from Mexico City, many Mexicans frequent the area annually. Today, the older area, known by locals as Acapulco Traditional, has hotels available for as little as $10 a day per person.
Our tour took us by the “Black Lagoon”, the site of many movies including the African Queen, Tarzan, Papillon and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. We drove by the Acapulco Princess Hilton and the Pierre Marquez all near the little neighboring town of Puerto Marquez.
After our tour, we set out on foot to explore the Zocolo, the town square, and strolled along the waterfront where local fishermen were selling the catch of the day.
Another day at Sea brought us to the Guatemala port of Puerto Queztal. The temperature had now reached the mid eighties accompanied by a humidity of 95%. We opted to go ashore and visit the small group of merchants who live off of the cruise ship tourist trade. Some fellow passengers took excursions into Guatemala City and/or Antigua, an hour’s drive away.
Our stroll ashore gave us an opportunity to be confronted by the usual aggressive merchants of all kinds of handicrafts, watch mothers teaching their kids how to weave the wonderful stuff that folks like us will pay big bucks for, tour a “Jade Museum” where we learned a lot of stuff about Jade and it’s many colors, listen to some marvelous marimba music played by eight marimba players working two huge marimbas and see a staged fashion show where lovely ladies and handsome gentlemen modeled Guatemala traditional clothes that one would never see on the street.
The next few days we will be visiting ports every other day with days at sea in between. As we creep closer to the Equator it gets warmer and muggier; but not inside where the ship’s air conditioning system keeps all at a marvelous if not a bit chilly 70 degrees.
We’ve had some interesting moments during our first week at sea that we will tell about later. For now, we’re happy as clams, we are well and smiling, life couldn’t be better….unless maybe if we could spot one of those giant sea turtles that people keep seeing pass our ship.
We send our love to all……
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
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