k - Acapulco and the Cliff Divers

Last night we were both very tired and I think I had the earliest night
yet - lights out by 10.30pm! Maybe it had something to do with the
margarita's ? It was probably a combination of those, the rocking night
before and a long day in Hautalco....... And so we woke up a tad more
rested this morning.... early, but rested. I just love being up on the
top deck when coming into port - its a whole adventure in of itself. So
with the sun rising and Acapulco waking up, we eased into the bay - and
then turned around and went in backwards! We glided past some
incredible scenery, watching the night lights slowly flickering out as
the sun lit the sky and Acapulco showed us her colors. The hills are
filled with houses all painted different colors, on the left of the bay
are the 'normal' size housing and on the right the hills were splattered
with huge, sprawling homes of the rich and famous. On this side, right
at the top of the tallest hill, stands a huge cross - towering way about
everything - very impressive. I much preferred the older part. And
yes, we came in backwards. As the ropes landed on the jetty, the
traffic was already picking up and we could hear the city starting to
roar. And it did all day long.

We headed off the boat to find our tour guide - and ended up on a mini
bus with only five of us. One guy was from Croatia, but lived in
California but did not speak English well at all - he smiled a lot. The
other couple had done this cruise before, done Acapulco before and were
not impressed by anything at all. They had words with the tour guide
really early on which really did not help matters. From the start we
all felt that the guide was.......well, otherwise occupied. He was slow
and sort of rude and short and so on...but there was no need to be rude
to him.

Anyway - first we headed to the Pacific side to the Flamingo Hotel where
some famous films were made, Elvis and Rambo and ...... well, I bet you
all know better than I do who made their movies there - Tarzan maybe?
Evidently I was not listening too well, but then the "rich and famous"
never really impressed me at all. But that hotel was all pink, with
coconut hulls hanging everywhere, the most incredible views of the ocean
and the cliffs........ no wonder it was a popular place.

And then, after being left there for too long by the guide, which
further irritated the 'been there done that' couple, and totally put the
Croatian into a flap, we left there and headed to the shopping part of
the tour - all jewelry that none of us were interested in, but the guide
had to take us there for a while. Unfortunately the guide left us there
too long again which did not help the vibe at all. Soon after we all
mutinously stood together at the mini bus, we headed to the other side
of town - right to that cross that is way up on the hill towering over
the rich and famous people and places. But first we passed the beaches
- all along the main drag where everyone and their brothers went to
visit, seeing as it is one of the busiest weeks in Acapulco! The
traffic is incredible....... no, replace that word with 'ridiculous'. I
would never drive here. It's not quite as bad as Ecuador, but still
totally crazy. Cars squeak through openings that I did not think a
bicycle could get through. The beaches looked good but were thickly
packed even by 9.30am. For a good many miles there are no buildings
along the beach - it is free to everyone and no building is allowed
along this stretch - and then the hotels start and the ocean is lost to
view apart from little slits between buildings.

And so up we went, up yet another steep road with incredible views. The
guide, Larry, kept on talking and asking questions and no one answered
and I was in the front seat - or was that 'the hot seat'. I just could
not let his questions go unanswered, or sit silently as he tried to get
the group moving, and there we a good few times when it seemed easier to
walk up that road than to keep the conversation going in that van. But
the views were amazing - there is a tall ship in port too - she is sleek
and white and looked stunning this evening with all her lights lit up
all the way up those masts. The houses on this end of town seem to be
built with money itself. One guy build a house, sold it a short while
later...... the guy that bought it loved the house so much that he had
it demolished - only to rebuild it exactly as it was - just so that he
could say he built his own dream house. Now THAT should be an illegal
waste of money! This area is being built as the "diamond class' of
everything - this is way above the 5 star class hotel. One place here
is famous for honeymooners and each room has its own indoor swimming
pool, as well as an outside one.

Anyway - the place where we were headed to is called the Chapel of Peace
and it consists of that huge cross thats on the top of the hill and a
Chapel and masauleum - dont know how to spell that...... It was
privately owned by the parents of two boys who died at the same time in
some or other of the wars of the country. They vowed to build something
in honor of their sons - and they did. The view from there is beautiful
and it really is beautifully peaceful and quiet. The Chapel is stark in
its plain-ness, but its soothing, with a very light and airy feel -
along with ......well, everyone went quiet as they walked in there. And
there is a statue of two hands - the boys' hands - a huge statue.

After that, we headed back down again to the Fuerto de San Diego - a
fortress that was right opposite where the ship lay waiting for us. By
now the 'btdt' couple was almost mutinous and the Croatian disappeared
at every turn, absolutely irritating the peace out of poor Larry who was
by now at his wits end. We had an afternoon tour to meet up with and
Larry kept on saying that 'all going well, we will make it in time'.
Well, that sort of played on Frank and my nerves too, and we were all
really ready to leave the fort and get back . And Larry made that
happen too. Frankly, the tour was not the best by a long way, but I
really felt sorry for Larry when, at the very end and after the other
three had stalked off, he asked us if we thought he did an ok job
because he felt a 'vibe from de odder peeple". Poor man - we just did
not have the heart to tell him that we hoped he had better days, or at
least a night job......so we told him that he was fine, gave him a tip,
told him not to worry about the others and trotted off to meet the other
tour.

I thought I had booked the boat ride to see the cliff divers. Not. I
looked at the tickets and read "City tour and Cliff Divers". Oh heck oh
heck - another city tour?? But after being greeted by the new guide we
hopped on the much bigger bus and headed out again - straight back to
the shop we were nearly held a mutiny on poor Larry.... Sigh. But this
time we headed to the Cliff Divers first.

Oh boy were they just amazing. There you have cliffs of about 160 foot
tall with these young men standing on the sides and top getting ready to
dive off. They only have a narrow strip of water to dive into and when
they start their dive they cannot even see the water - they have to push
off hard from where they stand to hit the water - but not too hard or
they will hit the other cliff on the other side! I am going to try to
put a photo in with this email to show you what I mean. Anyway, as we
found a place to get the best view, these young men, about eight of
them, scrambled up and down the cliff, stretched, waved and got
themselves ready for yet another show. On the very top of where they
dive from are two little places for them to pray before taking the
leap... and they all use those tiny chapels.

And then it was time for them to jump........... oh boy. They pray
first, then go to the dive spot, stretch again, wave and then turn and
look at the water, watching the waves, timing the waves... They have to
jump exactly at the right time when the water is at its deepest of
around 24 foot. Not much at all. Then up go the arms, head down and
the slow and graceful arc starts. All of us watching held our breath as
they jump, one by one, hitting the water and then clamoring back up that
wall. 5 jumped from about 120 feet up the cliff face, then two jumped
together, sailing down gracefully together and the last one jumped from
the top - a height of around 150 foot up...... What an incredible jump
that was - it went on forever and was over in just a couple of seconds.
So beautiful. So insane.

These guys train from around 13 years old and the divers of today were
all between 18 and 25 years old. Right after watching the cliff divers,
there was a show of some dancers in some very beautiful costumes. I
stood up on a balcony and got some really good photos of them and their
shadows...... They were all very beautiful, very lithe and very fit -
the guys very handsome and well built and the ladies just perfect. But
my mind was still on the cliff divers....... and then we got to meet
them too - there they stood, still dripping wet from another successful
jump. They are so young! Quite amazing.....but I guess those are the
years to do something as crazy as this. They have become so successful
that they apparently have unionized! They get paid ok, after about 5
years of training, but really need any tips, so we gladly obliged.

Then off to see the rest of the city - again. But this guide was fun
and funny and we did see a good many other things too..... We stopped at
view points that we were not able to earlier in the day and although
much of the time after the cliff divers was spend on the bus with only
short breaks - our feet were happy and we really enjoyed it. We had met
up with another couple we have seen many times on board - Nina and Hal.
She clicks away just about like I do and just 'gets' why i take photos
of crazy things. Both Hal and Frank just quietly shook their heads as
we got chatting. We were going to meet up tonight, but that did not work
out - maybe sometime tomorrow :)

And so we got back to the ship about an hour before sailing time. We
were really hungry as we had missed lunch because of the combination of
tours - only snacking on guavas and jerky/biltong. As good as they both
were, it was just not enough...... so we hustled ourselves on board,
grabbed a beer and headed up to eat and then to stand on deck as we left
port - again at sunset. This time we had a really big crowd of wavers
and for some reason it choked me up just watching those flashes going
off, the enthusiasm of the waving, listening to the yelling and the
goodbye's - just lovely. Some smaller boats came closer to yell and
wave goodbye and for a good long while after we were off the jetty, we
could see camera flashes popping. The lights of Acapulco glistened like
gems almost all around us as we headed out to sea - really pretty.

Its late again now, and its been a really good day. I can hear that
lovely bow wave crashing and the ship has almost a wobble in it tonight
- not quite a shudder like the other night, but getting closer it
seems. Time to close today..... Tomorrow, Wednesday, we have a day at
sea - lovely time to rest up. The next stop is Puerto Vallarta where we
go way up into the mountains again to the mining town of San
Sebastian... This is a town that was originally settled in 1605 and
still has the original cobbled streets...... more about it later. This
chapter has become a book all in itself...... till next time

Love and light
Annie

Dolphins - small photo

And here is one of those dolphins the other day...... I have to make
them small in order to send, but will have the bigger photos online soon
after we get home again
x

Cliff diver Photo

Hi - here is a one photograph of a Cliff Diver.... Here he has just
pushed off from the cliff and is about to head down..
x

k - Acapulco and the Cliff divers.

Last night we were both very tired and I think I had the earliest night
yet - lights out by 10.30pm! Maybe it had something to do with the
margarita's ? It was probably a combination of those, the rocking night
before and a long day in Hautalco....... And so we woke up a tad more
rested this morning.... early, but rested. I just love being up on the
top deck when coming into port - its a whole adventure in of itself. So
with the sun rising and Acapulco waking up, we eased into the bay - and
then turned around and went in backwards! We glided past some
incredible scenery, watching the night lights slowly flickering out as
the sun lit the sky and Acapulco showed us her colors. The hills are
filled with houses all painted different colors, on the left of the bay
are the 'normal' size housing and on the right the hills were splattered
with huge, sprawling homes of the rich and famous. On this side, right
at the top of the tallest hill, stands a huge cross - towering way about
everything - very impressive. I much preferred the older part. And
yes, we came in backwards. As the ropes landed on the jetty, the
traffic was already picking up and we could hear the city starting to
roar. And it did all day long.

We headed off the boat to find our tour guide - and ended up on a mini
bus with only five of us. One guy was from Croatia, but lived in
California but did not speak English well at all - he smiled a lot. The
other couple had done this cruise before, done Acapulco before and were
not impressed by anything at all. They had words with the tour guide
really early on which really did not help matters. From the start we
all felt that the guide was.......well, otherwise occupied. He was slow
and sort of rude and short and so on...but there was no need to be rude
to him.

Anyway - first we headed to the Pacific side to the Flamingo Hotel where
some famous films were made, Elvis and Rambo and ...... well, I bet you
all know better than I do who made their movies there - Tarzan maybe?
Evidently I was not listening too well, but then the "rich and famous"
never really impressed me at all. But that hotel was all pink, with
coconut hulls hanging everywhere, the most incredible views of the ocean
and the cliffs........ no wonder it was a popular place.

And then, after being left there for too long by the guide, which
further irritated the 'been there done that' couple, and totally put the
Croatian into a flap, we left there and headed to the shopping part of
the tour - all jewelry that none of us were interested in, but the guide
had to take us there for a while. Unfortunately the guide left us there
too long again which did not help the vibe at all. Soon after we all
mutinously stood together at the mini bus, we headed to the other side
of town - right to that cross that is way up on the hill towering over
the rich and famous people and places. But first we passed the beaches
- all along the main drag where everyone and their brothers went to
visit, seeing as it is one of the busiest weeks in Acapulco! The
traffic is incredible....... no, replace that word with 'ridiculous'. I
would never drive here. It's not quite as bad as Ecuador, but still
totally crazy. Cars squeak through openings that I did not think a
bicycle could get through. The beaches looked good but were thickly
packed even by 9.30am. For a good many miles there are no buildings
along the beach - it is free to everyone and no building is allowed
along this stretch - and then the hotels start and the ocean is lost to
view apart from little slits between buildings.

And so up we went, up yet another steep road with incredible views. The
guide, Larry, kept on talking and asking questions and no one answered
and I was in the front seat - or was that 'the hot seat'. I just could
not let his questions go unanswered, or sit silently as he tried to get
the group moving, and there we a good few times when it seemed easier to
walk up that road than to keep the conversation going in that van. But
the views were amazing - there is a tall ship in port too - she is sleek
and white and looked stunning this evening with all her lights lit up
all the way up those masts. The houses on this end of town seem to be
built with money itself. One guy build a house, sold it a short while
later...... the guy that bought it loved the house so much that he had
it demolished - only to rebuild it exactly as it was - just so that he
could say he built his own dream house. Now THAT should be an illegal
waste of money! This area is being built as the "diamond class' of
everything - this is way above the 5 star class hotel. One place here
is famous for honeymooners and each room has its own indoor swimming
pool, as well as an outside one.

Anyway - the place where we were headed to is called the Chapel of Peace
and it consists of that huge cross thats on the top of the hill and a
Chapel and masauleum - dont know how to spell that...... It was
privately owned by the parents of two boys who died at the same time in
some or other of the wars of the country. They vowed to build something
in honor of their sons - and they did. The view from there is beautiful
and it really is beautifully peaceful and quiet. The Chapel is stark in
its plain-ness, but its soothing, with a very light and airy feel -
along with ......well, everyone went quiet as they walked in there. And
there is a statue of two hands - the boys' hands - a huge statue.

After that, we headed back down again to the Fuerto de San Diego - a
fortress that was right opposite where the ship lay waiting for us. By
now the 'btdt' couple was almost mutinous and the Croatian disappeared
at every turn, absolutely irritating the peace out of poor Larry who was
by now at his wits end. We had an afternoon tour to meet up with and
Larry kept on saying that 'all going well, we will make it in time'.
Well, that sort of played on Frank and my nerves too, and we were all
really ready to leave the fort and get back . And Larry made that
happen too. Frankly, the tour was not the best by a long way, but I
really felt sorry for Larry when, at the very end and after the other
three had stalked off, he asked us if we thought he did an ok job
because he felt a 'vibe from de odder peeple". Poor man - we just did
not have the heart to tell him that we hoped he had better days, or at
least a night job......so we told him that he was fine, gave him a tip,
told him not to worry about the others and trotted off to meet the other
tour.

I thought I had booked the boat ride to see the cliff divers. Not. I
looked at the tickets and read "City tour and Cliff Divers". Oh heck oh
heck - another city tour?? But after being greeted by the new guide we
hopped on the much bigger bus and headed out again - straight back to
the shop we were nearly held a mutiny on poor Larry.... Sigh. But this
time we headed to the Cliff Divers first.

Oh boy were they just amazing. There you have cliffs of about 160 foot
tall with these young men standing on the sides and top getting ready to
dive off. They only have a narrow strip of water to dive into and when
they start their dive they cannot even see the water - they have to push
off hard from where they stand to hit the water - but not too hard or
they will hit the other cliff on the other side! I am going to try to
put a photo in with this email to show you what I mean. Anyway, as we
found a place to get the best view, these young men, about eight of
them, scrambled up and down the cliff, stretched, waved and got
themselves ready for yet another show. On the very top of where they
dive from are two little places for them to pray before taking the
leap... and they all use those tiny chapels.

And then it was time for them to jump........... oh boy. They pray
first, then go to the dive spot, stretch again, wave and then turn and
look at the water, watching the waves, timing the waves... They have to
jump exactly at the right time when the water is at its deepest of
around 24 foot. Not much at all. Then up go the arms, head down and
the slow and graceful arc starts. All of us watching held our breath as
they jump, one by one, hitting the water and then clamoring back up that
wall. 5 jumped from about 120 feet up the cliff face, then two jumped
together, sailing down gracefully together and the last one jumped from
the top - a height of around 150 foot up...... What an incredible jump
that was - it went on forever and was over in just a couple of seconds.
So beautiful. So insane.

These guys train from around 13 years old and the divers of today were
all between 18 and 25 years old. Right after watching the cliff divers,
there was a show of some dancers in some very beautiful costumes. I
stood up on a balcony and got some really good photos of them and their
shadows...... They were all very beautiful, very lithe and very fit -
the guys very handsome and well built and the ladies just perfect. But
my mind was still on the cliff divers....... and then we got to meet
them too - there they stood, still dripping wet from another successful
jump. They are so young! Quite amazing.....but I guess those are the
years to do something as crazy as this. They have become so successful
that they apparently have unionized! They get paid ok, after about 5
years of training, but really need any tips, so we gladly obliged.

Then off to see the rest of the city - again. But this guide was fun
and funny and we did see a good many other things too..... We stopped at
view points that we were not able to earlier in the day and although
much of the time after the cliff divers was spend on the bus with only
short breaks - our feet were happy and we really enjoyed it. We had met
up with another couple we have seen many times on board - Nina and Hal.
She clicks away just about like I do and just 'gets' why i take photos
of crazy things. Both Hal and Frank just quietly shook their heads as
we got chatting. We were going to meet up tonight, but that did not work
out - maybe sometime tomorrow :)

And so we got back to the ship about an hour before sailing time. We
were really hungry as we had missed lunch because of the combination of
tours - only snacking on guavas and jerky/biltong. As good as they both
were, it was just not enough...... so we hustled ourselves on board,
grabbed a beer and headed up to eat and then to stand on deck as we left
port - again at sunset. This time we had a really big crowd of wavers
and for some reason it choked me up just watching those flashes going
off, the enthusiasm of the waving, listening to the yelling and the
goodbye's - just lovely. Some smaller boats came closer to yell and
wave goodbye and for a good long while after we were off the jetty, we
could see camera flashes popping. The lights of Acapulco glistened like
gems almost all around us as we headed out to sea - really pretty.

Its late again now, and its been a really good day. I can hear that
lovely bow wave crashing and the ship has almost a wobble in it tonight
- not quite a shudder like the other night, but getting closer it
seems. Time to close today..... Tomorrow, Wednesday, we have a day at
sea - lovely time to rest up. The next stop is Puerto Vallarta where we
go way up into the mountains again to the mining town of San
Sebastian... This is a town that was originally settled in 1605 and
still has the original cobbled streets...... more about it later. This
chapter has become a book all in itself...... till next time

Love and light
Annie

--
http://cruisebaggs.blogspot.com
PHOTOS:http://s992.photobucket.com/home/travelbaggs

j - Huatulco, Mexico and the Oaxaca Villages

Oh boy was last night something else!! From soon after dark the wind
kept building, the waves got perkier and white caps became cooks hats
all over the ocean. When I was typing my email up last night, I was
sitting in the bet with my foot hooked around the edge of the mattress
and the other one spread out to help balance me. We had to move a few
things off the table and onto the ground and scrapped any idea of going
out on the balcony - the spray was pounding the windows of the sliding
door. From around midnight to just before sunrise, the ship shuddered,
pounded into the waves, took more than just spray way up on the decks,
even as high as we are on deck 6. There are glass dividers between the
decks on each cabin and it seemed as if they were just ready to break
loose and fly, it was almost impossible to open the doors and, well we
really were not keen to do that. As I lay in bed I could see the white
foam flushing up on our balcony and feel the deep shuddering on the
ship... it felt as if I were back on a little 60 foot sailboat pounding
through the waves. No one slept very well at all and this morning there
were many very bleary eyes around. When we went up on deck everything
was coated, literally, with a layer of salt - the decks were white with
it, the railings sticky and rough from it - everywhere.

Anyway - we were up at around 6.30am again, but it took us a tad longer
to get ready this morning. And then up on deck we went. The internet
had been down for just over a day already and apparently most of the tv
stations were too. The coast line of(pronounced wah-tul-co) Huatulco,
Mexico greeted us on the top deck - a hazy coastline that stretched for
miles. I really do enjoy coming into a port - its like unwrapping a
gift in many ways. So there we were, standing on the top deck with the
sun freshly risen and a whole new adventure ahead of us. There was no
one to greet us on the pier - but after a few minutes we could see a few
people running towards the ship, ready to catch the huge big blue ropes
to tie us up. And so our day got started. We grabbed a quick bite for
breakfast and headed out.

At first they could not clock me off the ship - my sea pass had smudged
it barcode, but she did it manually and let me off.... I had to get it
replaced after we got back on. We met up with the group going up to the
mountains with us and were soon happily chatting away with numerous
people. Its as if we share a little snippet of our lives, hear a rag of
theirs and a gentle tie is formed. Nothing permanent, but something
good nevertheless. We were shown to a minivan - eight of us in the
group with one tour guide who really was very good. We took a drive to
the top of a hill that gave us the most glorious view of the bay, the
marina, town and our ship.... A really stunning view. And then he told
us some history. A mere 20 years ago, the marina was a fresh water
lake, supplied by a river that ran off the mountains.... the locals
fished and hunted and it was a tough life, but the land was theirs. Then
one of the presidents decided to make this his project, a tourist
attraction like Cancun.... but it never really took off that much at
all. But in the process, all the people had to give up their land,
their space and their lifestyle. Many of them moved away and started
little villages a few miles away, but it was not the same. Our guide
was one of those that moved away and once he grew up, he saw the
opportunity in becoming a guide over trying to fish and farm through
life. There is a lot of studying to do on many fronts in order to
become a guide, but one that we have found the most important is
passion. A passion for their country and their job. Oscar had it!

After the view point, we headed to a little town...... ok, I could go
and look up the name of the town and tell you, but......... thats not
going to happen. Suffice to say that it is in Oaxaca, Huatulco, Mexico,
it had the word 'Cruz' in it somewhere. Maybe I will come across some
names while I type........ dont think so though. Anyway - we headed to
this little town and its market place..... of course I spied guavas and
as soon as we could get out of the van, we broke away from the group and
headed to buy some of them.......... ooooooooooh were they goooood!
Most people looked at us as if we were mad..... firstly they did not
know what guava's are (tropical fruit) and secondly, they were horrified
that we were eating fruit from Mexico! We would be Montazuma's Revenge,
they said.... (tummy issues, to say the least), but we had had no
problems in Baja or in South America before. Hopefully its the same this
time - but those quavas were worth even that :)

The fruit in the market was just beautiful - huge fruit, natural colors
and the taste was just perfect. They sold all sorts of stuff there
although it was not a huge market by any means. One of the ladies on
the tour with us wanted me to see the 'animals' and dragged me off to
take pictures of the butcher cleaning off a cow....There were little
bright eyed, barefoot kids running around with happy smiles on their
faces and Mama's and Papa's working hard at trying to make a few pennies.

And on we went to some or other official place where we saw beautiful
wall paintings and heard a bit of the history of the town. Mostly the
smaller towns are build around and sustained by, coffee. The coffee
grows on very steep mountainside and not neatly in rows on even ground
at all. The berries, when they are red and ripe, are hand picked and
then walked down the mountain to the collection points. It's really a
very hard life and we could tell it in the faces of the people in both
the little towns we visited. And then up a long steep narrow winding
road into the Cloud Forest of the Sierra Madre Mountains and anotehr
Oaxaca village called Pluma Hidalgo. The climb up the mountain we quite
interesting - in a few places there was nothing but a hole on the edge,
no barricades or anything at all - be everyone got around safely.
Hairpin bends, one after the other and the views were incredible. And
all of a sudden, there we were, in town. There was a huge tent,
festooned with hundreds of white balloons, pretty things and we started
hearing what we first thought were gunshots but turned out to be
fireworks being sent off in celebration of the wedding that was
happening. Big pinwheels had been made out of reeds, weeds and leaves
and the fire crackers attached to them and then fired off - they sure
made a noise as well as a lot of smoke. The roads in this town were
very very narrow and the town was FULL up with everyone attending the
wedding. The town square was at the top of the town. Literally. Every
road from that center statue, went down, very steeply down. There was
one road only that went up from there and I am not sure what vehicle
would be able to make it to the top. A very strange place. Of course
we could not go into the huge Catholic church with the wedding going on,
and apparently its very beautiful inside.

We did walk around a little, but just were not too keen to go down those
roads - it seemed almost as if everything could just fall off the
mountain at any time, as if its perched on the top of an incredible
mountain, which it is. Many people bought coffee and we wandered around
the different shops looking to see what they were offering. There are
no toy stores, no chocolate or candy stores, but every now and again
there is a dusty box with a toy tractor or baby doll in its pink finery,
just waiting to be dusted off and loved. Life up there is so absolutely
basic and yet we saw no unhappy children, no screaming, shouting,
disrespectful children...... They all had a twinkle in their eyes and a
ready wave with a glorious smile to match.

The hour drive down the mountain was interesting.... the guy drove
fairly fast and I just refused to look at the road at all. This time my
seat was on the outside of the road - lovely views, but oh so close to
the edge many many times. But I had a bag full of guavas and was happy :)

Because our visit to the Church on the mountain was cut short, our guide
took us to the Catholic Cathedral of the Virgin of Guadaloupe. There is
the most beautiful roof painting of the Virgin - it takes up almost the
whole length of the church roof. There were a good many other
paintings, but that one really kept the main attention. Yup, plenty
photos :) The Church benches were lovely solid, dark wood, standing
like every attentive soldiers in precisely spaced rows and they all
gleamed from the care they had been given. People dotted the benches,
gently singing or praying or just sitting there....it was really very
peaceful. Unfortunately by now we were running out of time and we moved
on all too soon. We went shopping before boarding again, then dropped
goodies and headed to the beach to get my feet in the water. lovely! We
found a seaside bar and ordered a margarita - good golly what an
absolutely un-utterably horrible drink that was! We drank it simply
because it was $6.50 each and the view was good.... The people
watching is fabulous :) We wandered around some more - down some
narrow streets and into some less tourist shops - its always nice to see
the less crowded places. And then it was time to head to the ship
again. Its kind of strange, there sits the Constellation, taking up the
horizon, filling the town with its presence and people and it seems so
casual to wander slowly back on board. There is always a band or
something playing as we walk the length of the ship and then we are
handed a juice to drink and a facecloth wet with ice water and little
blocks of ice. As our first foot hits the gangplank, we have some
disinfectant squirted into our hands and we quickly rub it in before
having to put everything we are carrying through the scanners again.
People wander up to the ship, barely making it before the 'all aboard'
time, which is usually about 30 minutes before we leave the dock. It
seems so casual and there really is no fuss or bother at all.

We headed out of Hautulco at sunset with the sky a lovely light pink -
just beautiful. We had to reverse off the jetty and all the way out to
sea, before the captain turned us around on a dime/tickie and off we
went again. There were many people yelling and waving and hundreds of
flashes going off as we left - its a really nice feeling to see so many
people saying goodbye . We decided to cancel out the bad margarita with
a good one out on deck under the night sky. We were both very tired and
I could not even finish writing this email. The internet finally
started working again as well, we heard - but I was just trying to
remember everything of the day.

It was another good one

Acapulco tomorrow. Double tours - its going to be a long day. :)

love and light
Annie

--
http://cruisebaggs.blogspot.com
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i - Two Sea Days.....

Two days at sea............ and we are forced to kick back and
relax...... its nice in a way, but oh so difficult to do. Yesterday we
woke up quite late, but this morning we were both up and showered and
ready for breakfast by 8.30am! Strange.

Yesterday we slothed around the top deck, the lounge one deck below, the
shady deck on level 4, the food and beer courts and the balcony, and
ended the day at the show for the day. It was very very well done, only
an hour, but really good. Yes, I got lots of photos of that too.

There was not much sea life at all yesterday, but today we have seen
about 7 turtles and many dolphins and other fish - both big and long and
thin. The weather is just beautiful, almost too hot - definitely too
hot for us to lay out in. Many people are out on deck in the glaring
sun all day long, and they vary in shades of red -from light pink to a
deep fried brown. One lady was almost white from a very thick layer of
sunscreen all over her - even on her lips and eyelids, over her very
very bronzed body. Her husband lay just out of reach. I am constantly
amazed at how people dress in public. The walking track on the top deck
is filled with serious walkers at times, I guess I really should do that
too - but this is a vacation, so any serious exercising will wait till
we get home again. Maybe we will also get laid up in a snowstorm for a
few days - the weather on the east coast looks horrible, and then we can
delay that a bit longer.

The Christmas music has stopped playing and even though the Christmas
trees still dot the halls everywhere, there is a different feel on board
now. Every time we leave the cabin, someone comes in and straightens it
all up again, we get new ice and they make sure we have a few beers in
the fridge... We are going to have to buy an extra suitcase to bring
home some of the things we have bought - and we still have 4 more stops
along the way and then San Diego!

The food on board is delicious........we change between eating at the
main restaurant and just picking our food from the almost constant
buffet. I really love the big chunks of fruit they have and the milk
and the bread is just beyond fair. There is everything from huge roasts
of any kind all the way to hot dogs.

Tomorrow we will be in Huatulco Mexico. We have a trip by bus up into
the Sierra Madre Mountains and a visit to two of the little towns up
there - it sounds like a wonderful day waiting. We are going to be
ready to see something other than the ship for a change... I have this
feeling that we are going to wish for these "there is nothing to do"
days once we are home again!

Oh wow, what a wonder filled end to the day we had! After typing the
above and seeing as Frank was enjoying the quiet of the cabin and
snoozing, I decided to walk around up on deck again to see what I could
see... Within three minutes of getting up there, we saw some dolphin
come around the bow of the boat, churning up the waters. And then more
and more and more!! There must have been at least a couple of hundred
of them and they were putting on one incredible display - the white
water of their splashes everywhere and those sleek black bodies arcing
through the air! I got a gooood many photos and have just looked at
them and cannot wait to get some printed out - they came out
beautifully! Oh it was lovely..... I stood with Gypsy pointed at them
happily doing her job and looked at them with my real eye.. Everyone
was almost breathless watching them - it was really a beautiful
experience. After wards another turtle plodded on by followed a string
of birds flying in a straight stripe along the waves. Each time they
got to the top of a wave, the sun lit them all up into brilliant white
sparkles as they cruised on to the next wave.

A little while after that I called down to the cabin and asked Frank if
he wanted to meet "the lady of his dreams" on the top deck for a
drink...Well, sheesh, those elevators must have worked at super speed
and we sat happily on the very front of the top deck people watching,
ocean watching and just enjoying. Soon it was time for the sun to set,
so we tootled over to the other side of the ship - yup, the Port
side.... and were given yet another beautiful sunset. The gold sun-road
glittered all the way across the water, to be met by the whitewater from
the bow wave. As they met, the tips of the waves were all painted with
a thin gold line.

Time for dinner and a show - roast, baked potatoes, veggies and
something that was very delicious, very chocolaty and rounded off the
meal very well. Then it was time to head to the Celebrity Theater for a
show of singing, band playing and a comedian again.... oh, and that
crushed ice margarita :)

And the wind and waves have picked up beautifully! We are pitching and
rolling and rocking so much that I think I will give up my lone nightly
walk on the top deck.......but not the quiet minutes on our own balcony,
well maybe that too - its very very windy out there. When we looked out
over the balcony just a few minutes ago, we first took our glasses off -
don't want to lose those now... its lovely, everything is creaking and
groaning, squeaking and the ship gives a huge shudder with almost every
wave she meets up with - love it!

And so today was in a good many ways a perfect ending to two days at
sea... and I know we will both sleep very well with this rocking.......

Love and light
Annie

--
http://cruisebaggs.blogspot.com
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h - The Panama Canal - what a lovely day!

After a very very long and hot day, I am on the balcony again, with the
ocean all to myself once more....

Just before 5am - yes, 5am!, I woke up and immediately saw lights all
around us outside. Frank was already in the shower and I quickly
grabbed Gypsy and headed outside. We really could save some time by
dragging the mattress outside!.. There I was met by a gazillion gold,
white, green and red lights everywhere I looked. It looked as if
someone has sprinkled my world with gems and made them all sparkle.
Just beautiful. As the sun slowly stuck its head above the horizon, we
could see the shapes of the ships that owned those lights....... and boy
were we surrounded. Right as I first grabbed the camera, Frank pointed
outside with big eyes as a container ship filled our view - totally! I
was absolutely surprised at how incredibly close we were. The crew were
yelling Felis Navidad over to us and I swear that one big swell would
have had us connected! No one seemed unduly worried, but no ship came
near as close to us after that either.

Anyway - there we were, plugging along at a fair clip, totally
surrounded by ships and boats of all sizes and shapes, the sun rising
and its not even a decent time of the day by far yet. But, off we half
ran to the top deck and....yes, we clicked away happily for the rest of
the day, for a total of 1397 photos for the day! Yup.... At one point
I tried to count the ships milling around but they all kept moving and
we agreed that it was lots more than we would have been comfortable with
in any other setting..

We got to the first lock a whole lot earlier than originally thought -
there were 42 boats/ships passing through the canal today and we lined
up right behind a huge yellow tanker. Its very strange to see a huge
ship 85 foot higher than we are and that view really put it all in
proportion for us The first of the locks is the Gutan Locks. This is a
series of three different locks that takes us up to 85 feet about
Caribbean Sea level and basically over the Continental Divide and its
mountains. We fitted very snugly into the lock - one foot space on each
side and about two feet open at the rear, with her bows kissing the
front gates. It was tight. The mechanical mules tied up to us with
huge lines to make sure we did not swing side to side - they are not
strong enough to pull this ship at all, and we entered the lock under
Constellation Power. The locks are really huge, I mean the whole
support structure and everything around it. After locking up to the
third level, it was a short way to the Gutan Lake where many of the
cruise ships turn around and go back to Florida. We were really glad to
be able to go on forward...... I would have been terribly inquisitive
about the rest of the lock if we had not. Did you know that the ocean
is higher on the Pacific side than on the Caribbean side of the Panama
Canal? If I remember correctly there is about 17 foot difference. Also,
we noticed that the water is blue on the Caribbean side and green on the
Pacific... I am going to check that out closer tomorrow.

All along the sides is forest, thick dense incredibly green forest. We
could hear bird calls and I think I heard the howler monkeys at one
point, but wont bet my bottom dollar on that one. The water is still
very high from the recent flooding and closing of the Canal and the
water is very muddy, a medium, murky, swirling brown..

And so we happily tootled along the fairly wide Canal, me walking from
one side of the ship to the other and bow to stern trying not to miss a
thing.... that was all but impossible. The Canal is dotted with
islands, lighthouses and all sorts of things to see, not a dull moment
at all. Through the Gutan Lakes we went, under the Millenium Bridge
which is a road used by the locals to cross over the Canal. Its
huuuuge! Getting pictures often entailed leaning waaaay over the
railings trying to snap photos that did not include peoples hands or
hats they were dangling over the side. I always had one foot entwined
in the railings - just in case.

There is an area that they had to blast huge amounts of the mountain
away and the ships still go through there single file to prevent
accidents. Its commonly known as "the Cut" and also has two much more
official names that I will have to look up again. I would not be
comfortable if there was another ship coming towards us in that narrow
section. This is a hugely impressive project and just fantastic to
see. We also saw quite a bit of the construction for the new set of
locks for even bigger ships. As we watched a dredger do its job, it
occurred to me that we had literally just seen history in the
making..... the new construction. One day there will be old photos of
this too and people will wonder about how it was done.. Watching this
reminded me of some road construction we saw being done in Costa Rica -
the guys were using wheel barrows and spades to build the road! And
here they had the very best of everything - quite amazing. This whole
project is going to be mind blowing by the time its done, its already
totally fascinating.

The second set of locks was.....well, it was only one lock with a drop
of around 30 foot. I spotted the live cam there and waved to anyone who
was watching.....remember that link I sent you? Yeah, I know, should
have sent it again. That lock did not take too long to go through but
what was interesting was watching the ship in the lock right next to us,
how they got all connected to the mules and were pulled or guided in,
made to slow down and stop before crashing through the gates in the
front. Its just brilliantly orchestrated.

And then the third set of locks was right there and we could also see
the Bridge of the Americas...... This bridge is just beautiful and it
literally joins the north and south American Continents. Its also a
part of the Pan American Highway that runs from Alaska to way down south
in South America. We have been on it in various places both in North
America and South America - and now we have been under it as well. The
final lock set when smoothly and also gave us plenty time to enjoy the
incredible skyline of Panama City. Well first, as we passed through the
last lock, there was the Canal Tourist building, all four stories of it,
almost filled with people watching us go through the lock. Apparently
its quite a thing to get to see a cruise ship go by and there was much
waving, yelling, of good wishes flying both ways. I wonder how many
photos there are of us picturizing them while they picturized us :)
The flashing of cameras was almost continuous - generally a lovely
moment that made both sides happy.

So now we were on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal and I was almost
disappointed - we had got through about and hour and a half faster than
anticipated, but that was probably good too. My arms and face are bright
red, I did not stop for breakfast and had only an apple and half a
banana and Gypsy and Nomad (Franks camera) were bursting at the seams.
Frank spent much more time in the shade, but I was too busy trying to
make sure I captured every possible thing. The Canal is really
beautiful with the greenery, the quiet as we slowly snaked our way south
through it and it kept us up and awake all day long.

The cost for this cruise ship to pass through the Panama Canal is just
under $290 000,00. Yup , you read that right.... The price is based on
how many passengers the ship can carry -not how many are actually on
board. The container ships are also rated like that - on how many
containers they can carry, not how many they actually have.... so all
the ships seem to be as full and loaded as possible.

After soaking up the Bridge of the Americas, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the
Panama City skyline, we headed into the bay and all the other ships just
seemed to melt away.... Suddenly the ocean was ours again. It was
almost silvery and difficult to discern where the horizon was - it all
sort of melted into a gentle blur. By now I was starting to come down
from all the excitement and my feet were killing me after standing all
day long in the hot sunshine. So we headed home to a shower and then to
try to connect with the kids while they were all together for Christmas
Eve. No luck at all really. Earlier today I had discovered that we
cannot connect to Skype from the ship and had a little pity party of
about 10 minutes. Actually, I was really sad - I was so looking forward
to seeing them all! Anyway - we did have brief contact over Yahoo mail
talk thingy and managed to get happy wishes flying both ways..... Made
me smile again.

So off to dinner, more pics of a lovely sunset and then back to the
cabin to put my feet up with a cuppa coffee for a while. We sat on the
balcony jsut watching the sky - it is so clear tonight with the stars
just hanging in there like diamonds floating around. There is a lovely
breeze and the sound of the bow wave.......well, it put Frank to sleep.
I had words tumbling around in my mind all day trying to describe the
awe and beauty of what we had seen so I carried a glass of wine out here
on the balcony and am sitting here in a little cocoon of darkness
absolutely loving the down time.

There are a good many shows on all around the ship tonight, and I might
pop in to one or two of them when I go and send this, but maybe not.
Today was a day filled with people, every time we turned, there was
somebody bumping into one, all jostling for the best possible place, the
best possible view. Even when they opened up the Helipad so that we
could stand up there - well, it was so full up that I came back down
again. So its really nice to just sit and be quiet and not hear a
single voice. Its been about an hour now of voiceless time - beautiful :)

The people watching was prime time today! Some people came on deck this
morning at 5am in ball gowns - seriously!...... and there they stood
next to those that chose to view the Panama Canal in their bath robes -
also serious! We had a good few 'little black dresses' on deck too,
which always had a following of menfolk behind them wherever they
walked. Today the kids on board were a lot roudier than the other days,
music blaring from a good few places and the smaller kids playing hide
and seek in one of the dining rooms..... I think someone put a stop to
that because it did not last too long but I also think that the kids are
getting cabin fever and they have all been fantastic so far.

I just noticed a beautiful orange moon and tried to get photos of it
too, but Gypsy did not want to wake up properly. Ah well. She will be
all ready again in the morning, like I will. This is about the quietest
Christmas Eve we have had but its good. The day has been wonder filled
and interesting and fascinating and it was lovely chatting to everyone
on board.

There are many South Africans on board, but one newbie. Her 6 month
contract just started with this trip and all her luggage got lost! Her
mom had packed her a good amount of biltong (beef jerky) and she is
hoping that its vacuum packed or all of it will be rotten by now. She
is already home sick and we were talking about out favorite places in
Cape Town and her little baby blues were just overflowing with tears. I
had made some beef jerky, vacuum packed it and brought a few bags along
with us and it was great to be able to part with some and make her day.

And so we are now about to turn and head north again... we have two days
at sea and then we stop at Puerto Something or other.... I don't
remember which place we stop at first, but its somewhere in Mexico. I
will let you know next time.

Ok - that's enough rambling for a Christmas Eve.............It's time to
grab more ice and enjoy the moonlight...

Here's wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and may the new year bring
all things in good proportion........ along with oodles of love, light
and laughter.

Annie

http://cruisebaggs.blogspot.com
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