Points South

In my first blog I mentioned some of the ports we're visiting. I had really no clue on some of these. Santa Marta and Cartagena for example, both in Columbia, are truly beautiful cities and look worthy of return visits. One thing we've noticed is that the skylines feature mostly skyscrapers of white that are stunning set against the dazzling blue of the sea and sky. One thing else they all seem to have in common is heat. What's that song - "hot, hot, hot!"? I know, I know - what part of visiting South and Central America doesn't include hot in the description but I foolishly assumed that in the middle of January the heat would have moderated. And maybe, by local standards, it has. If so, I can only imagine the toasty index in the summertime. Oh, and lest I forget, there's this thing called humidity that let's you wash your wardrobe five or six times a day. I'm heading to Spring Training in Arizona in a month and am looking forward to the desert heat but down here they take hot to a whole new level. Thankfully on the ship there's usually a sea breeze to help but once on shore all bets are off. Even the locals look like an advertisement for a sauna or steam room company and they live here. God bless them, and I swear, I'll never complain about a 'hot' July day in Colorado again, at least for another 6 months.

There is so much to see and do in every port we can only scratch the surface. We're doing guided shore excursions since my Spanish, to my chagrin, is right up there with my Mandarin or Russian. In many Caribbean islands the locals speak English almost better than we do but that wasn't the case in Columbia. Even in the museums and other tourist spots the signs were primarily Spanish-only and our guides spoke English in a very colorful manner. My only complaint, if I have one at all, is that we can't spend enough time doing and seeing everything we want. Somewhat sadly, many of our fellow Americans seem to have short attention spans when it comes to absorbing the tour guides information, but to give them credit that may be in part to their being slowly broiled under the not-quite-equatorial sun. Most give a token effort at paying attention before seeking the solace of the air conditioned bus.

I'd peg the average age of the passengers on board in the late 60's to early 70's. We think that's due in part to the length of the cruise (20 days) as many folks still working for a living couldn't afford that much time off. With just two cruises under our belt my wife and I are definitely cruising novices with a lot of these folks counting their cruises in double digits. That's a lot of time spent trying to get your sea legs under you and perusing the fabulous buffet fare. I like this thing called cruising but how much time can you spend sitting on your luxury cabin's balcony or shopping for emeralds or rolexes in the duty free shop?

Sea legs. An interesting phenomenon. Our ship, the Norwegian Gem, being moderate in size compared to some of the cruise line behemoths out there, tends to sway back and forth, to and fro, with the motion of the sea quite a bit. We have some friends, Melody and Tim, up in Seattle, who we have tried to talk into taking a cruise. This would not have been the cruise for them. Given that its January in the Atlantic and Pacific OCEANS the wind has been blowing at anywhere from 30 to 50 knots which can get this boat rockin' and rollin' pretty good. And that's before alchohol. We like the up and down, side to side, motion of the ocean swells but if the first item you tend to pack is dramamine this wouldn't be the time of year to be setting sail in these waters.

You eventually do get used to the ship's motion and can actually walk a semi-straight line without visiting both the port and starboard railings. The crew, more sea seasoned than the passengers, surely must get a chuckle out of seeing passengers wobbling to and fro like penguins on sea ice. The disadvantage of course of getting your sea legs is when you once again set foot on terra firma where the motion of the sea seems to persist even though you're on solid land. I'm not much of a drinker but you'd think I was after seeing me stagger from one tourist site to the next under the influence of said sea legs.

Well, there you have it from another day sailing over the ocean blue. The winds in my hair, the suns in my eye, and the lunch buffet is calling my name. For the cruise aficionados out there you'll know what I mean when I sign off with "Washy washy!"