1 Day in Dominica

Well, today started out as any other day on board. We were up at 6:00 am. Yes, it is true Barbara was up at 6am and in the dining room for breakfast before 7:00. Don’t everyone faint please. Our tour was supposed to start at 7:40… The immigration people failed to show (it’s Saturday). We finally got into the tender boat and at 10:00 we were on the bus and got going. The roads are terrible, worse than Pa in the spring. We went up into the mountains and I swear the bus had no suspension. Then the air conditioner broke so we opened the windows. Luckily we were headed up the mountain and the sun was hidden in clouds. Jack took a lot of photos out the bus window and you will see what appears to be pre-wrapped bananas. We saw them on Bermuda for the first time a few years ago. They put the blue plastic over the fruit to protect it from insects. Dominica is a very agricultural island. The land is very fertile and there is green growing everywhere.

We toured the Carib Indian Reservation, well at least a little village of how it used to be.
The Carib People put on a drumming and dance show for us and were just really friendly. We had some light refreshment and returned back to the ship by way of a black sand beach. Back to the wharf and a tender was waiting so we hopped on. Well the trip should take about 15 minutes but after close to an hour Jack and I finally put feet on board the ship. We made two attempts to “dock” the tender to the ship and failed. At that time Jack pointed out the measurements on the side of the ship for showing the “draft” of the ship and we watched 10 foot swells from 68-78 and that is not an exaggeration. We experimented with the video on our camera and I uploaded them to You Tube so you could see what was going on. I only have a free account on webshots and the videos are too big a file for that so I am trying you tube. The connection on the ship is very slow so I had to sit and wait for it to load otherwise you view it in spits and spurts.
First video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyWJuu7q6R8

Second video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1xwMAqMp8

This has been the most exciting event of the trip, thank goodness. We watched each person’s form and when it came to our turn we went like pros. When we got back to the cabin we had a little wine to celebrate our brush with danger!!
The rest of the photos are on webshots just like normal.
Tomorrow St Kitts. This one is a repeat for us but we liked it a lot last time so I think we will again.

Trinidad, what do you think when you hear that? Beaches, rum, chocolate, oil, steel pan bands and the parang music. Me too. But now that we’ve spent just 2 days here I have a different picture. The people! All colors, shades of brown, all different religions but they are ONE. It doesn’t matter if you are East Indian, Muslim, Catholic or Protestant you are a person and they celebrate you. When any faith has a celebration or festival all participate and honor them. As our guides told us they come from all over the world and have blended to create the Trini. People. When you fall in-love it is no matter who or what lineage the other person is. You marry and live your lives together producing Trini children who will also honor each parents religion or heritage.

The day started with a beautiful sunrise and no rain so we are thankful for that. There are a few black clouds out there but hopefully they just go drifting by. Our tour today was called a Culture Collage

The countryside is beautiful. We were in the North end of the island with high mountains and we went 4 wheeling up some of the steepest and windy roads to the top of the 3rd highest peak on the island. We stopped at a lovely Catholic Church that opened their doors for us to use the facilities for part of our informational talks of the tour. It was a bit rough for some of our older folks and the tour leader admitted that he was told Semester at Sea was coming so he planned the day for the kids! We had fun laughing about it and informed him we are the kids, but just all seniors! What a great lesson to watch our 92-year-old lady struggle into the 4 wheel jeep with out a single complaint and to see the care given her by the guides with out a minute of impatience. While we were in the church the drivers found some wood and made an extra step to help us with getting in and out of the jeeps. The Trini people are truly caring. The photos are on webshots as usual. http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 The new photos start on page 3. Next stop Dominica, another new island for us.
There is a photo of a farmer walking at the top of a field. The guides told us how they farm on these steep slopes. It takes 2 people, the farmer an his wife. A rope is around the farmer and he goes about his work. Tied to a tree! His wife will help pull him back up the hill at the end of the day, using the rope. Hopefully they do not have a disagreement before she pulls him to safety.

We had lunch in the home of a middle class Trinidadian family with great celebration. What they call a LIME, meaning a get together. We had great food; fun music and they opened their home to us. We went into the living room, dining area and into a wonderful, what we would call an old fashion kitchen. I did spot some Corning ware and T-fal pans but where we might have roosters or strawberries decorating the kitchen she had colorful fish. There were wonderful nick-knacks in the china cabinets and it just reminded me of Jack’s homestead in PA. As we ate our meal they provided a small band with local instruments and we had fun singing along. You cannot imagine the fun singing “Sweet Caroline” or “Downtown” to a Calypso beat!

On the way back to the ship our guide, Wendell, pulled a chocolate pod from a roadside tree and broke it open so we could see what it looks like raw. Of course Jack had to have a seed to suck on. It seems the seeds do not provide the chocolate but the “pulp” which surrounds the seed does. This one was not quite ripe so the “pulp” was more like custard and had a very sweet creamy taste. I tasted that part.

My only disappointment was that we ran out of time so that I could not get to a fabric center to explore the batik fabrics. Hopefully we can come across some on another island.

Trinidad

Can you believe it is 2009? We had quite a nice dinner and celebration on board ship last night. Today we got an update on our injured passengers. The lady with the broken hip was air lifted from Santarem today and on her way to USA. The gentleman that was air lifted actually went to French Guiana, he received a blood transfusion and is stable.

We arrived in Trinidad late because of the delays but no one was upset as we are all glad of the good outcome of the medical problems. It was pouring rain as we pulled in as you will see from the photos on webshots. We went on our bird tour anyway, to see the roosting of the scarlet ibis. The Scarlet ibis is the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago and as so is protected so it has flocks of hundreds of thousands. Each evening they come to roost in the mangrove swamp and we were there to watch it happen. The photos just cannot even hint at the majesty of the scene. The white herons arrive first and dot the trees and then the reds start coming. The white birds move into the inner tree branches so that eventually all you have are the reds. It looks, from a distance, like red bows all over the trees. Just watching them arrive in ones, two and big flocks is a wonder of nature. We could hear them from across the lake and I bet it is quite noisy up close. As we sat there watching the sun appeared and so too did a rainbow which went from shore to shore on the lake. Then it was time to leave before darkness caught us in the swamp. As we left the swamp we had sunset so Jack tried to capture it too. Back to the ship and a nice warm dinner. Tomorrow we need to get up at 6am as our tour starts at 7:45am. One week left and it will be hectic as we do an island a day. I wondered if I could last for 3 weeks on a cruise and now find that I cannot believe there are just 7 days left. We have been enjoying hearing of the adventures of our fellow passengers and feel like real newbies to traveling the world when we hear their stories. So many take 3-5 trips a year. Several are headed straight to another cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale when we get back. Must be nice to be able to travel like that, but I do wonder if you get tired of not going home occasionally? Maybe some day we will be able to try that too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL A very busy day with classes on the Mayan Culture and Whales and
what to expect in Trinidad. We have a few minuted before going to dinner so I thought I would blog. We have had much excitement. We left Santaren late but did not think too much about it until we had a medical update today. Seems a lady fainted coming on board and broke her hip so she was left in Santaren. There are 11 hospitals there but none for this important procedure so Med-i-vac left the US today and will get her tomorrow, but in the meantime the government would not let her husband stay so he is with us. Then we had to change our route and come to a total stop for over 1 hour as we had a helicopter medical lift for a gentleman with a life threatening condition. So he and his wife were lifted and flown to British Guinea. I guess when you cruise for this long things will happen but the doctor said in all his years of cruising this is the first time for a helicopter rescue. Time for dinner.
See you in 2009

Today we left the Amazon River behind. As we were motoring, yes motoring(it seems the MV in MV Explorer means Motor Vessel…no steam here) down the river we could see it getting wider. Now, wider is relevant right? 1000 miles up the Amazon at Manous the river was over 1 mile wide, according to my expert. Jack. From Santerem it was probably 3 miles wide and as the day progressed the shoreline got further and further away. Until, still on the river, the shoreline was not visible. We read somewhere it is at some places 30 miles wide. Right through the day and into night we are still experiencing the muddy look to the ocean from the outpouring of the waters of the Amazon. The sea is quite calm right now and we motor through rainstorms periodically but with our speed they don’t last long. Classes today were a craft class for Barbara, I have a really hard class schedule don’t you think? We made a cute box called a Wabi Sabi box with mat board and fabric. Jack went to “Caribbean Leftovers – Waves, Hurricanes and Oil Too” We watched another lecture on the television, as the room was quite crowded, on "Emerging Global Generations". Quite an interesting look into the values and perceptions that differ from generation to generation. We tried to get into the “Community College” class on “How Light Affects Health” but it filled up very quickly so we went to the lounge and read. The community college classes are taught by our fellow passengers and sometimes are quite interesting. The at sea days are quite full of classes and you can select which you want to participate in or let them go. It is not like real school at all. It seems there are always games and cards going on in some of the classrooms too. We did get about 1 hour to bake in the Equatorial sunshine. I mean it, 1 hour is about all you can take. The temperature is very deceptive: 82 degrees and a wonderful breeze as we are moving at a good speed so the sun does not seem so hot but it is strong. Tomorrow is another day at sea and then Trinidad. Rumor is we will be docking around midnight. We plan to stay up for the festivities. If I do not get to write tomorrow: WE WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Port of Santarem, Brazil

We learned today that the people of Brazil gained their freedom, from a military regime, in 1985. They are very proud of the fact that they are self-governed. There are 200,00 people in Santarem. We saw much poverty or what we perceived as poverty, but many happy people. The language barrier kept us from conversations but our guide spoke very good English. He teaches Portuguese in the primary school. He has never been out of Brazil but is saving to travel to Connecticut in 2010.

We had an opportunity to see Brazil nuts and cashews as they grow. That is a photo, on the left, of a cashew nut hanging in a tree. Now we can understand why they are so expensive. We sampled about 20 fruits and Jack tasted the local sugar cane liquor-VERY POTENT- was the adjective!. Then our hosts showed us manioc, a root that looks like horseradish but it is a starch like potato. We watched how it is grown, harvested, peeled, ground, and the liquid, which is a deadly poison was squeezed out of it. Then they sift the damp flour to get it a uniform small size, roast it to dry and it is ready to eat. The webshots photos show all this. http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 They make cakes, porridge, or sprinkle it on everything. It is tasteless, and the guide knows of no nutritional value he just kept saying a starch.

Our host then showed us his rubber trees, which he can tap for 150 years before the tree is “done” as long as it is protected from the termites. They harvest the latex 6 days a week for 6 months and then let the tree rest. I wonder if they too rest, as it seems they are always busy. The rubber tree is protected and caught cutting it down prison is your punishment.

The afternoon was spent at a lovely beach with 82 degree temp and a breeze. We are at the moment at a latitude of 2 degrees 24.8 south of the equator so the 82 degrees really seems hotter. We had a nice beachside lunch of local fish, rice, salsa and manioc. Coca Cola is a large bottle and 600 ml of beer served in a cooler that we would expect a wine bottle to sit in, to keep it cool.. Local residents of all skin tones surrounded us, and it was fun to watch the family dynamics, not much different than at home. Well, the children did seem to show more respect for everyone.

6:00 pm our time which is 2 hours ahead of home and I hear the motors starting as we prepare to leave our last port on the Amazon. We travel all night and will be out of the Amazon tomorrow night. I cannot believe that we have had the opportunity to fulfill a dream. How blessed we are! Next stop Trinidad.

A Day on The River

How quickly it has become the river instead of The Amazon. We see “pieces” of Rio Negra, clear dark patches in the chocolate waters. It is still resisting fitting in or blending, much like many people. WHOA!!! I am getting way too philosophical here!

The ship is cruising in and out of little rain showers and folks are moving from sun bathing to hiding under the canopy and back again. It is almost like we cannot waste any ray of sunshine.

The Enrichment classes this morning were The Amazon River Dwellers. These hardy self-sufficient people only need money to pay for gasoline or kerosene for lights. Since there is no winter here, only rainy season and dry season they have no need of heat. All the river people are what we could call squatters. They find a place they like and build their home even though the government owns the land. They are so far away in the jungle that the government people never bother them. For money they work collecting rubber sap and Brazil nuts. Tomorrow we will get to visit one of the villages of the River People and see their homes close up and personal.
Jack chose to go to the River Dwellers class while I went to my second watercolor class.
The first class was watercolor on wet paper and we created a waterfall. Me, the one who can't draw. I really surprised myself!! This teacher claimed everyone can draw. Well, here is my result. Not too bad for a first effort. Today’s class is Watercolor Batik. I was intrigued, as to me batik means fabric so I had no idea of the watercolor part. The theme of the work is “The Amazon in My Eyes”. I tried for shady forest and a large butterfly! We had to draw the picture then sandwich a piece of waxed paper between it and a plain paper. Using a ballpoint pen we went over our lines, very hard, to transfer the wax to the sheet underneath so the paint will not stick to the waxed lines. Then a pale green wash over everything and then the details. Here is the result. Really good refrigerator art!! I have surprised myself and am looking forward to more art classes.

Later in the afternoon we had our preparation class for Santarem, our next port. (SANTA-rem) emphasis on SANTA. It is a form of Saint Irene. We heard of the languages and culture of the area. It is so much nicer to know a little of what to expect. They tell us what type of apparel is proper, if it is safe to wear our jewelry or may cause some jealousy in the poorer peoples. We are told that it is considered rude to photograph someone with out asking his or her permission and, if they agree, it is polite to show the photo on the digital camera. These people do not expect to be paid for the photo as the people in Panama did. No cruise has ever prepared us for a port the way Semester at Sea has.