Santa Marta, Colombia – January 9, 2015

Tayrona National Park, Colombia

Our second visit to Colombia, the northernmost nation in South America, brought us to the city of Santa Marta.  Usually cruise ships visit Cartagena but Santa Marta has been trying to attract ships to stop there in recent years.  For every person in the Shore Excursions department, it was a new port as well.

Colombia had been notorious for its drug cartels, but much of that is in the past and it is now more of a tourist destination.  There had been an indigenous native people before Columbus arrived in 1499 and the country was named for him.  What is today Colombia was part of what the Spanish called Gran Colombia.  However when the independence from Spain came in1819, Colombia, Venezuela, and others achieved independence and their own national borders and governments.  At that time, Colombia and Panama were called New Granada and remained that way until the early 20^th century when Panama became independent and authorized the US to buy the French rights to construct the Panama Canal.  Contemporary Colombia has a land mass of about 945,000 square miles and a population of approximately 47.5 million.  My guide stated that the Santa Marta area has about 700,000 people.  Santa Marta, the oldest city in Colombia and second oldest in South America was named for the Biblical Martha in 1525 by a Spanish conquistador.  Its economy is based on trade, fishing, agriculture (bananas, coffee, cocoa) and now, tourism.

The day was quite hot with a 91 degrees forecast, and quite windy which is typical for this time of year while back in Chicago we notice that the temperature was to be well below zero Fahrenheit!  With the wonderful, snowless December we had experienced we were delighted to be out of the city and couldn’t complain about the sunny skies even thought it was too hot!

Barb had decided that it would be best to do no tours here to give her knee and back some extra time to repair.  In fact her first tour won’t be until January 22 in Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia.  I elected to do a tour called “Tayrona Park Adventure” which took us quickly out of Santa Marta to visit this national park created in 1964 and located along the north coast of Colombia.  I joined our friends Bob and Nancy Wilson from West Virginia and North Carolina, whom we had met on the World Cruises of 2012 and 2013.  Once we stepped off the bus, our competent guide, Andras, led us on a walk to see some of the flora and fauna of the park.  He had told us that he had self-taught himself English and hadn’t learned it in school.  When I had a chance, I quizzed him on that since his English was quite good and very understandable.  He said English instruction in his school wasn’t good but he has been working on it since he was 17; he’s 40 now.  He speaks it well, can read English, but he admitted his written English left much to be desired.

As we walked, he pointed out fire ants marching with purpose across the pathway.  Soon he showed us a big termite nest in the tree.  He informed us that in a pinch, the termites could be consumed by humans for protein.  We told him we hoped that would never be necessary.  We climbed many steps, walked over the wooden bridge walkways, down the steps and up and down quite frequently.  There were rails most places but it would not have been a good tour for anyone with mobility issues.  Barb made a good decision in not going on this tour. At one place, we stopped and watched a caiman lounging in the sun on a rock.  The guide kept looking into the trees and told us to look up and pointed out several monkeys swinging in the trees.  I was more impressed seeing the caiman as well as the monkeys than I was the ants and termites. 

Our walk took us to a beautiful sandy beach which might otherwise have been busy with people but was closed because of the high winds and currents. There were signs warning us that hundreds of people had died there because they didn’t heed the warnings.  The rocky coast and sandy beach with the warm temps and blue sky was a nice respite from a Chicago winter. We reached a lodge and were invited to sit at tables as lunch was prepared. We could either sit there or take a short walk down to another beach to watch the waves crashing on the rocks and sandy shore.  That beach was also closed because of the winds.  Once lunch was ready, we got in line for our rice, beef, shrimp, and fish as well as cooked mixed vegetables, a salad, and other items.

After relaxing at lunch, we reboarded our bus for our hour long ride back to the pier to rejoin the ship.  It was a nice introduction to this part of Colombia.  While I did the tour, Barb and our friend Alice Jackson from Indianapolis took the shuttle bus a short distance to Santa Marta, did a bit of walking and had a very expensive coke at a small café.

By 4 PM we were on our way to the sparsely populated San Blas Islands of Panama before our entry to the Panama Canal.

                                                                                                            CT

Pre-Cruise Visit to Florida

After many months of planning, our third Grand World Voyage is now under way.  We were very relieved that Chicago weather cooperated and didn’t provide us with any snow to add suspense to our scheduled departure on the morning of New Year’s Day.

We did have a late change in plans, though.  Along about mid-November we received an email from our cruise friends Sally & Angelo DiTomaso, who live in Hobe Sound, Florida (about 1½ hours north of Fort Lauderdale), inviting us to stay with them rather than sitting in a hotel for several days.  We gladly accepted with the understanding that they wouldn’t fuss because they were also taking the Grand World Voyage and would have much to do before leaving home for four months.

Early in the morning on New Year’s Day, our good friends from New Lenox, Pam & Paul Floyd, arrived to take us to O’Hare for our 8:00 flight to Florida.  We said our good-byes, knowing that we would be meeting in Fort Lauderdale on the 4^th.  After our check-in, I got a kick out of a brachiosaurus all decked out in holiday garb so I had to take a few pictures of the beast!  Our flight arrived ahead of schedule; we got our luggage and waited for Sally & Ange to pick us up.  All had gone just as planned until our trip north on I-95.  We were cruising along at the speed limit, when the traffic came to a very sudden stop.  Ange jammed on the brakes.  I could see it coming so I braced myself for probable impact.  We did touch the bumper of the car in front of us, but there was no damage – to the cars at least!  In the bracing, I damaged my right knee.  I’d developed tendonitis in that knee in November and had just finished physical therapy on the 29^th of December.  My knee was the best it had been in months, and I was feeling really great.  But all of a sudden, I could barely move my right leg without terrible pain!  I knew nothing was broken, but the pain was pretty bad. When we got to Sally & Ange’s, I immediately started icing it but the act of standing or sitting was difficult at best, and sometimes excruciating. 

On the morning of the 2^nd, Ange took me to a nearby urgent care center.  They took an x-ray, and it showed no broken bones or damage to the hardware in the knee.  I arrived there equipped with the sheet of exercises my wonderful Athletico PT Angie had given me to do on the trip.  They told me that these were excellent and that doing them should help me tremendously.  By icing, elevating, and keeping the knee moving, it improved quite a bit, and I found myself quoting our friend Conrad, saying “Every day better.” 

While visiting with Sally & Ange we were happy to reconnect with their friend Marge Buschhoff, whom we met on the Voyage of the Vikings in 2011.  We had really enjoyed her so we were pleased that we got to see here every day; also, she had a few medical devices that were invaluable to me for a quicker recovery. 

On January 2^nd, shortly after my trip to urgent care, Sally & Ange took us up to Stuart, FL, where we met cruise friends Dick & Jan Yetke from Naperville, IL whom we’d met on the 2012 cruise and had stayed in touch with, as well as our friend Al Vence from Goodyear, AZ, who, along with his wife Carol, had been our tablemate on the 2008 Mediterranean cruise.  Carol had died in 2010, and we had encouraged Al to do the 2012 voyage with us.  It was his first cruise since Carol had died so we were glad to get him back into doing something he loves to do.  In 2014 he had done a segment of the Grand World voyage and met a lady whom he married in November of 2014.  We had the chance to meet and get to know Linda, his new wife, as well as Al’s brother Bob and wife Karen, who live in Stuart.  Amazingly, Bob and Dick had been roommates at the Coast Guard Academy, so our lunch meeting gave them a chance to get caught up too.  (On the 2012 cruise, Dick’s wife Jan had sent a message out to CG friends asking if any of them knew a CG captain who had lectured on the ship.  Bob sent the reply: “No, but my brother Al is on the ship.”  Jan & Dick were only three doors down from Al, who was just a few doors down from us.  Small world!)

After a few wonderful days with Sally & Ange, they took us to Fort Lauderdale on the 4^th, where we had a complimentary hotel through AAA.  We were very relieved that Pam & Paul’s flight on that same day had gone out on schedule despite the threatening Chicago weather.   Once we were checked in, we called their room, and the four of us decided to take a trolley to a nearby beach where we could find supper at a reasonable price. We agreed upon a restaurant and had a nice “Farewell, USA” meal in preparation for our sailing the next day.  We made it an early evening as we all were tired and knew that Monday would be a very long and most likely challenging day. 

The big day, January 5^th, finally arrived!  We were up and had our luggage ready in plenty of time, and then headed down to the pre-cruise brunch at the hotel.  It was nice to be able to connect with other friends we’d met through AAA travel.

Back in 2013, we had left for the pier later in the day and as a result got caught in a massive line of fellow passengers who were all trying to get onto the ship as quickly as possible, resulting in a wait of somewhere in the vicinity of 1½ to 2 hours. So this time AAA moved the departure time to the pier up so we could get in earlier. The result was a much speedier check-in process.  While there was still a long line, we processed through much more quickly and were on the ship within a half hour. 

Our stateroom is much smaller than what we’re used to, so we have discovered that we needed to make some major adjustments to unpacking and storing things, but we eventually managed to establish some semblance of order to the chaos that ensued with the arrival of all the suitcases.  Now all of our suitcases are stored away either under our beds or in a storage location on the ship, and most of our things have found some kind of a home here in the stateroom.  Whether I easily find things or not is yet to be found out, but at least things are put away. I hope not so safely that I don’t find them again until April 29^th!

We headed upstairs to the Lido to get a small lunch to fill in the cracks until dinner, but we hadn’t gotten very far when we came across friends from previous cruises:  Bob & Nancy, whom we met on the 2012 cruise and got to know well on the 2013, and Mel & Helen, whom we got to know from playing trivia on the Grand Med last spring.  Then came a huge surprise! As we stood talking to people, I noticed a very familiar face in the distance.  It was Yohat, our dining steward in 2009 and 2012.  We were supposed to have him in 2013, but plans fell through, and this was his first return to Holland America since late in 2012.  We immediately ran down to the Assistant Dining Room Manager Presty, whom we also know quite well, and requested Yohat as our steward, but it couldn’t be worked out.  We can’t switch to his section as it’s filled, and someone in our section who is a Presidents’ Club member had requested the steward who services our section.  Oh, well, we tried, and at least we will get to see him in the Lido! 

Our second surprise came on our way to dinner when we saw another familiar face – a housekeeping  supervisor was speaking with our cabin steward, and when he turned to look at us, both he and I had the same reaction.  He said, “You look familiar!”  I said, “You do, too!”  It was our cabin steward from 2012, Evan.  He had received a well-deserved promotion – at least we think so!  He was about the best we’ve had!

Dinner meant a reunion with Alice, who dined with us on the Grand Med.  She and Pam had met back then so it makes for a nice table with the five of us.  Presty told us that because we are five at a round table for six, he would try to arrange for an officer to join us on occasion for formal night.  That will be very nice!

We ended the day in the Piano Bar with our favorite entertainer, Debby Bacon.  It was wonderful to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy the music she provided! 

                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                        BT      

P.S. For some reason we can't get pictures to upload.  We are hoping to resolve the issue quickly, but we don't want to spend all of our purchased minutes on the very first blog post!                          

And Finally - Zeebrugge, Belgium and the Medieval Town of Ghent

The skyline of Ghent, Belgium

The dust has begun to settle now that we have been home for a few weeks so it is time to try and wrap up the blog on these two wonderful back-to-back cruises.  Our final port was Zeebrugge, Belgium, the springboard to a lovely and historic area of the country.  We had heard a lot about the beauty of Bruges, Belgium and were looking forward to visiting it; however the excursion we had originally chosen, a panoramic tour called Bordering Bruges, didn’t apparently generate enough interest so the excursion was canceled.

I had purposely not done a tour in Brest, France so that I would have one day to try and get myself organized with packing and could enjoy the last two days on our cruise.  So I really wanted to do an excursion in Zeebrugge.   So we pulled out the shore excursion booklet and looked it over, opting for an excursion called Panoramic Ghent and Canal Cruise.  Chuck had been so busy dashing off to shore excursions in the very port-intensive last few days that when he looked at the ticket again, his reaction was, “What? We’re not going to Bruges?”  I could tell he was really disappointed so I offered to cancel my excursion (which I couldn’t have done alone) and let him do one to Bruges instead of Ghent.  But he decided that I’d missed too many ports to give up one more that I would be able to do. 

This being the last day on the ship, we would have much preferred that it be a morning excursion, but it was scheduled to depart after lunch and get back just before dinner, breaking the day up.  We headed down to the buses early, having received our excursion stickers in advance (since I had handicap priority on this cruise).  We got an excellent seat right in the front of the bus because for a change there was enough legroom for me to sit there.   Chuck later moved back to a seat by himself because the bus wasn’t full. 

The ride to Ghent took about an hour, and we enjoyed the beautiful Flemish scenery and the running commentary given by our enthusiastic guide.  I didn’t remember much about Ghent other than the fact that I knew that the Treaty of Ghent had been signed there.  At that point I didn’t even remember which war this treaty ended!  Now I know that it was the agreement reached to end the War of 1812. 

It is believed that the name of Ghent comes from a Celtic word meaning confluence as the Lys and the Scheldt rivers meet there.  There is evidence of settlements there dating back to the Stone and Iron Ages.  In the Middle Ages, Ghent became so important that it was the second-largest city in all of Europe; only Paris was larger.  The lands along the rivers were well suited for raising sheep, so wool and cloth-making became very important industries.  The making of cloth was so successful that they even imported wool from Scotland to allow them to increase production.  The political and social importance eventually shifted from Ghent and Bruges to Antwerp and Brussels. 

Arriving in Ghent, we walked the short distance to the canal boat.  It was a challenge getting into the open-air boat because there were no railings, just one shaky pole to hang onto.  Fortunately, those of us with mobility issues got assistance from the skipper and a fellow passenger who stationed himself where he could help.   Once we had all settled, we set off toward the center of the city.  With no windows and no roof, everyone had an excellent view of everything we passed.  Adding to the scenery was the clear blue sky dotted with clouds.  We drifted along, passing a couple lovely tearooms situated along the bank of the river, as well as many medieval buildings, as we approached the oldest part of town.  Many were old guildhalls as Ghent was so important in the wool and cloth trade.  Everywhere we looked we saw the proverbial “Kodak moment”.  

With the gorgeous weather and being a Friday afternoon, it looked like the entire countryside had come into the center of Ghent to enjoy the picture-perfect blue skies and warm weather.  As we sailed through the heart of the city, we passed boat after boat of people, some of which contained tourists as we were, while others held young people who were practicing rowing.   Continuing past the city center, we approached the beautiful medieval castle and then headed down a small canal with low-draped willows, in some cases, causing us to duck under the branches. 

We were given an hour of free time in the center of the city and were encouraged to find places where we could purchase Belgian chocolates (I might have indulged had we not been flying out the following day) or Belgian lace (which I decided I didn’t need, despite its lovely intricate work).  Instead I indulged in a Belgian waffle, taking the tour guide’s suggestion of just having cinnamon and sugar rather than trying to walk around carrying a waffle topped with strawberries and cream.  I found a place to sit while Chuck wandered the streets, and I got a kick out of watching small children playing and listening to the conversations of nearby college students.  It once again brought back wonderful memories of my semester in Grenoble.  Thinking back on that experience, I could imagine how those students felt, and I lamented the fact that I can’t get around like I did some 40+ years ago! 

Parked along one bank of the river right near some of the many open-air cafes we spotted a long beer wagon loaded with barrels.  Harnessed to the wagon was a pair of huge horses (perhaps Clydesdales, though I don’t know horse breeds).  There just wasn’t enough time to take it all in! 

As we climbed back into the boat, we overheard a man comment, “Last year we did an excursion to Bruges.  After having been to Ghent, I think I have to say that I like Ghent better than Bruges!”  That made both of us feel better because we were thoroughly enchanted by the gorgeous beauty of the city! 

As we headed back to Zeebrugge, the guide commented that the weather can make or break the excursion.  He said that if it’s raining, they put up a plastic roof and plastic windows, but the plastic doesn’t do a very good job of keeping the rain out.  This was my fourth “water” excursion, and the other three days were very overcast, and in a couple of cases, rainy.  What a relief that this was the day that the weather cooperated!  We couldn’t imagine trying to visit such a magnificent city in the rain! 

The only thing that “dimmed” the day was the realization that we had a long night ahead of us:  we had seven suitcases to seal up for shipment home via DHL and two to take with us to the airport (along with our carry-ons).  Not only did we have a long night, but we knew it would be a long day on Saturday, up early for breakfast and then back to the room to get a few more things done before leaving the ship one last time and heading to the airport in Amsterdam.   When we got up at 6:15 that morning, we knew we would be going to bed at our “home” time zone.  6:15 AM in Amsterdam is 11:15 PM in Chicago.   The last several days on the ship were a whirlwind of packing, exchanging addresses and email addresses, saying good-byes, and trying to make sure we brought home all of our belongings. 

As we arrived back in New Lenox, Chuck commented that we had managed to get through all ten weeks without incident.  That is always a relief, but this year it was particularly significant:  I had left home in mid-March having been released from physical therapy the day before, having severely broken my sacrum in January.  So the fact that we got home without incident is a tremendous relief!  I have said several times that it was a great way to continue my recovery!  I didn’t have to cook (not that I cook that much anyway), nor did I have to serve my food, do the dishes, do laundry, clean house, go grocery shopping, or fight the ice and snow that had plagued us during the long winter of 2013-2014.  I didn’t see as much as I would have liked, but I did see a lot, and I had the opportunity to relax and continue to recover. (I still have some months of recovery to get through, but I have greatly improved!!!)  Others waited on me, and I am so grateful for all the assistance I received from the wonderful staff of the Prinsendam, not to mention our tablemate Alice and especially Chuck! 

BT