Aboard the MS Ryndam

In the Pacific Ocean, just west of Santa Cruz-Huatulco, Oaxaca State, Mexico

April 30th, 6:45 pm Central Time

We are currently heading into the open ocean on our way to Acapulco. We had a good day in Huatulco and adjacent Santa Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico, taking a boat tour around five of the nine bays of Huatulco, and then a bus trip around the area.

Huatulco is another project of Fonatur, the Mexican government tourist development organization that developed Cancun, Cozumel, and other resorts. Fonatur identified the nine small bays, each with its own secluded sandy beach, about 30 years ago as an area for possble resort development. They acquired what land they needed, drew up a master plan, put in the basic infrastructure, and then slowly brought in the developers under tight review procedures. Fonatur claims it is applying all the “lessons learned” at Cancun to make Huatulco better and more environmentally sensitive. And if you want heat and sun and beautiful uncrowded beaches, this is your spot. We found it very dry (it rains only from July through September) and hot. It is basically a desert and a great change from Chiapas, where everything was green and lush.

Twenty years ago this area was still a poverty-stricken fishing village without electricity, potable water, or a land connection to the rest of Mexico. Today, it has all those things, an international airport, beautiful parks and plazas, fancy hotels and golf courses, expensive homes and condos, new housing, schools, and hospitals for the locals, no poverty or even unemployment, and of course a cruise port. It also has a Mexican Navy base, from which several gunboats constantly kept an eye on us. Marines with automatic weapons also walked the pier where the Ryndam was moored. When we asked our guide about all the hardware, she said there had never been any violence against a cruise passenger and the government wanted to keep it that way.

Tomorrow, Acapulco.

Aboard the MS Ryndam

Heading out into the Pacific from Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

April 29th, 6:45 pm Central Time

Another hot, humid day ashore,touring the border area of Mexico just a few kilometers from Guatemala. We took a bus to Tuxlachico, the chocolate city. This is supposedly where the cacao plant originated and where the indigenous Mexicans first learned to make chocolate a couple of thousand years ago. We arrived in the town just in time for the fiesta of San Pedro Martir, the patron saint of the town. The fiesta was accompanied by lots of fireworks in the streets (long strips of firecrackers laid down and lit) and a few skyrockets. The children were all dressed in their best finery and drumming drums and shaking maracas. They paraded around the square, followed by men on decorated horses. The horsemen then pulled up in front of the town officials seated in the shade of the town hall’s porch to receive their prizes for best horse, rider, decoration, etc. What this has to do with a Catholic saint, I don’t know, but it sure was festive and fun.

When all this died down we walked the street market a bit--lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, some dressed chickens and ducks for sale, but no trinkets for the tourists (so it must have been a real market!). We then watched a demonstration, arranged by the tour guide, of how chocolate is made. A young senorita broke open the cacao fruit, took out the white, slimy nodules in the center, roasted them is a wok-like pan, ground them into a cross between a paste and a powder, added a little cane sugar and water, and then drank the mixture. According to Mayan tradition, only the elite could drink or eat chocolate, but we all had a taste. Not bad. This town is famous for just a few families who roast the chocolate then export the powder for further processing in the States or Europe. Most of it goes to Nestle, according to our guide. Of course cacao is now grown all over the world, but this is where it all started.

We then left Tuxlachico and drove a short distance to Izapa, one of the oldest Mayan ruins. The claim locally is that this was the wellspring of the Mayan culture that eventually spread throughout Mesoamerica. The ruins are largely reconstructed by archeologists and none are the spectacular stepped pyramids like Tikal because the Mayan hadn’t learned how to do all that yet when they lived here. Anyway, it was pretty interesting, but the humidity was oppressive and everyone was moving in slow motion.

Finally, a word about our dinner in the Ryndam’s Pinnacle Grill: magnificent. Probably the finest food, best service, and most expensive china and crystal place setting we’ve ever experienced.

Aboard the MS Ryndam

In the Pacific Ocean, about 90 nm off Nicaragua

April 28th, 3:00 pm Central Time

A lazy day at sea: we slept late (after a late night), took a tour of the ship’s kitchens, had a leisurely late lunch, and then split up--Karen to the pool, Ed to the Explorations Cafe (an Internet cafe and library) to finish off his latest book in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which he just did.

Last night we stayed late (after midnight) in the Showroom Theater to see the Filipino Crew Show, a special event put on by the Filipino staff. A very talented group of singers and dancers, all normally our bar staff. There’s an interesting division of labor aboard Holland America ships. The fleet is all Dutch-flagged, although HAL is now owned by the same British-American holding company that owns Carnival, Cunard, and several other cruise lines. Being Dutch-flagged, the captain and first officers are Dutch, while several other officers (the Security Officer, for one) are British. The Hotel Manager is Costa Rican, the Executive Chef is German, the Cruise (entertainment) Director is American, and the Events and Party Organizers are a Canadian couple. The Medical Officer and his nurse are also Canadian. Further down the pecking order, however, the staff is mostly Asian, predominantly Indonesian and Filipino. The Indonesians are usually the waiters, room stewards, and able-bodied seamen, who do the routine sailor things, like handling the tenders, the mooring lines, routine maintenance (swabbing the decks, greasing the davits), etc. And this is not all peon labor; some of these are quite responsible positions, such as petty officers in charge of lifeboats and tenders, as well as dining room managers and the technical crew (sound and lights) for the evening shows. And most importantly, the Pastry Chef is Indonesian! The Filipinos generally seem to be in charge of the liquor supplies--they are the bartenders, sommeliers, and drinks waiters and waitresses. A thought: do the Filipinos handle the alcohol because they are usually Catholics and the Indonesians are mostly Muslim?

The food of course has been outstanding and the portions are thankfully European-sized, not American, so you can eat four or five courses and still move at the end. We have a standing reservation in the upper main dining room (the Rotterdam) at 8 pm, but we can always just show up at the lower part of the Rotterdam anytime between 5 and 10 pm, which we did one night. Just showing up guarantees you a seat, but not the seating arrangment, so we were seated at a table for eight, the other six being Canadians from B.C. and Alberta. One night last week, we ate at Caneletto, a small, informal Italian-themed restaurant (calamari to start, veal entree--very nice!). Two nights ago we ate in the casual Lido Restaurant, cafeteria style, and had wonderful beef tenderloin tips and french fries--casual yes, but not one notch lower in quality. Tonight we dine in the Pinnacle Grill, a reservations only restaurant available for a slight additional charge. The attraction is that it is small, intimate, and quiet, with a bit fancier decor and table setting. We thought we’d try it out just once. Besides, it’s our 45th anniversary!

So we are eating ourselves from Tampa to San Diego, and as Karen said the other night, using up all our going-out-to-dinner passes for the next year!

Wouldn't you know I'd get these out of order. Just look at the dates and times on the top of each entry.

Aboard the MS Ryndam

Preparing to Haul Anchor, Bay of Panama off Panama City

Sunday, April 25, 4:45 pm Central Time

Another memorable day--in a phrase, we went to the rainforest and it rained, a lot!

The rainy season here is from May to November and it’s supposed to be reliably punctual. We were told it rarely rains in April, but our new friend and tour guide, Roberto (call me “Bob,” or even better “Sponge Bob”), told us this year has been unusual. So we found ourselves in an open boat with 14 other people, with only a sunshade, on some backwater of Gatun Lake taking pictures of howler monkeys, iguanas, vultures, and crocodiles when the skies opened up. And it poured big, hard tropical raindrops for over 20 minutes, with the occasional lightning and thunder accompaniment. As “Sponge Bob” said, when you visit a rainforest, you can’t complain if it rains. The boat ride was about over, but we had a long way to go back to the dock and everyone was soaked to the skin. As soon as we connected with the tender and got back to the Ryndam, we called “In-room Services” and they promptly delivered hot beef consomme, French onion soup, and a cheese plate to go with our wine stash. We were restored in record time.

Before the rainy boat ride, we had visited the Miraflores Visitor Center and taken a sightseeing bus ride, all interesting but uneventful. We now know more about the Panama Canal than we ever thought we needed to know, but the one thing that came through clearly today talking with a few Panamanians is the pride they feel in “owning all of our country,” as they say, and being able to not only operate the canal successfully, but to plan, finance, and execute the new expansion (to which “Sponge Bob” personally invited us to return in 2014 for the grand opening). He also admitted that even though Mariano Rivera is Panamanian and most Panamanians are Yankee fans, he prefers the Red Sox! And I was not even wearing my Red Sox hat--talk about bonding.

Aboard the MS Ryndam

Anchored in the Bay of Panama off Panama City

Saturday, April 24, 9:30 pm Central Time

Well, it’s been quite a day, and even though a Saturday, there was no sleeping-in this morning. We were awakened at 5:15 local by the ship’s PA system--an announcement from our Canal Expert Lecturer that we had cleared the breakwater, taken on our pilot, and were in line for our entry to the Gatun Locks. What a wake-up call.

Thinking we’d cheat a little and stay in bed a few more minutes, we turned on the TV to the bow camera channel, but all we could see was multicolored lights blinking in darkness. So we stumbled out of bed, dressed, and went on deck to see what was going on. And yes, we were approaching the Gatun Locks, and it was already as hot and humid as a steam bath. We watched the Ryndam squeeze through the locks, saw the rising tropical sun start to burn off the morning mist, and then repaired to the air conditioned restaurant for some cold juice and a hearty breakfast in front of a picture window of the whole scene. Yeah, we’re real adventurers.

And that began our day of transiting the Panama Canal. The canal really is a wonder and everything worked like clockwork. And the wonder of the whole opeation is its ultimate simplicity--using the river to supply the water (the French tried to dam and divert it), using gravity to move the water (there are no pumps anywhere!), building the huge steel lock gates hollow so they literally float on their hinges (they can be moved by a 25 hp electric motor). We moved around the ship to get different views, took lots of pictures, and generally enjoyed ourselves gawking at the scenery, other shipping, the parallel Panama Railroad, and the canal itself. The 90-year-old concrete locks and steelwork seem a bit worn and rusty in spots, but all else is freshly painted and scrubbed, and the grass and flowers trimmed and tidy. We also saw a lot of evidence of the new expansion project the Panamanians are doing--new channels being dug for wider locks capable of handling the largest ships now in use. The current locks are 110 feet wide and normal shipping is limited to about 106 foot beam (the so-called Panamax standard) to allow 2 feet to spare on either side. The Ryndam and the Zuiderdam are both an inch or two over 106 feet wide; the largest ships to go through, by special arrangement, were the USS New Jersey and the USS Missouri, both at 108 feet--1 foot to spare on either side!

There were two Holland America ships going through in sequence, the Zuiderdam and the Ryndam. We hope you got a chance to see us on the Canal webcam, but we must admit that our time on deck, where the temperatures in the sun pushed 100F, was broken by regular periods in an air conditioned observation lounge/bar or restaurant inside. Yeah, we’re wimps, but we did wave at the web camera on cue.

Tonight it’s dinner and a movie (“Julie and Julia”) and tomorrow another big day (get out your atlases, boys). Starting at 8:15 am, it’s by bus to the Canal Control Center at Miraflores, then by boat from Gamboa, up the Chagres River, and into the rainforest to see monkeys, birds, and whatever else rainforests offer (besides a lot of sweat).

The word is that the Internet is working faster today, so I'll try to post a few of our notes from the past few days.

Aboard the MS Rndam

In the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica

7:20 pm Central Time, April 27th

Another great day for the leisure class....

We were up early and out by 7:30 am to meet our tour guide on the pier. Julio got us all settled on a very nice air conditioned Mercedes bus for a ride through the Costa Rican countryside to Poas Volcano National Park, accompanied by his on and off banter explaining what we were seeing and some background on himself and Costa Rica. He’s from a large farm family that still grows coffee, bananas, and sugar cane, and he graduated from the local university with a major in tropical biology. And he sure knew his plants and birds.

At the national park we got a chance to walk a mile or so to the crater’s rim and take a look. It hasn’t erupted since 1955, but it’s been steaming a lot recently. It was a reasonably clear day so we could see the water covering the dome, with a large quantity of steam rising from it. The top of the volcano is a little over 9,000 feet in altitude and it was a bit chilly (50’s), quite a contrast from the temperature at the pier. Periodically we would be enveloped in a cloud and Julio explained that this is a “cloud forest,” an ecosystem that gets little actual rain, but is almost constantly drenched in a heavy mist. It was all a bit eerie.

From the national park we drove to an old hacienda that is now used for weddings, parties, and tourist visits. The grounds were lovely, with manicured lawns, exotic palms and flowers, and volcanic stone walkways among it all. We then had a typical Costa Rican lunch--tico salad (a sour cole slaw), rice, beans, chicken stewed in a tomato sauce, and a squash compote that was very interesting. We washed it down with some local beer (very good) and finished it off with small squares of a concoction with a fudge-like consistency,but was mostly milk, butter, a bit of shredded carrot, and sugar. We never did get the name.

After lunch it was off to another small town that had a very nice handicraft cooperative. All items were on consignment from the artists and some items were actually being made as we watched. And the prices were quite reasonable.

Some observations on Costa Rica: we liked it very much. The people are super friendly, the food was delicious, you can drink the water, and the countryside was lush, green, and beautiful. It’s not exactly Vermont, but we saw Holsteins on a hill, and acres of crops (albeit coffee, beans, and sugar cane). Half the country is forested, and about 30% is conserved in parks or reserves. The houses are mostly small sturdily built concrete and stucco affairs with metal roofs (many rusted), but this construction seems to work best in the occasional earthquake, according to our guide--better to be trapped under a corrugated metal sheet than a reinforced concrete beam!

There were some beautiful large hacienda-style homes and many, many very modest one-story “ranchers,” but none of the shanty town shacks seen in much of the Caribbean and Latin America. All this is based on a day traveling through the country and small towns from the Pacific to the central mountains and back. We did not see San Jose, the largest city and capital, supposed to be a charming mix of old Spanish architecture and modern structures.

This connection is still too slow and expensive to use routinely, so I will continue to write our bloggings off-line, and post them when we get to a high-speed connection. In the meantime, we will check email and post a few short items from time to time on Facebook, which seems to work much more quickly than anything else (the system on the Ryndam seems to have a direct connection to Facebook). Cheers, the Cruisers

Aboard the MS Ryndam

Anchored in the San Blas Archipelago, Panama

4:45 pm Central Time

We arrived in the San Blas Islands about mid-day for a visit with the Kuna people, an indigenous group that is semi-autonomous from Panama. The only access to the area is by boat or floatplane, with miles of tropical rainforest on the mainland separating them from the rest of Panama. They live traditionally in thatched roof huts, fishing and growing melons and yams on small islands barely above high tide. They are poor and proud, and want to keep to as many of their tradional ways as possible. And they make very nice, colorful handicrafts and clothing to sell in the cities and to visiting tourists.

As soon as the Ryndam anchored, young men and kids in dugout canoes paddled out to the ship asking for things (mostly “dollah, dollah”) to be dropped to them and they’d dive for them. The captain had already warned us of this and asked everyone to not toss anything overboard because he didn’t want to encourage this activity, which he said was dangerous.

We boarded tenders to move to shore in stifling heat (90’sF with high, dripping humidity). Fortunately, it was a partly cloudy day so we had periodic relief from the tropical sun. Ashore we walked the dirt paths of the village, lined with women selling colorful sewn cloths called molas. The homes and stores were all wood and thatch structures with dirt floors and hammocks for sleeping. All the window openings and doorways were open to catch any breeze available. The privies are built on wooden platforms over the water’s edge with a single hole in the center; flushing takes place whenever the tide changes. There were several one-story, concrete Panamanian Government buildings--a school, a health clinic, and a commissary doling out rice to a line of women.

Everyone was polite, many smiled as we walked by, and there were children happily running and playing everywhere. But we found the whole experience a bit disconcerting--like walking into someone’s private backyard without being invited, even though we had been assured that tourist “dollahs” are much sought after and appreciated.

The picture is of a young girl in her school uniform being paddled from the island we visited to a smaller island where she lives. The school day ended about 2:30 pm and there were kids in school uniforms everywhere.

In Port Santa Marta, Colombia

Another Beautiful Caribbean Day--Sunny and Hot (85F at 8 am, headed for the 90’s!)

Well, we bought some more Internet time--at about 40 cents a minute! Our Internet bill just might be higher than our bar bill. Nahhhh! But we will be writing off-line and quickly posting, and don’t expect too many pictures. The slow satellite connection takes forever to load them.

We’ve decided not to go ashore today--none of the shore excursions struck our fancy, unless you’re interested in Simon Bolivar’s masoleum (which is empty--he was moved to Venezuela!). And we are docked at an industrial part of the port, which makes it a long walk or taxi ride to downtown. But we did get to see coal being unloaded over breakfast.

So another decadent day of lounging about in air conditioned comfort, eating well, walking the promenade deck, listening to music, entering trivia contests (we missed by one point yesterday), and maybe a movie. We saw “The Blind Side” yesterday--very good.

Tomorrow we get to the meat of the cruise--an afternoon on the San Blas Islands of Panama and the next day (Saturday) our transit through the canal. The transit times I gave before are estimates; we will get our exact schedule tomorrow evening and if the times change I’ll post them.

All is going very well. Gramma had a crown come off a rear molar and the ship’s doctor (there is no dentist) tried unsuccessfully to glue it back on with his “dental glue kit.” He didn’t say what kind of doctor he is, but we now know he’s no dentist. But she’s not in pain and she saved the cap for a later attempt. How do you say Panamanian dentist por favor?

Grampa

The Harborfront

George Town, Grand Cayman

We spent the morning wandering around the town, taking a trolley tour, and doing a little shopping. Tourists and tourist shops were everywhere--five (!) cruise ships in port at the same time.

The weather was hot (88F) and humid (72%), but a steady breeze made things bearable. I guess we're just getting ready for tropical Panama.

We sailed at 5 pm central time for Santa Marta, Colombia. All is well.

NOTE TO GRANDSONS (and anyone else who cares): We are scheduled to transit the Gatun Locks at 7:30 am and the Miraflores Lock at 4:00 pm Eastern Time on Saturday, April 24th. You can watch us by going to pancanal.com and clicking on their web cameras. We'll be waving.

Aboard the MS Ryndam

Somewhere Southwest of Key West, West of Cuba

79F with Bright Sun, Puffy White Clouds

A lazy day at sea...I'm back from a talk on the Cayman Islands and Santa Marta, Colombia; Karen's at a German cooking class/demo. This afternoon it's a lecture on the building of the Panama Canal. Pictures next time.

Cheers,

Ed/Grampa

Aboard the MS Ryndam

In port, Tampa, Florida

Warm and Intermittently Rainy

2:45 pm

All going well. We've got our stateroom (#309), had lunch in the Lido Restaurant, arranged our Internet service (obviously), and are waiting for our baggage to be delivered to our room.

Gramma's exploring the ship. At last word there were 75 empty staterooms reserved for Europeans who could not fly here due to the ash clouds. Holland America is trying to arrange flights from southern Europe (Spain and Portugal are still open) to the Caymans (our first stop). So far, any upgrades are frozen until they sort things out.

Cheers,

Gramma and Grampa/Ed and Karen