South and Central American Cruise

Ports of Call

Salaverry, Peru

We pulled into the port of Salaverry, all ready to take an excursion into the Mayan archeological site. But after sitting at the pier for an hour, we are told that the weather was going to create large swells in the ocean and the port authority would be closing the harbor at noon. Therefore, our ship would have to have remained in port over-night, which would mean we’d miss our slot in the Panama Canal. This was unacceptable, so we set sail just before noon, and we were not allowed to embark in this city.

We felt that this was a bad way to start a cruise, and were glad that we had spent 5 days in Lima, so we’d at least got to know and enjoy Peru.

Manta, Ecuador

So our first real port of call was in Ecuador. This city is known primarily for two things: it’s the Tuna Capital of the world, and it is where Panama Hats are made. The name “Panama hat” was coined by Teddy Roosevelt when he came to visit the canal, but they are truly Ecuadorian.

Manta was not much to look at, but there were some memorable sights, nonetheless. Many walls were decorated with murals.

There were some fairly nice parks and the fishing boats were interesting. There were also many seabirds, like pelicans to watch as they caught fish, too.

Note the sign on the tree stump: “Manta, the beautiful city”. We would disagree.

Manta is Vietnamese in its electrical wiring.

I think Manta set the standard of the Central American cities we visited the rest of our trip, which was pretty low.

Panama Canal Transit

There is no question that the highlight of the cruise was the passage through the Panama Canal. It was thrilling seeing the process from beginning to end. Prior to the transit, many lectures and TV documentaries prepared us for the event. Learning about the horrific job it was digging and creating the canal made seeing it and going through it all the more amazing.

I have to admit my ignorance, in that I had imagined that the canal was like the Great Lakes canals which moved ships from one lake to another lower, or higher lake. But the Panama canal was created to take ship over the mountains. So going from the Pacific Ocean required 3 locks going up to a man-made lake, then 3 more locks to take the ship down to the Atlantic (or Caribbean, actually).

Passing the impressive Panama City was interesting, but we wished we could have stopped and explored this city, as it is supposed to be very lively and prosperous (unlike the other cities we visited). We travelled under two beautiful bridges, The Bridge of the Americas and the International Bridge, which was newer. As we approached the bridges, the passengers on the ship gathered on deck to observe the approach of the canal and its locks.

As we approached the locks, excitement grew and watching as the huge ship maneuvered into the comparatively small lock. The four railroad engines attached themselves to the ship, not pulling it, but keeping it in the center of the locks. We watched as the water gushed in from the lake to raise the ship in each lock after the gates were closed. It was fascinating!

This is how close our ship came to the edge of the locks. I could actually reach out and touch the lock from our room’s balcony. Sometimes the best view of the locks was on our TV in the room, which always could show the fore and aft shots from the bridge.

Alongside the current locks there was construction for the new, wider and improved locks that were supposed to be done this year, but will take another year to complete. The 4 huge “gates” are for the new locks. The second bride was on the other side of the lake.

Above is the construction going on for the new, wider lock system. Below are the new gates for one lock.

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Limon was the only city that we decided to take one of the Oceania Excursions, since we’d heard that the city itself was not very interesting. So we took one that included a bus ride, a boat ride and a train ride. Despite the intense heat, I’m glad we did this excursion, as it had some interesting sights.

On the bus ride, we had a very talkative guide, who filled us in on all the pertinent (flattering) facts about Costa Rica. But the views from the bus were pretty pathetic. Tiny hovels and sad looking people abounded, but we didn’t get many photos of these, since the bus swiftly drove past them.

We finally got to a river, or canal, which was the beginning of our Rain Forest Boat Trip. Before we boarded there was complimentary fruit and beverages, as well as the obligatory purchasing opportunities. The boat took off down the river, where we saw some rain forest fauna, but not as much as I would have liked. The most amusing was the “Jesus Christ lizard”, which skittered away from the boat on two legs, literally walking on water. We also saw a large iguana running very swiftly and a howling monkey up in the trees. And we went under the rail bridge that we would eventually be riding over.

The train ride was quite something. It was an old banana railroad which was damaged in a hurricane. The then president decreed that bananas would be transported by truck (he owned a large trucking firm), but the train was later repaired for tourists. Our bus moved right up to the train entrance, so we didn’t need to step on the platform and be ravaged by begging children. It moved quickly and with lots of bouncing around, but was fun. Even more poverty homes were seen, ocean black, volcanic beaches, as well as jungle and one 3 toed sloth.

Back on the bus, we rode to a banana factory, which was very interesting. We learned that a bunch of bananas is always wrapped in a blue plastic bag on the plant (not a tree!) to keep off bugs and tarantulas, help the ripening, and fool the birds, who can’t see the color blue. The processing of the bananas in the plant was fascinating.

Back on the bus our guide showed us the “pod” where the bananas come from, and gave us each a tiny banana from a bunch. It was very tasty.

Back in the uninspiring town of Puerto Limon, we wandered around for a while before returning to the ship.

Santo Tomas, Guatemala

The tiny port town were we docked was pathetic, so we hired a taxi to drive us to a larger town nearby which we hoped would have more to view. It was pretty much more of the same. When the driver said “Here’s downtown”, we just looked in awe. He drove us around a while, and we took photos of the people and houses.

Then we asked if he knew anywhere with Wi-Fi. He indicated that he did, and took us to a shabby beach front restaurant, with thatched roof. It was closed, but he know the owner who served us drinks and we sat for quite a while, greedily getting online and checking email and Facebook. The connection was surprisingly good.

When we were done he asked if we wanted to see the “waterfall”. We were happy to see anything other than this sad town, so we agreed. So after driving into the country past some real poverty, we came to a beautiful spot with steps and trails around the jungle, which climbed up to the top of a waterfall, and then back down.

These young men were breaking up concrete by hand, in the sweltering heat.

Then back to the port and out of a city that was quite depressing. The taxi driver let us know that the waterfall trip was extra fare (deservedly), but we didn’t have the dollars to pay, so he took us to an ATM and took out local currency, charging us considerable more than we expected.

Belize City, Belize

I’m sure there are beautiful places in Belize, but Belize City isn’t one of them. After being brought to port in a tender (the ship had to anchor 25 minutes away) we found the entrance to the city over-run with pushy taxi drivers hawking their cabs for rides. We pushed past them into the ugly city. We’d heard there was a museum, but we wanted to walk into the downtown. Immediately we were accosted by a older, Rastafarian, toothless man who claimed to be an artist. We tried to get away from him, but he insisted he would guide us to the museum. He followed us, although we knew the way, and just before we got there, he asked us for money. He ended up getting $10 from us, so he walked away. I understand he did the same act with others from the ship.

The museum was small and had some interesting things in it, but certainly not worth a trip ashore.

There were some colonial buildings, mostly in bad shape. One had a clock tower that Munro took a photo of and it was the only thing worth a picture in the city.

The only really interesting thing we observed in Belize was coming back on the tender we noticed the bright blue water suddenly turned green. We asked the crew member why and he said that the heavy rain in the mountains the night before flowed fresh water into the ocean, which was green. We couldn’t get a good shot on the boat, but I got this one on the TV back in our room.

Cozumel, Mexico

After the seedy, rather depressing port cities we had visited, it was a great relief to come into Cozumel, which seemed clean and prosperous. The pier was the beginning of a large modern mall, with colorful stores (instead of shacks) selling tourist stuff and high end merchandise, too. And a Starbucks with WiFi!!! We spent a goodly portion of the morning in the outdoor Starbucks café catching up on days of being off line.

After doing some shopping, we explored the city and found colorful houses and restaurants and even a colorful cemetery. We weren’t hassled much by the inhabitants and except or the killer heat, it was a very pleasant walk.

The Cemetery

Key West, Florida

We were very happy to land in Key West for many reasons. It is a city we know and love already, and even have friends here. So the first thing we did was contact Vincent and Cameron and arrange to go to their new apartment in center city. The apartment was beautifully decorated, as was their house. They then took us to Sunday brunch at a nearby Portuguese restaurant, which was delicious. We then left them and did some wondering around the city. Although I know it pretty well, we still enjoyed the beautiful homes. We also explored another part of town that we weren’t familiar with, a bit more seedy, but very picturesque. That’s where I took most of the photos, since I have plenty of the other side of town.

The view from our stateroom balcony.

An amazing mural that covered the entire side of an antique shop.

I was very excited to be able to say a big “hello” to my dear friend Kristen Michele, who was currently performing in a play at the Waterfront Playhouse. I knew she would be at the theater at around 2:00 because she was auditioning for their next season. After a big hug, she said, “They’re auditioning for Noises Off, so why don’t you audition?” Hmmm, I thought, why not! So I asked the director whom I slightly knew and he said, “Fine.”

Kristen and my script to “Noises Off”

Vince and Kristen (and a stature)

Back to the Marina.

Charleston, South Carolina

The second and last great city on our cruise, after Lima. We’d never been there, so it was a real pleasure exploring and discovering this beautiful city. The photos will say it all, so I’m not going to write narration.

All John Westmark’s paintings are made with dress patterns.
Below is the historic court house, that is still being used today.

The entrance to a long market.

We toured two historic houses. One completely unrenovated, the second beautifully renovated.
This is the restored house, with gorgeous antique furnishings, but no photos inside.

On the way back to the ship came upon a photo shoot for a sexy fireman calendar (we think).

On the way out of port we saw what we think was Fort Sumpter.

New York, New York

And then we came in to New York Harbor early in the morning. And after a long wait to depart the ship, we took a taxi to Penn Station, just making the train home.

Go to 5 Days in Lima

Go to The Marina

Go to David’s Travel Page