From Papeete to Ft Lauderdale Cruise

Jan 8: This is the day we made the Panama Canal transit from the wee hours of the morning (about 5AM) till our arrival at the port of Colon about 4:30PM. It usually takes about eight hours to transit the Panama Canal, and I heard from one of the passengers that the Princess cruise ship was charged $80,000 (or about $129 per passenger, but Panama Canal charges its fees based on tonnage). Most of us who got off the ship at Colon were restricted to Pier 6 where they converted the whole terminal into one huge shopping mall with booths and fixed stores selling t-shirts and crafts. The only interesting aspect of this port stop was the natives (some of the older women showing their breasts), and the cultural show they provided in the terminal.

A BRIEF ON THE PANAMA CANAL: Charles I of Spain ordered the first survey of the canal route through the isthmus in 1534, but more than three centuries passed before the first construction project was started by the French in 1880. The French through private investments spent 20-years, but disease, financial, and engineering problems defeated their attempt. In 1904 after an agreement (under President Theodore Roosevelt) with the new Panamanian government having gained independence from Columbia couple of years earlier, the United States purchased the French companies rights and properties for $40 million and began construction. After three chief engineers, and defeating the disease problems (by Col. William Gorgas, MD, who identified the mosquito as the source of malaria, instituted mosquito control programs, and the project was completed in 1914 at a cost of $387 million. The project ended up costing over 21 thousand lives. In the year 1997, Jimmy Carter “gave” the Panama Canal to the local government.

The mammoth locks are 80 feet high, 1000 feet long, and 13 feet thick. From the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea, the first lock is the Miraflores locks (one hour to transit), the second the Pedro Miguel (40 minutes to transit), and the third and last, the Gatun Locks (2.5 hour to transit). It's really a treat to see and transit the Panama Canal to realize the engineering feat accomplished during the early part of the 20th century.

Photos taken at the canal without comment.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

Our approach to Colon.

I'm having the same problem as Walter. The sat 3:42PM photos came through, but the later ones posted at 5:09, 7:16, and 10:46 did not.

I got a little ahead of myself, and posted stuff on the Panama Canal, but I wanted to show a few pictures on the Peruvian cultural show (best of cruise).

On with the show.




They call this one the scissor dance (the best one).

flyboy, I'm not familiar enough with how a2k vs the free photo sharing sites work or don't work in tandem, so I'm afraid there's nothing I can help to resolve this problem. They are posted as .jpg pictures similar to when I used photobucket as the photo sharing site. Maybe one of the puter experts on a2k can assist us with this problem.

COLON:

.



Onward to San Blas.

Jan 9, San Blas Islands (also known as Kuna Yala): San Blas is comprised of over 370 islands but only 49 are inhabited. We were tendered to only one of them which seemed more like a Hollywood set than the "real" thing. The Kuna Indians have maintained their culture and lifestyle despite the relentless efforts by European explorers and the Panamanian government to adopt westernized lifestyles. Since 1925, the Kunas have enjoyed self rule, and each island has their own “king.” Visiting San Blas takes one back to a much earlier time (some claim it transport visitors 20 centuries into the past); their homes and buildings are made from bamboo and grass with dirt floors. Their dugout canoes and their use of stones to mill grain by hand is still used.

Here's a math quiz for all you genius whizkids. The cruise line provides a Captain's Circle cocktail party for second and more cruises on Princess. 75% on this cruise were repeat guests. There were two parties during our cruise to handle the first and second dinner seating guests. At the party, they raffle three bottles of champagne at each event to the guests by picking out the invitation that has our name and stateroom number on it. All three bottles of champagne were won by the other three couples at our dinner table. The question: Using 618 total guests on this cruise, what is the mathematical probability of this happening? (I took statistics in college, but don't remember a thing.)

San Blas is famous for a rainbow colored fabric called the “mola.” Most have fish, birds, jungle animals and geometric designs, and Kunas use them to protect themselves from evil spirits. Colorful beaded mola head dresses embroidered by the Kuna women are favored souvenirs from San Blas. We were asked to refrain from taking personal pictures without asking permission or paying a dollar or two. What upset me was that children were asking for a dollar to take their picture. They even charge one dollar to take a picture of their (non-franchised) Hard Rock Cafe. My visit was over in a couple of hours, because of the small size of the island, and all the booths or tables set in front of their simple homes selling goods looked the same after seeing similar looking mola and other souvenirs that looked like they were “made in China.”

Tender to San Blas.


Our tenders docked here.


Typical site on most narrow dirt roads.


Our final port stop was Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

Other than one photo, I'm getting the "you can't share" message for the first few sets of photos, and the bar code/advertising image for the balance. Shame. I'm sure they're good pix.

ehBeth, Can you see this picture?

It's a picture of the Tahitian Princess in the port of Papeete when we arrived.

Same (still) here ...

... and that message "Yu haz no ackcess ...." for the last (above) photo, again.

No

"yu haz no ackcess to dis fotoh."

Me too.



Same as Walter, Beth and others.

Okay. All the pictures I've posted are here: http://www.ciceroneimposter.myphotoalbum.com

Let me know if you can get access. If you can, click on the "Slideshow" to see a larger picture.

Yes, great it works.

Didn't see the slideshow - too busy checking the pages to really LOOK yet.

Double clicking enlarges too.

That works! thanks c.i.

(I quite like having the album in a separate window in any case - easier to manage)

ehBeth, From now on, it's going to be separate from the blurb. It's easier that way for me too, but it misses the opportunity to explain some of the individual pictures. I'll post the URL after adding more pictures.

Works fine - thanks c.i.!

One more major approval. Thanks, C.I.

Thanks, that's an improvement. So far I'm most keen on #100, very elegant photo, and maybe 115 and 116, but I can't enlarge those, only getting ads. Forgot, also very happy with the horizontal row of easter island stones.

I look forward to hearing more about various photos. I plan to look at the slide show in sequence soon.

Hi osso, Glad you dropped by. Which one is 100? If you like, I can make a hard copy and send it to you. They served ossobuco once during the 26-day cruise, but my roommate and I missed it, because we decided to eat at the steakhouse that night. They raved about it.

Jan 10, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica " our last port stop: Costa Rica is located 100 east of the capital city of San Jose. What makes Limon somewhat unique is that the 60,000 residents are made up of descendants of Jamaican and Chinese immigrants. The Afro-Caribbean influence is evident from their speech and reggae rhythms, and from the colorful bungalows found throughout the area. The east coast of Costa Rica is a mixture of mangroves, pristine beaches and tropical forests.

The cruise line offered several optional tours in Limon including one to the beach and canopy ride for $199, the river cruise for $79, and a city tour for $59. Greg and I managed to do all three for under $100 plus tips. Even though I took my camera on the canopy ride (harness ride down a double cable system), we didn't have any opportunity to take pictures until we were back on the ground because our two guides rushed us down from one platform to the next. We did see sloths, small colorful poisonous frogs, iguanas, and birds from as high as 150 feet in the air. Our taxi driver, Mario, also took us to the Del Monte banana plantation where we saw them washing down the bananas hung on hooks, cut into bunches and thrown into a bath with some chemicals to resist ripening for up to three weeks, and packaging them for shipment. During our return back to town and our city tour, he took us on the hillside where we were able to take a picture looking down on Limon with our ship in the background. Mario drove us through town and showed us the main shopping and souvenir streets. After he dropped us off at the pier, Greg and I walked around town to get a feel for the city and its people, and to shop. I purchased a brimmed hat with Costa Rica with two colorful birds on it for my wife at the pier before returning to the ship, because my wife lost her “Galapagos” hat during our visit to Hawaii in February. Greg stayed and walked around town a bit more before returning to the ship.

This was my second visit to Costa Rica, and my love for this place is second to none. The people are friendly, discrimination is non-existent, they have universal health care, and no military. There are lessons here for many countries.

It was a good way to end our 26-day Cruise's last port stop before sailing three more days to Ft Lauderdale.

*******************************************************************
Meet some of the staff aboard our ship. Noel was our stateroom steward. He cleaned up our room and bathroom at least twice daily, and replaced our used towels. Domingo was our waiter for dinner, and his assistant John. Both are from the Philippines. Robert (bar manager on the ship) was our bartender at the casino bar where I had a vodka martini most evenings before dinner, and the waiter, Jason also worked behind the bar a few times.
Christina from Bulgaria worked in the steakhouse, and she knew us by name because my roommate Greg gave her a gift (even got a kiss on the cheek). Victoria from the Philippines (married with a young daughter, and sends most of her earnings home) worked in the cabaret lounge, and she knew my name only because Greg also gave her gifts. She was the prettiest girl on the ship. I ordered drinks from her only a couple of times. Many of the other Filipino staff knew me by name because of Greg. Greg knew all the Filipino staff on the ship, and gave them all gifts from home. Greg's wife is Filipina.
************

I will post more pictures later today or tomorrow. Thanks for visiting.