Month: February 2019

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Where am I?

Land, ho!

After our lengthiest stint at sea thus far, I woke up this morning with a wonder view of land outside my salt-crusted window.

I began the day with great enthusiasm to see the place that is the home of the moai, those large carved-stone heads found around the island. I’ve been fascinated by these mysterious carvings since I was a teenager. In the ’60s in San Diego where I grew up, all of the surfers wore miniature moai around their necks, suspended on a thin strip of leather. Over the years, I learned more about the moai. I mostly learned that we have much to learn about them. In fact, very little is actually known for sure.

The moai were built several hundred years ago by one or two tribes on this island in the South Pacific Ocean that is one of the most remote places on earth. The culture that built them had no commonly used written language and so the secrets of how and why they were made, how they were moved, and why they were moved to the places where they are now found is all just a mystery. Another reason why I had such a fascination for these treasures: I love a good mystery.

But before I could get ashore to get a good close look at the moai for the first (and likely last) time in my life, I had to board a tender. This turned out to be a much larger task than it may sound like.

Although we have used tenders to get ashore in other ports (like Fuerte Amador and the San Blas Islands) today’s tender ride was a bit different owing to our location. There is one tender port on Easter Island and it is on the west side. As it turns out on this day, the west side had the choppiest water. The ship’s staff started tender operations at around 8:30am but the going was slow. The tender launch “deck” attached to the ship and the tenders themselves would often be riding and falling in the rough water at different heights. The swell would raise and lower the tender while the bigger, heavier ship would bob up and down at a different rate. The net result was that each passage from the ship onto the tender had to be timed to a point where the two platforms aligned long enough for a person to step across. You can imagine how slow it would be to put 60-80 visitors on a tender! People who had ship-purchased tours that were scheduled to depart at 10:00am found themself still waiting to board a tender at 1:30pm.

My tour was to leave at 1:30pm and it was also delayed, but only by about 30 minutes. This came at the expense of other passengers who wanted to go ashore and had been waiting to do so, but had not bought a tour from EXC, Holland America’s shore excursion extension. I felt bad for them, but I was very happy to be assured that I would be going ashore to see those iconic heads.

And so my tour began. We headed out to a beautiful park that overlooked the ocean (actually, much of Easter Island overlooks the ocean) and where a few of these amazing statues stand. You can see that not all of them are intact. Time and the elements have taken their toll on many of these monuments.

This park also has one moai that has been fully restored to the condition that is believed it would have appeared centuries ago. It is the only moai to have the eyes inserted and to have the “hat” placed on top of the head. Other than this example, the most restoral work done on any of the other moai has been to stand them up again, sometimes on a new foundation.

After visiting this park, our tour guide took us to the mountain that has the quarry where all of the moai were carved. This turned out to be a place that is as interesting as the standing moai themselves.

Here you can see two unfinished moai still lying in the stone, unextracted yet nearly ready to go.

There are also many standing moai, already finished and ready to be moved to their designated locations. But, where might those locations be? And who designated where they were to be placed? And why?

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It was a bit of a strenuous walk from the entrance to the quarry, then up the hill to where the exposed work could be seen, then around and down other moai already standing and waiting. Still waiting. I must confess that at the end of that “trail of discovery” I was a bit winded, but it was worth it to see how these giants were made and to see them in state, all finished up with nowhere to go.

As mysterious as “why” these heavy stone heads were made are the questions “where?” and “how?” Where were the final destinations for these monsters, and how would they get to those destinations? Our guide says that the traditional explanation for how the moai got from the quarry to where they stand now is that “they walked.” Well, if they did walk, how did they know where to go? Why are they where we find them today?

The truth is that nobody knows the truth. We don’t know how these rock statues weighing tons were moved down the hill and into places around the island. Personally, I like to think that they did walk there. That story beats the UFO theory, IMHO.

Our penultimate stop was at a place with 15 moai all standing in a row. And, that row contains the tallest of the moai on the island. Its name is Paro and it’s over 30 feet high and weighs in at more than 85 tons! Kinda reminds me of Ron Upson. (Hi, Ron!)

Our final stop was at a beach famed for its pink sand. I looked at it. It didn’t seem very pink to me. Therefore, I have no photos of it to share with you.

Originally, the “All Onboard” was to be at 4:30pm. When our tour arrived back at the tender dock in town it was 6:30pm. Due to all of the delays with the tendering process, the Captain decided to delay our departure in an effort to allow everybody to go ashore that wanted to. In spite of that departure time change, some did not get to go Ashore. I’m so very happy that I wasn’t one of them!

What is it?

OK, our last terrycloth guest to make an appearance looked like this:

Many of you said it looked like a ray, a sting ray, a manta, or a mantaray. Nobody guessed that it was the B-2 stealth bomber, which it isn’t. True enough, it’s a ray!

Ready for another one? OK, I’ll do a couple more, but I’ve been warned that the assortment of animals is near an end and that I’ll be seeing some old friends soon. So, enjoy this while it lasts. Ok, here’s your towel pal for the day:

What is it? Post in the “Reply” area at the bottom of this post, or just send me a message. You know how.

Where am I headed now?

Now that we are leaving Rapa Nui (Easter Island) I’m so happy to have fulfilled a nearly life-long dream. I’ve seen the moai, up close and personal. As we sail off to our next adventure, I take with me some wonderful memories.

I’m looking at two days at sea, and then a very brief visit to Pitcairn Island or Mutiny on the Bounty fame. BTW, that is also the onboard movie this evening. I understand that we will not get to go ashore (the Captain fears another Easter Island tender fiasco) but a handful of the natives (many descended from Fletcher Christian) will come about to entertain us and sell us soiree wares.

So, for now, farewell!

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The Rime of the Ancient Marine

Tuesday – Saturday, February 5 – 9, 2019

OK, well, things are not that desperate as there is still plenty to drink (at least that was true the last time I checked the onboard bars, and I do that frequently.) Still, five full days at sea is a long time to go without being on land.

Where am I?

Here are some maps to show the ship’s progress from Arica, Chile, to Easter Island, Chile. (Did you know that Easter Island is a dependency of Chile? 2200 miles off shore, Chile owns an island!

So, what do we do to keep ourselves occupied for several consecutive days at sea? Well, I think our choices kinda fall into two categories.

Onboard Entertainment

The crew of the ship do a pretty good job of providing us with a very diverse list of entertainment avenues. For example, here is a list of activities for just a single day. NOTE: This is a multi-page PDF document.

Some of the activities on that list are regularly recurring events. Others are unique events and still others recur, but not regularly. One must get up and read the calendar of events each morning to find out what kinds of interesting things (to them) are happening on any given day.

And, I can tell you, you can easily tie up your entire day with guest lectures about places we have visited or are about to visit, cooking classes, trivia contests, comedians, musicians, and maybe even a Las Vegas-style stage show. And what about a spa day?

On the other hand, when I start to feel like I’m panting due to the pace of the onboard entertainment, I start to consider the second category of entertainment:

Self Entertainment

No, not that kind of self entertainment! Shame on you!

There are plenty of things that I like to do that are more solitary and allow me to relax, focus internally, and simply enjoy being either in the current place and time, or to project myself into places and times that exist only in fantasy.

For example, today (Friday) started off a little bit cloudy. When it is overcast, I like to curl up in my stateroom with a good book, or re-watch episodes of Game of Thrones. I did that this morning until the room service breakfast I ordered last night arrived. After breakfast I cleaned up and went for a 30-minute walk around deck 3, the Lower Promenade deck. The teakwood deck is beautiful and has a soft feel underfoot. It’s a pleasure to walk on.

After that, I found a very comfortable chaise lounge with a nice view of the sea and listened to my audiobook as I watched a passing storm.

After a bit, I drifted into a nice nap. I must have slept for about an hour when I woke up panicking that I had not made any attempt all day to reach out to you, gentle reader, to advise you of all of the life-changing activities I had been up to today. Using all of the energy sparked by my sudden realization that I had left you out of my day, I proceeded to start writing these words that you are now reading!

I worked on the blog for a couple of hours. Much of that time was not spent enjoying waves of creativity washing over me, but rather trying to upload the images that more accurately deliver my experiences better than I could ever do with my written expressions. Damn! The Internet connection at this point is absolutely terrible!

Ultimately, I had to cease fighting with uploads and proceed to my first social interaction of the day, Evening Trivia! The trivia contest goes through 15+ questions almost every day. My team of six people has yet to win, but we’ve been very, very close several times.

And, we didn’t win tonight, either.

At the end of the trivia game while I’m headed back to my stateroom to freshen up, I’m struck by the vision of the ocean around me and I’m agog! Look at the color of the sea! We’re getting near the middle of the Pacific Ocean at this point, and it takes my breath away! I’m kinda surprised. All this time I’ve been waiting to run into an island of plastic the size of Texas, yet I’ve seen no evidence of it, yet.

So, this is life at sea. I’m as busy as I want to be, but with all the time in the world to kick back and relax.

My next post may be a couple of days from now after I have the opportunity to complete my tour of Easter Island. This is one of the stops on this cruise that really excites me. So, I’ll be back when I have something exciting to share.

What is it?

Hooray! Every single guess about the identity of this little guy was absolutely correct. He’s a frog!

Let’s move on to the next one. Can you identify this little animal? Bet you can! Post your replies on this page or just send me a message.

That’s all for now. Back in a couple of days!

Monday, February 4, 2019

This morning I woke up in a new country: Chile! I’m in Arica, Chile. This little town is only 18 miles from the border of Perú, making it just about the northernmost community in Chile.

In fact, Arica used to be part of Perú, but Perú lost some territory as part of the War of the Pacific between Perú, Bolivia and Chile. After the war, Arica became an important port for shipments to and from Bolivia, as it is closer than either of the next two best alternatives and Bolivia is a landlocked country.

Today, Arica is mostly known as a tourist location with its beautiful beaches and active nightlife. People (especially young people) flock to Arica from La Paz, Bolivia and Tacna, Perú to soak up sun and dive into the nightlife.

When sailing into the harbor at Arica, the most famous landmark you will see is the Morro de Arica. This is a big hill that stands right on the shore of Arica and can be seen prominently for many miles around.

There is a pathway that people can use to get to the top of the hill where a panoramic view of the little town of Arica can be seen. The following photo shows you that panorama, but it was not taken by me. No way. I was not going to spend my day being rescued half-way up the biggest hill in town.

So, instead of going mountain climbing, I went Wi-Fi hunting. From the gate of the docks (where the shuttle bus from the ship dropped me off) I could see Golden Arches protruding up into the partly cloudy skies just a few blocks from where I stood. McDonald’s has Wi-Fi, right? So, I proceeded down this very cute pedestrian alleyway in the direction of that giant yellow mammaric logo. The alley easily reminded me of the little alleyway I discovered in Santa Marta, Colombia. These car-less pedestrian shopping “malls” are really fun. I think there should be more of them everywhere!

Once inside the local McDonald’s I was relieved to find that they did, in fact, have Wi-Fi and that it was relatively fast. (Of course, I’m getting used to the ship’s Wi-Fi which makes a damn dial-up modem seem fast.) So, I decided to be a good customer, order some food and then find a corner where I could soak up all of the Wi-Fi that I could consume before the Amsterdam set sail.

The menu here in Chile was nothing like any McDonald’s menu I’ve seen in the US. I guess that a smart company tailors their offerings to accommodate the local tastes. That’s why I ordered the McPollo Italiano!

And just exactly how much should lunch in Chile cost me. I dunno, but I came prepared!

(And, I got about $1000 back in change!)

While waiting for my order to arrive, I glanced around at the advertising and promotional signage all around me. Here’s one of those promotional signs that really caught my eye. I know that there are some people, even Presidents, who simply cannot resist a McDonald’s hamburger. Some might even say they are addictive. But here in Chile, it’s apparently just fine to compare your food to CRACK! And, at $4000 per meal, maybe it comes with a whole bunch of real crack!

It didn’t.

Now, for just a moment, let me tell you about my McPollo Italiano.

Here’s what McDonald’s in Chile sells as something Italian inspired. First, you start with the same bun you use for your Quarter Pounder burgers. Ok, Italians have bread, too. Now, into that bun you insert a breaded piece of chicken, some mayonnaise, tomato slices, and guacamole. Don’t believe me? Look at the picture! Check the menu! What could possibly be more Italian than that? Joe Caracci would just love it!

Well, the rest of the day was spent mostly running around trying to find good/better Internet and doing a little window shopping along the way.

Then, just before departing from Arica, the local high school showed with their marching band and many dancing performers to give us a very colorful sendoff. Photos are attached here, but you really need to see the video! When shall we do that?

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All-in-all, I really liked little Arica. It was a culturally strange place (to me, at least) and therefore a bit exotic. I would be happy to return here, hang out at the beach, and eat more Italian food!

A new phase

As I prepare to sail away from Arica, I feel as though this moment is another “punctuation mark” in my world tour. A place where the focus divides between what has been and what is coming. For days now, we’ve been exploring the west coast of South America. As I leave Arica, I leave South America behind me and start out upon the next phase of this trip: little islands. What does the next week or two hold in store for me? I’m excited to find out.

What is it?

OK, it’s time to announce what this is:

Of course, you know it is a penguin! Lots of correct guesses this time!

So, tonight, when I came back from my visit to Arica, I found this guy on my bed. This one is probably the easiest animal so far.

What is it? Send me your reply, or just a message. I’ll let you know the answer soon, unless this one is a runaway, in which case I’ll move swiftly along to the next one.

G’night.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Today is an “at sea” day so I’m going to keep this one short so that I have some time to go outside and enjoy.

As I mentioned before “at sea” days are a little more calm for me, allowing me to recharge my social battery, read a good book, or even get in an extra long nap. But, I have one more thing that I do each day after we’ve pulled out of port and that is to update my map.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought this map to trace my travels. Initially, I wanted to have some fun tracing my travels on this cruise. But now, there’s something that is kind of bothering me and I can’t seem to make up my mind about what I should do.

As you can see, I’ve already scratched Colombia, Panama, and Perú. That leaves a big, annoying brown spot that is Ecuador. Ecuador lies between Colombia and Perú, yet we had no stops in Ecuador so it remains unattractively unscratched.

I have, however, been to Ecuador and I’ve done so recently. Just last August I spent a week in Ecuador and the lovely Galapagos Islands which are part of Ecuador. Therefore, I’m teetering on the cusp of scratching off Ecuador and simply repurposing my map as “all of the places I’ve visited this year.” That will make it look nicer, IMHO.

I don’t know. Which should win out: my personal esthetics or the originally stated purpose of the map? Help me decide. Tell me your opinion in this brief little poll.

Thank for your feedback. Tomorrow I arrive in Arica, Chile, a country that I’ve never visited before.

What is it?

A couple of posts ago, I presented you with this little imp:

Stephanie Foster was the very first one to ring in with the correct answer! Way to go, Stephanie. And, I’d like to add, that although finding that first correct guess is fun, I sometimes laugh out loud at some of the wrong answers.

Now, don’t forget there’s still one animal out there that’s waiting to be identified. Send a reply to this post and tell me what you think it is.

G’night.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Today was my second day in Lima and I have been falling behind in my postings on this blog. The primary reason for the delays has been the quality and the administration of Wi-Fi on this cruise. So, in an effort to get caught up (as well as to download some entertainment) I went ashore once again, this time in the daylight.

Our ship, the Amsterdam, is not actually docked in Lima. It is docked in Callao (kai-YOW). Callao is a district of Lima that lies to the northwest and is the chief seaport for the area. Callao is a rough-and-tumble place and we have been warned not to venture outside the gates of the dock and meander around the partially paved streets in Callao. “It’s dangerous,” we are told. For this reason, there are shuttles and tour buses that take us from the ship, safely through Callao, and on to prettier places that cater to tourism.

In the bus, and once outside the gates, I got a glimpse of Callao and it was pretty much as it had been foretold to us. These photos help to tell the story.

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The place is rather run down and dirty. There is little evidence in Callao of civic pride. It is clear that many people here are just trying to keep food on the table and do not have much time for community involvement.

Anywhere you go in Perú you have to live with very aggressive drivers. The rules of the road seem to be largely based on the idea that the bigger the vehicle, the more likely they are to demand the right of way. God help the people on small motorcycles, and there are plenty of them! Some drivers seem to disagree with this “fait accompli” and when they do, their only recourse is to lay on the horn. So, that is what you hear, anywhere and everywhere in the greater Lima area: loud, blaring, rude horn honking. I’m so very happy that I will not be doing any driving anywhere near here.

It does not take long, however, to get to wonderful places like the Miraflores District where a beautiful beach and modern buildings greet us. A 30-minute ride can make a huge difference in the environment in which you find yourself.

At least part of the reason for such dramatic differences in the forty three districts of Lima could be that each district has its own government with its own leaders. The economy of one district (and the tax money gained therein) has no bearing on any other district, even the ones right next door.

My tour bus dropped us off for a few hours of shopping in Miraflores. Rather than shopping, I used the time to find a place to sit down, have a beer, and reduce my backlog of pending Internet communications.

Here is where I find a marvelous place with a good Internet connection, but with even better beers! The BarBarian, for me, was a little slice of heaven. This place had some very good food, but the real excitement came from trying diverse beers that are made by this very company.

While I sat in this place, I almost felt like I was at home. It seems to me that if you can find a place that makes and serves quality craft beer, that place is likely to look and feel very much like good craft beer outlets anywhere in the world. I enjoyed more beer here than I can remember doing at any place in the last several years. There were twenty different craft beers on tap, several of which were made by BarBarian and the others were guest beers. Personally, I tried their Double IPA, their Session IPA (which, at 6% alcohol is the strongest session ale I’ve found), and even a porter. I’m not a big fan of porters, but this one was a delight! Perhaps I’ve just been away from home for too long. Still, if David Hibler or Matt Tolle were here to see me down that pint, I’m sure they would have been amazed.

And, if one was not attracted to the tap beers, one could certainly find something among the bottled beers that they might be taken with.

This place, BarBarian, is so dedicated to the making and serving of beer that some of that enthusiasm spills over (ooooooo, another bad pun?) into the washrooms where fresh clean water is always on tap.

My afternoon joy passed all too quickly and, sooner than I would have imagined, my time here was up. I needed to run back to the shopping center if I was to catch my bus back to the ship. As we approached the gate we needed to pass through security where a man in charge of security would board the bus and make sure that each of us had ship-issued ID. While I waited for the security officer I looked out my window and saw a sign that was trying to explain the security stop. One particular part of the sign certainly made it look like security at this gate was a matter to be taken personally.

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And, finally, back to the ship where our “Sail Away” party was just about to begin.

Once again, I’m on the Lido deck, aft, to watch Lima slowly disappear behind us as we sail away to our next port.

What is it?

It may be too soon since my most recent post to declare the identity of yesterday’s towel animal. So, I’m not saying anything about that right now.

But, there’s no reason that I can’t offer you a new mystery animal for you to identify. Therefore, that’s what I’m going to do. Here is your new animal:

As always, you may comment directly via this post or send me a message by any of the many ways the Internet provides. It’s OK. I’ll just need to find a nice pub in order to wade through all of the communications. 😉

That’s all I have for today. Tomorrow, I’ll spend all day at sea.

G’night!

Friday, February 1, 2019

I spent most of today aboard ship. Why? Because I was just in Lima about 5 months ago and I was pretty sure I had seen the best of it. Still, I reserved my evening hours to go downtown to see the “world famous” Circuito Mágico del Agua. More on that later.

At the designated time, those of us on the tour were gathered up and loaded onto the bus. Our tour was to include a visit to the Plaza de Armas in the Colonial district of Lima, and from there to go to the park to see the water and light show.

The trip to the Plaza de Armas from the ship was to take about 30-40 minutes. However, by the old gods and the new (I’m re-watching Game of Thrones) there was no luck for us. Maybe it was because it was Friday night. Maybe it was because the high school and college students are out of school for the summer. Maybe it was because there is some political unrest in Perú owing to the stagnant economy causing demonstrators to take to the street. Maybe it was some combination of all of those things, but it all added up to really bad traffic for us.

After we had been stuck in traffic for 90 minutes, our tour guide announced that we would have a very brief visit to the Plaza de Armas so that we would not miss the light and water show at the park about 20 minutes away from the plaza.

After another 45 minutes of being stuck in traffic our guide asked if we’d just rather skip the tour of the plaza and go directly to the water show. Although there was a unanimous cry of “YES!” from the passengers on the bus, our guide had to call in to get permission to skip part of the tour that we’d all payed for. Apparently the tour guide was told he could not skip any part of the tour and so the bus whirled us around one lap of the Plaza de Armas. If we wanted photos, we’d have to take them through the windows of the bus. So, I’m not happy with this (you already know how much I like to explore plazas de armas in colonial cities) but it’s not the fault of the tour company, and I really do want to see the water show.

So here are some photos from a lighting-fast lap around the Plaza de Armas in Lima, Perú.

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After applying muscle cream to treat my mild case of whiplash from our victory lap around the plaza, the bus headed on to the park so we could enjoy the water show.

We arrived at the park just in time for the beginning of the water show. Our guide seemed to know just where to stand to get the best view. We were by no means alone in our position; the park was packed with people on a warm summer night. Still, I’m convinced we had the best possible view of the show, as long as one could see over the tops of other people’s heads. For me, at 6 feet tall, it was not a problem as the general population here is considerably shorter than I am.

The show itself uses jetted water that is set in time to a musical background. The jets of water can take on almost any color. Additionally, there are lasers that shine into the water to make marvelous shapes and visions. On top of that, the water can be set to create a fine mist, perfect for projecting video images, using the misted water as a movie screen. So, here’s a part of the show:

After this, the main show, our guide took us on a walk around the park to see many of the other beautifully illuminated fountains. Here are a few:

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But, on a warm Lima night, this might have been the most fun fountain of them all!

On the way home, I got to see a seedier side of Lima. Lima is a very large city. It has over 11 million inhabitants. All big cities have their problems, there are seedy areas. Perhaps our bus was simply on the shortest route back to the ship ands that route happened to take us through the “darker” areas of town. I don’t know. But I will tell you that I have lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco and even San Diego back in the day. All of these places have sex workers, but I saw more prostitutes in Lima this night than in any other city I’ve visited (or lived in) so far in my life. On a more positive note, they were also the most attractive prostitutes that I’ve seen in any city. God bless them all.

We got back to the ship at about 11:20pm, a little late according the schedule, but that was fine by me. I’d had a (mostly) fun evening and I’d seen things that I had not seen before. And, for some reason, this night seemed like a good one to do a little midnight dessert, pairing some very special chocolate with a glass of red wine. Within an hour, I was very much in my happy place!

They’re back!

Ok, it seems as though a large number of you, my readers who fill my heart with joy, are up for some more towel animals. Here’s the latest one. I’m expecting to hear from you many on-the-nose guesses as to what it is.

So, what is it? Think you know? I think this one is very easy so let’s have some fun. The first three readers with the correct answer will earn the pleasure of buying me a beer at the bar on the Lido deck at just $11.15 per beer!

Excited? Of course you are! Now, start sending your guesses.

G’night!

Thursday, January 31, 2019

This morning I woke up in Perú. Again.

For the second time in 5 months I find myself in Perú, but this is the first time I’ve been to this place. The ship is actually docked in a town on the southern outskirts of Trujillo called Salaverry. Salaverry is a very industrialized place with no particular interest to tourists. It looked like this when we were allowed to disembark:

Perhaps the most notable feature of the area is a giant sand “wall” that separates the town of Salaverry from the mountains behind it. A closer inspection revealed that the wall of sand is slowly moving toward the water and has already started to engulf some of the makeshift housing in the area. On my tour today (more on that coming up) the guide explained that many of the houses we could see on the north side of town belong to squatters. They don’t own the land they’ve built upon, but nobody is attempting to take that land away, either.

Salaverry is a rather poor place. It looks depressed, like Naco, Sonora and makes Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, look like a true gem. But then, Salaverry is not the town I’m interested in today. I’m going to Trujillo.

At the appointed time, our tour group disembarks and heads to the awaiting bus. I board the bus and choose my seat. There, on the seat back in from of me I read the name of this tour company: Turismo Milagritos. The literal English translation is “Little Miracles Tourism.” As I look around at the heavily industrialized and financially depressed town of Salaverry, I’m thinking that if we all get back without incident, it might be a little miracle, indeed.

The bus cruised quickly through the town of Salaverry and within a half an hour we were at the heart of Trujillo: the Plaza de Armas (or Plaza Mayor, as it is sometimes referred to.) I absolutely love to visit the central square in these Spanish colonial cities because they are all the same and yet every one is different.

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Every Plaza de Armas that I’ve ever seen is a large, open area in the center of the city, usually a square or rectangular area. It always has the seat of government to one side, and a cathedral on the opposite side of the park. It is usually mixed with some commercial area, and must also contain monuments to local leaders, military men, and other historical events or cultural embodiments.

In Trujillo, the central monument is this guy:

This guy, named Freedom, symbolizes freedom and celebrates Perú’s declaration of independence in 1820. It’s a beautiful piece, constructed with a stair-stepped foundation, upon which is placed a base for the bronze figure that is placed at the top.

Our guide told us to pay attention to the proportions of Freedom. In particular, she told us to look at the size of his chest and arms as compared with the size of his legs. Once you take a close look you can see that the legs appear far too short for the torso they hold up. Then she told us a story.

In the planning stages, this monument was designed to stand proud and tall in the plaza. A little too tall, it seems. The original design would have had the top of Freedom reaching a point higher than the highest point on the church. This was deemed by the city fathers (and, no doubt, the bishop) to be inappropriate. To them, nothing should rise higher than the House of God. As a result, the stair-stepped foundation was lowered slightly, but Freedom was likewise reduced in its stature. (Wow! The symbolism here is powerful!)

So, today, Freedom stands tall in Trujillo, but not quite as tall as religion. And, as a result, we have this oddly proportioned man, still trying to illuminate a dominated world. It’s a good story. Do I believe it? Well, I’ll concede that it’s a very good story. How’s that?

After a very brief stop at the Plaza de Armas, we rejoined our bus to head to the Huaca de la Luna in the Moche District near the mouth of the Moche river. The Huaca de la Luna, and the companion pyramid Huaca del Sol, are located at the base of a sacred mountain. The temple complex was believed to be an administrative and religious center for the Moche people. The Moche were an advanced tribe living in and around the Trujillo area long before there was a Trujillo. The Moche culture is very old. It is much older than the Incas. Archaeologists believe that the Moche culture, which lasted about 650 years, became the Chimú culture which lasted enough 600 years or so before they (the Chimú) were conquered by the Incas.

What is left of the Moche culture largely can be found in the area of these two huacas, or temples. The huacas are pyramids and the Huaca del Sol is the largest pyramid in Perú.

The huacas were built with adobe bricks, like those seen here:

Bricks were created by individual families as a governmental tax. That is why each brick is marked in a manner that would identify the family who made it. The bricks would be gathered and used in the construction of the pyramids. The Huaca del Sol pyramid, at its peak (oooooo, bad pun), was constructed of 130 millions of these bricks!

The Huaca del Sol was looted and largely destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors and, following that, the elements continued to take their toll. The huaca is in poor condition and is not open to tourists. Therefore I’ll have little more to say about it.

The Huaca de la Luna, on the other had, was open to view and it was full of amazing details. The huaca had been buried beneath a sand dune at the base of the sacred mountain and was not discovered until 1990. Because it had been buried for so long it is quite remarkably well preserved. It is so well preserved that many of the adobe walls within the huaca still retain their pigmented colors and are an indication that, in the past, the entire temple area was brightly colored.

We are also told that this huaca was built layer upon layer into its pyramidal shape. This photo shows several of the layers of the temple from the viewpoint of a large central square.

The bottom layer shows naked slaves chained together and led in procession. The Moche did practice human sacrifice and these slaves may depict that ceremony, or perhaps it is just intended to show the power and strength of the Moche people. Above that layer we have dancers, holding hands. Above that is a mythical symbol used by the Moche. It is a spider god that has a crab’s head for a backside. Very odd, but very creative.

The tour involved a lot of walking and little of it was on flat ground. I found the tour to be a good bit of exercise for mind and body alike. Ultimately, our short day in Trujillo had to come to an end, and our busload of weary tourists headed back to the dock in Salaverry and back aboard the Amsterdam.

Once aboard and after a little “freshening up” it’s time for me to head to the Sea View Lounge on the Lido deck at the back of the ship. Each time we sail away from a port, the ship hosts a “Sail Away Happy Hour” and this is an event I hate to miss. There is something very exciting (to me, at least) to watch a place that I’ve just explored start to slowly recede into the distance. To watch the foam on the ocean created from our propellers as we sail away, and to see the lights in town start to twinkle to life, and to have a nearly-half-price beer in my hand, these are the things from which memories are made.

What is it?

Well, wasn’t this one a little stinker. For the longest time there were no correct guesses about what kind of animal this is. Even though I gave you all a nice clue that it was not a bear.

If you happen to follow me on Facebook, you received another clue, telling you to think “south of the equator.” At last some correct guesses came streaming in, and if you’re like Julie Tolle (and a few others) you correctly guessed that it is supposed to be a koala. Now, if you couldn’t figure it out for yourself, you’re in good company; I couldn’t figure it out myself and had to ask the animal’s creator, my cabin stewardess, Ayu.

I have more photos of these crazy yet clever towel animals that I could share with you. Should I continue? Let me know.

You can comment directly from this site. If you are seeing this post as a single post on the past, the “reply” section at the bottom of the page is where you do that.

If you’re seeing this page with several posts on it, look on the left of the page at the start of the post to find a link to make comments.

G’night!

Tuesday & Wednesday, January 29 & 30, 2019

Preface

One of the worst things that can happen aboard ship happened to me on Tuesday. Imagine, if you will, calling for and then entering an elevator, all by yourself. The elevator arrives and you step inside. Once inside, as the doors close, it becomes abundantly clear that somebody who just left your elevator left a nasty fart behind. So, there you are stuck in a tiny box with a prize-winning fart. What could be worse?

Well, halfway to the floor you’re trying to get to, the elevator stops, the doors open, and in walks another passenger. As the doors close they also detect the foul aroma, then snap their heads and look directly at you!

ARGH!

And Now the story

Well, the schedule calls for two days at sea as we travel from Fuerte Amador to Trujillo, Perú. Therefore, I don’t have any photos from shore excursions to show you. So, what can I show you? How about a day in my life at sea.

Fine, if you don’t like that topic, leave now and come back tomorrow.

When we have a day at sea, I do something that I’ll bet most of you want to do on any given day of the week: I sleep in until I awaken naturally. Sometimes that happens at 8am. Sometimes I get to sleep until after 10am. It’s pure bliss!

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Once I get out of bed I have to start dealing with my day. There is no coffee maker in my cabin and I always start my day with coffee. That means I’m into the shower, then shaved, dressed, and out the door of my Dolphin Desk (deck 1, aft) cabin almost as fast as I can move.

Although there’s no coffee in the cabin, good coffee can be found in the Lido Market Restaurant (deck 8, aft) and great coffee can be found in the Explorer’s Lounge (desk 4, midships). I never make it to the Explorer’s Lounge because the Lido Market has decent coffee and lots of choices for breakfast, as well. They have everything from fresh made breads to fruits and juices, to custom omelettes. There is always a broad choice of breakfast meats and I’ve found that the cooks will happily crisp up your bacon if you find it too soft (and I know you’d like that, Joe.)

After breakfast, I like to take a walk around the ship to get a little exercise. The Promenade Deck (deck 3) has a very nice wooden track that winds all the way around the ship. 3.5 laps around and I’ve completed one mile. The ship even has a scheduled event each morning to encourage people to get up and walk at 10am.

After all of the necessaries are out of the way, I usually refer to the Holland America “app” to see what kind of activities are planned for the day. The app is actually a website portal that runs on the ship. Listing the day’s planned activities is only one of the useful features on that portal.

On Wednesday, for example, the portal informed me that there was a presentation in the Wajang Theater from America’s Test Kitchen that looked very interesting.

I attended this event and found it to be quite enjoyable and very informative. This class was about making a classic dinner for two. One of the nice things about this presentation (like the TV show itself) is that they really focus on kitchen techniques, and not just the ingredients and how to prep them. At this event I learned about strong and weak spices, and how to make perfect rice in any amount. Recipe pages, printed on nice heavy, glossy stock, were available to everybody. Great show!

After morning activities, I’ll usually return to my cabin to work on posts like this one. It’s amazing to me just how long it takes to transfer photos, enhance photos, write, proof read, re-write, and publish. It’s a lot of work! So much work that I usually fall into an afternoon nap for an hour or so. Life can be so hard and demanding, don’t you agree?

Around 5pm I’ll head to the Ocean Bar (deck 5) and meet up with my team for a game of trivia. Fifteen questions, plus one “bonus” question. Our team has yet to win, but we’ve come pretty close. We’ll keep on trying.

If there’s no trivia game (it happens on some evenings) I’ll head up to the Crow’s Nest to watch the world go by and try out some exotic cocktail that I’ve never heard of.

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There’s a show in the big theater every night, but I haven’t attended many of them. The acts that are brought in might appeal to my father (if he were alive) but the music selection, the “night club” vibe, and the corny jokes just don’t appeal to me. What does appeal to me is Cigars under the Stars, held in the outdoor Sea View bar (deck 8, aft) every night at 9pm. I’ll take my iPad and a nice cigar out to the Sea View bar, order up a glass of Don Julio Añejo, and continue my re-watching of Game of Thrones in the warm night air. So nice!

After a cigar and a glass of tequila, I’m usually ready for bed, especially if there is a shore excursion the next day.

The next morning, I get up and start again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Really, there are many fun things to do and the list changes every day. There are specialty restaurants with outstanding food. There are guest speakers on topics related to our cruise every day. Sometimes more than once a day. There is onboard shopping, but that only lasted me one day.

And sometimes, I just like to sit outside on a comfy lounge chair in the sun and read a good book. Or, I’ll use some time to continue to plan activities I want to do later in the cruise. For example, just today I booked my excursion to Petra, Jordan, that will happen in the spring.

What else?

Well, I do have hanging on my wall a scratch-off world travel map. As I visit each country I scratch off the coating on the map to reveal the country underneath in full color. The map also has the flags of each country beneath the map, so I scratch off and uncover the appropriate flag as well.

And, so where am I

Just to help you keep track of where I am in the world here’s my graphic progress report

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What is it?

So what was it yesterday? Some of you guessed the towel animal was an octopus. That’s what I though it was as well. But, we were wrong. The creator of this fine towel animal tells me it is a squid!

So, I’ve got a new one, and this one is going to be more difficult. Therefore, I feel that it’s only right to give you a little clue. OK?

Ready?

Here’s your clue: It is not a bear! Now, post your reply or just send me a message, as you prefer.

G’night!