Puerto Vallarta is another tourist destination a bit farther up on the beautiful western coast of Mexico. Tom and I decided on a private taxi tour, and so we hired Arturo to show us the best of Puerto Vallarta. He provided a running and interesting commentary as we wound our way through the narrow and very crowded streets.

 

Puerto Vallarta was established as a tourist destination with the hope of the same type of success that Cancun was experiencing. It didn’t take off quite as fast, but it is becoming more popular.

Currently the population of the main city is only about 15,000 with another 30,000 people living in the surrounding areas.  Most of those are working in some capacity with the tourism industry.

 

 

 

That industry got a major boost when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton began frequenting it as a get away from the masses of adoring fans. Then in 1964 it became the location for the filming of Night of the Iguana staring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner.

 

 

 

 

Arturo took us to the restaurant where some scenes of the movie were filmed, which was kind of cool and also gave us an amazing view of the city and the bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here we headed out of town and into the jungle to the tiny village of Nagalito where we walked through another restaurant and wandered a bit through their lush grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here we headed back to the ship.

Thank you, Arturo, it was a lovely outing which we greatly enjoyed.

 

 

Alrighty adventurers, here we are in beautiful, lush, rain forested Costa Rica and today’s foray is to the Rio Grande Tarcoles for a Jungle Crocodile Safari!!!

While we’re on the bus, let me give you some of the demographics shared with us by our tour guide Kitty.

Costa Rica (Costa – Coast and Rica – Rich so the literal interpretation is Coast Rich or Rich Coast) is a small Central American country relatively the same size as West Virginia but with more than twice the population – 4.8 million people. The main language is Spanish. Unlike the flat, arid ABC Islands, Costa Rica is covered with mountains and jungle. They are very eco conscious here – 2/3 of the country is protected lands and preserves.

 

In just over an hours bus ride toward the center of the country, we have arrived at the site of our excursion, boarded our flat bottomed boat and we’re on our way.

Between Kitty, Roberto (our boat driver), and our handy-dandy bird guides, there are things to see/photograph everywhere, so today it’s all about the pictures.

For those of you who haven’t guessed, I am a nature enthusiast. I love flora, fauna, landscapes, waterscapes… of all kinds, so this was a real treat, especially the birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a bit, we came upon our first crocodile. Well, actually we had seen several in the water but all you could see were their eyes for a second or two at a time – rough to photograph. Anyway, this gal was lying on the bank in full view – very cool!

 

 

 

She actually turned towards us which made some of the passengers a bit nervous. I was okay with it as long as she didn’t start swimming. We were informed that they can swim up to 37 miles an hour for short periods of time, Yikes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rare and handsome creature is Milan. We sat together on the bus and talked about his job, home, aspirations, and politics. It is always so interesting to hear what others think about our country. The conversation was very interesting and Milan is a delight as was our wild jungle safari.

A great day in beautiful Costa Rica.

 

March 21, 2016

 

The main reason for the trip, other than we love to travel, was that traversing the Panama Canal had long been on Tom’s bucket list and today is the day!

The history of the Panama Canal is a fascinating story that took decades to write – from 1880 to 1914 to be exact. It was a massive undertaking with a huge loss of life (there are estimates that go from 5000 deaths to as high as 22,000 due to diseases such as yellow fever and malaria and to landslides and other job hazards) and amazing technical issues to overcome. So rather than trying to retell this story, I will give you a website dedicated to the Panama Canal – http://www.panamacanalfacts.com.

Our adventure started at 6:30AM, when a small boat brought the canal pilot to board the Westerdam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We proceeded to the first set of locks arriving just before 8:00.

 

 

 

 

Before I go on, let me explain a bit about the Panama Canal. It was built to provide a deep channel connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Part of the dilemma in this process is that it is a looong channel and the oceans are basically different heights. So the locks act as an elevator raising a ship up by maneuvering it into a lock/elevator lift and pumping water into or out of the lock to raise or lower the ship to the next level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Caribbean side of the canal there is only one set of locks, the Gatun Locks which raise you up to the huge Gatun Lake in the middle of the canal.

We reached the Caribbean side of Lake Gatun around 9:45 and spent the next 4+ hours steaming across the lake to the next set of locks – the Pedro Miguel Locks.  These and the Miraflores Locks would stair step us down to the Pacific Ocean side of the canal.

 

We exited the last set of locks around 4:30pm and bid a fond farewell to the Panama Canal.

 

 

And toward the Bridge of the Americas and the Panama Bay.

 

 

 

 

On March 19th we arrived in Cartagena (pronounced Car-tah-hay-nah), Columbia.   Cartagena is a Columbia, South American city with a population of approximately of 952,000 people.

I went on a tour around the town which included a stop at the fortress. A centuries old city, Cartagena was subject to repeated attacks and takeovers by foreign powers. In response they built a 50 ft. thick wall around the city and then around the fort making it virtually impregnable. It’s really pretty impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

From here we went into the walled Old Town part of the city. Quaint and cobblestoned, the old city certainly has the flavor of Span by whom it was colonized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked through Old Town to San Pedro Claver Catholic Church where Ben relayed the story of San Pedro.

 

 

 

Sadly, the Caribbean was the major hub of the slave trade as early as the 1600s and Cartagena was one of the infamous port cities where slaves were sold and traded. Father Claver, a Jesuit priest in the city, rightly found this practice and the treatment of the slaves abhorrent and dedicated his life to fighting against slavery saying, “I will be the slave of slaves.”

Father Claver did not live long enough to see the end of slavery. He died of Parkinson’s  at the age of 74 and was canonized several years later for his selfless life and saintly works.

 

 

 

 

 

We toured the priests residence house – a place of peace and reverence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended our historic tour with shopping at one of the slightly more up-scale places in Cartagena. I didn’t buy anything, but I did get a chance to take a picture of some of the local women in native costume and to meet my very first three toed sloth.

A great way to end the day.

 

 

And so we bid Adios to Cartagena, Columbia.