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I'm a reader who enjoys posting comments and recommendations about the books I read. You will not find a synopsis with my recommendations because you can just click on the book title for a link to www.goodreads.com for a synopsis and reviews by other readers. I prefer the 3 Reason format: the reason I chose to read it; the reason I liked (or disliked) the book; and the reason I recommend it.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Panama Canal Transit Cruise




The Panama Canal Transit cruise gave us the opportunity to see amazing things for ourselves.

We left from Ft. Lauderdale, a new embarkation port for us.

We chose the excursion at Montego Bay to see more of the countryside of Jamaica as we traveled to Dunns River Falls. Host preferred to take pictures of the Falls and the surrounding park area. I joined a group assembled by a Falls guide. This guide had a group of twenty-five people hold hands to climb the Falls. Last year we did something similar at Mahoe Falls and I felt safe with a smaller group. I did not enjoy the walk up the Dunns River Falls the way I did at Mahoe Falls, and I removed myself from the group about a third of the way up. For any of you who have done this before, I climbed up past the point where you must climb under the low bridge.

Our visit to Cartagena, Colombia was historic: our ship was the first Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ship to dock there in six years. We nearly met El Presidente Uribe as he participated in a ceremony to greet our ship and came aboard the ship. Dignitaries, Juan Valdez with his mule as the symbol of 100% Colombian coffee, an orchestra, folklorico dancers and a gifts of a long-stemmed rose were available to greet us. The return of cruise ship tourism is a symbol El Presidente Uribe stabilized the country and reduced its violence. Our tour group was photographed by CNN. Our tourist dollars bought two straw hats for $20, three t-shirts for $10, and an emerald ring for Host.

Host was at the front of the ship before dawn with other photographers, and he took the photos from that position through the first set of three locks. While the ship was on Lake Gatun, we walked on other decks for shots from other perspectives. Don took the shots of the four Millaflores locks from the rear of the ship to watch those gates close behind us. We went to deck 13 for some shots of Panama City and its bridge.

Our days at sea were restful. We were excited when we spotted dolphins, porpoises, and sea turtles. There was dancing for us every evening: ballroom dancing in Starquest Disco on deck 13. (Club dancing happened there after we went to bed.) Three live bands played throughout the day and evening so we could dance at poolside, the Centrum or the Colony Club. I participated in an activity called Thai Chair. The cruise activity guy, Florin, wanted to combine the arm movements for Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan from a seated position to give people an introduction to tai chi chuan and still provide stability to them on a moving ship. Not every passenger has an inner gyro that works as well as the ones in the billiard tables! If Florin was not leading the class, other cruise activities personnel led the class through a Sit to Be Fit routine.

Our next four ports were ports of the Mexican Riveria: Hualtuco, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. All of our excursions at these places were for land and sea as we wanted the best photo opportunities on our first visit to these places. Hualtuco is a Mexican National Park planned and designed to attract tourism for the nine-bay area. The original excursion we planned for Puerto Vallarta was a hike in the Sierra Madres, and it was cancelled by the tour provider in time for us to replace it with an excursion to Las Caletas. We had a 45-minute catamaran ride to that bay for some beach activities (some people snorkeled with a trained sea lion) and a nature hike that took us through three micro-climates: coastal, tropical rainforest with its palpable humidity, and high desert. In Acapulco we watched the cliff divers, a show I wanted to see for myself since watching Wide World of Sports. At Cabo San Lucas, we saw a humpback whale breach even though we were officially late for whale-watching season.

We disembarked in San Diego and flew back to Dayton via Atlanta.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Preparing for Vacation

April began a two-week push to finish projects once and for all times. My deadline was the start of vacation; my purpose gave urgency to the removal of clutter of ambivalence and postponement. Yes, again, my office looked worse before it looked better. I donated 3 boxes of books to Goodwill. Some books represented projects I finished before and no longer needed as reference. Some represented projects that I no longer wanted to do.

When I pack for a trip, I spend as much time considering my reading materials as I spend considering clothes. The reading material has to be light enough to carry in my backpack because time available in airports and in the airplane is a minimum of a 2+hours block. My unread subscribed magazines are usually my first choice. I cut off the address label before leaving so I may discard them as I finish them. Two issues of both National Wildlife and National Parks and a book from my library, Nine-Headed Dragon River by Peter Matthiessen were my final selection. As I removed clutter of ambivalence and postponement, I planned reading projects for my return after vacation, and I have many to pleasurably anticipate.

I spent more time on clothes selection since 2006 was an anabolic year. I postponed shopping trips because I did not want to buy clothes a size larger. I wanted to wait and buy them a size smaller and I wanted to wait until I had money that was not earmarked for other payments. In the meantime, I kept eating whenever and whatever I wanted until my "current size" was stretched beyond reality. Finally, Host gave me an urgent deadline and his help. Host and I shopped at Kohls, Elder-Beermans, JCPenney and Dillards for shorts, skirts, sundresses and new formal wear. I enjoy shopping with Host because Daughter has him trained to carry packages and pull out his charge card. He tells me which clothes he prefers to see me wear without responding to provocative questions such as, "Does this make my butt look fat?" And then he likes to eat out when we are finished!