Days fly by

 January 31, 2022.  

The days fly by and seems like ages that I have posted anything.  Just having too good a time.  Since my lot post we have visited Puntarenas for the second time and opted for the Wildlife and Crocodile tour.  While we saw only about 4 crocs we were assured there were many more and it would behoove us not to put our fingers into the water.  We were privileged to see many birds:  pelicans, frigate, mangrove warbler, yellow headed caracara, crested caracara, scarlet macaws, white ibis, common tern, snowy egrets, several types of herons and so on.  A birders paradise.  The weather was perfect.  In the afternoon our tour took us to the newly town of Esperanza, on the way we enjoyed lovely tropical fauna and great visas.  Once there we were treated to a cultural dance performance on the towns square.    All in all we had a wonderful day. 

After another sea day we arrive in Panama City whose skyline is amazing.  It is truly a modern city and most of the high rises you see are residential.  Panama City’s major development occurred just in the last 20 years.  It showcases many green spaces, panoramic waterfront and its old colonial town where the old wall is still visible is charming and protected by the World Heritage mandates.  Luckily only the facades must be restored to their  appropriate time period, which makes restoration financially feasible.  We took the city tour which of course included a walking tour of the historic old town.  The city and old town was noticeable clean, your could see they took pride in their city.  Our tour guide was informative and enthusiastic, and made sure we did not get lost among all the narrow historical town streets.  Regrettably we are still not allowed to explore on our own, which limits our experience.  However, we were allowed into one shop that sold the typical tourist merchandise: from magnets, to shirts, Panama hats (which are not made in Panama, in fact the Panama hat originated in Ecuador), dresses, lots of local crafts and the famous fabric squares  called Molas made by the indigenous people, Kuna Indians, on the Panamanian island of San Blas.   This Indian tribes have maintained their simple life styles and make most of their income on tourism and selling the Molas.  Molas are a kaleidoscopic, hand woven and stitched textiles.  Usually sold in 15 inch squares depicting birds, fish, fauna and old traditional patterns.  They are also made into dresses, purses, potholders, pillow cases and so on.  

We are on the 6th sea day and will arrange in Valparaiso/Santiago tomorrow morning.  Although our sea days are filled with activities we are looking forward to step on solid ground and enjoying two days in port.  You may wonder how we spend sea days,  Margit’s blog covers that some, but to summarize, we start out around 7 with morning coffee on the balcony, around 8 we make our way to the formal dining room to enjoy a scrumptious breakfast, followed by a long walk, usually around 3 miles.  Then checking and or writing emails, listening to enrichment lectures, reading, getting spa treatments and so on.  Then of course there is lunch, again usually in the formal dining room,  maybe a walk or more likely a nap afterwards.  Then I  like to swim in the pool, while Margit entertains herself otherwise.  Dinner around 6 and if the mood strikes up another short walk to work off all those calories.  In the evening we play cards and UpWords, taking turns in winning.   But to me its just a game, doesn’t matter who wins,  its the challenge. I also have been spending way too much time trying to resolve some technical problems with my Apple Phone, IPad and the ICloud.  They have got me stumped and I may have to go to the IT experts on ship as much of it seems to be Server related.  

Well that’s all for now folks.  Pictures will be in a separate posts, if I can get them uploaded.