My first voyage, Princendam, Circle of the Sun, 2006

[susiesails]

Hello, I got back from my first voyage on the Princendam, Circle of the sun 2006. I tried to start posting what I was writing on the ship but I had trouble getting into this site so I let it go. I ended up spending $1200 on internet minutes as it is so I am glad I quit trying back then.
I am ready to post it all now here, I hope you all enjoy it. This was my first cruise ever, anywhere. My father had bought this cruise for himself and my mom as the crown jewel of all their cruises and then passed away 6 weeks later. It took me a whole year to be ready for this cruise as it meant leaving my home and hubby "stick in the mudd", my animals and life as I knew it. I had no idea at the time what 3 1/2 months of cruising was going to be like or what things I would see. I have always enjoyed traveling so how hard could a cruise be?

My dad reserved a wonderful cruise for my mom and himself a few weeks before he died. Unfortunately, he can no longer go, so my mom is taking me along with her.
YIPPEE SKIPPEE
The cruise is called "Circle of the Sun", and we will be sailing for 105 days and will be going to 35 different destinations. We will be traveling more than 30,000 nautical miles altogether. As I love traveling, this is going to be a trip of a life time for me.
We leave on Jan 5th from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and will have days to settle into the rhythm of the sea. This ship only holds 793 people plus crew, so it will be wonderful. I bet I speak to most of the people aboard, too. Anyone want to bet with me?
Barbados will be our first port of call. Doesn't that sound romantic? Port of Call...... Barbados is a sunny, upbeat capital with a decidedly British air. Next a brief call on Devils Island, once home to an infamously cruel political prison to day a peaceful isle off French Guiana.
The center piece of this fascinating segment is the Amazon experience. For 3 days the ship will sail this immense river thru the heart of the Brazilian rain forest, past river towns and jungles that are home to 1/5 of the planet's pant and animal species.
In Santarem, we will discover a busy river port and the remains of a rich rubber legacy. Interesting shore excursion options here include a scenic boat trip up the clear Tapajos River or a forest walk thru tropical hardwoods.
The amazon experience continues, followed by a hop below the equator and a maiden call at Natal, Brazil whole miles of sand beaches make this City of the Sun a popular holiday destination for Brazilians. Recife, the following day, promises colonial churches, excellent woodcuts, and one of brazil's best museums.
Finally Rio De Janeiro and 2 full days to soak up the sights of this exuberant city: the signature obelisk of Sugarloaf Mountain: the huge statue of Christ, arms outstretched; famed beaches like Ipanema and Copacabana; (Aren't there songs about these beaches?) and streets filled with carnival joy.
This is only the first leg of the journey, of which there are 4 altogether. I will write about the rest on another day. I plan to take you all along with me, by email. I will have my dad's laptop with me for the trip.
In order to do this I will need one contact person to fax my reports to. They will have to have a working scanner and know how to use it to put my posts in when received, as to send email by satellite phone is frightfully expensive.
I have made the cities and ports of call in bold, as I will be posting more about these cities in the future. Oh man, I wonder if I will sleep tonight?????? mrssusie



Since I can't sleep, I may as well add another part to this post. My stomach is hurting me to badly to sleep. I gave myself pancreatitis again by having a bit of wine every night for 4 weeks. I realized it last Sunday night and haven't had any more since then. I wonder if my med's are too much for me to handle right now. I may have to stop them until I can get this under control again.
Ok, part two of the cruise: it is called: The Southern Sun.
The journey continues. From the energy and ebullience of Rio De Janeiro, the ms Prinsendam heads for South American cities with decidedly sophisticated European flair. Stroll down the streets of Montevideo under a canopy of jacaranda trees, or tour into the countryside to the vineyards of Juanico for a taste of Uruguay's best wines.
Coolly elegant Buenos Aires is so rich in sights that we'll extent our stay here, giving you 2 full days to explore fashionable districts like La Rocoleta or, perhaps, to take a side trip to a working estancia to marvel at the horsemanship of gauchos and feast on famed Argentine beef. Tango in the city where the dance was born? Not to be missed!
South, ever onward, bound for the ends of the earth. As we enter the Beagle Channel near Ushuaia, be on the lookout for seabirds, seals and penguins.
Next, one of the highlights of the world travel: the chance to cruise close up to Antarctica's ice spires and through it's shimmering waterways. Expect to see hundreds of penguins waddling to the sea, eerie peaks sculpted by ice and time, pods of killer whales and colossal floating icebergs.
And on our passage through the South Atlantic to Cape Horn, 2 rare prizes for destination collectors await: South Georgia Island, where penguins outnumber humans, and the island group of Tristan da Cunha, among the most remote isles in the world.
Part 3 of the voyage: Indian Ocean Odyssey
Your two days in Cape town will pass quickly, so many options abound. Take a cable car up flat topped Table Mountain for stellar views. Head out to the famed Stellenbosch vineyards, or watch the surf break at Camps Bay Beach.
The Addo Elephant Park outside Port Elizabeth is your chance to see huge African elephants as they come to drink at the park's water holes. Then for a taste of under-discovered South Africa, venture into Zululand (Richards Bay), a vast tract of land dominated by the proud warrior nation.
Nosy Be, an island just off the mainland, is blessed with the best of Madagascar: an almost perfect climate, fragrant vanilla and ylang-yland trees, wonderful beaches and troops of beguiling black lemurs.
Next, mystery, spice, romance and history, found in the sounds of the mwadhini calling the faithful to prayer in Moroni's old Arab quarter. In the aromatic markets and sultan's palaces of Zanzibar, and in Mombasa, where an extended stay offers opportunities to visit the farmhouse of Isak Dinesen or the Maasai Mara National Reserve where the "big five" roam.
A passage to India includes a call upon the impossibly chic Seychelles Islands, promising idyllic shell-strewn beaches fringed by palms. Next, spend a fascinating day in Cochin to discover the astonishing murals in the rajas' coronation hall of Mattancherry Palace .
Mumbai, formerly called Bombay, is an exhilarating city, offering the glamour of India's huge film industry (bollywood), cricket mania, hectic bazaars and your jumping off place for Agra and the Taj Mahal.
Part 4 is called: European Eclipse
From Mumbai the ms Prinsendam sails for days through the Arabian and Red Seas and the Gulf of Aden en route to Egypt.
Sinai, as old as time, is a region of stark and awesome beauty. The glittering resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, set on it's southern tip, offers access to the crystalline waters of the Red Sea.
A full day's transit of the Suez Canal is next, taking you to Alexandria on the northern coast of Egypt. Founded by Alexander the great and ruled by Cleopatra, Alexandria once rivaled Rome for glory. It's grand tower, the Pharos, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
On to Turkey and a maiden call on the gorgeous Antalya, founded in the second century B.C. An archeological highlight here: the triple-arched marble gate built to honor Roman emperor Hadrian.
March 29th finds the ms Prinsendam in the ideal spot on earth from which to observe a total solar eclipse, sailing the dark seas between Greece and Turkey, with an Astronomer on board to interpret events.
And to round out our Mediterranean adventure, two maiden calls in Libya, followed by the most romantic ports of the Rivera. Sip marsala in the shadow of the Duomo on Sicily...wander the rooms of the great renaissance art in the Vatican in Rome. Marvel at the sleek yachts that line the marina on Corsica...experience the twisted genius of Antonio Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona, Spain...Cap it all off with tawny sherry in Cadiz near Jerez de la Fontera and sweet Madeira wine on the lush, lovely island of the same name. Then on your way back to Fort Lauderdale.
Days at sea. It's wonderful to have the time to prepare for re-entry to the "real world" and to reflect on these past months of discovery, exploration and friendship. How do you begin to describe all that you have seen and experienced? Perhaps in a word, UNFORGETABLE.
The cruise will end April 20th and we will probably spend time with my brother Peter and Elizabeth, his new wife and family. Then back to Madison for the next to last leg of the journey for me, before returning home to my beloved stick and my home in southern Missouri.

susiesails

[localady]

Susiesails-
First off, I am very sorry for your mom and your loss.:o I can imagine this might have been a bittersweet cruise for you both.

I am curious, how did you like the ship??? Do you plan to cruise again??

Would love to hear what you thought of my favorite lil ship!!:cool:

Thanks for posting!!:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry about your father.

But did enjoy reading your review and where all your mother and you traveled.

[susiesails]

Yes it was very sad my father passed away so soon after picking this cruise. The cruise was kind of bitter sweet for both of us, but we took him along with us on our shore excursions. He had booked one of the large verandah suites, cabin 31, so you know we had plenty of space for our journey.
I had no idea what to expect when we boarded the ship and as my mom is 77 years old I went along to help her and to be her companion as she did not want to give up the last thing my stepfather had planned for the 2 of them to do together. Mom ended up saying the cruise was better than both of her marriages as she really blossomed on this cruise.
The ship is absolutely beautiful in everyway but the thing I loved the best was the crew. I miss them already and not just for the service they give. Being on the ship for such a long time, it gave us time to become life long friends with a few of them and to be friends with many of them while on the ship.


Dec. 14,2005
I just can't believe this but I am actually having my luggage picked up at my home in the wilderness here in southern missouri. I am sending it out on dec 23rd so I can just relax and have a nice Christmas with my friend Jeanne and hubby stick.
I have been worrying about how to get everything in just 2 suitcases. I mean we are going for almost 4 months and so many different climates are involved. How does one get everything in just 2 suitcases. So I called the cruise company again and they gave me the name of a shipping company that will guarantee that our things will be in our room on the ship when we get there. The fellow on the phone said, "the only thing we don't do is unpack for you!"
When I asked the cost of this wonderful service he told me the rate for 100 pounds and under is $175. Now I almost choked at his answer. But because of the category my dad picked, this service will be provided for us for free. Both on the way there and on the way home. Yippee skippee!!!!!!
So this has taken a huge load off my mind, let me tell you.

I ended up sending 2 large suitcases and a huge box. I didn't save the tags on the bags but I think I sent somewhere around 200 pounds. I had carried another 2 suitcases on the plane and my mandolin, computer packpack, camera case, mom's medications and I can't remember what else. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

We're looking forward to the rest of your posts, Susie. It is sad that your father did not realize his dream, but I'm pleased that your mother still wanted to go and take you along. Even more pleased that you both were able to view the cruise as a tribute to him. We were just a couple of doors down the hall, cabin 35, on last years World cruise. (Nice neighborhood:D )

My family were all from SE Missouri, south of Poplar Bluff, but we are now in Florida. We didn't use the free luggage shipping service as we drove to the port. It sure makes it easier for those that are flying.

[localady]

Susie-
So glad to hear that you enjoyed the ship and most of all, the staff. We were only on her for 2 weeks...and felt she was the best cruise and had the friendliest staff we have had to date!

How wonderful that your Mom enjoyed the cruise and all the new experiences. I was terrified to travel without a spouse when I was single, but soon learned that I could do it, and even enjoy myself!!:eek: ;)

Looking forward to your postings!:D

[susiesails]

12/21/2005
Hello all, I am now up at my mom's in Madison,WI with Stick, my hubby. We left last Monday to come up here to finish mom's computer room. I am very happy to say that we have finished all the papers. Those damn papers had many babies while I was gone, but they are finished now and all the computers and parts packed up in 5 boxes to donate to the University Computer Dept. My gosh, it really looks like a spacious room now, not the pack rat room I started working on last February.
There are still so many things to do to get ready for the cruise, all those last minute details I had put off till I had time. If you would like to see the ship we will be traveling on, please click on the link. http://www.hollandamerica.com/fleet/virtualTour.do?ship=pr (http://www.hollandamerica.com/fleet/virtualTour.do?ship=pr)
Oh la, la. Very fancy indeed. We will be staying in a superior verandah room, so you can check it out.
Our luggage was picked up last week at our homes and will arrive in our bedrooms on board. I can't tell you what a blessing that was. It helped me stay on track and to get more things done than if I had waited untill the last day to pack. Gosh, I was totally brain dead after the guy came and picked them up. It to me 8 hours to feel normal again after the bags left. I just rested the rest of the day after that. I sent 2 huge suitcases and a big box and mom sent 3 big suitcases. After all, this trip is lasting 105 days, so we had to be prepared!
Wow, do we ever have the clothes! Four of my friends contributed to the formal clothes, and we are all set. We are going to be some of the best dressed ladies on the ship! I had so much fun shopping at my discount stores and hitting the big sales. I showed mom a top that I call "the butterfly" and she was thrilled with it. It is covered with silver sequins in the shape of butterflies and it just beautiful. Thanks to my friends, Jeanne, Susan, Liz and Ester for the use of their beautiful clothes. I think I have 20 formal outfits with me! This is kind of like being a little kid playing dress up and fairy princess all put together, but this is real life. I just can't imagine what it is going to be like.
I have left my home neat and tidy, so hopefully I won't come home to a mess like last time I left home and came home months later. If I do, well I will clean it up again. Such is life.
I have set up my life at home to run by itself, making plans for this and that. When I leave on Thursday, I don't want to be worrying about my home life, other than to get phone cards to check in with stick. I won't have any control over what happens at home, so I have done the best I can to get everything arranged. I can do no more in that department.
I am still losing weight and now have lost more than 52 pounds! Yippee skippee!!!! It has taken alot to lose this weight, so I don't want to be gaining it back. I plan on being good on the ship on normal days, but when we have formal nights, I plan on eating everything!!!! Also when we get to shore,.....anything goes as far as food. I want to taste my way across the world. I may never have a chance again.
All my plans to meet with different internet friends have gone through, except for meeting Carlos's family in Buenos Aries. My friend Carlos moved and didn't call me to give me his new phone number. Naughty boy. I would have liked to meet his family.
So we will be meeting a friend in Barbados, a sister and spouse of a friend in Capetown, South Africa, and my cousin in Italy.
I have to go to Chicago on Tuesday to go to Customs, so we don't have to pay duty on the things we brought on the ship when we return. I will see my daughter and fiancé Marcus, again on Tuesday.
My son is no longer working at the job he had, and is doing badly. I now have no way to get ahold of him, but that seems to be his choice. I have no control over that either. He gets off parole in march if he lasts that long. But I have to let that go while I am gone for my own sake.
Stick and Marcus met over the last two days and really like each other. Marcus asked Stick point blank at the end of a meal, "so, do you approve of me?" and Stick replied, "yes." They will get married in St Thomas over spring break, and have a formal reception in Oct. in Chicago so the 2 families can meet. Once again stick says he isn't going to Chicago for the reception so keep this in your prayers, will you? Stick just likes to stay home, as many of you know.
My mom keeps saying with all the clothes we have, men are going to be interested in us. Well, no thanks for me, and I told mom if she has any men sniffing after her, I just have to say "pre-nup" and that will get rid of them. Hahahahhaha.
We fly out at 6:30 am on Thursday morning. I can't believe this voyage is finally here.
I have so many unanswered questions: What will the people be like in the different countries, what will we see, or what will the food be like, I just can't imagine all these things and many more. I know I plan to have a great time with my mom.

5/11/06
I am so glad I have come here and I feel just like a naughty little girl right now. I had such a nice day reading here and I am a happy girl right now. I spent much of the day greedily reading grumpy's thread and am now on page 15. This is in between unpacking one of my last 2 suitcases, making lunch and dinner and so forth. I am hooked on cruise critic for sure.
Good thing I couldn't get the pages to work for me on the ship or I don't know what our internet bill would have been. I did get the hang of getting on and off quickly at the end, but spent a great deal on time trying to get my laptop to send the mail into outlook express and other problems that will come up in the posts later on.
I live in central southern missouri in the wilderness. I am not kidding here. We retired in 2002 from the Chicago area and moved down there to water-hill country here in the Ozarks. I think I am about 3 hours west of poplar bluff or 76 miles east of Branson, Missouri. We bought a river that came with a nice house and a small vineyard. When they told us all the alcohol brought to the ship would be collected until the end of the trip in the brochure, I took them seriously and left all my homemade wine at home. I could have been really, really popular on this cruise if I had brought my wine.
When I started on the cruise and even during the cruise when people would ask me if I would cruise again, I said "no, as stick and I live on social insecurity". My wonderful mom, Renee, allowed me to go along and even treated me to the whole thing. What a doll she is. Now today I find myself looking at the bargain page of this site. There is just something about the sea that makes you yearn for more. I am so amazed I feel like this. I am and always have been a river kind of gal, but there is something about the vastness and the ever-changing faces of the sea that calls a person back, am I right? This is what I seem to be feeling right now as I read abut grumpy's and slinky's cruise. I just got off the ship 22 days ago and already I am trying to find my way back there. Is there a withdrawal period people go thru, please tell me this feeling will lessen over time.
I have been traveling by myself for a long time. Sometimes I get a bit shaky when I think of all the bad things that could happen but I grew up in Chicago and have pretty good street sense. I am a pretty friendly person so that usually helps me along.
My hubby hates to travel now as he traveled for business for 25 years including many international trips. I always thought he was not doing it right, as he told me he went to the job, then out for something to eat and then to the hotel. I would have been spending 25 hour days seeing what was there and then making it into the job. So that is why stick stays home, he would have just hated it all, the dressing up, all the people to talk to, the walking, the side trips. That is how he got his puter name, stick in the mudd. There is nothing much that gets him away from his home. susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

Hi Susie:

Something tells me that the journey with you is going to be very interesting.:) I don't mean that in a snide or sarcastic way at all; I am already fascinated by your story, and I've only read three of your posts. I marvel at how differently each one of us experiences life!

If you would like to read another perspective on your 2006 Grand World Voyage on Prinsendam, taken by another poster here known as Ides of March, please go here (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=273494&highlight=ides+march).

Thanks for sharing your life with us.

[arzz]

Thanks for sharing. I am eagerly looking forward to more of your posts and more details of your trip. Last fall I cruised 10 days with two friends. One of them had never cruised before and people kept telling her she was nuts to go for 10 days before testing out her like of cruising. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for your first cruise to be a 105 day Grand Voyage!

[susiesails]

5/11/06
As I have never been away from my home for more than 21 days in the past, 18-19 days was the longest time I liked to be away from home, I had some reservations as to how I would do being away from home for 105 days. And that was in addition to being away from home for a total of 5 1/2 months last year after my father died. I enjoyed helping my mom and watching our relationship grow, but I still missed my home. But still 105 days.........
I knew there were going to be shore excursions and things to keep us busy, but not exactly what. I knew there were going to be lots of people, yikes, people! I have been a city girl all my life, and always went to nature to refill my soul. What was it going to be like with all those people, (only 632 people in my present town 15 miles from my house). I can only see one house from my home. What was it going to be like with over 900 people and 450 crew members???
Now don't get me wrong, I have been a city girl all my life. I love people, any people, anywhere. I worked as a nurse for 21 years. Yes, I love people but have gotten used to being alone much of the day or having stick in front of the TV. I have plenty of friends, and am very active in our community, but would I have time for myself on this long cruise? I sure didn't have the answer for that.

Even if I had found this site before I left and had posted questions, I would not have asked that question. After all, I was here to accompany mom, and make sure she had a good time, (how could she, not going with me!), but would I be able to find some little corner of the ship to call my own to contemplate life and the curves life throws you and the other unanswered questions of the universe? I had no clue.
I am just not used to being around people. Living as far out of town as I do and living in a neighborhood, (I say that lightly, where folks Do NOt visit each other) what was I going to do with all these people to talk to. I am a chatty cathy, but I talk to people when I choose, which is all the time but I always had a choice to move away and find my own space where I am alone. Would I on the ship? Anyway, I am tired and I am rambling.
Tomorrow is another day. I am glad I am here as it will help salitify my incredible adventure with Mom. Susiesails

[susiesails]

Thursday Jan 5th, 10 AM
Hello all, well we are on our way to Florida! Now I am excited, for sure. We had plans to meet my brother, Peter and wife Elizabeth, but his new baby is ill with a virus so he will catch us on the flip trip to show off his new, long awaited daughterwho was born on Thanksgiving day. I haven't seen any photos of her yet, but one day I will. Oh man, so much planning has gone into getting ready for this trip, I can't begin to imagine what the cruise company has gone through to get ready for all of us.
Thursday 11am
I read something from the cruise company last night that said more than 650 people are booked all the way through the end of the trip. So we will have plenty of fellow passengers to make friends with and hang with for the whole time we are gone as we are cruising to 35 countries and beyond. I have my dad on my shoulder so he can see everything.
We are now on the second airplane, mom has had 2 ½ rum and cokes so far and she is now cut off. I am cut off too; (9:30 am is a bit early to start drinking but what the heck, we are on the start of a long trip so who is counting.) We still have to make it to the ship sometime today. All our traveling has been without mishap so far, except for the first airport confiscating 4 of my good lighters.
Thursday 7pm
Oh, my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this ship is everything I had hoped for and much more. We just had the best dinner; I can't believe the menus they have here. Mom and I just enjoyed shrimp cocktail, I had the chilled blueberry soup and mom had Caesar's salad, and we both had king crab legs and julienne mixed veggies for supper. Wow, what a meal! It was followed by about a choice of 15 desserts. I ordered bananas foster, but that wasn't available tonight so I just skipped dessert.
We have such nice tablemates; we really enjoyed speaking with them thru the meal. They are all experienced cruisers; I am the only one who has not cruised before. They told me they would see things on the ship thru my eyes now as I am bringing back enthusiasm for them. Some of them have cruised so often, they had become jaded. I forgot to say we were picked up in a limo when we got to Florida, a long stretch that seats 12 people but there were only 4 riders. It was fun. Mom says it was her first limo ride but I have been in a limo many times before. I am very tired. We got up at 3:00 am and it is now 8 pm. Mom is getting ready for bed as I type this to send out in the morning. So, good night for now.

Friday Jan. 6, 2006 3 pm

I am unbelievably tired and weary, and enjoying myself in spite of my tiredness. It took me a very long time to go to sleep last night. Every time I got myself comfortable in bed, I realized the ship was moving and couldn't relax. I got up finally and took 2 Tylenol PM and finally after about 1½ hour I fell asleep and slept till 8 AM. I am consuming way too much caffeine on board, but I just realized it. I will ask for caffeine free things from now on. Maybe that was why I couldn't sleep last night.
I love cruise life. I saw some flying fish this morning and at lunch I saw a huge fin come out of the water, like a sharks or other big fish and many islands passing as we went by. I thought we were passing the Florida Keys when I got up at 8 am this morning but we are already passing Cuba. Wow, traveling at 20 knots can really put some distance behind you.
At breakfast this morning mom had been waiting to enjoy eggs benedict again, and I joined her, as I had never tasted it before. It was good but I don't need to eat it again. Then for lunch, we both had the Weiner Snitzel. It too was ok, but more calorie's than I needed. I ordered our low carb meals last night for tonight so they can be salt free for us. After lunch we walked just short of 1 mile, which was pretty easy to do. Each turn around the ship is ¼ mile and the time and walking went fast. Mom thought we only went around twice but it was almost 4 times. Shhhhh!
We spent a good part of the time on the ship so far unpacking our clothes. Our walk in closet is full. Mom is amazed at the beautiful clothes I brought, but I have been studying fashion all year by watching TV. My girlfriend, Jeanne kept telling me, "Susie, you can't pack your whole house to take with you!" and my reply to her is, "why not, everyone else did!!!!! There seems to be some kind of contest on board as to who could bring the most clothes. We did ok with our 8 bags, but there are many people here with 14 and 15 suitcases. I have no idea where they are going to put all the clothes. One lady here actually brought a different outfit to wear everyday. That comes to 105 outfits!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't know if I was going to be seasick and as long as I don't look at anything that sways with the movement of the ship, like a plant or a curtain I am fine. But if I look at anything swaying, my tummy doesn't feel very good. I am teaching myself to not look at things and succeeding! I am getting my sea legs now and it is easy to sway with the ship as it goes along.

Friday 9 PM

What a great day today! We have had 5 wonderful meals so far and only 3,477 more to go before we leave the ship to go home! Hahaha, that was a fact given to us in the Queens lounge tonight before the live show of dancing and singing by 6 very talented performers from LA. For supper today we had fresh sushi, a very good spring roll over a bed of seasoned bean thread noodles, chilled cantaloupe soup, and for our entree grilled salmon and some kind of cooked green veggie with the biggest baked sweet potato I have ever seen. Mom and I had the same thing, and we passed baked sweet potato out to many of the people at the table. They actually had 8 different entrees for supper tonight, from prime rib to grilled salmon, venison, oh I can't remember what else they had but any of them was to die for. I did have my bananas foster tonight and it was as mom says, "yuck!" I didn't finish it. Gosh, I can make a better bananas foster than that.
Tomorrow for supper, we ordered shrimp cocktail again, with surf and turf, but I told them to skip the turf! Because I cannot tolerate much salt and we are on low carb meals, they bring us the menu to choose from the day before so they can have our dinner prepared before hand.
We have had casual night or informal clothes at supper for the last two nights. Tomorrow, we have our captain's cocktail party, so it is finally formal night. Oh my, I can't decide what to where. We have so many beautiful clothes with us and it will be difficult to decide. I am sure everyone who has them will be dripping with diamonds tomorrow. This is going to be so much fun.
Mom is already sleeping. I am not tired because I am so over tired. Does that make any sense? I skipped the coffee after supper tonight, and I am more used to the motion of the ship so maybe I will sleep better. I sure hope so. Night all.

Saturday AM
I finally got to sleep after 2 am when I looked at the clock last because of the rocking ship. It was very humid last night and we have definitely left winter behind. We are cruising next to the island of Cabo San Lucas now. I am having all kinds of trouble connecting with my server and this wireless network. At 25 cents a minute I have to get this under control. I can type in my room but have to go downstairs to connect to the wireless. Mom and I walked another ¾ mile today. I am having her walk up and down the stairs as she gets winded now and has to keep up with the tours when we finally do get to go, so I am drastically increasing her activity. She's very good about it and knows she has to pick up her pace. I was going to put her in a wheel chair to make it easier for her and boy she got indignant with me. Ok mom, just trying to help. I saw a grandson with his grandma sitting in a wheelchair and boy did he ever look bored and the woman was badly taken care of. NO! Not for my mom, she's being coddled and cherished!
She's telling herself to smile and does a fair bit of talking at the meal tables and when we meet other people which is very different for her. We found out one of our dear friends had an auto accident in WI and broke her neck. She will have a 6-month recovery period with the halo brace and everything. Mom got visibly upset when I told her this news. She still wants to hear the bad news though. I was hoping 2006 would be easier than 2005. I still hope for it, but have heard of 2 tragedies already this year from my friends so far. Please pray for Barb for an easy recovery, if long. We have our first formal night tonight. We have been invited to a cocktail party with the captain. I plan on wearing a long beaded skirt and blouse and the paste diamond choker. I am really enjoying myself and mom is too. I have to get ready for the Captains cocktail party now. Bye

Saturday 9 pm
I had just the best time and mom so enjoyed herself too. First there were photo's and just before it was time to go and have ours done witht he captain, I told mom to just think "organism". she started laughing and took a very nice photo! Grin!
We both dressed up and had just plain old good fun. We had cocktails, actually champagne and appetizers with the captain and crew and dancing and later a formal dinner. I have to say we went out to the lobby to get the elevator and saw two of our tablemates; the couple from Vancouver and her mouth fell open when she looked at us. We were truly stunning tonight. We had photos taken and of course they were with someone else's camera that we couldn't download the pics to the computer. Sorry folks. But them we went to dinner and oh everyone looked so nice in their tuxes and ball gowns. I did expect to see many more formal type dresses; some of the clothes worn tonight were pretty casual. For supper we had shrimp cocktail, will I ever get tired of it, no I don't think so. Then I had the cold soup from Spain and didn't like it at all. It was way too spicy. I like hot but this didn't taste good. Now I ate some veggies with it but can't remember what. After supper was finished I remembered that I had promised myself that I could eat what I wanted on formal nights. So I allowed myself to have Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert with a vanilla sauce, and it was still very warm when I ate it. Oh, it was just delicious. I so enjoyed it; it was so light and fluffy. It is truly one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. Can you tell how much I love food????????
After super we went into the lounge and met a dance host who danced with mom and came back saying I could just call him stepfather from now on, and I said that was ok but mentioned a pre-nup. He later asked me to dance and man am I ever out of practice. Since stick has had his bad foot we just have not danced at all. But this fellow was a retired nurse anesthetist and so we had things to talk about.
After the dance, we went to see the show for the night and it was just amazing. Justin Miller, the famous classical guitarist played for us and wow, he has been playing for 48 years and wow. He plays one song he arranged on the computer and he plays 1400 notes in just under 3 minutes. That comes out to about 7 notes a second. I don't think I should ever play my mandolin for him.!!!!!!!! I am such a beginner.
We have had 3 time changes already or will when I change the clocks again tonight. We dock at Barbados on Monday. It is raining now and earlier I tried to go outside and I couldn't even push open the door with the wind blowing so hard. I was amazed; as I am pretty strong but there was no way I could open that door. Mom thought I was the belle of the ball with my friend's necklace on. Thanks Liz, it was fun wearing your jewels. Ok, mom has been asleep for along time now so I will go post all this to you. Please remember to pray for my friend barb, she will need your prayers for a long time.
Pastor Mike; please print this out for frank, thanks.

Sunday 8:30 PM
We are getting used to being on board and still exploring the ship. We ordered coffee in the room and a melon fruit plate and 4 hard-boiled eggs to keep in our refrigerator for breakfast in our room. I want coffee when I get up! I was surprised there is no coffee maker in each room, but room service goes 24 hours a day and it is all free. Can you imagine that? The coffee on the ship is excellent. I have no idea what kind it is but it is good. Today I had a lesson on how to use the video camera from Doug, our Canadian friend. I forgot how to use it even though Brian showed me how to do it at home. Then we had a Photo lesson from an expert onboard gee, the room was packed. I finally understand mega pixels and what they are and what you want to look for in a camera. Then I ran around and took some pictures on the ship. I also took a few minutes of video. I am usually pretty good with a point and shot camera but my dad's camera is a lot more complex than that.
Mom is doing well but seems to have memory lapses at times. She can't seem to retain how to turn on or off the lights in the room. I am getting lots of complements on how well I am taking care of mom. It just comes natural to me after working so many years as a nurse, but she's easy to take care of. Not all moms on board are so lucky, it is very apparent to see when you watch different moms and their daughters.
We go on land for the first time tomorrow, Barbados. We are supposed to be met by a cyber friend from my woman's computer site, mykypoo. I am eager to meet her. She's going to take us around the island and we are taking her out for lunch. I want to taste the food! The ship is really rocking with swells and my thumb keeps hitting the pad that puts the curser in a different place. I have to watch my typing big time. My high school typing teacher would not be pleased. Anyone who chats with me by messenger knows how many typos' I make, so this is a real challenge for me.
When I read the travel logs from my friend Billie/Xangus I couldn't understand why she couldn't remember what she ate at times. Now I understand. I have read enough menus now that I am also forgetting what was on them. This is after just 4 days on board. Every meal is an experience and should be unforgettable. Imagine going to the best restaurant you know, what a memorable experience it is. Every meal is like that here, so they kind of blur together. The service is definitely 5 stars for sure. The staff makes such an effort to remember your name. It nice being greeted so often by name, by so many different people. They call me Mam Susie.
I fell asleep some time after 3 am last night. Everytime I think I am about to fall asleep, I realize the ship is rocking again and can't let go. When the wake up call came at 8 am, I was not prepared to get out of bed. Anyone who knows me knows if it is at all possible I don't miss church, but I did today. Mom and I just lay in bed for a long time and talked. There was no way I could get myself dressed and out by 9 am. I am soooo tired, weary and exhausted. I refuse to take naps though. I will never sleep at night if I take naps.
I have been choosing low carb meals for mom and I and I think I have actually lost some weight! I can feel more of my hips than I could before. How is that possible I don't know with all the food we are eating but I think I have lost some? I mentioned I was going to find a scale and I was told by a tablemate that she weighted somewhere between 140 and 150. I felt kind of confused by that but then she told me, it has to do with the swells and how they rocked the boat, oh excuse me, ship! I guess you can't really tell what you weigh when the ship is rocking so much.
I mentioned last night that I couldn't open the outside door because of the wind. Well, I had an almost mishap today after coming in from taking some photo's of the sunset. The wind whipped my long skirt under my foot as I was crossing a high threshold to enter and I tripped and almost fell in front of everyone waiting to go in to supper. That was a close call let me tell you. I really would have gone down hard right on my face but recovered in time. It was embarrassing to say the least.
I am really having a devil of a time with the Internet here. At 25 cents a minute, you naturally want to hurry when you are connected to the wifi. But this computer is very slow (6 year old laptop) and I am having trouble I have never had before connecting with my server. It is just not me either, many people are having problems too. I guess the ship has to make its money somehow. I think I have given up the idea of sending out emails to everyone and will set up a blog somewhere. Then I will email the link to everyone, because there is no way I can send all the emails to everyone. It would cost a fortune and I don't want that.
I have noticed a neat thing when you go in the elevators. The rug on the floor is changed everyday to reflect the name of the day on it. I guess it helps keep everyone oriented as to what day it is. The beds are turned down every night and they leave little gifts for you. One night it will be a piece of chocolate, another night it is a Holland America cloth carry bag and well, there is something there every night. 3 out of 4 nights it was chocolates. I usually keep it for the middle of the night.
10 pm and I am wide awake! Darn.

I will be setting up a blog to wrtite my things on because it is way to expensive to send out regular eamils. I will send a link to you when I have it set up. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

I am and always have been a river kind of gal, but there is something about the vastness and the ever-changing faces of the sea that calls a person back, am I right?
I think the sea has beckoned to man since the beginning of time. Yes, it does keep calling us back.
This is what I seem to be feeling right now as I read abut grumpy's and slinky's cruise. I just got off the ship 22 days ago and already I am trying to find my way back there. Is there a withdrawal period people go thru, please tell me this feeling will lessen over time.

Well... we usually say that what you are feeling is Post Cruise Depression Syndrome... and the only known cure is.. drum roll please... BOOK ANOTHER CRUISE!!:D

I know, that's sometimes easier said than done, but we hope you do find a way to get back on the ocean again.

[susiesails]

I have some medical problems to attend to as a result of being on the ship, so right now i can't drive or take my new kayak out. Once i get on my river again, I think my need for the sea will be handled.
I keep telling myself as I look at the hillsides of grass rippling, I am looking at a sea of green. I sure hope that will be enough, as there will be no more cruises for me unless I hit the lottery. susielails

[Cruising Jake]

It is interesting to read your posts. Did you read those from Ides of March who was on your same cruise?

[HeatherInFlorida]

Suzie, your writing style is addictive. I am enjoying your fresh look at everything. I hope there's more!!!:)

[susiesails]

Gosh, thanks for all the compliments on my writing. I realized later in the cruise that I was writing so I could have a journal for myself, to bring my brothers with me (and not have to pay so much for my mom taking me and not them if you get my drift) and so some of my friends who will never be able to make a cruise could know what it was like and last but not least, to make a book for my mom so she could remember all the things she did and saw.
I have been lazy and not gotten out the laptop to download the pictures but will soon. I still have one bag to unpack and different things to put away while I am picking up my life again. So I guess you really couldn't call me lazy.
One good thing, I went and picked up my kayak today, it is a nice shiny red, wooo hooo everyone will see me coming down the river, that is for sure. I can't wait. susiesails

[Aussie Gal]

Susie,

A friend told me to read your posts and I have become addicted. I cannot wait for the next instalment. You have a wonderful, entertaining writing style.


I can picture everything you mention about the ship as we were on the Prinsendam in 2004, in a mini suite too, and loved the ship and particularly enjoyed sailing with Captain Gunderson. In fact my sister and brother in law are on her at the moment doing the Amazon cruise.

Jennie

[susiesails]

I was going to add the map of our trip and the itinerary, but I can't seem to get them to show up on the page. I would sincerely appreciate any help anyone has to offer. susiesails

[susiesails]

I have been trying to figure out why I was so tired those first days. Yes, I was not sleeping well because of the rocking of the ship and we were getting used to the routine of the daily program. But I am a high energy person and just these 2 things should not have gotten me to the point of exhaustion that I was feeling so quickly. I worked nights or PM's for more than 20 years. I know how to go without sleep and how to keep my cheery attitude in spite of it.
Last night as I was pondering the cause of my exhaustion, I remembered all the complaining of so many people. Now remember, I worked as a nurse for all those years. I am a professional trained to listen to people, especially older people because it helps them feel better. I will not go into the dynamics of geriatrics here! Hahaha
So for days and days, I listened to all the people on the ship complain about well, it just seemed to be everything. The food, the beds, the schedule, the itinerary, just EVERYTHING. It started to suck me dry of all my energy, that's for sure.
I think the hardest thing for me to learn during those first terrible days, yes I said terrible, because I had no ability to change anything for anyone, i.e. it took me many days to figure out these people who were complaining so bitterly about many things didn't want to stop. That is what I finally concluded. My solution, to high tail it out of there when I saw the worst complainers coming.
The other thing that was affecting both mom and I those first days were that I noticed mom had been given free shore excursions by Holland America and I had not. I went down to shore excursions and pointed out their error and they told me the free shore excursions were only for people who had booked early and I was not in that category. When I took this to the front desk, I was told I had booked one day late and so was not entitled to the free excursions and the many other perks that come with booking early, including free gratuties. Both mom and I started to cry when we heard that. It brought back all the memories of my dad's death. I shared this with many of the passengers asking for guidance from the more seasoned travelers with Holland America and they told me to not let this go. One fellow told me if it was him he would call Seattle himself and tell them he was not being treated correctly.
I explained to the front desk I had been caring first for my dad as he was dying in the hospital for 7 days and then I had been taking care of my mom helping her to get her affairs in order and that is why I had not booked earlier. I felt so guilty for not booking earler, as this was going to cost my mom lots of money. The front desk told us that the decision had to be made by Seattle and it took days and days for their decision to go thru but we were finally given our early booking status for both of us.
My dad had booked this dream vacation in November of 04 and had passed away January 25 2005. I finally had space in my brain to book on the 21st or 22nd of February. I didn't know I had to book early, I was taking care of my mom. Remember, I didn't know the first thing about cruising. They had not returned any of the early deposit when I had called them to notify them of his death early in Feb. and as I had many thing to do that day I told them I would book later. I figured I was entitled to the early booking and felt so happy when they finally gave it to us. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

I'm so glad to hear that you were able to get the early booking credit. I guess someone "higher up" finally figured out that what was involved was really nothing more than a name change and shouldn't, under the circumstances, be treated as a cancellation/new booking. Yes, the contract fine print gives them the right to do just that, and at the lower levels all they can do is follow the rules. Congratulations on having the courage to follow up and keep pushing the issue.

[susiesails]

I have been reading your blog, I am up to page 22 now, not bad for a few days huh? Anyway, I keep reading you say what "happens on the ship, stays on the ship". Caould you please or anyone say more about that. I don't want to be telling tales that are not wanted. I really don't have anything juicy to report anyway!
I have to leave my home today to go to the top of missouri to go and see a neurologist as a result of an injury I recieved on a shore excursion in Kenya. I also have to go for more appointmants on thursday and friday. So if I am not here writing, you know where I am, I will be back with more. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

I have been reading your blog, I am up to page 22 now, not bad for a few days huh? Anyway, I keep reading you say what "happens on the ship, stays on the ship". Caould you please or anyone say more about that. I don't want to be telling tales that are not wanted. I really don't have anything juicy to report anyway!
I have to leave my home today to go to the top of missouri to go and see a neurologist as a result of an injury I recieved on a shore excursion in Kenya. I also have to go for more appointmants on thursday and friday. So if I am not here writing, you know where I am, I will be back with more. susiesails

That was just a bit of humor, Susie. At least three of the Assistant Cruise Directors (ACD's) had family that were reading my posts. So by saying that I couldn't write about the things they were doing, I was saying "if your daughter wants you to know, she will tell you." Sort of giving the impression that they were really a wild and crazy bunch, but neither confirming or denying it. Just my way of having some fun with them...

Reporting on the board should be bound by the same rules we live by in our day to day lives. If it has the potential to embarass or hurt someone, it is better left unsaid. If it was humorous to the person involved, then it will probably be humorous here.

[Grumpy1]

So sorry to hear about your injury and hope that your recovery is swift and complete.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Susie, I so enjoy some of your insights and way of looking at things. I hope your injury isn't too big a problem for you and I hope when you get some time you'll tell us more about your journey.

It is always better when we can distance ourselves from negative thinking. Like you, I believe it can really bring you down. But with your positive outlook on life I hope you were able to put it all aside for the rest of your cruise.

And I'm so glad that HAL came through for you and treated your booking like your Mom's. That's as it should be, but as Grumpy said, they really did have to go to Seattle for approval on something like that.

Look forward to more of your experiences!

[susiesails]

May 16, 2006
I just took out my first video tape and loaded it in the camera. I was so surprised to see that it actually starts on the ship and not in Fort Lauderdale as I thought. I remember having my camera in my hand during the sail away, I guess I was just taking photo’s and not video. I should say I have never used a video camera in my life but I was setting out to bring back our whole experience with us, so mom could have a visual memory as well as the few memories she can usually retain.
So I think it is time for us to introduce ourselves to all of you, so you know who we are. I am 55 years old and have traveled all my life. I have been to 47 of our United States, Puerto Rico twice, Canada for 2 weeks camping, Hawaii twice, once for 3 weeks and once for a week, and Ireland for 3 weeks twice. I am only missing one southern state, Montana and Alaska to have traveled in all of our beautiful country, America. I had always said people don’t need to leave our country to go traveling as there are so many things to see in our united states.
I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin until I was 12, then we moved to New Jersey, 7 miles form the George Washington bridge. When I was 15 we moved to a suburb of Chicago where I lived until I was 51. I retired with my husband, Stick, to Southern Missouri in the wilderness 4 years ago.
I enjoy cooking and love to eat; I come from a restaurant family but was never dumb enough to open my own restaurant because I knew you loose your family life when you run a restaurant. I inherited the cooking genes in the family (mom did not!) My specialty is oriental food, but I can cook food from many different nations.
My husband is Japanese from Hawaii; we met in Chicago when I was in nursing school in Chicago. We have been married 36 years in a few months. I have 3 children with a boy in the middle. They live in Chicago and Seattle.
My mom is 77 years old and has traveled around the world quite a few times. She loves to travel but can’t seem to remember but a few memories of her travels. When she met and married my stepfather 23 years ago, he took her to live in Saudi Arabia while he worked teaching computer languages to the Saudi’s. They spent almost 7 years there. They did a lot of their traveling on their way back and forth from Saudi. My stepfather grew up in Maryland and California.
I have 4 brothers, 3 are still living. They reside in Chicago, Orlando, Florida and in Pennsylvania. They all have families and I think we counted 13 grandchildren for my mom on the ship, the last one being born on Thanksgiving Day. I do not have any grandchildren; my children are not cooperating with me on this. I tell people I am a grandma wanna be!
When my dad died last year, I went and helped my mom for a total of 5 1/2 months. This truly was a blessing for me in many ways. As I look back now, I think every child should go and live with their parent again for an extended time; you get to know each other so well. My mom kept saying she was amazed at all the things I knew how to do. I told her, I learned it from her. When I was small, there wasn’t anything I didn’t think my mom could do. We were pretty poor growing up, while there were things we wanted, there was never anything we needed. My real father worked for the Boy Scouts of America as a professional, so I was raised as close to being a boy as a girl could get.
We couldn’t afford big vacations in hotels, so we camped every year. That is how I got to learn to love to travel. We traveled to New Mexico when I was 10 so my dad could attend school at the Philmount Scout Ranch. After those 2 weeks of living in the foothills of New Mexico we traveled to many of our national parks in the west. What a vacation that was. It was wonderful and a trip I have already recreated with a girlfriend a few years back.
I lost my profession of nursing in ’92 after a simple foot surgery that turned into a nightmare. I ended up spending 2 years in bed as an invalid and 2 more years as a semi valid. Then I started taking some natural supplements and well, just watch me go now. I will never be an invalid again; I worked hard to get my life back. I tell people now that I am a healthy person with some limitations. It is amazing what yucan do when you have a positive attitude. I was not a pleasant person to live with when I was so ill. I have learned how to live I the positive and not the negatie as I did back then.
I have been canoeing for about 9 years, I just love canoeing and kayaking And camping. I have some limitations as to how far I can walk, but put me in a boat and just watch me fly over the water. I have always gone to nature refill my soul. That is why I just love living where I do in the Ozarks. I tell people it is river-hill country. Since we always had drive to get away from the city, what better place to retire than away from the cities where you can only see a few houses at a time. I lived in cities all my life, and was always happy, but now I am finally home.
When I was helping my mom last year in Madison, Wisconsin, I very easily moved back into city life. The part I did not enjoy was once again living in winter in a northern climate. Gosh, I remember it was 9 degrees F last year and standing outside smoking. That is darn cold let me tell you. What was it going to be like going to Antarctica, I had no idea? Not my cup of tea, I had been thinking. I had had enough of frigid temperatures growing up in Chicago.
We, the family, made it very easy for my mom last year. We got her brother to come and live with her so she didn’t have to go and live with any of her children. He was a chef, so he did all the cooking. My step father was something of a pack rat, and I had years of mail (from 1988 on) that he had opened and never thrown away to deal with. In a way that was helpful as we didn’t know his financial situation and this helped us find all his net worth.
Now anyone who is reading this is a computer person in some way. Please, please write down your passwords and put them in your safety deposit box. How much easier everything would have been if we just had his passwords. It would have saved months of work for us!!!!! My father was a genious and there was no way I could figure out his passwords.
We found we had made life too easy for mom. She spent much of the year, cleaning the house and the rest of the time, sitting in a chair watching TV. This seriously was not good for my mom; she was drawing an invisible shroud around herself. I am so glad my father booked this trip for my mom and himself, it has helped her come back to the land of the living. susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

....for a most fascinating read. I know you are writing this journal of your Prinsendam voyage as a catharsis for yourself, and a memento for your mother, but you have me enthralled. "She was drawing an invisible shroud around herself..." That choice of words in your description of your mother tells me you have a writer's genius within you. I think you have put the suffering in your life to powerful use. Your travelogue may take months to finish, but I intend to read with you to the end!

[Aussie Gal]

Susie,

Thank you so much for giving us a background of your life. You have certainly lived a very full life and I love the way you have done so much travelling.

I am enjoying reading the exploits of your cruise and look forward each morning to opening up C.C. to see if you have written another post.

Jennie

[wynkys]

Hi Susie,

Here is another admirer from Downunder. You have a wonderful style of writing (and thinking) and along with everyone else, I look forward to reading the rest of your reports.

Wayne

[susiesails]

As the video starts, there is only intense grayness, from me holding my hand over the lens as I was being taught. I inwardly groaned as I looked at the first 7 seconds. I hear Doug's voice, teaching me how to use my dad's video and digital camera. Thanks Doug for all your help. The scene finally opens to lido deck taken from deck 12 above it. I got so excited to see it again. My eyes were darting all over to see of I could find any of my friends and I quickly looked at the sky and the color of the sea. I remember taking in a deep breathe and feeling like I was going to be just fine, now that I could see my beloved sea again as I watched the video. This reaction frankly surprised me. I think I have started a love affair with the sea, I certainly did not expect that to happen.
I have been learning ship terms, Bow and Aft, and Starboard and Port. These terms finally mean something to me. yippee. I can't tell you how often I called the Princendam a boat and got corrected and then started correcting myself. "A boat can fit into a ship but a ship can not fit into a boat!"
As I swung the lens of the camera to the sea, I spoke these words, "Now you can see the sea........the endless sea.....just water......endless water.....but it's wonderful! There are some swells that make the ship rock from front to back or bow to aft, and side to side." The sky in this shot is a white-washed blue and the sea is an aquamarine. I had no idea the sea could be so many colors.
I think I should put in a disclaimer here and say that my hubby stick and I have lived a good life and have been in 5 star restaurants and hotels many times. We were both professionals and had plenty of money to do the things we wanted to do. But when I got so ill, it destroyed our financial future. One does not expect to be disabled at the age of 42 with 3 children to raise the youngest one being 8 years old.
The next scene of my video is in the La Fontaine Dining Room. Our table was in the Main dining room #115. All the tables are very elegantly set as soon as the last meal is over. I loved sitting next to the large panoramic windows that go from the floor to near the ceiling. How I loved to sit and eat and talk with my tablemates, just keeping an eye on the ocean going by. That never changed for me, I just loved watching the sea.
I also loved listening to the delicate clinking of the glasses. The delicate tinkling of the glasses came to have special meaning for me which was, "all is well....all is well. If the seas were a bit rough, you heard a louder clink, not as melodious to the ear at all. If it got much worse, they took the glasses and laid them down with their stems intertwined so they didn't roll off the table. Any really rough seas and the glasses were removed all together.
Can you tell I am constantly aware of my surroundings? I think it comes for my working as a night nurse all those years. I always knew what the sounds meant and if I didn't I investigated.
The silver was always laid just so next to each plate. I knew to use the utensils from the outside in, and if you didn't use the right fork, they didn't embarrass you. If there was extra silver after a course was served, they simply removed it. We were well taken care of, let me tell you. The crew made it so simple and so wonderful, definitely 5 star service at each meal.
In the next scene of the video, the wind is howling and I can hardly hear myself speak on the video. I heard myself say, "Barbados tomorrow"! Yippee, I was going to be meeting my cyber friend myky and family from my woman's computer site. We have known each other for more than 2 years in cyber land. It would be nice to have a face to put with my memories of her writing. She was going to take mom and I around and show us the sights of her island. What a special treat that was going to be.
Oh man, our first port of call, Barbados. I have been to Puerto Rico when I was much younger, but had not been to any other islands. I couldn't believe how many islands we had passed already. I especially love to watch the islands going by at night, seeing the glow of the city lights reflected on the clouds or into the sky. I always have been a girl that fantasized about places and people. Who lived there and what challenges did they have living in this place. What was their life like, I wanted to know. Ah, life, I just love it. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

Susie, one quick question? Was table 115 a table for 8 or 10? I seem to remember it as a table for ten, but I'm just not sure. If 115 wasn't for 10, do you recall any others that were?

Thanks for another fascinating account. You bring back so many memories...:)

[HeatherInFlorida]

Grumpy, thanks for asking that! Yes, Susie, I'd be interested to know if 115 was for 10 and if not, did you see tables for 10? We are 10 on the Prinsendam in December.

Susie, I have to tell you your story is just amazing. I loved reading your background. What an incredible life and you have the most amazing outlook. I'm just loving this journal.

Once you fall in love with the sea, you will be forever in love with the sea. That is a love that absolutely will not die.

One other thing ... I have some complications with my leg and foot following an auto accident several years ago. May I ask what supplements you took that seemed to help you? Thanks:)

[susiesails]

I have to say that I was very disappointed when I realized there was no coffee pot in the suite. How can a girl get going without a cup of coffee in her hand as she gets dressed and ponders life? We quickly learned that room service was free and took advantage of that situation. We used the ordering sheet that was given to us every evening on our bed along with our chocolate and or gifts from the ship to order our coffee, skim milk and fruit plate before we went up to lido deck for breakfast.
Having to pick what time you were going to get up was the only problem. I have always been an early riser, I can't sleep once my mind starts to work. There are no long lazy mornings spent in bed for me waking and dozing off again like many other people do on a free day. Once I come to consciousness, my mind starts to race. I didn't always pick the right time I was going to awaken and want my coffee so later we just called room service to get out coffee when we actually got up if mom and I got up at the same time.
However calling room service can go some thing like this.

To get the full effect, this should be read aloud. You will understand 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation.


The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service, at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review:

Room Service (RS): "Morrin. ; Roon sirbees."
Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."
RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??"
G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs."
RS: "Ow July den?"
G: "What??"
RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"
G : "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please."
RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"
G: "Crisp will be fine."
RS : "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"
G: "What?"
RS:"An toes. July Sahn toes?"
G: "I don't think so."
RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"
G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."
RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"
G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."
RS: "We bodder?"
G: "No...just put the bodder on the side."
RS: "Wad! ?"
G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."
RS: "Copy?"
G: "Excuse me?"
RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"
G: "Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."
RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin we bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"
G: "Whatever you say."
RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."
G : "You're very welcome."

I think some of you will relate to this challange of traveling and laugh. All this writing and sense of humor too!

I have to be gone for 2 days for more testing, I will try to post about Barbados tomorrow evening after the first tests are done.
I thank each and everyone of you for your kind replies and interest. I am having fun writing about and reliving my experiences, I am happy you seem to be having fun also.
Grumpy, our table was the middle of the room, starboard side. It seated 10 people as you remembered. We did not always take the same seat, but always sat at this table. I was usually in the seat that faced the bow nearest the window, looking at the sea, but not always.
Heather in Florida, by the way I have a brother in Orlando. I used kombucha tea for 6 months and it changed me from being a semi invalid to a healthy person with some limitations. My girl friend who owned and ran a very successful restaurant also used it and she at the age of 53 started to get the glow that you get when you are pregnant. I never got the glow but I am thankful for getting my life back.
You have to get a "baby" to make the tea. They are available at health food stores if they are into this and also on the web. Last time I looked it up, there had been 2 deaths they were trying to associate with the use of this tea, but these women thought if a little bit is good for you then a whole bunch is better. Not so. I never had any problems taking this stuff, I used the 4 ounces they told me to use and no more. If you get a baby, I would love to take it again. They come thru the mail just fine. Every time you make a batch of this stuff, you get a "baby" to give away. Maybe this will help some of my current problems I am experiencing. Hmmm. Susiesails

[susiesails]

Grumpy, our table was the middle of the room, starboard side. It seated 10 people as you remembered. We did not always take the same seat, but always sat at this table. I was usually in the seat that faced the bow nearest the window, looking at the sea, but not always.

This is not right, I meant I was on the starboard side, in the row of tables that hug the windows. The table was located in the middle of this line of tables that went completely around the room.
[color=#ff0000]I hope this is clearer than before. I was not in the middle of the room. Susiesails

[Grumpy1]

Grumpy, our table was the middle of the room, starboard side. It seated 10 people as you remembered. We did not always take the same seat, but always sat at this table. I was usually in the seat that faced the bow nearest the window, looking at the sea, but not always.

This is not right, I meant I was on the starboard side, in the row of tables that hug the windows. The table was located in the middle of this line of tables that went completely around the room.
[color=#ff0000]I hope this is clearer than before. I was not in the middle of the room. Susiesails:D since I knew exactly where your table was, I read it the way you intended. I can see where it could be confusing to someone that isn't familiar with the table numbers in the dining room. thanks for the clarification.:)

[susiesails]

Monday, January 9, 2006
We are back on board after our first port of call. We met my friend Myky and her daughter Mya and sister Dianna and her grandmother from Canada. They took us around the island and showed us some very nice beaches and an old sugar plantation. It was so nice meeting her after talking to her for such a long time online. I met her in my woman’s computer group, Living Easy. We enjoyed ourselves immensely during our day together. It was so nice having someone meet us and take us around. We laughed at many things, like when we had a Halloween chat and I went as Wonder Woman and won the prize for best costume. You had to stay in costume during the chat to get the prize. What really happened that day was I was having a lot of body pain that day and took a pain pill and later had a rum drink. So I was saying absolutely outrageous things. I had everyone laughing so much. I guess you had to be there.
>The first thing I noticed after we got out of the entrance to the port was how sweet the air smelled. Now that surprised me as I expected to smell the salt air until I asked someone about it and they told me it was the molasses stored in huge vats like they used to store gasoline or oil. Another thing I noticed was that I couldn't stand still. I was still rocking with the rhythm of the ship even though I was standing on solid ground. Even my camera was swaying in my hands. That felt really weird!
>The cruise company had a steel band playing for us on the pier as we docked and it was so nice listening to the hypnotic sounds of the island. I spotted a tall ship in the harbor at anchor (it was so cool) and took a photo. We waited and realized we were getting pretty hot sitting in the sun which was a nice change from Madison, WI winter weather. It was nice to be in fresh air again after being on the ship for 4 days.
>As Barbados started as a British colony, they drive on the other side of the road here. Such narrow roads they have which was a bit daunting as they drive on the other side of the road than I am used to. As we were waiting for myky and group, we spoke with a taxi driver and he told us the island used to export 100,000 tons of cane juice, or molasses a year and now they are down to only 40,000 tons. There are only 3 sugar plantations left on the island. The laws here say no matter how much land you own you can only put one house on it, whether you own 1 acre or 1000 acres. The people want this changed as the cost of land is very dear here.
>We had so much fun playing with 5-year-old mya. She was an absolute delight. I was telling her about a story someone told me on board about if you get lost in Africa you could eat the termites as they are full of protein. She really didn’t understand termites. I showed her imaginary ants on the back of the seat in front of me and picked one up and ate it. She thought that was pretty weird and told me to “have all you like”. She had such an imperious air about her as she was giving me permission to eat invisible ants. I just laughed and laughed.
>We went to the top of Cherry Hill and what a marvelous view from there of the hillsides, the white sands and the blue and white pounding surf. I have photos but have to find a place to put them on the web without buying more MSN space. I got a nice belt make out of pink abalone there from a open air shop on the side of the road at Cherry Hill made by local artisans. I really love it. We continued our tour of the island and got to see some mills used in the past to grind the cane. It seemed if you were not looking at sugar cane growing in your present view of the island, you would be looking at it just around the next bend in the road.
I remember feeling enchanted by the Hodge podge construction of the tiny private homes. It was if the family's living there just added room after room when they could, not always in the same style or construction materials, or ever at the same level.
We saw mango trees, and breadfruit trees. They had a kind of mimosa tree, but it had different colored flowers from the mimosa tree I have in my yard. Flowers abounded whether they were planted in gardens or just growing wild on the hillsides.
>We drove to a beautiful beach with huge boulders sitting in the surf and found a restaurant that served a buffet of island food. I noticed mini busses from the ship tour so I knew we were in the right place. I think the restaurant was called Bonito. The featured meat was flying fish and jerk chicken, it was terrific. I had some qualms about eating flying fish but they were really tasty. They had what they called sweet potato pie, not like baked American sweet potato pie at all. It is made with mashed sweet potatoes and crushed pineapple. I just loved it, the flavors go so well together. I will try to find a recipe for this on the web and post it here. I can’t remember all I ate but I will show a picture soon. As we had to be back on board at 2:30 PM, we hurried back to the ship. I saw men with huge piles of coconuts selling the fresh juice in the street in a much busier part of town.
Mom and I were on a mission to find and consume island ice cream but we pulled in to a gas station and bought what kind????? Nestle, shucks! All in all it was a delightful time with Myky and on Barbados.
>After getting back on board, they had the band on the deck, and drinks made from Cuba with fresh mint leaves called Mojito's. Let me tell you the one I had was delicious and went down very easy. It was nice to watch the ship leave the port during the sailaway.
>We continued to travel south towards South America. We ran into some rougher seas with swells of 7 to 14 feet. Mom and I started using the stairs for our exercise, as the ship was too rocky to do our walking outside on deck.
I had forgot when I leave my home and there are new people around I have difficulty sleeping. There are plenty of new people on board, so I have not been getting much sleep. Each day my tiredness built up a little more. I guess I am getting used to the time changes and the new people because I have slept well the last two nights. I finally figured out the right self talk, which was to tell myself the ship is rocking me to sleep and that finally worked.
Wednesday, Jan.11, 2006
>Our next port of call was French Guiana, three small islands better known as Devils Island. If I mention the name Papillion, I bet the guys know what I am talking about. It was amazing watching the islands get closer and the palm trees appear in the far distance, standing as sentinels over the island. We took what they called the tenders to shore that I call the lifeboats. It was pretty hot and humid and mom couldn’t do much walking. The air felt really oppressive after all our sea days and the breeze that constantly blew across the decks. We stayed about an hour on an island that houses a total of 15 people. We really didn't get to explore much on this beautiful place.
Thursday Jan. 12, 2006
>We have now entered the Amazon River and will sail down it for 1-½ days. I can’t believe it is actually 4,000 miles long. We arrive in Santarem tomorrow and will take a riverboat on a tour thru the jungle and I am the only one getting out to swim. I will post about that another time. I can’t believe how big this wonderful world is. I am just amazed that we have been sailing for a whole week and are only to the top of Brazil. susiesails

[susiesails]

I seem to be having trouble posting a couple of pictures. Can anyone give me some pointers? susiesails

[arzz]

Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures that you paint with your words. I am enjoying your voyage vicariously. You do a superb job.

[mim100]

Hi SusieSails....just wanted to add my thanks for your wonderful story, you certainly have a gift for writing..having just lost my Mum in January, I can relate very much...we had several, very special vacations together...I wrote a journal for the first one and still read it about once a year...I also know exactly what you mean about "the shroud" ..I saw that happening with my Mum over the last few years...very apt description....

Looking forward to your next chapter !! cheers Mim :)

[Grumpy1]

I seem to be having trouble posting a couple of pictures. Can anyone give me some pointers? susiesailsPictures that you upload from your computer have to be trimmed down fairly small, 620 pixels wide by 280 pixels high and a maximum file size of 19.5kb. If your pictures meet those specs you can put them in your post using the "manage Attachments" button in the section below where you are typing a reply. If you have the pictures stored on the internet in a place like "webshots", you can click on that thingthat looks like a post card above where you are typing the reply and enter the URL of the picture.

Hope this helps.

[susiesails]

I see my adding photo's error now when you mention the mega pixels. Yikes that is pretty small. I will try to post more as we again travel up to Columbia today to get the results of all the tests tomorrow. If you pray, please pray for me that this is just a simple thing wrong with me and not one of the bad choices they are also testing for.
You know I was thinking about an earlier statement that I made here. Something like every mother and daughter should stay together for an extended period. That statement has niggled at me for a few days. I think every daughter/son should spent time with each other if they like each other. The key word here has to be like. I saw many mothers and daughters who were so fed up with each other, I am sure it was not very pleasent for them to share cabins. susiesails

[KAKcruiser]

Susie - It sounds like you had a great trip. I have a suite question. Were suite guests permitted to eat breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill? What about lunch? Thanks.

[Grumpy1]

Susie - It sounds like you had a great trip. I have a suite question. Were suite guests permitted to eat breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill? What about lunch? Thanks.Susie was in the same category cabin that we were in when we did the world cruise, an SY cabin, which doesn't qualify as a suite as far as perks are concerned. Breakfast/lunch in the Pinnacle (if available) would be limited to SA,SB,SC and PS.

[susiesails]

Here is a typical supper menu, although there is nothing typical about them.

Supper

Freshly baked bread

Sesame Italian rolls, 6-grain rolls, French baguette

Appetizers

Orange and grapefruit segments, sprinkled with Drambuie

Shellfish cocktail, a combination of bay shrimps, bay scallops, muscles and crabmeat,
seafood cocktail sauce

Asian style pork tenderloin, plum sauce, mango relish and lychees

Baba ghanush and hummus platter, pureed eggplant, garbanzo beans and roasted red
bell pepper, tabbouleh salad and warm pita

Caribbean island conch fritters, chile pepper and corn dip

Penne with marinara sauce and red chile flakes (also available as an entrée), spicy
sauce of sweet roasted garlic, tomato, cured pancetta and topped with shaved Parmesan

Soups and salads


Curried pasta fagioli with spinach, thick bean and pasta soup cooked in a hearty
chicken broth with a hint of curry

Cream of cauliflower and blue cheese, garnished with oyster crackers

Chilled apricot soup, whipped cream

Greek salad, feta cheese, tender artichoke, kalamata olives, sun ripened tomato,
red onion and cucumber over crisp torn romaine lettuce

Gourmet mixed garden salad greens, topped with alfalfa sprouts, Belgium endive,
red bell pepper and croutons

Choice of dressing: house vinaigrette, Asian sesame, thousand island or blue cheese
Choice of fat free dressing: Italian, raspberry vinaigrette, ranch or lemon herb

Entrees

California cobb salad, tarragon dressing, romaine lettuce, bacon, chicken, hard
boiled egg, tomato wedges, avocado, cucumber, red onion and gorgonzola

Sautéed fresh flying fish fillet, served with crisp green beans, carrots and black
bean rice

Dover sole meuniere, basted with drawn butter and served with peapods, baby carrots
and sautéed potato

Broiled rib eye steak Café de Paris, broiled to your liking and served with grilled
asparagus, half tomato and lyonnaise potato

Osso buco, traditional gremolata, vegetable brunoise and saffron risotto

Chicken breast with fennel and carrots, marinated with honey, lemon juice and cayenne

Sautéed Wisconsin veal medallions, morel cream sauce, young vegetables and black
peppered fresh linguine

Vegetarian stuffed green bell pepper, filled with stewed garbanzo and braised in
paprika sauce, rice pilaf

Now this menu was a bit atypical as it contained some pretty weird stuff as you
can see, past menus have been stuff to die for every dinner and supper? I am already
tired of food, but have lost 6 pounds to date since I got on the ship. I think it
is the new meds I am taking, I am eating my heart out every day, but trying to pick
low carb food for mom and myself. But this is what we are faced with when they give
us the menu every dinner and supper in the very elegant main dining room.
There is another cafeteria-style restaurant (lido deck) with equally good food but only 4-5 choices
of entrée and about a zillion choices of fruit, veggies, salads, cheeses, fresh fruit,
ice cream 6 kinds and many desserts. I am doing pretty well avoiding the desserts,
not excellent, but pretty good. We have started going there for lunch and breakfast.
Other food available is a deli with pizza and sandwiches, a grill that serves hot
dogs and hamburgers, also chicken breast sandwiches and another award winning exclusive
restaurant, the Pinnacle.
They also serve Tea every afternoon in the crows nest at the front of the ship on the top floor.
We went there today and had cucumber sandwiches, and other tiny sandwiches, like chicken salad and others, 5 kinds of cakes and cookies,
tiny cream puffs, tiny éclairs, scones, strawberry jam, and whipped cream, oh I
can’t remember all what they served. It was a beautiful presentation and the staff
is watched closely to make sure they do a good job. Susiesails

[Grumpy1]

dang, Susie, I just gained five pounds reading the menu!:D

[Cruising Jake]

Yumm!!!!!!!!!!!

And you don't have to cook it or clean up.

[lizf]

I check in about 4 times a day to see if you got back from Columbia and we're still praying for you. Can't wait to read more about your trip, but first, please tell us that all is well with you.

We were on the Prinsendam for the next sailing after you got off and all of the staff and crew spoke so very highly of you all. The Captain said you folks had very few casualties, folks that left the cruise early. We had more for our 25 day trip than you folks had for 105 days.

Believe it or not, but I never heard a grumble from anyone on our trip and I talked to at least half of the passengers. What a wonderful bunch of people we met. Never a discouraging word and always the same comment, "I sure do LOVE this ship". Over and over. We booked our next cruise onboard and because we never got bored or anxious to get home, we booked a 46 day Taste of Two Continents, on the Prinsendam of course. This will be our World Cruise because I will never be able to talk my husband into going for that long or longer. It took me months to get him to agree to this next cruise, but when we were onboard he was a lot easier to convince.

Your style of writing is very sweet and I envy your enthusiasm. We have lost so much enthusiasm as we've aged, but I will say that I talked three other couples into talking to the onboard cruise consultant about the 46 day trip after I recited the itinerary. Please be well, Susie.

[susiesails]

I have hesitated to come here and share my news. I have been given the news that I have 2 protruding discs in my neck and 2 in my lower back. However, this is not the very sad news.
I have been given the diagnosis of MS also. I have done difficult things before, but this one has me kind of devastated. I can see from my thinking that I am trying to get a handle of having yet another thing to conquer in my life, but some how I will make it thru this one also.
I have said over and over that I will never be in bed again. This is a pretty motivating force in my life, so for right now I am sad, but will find a way thru this maze I have just entered.
I hope you bear with me while I try to get a grip on my life. I will post more when I can. susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

Susie, I am truly sorry to read your sad news.:( I don't have great words of wisdom or a promise of miracles, but you do have my sincere sympathy, ineffectual as that may be. You are one of the bravest people I've ever encountered, and I only know you through your posts here. Despite what you wrote, I think you actually do have a very strong grip on life. You have a bright spirit. I hope you have friends and family near you to help you and love you. Again, I'm so sorry.

[wowzo]

Thanks so much for brightening our days - I hope in some small way we can brighten your days, at least, by knowing that perfect strangers who only have our love of the sea in common, can think so well of you and wish you the very best.

I have a friend who has had MS for years and can enjoy life and smile and be a happy person thru the struggles. But it did take some time to come to terms with it all.

MaryAnn

[Grumpy1]

Susie, thank you for sharing with us. All of us wish there was something that we could do or say to help you through this. Please know that we will be thinking about you and hope you can keep in touch with us all through the boards. You seem like a strong person that has dealt with adversity before, so I have a feeling you will find a way to get through this, too.

[Aussie Gal]

Susie,

What a horrific week you are having. I am thinking of you as you face this news. From what you have posted I feel as though I know you as a strong person and know that you will give it all.

I met someone just recently who has had MS for quite a few years and yet is still out and about enjoying life. She has learnt not to get stressed or tired and she finds this helps.

It is wonderful that you and your mother were able to have such a great cruise together. I am sure the memories will be therapeutic to you in the next few months.


Jennie

[Aussie Gal]

Post twice!

Jennie

[wynkys]

Susie,
Hang in there and know that our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Wayne

[susiesails]

I checked my emails to see if anyone replied to this very sad news and I didn't get any emails. Hmmm, well the news must of been too much for them coming from me a complete stranger. So I decided to post my next piece and came here and had all these wonderful replies.
Gosh, thank you all. I appreciate all your comments. I was stunned to see so many replies. Again, thanks to each of you.
We are having guests for the weekend, at my girlfriends place just down the road. I have a turkey thawing to bake tomorrow, I have made the sweet potato pie that I had in Barbados and I am making lasagna after I get off the computer. This way there will be plenty to eat, and I can use my energy to play music and play in the river with my friends when they are actually here. Those are my plans for the weekend.
I plan on making a maiden voyage (hahahha) with my new red kayak today! susiesails

[susiesails]

Well I just got back from the crossing the equator party. King Neptune and his Queen visited us on the Lido Deck and let me tell you this ship knows how to throw a party. The handed out free drinks from Cuba to everyone (Mojito's)and then brought the pollywogs up to deck and put them in his jail. Then the ships officers came in their summer whites and witnessed the whole thing. We had plenty of pollywogs this time. (I was one but they didn't do me, thank goodness.)
Soon the king and queen came on deck in their finery and paraded around the deck. They got up on their thrones and started the proceedings.
Each pollywog was brought up in front of the Court and they were accused of their crimes in front of the whole assembly. As each one was pronounced guilty, they had to go and kiss the fish and it was a huge, real fish, sitting on a real ice carving. Then they were taken to the doctor and nurses to be checked. The staff had on hand many things to christen them with. Gallons of chocolate pudding, fresh squeezed orange juice, flour, green slime, spaghetti, and other things were used. All of this was thrown onto the guilty as they lay on the examining tables.
Then the assembly had to give them their fate: Being dunked into the water or survive. Only the ship's doctor and nurse were allowed to survive, so they had to sit on the side of the pool baking in the hot sun, with all this stuff on them.
They saved the favorite for last and she is the assistant cruise director and got the worst of all the stuff thrown on her. I don't think there was a spot on her that wasn't covered. She too was allowed to survive and got to sit in the sun to bake. It lasted about 25 minutes and boy it was fun. When you cross the Equator officially all the crew involved were behaving just like little kids. The ships horn blew for along time before the party started at the official crossing line. All in all, great fun. Until next time, Susiesails

[susiesails]

Recipe #34258

Great for Autumn and Winter gatherings.
6 large sweet potatoes (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=307), peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (about 4 cups) 1/2 cup butter (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=141) or margarine (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=421) 1/4 cup milk (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=360) 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=278), drained 1/2 teaspoon salt (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=359) (to taste) 1/2 teaspoon pepper (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=337) (to taste) miniature marshmallows (http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=358)
14-16 servings Change size or US/metric (http://www.recipezaar.com/34258#)

Change to: servings US Metric

1 hour 5 minutes 15 mins prep</B>




Place potatoes in 8-10 quart saucepot; add water to cover; bring to boil over high heat.
Lower heat to simmer and cook, covered, 15-20 minutes, or until tender.
Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Drain potatoes thoroughly, then mash until smooth.
Beat in butter, milk, pineapple, salt, and pepper.
Spoon into 9"x13" baking dish or 3 quart casserole; top with marshmallows.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until marshmallows have lightly browned.
Note: Casserole may be prepared in advance and set aside or refrigerated until baking time; in that case, baking time must be increased so potatoes will heat through, and marshmallows should not be added until last 15 minutes of baking time.
I left out the marshmellows, I will let you all know how this tasted. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

Recipe #34258

I left out the marshmellows, I will let you all know how this tasted. susiesails:eek: YOU WHAT!! That's the best part!! I was all set to head your way and crash the party until you committed the unpardonable sin of leaving out the marshmallows:( ....:D

[susiesails]

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
Ok, Ok, I will put marshmellows on half of the dang thing. So come on up or down or what ever, the more the merrier. Susiesails

[susiesails]

As we headed south down the coast of Brazil, we again had a time change to Rio time. We were traveling about 15 miles out from the shore and had beautiful sailing as we rounded the huge bump that is the far eastern coast of Brazil. After leaving the very muddy water of the Amazon, I was so happy to again feel the swells start to rock the ship. I actually enjoy the feeling of the waves, gently rocking you. The water had turned so blue and what a beautiful blue it is. I definitely appreciated the color of the water after looking at brown water of the amazon for 3 days.
This morning we were excited to see a very small riverboat, coming to greet us at breakfast in the middle of the ocean. It meant land was near! Ah, I was excited to see the promised beautiful beaches of Natal and its city that housed 750,000 people. As we drew closer, we all suddenly said, "What is that?" It looked like clouds but it was so low we knew it couldn't be. It was the beautiful white sand beaches of Natal.
This morning, I got up my nerve and went down to the Ocean bar and played and sang my heart out for 2 hours. I had so been missing my music, so I took charge of my life and went and played and sang. I am telling you that room is so clean as one of the staff Ruly discovered me singing and hung around finding things to do as he listened to me sing. His smile was huge whenever he looked at me. I kind of serenaded many of the people as they went into the dining room to enjoy another breakfast. I was able to fill up my soul again, as I have been drained recently from all the jaded people who never stop complaining on this trip. It was really getting to me, so I filled myself back up. I have been missing my music very much.
Mom and I attended the lecture about the Rise of Brazil and during the talk; the captain came on the loud speaker and reported to us that it is impossible for us to enter Natal. I guess the winds coming-out of the south are 30 knots per hour and with a channel water speed of 3 ½ knots and a very narrow channel heading straight west, it makes it impossible to enter the port. You should have heard the groans in the Queens lounge. Our shore leave has been cancelled.
I realized just a bit ago that I am overflowing with happiness after playing music today. What a great feeling. I was invited to the movies by mom and the movie was "Hitch". Now I had seen parts of this movie before, only parts as my hubby stick is the one with the remote and has to keep checking other channels so he doesn't miss anything. I had a great time watching the love doctor work his magic for other people but who was clueless when it came to his own love affair.
I had the funniest thing happen to me after the movie in the Java lounge. I sat mom down; she does love her lattes, and went up to order 2 latte's. One of the men at the counter seats called to me and I turned to look at him and his friend. As I had never seen them before and they were wearing tan shirts with the sun shining behind them, I thought they were crew engineers. Smiling at them I called out, "I have a question for you". They looked happy at that and then I realized what a strange question I was going to call out to them. I told them, "This is probably the strangest question you have ever gotten from woman". They looked agreeable and told me to go ahead.
When I asked my question I saw the surprise on their faces. I watched second one put his head down on the counter and I could see his shoulders shaking with laughter. He laughed and laughed. As soon as I saw their reaction, I asked "Are you crew?' The first one slowly shook his head, grinning at me and the second one just kept laughing. I realized I had made a serious blunder. The one who had been laughing had been giving me the man interested in a woman signal that I had missed. Well, why not miss it, I have a perfectly great man at home and I am not interested in other men. That is why he was laughing. Hey, I warned him, that I had a strange question. Oh, you want to know the question I asked, do you? Ok here it is, "How do the toilets work here?" Hahahahhaha!
When we awoke on Jan 18th the ship was already entering the busy port of Recife, Brazil. What a humongous city! It is as big as Chicago or New York or more. My mouth fell open as I looked at this city for the first time. It had miles and miles of huge skyscrapers and you could almost see the city hum even this early in the day. (6:30 am) Without a doubt this was the largest city we have seen since leaving the United States. Recife is the capital of the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. It is located in northeastern Brazil. It is the chief urban city of northeast Brazil and an important transportation hub for this huge area. It is called the America's Venice as it has many waterways thru the city. It exports vast quantities of sugar, cotton and coffee. It was first settled in 1535 by the Portuguese as a port for the nearby city of Olinda. The Americans had an allied airbase here during World War II, as it was the closest port between the United States and Africa. There are many universities, museums and much culture. It has ruins of what is thought to be the first synogue in the new world, which flourished during the Dutch period. I would have thought all this terribly boring during my school years, but when one is here I naturally want to know how it got to be how it is today. I am a sponge for knowledge.
As soon as we docked I invited mom to go ashore with me for an impromptu run into the city. I settled her in our room when she refused. I had hooked up with a couple going ashore to the Casa da Cultura. I thought, "oh good, I am going to a museum of culture". I was pretty excited about that. NO, not correct! We ended up in the prison that has been converted to a hand crafted market. It was very interesting going into the different cells, not very large at all but at least they had windows. The cells at Devils Island had no windows at all.
The official language is Portuguese, which is not like Spanish at all. The skin of the people here in Brazil is very darkly tanned because of the 4 million black African slaves brought there in the past to work the sugar plantations by the Dutch. I found them to be friendly and some could understand my poor Spanish which made me very happy.
Mom and I got on a spiffy air-conditioned bus to go to our next shore excursion which was good as it was terribly hot and humid (temperature, 91F). We went to a church built in 1535 after driving for almost an hour thru very poor neighborhoods, or as some of the neighborhoods had swimming pools, maybe we passed thru many different classes of neighberhoods. The undeveloped land was wild with jungle and everywhere was tall coconut palms, planted many, many years ago. I learned if the people make 1 dollar US a day, they are doing well. There are so many churches in this huge city. Most are catholic as the Jesuits settled this area a long time ago.
The beaches are so beautiful, (the bathing suits very skimpy also) there are so many of them as this is the Brazilian Venice. The mangroves surround many areas and help to clean the water as they use the channels as the water filtration plant.
We also went to Fort Orange, which was a Dutch fort. Near the fort is a small marine museum that has manatees that have been saved from being trapped on the reefs that surround the area. It was fun watching them drink what the guide called sweet water; we would call it fresh water, as opposed to seawater. They take good care of the manatees there. Everywhere are beautiful blooming trees and shrubs, also cashew trees, mango trees and breadfruit.
Next we went to the old sugar cane plantation, which is in the process of being restored. It was interesting to watch the city go by as we headed back to the ship. The neighborhoods are very congested and the houses are very small by American standards. I noticed there are no screens on the windows. I doubt there are many clothes washers or dryers as there was wash strung up everywhere to dry. I noticed some of the cloth diapers were pretty threadbare.
I purchased a couple of dresses at the prison shops and I have gotten comments from 6 women about the one I have on today. (I used my own money.)
The woman I was shopping with told me, "Susie, I don't think you are as big as you think you are." When I put on this broomstick dress this morning, my mouth fell open when I looked at my desirable curves. I am definitely not the woman I used to be. Yippee, I am losing weight, even with all this good food.
The flying fish have changed again. When I first saw them outside Barbados, they were like large thick bullets, maybe 9-12 inches long, sleek and silver in the sun. They were about as long as a hairbrush. Next after we left the Amazon, they were just tiny, like hummingbirds. Now they are again changed, the fins that look like wings are larger and they can go for long distances. Their tail is different also, as it is long and thin, more like a straw.
During our daily message from the captain at 1 pm, he announced he had received a message from the port of Rio de Janeiro that said they were closing the port from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, the day after tomorrow. He told us we either had to arrive earlier or later. They are laying a cable across the port. So he decided to arrive earlier and we are now traveling at 22 knots, probably the fastest we have traveled yet. So you walk more sideways than forward now as you go on your way when the ship hits the swells. Until next time, Susiesails

[kryos]

I checked my emails to see if anyone replied to this very sad news and I didn't get any emails. Hmmm, well the news must of been too much for them coming from me a complete stranger. So I decided to post my next piece and came here and had all these wonderful replies.

Sometimes it's difficult to find an email address on the personal profile. That's why people put their good wishes right here on the thread. Plus, it saves having your email box get filled up with dozens of emails from wellwishers. Know that all of us reading this thread share the pain of your news and wish you all the best in your newest challenge. If there is anything I can do, just email me ... kry.os@verizon.net ...

Blue skies ...

--rita

[mountainmare]

Susie I just got caught up on your posts. I'll add my well wishes for you and am sending you happy thoughts and lots of good energy.

Your joy for living shines through your writing--you are so very special.

[Lizzielady65]

You are so very special. My thoughts and prayers are with you. You seem so very strong; I'm sure you will pull through this as you have so many times before.

Your journal of the cruise has been so interesting! Thank you for each and every entry!

[Cruising Jake]

May your incredible optimistic attitude toward life carry you through this next time of your life.

[susiesails]

I so want to thank each and everyone of you for your well wishes. As I have been so sad this week, I have so appreciated getting that one email everyday in my mailbox that says I have another post in Cruise Critic. I can't tell you how much this has strengthened me and given me such happiness. I thank you all again.
But I have learned one thing thru all the adversity I have lived with in my life and that is this, sadness and suffering only gets you so far in life. I choose to not be a thing of pity but to live my life to the fullness that God intended each one of us to have.
So enough sadness I say, let's get back to the wonderful life God has given each one of us and live it to the fullness he intended.
I took my maiden voyage on my shiny new red kayak and I wish I had taken pen and paper so I could take each one of you with me. I had a great ride, cruising down Bryant river. It took me 3 1/2 hours to go the distance from Hodgeson Mill to my girlfriend's home. I had intended to go down to my home but got a bit too tired out for the first time since last year.
I have figured out that where I live is every bit as pretty as many of the places we saw on our cruise around the world. The pristine waters of the Bryant with it's small riffles and rapids, the wildlife, the hills and vegetation are just so beautiful to behold. I truly an so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. I have wanted to start a thread about my permanent shore excursions, as I take every day as one. I do and see so many things that other people don't get a chance to do, I would like to write about those things too.
I do have to say the service on the river was a bit different than on the ship. I had no one handing me my slice of 98% fat free ham, or my cheese stick but I enjoyed them every bit as much as I did the 5 star service on the ship. My low calorie peach ice tea was the best ambrosia I could have brought with me as I paddled my beloved river.
Wildlife list, recently I have been lucky enough to see the following: a baldheaded eagle come down out out of the branches of a tree and hover over the water with talons extended to catch that special fish and then as we exclaimed out loud while it hovered, it looked at us and flew downstream. I saw a second bald eagle but can't remember the circumstances at present. I saw turtles, so many of them I can't even count, from large snapping turtles to the tiniest, smaller than my thumb nail. I saw one snake wrapped around a twig on a tree on shore, not a copperhead. The fish: rainbow trout, brown trout, gar, red eared bluegills, perch many others. The deer are in abundance here, and I have been lucky enough to see many fawns. I have seem many hawks of many different varieties. I even got to see one dive bombing down to earth to catch it's prey in it's extended talons. I have always want to see that and now I finally have. Can you tell I like nature? There are many animals I am leaving out here, but will try to do better.
Like I said I wish I had taken pen and paper as my memory is suffering a bit right now. Ok, sorry this is so non descript. I will do better when I go next, like today!!!!! Bye, I am ditching you all for another ride on the river. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

It's not everyday that the weather and other circumstances allow you to be on the river, so enjoy it whenever you can. We'll be here when you have time to post some more. That does sound like a really nice river for kayaking and enjoying the wildlife.

[lizf]

Susie-
It all sounds so wonderful! But then you make the dreariest day seem lovely somehow. Bless you, girl. So sorry the tests proved something like this, but so much better to know the enemy. You are better equiped to do the battle. I know you will remain strong and we are riding that river with you. Thanks for describing the eagle with its talons extended and all the wildlife. I can just picture it in my mind. How very luck you are. Till later. Liz

[mim100]

Hi Susie....I finally got caught up on all the posts in your thread and wanted to join all the other posters in sending you lots of positive energy and well wishes....it's been great fun reading your reviews....keep 'em coming...they are very much appreciated...your writing style and attitude are a breath of fresh air :)

[susiesails]

I could keep posting the things I have already written on the ship, but them so much would be lost by not including all the stuff on my video's. Give me some time to get them on my laptop so I can really write fully about my adventures. thanks, susiesails

[Grumpy1]

I could keep posting the things I have already written on the ship, but them so much would be lost by not including all the stuff on my video's. Give me some time to get them on my laptop so I can really write fully about my adventures. thanks, susiesails I noticed that you went from Devil's Island to Recife without any detail of the Amazon River portion. I was hoping you would backtrack and pick that up, but I didn't want to say anything. I'm glad to hear that we will be hearing more of the Grand Adventure, :) but take your time.

[susiesails]

I just want you all to know I have finally set up a laptop and camera work station and am currently watching my first video and reliving my adventures with mom. I sure wish you could all watch it with me as I am having a grand time.
I forgot how beautiful the sunsets are when you can see the entire sky at once, no sunset on land compares to the beauty and majesty of a sunset at sea in my book.
So stay tuned, I am on this new chapter! susiesails

[arzz]

We are enjoying every word -- when you can write is soon enough

Thanks for a wonderful time and keep on hanging in there!

[susiesails]

Video I Barbados

The sunsets that first week were just gorgeous. When you can see the whole horizon, it is such an amazing way to watch a true sunset. I have seen sunsets in the past but nothing like being at sea where the whole sky is available to view the complete color changes of the pinks, purples, blues, all mixed with white fluffy clouds and a few mares’ tails.
Barbados: the scene opens as the captain and crew are bringing the vessel in to port, I must have gotten up late as the boat is almost docked. It just had the few feet left to go as the crew brought this huge vessel literally moving in to the dock, sideways. How do they do that????? I said on the video, “Just imagine parking this big baby!” I can tell from my voice that I was happily enchanted with it all.
It was raining a bit when we came in and I reported it was going to clear up nicely and man did it ever. We had blue skies and warm temperatures all day on the 9th of January! As I had never to any port before, (I don’t count Fort Lauderdale, I didn’t even know that was the port!) all this was fascinating to me, but you have probably figured out by now that I am fascinated by most things. The buildings on the dock were huge, warehouses by the look of the buildings. What necessities of life did they hold and where was it going?
The ship or the port had a steel band come and serenade us as we left the ship to go our way on our first shore excursions since leaving Fort Lauderdale on this so beautiful day. As we entered the actual port on land, we had to go thru some duty free shopping buildings. I looked at the stuff for sale but we went on our way as we didn’t want to be late to visit with my cyber friend, Myky.
My hair has said goodbye to winter and is now curling nicely in the humidity. My hair hates winter, as I have my dad’s island genes. I don’t have to do anything to my hair if I have a good haircut, just give it a shake and then I can go. Not so in winter, when I have to hide in the bathroom for at least 45 minutes after a bath or shower to trick my hair into believing it is warm outside while I blow it dry. The things we do to look presentable!
Ok, back o Barbados…I was amazed at all the bicycles I was seeing on the road, I don’t think I have never seen so many bikes anywhere all at the same time. Driving on the other side of the street was a bit daunting to me. I have learned to just close my eyes when I think there is danger, instead of crying out when I am riding with someone. I think I had my eyes closed quite a bit as I have not been where they drive on the other side of the road since 1990 when I was in Ireland for 3 weeks.
I stopped at a table at the lido restaurant that morning to ask a friend what she was going to do in Barbados. Her reply was, “Ach, Barbados, do you have any idea how many times I have been to Barbados”. (Here she waved her had as if to dismiss something in an Imperious way) “I am not even going to get off the ship”. I tell you, I felt sorry for her, that she had been here so many times she was not even going to leave the ship. I found out later she stopped counting her cruises at 200. Poor dear. I knew so many people who would have given their eye teeth to be in her shoes at the moment and have loved every minute of Barbados. It must be terrible to not to be able to see the wonder in everything, anything!
The next stop was at St Nicolas Abby. It was built in 1650. Wow! Oh, the drive up there was so gorgeous, vegetation everywhere along the way. The Abby charged a fee to get in so we just wandered around the flower gardens and enjoyed getting to know each other in person after our long relationship in the cyber world.
The white washed building (house, villa, plantation, I really didn’t know what to call it.) was just so lovely, smaller than I thought it would be though. The entry way was covered in thick flowering vines and the shade looked so inviting as we stood in the now hot sun.
The birds were singing so beautifully. Bird songs I didn’t remember from my zoo days. (I lived 1 mile from the Milwaukee zoo when I was growing up and we spent a lot of time there when I was little. I especially loved the bird house and spent so much time watching the birds fly in this beautiful lush, green open building and loved to listen to the sound of the waterfalls and to watch the flamingos as the many, many birds sang and twittered in the tees. I think that was my start of my love of watching nature, there in the Milwaukee zoo.)
At the Abby, I could hear the ocean waves from where I was standing but I couldn’t see the water. I could see a long green, very level yard and instantly recognized the game played there: crocket. We played that all the time when we were little at home. We all enjoyed socking each other’s balls as far as we could when our balls were touching. Ah, sigh, this shady cool green yard bought back good memories for me.
Our next stop I have called the wild side of Barbados. We were on the top of a large, very tall hill and I couldn’t see many houses from there You could see the ribbon of gravel road wind it’s way down the hill in a crazy, drunken fashion. It was all lush sugar cane and vegetation growing in wild perfusion. It was very windy there as I watched the surf roll in and crash on the windward white sand beach.
The palm trees growing along the water were in constant motion from the strong wind that was blowing from who knew where (ah, that is so intriguing to me, what would those people be like and what would their land look like?). We ate our lunch at a place called Bonito. What a wonderful island buffet meal we had! We treated our hosts, all of them and had a great time. I wish I had taken video of that lunch but I didn’t. I remember eating the flying fish and really enjoyed it.
The beach outside our restaurant had a few huge boulders of different sizes in the surf. I couldn’t imagine what force had tossed them there and when! Some of them were just immense, huge grey things. The sense I got was that they were really benign things, as if they had some small benevolent life in them. Hmmmm.
They seemed to hug the coast as in the true sense of hug and I thought, ‘there is thick green moss growing on them so you just knew they had lived there for a long time’.
The graceful lines of the wind shaped palms that danced in the wind before me was just like a movie set. Oh silly me, movies mimic life, and here I was in such a wonderful place that they could make a movie there. Ah, life is so wonderful. I was truly appreciative of what I was viewing with my own eyes. How very lucky I was to be sharing this adventure with mom. I could tell mom was enjoying herself when she was playing with my friend’s 6 year old daughter. Mya’s skin is a warm honey color that radiates the sun back at you, as if she had been baked in the sun to just the right color. I had seen that color skin before on my cousins children who lives in Genoa, Italy.
I loved the way the aquamarine water seemed to glide up to the shore, much gentler waves here than at the last beach. No roaring, crashing, foaming white, driven surf pounding the coast here, but a nice gentle, long ride in on a good boogie board. Yippee!
The island has a limestone base that filters their water. My friends thought it was pretty good but we must have taken some of it aboard as we had a chlorine taste in the water for a few days after we left Barbados which we did not have before.
As we left the Bridgetown port, the ship started to rock almost immediately. One of my friends on board told me we were in for some wind and we rocked and rolled our way away from the island and on our way to Devils Island, French Guiana.
Did I tell you I have 27 video's? Susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

27 videos, you say? Well, I'm here to follow your entire cruise. If your reviews take as long to write as the original cruise itself, that's no problem for me! There's nothing like living a wonderful part of your life over again, is there?:) Now, if we could only do that in "real time"!

[doverite]

I'll also be awaiting the next 26 installments. Thanks so much:)

[susiesails]

I got out my daily schedules and maps they gave us for each port and I am busy writing away. I have to stay in the house today to wait for a call from a doctor so I am back at this considerable task of documenting our trip. I have started pouring over emails I sent to get some of the information as I didn't document things very well at first. My writing style matured over my trip, so you are getting the results of my writing attempts over many months. So stay tuned.... susiesails

[susiesails]

Video I Devils Island: January 11, 2006
The French founded a penal colony here in 1852 mainly for political prisoners. It was founded by Emperor Napoleon III and would become one of the most famous prisons in history. In addition to the island housing the prisoners, the prison facilities were located on the island of Kourou. Over time, Iles Du Salut, (the Salvation Islands), these 3 islands collectively became known as Devils Island. The residents ranged from political prisoners to the most hardened of thieves and murderers. A great many of the more than 80,000 prisoners sent to the harsh conditions at disease- infested Devil’s Island were never seen again. Other than by boat, the only way out was through the impenetrable jungle, accordingly, very few prisoners ever escaped. The horror of the penal settlement became notorious in 1895 with the publicity surrounding the plight of French army captain Alfred Dreyfus who was sent there on Jan 5, 1895 until 1899 for espionage. (His real crime was being Jewish.)
Those who were sentenced to 7 or more years and still managed to survive were required to remain in French Guyana for the rest of their lives but few had to face the prospect of life in exile. Only about 30,000 prisoners ever got a chance to try life in exile as all the others died of malaria, malnourisment and other diseases. Only about 2,000 prisoners could be housed here at a time. Ruins of the old barracks, chapel lighthouse and prison hospital remain on the island. Care is being taken to preserve these crumbling buildings.
There are actually 3 islands here; Ile Du Diable, (devil’s island), Ile Royale, and Ile Ste-Joseph. and all the waters around there are full of sharks. That is why they didn’t have to worry about prisoners leaving the notorious French penal colony. The islands were only 650 feet apart, but the wave action is incredibly strong. The waves actually crashed on the shore while we were there throwing salt spray high over our heads into the air.
When we first got near the islands, the sea looked absolutely calm from my verandah on the 10th floor of the ship; I could hardly see the barest ripple on the surface of the sea. Not long after landing with the tenders in just a little bit of time the sea had picked up again and I watched a small dingy rock up and down on its was back to the island I was on from the neighboring island. Yikes, the sea sure is unpredictable! The small brown dingy was almost lost from view over and over as it went on its way and hit the bottom of the swells.
I checked my writings and I didn’t put much about our visit to the island in the original writings. Now more of the video.
There seems to be a lot of mist in the air as I can’t see the islands as well I did other places we went ashore at. The wind is blowing hard as my voice barely audible. The coast is full of rocks that are watched over by the many palm trees here. As I said before the wave action is tremendous here. We had been having 7 to 14 foot waves in the last day after leaving Barbados, so it is good to be able to go ashore although I am still rocking as if I am on the ship when I try to walk.
My voice became just awed as I was panning the camera over the jungle on the island. Having grown up with TV, I remember watching “Rama of the Jungle” when I was small, and the many dangers posed upon entering one. I was awed that I would actually be in a place that had a jungle. Hahhahha
There were many pleasure boats anchored in the mini harbor here, ah, now where have they been and where are they going? My imagination wants to take off again as I look at them. Silly me!
We saw a small mammal, which I can not spell the name of and can’t find on the web. It was fun watching the brown furry mom and 3 babies carry around a coconut and eat from it from time to time. They did not seem afraid of us as we walked around their island but they kept their distance.
There were many stairs, rock paths and rock walls built by the prisoners of the past. It is very hot and humid as we walked around. The air was very oppressive and we were not able to do much walking. We quickly found the gift shop and went in to see the offerings. We didn’t speak French so we couldn’t communicate with the proprietress. Not much was left when we got ashore. We bought 4 postcards and I wrote them out and sent them off. It seems after getting put in the post box, they were sent to France to go out in the mail to be delivered to America. Yikes, a long trip for sure.
The foliage and flowers of the island were just amazing. I said, “the jungle just fascinates me, the never ending jungle”. They used to string a rope from one island to another one to feed the prisoners. I guess from reports they didn’t even have guards on devils Island as who was going to try to escape from there anyways, what were they going to do, swim the shark infested waters?
The tender ride was exciting as I had never taken a tender ride before. It was a bumpy ride back to ship with the huge waves that had formed while we were on the island. Mom and I only stayed about an hour and then went back as mom was huffing from the heat as she was walking. I had left my camera running as we were walking and the conversation with my mom was kind of interesting. I asked her how she would like living there in the long skirts of long ago and mom’s reply was “no!” I said I would have probably walked around naked under the long dresses. I still can’t imagine how the women of long ago put up with the fashion of the day with hot long skirts! Susiesails

[susiesails]

One of the places I play my mandolin is at Cotter Jam in Cotter, Arkansas. Follow the link, I am in the 5th row, the 5th picture. I am just a beginner and most of these folks are experts including my girlfriend Jeanne, in the picture next to me. Man, can she ever play that guitar. Have fun, I do. Susiesails

http://barnwoodstyle.netfirms.com/jammers/nfpicturepro/thumbnails.php?album=10

[middle-aged mom]

One of the places I play my mandolin is at Cotter Jam in Cotter, Arkansas. Follow the link, I am in the 5th row, the 5th picture. I am just a beginner and most of these folks are experts including my girlfriend Jeanne, in the picture next to me. Man, can she ever play that guitar. Have fun, I do. Susiesails

http://barnwoodstyle.netfirms.com/jammers/nfpicturepro/thumbnails.php?album=10

Susie:

Is that you with the dark curly hair and the big smile? Nice photo:)

[susiesails]

Thanks for going and seeing what I love to do so much. I hope you checked on the others photo's. They are a colorful bunch. I dearly love going there when that place is rocking, and I do mean rocking! They allow a few electric instruments so with the guitars going and the bases plus all the other instruments, well is all I can say is it is great fun. When everyone is there, well the music is just not to be believed.
I love the dobroughs, and fiddles, the harmonicas, the guitars, mandolins, train whisles, and bases. They all contribute to make whatever music is being lead by someone to be just supurb. Whether it is bluegrass, blues, gospel, country, polkas, marches or whatever any one has to play. Everyone just joins in and plays. The singing is some times not so supurb in a few cases, but is enjoyed none the less.
I feel lucky to be able to be part of it as I am such a beginner. I am having some trouble playing lately so I am very sad about that. Thanks, susiesails

[susiesails]

Sailing the Amazon and Santarem, Brazil Jan 12, 2006
>I have to hurry up and write about the Amazon as tomorrow we cross the equator again and King Neptune will be visiting us here on the ship to offer us safe passage thru his kingdom. We have already crossed the equator twice as we were sailing in the past 3 days but as we were just sailing up the Amazon they didn’t count it. So tomorrow I will become a shellback instead of just a Pollywog. It is also formal night again and I will be a vision in gold.
>The Amazon is such an incredible river. It is 13 times bigger than the Mississippi. That just blows my mind. The river is 15 miles from bank to bank. You can’t see from one side to another, as there are many islands in the middle. There is a big fight between the Nile and the Amazon as to what is the longest river. They have discovered new springs so Brazil has claimed the longest river title at 4,280 miles but Guinness doesn’t agree. I had 2 glasses of wine for dinner so who cares!
The Amazon is home to over 15,000 species of Amazon creatures, thousands of birds and fish and hundreds of mammals have not yet been classified. Some of the known animal species found in the forest include jaguars, tapirs, peccaries, spider monkeys, river dolphins, boa constrictors and anacondas, giant river otters, two toed sloth, pygmy marmosets. Forest birds include toucans, parrots, macaws, hummingbirds, and gaviao (birds of prey). Insect life includes over 1800 species of butterflies and more than 200 species of mosquito. Fish such as piranha, tucunare, piraruca, anuana, piraiba and poraque (electric eel) abound in such an amazing diversity of species that biologists are unable to identify much of the catch found in Belem’s markets.
Sailing thru the Amazon river for 1 1/2 days was amazing to see the dense jungle go right to the water was just mind blowing. It must have been raining or I was up on lido deck when they were washing the decks. To se the heights of the different trees over the small villages and the hills that started appearing. Mom was still sleeping as I was standing on the verandah taking pictures.
There were plenty of small boats going by as we sailed on to Santarem. There were plenty of areas that had been cleared in the past and were now farms.
>We had to sail for a day and a half up river on our ocean liner to get to Santarem, which was our next port of call. This is a city of 300,000 people deep in the rain forest. The jungle is just as amazing. Some trees are over 200 feet tall. We saw mango trees, brazil nut trees, mahogany, rubber, ebony oh just so many kinds.
>Mom and I took a boat ride down the Tapajos River, which is a completely different color than the Amazon. The Amazon is full of sediment and muddy brown. The Tapajos is a clear greenish color. They run side by side where they meet (they call it marrying) and do not mix together as the Tapajos is a different acidity and water temperature so the waters do not mix. We had a lovely ride and I got out to swim. Some people on shore saw the track of an anaconda thru the sand but no snake. That was fine with me. The water was so cool and inviting to swim in. I really enjoyed it. No sign of any piranhas.
The method of sleeping on a small boat is to hang a hammock. I willingly got in one to demonstrate for our fellow cruisers but didn’t get a photo of myself. It was very comfortable for the short time I was in it. I don’t know what it would have been like to sleep for a long time. I think I would have been bent over if I had been in it for too long.
>The Amazon sends it waters 200 miles into the Atlantic Ocean the river is so big. They told me how much water flows per second out of the river but I forgot. Something like a million and a half gallons or something like that per second. This is one big river, let me tell you. It actually puts 46,000 gallons per second in to the Atlantic ocean at its mouth.
>It is so fun to see the river people paddle onto the river to wave at the ship. Their boats are smaller than my bathtub and yet they travel this river like it is nothing. I always wave back; it seems to give them such joy. They seem to be such happy people, even without cars, TV or washing machines. That is why they have so many babies, what else is there to do?
>They build their houses on stilts and on the poorer houses; they have thatched roofs. I did see a couple of metal roofs. Instead of cars, they have boats, as there are very few roads. They use the stilts so their houses won’t flood in the rainy season. There are only two seasons here and I will give you a hint, it is not snow or construction like in Chicago. No, it is the rainy season and dry season. Right now the river is 20 feet above what the river is in October, which is the driest month. By June the river will be up 45 feet. The people have to move their cattle, Brahma cows, on boats to higher ground. Sometimes the people move with them and sometimes they don’t if they have no other place to go. There are hundreds of tributary’s that come out of the Amazon; some of them looked as big as the Mississippi.
The sunset that we experienced while traveling on our smaller boat on our tour was just tremendous. It is all gold and silver. As we were sailing straight west the track of the sun on the water was wonderful. We had a full moon come up as we still had blue skies. The bird calls were just great; I have missed the bird calls on the ship.
We fished but no one on our boat caught anything. The boat captain cooked the fish the other boats caught and cooked them for their passengers. They reported the fish to be delicious when we all gathered on the Princendam. We did not get a chance to go into the town of Santarem when we were finished with our boat tour. This disappointed mom somewhat as she had been to Manus (sp) in the past and loved it.
I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see any of the pink dolphins. Some of our tablemates were on the same tour, different boat. They did nothing but complain about the trip for a long time at supper that night. They got to see 10 or 12 pink dolphins. I wanted to slap them for their complaining; didn’t they know they were the only boat to see pink dolphins?
We were served fresh fruit onboard our tour boat and wow, the pineapple was the best I had tasted in such a long time. It reminded me of Hawaiian pineapples but smaller. Our captain spent a great deal of time cracking fresh Brazilian nuts for us and we were all amazed at the difference between a fresh nut and the taste from my memory.
>The landmass that is the Country of Brazil is as big as the continental united states. All this is just mind blowing to me. It covers almost half of South America. We were told that human civilization here goes back to 10,000 years BC.
>Santarem has had 4 huge exports in its history. The first was the gold that the Portuguese took. Then it was rubber for American cars. After that it was hardwoods, like mahogany and ebony. The latest export is soybeans. The climate and land is perfect for growing soybeans. I hope you can see why I am so fascinated by this region. I can tell we have entered the ocean again as the ship has started rocking with the big swells again. The boat rocks side to side and up and down at the same time, a very interesting feeling. No signs of seasickness yet. Oh man, we are really rocking now!
>I have finally figured out why I am on this ship. I felt all year there was a purpose for me to be on this trip and I found it today. After all the shore excursions yesterday, there were so many people complaining, it didn’t matter if they took the river trip, or the city tour. I feel I am here to spread my joy thru the ship. I believe you make your own happiness. There are so many people who need to learn that here. One couple was complaining about the boat trip yet they were the only boat that saw the pink dolphins. They said they saw about 12 of them. I would have loved to see pink dolphins. I hope someone will research this and post a picture for the rest of you. I would like to see them too.
>I see mom changing on this trip. I don’t want to give away her secrets, but she is working on a self-betterment program. This is something she has come up with herself. I am not telling her to do these things it is her idea. She told me today that I make the trip exciting for her, which was the line I needed to let her know what is happening at home. I told her, “well you have some more exciting things happening in your life,” her face lit up and she asked, “I do?” I said, “Yes mom, you are buying a new car!” I guess problems with the transmission will necessitate this.
>We had a funny thing happen today. We have coffee delivered to the room, 2 pots and 2 fruit plates each morning from room service. (Free) When the man came with the tray, we told him about the pineapple we had on the boat the pervious day and how it was the best, sweetest pineapple we had ever eaten.
>We asked him to try the pineapple each day and to bring us some if it was sweet. A bit later there was a knock on the door and it was our guy bringing us the fruit. He told us it was kind of sweet and a bit not. We thanked him and then I took the tray out to the verandah and we had our coffee out there today, as it was very pleasant outside. She took a piece of pineapple in her mouth and tasted it and wrinkled up her face from the tart taste. I said, “It is not sweet?” She shook her head and puckered her mouth up. I told her to throw it over the side, as I knew the fish would eat it and she did. We sat down to listen to the splash from the river 10 floors below and both of us were surprised to hear a splat instead of a splash. Both our eyes got big at the same time as we looked at each other and we slowly got up and poked our heads over the side of the railing. The pineapple had landed on the pilot’s boat instead of the river. We laughed and laughed. It was a special moment. We are having a great time.
>I have turned in our shore excursions back to the company for Turkey. We will not be going ashore. We don’t want the bird flu!
>Maine Lobster tomorrow for supper. Yippee!!!!!!!! We have another time change tomorrow, ahead again one hour. I have heard that by the time we make India we will have had 10 time changes. Susiesails

[wynkys]

Susie,
You continue to amaze and delight with your narrative and your attitude towards everything should be a lesson for us all.
Thank you again for letting us continue to enjoy your recollections.

Wayne

[doverite]

I so enjoy reading all of your episodes. Keep it coming.:)

[susiesails]

Video I Natal, Brazil, Jan 17, 2006
We came up to the port of Natal with its beautiful white sand beaches. The city has 750,000 inhabitants. The water was a pale washed out greenish blue with many reefs visible thru the water. The city with its tall skyscrapers was fascinating as we had just left the Amazon the day before. We were unable to enter the port as the wind currents prevented us from entering the canal. We would have been dashed on the side of the canal as the wind was 30 knots and only 3 1/2 knots water current. Our ship would have been the largest ship to enter this port to date but we couldn’t get in. Darn.
The main export of Natal is tungsten. It also handles all of the costal shipping from this huge area. America built a military base on the outskirts of Natal during WWII. This base provided support of allied troops fighting in the north of Africa. (And we are going there, I just can’t believe it.) In the last century, Natal benefited from the growth of the industries of salt and petroleum.

Video I Recife, Brazil Jan 18, 2006
This is the biggest city we have seen since leaving America. The sky scrapers in the city were extensive. We saw row boats we were passing on the open ocean, which is just amazing. A row boat on the ocean, I couldn’t get over that. They have more guts than I do, that is for sure. We came into port at 6:10 am. We would leave at midnight for Rio de Janeiro. It has a huge natural harbor that they have been able to protect over the years. The harbor has made it possible for this large city to be populated with so many people. It is called the Venice of South America because they have so many canals that run thru the city.
It takes 25 minutes to get into town on the shuttle bus from the port where we docked. The exchange rate was $1 for 2.25 Reais. The ports usually had some tents erected to welcome us. Our berth was huge. I could hardly get a photo of the whole space.
We left the ship to go on a tour to a church built in 1530. As we were riding thru the towns to get there, I remember seeing a very young fellow in his teens sans shirt sitting in front of a home with friends and the 6 pack that was his tummy was tremendous. I remember wondering at the time how he had developed that 6 pack. I was to find out in our next port of call. (I had to wait and you do too.)
The artifacts in the church were full of gold and wood carvings. I had never before stood in a church that old, no wait, I had been in some pretty old churches in Ireland so that is probably not correct. It was a simple wooden church; I could see extensive remodeling in some areas inside. They had a beautiful garden behind the church that looked over the city. I could see many spires from the garden so I knew there were many more churches in the near vicinity.
We had one unhappy time before we left the church as we were told that we would leave at such and such a time. Everyone was finished seeing the church and came back to the bus to leave to go to the next place. When everyone was counted there was one person missing. We figured out who it was and found him sitting on a bench some distance from the bus. Someone walked over to him and spoke with him and he came back and declared the following, “he said we have 20 more minutes before we were told we had to be back and he was not leaving that bench until that time”. Oh man, you should have heard the grumblings of the fellow passengers sitting on that hot bus! When the 20 minutes was up he came back to the bus and got on, but he did not endear himself to many of the passengers by that behavior.
Next we went to Fort Orange founded by the Dutch. The white sand beaches were so lovely, with the lush green backgrounds of jungle. There were many umbrellas set up at the beach to protect people from the hot sun. There were also many boats a person could rent to get to the island across the river.
When I go to old places like Fort Orange, I always try to imagine what it was like with the soldiers in their uniforms marching and what life was like back then. Mom is happy as I found her some ice cream to enjoy as she sat in the shade with other passengers to escape the heat while I trekked thru the fort.
We walked over to a sea park and watched the manatees drink water from spouts that gave them fresh water as they swam in their huge tank. These manatees have been collected over the years from the reefs, where they had been trapped during low tide. They seem to be well cared for by veterinaries. The largest manatee was 45 years young. They have an amazing life spam. It was nice to see them again, the last time and only time I had seen them I was in the Orlando area with my youngest brother Peter.
I even got to see a cashew tree with its tiny clusters of cashews. Yum! They had intricately carved door panels on the doors in the sea world. There were no screens on any of the windows. Everywhere we looked we could see such flowers blooming.
Recife exports great quantities of sugar, cotton and coffee. It hosted an allied air base during WWI. It boasts 3 universities, several research centers and museums, and an elaborate government palace.
I have failed to mention one thing that I saw yet couldn't quite take in and that is all the poor people and poor living conditions I saw here in this port. I know I come from america and have always enjoyed a good standard of living. I have heard about poor people all my life and about starving people too. I have such a tender heart, it was difficult for me to see all this. I wonder if I have fully taken it in even at this late date.
When we went back to the ship and I spoke about this at the dinner table, I was told about the difference between a traveler and a tourist. A traveler sees living conditions and does nothing to change them, just observes and takes everything in and a tourist goes right in and wants to change things to what he or she thinks is right for these people. Of course that may or may not be right for the people they are trying to change. I pondered long and hard about the poverty I was seeing. I still ponder it.
I realized as we have many poor in my county here in the Ozarks, here in Missouri, many of these people get only $600 a month to live on and some do not have running water in their homes, I was able to realize that $600 a month was a fortune to these people. I was still having trouble with the fortune we had paid for this trip just for us to come and observe this poverty. Well, even at this late date I still ponder this.
Well my friends, this ends video I. Yikes, I have been writing for more than 6 hours today but I got 4 posts done. Susiesails

[susiesails]

Dining in the very exclusive Pinnacle Restaurant January 20, 2006

Our dinner table decided to go to the Pinnacle tonight for supper. We had 3 dinners coupons included with our package so it was use them or lose them. So as a group of 8 we made reservations and showed up dressed to kill on another formal night. I was a vision in gold, in a three-piece outfit from my friend Susan. Mom wore a pink Sari embroidered with tiny flowers from Susan again. We got many complements on our outfits. The men all had on their tuxes and looked good enough to eat.
Now this is a very exclusive restaurant, with 4 waiters serving us. The personal chef came out to check with us personally to see if our meal was satisfactory. What a wonderful meal we had too. We were not sure what to expect but we had heard they didn't embarrass you if you made a blunder with the silver ware.
The dining room is decorated to the hilt but with a subtle flair. We had heard about their silver beef, that it was fork tender and to die for. That was all I knew when we entered.
Here is the menu they served tonight. It changes daily.

Starters
FRAGRANT THAI CHICKEN SOUP, Milk and Lemon Grass
ULTIMATE NORTHWEST CLAM CHOWDER, Double Smoked Bacon, Clams, Tender Red Potatoes
VINE RIPE BEEFSTEAK TOMATO SALAD, balsamic vinaigrette and extra virgin herb oil
SEASONAL GREENS, Northwest Pear, pecan crusted Oregon blue cheese, cider pear vinaigrette
DUNGENESS CRAB CAKES, Spiral shaved cucumber, and sweet chile sauce
SEARED DUCK BREAST, pickled Walla Walla onion, blackberry relish
SMOKED PLEASURE OF THE SEA, black cod, salmon, scallops, wasabi cream

SIDE DISHES
SCALLOPED POTATOES
OVERSIZED BAKED WASHINGTON POTATOES, (the biggest I have ever seen)
LEMON WHEAT BERRY BASMATIC RICE
CREAMED SPINICH, SAYTEED BUTTON MUSHROOMS
GRILLED ASPARAGUS WITH BEARNISE SAUCE

ENTREES
FROM THE GRILL
THE PINNACLE GRILL FEATURES HAND SELECTED STERLING SILVER BEEF, UNSURPASSED IN TENDERNESS AND TASTE, ITS FLAVOR IS ENHANCED BY OUR SPECIAL SEASONED RUBS AND THE JUICES ARE SEALED IN BY OUR 1600-DEGREE GRILL.

FILET MIGNON
PETITE CUT (7 0Z) OR PINNICALE CUT (10 0Z)
BONE IN RIB EYE STEAK 18 TO 20 OUNCES
PORTERHOUSE STEAK (20 to 25 ounces)
BOTH SERVED WITH OUR HAND CRAFTED SAUCES OF SUN DRIED TOMATOES STEAK SAUCE, CLASIC BERNAISE,
OR Horseradish MUSTARD SAUCE
LAMB RACK CHOPS, APPLE SPICE CHURNEY AND DRIZZLED MINT SAUCE
KING SLAMON, TROLL CAUGHT IN ALASKAN WATERS, QUICK SEARED ON OUR GRILL, SERVED WITH YOUR CHOICE OF LEMON GARLIC HERB SPLASH OR SESAME SOY KALBI
SIGNATURE DISHES
CHICKEN MARSALA WITH Washington Cherries, Parmesan herb risotto cake, baby mache lettuce, toasted hazelnuts
CHEDAR PLANKED HALIBUT WITH ALASKAN KING CRAB, crab hollandaise
CEDAR PLANKED SCAMPI, ROASTED GARLIC AND CILANTRO BUTTER
Grande wild mushroom ravioli, PESTO CREAM SAUCE

CHEF JODY'S SPECIALS FOR TODAY

STARTERS
PATE DE FOIE GRAS DE CANARD, Duck liver pate

ENTREES
NEWFOUNDLAND LOBSTER, with sautéed vegetables and potato puree
POULET AU VIN, Sonoma valley chicken simmered in merlot with a vegetable garnish

DESSERT
CHOCOLATE TURRINE with ginger and lemon cream

Sweet Endings
NOT SO CLASSIC BAKED ALASKA, Ben and Jerry's Garcia ice cream flamed at the table with Bing cherries jubilee
WARM GRAND MARNIER CHOCOLATE VOLCANO CAKE, The ultimate chocolate experience
LEMON BERRY ANGEL SHORTCAKE, wild berry compote
Pinnacle CREÃME BRULEE, flavors of chocolate, coffee and vanilla bean
ICE CREAMS AND SORBETS, please ask your server for today's selection
FRESH FRUIT PLATE
ASSORTMENT OF CHEESES

Mom had the clam soup, which she groaned over it was so good; I had the crab cakes, very nice indeed for starters.
Then we both had the grilled asparagus, which I thought was over done.
I really wanted the beef, but ended up getting the lobster, as did mom. We were looking for the really big lobsters that hang over the plate that mom talks about from another ship but no, 2 small lobster tails were served and they were very good but we were disappointed in the size. We also had the pureed potatoes, great mashed potatoes. I would like to know how to make them like that, they were different but I can't tell you how.
We ended our evening with the sweet endings. Mom enjoyed the baked Alaska with cherries jubilee and I had the chocolate volcano dessert. I physically drew back when they opened up the small tureen and looked inside not knowing what to expect. Hmmm, just a baked chocolate thing with a sauce bowl of whipped cream with a few candied orange strips for garnish. I carefully stuck my spoon into the center, not knowing when the volcano thing would happen. Nothing happened. So I spooned my whipped cream into the hole I had made and put some of each in my mouth and then the volcano thing happened. It seemed to grow in my mouth, warm chocolate ultra creamy and the cold whipped cream. It grew to fill my mouth and what a pleasant experience. How do they do that I wonder.
When we got to our room, we both immediately bent over the bed clutching our bellies groaning, it was a great experience, but we ate too much food. I even got the recipe for the Chocolate Vulcano desert!!!!
All in all, a wonderful experience.

Just a current day note, I have been a lot writing this week, about 12 hours so far. I am now 5 entries up. I will make one post everyday. I am finding writing helps me reduce my stress, which keeps me from having brain boo boos, so I am writing a lot.
I leave for Columbia on Sunday to have a spinal tap done on monday. If everything goes right I should be home monday night. If not I will stay till tuesday and then come home. I will get the final diagnosis in the last week of June.
My moods are currently fluctuating moment to moment. I cry a lot. If I can keep from getting stressed, I don't have as many brain boo boos. A brain boo boo is when I are reading the recipe for the salad dressing when the meat is burning at my elbow and I am not even aware of it. This is not the person I was on the ship. I handled so many different things well and easily on the ship. I will get a handle on my life again... I will get a handle on my life again...I will...I will! Susiesails

[Betsy's Mom]

Such enjoyment reading your posts! You will , you will, you will!!
B.

[susiesails]

I am first posing what I wrote on the ship and then in the next days I will post the expanded version.

Rio de Janeiro
How can I begin to share with you Rio de Janeiro? Everything is just a jumble in my mind so I am going to close my eyes and free associate for a while, and just share what comes into my mind... I am hearing crickets and cicadas? oh yes, I forgot, we are in port. A nice sound from home… It is 4:44 am and I went to bed at 8 pm or so bone weary. Rio de Janeiro, I am so fascinated by this place.
Awakening suddenly yesterday, I asked myself, “why?????” Oh, the ship engines have stopped. I have learned to listen for the absence of the engines to wake myself. That is what woke me yesterday at 5 something in the morning. I looked out our verandah windows, still dark. Oh my gosh, we are almost to Rio! I grabbed my camera and went outside; I could see large irregularly shaped hills, pointing skyward. What causes this type of formation; different from anything I have ever seen. They look like giant sweet potatoes stuck in the earth…
I took a couple of photos and headed to lido deck. Gee, only one person here before me. Oh man I think I am finally going to see and photo a real sunrise, it has been so frustrating not being able to capture a sunrise at sea but this is so good… Hmmm, only 4:45 am this morning and it is starting to heat up already.
Yesterday as I was watching Rio emerge from afar, what a glorious site it was. I could see islands and sea birds, golden miniature hotels on the beach seen from afar as the sun starts to illume them…
Where is the statue of Christ the Redeemer, we are still to far away to see, darn… I think, “Oh lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the world thy hands have made”….
The city of the Samba… I can’t believe how big this city is, evidence of houses even spilling up the mountains, a new thing to look at every time your eyes go to another place…
Oh my gosh, what did it take to build that bridge? I have never seen one so big…. Where are they going to lay that cable across the port?
There is Sugar Loaf Mountain; I can’t see the cable car atop yet…
Everywhere you look there are people….so many people
Girl, pull down those shorts, your cheeks are showing….
Hahahha, when I go in the shops with another couple from the ship, the shop people speak English to them and Portuguese to me, It's those island genes. hahahha….
Down town looks like the Magnificent mile in Chicago, just with different faces….
An artesian is eating his plate lunch on the rocking chair he is creating on the street… It was fascinating to watch him craft this chair, a wood and cane rocking chair. I so enjoyed standing drinking a soda to replace fluids and watch him weave the cane as the busy traffic goes by.
Oh man, look at those pastries, do I dare eat them????
Head wet with sweat from the high humidity…
So this is Ipanema beach, there is not as much sand as I thought it would have, look at those waves crash, good for body boarding…
Look at the tiny clothes in the shops; don’t they have any fat people in this country???????
Jackfruit, they have jackfruit here? I want some.
What a glorious sunrise….
Up above the crow’s nest, there were so many passengers videoing the entrance of the port as we enter the city and as we change direction yet again to follow the angles of the port and more city is reveled it is so exciting…
"I can’t help It, I have to scream with excitement", and as I did everyone turned to look at me, "Susie, say something, they think you are injured! ”I am soooo excited……" and so many smiles responded to my statement, they understood what I was feeling and expressing.
“Look at all the smiles,” a comment I made to another friend. One man stops and responds to my words, "I am smiling because I am thinking about what I am going to eat on shore”… Brazilian b b Q, you pick the meat you want, they will cook it for you. Oh, I can’t wait…
Lights everywhere, a skyline lit up, just like any American city. Look, that building reflects so many other buildings from the city in its modern glass face…
Where is all the traffic, it is 8 15 in the morning, oh yeah, Saturday.
Rio, home of Carnival, just like our Mardi Gras. What, they start carnival at 9 pm and it goes on till 7 or 8 am? Where do you sleep?????? The answer is you don’t… The boxes to watch Carnival cost 3000 dollars each to watch the show, there are bleachers set up everywhere to watch the show 100,000 seats for a town that has 8 million people in the town proper not to mention the 4 million people that live in the suburbs!!!!!! Carnival is one month away. Darn……We won't see it What do you mean, they only go down one street, not the whole city?
So many huge breasts in this city, spilling out of dresses and tops……
Everywhere there are huge smiles on the people and white teeth.
We were warned about the pickpockets of this city that can distract you and then steal something from you in our port lectures. “Grace, watch me while I pay for this, this youth is getting too close to me and looking like he is going to fake a seizure”, “oh look at the two guards watch him too…….” “Yes, I will be careful with my camera, thank you” I replied to the shop person who eyed it casually hanging from my shoulder……
The anniversary of john’s death is 4 days away. We will celebrate his life in the Pinnacle……
I didn’t check the computer for email today, oh well too darn tired. Went to bed at 8 pm.
My hair loves this weather; curling away we have left winter far behind…
Oh no, here come the men to wash the decks as I sit here and type, it is done every day, time to move…
Don’t worry mom that bite is not from a malaria mosquito…
Oh going up to the Statue of Christ the easy way, on the tram…Some people walk up 2000 feet with little kids, they don’t have the fee to pay for the tram….
What? A man, running up to the top, covered in sweat, he must run marathons…
Aaaaaag, look out! We are going to hit that motorcycle in our lane, oh man, I screamed and I was videotaping…
Lost my stomach when we took off in the helicopter and flew straight down the hill, no which is a mountain. Oh good, here we go up again…
So many people everywhere…I am no longer used to large city populations but there sure are a lot of people in Rio.
I‘m still so tired after my two trips into town yesterday… Where is mom??????
I met the guy again I had asked how the toilets work; he asked me how I could stay so happy and told me he thought I was the happiest person on the ship… I want to start a program, “the art of positive thinking, what is happiness?” Social director will add it to the schedule after Antarctica…
That man was dying when he came aboard in Fort Lauderdale in a wheelchair; now look at him as he jauntily goes on his way swinging his cane. His doctor said, "I don’t know what you did, but keep doing it." (He went cruising.)
Wow, those drinks were strong today; the national alcohol made from sugar cane was in it. The lecturer promised if you drink one you start to hear Samba when it isn’t there, and if you two you start dancing…mom you had two of them, you are cut off. I know, she said, I won’t be able to walk!!!!! I had 2 too, "you did, and that is not like you…” Well I guess what the lecturer said was right because I went and complemented the 6 piece band then asked them if they knew Tennessee waltz. They didn’t so I taught it to them and ended up singing to 140 people plus with the band accompanying me. Go ahead and give me another one of them, then see what I do, hahahahhahha……
Oh my gosh, my body hurts so much, I can hardly walk tonight, "mom, come back and get me, I can’t walk that fast"… I guess I shouldn’t have run to get a good seat on the bus…. We leave my beautiful city tomorrow.......Montidevio in 2 days......I wonder if someone is reading this to hubby stick?????
That's it for now, night all. Susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

That's it for now, night all. Susiesails

Good night, Susie. I'm as exhausted as you must have been just from reading about your visit to Rio. There is something very vibrant and electric about that city. Kind of overwhelming. I was there oh, twenty four years ago, I guess. I still have my photos and look at them once in a while. I'm sure it's even bigger and more sprawling now than it was then.

[wynkys]

What a great evocative post!
Keep it going Susie and I pray that your results are positive.

Wayne

[susiesails]

There is something very vibrant and electric about that city. Kind of overwhelming.
My gosh, you hit it right on the head. electric and vibrant That completely sums it up. I think it was the most exciting city we visitied. I think I left a part of my heart in that city. I had been worried that we wouldn't have enough to do as I had scheduled only one shore excursion. The ship provided the second, but we left there absolutely exhausted in a good way. Thanks for the well wishes all. susiesails

[susiesails]

Video II Rio de Janeiro January 21 thru January 23, 2006
In my opinion, Rio de Janeiro is the most beautiful of all the ports we entered. It was absolutely amazing sailing in at daybreak and watching Rio come into view. It was dawn as we came upon the first land fall (4:48 by the time on the camera). I can see the gray sea and the lighter sky, also gray. I can see a land mass as I look at this first scene in the video. I can see a sailboat with a huge bright yellow sail which is a nice contrast to the black mass of the land and the dark water. The sun is just raising and the sky is all yellow gold above the water. There are different small islands and pink clouds in the now so blue sky. I can see the smoke from the smoke stacks as I stand at the back of lido and take photos of the sunrise. I speak about there being some kind of conspiracy to keep me from getting the sunrises on film. There is simply no way to capture a whole sunrise at sea. The sky is way to big to capture it on a single shot of a camera.
I got a great shot or I should say shots of my feet as I am waking the teak deck. Once again I have not turned off the camera and am taking video of my walk thru the ship to get to the bow of the ship to record our entry to Rio. I did that a lot, left the camera running by mistake. Hahhahha Since this was my first time taking any video ever, I think I did a pretty good job anyway.
I can see another cruise ship coming into Rio at the same time. Originally we were due to come into the port at noon, but the captain had received a communication days before this saying they were going to close the port this morning so we headed out of Recife at double speed, (I jest here), to make it in before they closed the port to lay a cable or something. We were really rocking as we made all due haste to get here more than 6 hours ahead of schedule. The crew made every effort to have us where we needed to be on time or ahead of schedule and we were not late today.
As we got closer the long beaches started to appear, white gold in color from this distance. I could see the heavy green of wild jungle above them. The wind is considerable as we stand on the bow of the ship watching our very exciting entry into this grand city. The hotels on the beaches obviously are the place to be, they are all golden in this light as the sun starts to rise above this intriguing city. I can see Sugar Loaf Mountain standing its watch there are like giant humps of granite above the city. They look like giant sweet potatoes stuck in the earth at crazy angles that someone carelessly left. With the wind blowing it is difficult to hear my dialogue. I can hear people sneezing and coughing as we stand and admire the view. Wow, there are really a lot of people here watching the entry.
I can see the cable car on top of Sugar Loaf and I can hear the excitement in my voice as I look at the stature of Christ the Redeemer. I can see a huge bridge, which seemed to go forever from one side of the port to the other. The skyscrapers were huge. Everywhere are huge mountains and green foliage, and a golden city. I can’t believe the size of the mountains. As we got into the port, I could see why and where they put 7 million people in this city. The homes seem to spill everywhere up the crests of the city, making it 11 million including the suburbs.
We passed the naval yard coming in and this is just a huge city. I thought I saw a big city in Recife, but it was nothing like this. We once again had a beautiful day for our entry into the city. Incredible!
How exciting it was to be seeing the statue of Christ and I was so excited about our land and air adventure that we had booked for our only shore excursion. Everyone is smiling so big while watching our entry into port and when I said that for the video someone stopped me and said with a grin, “I am thinking about what kind of food we are going to eat.” Oh yes, what would the food be like, I wanted to see it all, taste it all and do it all on my trip. That was my plan for the whole trip. I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to do a cruise again so I wanted to see it all, taste it all and experience it all. I did pretty well with my goal when I look back at the whole trip. Many people had been getting really tired of fancy food already and were looking forward to eating food onshore.
We could see the captain and first mate on the neck of the bridge bringing in our ship to our berth. The snowy uniforms were so beautiful against the blue backdrop of the sea.
The next scene is in downtown Rio. It was petty hot already and when I asked mom if she wanted to go into downtown with me and a few other guests she said she would stay on board and wait for our shore excursion later in the day. We took the Sterns shuttle bus into town and skipped the showroom. I can see tall skyscrapers and beautiful people walking the mosaic sidewalk or running, there seem to be many joggers in this city.
We were at Ipanema beach! Isn’t there a song about a woman who goes walking here? Wow! I can see large umbrellas set up for shade as people line the beach already to soak up the rays.
The sky is incredibly blue and there were only a few clouds. We had been told the city often clouds up and yet we had been given this so beautiful day to see this fabulous city. I can see that it is 95 degrees and it is only 10 am. Yikes!

Ok I will post part II tomorrow and part III on monday before my test. If I can post on tuesday I will. I am determined we are not going to have an complications with this test. I am keeping a positive attitude! It's nice to have a cheering section here for me. I will post on monday evening if I am allowed to raise my head to do it. susesails

[middle-aged mom]

It's nice to have a cheering section here for me. I will post on monday evening if I am allowed to raise my head to do it. susesails

Hey, Susie, yes you do have a cheering section here for you. Hope the spinal tap is over quickly and easily, and you'll feel well enough on Monday to post. God bless you! Keep on singing:)

[susiesails]

The next scene is that of a small stature of Christ the Redeemer. We are standing in line to go up the mountain with many other people. I got mom some ice cream to cool down with and boy did we ever get taken. We paid the about R9 for our 2 ice creams or about 4.50 American. I checked with another booth and I could see from the shock on the guy’s face that we paid much too much for our ice cream. Oh well, we enjoyed our ice creams anyway.
When I originally wrote about Rio I could only put in my few memories as I tried to free associate to write about our visit. The city was too large and colorful to really write about it that way.
The statue is 2000 feet in the air and each hand of the statue weighed 2 1/2 tons. I just couldn’t imagine it. What was it going to be like up there over this crystal city? We took the cog wheel train up the mountain and it seemed to go forever. It was nice to see the jungle as we went up and up. I could see many people walking up the road. Wow, I don’t think I could have walked up but they are used to the heat here. I was thrilled to see jack fruit growing on the way up. I love jack fruit. I vowed to get myself some if I could. You love it or hate it. There is no in-between with this fruit. Another name for it is durian or sour sop. I do love it so much. My girlfriend from Vietnam taught me to like it when we used to go shopping in Chicago for all the food she needed for her 4 star restaurant.
In the jungle surrounding the statue we could see white patches in the heavy green foliage of the rainforest. They were some kind of tree covered in white petals blooming their little hearts out, so many I couldn’t count them. I never did find out what kind of tree it was.
The 125 foot statue is just amazing after you get up to the top. I could hear so many different languages on top of the mountain. The city was spread out below us, just sprawling everywhere. I can’t imagine how long it took to complete it. I could hear helicopters fly over us and I was anticipating my first helicopter ride with excitement and in trepidation as I hate heights. The harbor spread out below us was absolutely immense. When we first came into port you couldn’t see all the twists and turns of it so it is much bigger than you think.
The next scene in the video is from our jeep seemingly going at break neck speed down the mountain. A motorcycle crossed over into our lane to pass a slow moving car to get to the top. I screamed! We arrived at our second destination which was the landing pad for the helicopters to take us down off the mountain. They had music and women and men in costume dancing to live music. Samba! There is just something about that beat that grabs you and wants you to move with the music. I couldn’t believe what looked like 6 to 8 inch heels the scantily clad woman was wearing and dancing in. She had on a colorfully feathered headdress that cascaded almost to her bare waist. The beaded thongs these gals were wearing really looked well on them but wouldn’t have done much for mom or I. Hahhhaha. When I got closer I could see they were wearing nylon body suits along with the thongs and bikini tops. How did they stand the body suits in this high humidity? They got us all involved dancing with them and the Ula-Ula drinks they served us helped the dancing along. Everyone looks like they were having a good time that is for sure.
The next scene is from the helicopter in the air. I had a window seat and one woman was more afraid of heights than I was so she took the middle seat. Her husband took the front seat with the pilot and mom took the other side of the back seat. I wanted to throw up when we took that first plunge off the landing pad but didn’t. We flew down and headed over for the stature of Christ the redeemer and flew around it and then headed down again. The sound of the bladed turning above us was pretty loud. It made it difficult to talk during the trip. How fascinating it was to look down at all the foliage of the rain forest and see the white trees blooming.
Then the city appeared below us. It is simply amazing it is so huge. I would have loved to have more time to fully explore the city but that would have to be done at a different time as we had only 2 days here. The soccer stadium is just huge also. But this is the city of futball (soccer), it is an absolute passion with these people, much like football or baseball is in our country.
As we flew sideways and I do mean sideways, I held on so I didn’t fall out. I knew I wouldn’t fall out but it sure felt like I could. I know I screamed a few more times before we got off. I got some nice shots of the statue before we descended more over the city. It was fascinating to see the so far away beaches with the tiny umbrellas and the even tinier people under them. From this distance the islands looked like whales that came to breech the water and were just hanging there waiting for what? We went past Corcovado with its cable car building on the tip top of it, what was it like to go there I wondered. I didn’t get a change to find out. There were plenty of pleasure craft moored in different harbors and the airport that seemed like it wouldn’t be long enough to handle a huge jet without it going back into the water at the end of the runway.
We flew over our ship and warehouse after warehouse to handle the cargo going to other places out of this port. Our ship, the Princendam looked so regal there in port, it sure is a beautiful vessel. It was taking on fuel as we flew over it. Then it was time to land and they took the copter down right near the ship so we walked back. What an exciting ride we had, it was wonderful.
The ship gave us a free shore excursion here, as one of the perks of booking early. We went to a beautiful villa and had a tour of the city on our way there and back. The botanical gardens were just lovely with their tall palms standing over it. I think she said they were royal palms planted so long ago by some ruler. The city was pretty clean, not a lot of trash in the streets. When we got to the villa, they had a samba team there to dance for us. Ah, now I know how that young fellow in Recife developed that six pack on his tummy. He danced samba! It was amazing to watch these slim young fellows dance on their hands. I think my husband would have loved watching them. They had symbols and danced and sang along to encourage the different members of the team. They were all shoeless and shirtless, such a pleasant sight!
The next scene opens with me taking a video of the kitchen and all the food being prepared for us. It was amazing the array of appetizers and other food I was seeing. I could see waiters polishing every dish and glass, there in the kitchens of the Villa Risa. Oh how I remembered my days of working for my uncle in the country club he was head chef at. All the dishes clinking and busyness of each worker as they went about their own business of getting the food out to hungry people reminded me of my time spent in his kitchens. I really don’t remember what we were served but I remember the beauty of the villa and it’s well kept grounds. It was like a private oasis in the middle of this very busy, loud city. I know the desert had a sauce with black seeds in it which are from the passion fruit and it was just delicious. The meal was very good and we enjoyed the 7 member band that played American music.
The owner of Villa Risa had collected many beautiful paintings and other art treasures in his world travels so the place was decorated just beautifully. They had a bar set up for us and many people were taking advantage of the free drinks. I got drinks for mom and I and boy they went down very nicely. Mom had 2 and so did I. I told mom she was cut off and I told her I had 2 also and she said, “Susan, that is not like you.” I told her I was cut off too as this was very potent alcohol. I sure wish I had bought some of this alcohol; the stuff is made of sugar cane and goes down powerfully. I was having a bit of trouble walking after just 2 drinks. But I enjoyed those drinks to no end. I had never had anything like it before. I said in the video that I had had 2 drinks and I was knocked on my butt from them.
Hahaha, I just got a shot of mom sitting at a table in the library enjoying her drink. I can tell she has had more than one as her cheeks are now beet red. They always turn red when she drinks. She can never be a closet drinker; her cheeks would give her away!
The banquet hall we entered for our meal was breathtaking, all tall white columns and huge glass windows so we could see the beautiful grounds. We had 140 people there so lots of people must have booked early. The fresh flowers on the table and the place settings were just gorgeous.
Hahahha, I once again left the video running by mistake and I can hear myself telling mom to eat some bread and butter as she is slurring her words a bit. Those drinks were pretty strong and we are not really drinkers, although we were having wine with each dinner as part of the cruise package. I told her not to drink any wine with this meal as she wouldn’t be able to walk.
Gee, what a pain I must have been back then talking about the 52 pounds I had lost on the south beach diet. I can hear conversations about what is allowed and what helps delay the absorption of the different foods you eat. Geesh.
As I said the band was playing American music and I walked up to them as I wanted them to play some of their music. I was able to communicate with 2 of them and ended up teaching them the Tennessee waltz and getting up and singing for the whole crowd. Boy you should have seen the video and regular cameras being pulled out to capture me singing. I told you I had too much to drink. The band didn’t know the song so I sang it over and over and the band just picked it up. Wow, I sure wish I had that talent.
It must have been pretty hot and humid that day and it was pretty warm in that room. I remember people leaving as soon as they finished eating. The air conditioning in the room just was not handling all the warm bodies in that room.
We had a nice guided tour of the city on our way back to the ship. I loved going by the topless beaches, got you attention did I? Well, the men were topless and the ladies while clad, the suits were pretty skimpy. The white sands looked so inviting, with the different colors of blue as the water got deeper. They had a hill where you can go hang gliding to land on the beach. Oh man, I would have loved to do that. Mom went hang gliding over the ocean in Jamaica in the 80's when she took her own mother there on vacation. I would have liked to see that!
I would have liked to get to the Carmen Miranda museum to see her costumes as I remembered her from the old movies on TV when I was a kid. I didn’t make time to go so well maybe one day. I also did not get a chance to try the Brazilian Bar B Q. I really wanted to try that from all the descriptions I had heard. Oh well, maybe next time I am in Chicago at the new Brizallian resturant but I bet it won’t be the same.
I mentioned we had fine weather when we were there. It was beautiful the whole time we were there. However the next day, Rio had torrential rains and 12 people were killed by the flooding. Phew, that was close! Night all, Susiesails

[susiesails]

We had a folkloric show after we got back to the ship that was pretty funny. The leader of the show kept insisting he was Japanese which got plenty of laughs. He got one of our fellow passengers up to dance with him and set her in the pose of the stature of the Christ and proceeded to clap 2 wooden spoons around her body. When he started moving up her stomach towards her breasts she stopped him by shaking her head. It was all pretty funny and the crowd loved it. He gave her the spoons and showed her how to clap them on his body and when she clapped on his stomach he indicated she was to move farther down his body. When she clapped on his knees he said, “No, no” and the crowd really laughed. It was suggestive in the best sense of the word and went over big with my fellow passengers. She danced samba with him and did very well.
Then the dance troop proceeded to do the same kind of dance we had seen them do at the Villa Risa and I was just amazed at their gymnastic abilities. Later a different dance troop came out and they had the costumes of the Carnival on. The huge wide hoop skirts were just breathtaking. Some of these costumes they were wearing cost thousands of dollars to make and I can believe it. They were very elaborate and strikingly beautiful. They had huge headdresses made of feathers and twirled around quite a bit to the music. Next to come out of the wings was another group of dancers that were wearing the nylon body suits and beaded thongs and bikini tops we had seen earlier. What a colorful bunch this was we were watching. The embroidery on these costumes was incredible. I have no idea how long it must have taken to create these costumes but it must have taken considerable time to make them. We were told some of these dresses weight hundreds of pounds too. I don’t know how they got all these people to come and perform for us but the next troop came out in slim dresses that hugged their slender figures and then flared way out below the knees. I wondered how they actually walked in those tight dresses. The headdresses these gals were wearing were even more elaborate than those that had come out earlier, some of them going 3 feet above their heads and up to 6 feet wide. The men who danced earlier looked tiny next to these grand costumes. The stage was awash with corals, shimmery greens, whites, gold’s, blues and purples. What a colorful event carnival must be. The scantily clad women had been gathering passengers to dance with them on the dance floor and I could see George our table mate up there dancing. He looked like he was having a fabulous time up there. They started a huge conga line and there were many passengers up there dancing.
Bruce our cruise director come on after the show and told us it takes as much a 10 months to make one costume and they weight between 100 and 300 pounds each costing thousands of dollars. We had just a fortune in dresses on our stage. I wondered how they were stored when they were not in use.
It was one of the better shows we watched on our trip. Mom and I didn’t do many of the shows as she is usually too tired after shore excursions and I was busy capturing our trip on the computer. Susiesails

[susiesails]

I had my test done yesterday and am now back at home. I did not get the dreaded headache and am only suffering a bit after being in bed for so long. I am not used to staying in bed!
Now I just have to wait 2 weeks for the results. Susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

I had my test done yesterday and am now back at home. I did not get the dreaded headache and am only suffering a bit after being in bed for so long. I am not used to staying in bed!
Now I just have to wait 2 weeks for the results. Susiesails

Glad the spinal tap went well. I hope the next two weeks go by quickly for you, and that the results are good. You'll need to keep busy to make the time go faster, like coming here a lot to post many more recollections of your world cruise, Susie (hint, hint;) ).

[susiesails]

January 24, 2006
I spent the last 30 hours or so in bed so you may not get much out of me this morning. My old illness surfaced a day and a half ago, when that happens I just have to sleep until it goes away. Usually it takes 48 hours so I plan on spending the afternoon in bed also but there are some things I want to experience this morning. I may be able to hold it off till afternoon and maybe not. I am fine, I want to reassure everyone, I just have to take care of my body so it will be there for me. I am not used to all this excitement. I live a pretty quiet life in southern Missouri or I do when I am not playing music. I limit what I do so things like this doesn't happen to me too often.
Mom handled my absence wonderfully. She has been such a couch potato in the last year so it has taken her a while to be comfortable in her new surroundings with so many people around. I sent her to the Java bar yesterday morning while I had to sleep and the look of fear on her face was very apparent. I told she I wanted her to go and talk to someone there, anyone. She went and stayed 1 ½ hours talking with a woman who has been there every morning. From what mom told me, they really got into a deep conversation about their lives. Go mom, you rock girl!
I made a very sincere effort to go to supper with mom. I got dressed, did my hair twice; I was looking pretty frazzled after being in bed for 21 hours. It was informal night so it was church clothes or better for the dress code. The men have to wear suit coats on informal night. One man was sent away for not having on a Jacket on informal night a while back.
Anyway, today we had received a typed letter from the head steward saying that for health reasons they had to clean the room, so could we please vacate the room, or something like that. They do not put the staff in compromising situations here. So I got dressed and we went down to the ocean bar to meet with friends. That is the designated smoking area, (no comments please) and we have a nice bunch that meets there regularly. I was able to stay up for only 1 hour and was about to fall over so I went into the La Fontaine Dining Room and asked that my food be sent up to my room.
The room service staff knocks so quietly whenever they knock on your door sometimes you don't hear them. So I knew I had to stay awake to get my food. I watched TV for a while. I had gone out on the verandah earlier to watch the very smooth ocean, not one wave breaking into a white cap as it went on its way to who knows where. Anyway, I had closed the sliding glass door behind me and I was so weak I couldn't open it again. I sat down for a bit and thought about how I was going to get back in the room. I thought of sticking my head over the side and yelling help and all the excitement that would cause as I asked someone to send someone to room 31 to open the sliding glass door. I gathered my strength and finally was able to inch the door open myself with a lot of effort.
Oh, by the way, one of the pieces of pineapple mom threw over the side onto the pilot's boat a while back is finally gone, some bird must have picked it up. The other one is nicely dehydrated now. Hahahaha
Many people are asking me for photos. I have taken over 150 now and want to post them. I have to wait until I can get a mini zip drive at a computer store. I had heard it took one person 15 minutes to send a photo to someone. At 25 cents a minute for Internet time, I am not willing to spend the money. The mini zip drive will allow me to send them in a flash once I get it. So patience, my dears, have some patience, I am working on it.
Last night was Dutch Night in the dining room. The food is Dutch and the menu was written in Dutch with English underneath. Everyone got little caps to wear, like in the paintings of the Dutch kids. I was not there but mom told me about it. She came back from dinner 3 sheets to the wind, from having a black Russian before dinner, then her free glass of wine and mine too. Hahhahahha. She can't hide when she has been drinking because she gets red spots in her cheeks. She is so much fun to be with. She is learning new things and really blossoming.
One of my friends wants to hear about the people on the ship. I will attempt to share with you. First of all, it was explained to me that the longer the cruise, the older the population on the ship. There is one couple honey mooning on this world cruise but I don't see them much. It is raining, gray and windy today, our first really rainy day. But I digress! I think the oldest person I have met so far is 92 and still in great health and fun to be with. There are many people in there 80's and 70's, many of them widows. Needless to say, many of them are very rich and all of them have cruised many times before.
Other than some of the staff, I am the only one cruising for the first time. Not everyone is pleasant or fun to be with. There are many people who are so jaded; they no longer see the wonder of this beautiful world. I feel sorry for them, as even though they have money, they are no longer happy.
As the dinner seating is at 2 different times, there are two different crowds of people, the early birds and the late birds. I have not connected with many of the late diners but do at some of the functions here.
Lets see, how do I tell you about all the different people? Ok, there are 510 people here for the States, the second largest population is from Canada, and we have people from Australia, Germany, China, well, I can't remember all of them. I think we have people from 17 countries on board.
I have learned to put on my invisible raincoat when I see a complainer coming, so I am not as bothered by their negative attitudes but it is still very taxing for me as I can feel other people's emotional pain. We will be at sea for something like 14 days when we leave the tip of South America to cruise the Antarctic and head towards Africa, so that is when I am planning to lead a discussion group about having a positive attitude and a discussion about happiness. There are quite a few people interesting in my positive attitude and they ask me how I can stay so happy all the time. I think it pisses other people off too from comments they have made. One of them just lost her husband 7 months ago and is having a hard time, so I shrug this stuff off.
I will start with the people that sit with us at supper as I know them the best. Doug and Fellette are from Van Couver, Canada. They live on a farm but have been in the printing business for 30 years. They started up this company themselves and receive a pension from the business. They employ 40 people at present. They have been cruising for years and will be able to keep up this life style because of the success of their business.
Doug raises cows, chickens and pigs also in his spare time. They have been raising their own meat for 30 years. You should have heard him criticize the beef in the Pinnacle Restaurant. He thought it had way too much fat on it. Ummmm, I would like to taste his beef if that was fatty beef! He does carpentry work at home and still goes into the business every day. His kids keep him away by asking for different benches to be built or things like that. Fellette is happy to stay home and goes if they have a big job in the bindery. She is still the best binder they have. She spends her time on the ship doing bible study, crafts, reading and meeting different people they already know from other cruises. We really like all of our tablemates.
Next we have George and Ruth. George has worked in the semi conductor business for a long time and started a company with some coworkers and designed computer chips or something like that. After he started a manufacturing plant in Japan, Eaton Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, bought out his company. He owns a boat; I think it is a sailboat. He says he doesn't like to go out in seas over 7 feet. He has silver white hair, kind of long in the back and trimmed while beard and looks very distinguished. Ruth is a wonderful woman, very sweet. I so enjoy talking to her. She just had a pacemaker put in October so she has been sitting at the computer for a few years, as she couldn't do much else. She is an expert at the mackintosh computer. She showed me how to take a photo and then add myself to it. She also has curly hair and was a hairdresser for many years. She won't even cut her husbands hair now. (It costs $12 for a trim for the guys, 25 dollars for a man's haircut, 70 dollars for a woman's haircut, and $150 for a hair cut and dye job for a woman here on the ship in the spa. yikes!)
When we first started cruising we had one other person at our table, Jimmy. He is from Japan and knows over 100 languages. English is not one of them. He was terribly bored at our table, so he switched to a table where he could be understood and understand what was happening at the table. I later found him at a table for 2 by himself. He plays piano, no, not just plunking but classical. He has permission to use any piano on the ship whenever he wants. He is cruising without his wife, as she is a flautist and has concerts she gives in Japan. I can just hear them together, he playing the piano and her playing the flute, both of their music different and yet complimenting each other's work. He was a civil engineer and has traveled the world with his job, which is why he has so many languages. He was the head engineer for his firm, and has designed and built many bridges and even whole dams. Obviously he is a very intelligent man and very friendly too. He retired at 70 but wanted to retire at 80. He is always smiling whenever I see him. I felt really sad we couldn't communicate with him and he had to leave.
Last we have Paul and Alice. They are from Boston area and he worked in the telephone company there for 38 years. He keeps in constant touch with his financial advisor as he watches the stocks go up and down. They are really very nice people; he guards her in a cute way. She is a cancer survivor. Alice and I have discovered that since we have both had life altering illnesses, we have a common bond. Life is sweeter to us, and we appreciate it more than most. They have one daughter that they gave a house to when she married, with no strings attached. So the daughter lives in the house she grew up in. They also have a son who was a fireman but has switched to being a policeman. They both enjoy the grandchildren. She lost a grandchild too, a set of twins. She says it is something you never get over. I however believe that the pain lessens in time to dull ache, or it has for me. I don't like to dwell on my losses, or I would be drowning in my sorrow from things that have happened thru the years.
I was going to end this but realize I have my mom to let you all know about. She is a very sweet woman. She has been a couch potato watching TV this last year, as she has been very well taken care of. She is changing that here on the ship. She told me she doesn't know who she is now as she has been married most of her life. (My stepfather died 1 year go tomorrow.) She is changing so much here on the ship. She is getting out and talking to people and smiling much more. She is finding people to be so interesting. She has been an introvert all her life, not like me, I am an extrovert. My girlfriend once made a comment that I have a need to be the center of attention. I knew she didn't understand my extrovert personality so I let it go. So mom is changing her introvert behavior. I told her to have fun and experiment with different people. She still gets confused once in a while, hey, she is 77, she is allowed. She can make her way around the ship pretty good now and still asks me where the different rooms are at times so she will not get lost. I have an unending amount of patience so this doesn't bother me. Mom has very strong likes and dislikes about people at times. Heaven forbid you get on her wrong side. Her personality is that of very pleasant woman now. This was not always the case. We are getting along very well; she has only yelled at me once and I have told her to stop whining once. That is the extent of any challenges we have had living together. She is a very appreciative woman and has thanked me many times for showing her a good day. She says I make the trip exciting for her.
Yesterday when she came in the room from the Java bar, as she was telling me about the conversation she had, I was watching her face become so animated with happiness. I thought what a different woman she has become since I came back into her life. At that time she was silent, with not one muscle moving in her face. I had her doctor cut her medicine in half and she could at least feel things again and smile once in a while. She is such a different woman now. She loves this trip. It is so different from other cruses she has taken with my stepfather. She spent much of the time alone in her cabin as he played bridge and had her deliver things at certain time, like an ice cream cone at 2 pm every afternoon. I am not criticizing, but showing how mom is now different. She told me she is not interested in marrying again as she doesn't want to be under another person's thumb again. She is enjoying her independence. With her brother, my uncle Ronny living with her, it is the perfect set up for her. She doesn't want to have to go live with any of her children, so she tells me. So she is and will continue to live in independence. I expect her life to grow to include other things when she gets home, as she is so different now. I read everything I write to her and give her full editing power but she doesn't choose to exercise that option, not even with this one. Bye for now, time for breakfast, I didn't eat much yesterday. Susiesails

June 19, 2006
I am sorry I have been gone for the last week. I had to spend 3 days in bed from straining my back on the way home from the spinal tap. Then I have been dealing with my father's death again. I really didn't expect to be grieving again so this was a big surprise for me. When I realized it was Father's day yesterday, I understood more about my fluctuating emotions of this last week. Writing should be easier now I have gotten this post out of the way. susiesails

[susiesails]

Dining with My father January 25, 2006
We had made reservations the first day on the ship for the Pinnacle for tonight, as we wanted to eat there to celebrate my father’s first birthday in heaven. We asked our friends Chris and Dan to join us.
Both mom and I knew this day was coming and we had bother been dreading it. What would it be like, what would we be like, neither of us knew. We expected to cry in grief and had asked for a table with some privacy.
I had spent much time in the previous weeks on the ship trying to think of something appropriate to say to celebrate his life. I always came up blank. I did not understand it, but accepted it. I am not usually at a loss for words, as you can probably tell.
I took my dad into the Pinnacle on my shoulder and we had a fine meal and good conversation. We toasted my dad at one point and left the celebrating to that. I still did not understand what was going on except that I felt a sense of peace when I thought of John.
When I spoke to mom about it later, she told me she felt the same sense of peace. When we got back to the room and I opened up the computer to write and check emails, I finally had the answer. John had come home.
My dad had donated his body to science and we sent his body to the medical center in Gainesville, Florida after he died. The email from my uncle told us that his ashes had been returned to my mom and were now in her home in Madison, WI. I guess that is why I had such a sense of peace. Susiesails

[susiesails]

Montevideo, Uruguay January 26, 2006
We are slowly working our way down South America. I am sitting in the ocean bar typing away. I have to write about this city today as we hit Buenos Aires, Argentina tomorrow. It is supposed to comparable with Rio de Janeiro so I am excited.
My friend Carlos is from there and I have heard so many stories about his city and his country. We are already seeing the mate and mate cups appear in Montevideo today, I felt so excited, can you tell most things excite me? Mate is the national drink of Argentina, as coffee is the national drink of America. I am half hoping that Carlos will be waiting for me when I get off the ship as last time I talked to him was in June when I told him of this trip. He told me he expected to stay in the states another 2 years, yet when I called him in December his number was disconnected. I told mom today if he is waiting for me, I would cry and if he is not I will also cry. Hey, either way it will be ok.
As I sat down to write this, we are heading southwest on The Rio de Plata or the River of Silver. There is no silver in this river but that was what it was named by its discoverers long ago. The river is deep blue and the sun is starting to set giving me a beautiful golden horizon to look at. It is so gorgeous to watch, another gift from my wonderful God.
The city was just a delight. The population is 33% Italian so everywhere are huge statues and amazing art, as I picture Europe is going to be. The old city has the typical narrow side streets and the broad avenues with many lanes of traffic that just seem to smoothly merge as they turn.
Mom and I took the highlights of the city tour on a bus and the guide we had was a wonderful speaker, very knowledgeable about the history of his city. He is a history teacher in a private Italian school and makes 4 times what a teacher in a public school makes. A public school teacher makes 230 Dollars a month so do the math. I asked about the price of cars, the cheapest car is $10,000. I asked what kind of car the public school teacher would buy and he told me a toy car in a toy store. He said he has never owned a car, his family uses public transportation. We are truly so lucky in the United States, and I do not think many people appreciate it.
This city does not seem to have the poverty that I have seen in so many of the other cities so far. There are no lines of wash hanging to dry or very few and little trash. This city was much cleaner overall than other cities also. They provide public housing for the poor here and free health care for the poor. However, the taxes are incredible. 53% of wages goes to taxes.
A few of the differences in this city from other city's we have visited are first the dogs. There were dogs on leashes everywhere, from police dogs to pets. Many of them are much skinnier than our dogs back home but when I commented on all the dogs, he told us "we love our dogs here".
Another difference is that they have very few black people here (7%) and they are still severely segregated from the rest of the population. I was watching one of our fellow cruisers attempt to call a waiter in one of the outside café’s and this waiter was not pleased to do anything for our gentleman. It was very apparent in the waiter’s stiff manner and facial expressions. I just laughed and said to myself, “Deal with it, his money is as good as yours”.
One other thing that the country is not proud of admitting is that in the early 1900's, they exterminated all the Indians. The last family that was left was sold to France to be put in a zoo until they died off. They killed off 80,000 Indians and some of them escaped to Brazil to live out their lives in exile. Spanish is the official language of this country and it was nice to finally use my Spanish it has taken me so long to learn. I was delighted when they actually understood me and I was able to get my point across repeatedly. I have my friend Carlos to thank for my continued use of his language as he wanted me to speak only English but I persisted in using the Spanish at times when he was living with us.
Our tour was just delightful and only 3 hours long. Mom slept thru some of it so I knew she was tired. (She has the cold that is being passed around the ship, just a dry cough but deep and severe at times.) When we got back to the ship, we went up to the room and I left the backpack and the camera and headed out again.
I caught the free shuttle to the leather shop at Independence Plaza and caught up with some of my friends, Don and Alice, and many others. Don is a retired navy ship captain, so he is teaching me many things about ships and sailing.
Don has been talking about a bakery he found last time he was in this city. It sounded wonderful, so I immediately told them I knew where the bakery was (I had asked for directions before I got there). They also had asked directions and we all headed out to walk 4 blocks, anything different would taste so good after all the ship food we have been having. The bakery we arrived at was not the one he had been talking about so we asked for another one. It turned out to be smaller than the first, so we headed back. After gorging ourselves on empanadas, wonderful meat pies in a very flaky crust, and many other wonderful treats, we again headed out to find my computer store. I got some blank CDs to download the photos onto and a memory stick to transfer my photos to the web. Therefore, when I get some done I will post the link to the sunfish web site for all to view. (Thanks Wendy!) Patience, my friends, please have patience as I crop and title them.
Uruguay was formed when Brazil and Argentina were having boundary disputes. As they could or would not give in to each other, this country was established. Whenever Brazil and Argentina cannot decide where something will be held, it ends up in Uruguay. Argentina is 16 times bigger than Uruguay and Brazil is 40 times bigger so diplomacy is their best weapon. This river port was desired by both Argentina and Brazil, as it is the gateway to the west. It is formed by three rivers that come together and is huge.
We caught the shuttle back to the ship and did some shopping at the little shops near the ship. It was within walking distance and it was so nice to be able to walk around and not have to worry about when the bus would be leaving and so forth. I enjoyed this little bit of freedom today.
When I got back to the room, both mom and I were tired so we both took naps. We slept long and hard. We missed our dinner in the formal dining room, hurried up to the lido restaurant, and just caught the tail end of the serving time. Good thing too as other than hard-boiled eggs in our fridge and snacks served at 11 pm we would have been out of luck, other than room service.
Another wonderful thing happened today. When we got back to our rooms, our usual gift was waiting for us. The ship gives us presents 3-4 times a week as well as chocolates every night in the turn down service of the beds. Tonight it was down jackets monogrammed with Holland America World Cruise 2006. The sizes left for us were small and medium. Mom looked concerned when I told her, and said, "We need a medium and a large". I tried on the small and it fit!!!!!!! Mom fits in the medium. I was stunned, as I usually would be wearing a large.
Well my friends, we have a time change again tonight, we are going back tonight, so I am eager to catch that extra hour of sleep instead of sitting up typing. Tomorrow, Buenos Aires. Night all, Susiesails

June 21, 2006
I will be leaving for a few days to go play at Falls Village, a timeshare with some friends in Branson, MO. We plan on going to Silver Dollar City and other fun things. I will also be hitting the scrapbook store so I can start the scrapbooks for mom and I. So look for another post of my video of Montevideo on Saturday. Bye susie

[middle-aged mom]

June 21, 2006
I will be leaving for a few days to go play at Falls Village, a timeshare with some friends in Branson, MO. We plan on going to Silver Dollar City and other fun things. I will also be hitting the scrapbook store so I can start the scrapbooks for mom and I. So look for another post of my video of Montevideo on Saturday. Bye susie

Have fun, Susie! Thanks for all your updates:)

[susiesails]

I have sad news to share. It has now been confirmed I have Multiple Sclorosis. I am entering University Hospital in Columbia, MO on Sunday morning to receive high doses of Cortisone IV for 3 days. I will also be receiving lots of teaching while I am there.
I have set it up for my girlfriend to go with me as Stick is once again going to stay home and let me go by myself. I tell you it is almost impossible for me to get him to go and do anything with me! He hates hospitals! Oh well, my gf will take good care of me. I doubt I will have many visitors as I will be more than 200 miles from my home.
I will be starting on Rebif when I am there, an interferon therapy. I think the cortisone is to stop the side effects from the drug and to get a hold on this disease.
I plan on taking my mandolin and going and playing for the kids stuck in the hospital too. I better go work up my old kid songs so I don't embarrass myself.
Well that seems to be all the news that is fit to print right now. Susiesails

[Grumpy1]

I'm just getting caught up on your thread, Susie, after being gone for three weeks. I've really been enjoying your posts... until this last one. We'll be thinking about you and hope that all goes well with your treatments. You're a strong person and I know that you will find a way to keep squeezing lemonade out of life's lemons. Let us know how things are going when you are able.

[wynkys]

Susie,
You have a long hard road to face but if you tackle it with the same spirit you have displayed in your postings, you will conquer it I'm sure.

Wayne

[Cruising Jake]

I am so impressed with your optimism and hopeful spirit. I would hope that I could do as well. I applaud your outlook on life and wish you the best in your brief hospital stay with your girlfriend. Maybe she can sing while you play.

[susiesails]

I am keeping a positive attitude. I have requested that the insurance company grandfather in this drug for me until I can switch plans in November. When I asked if they have oked this drug in the past for people with ms, the answer I received was usually. There is no way we can afford this drug without it, not at 1700 dollars a month.
My daughter misty is not speaking to me, as she is going thru memories of my last major illness when I had ostiomylitis in my foot. Please pray for her. She is in a lot of distress over this.
I enter the hospital on Sunday morning and have asked the side effects of this IV solumedral. it is increases appetite, high blood sugar, increases white blood cells, and insomnia. Geez, when I was on the ship and taking oral prednisone I was eating two lunches appetizers, entree's, salads, desserts, etc. I ate 2 whole meals every lunch! I don't want to gain this weight back again, but I have no control over this. The hospital I will be at is
University Hospital of Columbia, MO.
one hospital drive
Columbia, Mo 65212
phone 5738824141
send out those cards now!!!!!! Hahahaha
ok, as you can see I still have my sense of humor.
The drug company that will supply my drugs has the slogan, "live your life, not your MS". I plan on doin that. There is no way I will ever be bed ridden again, been there, didn't like it, won't do it again.
My gf Jeanne has gotten up a bunch of people that play music with us coming to her home tomorrow for all of them to serenade me into the hospital. It should be a good bash, ribs and all. mrssusie

[Betsy's Mom]

Address is great but what name to use? Your attitude is wonderful, fight that insurance company for your drug coverage! Keep up the good spirits and enjoy the music!
Prayers,
B.

[susiesails]

Ok I really was kidding, but if you want to send one, send it to susie Fuji
that is not my entire name but I will alert the hospital mail room to look for me. I will be on 6W. susie sails

[susiesails]

Well they are going to let me out of the hospital today. I Have had my 6 treatments and have dealt with all the associated trauma AND SIDE EFFECTS THAT COMES WITH SUCH A BAD DRUB.
I DO HAVE TO SAY IT HAS Been EVEN FUN!!!!!!!!! can YOU imagine WITH MY NORMAL CONTROLS AND INHABITATIONS REMOVED from my psyche as a results of the high does of meds AND I can SAY ANYTHING I WANT TO ANYONE ABOUT ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!
I AM GLAD THEY gave ME ATIVAN 3 MG AS A SINGLE DOSE THAT MADE THE SYMPTOMS GO WAY AND SO I STOPPED TELLING THE DOCS WHAT THEY WERE going to DO WHEN, WITH ME SHOUTING AT THEM AND POINTING MY FINGER AT THEM to BOOT. But DO YOU KNOW WHAT FOLKS, IT WAS GREAT FUN BEING THE B..CH OF THE HOSPITAL. I CERTAINLY ENJOYED HAVING A DIFFERENT PERSONALITY. I did not take off the roof of the hospital as I had threatened to do so many times
NOW HOWEVER I AM BACK TO MY SWEET, IF SLEEPY SELF. I WILL BE ABLE TO DO THIS AGAIN IN THE FUTURE ONLY IF THE DRUGS ARE ON BOARD TOO.
MY EYES ARE PRETTY BLURRY SO I am using the large type.
MY BLOOD SUGARS HAVE BEEN RUNNING FROM 93 WHEN I GOT HERE TO UP TO 259 TO 139. they WILL GO BACK TO NORMAL AFTER I RETURN HOME. I HAVE BEEN ON INSULIN EVERY BLOOD CHECK SINCE THEY STARTED THE PREDNISONE 500 MG A DOSE FOR 6 DOSES.
my blood pressures have been normal AT the start up, to 177 as a result of the drugs. This too will go down later.
I WILL START THE REBIF AFTER THE 18H OF JULY SO I PLAN ON GOING ON MY ANNUAL CANOE TRIP THE WEEKEND BEFORE.
I AM A STRONG PERSON, I WILL DO WHAT IT TAKES TO BEAT THIS AND I WILL NOT LET THIS DISEASE WIN. SUSIE

[susiesails]

Hello everyone, how are you today. I am much better since I got out of the hospital both because I am out of the hospital and the medicine is working! I was able to go on Saturday like gangbusters and had a great day. My mind doesn't blank out on me like it has been doing and you can see I can actually type and make sense.
Today I am having a slow day but that is ok because I can sit and process photo's for mom's scrapbooks we are starting.
I am no longer screaming at the doctor ( it was the high doses of prednisone that made me do that) or swearing at my pastor, (I actually said the F word to him, I can't believe it), but I am in good spirits and learning more about ms than I actually want to know but that is ok too.
I can see that my illness from the past is going to be a help to me as I had to solve all kinds of problems with mobility back then and will be able to use these skills again.
The good news is that I had the milder form of ms. I will not be bed ridden. I have been getting all my questions answered and will still have a life with this disease.
I have been dumping my responsibilities with the different charities I work with, so I can concentrate on getting healthy again.
I have a new goal everyday which is to do something each day that makes me feel happy. Some days that may be just cleaning my house or heading for the river to wade if need be but the river is a daily part of my life if I am not out playing music.
I went and played music on Saturday night and wow, I did just wonderfully. I was able to play fast and on beat most of the time and just sat out a few songs, when I couldn't catch the beat.
I gained 19 pounds from the meds in 3 days but have lost all but 4 of those pounds so far.
The meds are in the process of being grandfathered in by my insurance company and I may have to pay up to 25% of the $1700 a month until November but we will figure it out somehow.
One bad side effect of the prednisone is that my neck and back is again hurting me terribly but I am scheduled for a mylogram on Monday next week. Then we go back home and leave the house again on Tuesday to go back up to Columbia on Tuesday to see the neurologist and learn more about ms and me. Then they ill set me up with a visiting nurse to teach me how to give my own shots 3 X a week.
My mom and uncle Ronny are wonderfully supportive and this illness will not get the better of me. Susiesails

[Grumpy1]

Thanks for the update, Susie. It sounds like you are well on your way to getting your life under control again. Hang in there and stay with your regimen of doing something that makes you happy every day. That sounds like the best therapy plan.

I know that being on high dose Prednisone makes you want to eat everything in sight. It's a good thing you are no longer on the ship... can you imagine what the results of Prednisone and an unlimited supply of food would be?:eek:

[GottoCruise]

Dear Susie ,

I just finished reading this entire thread and wanted to thank you for sharing your life's experience.

You have a writer's gift.


I will think of you whenever I start to get 'grumpy' or complain about unimportant things..........

You have made me thankful today for my life's blessings.

May G-d Bless you, and keep you, and give you strength to continue with your wonderful way of looking at daily life.

A new friend from Cruise Critic........Renee (aka GotToCruise)

[susiesails]

I am so happy because I actually cooked a meal yesterday. 2 of them in fact. I have not been able to cook, seemingly because I don't know how to cook any more.
So for supper we had my famous beans and rice and I made bacon twice yesterday on the stove and didn't burn anything and was also able to keep my mind on my tasks. For someone who used to call herself a cook, this is a major success for me.
I made bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch. Yippee skippee! susiesails

[alsas]

The spirit you are showing is going to make you a hero from my perspective. With all of us praying for you and some time you will be back on board soon. Happy sailing and happy days Alsas

[hmorrow]

Susie,
I have so much enjoyed your travelouge of your recent cruise, especially since we'll be cruising on the Prinsendam in Dec. Have you ever considered a career in writing? I too, love your style. But not only your writing style. The way you handle life, with such style!

I'm sure, one day at a time, you can conquer anything. Helaine

[susiesails]

My mom sent me a gift and I am going to get the new computer program to help me with my typing errors. I tell my fingers where to go and they just don't want to do it sometimes, so each post I make takes me so long to accomplish and correct.
So I am ordering the program "dragon", that will allow me to speak into the computer and it will type for me. This way I will not lose my ability to make posts once I get the hang of it. Oh man, another thing to learn how to use. I will do it, I will do it, I will do it.
I have made a decision to not go on my canoe trip once again this year. It is going to be in the high 90's with the heat index over 100 this weekend. Yikes!
People with MS do not handle the heat very well, it is more dangerous to us than ice or snow. So I will take a pass on this year as I did last year when I needed to have a hysterectomy. Oh well, there will be other canoe trips. I am just too pooped to get all my camping stuff out and drive yet another 3 hours to get there. All this driving is stlll hurting my neck and back, hence the mylogram on Monday.
So it is off to music I go tonight and tomorrow. I have a new song worked up and some old songs to delight everyone with tonight. The new song is When they ring those golden bells for you and me.
I think I need to say, I am certainly no hero. I have been trying to take in all your comments and compliments and well, I am just no hero. I cry just as hard as other people do who are given this horrible diagnosis and am so muddled much of the time.
I learned in the early 90's when you have trouble doing things, just keep putting on foot in front of the other and keep going. A pleasant attitude is for fun for everyone. Laughing is better than crying although I am trying to get some tears out as I know I will feel better after I am done. I actually give myself permission to cry and to do the things I need to do. It all attitude and that I am good at, keeping a positive attitude.
Yes I can make lemonade from lemons but I still can hate lemonade.
Some one mentioned that she would be thankful for all her blessings, Hey I am nothing but thankful (most of the time). I live in such a beautiful place and I make myself take advantage of it, (it is not hard). I have a great life and a wonderful hubby. I have a great Lord that is interested in me, just as I am.
How can I explain how wonderful it is to see the tiniest crawdad trying to make it to grow up to be a big one in the river, and all the wildlife I see everyday. I saw the mom deer and her twin fawns again yesterday, they are growing up fast!
At 5 pm everyday, I am either in my river with my dogs and my girlfriend or getting ready to go out to play music. After all even a bad day on the river is still better than a good day at work.
I had such a great day yesterday. I decided I needed a new look, something easier to take care of, so I went out and got myself a new look yesterday. I told the hairdresser, (the most expensive one! cost $10) I want to look perky! I got a great cut and look petty good after I got my bush trimmed! ( my hair had not been cut since I was on the ship and I told mom that my hair looked like a bush.)
Then I ran around and visited a woman from my church who has had ms for 13 years. She was in the wheelchair just 2 years after diagnosis. I shared many thing I had learned with her and she shared with me. It's nice to talk to someone who has been there, where I am now.
Then I ran around and visited more friends and dumped the one responsibility I still had which was to provide music for a outdoor church service in September. I also tried to resign form my post of vice president of the volunteer fire department here. It was not accepted but she knows I can't be the one to plan things, just be a body to do things other people set up.
Then I spent the rest of the day, until 5 pm sending photo's to snapfish from the cruise. I had many, many hours of pleasure as I again traveled the path of the mighty Princendam on our world cruise. I hope to have something for you to look at soon. I have to go to my friends who has high speed internet to get them to upload. I only connect at 38 Kbps and the photo's do not want to upload at that slow rate.
So it seems I will now become the face of MS for many of you. It's not a job I would have chosen for myself, but since I have been given the task, I would say I am up to it. What do you think? susiesails

[susiesails]

I purchases 2 CD's from the ship that has their photo's on it of the cruise. Am I allowed to post them on a website? I would love to have an answer to this.
I asked on the ship if I could print them and post them and they told me yes, but i am just checking. I don't want to infringe on any of their rights as photographers. susiesails

[susiesails]

I have been madly working on getting photos developed and labeled in albums for your viewing pleasure. Any photo that has a small pink square in it was taken by the ship not me. I also have posted some photo's taken by rosemary. She had many more megapixils than I did on my dad's old camera.
So ta ta, here is the link that will take you to smapfish. I have opened up a dummy mailbox at hot mail. If you want to send me a note you can do it here at this address. My passsword is the last thing I write on every page.


On a personal note, I tried to write today but my heart is not in it. My medication has been denied twice by my insurance company. I am awaiting calls from everyone to try to get me the medication, Rebif, from the drug company.
I wondered why grumpy told me a long time ago that I wouldn't have many more days on the river or something like that. Well, it has come true. I can no longer go to my beloved river every evening with my dogs and friend. The heat is turning my skelleton to jelly and makes me feel ill all the next day. It makes my symptons much worse. I will try swimming at 6:30 am when it is cooler (grin), but it won't be the same I am thinking.
www.snapfish.com (http://www.snapfish.com)
Log in with this email address mrssusie@hotmail.com
Enjoy, susiesails

[susiesails]

Darn and double darn, I just made a long post and lost it. OH well

Finally, I have some more things for you. I have been madly working on getting photo's developed and captioned. If you see a photo with a pink square in it, it was taken by the photographers on the ship. Some of these photo's were taken by Rosmary as she had many more megapixils than I did on my dad's old camera. I entered all the photo's in albums in snapfish. My password is the last thing I put on these pages. Thank you, Rosemary.

On a personal note, I tried writing today but my heart was just not into it. I was denied my medication Rebif by my insurance company, twice. There is no way we can afford $1700 a month until November. I have calls into everyone about getting the medication from the drug company.
Many posts back, grumpy said to go enjoy the river, as I wouldnt have many more days on it. It puzzled me but today it came true. I can no longer go out in the heat. It turns my skeleton to jelly and increases my symptoms. I feel bad the whole next day when I go out. No more swimming for me and my dogs everyday with my girlfriend, boo hoo. I will try swimming at 6:30 am (Grin) but I am thinking it won't be the same.

To find my photo's go to www.snapfish.com (http://www.snapfish.com)
Enter this email address, mrssusie@hotmail.com This is a dummy mailbox I opened to show you my photo's. If any of you want to send me mail, send it here. I already gave you my passowrk, susiesails

[SDHALFAN]

Hi Susie,

I hope that you are having a good day today. Your photos are wonderful and brought back a lot of happy memories of our cruise from San Diego to Rio on the Ryndam back in 2001. It was nice also to see my old friend Andi (in the "gangster" suit) again. We met him on the Prinsendam in 2002 (Sydney to Auckland), and then again on the Amsterdam Panama Canal cruise in 2003.

Thanks so much for sharing your memories of the cruise of a lifetime - what a lot of this wonderful world you have seen.

Feel better soon, okay.

Valerie:)

[Cruising Jake]

Susie, thank you so much for the lovely pictures. I have lived this adventure through you.

[susiesails]

Well, I have tried every avenue I could find to get me my medications for the MS. I have been denied at every turn.
1. Medication Part D: they say since I HAVE NOT TRIED the 3 meds they do pay for, they will not give me my rebif. They are all the older drugs for MS which have many more side effects and are not the drug indicated for a newly diagnosed patient, my doc prefers I go on rebif as it will better control my disease in the long run.
2. I then went to the drug company to get assistance. They told me by federal law as of 12/31/05, anyone who is a Medicare or Medicaid, is forever barred from receiving medications, any medication from any drug company forever. (or until they change the laws.) I am sure this is part of the plan to get everyone to go on Medicare part D. The rep I was speaking with, suggested I go off of all parts of Medicare, then they could give me my meds free.
Now how stupid is that????????? I wouldn't have any insurance if I did that.
3. I next went to our county health organizations for people that can't afford medications. They told me since I have Medicare, I am barred from using any of their services, as they are only for people who do not have insurance.
4. I called my pastor after that and shared with him the above things, he was blown away, (as I was yesterday). He told me when he gets back from a mission trip to Colorado, he will see what he can do to get me my meds.

I have started the free month of meds I was given in the doc's office from the drug company. I have given my own shots twice now and I have to say, giving yourself your own shot is not so bad. I am so glad I was getting 6-8 shots a day when I was in the hospital. The shot goes just under the skin in the fat, and I have plenty of that still.
I am only on 1/4 of the dosage for the first 2 weeks. It feels like I have a heavy flu with this dosage. I can't imagine what a full dosage will be like. I have heard that after 3 months, the symptoms will go away, probably!!!!
When the doc was handing me my box, he told me to prepare to have a very bad 6 to 8 weeks. Yikes!!!!! If this is what it feels like to have just 1/4 of the dose I don't know what a full dose will feel like. But they gave me sleeping pills and told me to give myself the shot at night before I go to bed to avoid feeling the brunt of it. I did and slept thru the night, but I have one heck of a backache right now.
I have a very cool thing to pass on too. We received a box from ups yesterday. As neither of us had anything ordered anything, we opened it. YIPPEE SKIPPEE, IT IS A COLD VEST TO WEAR WHEN I AM OUTSIDE IN THE HEAT.
So I can still go to the river in the evenings with my gf and dogs and swim and kayak and still pick my grapes. What a blessing this is for me. I was sooooo sad to think of giving up my river and associated fun. It was sent by my MS nurse from the National MS society. She said I looked so sad as they were telling me I couldn't go out in the heat any longer, that she had this sent to me, gratis!!
I have been hearing from my Lord,....Be Still and know that I am Lord. So I am content to sit back and rest in the knowledge that his plan is perfect in everyway.
My mom had agreed to pay for the meds until November when I can change insurance companies to one that will pay for the meds. I how ever do not want her spending $1700 a month on me, so I will see what the pastor can accomplish.
I questioned the nurse and doc intently on Tuesday to see what the dividing line is between relapsing remitting MS and Progressive MS.
the explanation given to me is this....relapsing remitting MS you have good days and bad days. Some days you feel like wonder woman and other days you feel like mashed potatoes. Wow can I ever relate to this description. I am superwoman today except for my backache. I was mashed potatoes yesterday, soupy ones at that.
Progressive MS is where everyday you just feel worse and lose a bit of function a little more everyday till you are in bed for good with limbs paralyzed. That is why the rebif is important for me now, to keep me from going into the progressive stage.
Well, that seems to be all the news right now. I am going to play music today. and we have invited a bunch of people to come and play music (one of them played in Nashville for the last 3 years, I am so excited) and go on a float trip on Sunday and now I can go with them. Just picture me in a kaki brown fishing vest with blue ice packs in all the 10 pockets, as I sit and paddle in my shiny red kayak!!!! happy as a lark. I tell you I am so thankful for this vest, you all know what an outdoor kind of gal I am. Have a great day, mrssusie

[susiesails]

Video 3 Montevideo
As this scene opens, the sun is rising right over Montevideo; I mean the skyscrapers of the city. It is absolutely breathtaking as I stand on my starboard balcony and get a shot of it floating over the buildings. The sun is even with the neck of the bridge so as we move closer to our slip, the neck blocks out the huge golden sun.
Now we are on one of the 8 busses that lined the dock as we arrived. I mentioned our guide was a teacher in a private Italian school. He is telling us that since 1746 the language in Uruguay is Spanish. Uruguay was formed because they needed a buffer between Argentina and Brazil.
I can hear mom persistently coughing on the bus in the background. When I catch mom’s face in the window reflections I can see how tired she looks, no worn out. We had not yet leaned the rhythms of the ship and its ports. We had not been good at regenerating to this point. I know we were both under a lot of mental strain due to the first anniversary of my dad’s death. I was having lots of memories come up and many of them were not good. I didn’t think he was the easiest man to get along with. But yet he was the closest thing I had to call dad. These were confusing and exhausting times for me and mom too. We were still trying to heal from his death.
OK, back to the video. There are so many lovely parks with huge towering palm trees flying above this very neat and clean city. There are many, many monuments in the parks and on city squares. The details of the monuments are just incredible. Ah, here comes an old fellow with a flowing white beard strumming a guitar and singing. It got my attention, let me tell you. I loved it.
There is a huge grand hotel in the middle of Montevideo that was completed in 1926. It had few patrons that used it and it was changed to “the woman’s paradise”, you could have 2 rooms in your apartment. However, there was not one kitchen in the whole building. The women were going nuts! Today it rented to artists for about $90 a month. The building needs quite a bit of work. The building is just beautiful on the outside, such details and ornamental work on it. The builder’s family did not want him to spend his fortune on this building and thought he was absolutely mad. But he went ahead with his dream and the city has a beautiful building today.
You know I was just thinking of all the things that have been accomplished in this world from people following their dreams and pushing past whatever obstacle that was in front of them. I guess that is the one thing I heard over and over on this cruise. “It was his dream; he followed his dream”, etc got so many things accomplished in this world. I will have to think of my dreams and see if I completed them.
It was so cool to hear people speaking Spanish and while I could understand some of what they were saying, it had been 10 years or more since I had studied Spanish. I was happy to hear the Spanish voices babble on about what were they were talking about.
Beef, leather and agricultural products were the beginning exports. In 1960 they started exporting rice. in 1982 a company started studing conditions of earth all over the world, they found Uruguay to the the best growing conditions and planted eucalyptus trees. Now eucalyptus trees are a major export there.
We were taken past the sculpture of last Indian family. It is a tribute to all the 80,000 people that were killed in the genocide of the Indian people who lived there. The last family of Indians was captured and was sent to France to live out their days in a zoo there. How very sad that is. Well, I don’t make the history of the different countries we visited; I just have to report it.
After visiting the cities of Brazil, this city was very different, clean and neat, and the buildings were so magnificent. I thought this is what Europe would be like. It definitely reminded me of so many of the pictures I had seen of buildings of Europe that I had seen as I was growing up. More later from this video, susiesails

[susiesails]

Ok, Back to Montevideo, still on the Montevideo City Highlights shore excurion. The Teatro Solis was opened in 1856. It is in the Italian style and very elegant and ornate and very large. Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires along with Teatro Solis in Montevideo are the two outstanding theaters in South America. I would have liked to have the opportunity to explore some of the inside of this beautiful building or to see a performance, but when you are on a tour you go where the tour goes.
The building I spoke about earlier that was billed as “the woman’s paradise” has another building across the street from it. Since all the women were so dissatisfied by the one with no kitchens, it was built with 4 rooms and a kitchen to each apartment. These buildings are located on Independence Square.
The woman’s paradise was built to be the largest hotel in South America. Now of course there are much larger buildings but in 1928 when it was first built it must have been awe inspiring. Heck, even today it is awe inspiring. This building was sold to people who live in the county outside of the city so they didn’t have to make the return trip in one day. What smart marketing that was. I guess back then 2 rooms sounded just right for a stay overnight in the city.
When the building opened up across the street with kitchens, it was sold out almost immediately. The women were tired of having no place to cook and had decided they liked staying in the exciting city as opposed to being in the country all the time. Ahhh, I bet their husbands were cursing the men who made these apartments available to their wives as they became much more independent after they had their city apartments.
The unemployment here is 10.5 percent which is high but remember the average is still smaller than many other South American countries.
Everywhere in this city are tall royal palms, they are so beautiful as they stand guard over the parks and monuments. As we pass the monument to the last Indian family, I found out why they were exterminated. The Indians said that the land belonged to them and the democratic government at the time had plans to set up fences and to divide up the land to give to the Spaniards. The Indians opposed this and the government decided to get rid of them. Some time later, the government held a discussion as to whether to hide the fact that they exterminated all the Indians and decided not to hide it.
93 % of the Uruguayans are white and 7% are African Uruguayans; who live all together in the same area. Rarely are they given jobs in stores or in public places. There is much prejudice against them here and that was very evident when some of our passengers tried to get food in an outdoor café.
I remember the trees in this city were so many in number and they were well cared for too. It reminded me of where I used to live in Illinois. Everywhere there is cool shade from the trees.
Our tour guide was quite a joker; he had us laughing many times with his quips. He told us reverend moon didn’t own 50% of Montevideo he only owned 46%. The good reverend, (and I say that very loosely) wanted to buy the Argentine Embassy to live in. They kept saying it is not for sale. Everyday he would offer another million dollars to the Argentines. Finally, they said, “what is he, a fool”? They finally took his offer and built another palace to house the Embassy and kept the extra money he paid for other things. This is a very impressive building, the new home of reverend moon.
Then we went on to the palace. It was made with 60 different kinds of marble inside and outside and has gold ceilings in one of the receptions halls. It is now the government seat. There were armed soldiers standing at attention in many parts in the building. Many of them seemed to totally ignore us which seemed to be orders they worked under, but there were a few men like me, just curious to see the next batch of tourists coming to see this place and it’s amazing art work that was hung everywhere. I could see 2 fellows with their eyes darting here and there as we went by and I even got a smile out of one of the fellows. I was surprised how short they all were. What a graceful, very large palace this is, with its stained glass windows, inlaid floors, dramatic arches. Nothing seemed out of proportion here. If you have a chance to explore this palace, do it as it is well worth the trip.
Next we went to the stature of the covered wagons and the men and women who tamed this land. The actual wagon is so small yet they were pulled by 6 oxen. The details of these statues are again just incredible every attention is paid event to the smallest details.
The typical way to celebrate with friends is the Bbq. The women make the associated dishes but the men are in charge of the BBQ and are very proud of their skills.
Next we went to a huge park on the Rio de Plata. (River of Silver) Again the guide got our attention when he told us we were passing a topless beach, you should have seen the men craning their necks and a few women too. He did let us know it was only the men who went topless. I know I head a few groans from somewhere on the bus when he said that. Almost 1/2 of the city can be seen from this park. We got a chance to get out at this park and I spied some teens jumping rope and having a lot of fun.
Wow, I spent many fun hours jumping rope with long ropes just like this when I was a kid and headed over there. I asked permission to join in and I was allowed and missed the first entry I tried. I had not jumped rope like this in how many years, lets see, maybe 45 years so it was ok that I missed. I was finally able to get in and jump 4 times when I stepped on the rope again and let the kids have their fun by themselves. I do have to say I had a much stronger bladder when I was smaller and hoped I didn’t embarrass myself as I was walking away. Oh well. I had fun jumping! One of our table mates said, “only you Susie, only you would be jumping rope on a world cruise”. Hey remember, I wanted to see it all, taste it all and experience it all on my trip. I didn’t mind his ridicule. I must have given the camera to someone else and so today was able to watch my 4 jumps. I am grinning madly as I watched this. Ahhhh, I have many happy memories here, both of Montevideo and of jumping rope when I was a kid.
Marriot has bought one of the other grand hotels here and is currently doing a restoration on the building, inside and out. I had seen other buildings that Marriott has restored in America and they do a very nice job, no expense seems to be spared when they are restoring them. It will also be a gambling casino. Moon owns the Radisson hotel there.
As we sailed away I can see the small rise of the city, “I see a mountain” was what someone said as they sailed in during their explorations of South America, hence the name of Montevideo. We have a wonderful golden sunset and pink clouds above that as we sailed away. Chao, susiesails

[susiesails]

2/2/2006 4:35 AM
We are getting nearer to Antarctica and the satellite system goes in and out. I will
be out of touch completely from the 3rd to the 8th as we go where we can't reach
the signal. Yikes, that means no Superbowl for the guys either!!!!! Susie


Buenos Aires

I am sad we have left Buenos Aires, so many wonderful things happened there and
one disaster. I will start with the disaster first. I can't believe I did this
but I did. I left my journal on the last bus we were on, the same journal that I
had written all my lecture notes in and all my thoughts. I also had some email
addresses in it that I can never recover. I am hoping that it will be forwarded
to Holland America and I will get it back some day. The guide told us if we
leave anything in the bus she will sell it, that was a joke, but I am not
laughing now. I had stuck it down in between the seats, so that is how I missed
it. I am telling you, I cleaned the whole room looking for that journal. our room
is so clean, you can see wood surfaces everywhere, and it is not there. But oh well,
maybe some day.

Lets see, Buenos Aires, Argentina, first of all it was not as a spectacular
entrance to the port as Rio de Janeiro because of the differences in the
landscape, but it was interesting watching the captain back this huge ship into
the port. I couldn't believe he was going to back it all the way in but he
did. (There must be a nautical term for backing up a ship but I don't know it.) This was a much busier port than our other ports, with jets from the air
force flying overhead regularly and helicopters from the coast guard and so many
ships entering before us and after us. The skyline was just breath taking.

After the spectacular entrance to Rio, which mom missed because she was
sleeping, I woke mom up to see this ship dock when we came into port. She enjoyed it;
as with all the cruises she has taken in the past, she had never watched the ship go into the port. I hear from other passengers that the entrance to Cape Town will be as
good as Rio, so I am eagerly waiting for that. We will arrive in Puerto Madryn
tomorrow, but because of the winds we are arriving early at 5:15 am so we
don't miss docking in this port because the winds pick up later when we
expected to dock but the sun goes up at 6:23 am so it will be dark when we
arrive. Ok, we arrived at 8:30 am and didn't have a tour till 5:30 PM in Buenos Aires,

So I told mom I was going ashore to see the city and she opted to go with me.
(Carlos and family were not waiting for us, sigh.) It was hot and we took the
shuttle bus to the jewelry store (they provided the shuttle busses gratis) but
went in only for a few minutes. Then we hit the downtown and I couldn’t
believe how many big names were there on that street. Names like Christian Dior,
Harrods, (closed, darn) I cannot remember what else. Everywhere there were
leather shops, and jewelry stores. We stopped in MacDonalds for cafe lattes,
and then went on our way.

I was on a mission for a friend (Howard) on the ship to have tee shirts made for
him to give out as presents. I found the shop a policeman told me about; (I
could finally speak the language, Spanish). I went in and worked out the order
with the man who owned the shop in Spanish and he was charging me 35 pesos a
shirt. That came to $12 a shirt. I was blown away that we could have the shirts
made for that little. Howard had them made in Fort Lauderdale first but they
only put 1 E in coffee, so he wanted them made again. I told the owner that I
thought he was a master at making shirts, he was so pleased by that, but his
wife knew I was handing him a line. Hahhhaa. I explained that someone else would
be coming in to get them and he said without the card he gave me, they
wouldn't be able to pick them up. (All this was in spanish, I was so proud of myself!)

We then decided to walk down the street to get Don, the ex navy captain a
haircut and we found a shop for his wife, Alice, and mom to get haircuts and
washes and styles at a few doors down. Don's haircut was 4.50 American and
mom's was only 8 dollars. What a difference from the 70 dollars they want on the
ship for ladies haircuts.

While all this was being done, I ran to the pharmacy, which actually looked like
a perfume and make up shop, but the pharmacy was in the back of the store. I
explained in my Spanish that mom had a cough, I did not have a word for cough,
and so I just coughed into my hand. I tried to explain that she had dry lungs so
I told her that she didn't have any liquid there and showed the pharmacist my
lungs by touching myself there. Anyway, I walked out of there with a natural
cough medicine that mom has not needed to take. Her virus seems to have run its
course and she is getting better. I did not take any photos, as I was tired of
taking photos everywhere. I did get a few, but only a few.

Well, that is it for tonight, stay tuned for part II tomorrow for our very special lunch in Buenos Aires, sans tour. susiesails
July 27, 20006
I am glad I am finally able to write again, my post about dining with my father scared me as it just felt dead to me. I am having good days and bad. I rest on the bad days, so I get thru them. On the good days I am trying to write. It does take me much longer to get it done though but I just keep plugging away at it.
I wore my new cold vest tonight to go and play music at a friends outside. We had a lovely dinner, I brought chocolate zuchini bread. I was able to stay outside and play with my vest on without problems. Yippee skippee! susiesails

[susiesails]

We wanted to have lunch in the food court of a mall, when we walked in it and it was all American fast food chains, I was so disappointed. I asked a policeman where the food of Argentina was and he explained how to get there and off we went. We all decided that we wanted some argentine BBQ, which actually came out on little grills at our table. We got enough for 4 people and we could not eat it all. We had them wrap the remaining steak, chicken, sausage, beef kidneys, and stuffed intestines and took it to give to some of the poor people you see everywhere in these poorer countries. It weighed about 3 pounds, and that was after we had eaten all we could. Oh, the cost, $16 for 4 people with drinks.
Mom was tired at that point, and it was pretty hot, so we headed back to the ship. The city was so beautiful, with so many parks and huge buildings and traffic everywhere. I do not know what it must be like on working days, as many of the Argentineans are on vacation at the mountains or shore during this time.
Ok, as soon as we got back to the ship we jumped in the shower to cool off and got ready for our dinner and Tango show. We expected to eat at around 6 PM as we do on the ship, but we went to the tango show first, then a restaurant later. Both mom and I were starving before we got a chance to eat!
These people often work until 9 PM, then go out to eat on Fridays and Saturdays. They often do not get home till after 8 am. Yikes!
We enjoyed our tango show and went to dinner at an upscale part of town to enjoy argentine steaks. Everywhere we go the wine flows, but I have been leaving it alone lately. Mom and I sat with Stuart, who was the gent I told you was dying when he came on board and was jauntily swinging his cane a while back. He has been living in Paris, France for the last 6 years and has damaged lungs from an experimental drug his doc gave him in the past. He shared with us he almost drowned when he was swimming in the Amazon with me. He was sitting in front of us on the boat that day and I watched his wife take care of him so lovingly on that tour. He is an amazing man; mom and I really enjoyed spending the evening
with him. His wife was back on the ship, as she was not feeling well.

As we were getting back on the bus, Howard came up to it and got me off. I had done the tee shirt mission for him and he wanted to know the details. (Howard was also the gentleman who the waiter didn't want to serve because he was black in Montevideo.) He tried to take me to dinner with his friend, Stephen, but we had just eaten all that steak. I just had fresh squeezed orange juice and we walked around the pier and then took a taxi back to the ship. It was a very pleasant evening. Stuart got mom back to the room safely. He is such a gentleman.

We had to hurry up and sleep as we were heading out at 8 am for our tour to LaEstancia or the ranch. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I post about one of my 2 favorite tours in all of South America. susiesails

[susiesails]

We had to hurry up and sleep after our tango show and supper as we were heading out at 8 am for our shore excursion to La Estancia or The Ranch. We drove south out of Buenos Aires and it is such a huge city, 12 million people live there. We drove for 3 hours through the Pampas, which I have always thought, was full of pampas grass. Not so, it is all corn and soybeans now grown for export. I had imagined the Gauchos riding out of this tall grass on their horses with the huge white plumes waving in the breeze, but it was only in my imagination. Modern day Argentina looks like Wisconsin or California, according to some of the people on the bus. Everywhere there are fields of corn and soybeans or cows and a few sheep. The houses are different though. They are made of hand made brick and are small and low if they are old. There is lots of shade around as people have planted trees to block out the hot sun around the houses.
Now the part I am going to tell you about has been my best adventure so far. I have tried to think why this was the best part and I think it is because we were out of the city and everyone at the ranch was warm, genuine, and friendly, but with a bit of reserve until I started speaking Spanish with them. (Thank you Carlos for teaching me so much Spanish) I was able to joke with them and explain the people from the ship to them and well, it was just all so wonderful to be not just another face on a tour. I was a real person there.

We arrived at the ranch and the sign at the locked gate was La Fortuna or The Fortune. I wondered why El Padron (the owner) called it that. The only answers I could come up with were that he spent his fortune buying the place or he expected to make his fortune with it. Who knows the real reason?

We drove our 4 busses of people up the cool, shady sycamore-lined avenue for a long way and we passed a real palace that is being remodeled to rent out in the future. The building was gorgeous. They are replacing the marble floors now so we could not even go in. They told us the building was completely empty while it is being restored. Everywhere there were Gauchos on horseback, some carrying flags to welcome us with the colors of the ranch and some escorting us to the correct place at the
back of the trees. We all got out of the bus; the ride had been long, 3 hours. We were all ready to be out of that bus.

There were huge tables set up with beverages and the staff was passing out homemade Empanadas of meat or corn. Empanadas are like the national dish of Argentina. They are little pies or turnover like creations with different fillings, with an extremely flaky crust. They were hot and flaky, so much so that you had to lean over to bite them or wear the flakes on your shirt. The beverages were wine, red and white, and Pepsi! The Pepsi was a huge hit as we had only been served Coke since we had left America. They also had ice and plenty of it, we asked if it was safe to eat the ice and we were told, "yes, we could." (Usually if the ice or water is not safe to drink, they announce it before we leave the ship over the loud speakers so everyone aboard can hear it.)

The Gauchos came out in force, maybe 20 of them riding their beautiful horses with sheepskin saddles in their old fashioned Goucho clothes. On one side under the graciously spaced trees were many saddled horses tied to the rope line and they started bring out the horses for us to ride.

They also had 4 old restored cars like the model T and there was a touring car and an old truck, all for the guests to go for a ride in. There were also 4 carriages of different varieties, for the other guests to go for a ride in.
They told us we could do whatever we wanted, as many times as we wanted until we heard the bells ring and then we should head for the tables set up in a huge open pavillion, where there were banquet tables set up and a stage for the show later.

I went for the horses after having a sip of wine and passing it to mom and a few empanadas. (Really, I only had a few!) I assisted mom up into a carriage then got in line for the horses. I was grinning like a fool when I got up in the saddle and told the gaucho I had many years in a saddle, a slight exaggeration, and then asked if we could go fast. Now I could not even get that horse to walk much less canter, so I asked for another one. We turned to go back to the group and then the horse was very willing to walk quickly, if not run. After changing horses and getting a new Gaucho, we took off per my request. We cantered around all the way around the place. Wow, my body has not been abused like that in a long time. I do not remember going up and down in the saddle hurting that much, hahahhhaha. Anyway, I had a great time and didn't fall off. We were actually going quite fast but not flat out running like I used to do with my brother Bill. I was very good on a horse at one time, but my brother Bill was absolutely magnificent.

I had taught him to ride after having riding lessons in high school and we used to go to rent horses and run across the farmer’s fields. Wow, that was a special time with him when we used to go riding. I loved those times and treasure those memories. Like I said, I was good, but he was magnificent. He actually seemed to become one with the horse. It did not matter what the horse did, he stayed on and we did some pretty crazy things back then. That was when you could ride without a guide, so it was just he and I and the horses running breakneck across the corn fields.

Anyway, I had a lovely time riding and then went to find mom. I searched the place for her, and couldn’t find her. I got sidetracked a few times talking to people and wandering around taking pictures, but still couldn’t find her. I looked everywhere. I asked everyone, they all said they had seen her and had told her I was looking for her, but no mom. Finally I saw another carriage come in and what do you know, here is mom getting out of the carriage. I ran up to her, as I had gotten pretty worried. I helped her put her feet on the right steps and when she turned to look at me she was grinning hugely. She told me, "That was my third ride!" Go mom! She enjoyed her carriage rides as much as I did my horse ride.

We wandered over to the shelter where they had the tables set up and most everyone was there sitting in the shade. There were still some people wandering around taking photos and playing with the well taken care of dogs. It was so nice to touch an animal again. So many people had been missing their pets. The dogs were a big hit.

They announced that it was time for the horse races. Those of us that wanted to go and stand in the sun, it was 100 degrees that day, went and lined up on the other side of a white fence to watch the event.

All of a sudden, we heard pounding and I stuck my head over the fence and here came 2 Gauchos racing their horses. Wow, such speed and the noise of the hoofs pounding the ground was incredible. They had huge grins on their faces as they flashed by. Each was carrying a small-carved pointed stick. The goal was to put this stick into a small ring attached to a leather strap far overhead. The rings were attacked to a piece of leather hanging from a tall metal frame. If they pulled the ring off and were able to hold it without dropping it, they won the race. It was very exciting to watch. I saw them ride over to the line of people and there was a lot of laughing going on but I could not see what was happening.
Then I got the idea there was some kissing going on. Hmmmmmm

The Gauchos ran their horses so many times. We were told they did it twice as long as usual. I had asked one of the Gauchos, "Da me un beso agui" while pointing to my cheek when he was riding by with his ring and he came over and planted one on my cheek. Everyone laughed. Then the guide told me later I was not doing it right as the lady is supposed to kiss the man. Oh, well! I later saw a ring that had been dropped and ran out to pick it up as I did not want the horse injured and here came the rider that had captured the ring to get it and he jumped off his horse and gave me another kiss on my cheek. Everyone loved it, as I have become a favorite to many of the people here. They applauded, cheered and whistled. I didn't mind it either. I gave the ring to another woman as I did not need two, and she said, "but I have not been kissed". I laughed and told her to pucker up. She refused. Hahahhaha Then the bells rang and we headed
back into the shelter to eat around 2 PM.

Oh man, what a feast they had prepared for us. They had been cooking 4 sides of beef over open coals, or rather on the side of the coals and let the wind carry the heat to the beef, and racks of chickens split open and flattened over coals, and chorizo, or home made sausages. We also had homemade potato salad, tomato and onion salad, salad with oil and vinegar salad dressing and more wine and ice and Pepsi. I saw the dessert spoon at each setting and wondered what we would be having for dessert. I swear they had 50 people taking care of us that day. It was so wonderful. The food just kept coming and coming. There was probably
enough food to feed twice the number of people we had there. I am not kidding. The dessert was frozen ice cream with chocolate drizzled over it and frozen in individual waxed paper so it was really cold. Now after they had brought out the ice cream, some of the Gauchos bought out some of the cooked rib bones of the beef and they were posing for pictures with those who wanted to. I saw my horse riding Gaucho pose at the table and he had his leg sticking out and I saw an opportunity for a good photo and sat on his leg and boy, his face flamed into a red color. I did not realize it until I looked back at him when my friends Paul and Dianna mentioned it. Anyone that knows me well knows I am all talk and no action. I had asked one of my friends earlier if she was going to ride a horse and her reply made me burst out laughing. She said, "Hell no, I do not want to ride a horse, I want to ride the cowboy!" I laughed so hard I was crying!!!!!!
After the meal, they had a show of singing and dancing tango the country way. It is much different than the tango of Buenos Aires. We really enjoyed the show and the singing with a guitar and drum.

After a 3-hour bus ride back we were exhausted, as were many other folks. Being in the heat really hurt many of the older women, mom included. After showering, we went to the lido restaurant for supper and mom was feeling so bad, I could see she had gotten a touch of heat exhaustion. I had bought Gatorade on the way home and made her drink it. She really did not want dinner but I asked her to eat the lamb she had on her plate as I thought she could use the salt and the protein. I put her to bed and went to bed myself.

So that was our adventure in Buenos Aires, all in all the best shore excurion we had been on so far and a very good time. I heard on CNN that they had rain the day we left. They had had so much rain that 12 people died from the flooding. Yikes.
I think I reported the flooding in Rio, but it was here. Susiesails

[arzz]

Thank you so much susie for letting me vicariously enjoy your cruise. Keep posting!

[susiesails]

Hey, you are welcome. Thanks for posting, I was begining to wonder if anyone was still with me. Suz

Video 3 Buenos Aires, Argentina
What a wind we had coming into Buenos Aires. It is impossible to hear my voice on the tape. When I pan across the front of the ship I can see everyone’s clothes flapping to beat the band from the wind as they watch our entry into the port. What a noisy place this is with its many fighter jets flying in every few minutes and the coast guard helicopters jealously flying over head watching the comings and goings of the port. I can hear mom’s voice in the background so I know I woke her get up to view us entering the port.
What a difference this port is from other ports we have entered. The docks are so clean, not like other ports at all. I just made a slip and said we were docking; I changed that to birthing and said that always meant something else to me, hahhahha. I think it is so fascinating to watch the Captain back the ship all the way in and then take us sideways to bring us into our birth. What marvelous tool a bow thruster is. I wonder how hard it was to bring in a ship that just has sails. We had such a marvelous crew; they seem so expert at bringing us into all the different ports with all the varying wind conditions.
Our next scene is a shark’s fin sticking out of the water of the port with the breakwater in the background. I speak about seeing the body of the fish come up out of the water. I was up on lido deck and boy, my cry of “shark” sure brought the people over to the window to see it. I can hear so many voices around me. Everyone is excited to see this as they discuss what kind of fish this could be.
Our next scene is in the mall in downtown Buenos Aires when we ordered Argentina Bbq. Wow, the little grills are so beautiful, I have no idea how many pounds of meat they gave us but they are sizzling away. The noise in this mall is just incredible as the many voices swirl around us. We were so disappointed when we entered the mall and saw only American fast food restaurants offering food.
Oh man, the Bbq looks so good, I can see blood sausage, pork steaks, ribs, beef, chicken, stuffed intestines, I counted 12 pieces of meat on the little Bbq and we ordered 2 of them for four people. I quit taking photo’s at that point and just dug in with mom and Don and Alice. Oh man, is that ever good and there is no way we could finish it all. We packed it up to take out on the street and gave it to a person in a wheel chair. Definately something to try if and when you get back there again.
Our next scene is of a couple dancing the tango in the port. They used such intricate steps while they were dancing for us. The music is just wonderful as it flows thru the room rising and falling as it tells us the story of love and loss. This port is a bit different as they actually have benches for people to sit on and watch the shows that are being put on in the port terminal. It must be another hot day as I can see people fanning themselves and babies in strollers.
Then it was on to the tango show to watch these very proficient dancers perform for us. I remember being told on the way that the dance was thought of as "the old way" by some of the younger people and when rock and other types of music hit the Argentina dance scene, it almost died out. It is now being thought of as cool again by many; many people are now dancing tango again in the beautiful city. I am very glad as I hate to see the old ways die out.
Ah, finally we are at La Fortuna Ranch or the fortune. I can see one of the young gauchos on horseback in traditional dress, even to having a knife stuck into his belt at his back. What fine belts all these gauchos’s wore. I know I asked if they had made them themselves and they each told me their fathers had made them from old pesos. The belts were wide, about 6 inches across the front and the backs with these coins running across the fronts in very neat rows. They were just exquisite in form and beauty. I was also told they had belts like this to save themselves from having a knife stuck to them in the past. What a different world it must have been on the Pampas back then from what we were seeing that day.
A young gaucho on horseback, with his thick, wavy red hair and winning smile, escorted the buses to the side of the barn where there were large tables set up with female staff in flowing long dresses waiting to take care of us and serve us something. (Actually there was a gaucho escorting each one of our buses.) I must have been very tired on our 3 hour bus ride to the ranch from the tango show, dinner and my lovely walk thru the waterfront area with Howard and Stephen the previous night as I didn’t take any video or photos on the way there.
Well, folks, my brain is now wasted from writing this and I need to take a nap so I am going to come back and finish this tomorrow. I am trying to post something everyday. Stay tuned for my favorite shore excursion so far on our fantastic trip. Susiesails

[middle-aged mom]

Yes, Susie, we're still with you! Thanks for posting in such detail. It's got to be a lot of hard work for you, but hopefully cathartic as well. I should have let you know I'm still "along for the ride", sorry.

[wowzo]

We are enjoying your trip with you. Thanks so much for continuing your memories with us. MaryAnn

[susiesails]

Well, I didn't go to bed.......yet. I have been arranging my photo's in snapfish so you can better view them under the cities we visited. So now you can go check out all the gaucho's in all their spendor as you read about them. Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the page to view all photo albums at once or you will miss things. susiesails
www.snapfish.com (http://www.snapfish.com)
use this email, mrssusie@hotmail.com
password susiesails

[Aussie Gal]

Susie,

Thanks so much for sharing your photos with us. I can relate to quite a few of yours as we were down in South America in Jan/Feb this year and I have taken similar photos.

I do love the photos of yourself and your lovely mother in Zululand. It is great to actually see a photo of yourself, now I can imagine you when you write.

Jennie

[wynkys]

Hi Susie,

I just wanted to let you know that I am still following the reports of your adventures as avidly as before.
You, along with Grumpy and Ides of March, have set a standard of commentary that HAL marketing should be making the most of.
I haven't yet sailed with HAL but am seriously considering one of their World Voyages in the near future in no small measure due to the reports of all three.
I was interested to see that Howard and the Coffee Club appeared in your report after the extensive references in Ide's report.
Keep up the good work in both your reporting and, more importantly, in managing your health problems.

Wayne

[Grumpy1]

We're still here too, Susie, and enjoying your narratives. since we will be doing the Circle south America/ Antartica next year on Prinsendam, your insight along with Ides of March, into that part of the world will be a lot of help. Thanks again for taking the time to write of you experiences.

[susiesails]

The bus drove us past the Bbq where I counted 5 sides of beef cooking down wind from the wood fire laying in the ground. They had the beef threaded thru long pieces of metal that were stuck in the ground and they cooked because the wind blew the considerable heat towards them. Ummmm, I knew we were going feast on some good food today!
The gaucho’s (cowboys) wore black long sleeve short jackets over white shirts and long white bandanas tied around their necks that flowed down the front of their black jackets and long loose pants that came below their knees as well as black hats with silver trimming. Their boots came to just below their knees. As they escorted us up to the buildings carrying the beautiful flags of Argentina, what a beautiful picture they made for my video camera. A few of them were riding English style. I recognized the style as I ride English too. As I look at their attire now I am amazed they had all these clothes on as it was at least 100 degrees F that day. The horses they rode were the actual horses they used in their daily work at this ranch. Their stirrups were all very different; some made by blacksmiths of the past and were very ornate. The men were all so tanned, until they took off their hats, then you could see how white they were where their hats shaded them thru the day. If you find the pictures you can see one gaucho posing with a rib bone, (He will forever be known to me as red hat from now of) then you can see what I am talking about. It is so nice to actually have pictures that I can direct you to now.
There were many buildings here at La Fortuna Estancia; the huge open air pavilion, the gift shop, (pretty expensive to my thinking), the kitchens, and the Bbq area where they had 2 more huge grills. I think they would have fit 2 people on each of them, without the hot coals of course! There was a huge barn for the horses and El Patron’s home, as well as the Palace and cabins to rent. I don’t know what the other buildings were for as I did not investigate, there were too many other fun things to do.
I asked how many people lived on this ranch and I was told 4 people. The staff was hired in from different villages near by. I would have loved to go see where these people lived, as I am sure it was very different from the picture of country living we were seeing here on the ranch. It was nice to see all the different ages of all the staff. I think the youngest present was 12 years old, and the oldest was a very old man.
I can hear so many people laughing in the background of the video. The whole place was welcoming and the staff attending us was very friendly to me as I was again using my Spanish. It was so nice to converse with them in Spanish, I know I keep saying that but I was and am proud of my Spanish. I worked long and hard at learning it and I enjoy speaking Spanish.
I can hear my friend saying back to me after I asked her if she was going to ride the horses, “save a horse, ride a cowboy”. I burst out laughing and said, ‘I love you, you are too much’. She then said, “But that wasn’t one of the offerings today”. I would like to see that on a Hal shore excursion, save a horse, ride a cowboy! I wonder how many women would be in line for that one, as all of these gauchos were very yummy indeed. Hahaha
I then got in line for the horse rides and took some video of mom getting into the carriage and off she went in her cute little straw brimmed hat, grinning. I gave the camera to Doug and he was doing a pretty fair commentary of my getting on the horse. I was laughing and laughing and off I went riding English; for a few steps at least. Now I mentioned that this horse didn’t want to go anywhere that day. He kept balking and we went back and got another horse and off we went. I was cantering with the new horse and my gaucho leading the horse. I lost my stirrups once and had to stop suddenly, I was wearing tennis shoes so I didn’t have the proper footwear on, so I will excuse my lapse this time. Gee, I was just thinking that the last time I was on a horse was in Ireland in 1990. So I think I did pretty well. I sure do not remember riding hurting that much as my considerable frame went up and down, not very pleasant at the time, I was thinking.
I can hear I was out of breathe when I took the camera back from Doug. There goes the shiny black model T with a bunch of very happy passengers in it. I can see mom going out for another carriage ride grinning to beat the band. It was so nice to see her go off and do the things she enjoyed without me.
The next scene of the video is of the Bbq grills and the 5 sides of beef cooking in the heat. The fellow that was doing the cooking had a tracheotomy which made me gulp, as I know fellows in the States that had to find different jobs that were not food related after they got trachs. This guy knew what he was doing, though. There were 40 chickens cooking on one of the 2 grills. The Argentines do chicken a bit different from us here in the States, they do not cut them up, they split them in half along the sides, and are still connected at the shoulders and cook the whole thing as one piece. My friend Carlos is from Buenos Aires and made these wonderful chickens for us many times. I never did get his recipe for the marinade he used and I am sorry for that now. I knew I was eager to taste them again. The other grill was full of sausages cooking, oh man, what a feast we were going to have. I was still full from my 3 empanadas which were everything they should have been, flaky, hot, and very delicious and here I am contemplating my next meal. Can you tell how much I love food, especially different food from other countries? While I was checking out the grills and the 5 sides of beef, other people were heading over to see the horse races.
We were directed over to the other side of a long white fence and suddenly, I could hear pounding and 2 riders flashed by. Wow, they were racing all out at break neck speed and one fellow was riding around carrying something in his hand while grinning triumphantly. The men were holding a carved stick about 6-8 inches long and were trying to catch a ring that was attached to a leather strap over head hanging from a metal frame. The riders and horses could easily pass under the metal frame and in fact the rings were put on the strap from horseback as otherwise no one would have been able to reach them. Now the prize for catching the ring and holding it without dropping it was a kiss from a lady. I got to partake of this wonderful prize also as did many of the ladies.
The gaucho holding the rib bone in my photo was now wearing a red beret sans jacket and bandana and got the ring so many times. He looked marvelous on his white horse and red beret as he rode around holding up his prize and looking for the next lady to kiss him. After one was kissed, they got to keep the ring with its neat little blue and white bow tied to it. The rings were so small, maybe 1 inch across, when I saw one I was amazed they could ride so fast and still spear it with the wooden stick they were holding.
The 2 riders that had caught the most rings, not to mention kisses, then started a different race. I have to add I have never seen anything like this before. 2 riders came out on their horses, pulling a cow skin with one of the winners standing on it. The pelt is attached to the horse by a strong rope and the man standing on it holds a thin piece of leather to stay upright. He easily slid along the ground standing upright on the pelt as it went across the very ground they had just been racing on. It was the fellow in the red hat that had caught so many of the rings against another younger fellow for this last race. Then the horse riders and the guys on the pelt switched places and then they took off again and again. Man, the dust was considerable as they flashed by standing on the pelts. The red hat fellow was pretty proficient at pelt riding, but I think the other fellow that also got the rings was younger and didn’t have the strength to hold on and stand upright also. He rode mostly on his knee (ouch!) or sat. There was a huge round of applause for all the men that participated in the races.
Our guide told us that El Patron did not usually attend events like this for tourists and that the men were doing double number of races they usually did, so she was wondering if this tour was a very important one. Gee, 3 buses of people, times whatever we paid. Yes, I would say this was not your average tour. But I also have to say, this was not your usual Hal tour either. We got to walk around all day and do whatever we wanted. It was great not to be herded back on the bus every time we turned around. This was a great day other than the heat which we had no control over. There were so many things to do, from petting the pedigree dogs of which there were many different kinds, to riding in the carriages, to riding in the old restored vehicles, riding the horses, and then the meal and the show that I have not mentioned yet. I think this was my favorite tour in all of South America. No, I know this was my favorite one of all the tours we had already been on.
I could see so much care had been taken with all the animals, which were so clean, not a speck of dust or dirt got on my hands as I petted everything, whether it be horse or dog. All these men were so handsome, I caught myself saying, “I can look but I can’t touch!” I was missing my honey back home already.
Next we went to the pavilion to eat our feast of ranch raised beef, chicken and sausages. I can see my friend going to pose with red hat as he held a very long rib bone up to his mouth to pose for us. She snuck in a little kiss when she left, go Faye!
Well folks, I have to end this for today as my brain is again mush. I am sorry for dragging this out for so long, but I need a nap and it is only 12:30 pm. I still have 28 minutes to go on this video so stay tuned. Susiesails

Thank you to everyone who has replied, I started writing this for my brothers so I didn't have to pay so much if you get my drift for mom taking me and not them but they said I wrote too much. I am now writing for mom so she will have many, many wonderful memories from this cruise, but I am so glad you are all enjoying it too.
I am grounded for the week as the temps are again near 100 everyday. The vest helps but just breathing the humid air empties my mind. It will get cooler the end of next week, so I won't be in the house forever. Until next time, suz

[susiesails]

In the gift shop on the ranch, I got a lovely alpaca scarf/shawl in a peach color. It is very warm and very lovely. While I was in there Howard was looking at a gaucho hat that cost $100. It was made of leather and looked very good on him. I immediately thought of the hats the buffalo soldiers wore in the Wild West. He ended up getting it and I was glad he did as it looked very good on him.
The video again opens at the folkloric show the ranch put on for us. There is a guitar and a fellow playing the drums and another fellow just singing and clapping. There were actually 3 mikes so they were all singing. Finally, original national music while we were out on a tour. I was getting tired of hearing American music at many of the places we visited.
Then the many dancers started the show, in traditional dress. Again, the kind of flat black hat on the gentleman and wide divided pants (that had many, many yards of fabric) and came to mid calf and tucked into the high boots. This tango is the country tango, as it was explained to us by our tour director. She told us, “When your man has been in the fields all day in the hot sun, the last thing you want to do is get close to him to dance the regular tango.” This is exactly how they danced. The men and women stood facing each other and came up to each other and then moved away again all the time whirling and stomping. The women held their skirts wide and it showed how lovely their dresses were (in an understated way). I see the men are dressed much more magnificently than the women. They were dressed in tan and green flowing outfits with black flowing bandanas and black belts and boots. Some of the stomping the men are doing reminds me of Russian dancing which made sense as this country was populated by many different people who emigrated here from other countries in the past.
Now a fellow has a whip and is doing a dance with it. It is amazing that he does not hit himself with it. Now he has 2 whips and is swinging them in tandem. I think I remember someone saying this young fellow was only 13. He did a marvelous job even going down on his knees and then leaning back all the way until his shoulders were laying on the stage while he was swinging the 2 whips very quickly. He never missed a beat either. Good for him!
Then it was back on the bus for us to return to our home away from home. Everyone working on the ranch that day lined up to wave and smile at us as we again entered the shady lane to leave La Fortuna. What a wonderful day we had. I was yawning thru my next narrations of going back to the city.
The next scene is of our sail away at dusk. The sky is all golden pink with the setting of the sun far behind Buenos Aires. As we left the port, I was seeing bubbles floating thru the air and thought that was so cool, the people on shore were blowing bubbles at us and they were drifting over to us on the ship. I love bubbles and most things that can be construed as fun. What a fantastic time we had had in Buenos Aires. Our time here had really been some of the best memories of our trip. The Hal shore excursion to the ranch called Best of Argentina is not to be missed on your next trip down here.
I do have one more thing to share with you all. Don came up to me at one point during our stay here and told me that when the tide went down; my shark was just a stick that was caught on something, not a shark. Hahahhahha, well, I sure had everyone going on about it being a shark. I think they had more fun discussing “the shark” as we had not been seeing much aquatic life to this point. It sure beat discussing a stick!
Its morning as the sun comes up as we sail the east on the Rio de la Plata. What a gorgeous sunrise we had on our way to Puerto Madryn in two days. The sun is magnificent as we sail, all gold and pink and I still can’t believe I can not get a shot of the whole sunrise. The sun rises and sunsets experienced at sea are just not to be believed or described to people who have not experienced them. I do not have the words today to do them justice.
Our next stop is Puerto Madryn, Argentina and the land looks so flat here. It is a relatively small city with an aluminum factory as its main source of export. I never wrote about this experience on the ship because I was holding it close to my heart, it was so wonderful, but then I am sure you have had special tours that you held close to your heart also. So I don’t have any writings that I did on the ship to add. It will be all taken from my video and private emails I sent, but I will leave that for another day.
I am trying to get into a routine of writing everyday. (Did I ever tell you I hate routines?) The good thing about this routine is that I am again on the cruise and reexperiencing our very special World Cruise on the mighty Princendam. Susiesails

On a personal note, I am still attempting to find assistance to obtain my medication. I am blocked at every turn. I have written to the Montel show and called the Washington Post and the NY Times to let them know about the new law the congress passed. I have heard from a friend that they are trying to find a loophole in the law and hope to have a solution some time next month. I will keep trying.
I believe in prayer, so I ask you all to pray for help in finding my medication. The cheapest I can find it is in Canada for $1470 a month. Man, I guess I will never ever go on a cruise again (sad, very sad) as the medication will come first. Stick and I have drastically changed our life style to save every penny we can. We have no idea where to lay our hands on that much money for 3 months.
With every dose of the medication, I feel more ill. I know that this will test my grit, but I can do anything for a while, I am a very strong person. I will feel better the end of September and I can patiently wait until that time (some days).
I was able to go to my girlfriend’s house yesterday to watch movies all afternoon and we still got some music in. It was nice to be out of the house. Stick is getting very protective, (I can stand anything for a while) and refuses to allow me to go out in the hot weather. I sure do miss the river. I should be able to get out at the end of the week as the temperatures will cool off.
I have another cool thing to report; we now have 2 sets of fawn twins here in this little hollow we live in. They are so cute and it gives me another fun thing to think about.
I was sent 2 photos of me singing in Rio de Janeiro. They are kind of blurry, but if someone could help me change the size of the photos I would love to post them. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks Chris for sending them to me. Susiesails signing off, enjoy your day.

[susiesails]

I have been wanting to crusie since i got off the ship. So think of me sailing off across the world as I cant seem to stay out of bed. I am having happy thoughts of sailing as I again enter a rough period in this course of meds. I will be back when I can, I am tough. susiesails

[Grumpy1]

Susie, I know quite a few people that are or were on Interferon Alpha. If the side effects of the Interferon B that, I believe, is the main ingredient of your med, the major side effect is feeling like you have the flu for several hours. Most of the people I know try to take it late in the day with a couple of Tylenol PM and sleep through the worst of it. Some people adjust to it and the side effects go away pretty quick, others have a pretty rough time. Seems to be mostly related to dose and body mass. I hope you get everything under control soon.

[Aussie Gal]

Susie,

It is a pity that you don't live here in Australia as your medication would be on our National Health and wouldn't cost you a penny. My husband is a pharmacist and I was him asking about your drugs last night.

When I read about how much you have to pay for your medication, I realized again that we do live in a wonderful country.

Jennie

[Bullwinkle77]

How did you arrange for your luggage to be delivered to the ship. We are going on the Prinsendam in Oct. for 28 days and would love to use such a service.

[susiesails]

Wow, it has been a long time since I came here and wrote anything. My health prevented me from doing so and I am happy to announce, I will be coming and writing everyday for an hour at least to finish this and honor my mother, Renee Angell.
The sad news is that my mom passed away on December 14th,2010. She will be greatly missed.
This cruise we took together was kind of her last harrah. She started having symptoms of alzeimers disease not long after we left the ship in April, 2006.
She spent her last year in a very nice nursing home. Each time I saw her or called her we spoke about the cruise and all the wonderful places we visited and the fun things we did. The really cool thing is that she could remember it all. There were not many other things she could remember but she remembered each story I told her and each picture I brought with me.
This very cruise we loved being on, Circle of hte Sun, helped me to be in contact with her until she died because she could remember it all when I talked about it. She would also burst into song with me when I started singing to her up to the very end. She could remember the words to each song. AND she could remember me.
She had a very quick, peaceful death. I am sad she is gone and happy her struggles have ended. She was 81.
I am happy for her because I know she is square dancing with the angels now. She had 50 years of square dancing under her belt and Round dancing too. She used to square dance in Saudi Arabia and was invited to dance at the marriage of the only Astronaut from Saudi Arabia. She lead an exciting life. She was a world traveler many times over.
Yup, just picture my mom, Renee Angell square dancing with the angels. She has a new mind and a new young body and is happy with her two husbands. Imagine, having the 2 men she loved for so many years and her son there with her. I do! Susiesails

[susiesails]

I can remember we got up at 3:30 am and headed to the airport. We finally boarded the first airplane out of Madison and when the stewardess came to us in first class, (which was provided by the cruise company), the stewardess asked mom what she wanted to drink. She said, a rum and coke! The man sitting next to me brought his head up and he said, "well, it is noon somewhere in the world!" I felt i needed to explain why my 76 year old mom would be asking for a drink at 7:30 in the morning. I told them all, as by this time everyone was listening, "this is the first leg of a trip around the world for us, 30,000 miles, 35 countries plus air miles. I heard lots of exclamations and other people decided to give us a toast to send us off in style. Mom was so happy that day! Susiesails

[IRL_Joanie]

I can remember we got up at 3:30 am and headed to the airport. We finally boarded the first airplane out of Madison and when the stewardess came to us in first class, (which was provided by the cruise company), the stewardess asked mom what she wanted to drink. She said, a rum and coke! The man sitting next to me brought his head up and he said, "well, it is noon somewhere in the world!" I felt i needed to explain why my 76 year old mom would be asking for a drink at 7:30 in the morning. I told them all, as by this time everyone was listening, "this is the first leg of a trip around the world for us, 30,000 miles, 35 countries plus air miles. I heard lots of exclamations and other people decided to give us a toast to send us off in style. Mom was so happy that day! Susiesails

I wondered why someone would resurrect a nearly 5 year old thread. Now I know and understand:)

My heart goes out to you and yet it is a happy heart as you finish writing the story of your mother's last cruise. The cruise that kept you together up to the end.

I am going back to the start of this thread and read it all.

May the lord bless us all with peace of mind and heart as yours is susiesails!!

Joanie

[susiesails]

I spent a day searching out photo's of my mom and adding comments. Here is the link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101768&id=1428003690&l=7bc39f8fab

Susiesails

[susiesails]

Mom and I loved this guy. He treated mom with such respect and love thru the whole trip. I can't remember his name. Maybe one of you can help me out and give me a name for this wonderful guy.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1762720714315&set=a.1762708914020.101768.1428003690