Santa Marta, Columbia

Today we were docked in Santa Marta, Columbia! I only have one picture, which I will upload sometime when I am ashore and have better internet, but if I wait to write about day it will never get done.

The view in Santa Marta was unbelievable. From the ship I could see mountains on one side and the city skyline on the other. I went into town with my friends Claire and Jonathon. The town itself was a bit dirty and, like most ports, vendors lined the streets with “souvenirs.” Once we got a few streets in it was better. We walked by a nice park and a beautiful old Catholic church which I wanted to investigate but we passed it with the intention of returning and could never find it again. We ended up at a coffee shop call Juan Valdez Cafe. Cliché, I know, but Claire said it was really good. The others got coffee, then we just hung out for a while and eventually a ton of other crew members showed up.

Okay, so it wasn't the most exciting day in Columbia, but it was enjoyable just to explore. If I ever come back to Santa Marta I will take an excursion so I can see more of the area.

Dutch

I have decided that I am going to learn to speak Dutch. Why, you may ask? Well, I don't really have a good reason except I want to learn a foreign language and last night I was surrounded by five native Dutch speakers and the idea just occurred to me and it seemed like a good idea. I mean, it's not as useful in the US as Spanish, but it might be just unique enough to set me apart.

I need to figure out how I am actually going to learn. My friend Mac (who is American and does not speak Dutch) suggested I just “hock up a cat.” My friend Claire has now taken to randomly switching to Dutch while speaking to me and has told several others to do the same. Claire and I were walking back to the ship today when we ran into a couple of others and they only spoke Dutch the rest of the way back because they found it amusing. I actually followed a little bit. I mean, I certainly did not know a lot, but I think they were talking about popcorn. That's a useful thing to understand.

I am being serious about wanting to learn. I learned a couple of words today including the word for cookie and an expression of frustration. I would write the words on here, but I have no idea how to spell them. I work with enough Dutch people that I think I could get some help and it would be useful to know. Stay tuned for updates!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from somewhere between the Bahamas and Columbia! The seas are smooth and the view from my office is beautiful. Okay, it's just water in every direction but it is still beautiful. While we are on the subject, it is a little different to see only water for two days because I was never far from land in Alaska and never had more than one sea day in a row. Anyways, e water was beautiful today because the color kept changing. The sun this morning made it light blue but the afternoon clouds turned it to a deep topaz. This job is teaching me that one can see beauty anywhere, you just have to take the time to notice it. I am so grateful that the Lord created such a beautiful world for us to enjoy.

HAL is really good about taking care of their crew, so they had a special luncheon for the American crew members (about 30 of us) this afternoon. I am grateful to work for a company that cares. We enjoyed a terriyaki turkey appetizer, lentil soup, turkey with stuffing, vegetables, and candied yams, pumpkin pie, and wine (everyone else enjoyed wine, I enjoyed a nice glass of ginger ale). It was so nice to have time to sit and enjoy a meal in the dining room with just my friends and coworkers. I am hoping, however, that the Lido has more pumpkin pie at dinner.

I hope you all have as nice a holiday as I had!

Back to Work

After two and a half months off I start work again in the morning. Alaska was great, but I always look forward to new adventures and I am excited to head to the Panama Canal, South America, Hawaii, and French Polynesia on the Rotterdam. Although I will be working with many new people, I have several friends who will be on the ship. I will try really hard to update more often this contract; I might have more to post because I will not be repeating the same itinerary every week. On the other hand, it might be harder to update because I'll probably want to explore the ports instead of sitting in an internet cafe.

My adventures for this contract have already started. I saw Mario Lopez while I was waiting for the hotel shuttle at the Miami airport this afternoon; I was no more than twenty feet away from him. My childish, "Saved By The Bell"-loving side wanted to take a picture, my adult side thought that might be obnoxious and rude. My adult side won, but it still made me smile.

I look forward to sharing the many adventures of South America and the Pacific. In case I have never mentioned it, my job rocks!

Mama Lou

I know who I want to be when I grow up. Not "what" I want to be, who I want to be. I want to be Mama Lou.

Who is Mama Lou? She is HAL's most seasoned Mariner (our passenger loyalty program) with over 5,000 days over the last sixteen years! When her husband passed away seventeen years ago her kids tried to put her in a retirement home, but she was not going to have that; she is a spunky, feisty southern woman! So, instead of moving to a retirement home she sold her house, her furniture, etc, and decided to spend all her time living on a cruise ship! Now, I realize that I sort of already ran away to live on a cruise ship, but I have to do what the company says and go on the ships they tell me to go to. Mama Lou really just lives on board as a passenger.

I don't know a single crew member who doesn't know of and love Mama Lou (even if she has never been on a ship with them). To be honest, I can't imagine it is possible not to love her. She calls everyone "Baaaby" (like a said, a southern lady) and makes each person feel like he is her best friend. My favorite thing about Mama Lou is that she thinks she is crew. She has a name tag that reads "Ambassador" and she basically acts like a Goodwill Ambassador. She talks to all the guests and usually has a line of people waiting to talk to her! I first met her about a year ago when I was a passenger on the Ryndam. She has a uniform collection ranging from the old Bar Steward shirts to an officer's uniform with three stripes. She even bosses the Hotel Manager around and he putty in her hands.

Mama Lou says that she figures this is no more money than a retirement home and she "doesn't want to spend her time with a bunch of old fuddy-duddies waiting to die." As long as she is still healthy enough she wants to see the world and meet people. I really hope to have that much spunk, enthusiasm, and kindness when I am her age!

Ziplining

So many excursions, so little time! All summer I have wanted to go zip-lining, but I could never make it work. I was either too late signing up (only one crew member per excursion, plus there has to be an empty slot), or I haven't been able to work my schedule around it, etc. This week, I finally got to go! We have four different zip-lining tours - two in Juneau and two in Ketchikan - so I asked our Shore Excursions manager which one was his favorite and he recommended Bear Creek in Ketchikan. I am not sure how the other ones are, but Bear Creek is amazing!

The tour was six different lines, an extension bridge, repelling (they called it repelling but it was like fifteen feet), and an alpine slide. We were divided into groups on nine, so I got put with a family of eight. They were a big, loud, New York Italian family, but they were really nice and a lot of fun and they took all the pictures of me. I was a little worried when I first got put with them, but I never felt like an outcast. I kinda felt like one of the family by the end!

Ready to go with all my gear! You can't tell from this angle, but we were tethered to the platform the entire time.

This is my first run, and I think I look pretty good. My left elbow is locked, my right hand is where it should be, and I'm smiling!

This was the third or fourth line, so by this time I felt like a pro. I would like to say that I never stopped short of the platform, nor did I ever stop my self using the tree - I feel like that was a success!

This is what I saw. Beautiful, isn't it? One of the guides, Gen, took this for me.
The extension bridge crossed this creek and the pictures cannot due it justice! The bridge was a little shaky, and not that coordinated, so I was not brave enough to walk across with my eyes closed and my hands at my side. I wasn't afraid of falling, we were tethered to a line above the bridge, I just new that I would end up with my foot caught between slats!

The slide was a highlight! I could not believe short two hundred feet was!

Our awesome guides, Rhett and Gen.
We all got medals at the end (this is the best picture of it I have).

I have never considered myself a dare-devil, but I do like to experience new things and I am so glad I got the chance to zip line in Alaska (I would like to do it again somewhere else in the world). If you have never been, I highly recommend it!

Dog Sledding

As crew, I have the opportunity to participate in shore excursions as an"escort." Basically, I am there as a representative of HAL, I socialize with the guests on the excursion, and report any issues back to the shore excursions manager.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to escort a group to on a "Sled Dog Training Camp Adventure." We visited a camp where several professional mushers train with their dogs during the summer. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend it to anyone look for a fun, low-key excursion.

We started with a tour of the camp's extension bridge. It wasn't at all relevant to mushing, but it was really pretty.

After the bridge, one of the guides talked to us about the dogs and their training. I was really interested to learn that they start training the dogs when they are just a few months old and start racing them after a year or two. I also learned that the dogs they use now, the Alaskan Husky, is a fairly new breed. They used to use Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes, but the size caused some problems. Alaskan Huskies are a little bit smaller with shorter, but denser, hair. Their diets are very high in fat because they are outdoors all winter and high in protein to keep their energy levels up. She also introduced us to a dog who is nine years old and still racing. She said that once a dog retires, the musher either keeps them as a pet or tries to find someone to adopt them. If I was a musher I would probably have 150 Alaskan Huskies as pets because I don't think I would be able to set rid of a dog to whom I had grown attached.

Next, we all loaded into what looked like a golf cart without an engine. A team of sixteen dogs pulled us around the camp for about 15 minutes. It was amazing how fast they went and fascinating to watch them make the turns and work as a team. We met the dogs afterwards and they were all attention hogs!



After being pulled around camp, we learned a little more about the Iditarod. The highlight of the excursion was getting to see the new puppies! The camp had a litter that was ten days old and they were SO CUTE! I want a puppy!

Again, I really love my job! It's not every job that you get the opportunity to do things like this!