Places I've Been

Day 7: Cartagena Colombia

Even though we had a short stop in Cartagena, we made the most of it.

We had a taxi take us to the walled city where we spent a few hours walking around and exploring.

Torre del Reloj (the Clock Tower)

Plaza de la Proclamacion

Plaza de Bolivar (Bolivar Square)

Having a cup of coffee

in front of Iglesia de San Pedro Claver (St. Peter Claver Church)

Black vulture on a balcony

Baluarte de Santo Domingo (Bastion of Santo Domingo

Then we walked to Parque Centenario, where we had this view of the walled city.

We also saw monkeys

and a sloth.

From there, we walked to Getsamani and saw Umbrella Street.

We also looked at some of the wall murals.

We wandered around

and shared a delicious arepa and fresh limeaid for lunch.

(This looks yellow due to the yellow/green salsa we added.)

We also bought some fruit,

including an orange passion fruit, before heading back to the ship.

At the port, there is an eco park where we saw lots of tropical birds

monkeys

and some iguanas.

Finally, we sailed off, saying goodbye to Colombia.

Day 8: Panama Canal

This morning we had an early start as the ship entered the Panama Canal from the Atlantic Ocean at the Santa Clara (new locks).

All of these pictures are from the rear of the ship (reverse the images to see what it would be like to exit from the opposite direction).

Arrow guiding us into the locks.

Entering the first set of locks.

The first set of gates is closing behind us.

With the gate closed, the lock now fills with water.

The ship has entered the next lock and the second set of gates is closing behind us.

With the gate closed, the lock now fills with water.

The ship has entered the next lock and the third set of gates is closing behind us.

With the gate closed, the lock now fills with water.

The ship is now moving into Gatun Lake

Once we were in Gatun Lake, we took a tender to shore and boarded a bus to the ruins of Panama Viejo, or "Old Panama.

Ruins at Panama Viejo

from there, we went to Casco Antiguo (the old colonial city).

Walking around Casco Antiguo, (the old colonial city).

Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús in Casco Antiguo, (the old colonial city).

Palace of Panama (Palacio Municipal Demetrio H. Brid). This building houses the Museum of History of Panama, which we visited.

Exhibit in the Museum of History of Panama

Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mary the Ancient

Folk musicians/dancers in Plaza Mayor

View of new buildings in Panama City and the Pacific Ocean

While we were gone, the ship turned around and exited the same way it entered. We met the ship in Colon when our excursion ended.

Driving through Colon on the way back to the port.

At Colon, we had to walk through a big mall (didn't buy anything) to return to the ship.

Days 9-10: Limon, Costa Rica + day at sea

This morning we woke up at 4 am as the ship sailed through a big storm (there was lots of rocking and we could hear the rain slamming into us).

The rain had mostly let up by the time we docked in Limon, Costa Rica.

We hired a private driver/guide to take us to Cahuita National Park. On the drive there, we saw a few monkeys in the trees.

We saw a sloth near at the entrance to the park.

That was pretty much the extent of the wildlife we saw on our walk through the park, due to the recent rain.

But we got a nice view of the beaches (big waves and wet from the rain).

We walked to the river then turned around to head back. On the way back, it started raining. Good thing we brought rain ponchos.

When we left the park, it was still a bit early to eat lunch in Cahuita, so we headed back to Limon. Our guide took us to a hilltop restaurant

with great views.

We ordered our drinks

then took awhile to figure our our lunch order, since some of the menu items didn't contain descriptions and our Spanish (and our server's English) were not good enough to efficiently communicate.

I got the fish and shrimp ceviche (it was delicious)

Steve got the fish, chicken, and beef nachos. All the flavors together were a bit weird, but it wasn't bad, and the uncovered chips were great with my ceviche.