Tinkerblue

Inca Trail Day 1

• The classic Inca trail is 29 miles/40 kms long
• The weather averages between 8c and 20c, but can drop to freezing and go up into the 30's
• 500 people are permitted to start the Inca Trail each day, 300 of those are guides and porters
• You need to book about 6 months in advance, your pass is not changeable
• Average trekking time for the 4 days is 21 hours.  We took longer.
• 8% of all hikers are Canadian, 9% are Australian
• The highest point is 13,776 ft (or 4200 metres).
• Altitude sickness may begin at 8000 ft
• Our little group was 12 hikers, 2 guides, 2 cooks and 12 porters. Quite the number.  Much larger than the 6-8 hikers we had been expecting.

 

Okay so that's it for random information.  We've been back from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu for almost a week now and it's taken me that long to put it into words.  It was amazing. One of the highlights of my life.  So here goes...

 

The bus picked us up from our hotel at 530am.  Neither Michelle or I slept much the night before.  Apparently the thought of hiking for 4 days at altitude, sometimes going straight up made us both nervous.  We threw back some coca tea before the bus arrived but neither of us could stomach much in the way of breakfast.  Not good when we were supposed to start the day with a carb and protein rich breakfast.  Oops.  There was one more stop after us to pick up the last of our group and then we were on the way to Ollantaytambo.  A village in the Sacred Valley where we stopped to have some breakfast.  Well everyone else did, Michelle and I had more coco tea.  Oh I think we may have had a banana each.  At least we don't have totally empty stomachs.

Next stop, on the other side of Ollantaytambo to pick up the extra guide and the extra porter. 12 hikers means we needed more people.  Now we are all staffed up and ready to go. Nobody is doing much in the way of talking, introducing ourselves for just acknowledging each other. I think everyone is tired and maybe they're as nervous as we are.

I nap the rest of the way to km 82, which is where we start hiking.  Everything comes off the bus and is divided onto two tarps. The bigger tarp is all the gear that the 12 porters and 2 cooks will carry. 7 sleeping tents, a cooking tent, a dining tent, 14 camp stools, a camping toilet and it's tent, 14 wash buckets, all the cooking equipment, all the food, the bigger first aid kits (the guides also carry 2 smaller first aid kits) and all Michelle and my gear.  We had paid for a porter to carry our sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and clothes so all we had to lug was our daypack with water, coat, snacks and cameras.  Best decision ever.   The second tarp is for our daypacks and the packs of the rest of our group who are carrying all their own gear.  Why?

 

 

We have a quick briefing with our guides, Lizandro and Nestor.  They tell us that today we will hike about 11km's, it should take between 6 and 7 hours, today is and easy day, no steep climbs or descents, and the stop for lunch should be about 4 hours into the hike.  Hmmmmm. They make sure everyone has water, is wearing sunscreen and insect repellent and has their passports and immigration cards with them.  I can't help but think it's worse than rounding up a guide unit. Once everyone is organised we take the obligatory photo at the Inca Trail sign

 

 

and go through the checkpoint to have our tickets and passports checked.  My ticket says I'm 41, it's given me back a good 5 years.  Woohoo.  But Michelle's says she is male.  Don't think so.  The checkpoint was not too concerned though, they were mainly checking passport numbers and names and photos.  We passed.

 

 

Then we cross the bridge over the Rio Urubamba and we are officially on our way on the Inca Trail. Notice it starts with an up hill?  At least it's a gentle slope and it's a dirt path not a staircase or a rock lined path. Let's start us off nice and easy, lull us into a sense of I can do this.

 

 

The morning was all fantastic views, gentle climbs, quick breaks for everyone to catch up and "hey we're actually doing this"s. We stopped for a break and a history lesson at a small ruin that I think was called Willcarakay, of course I would be making that up.  

 

 

Willcarakay overlooked another Inca site - Llactapata.  Llactapata is believed to have been a rest stop for the Incas on the way to Machu Picchu and also home to the soldiers who would have staff the fortress we were stopped at. I don't fancy that commute to work and back every day.   Llactapata is some distance below us.

 

 

We hiked a bit further along to the lunch site. Our porters were already there and had the cooking tent, the dining tent and wash basins all set up for us.  We all just strolled in, washed our hands, ate our lunch and took a quick nap.  At this point in the day I stopped taking photos, I don't know why. I wish I had taken lots more.  I don't have photos of the set up for lunch, seriously every lunch time the porters set up two large tents, cooked lunch, washed up and then broke down the whole set up.  Every lunch time.  Lunch, in fact all the meals were all very good.  Lunch and dinner alway started with soup, then a rice or quinoa dish, a potato dish (did you know Peru has over 3000 types of potatoes), a veggie dish, a platter of sliced tomatoes and cheeses, and usually two meat dishes.  Oh and some bread. There was a lot of food.  We never went hungry.  And it wasn't typical camp food.  You know... boil in a bag, or rehydrate or mac and cheese of Chef Boyardee, but actual fully cooked meals.  The cooks and porters did an awesome job.

After lunch we continued climbing switch backs up, up and up.  Most groups will camp at Wayllabamba at 3000 ft depending on the number of trekkers, campsites, permits etc.  But not our group. We kept going. For another 3 kms or so to Yuncachimpa at 3300ft.  This climb from lunch to camp was where Michelle and I started to really fall behind.  Up until lunch time we'd always been about 20-30 minutes behind the main group.  But by afternoon Michelle wasn't feeling so good and we were about an hour behind.  It was also when Nestor, the second guide, started hiking every step of the way with us. This first day he was very quite and probably very bored. But we appreciated that he stayed with us and let us hike at our own pace and didn't rush us. 

 

Arriving into camp we had time for a wet wipe shower, to set up our sleeping mats and bags (the porters having already pitched the tents) and to sort our bags out a bit before being called to the dining tent for happy hour.  No wine and cheese, no beer and pretzels, no cocktails and peanuts.  But we were served popcorn and hot chocolate.  I am not a fan of popcorn, but popcorn never tasted as good as it did then. We ate it all.  By we I am all 12 hikers and 2 guides, not just Michelle and I.  Dinner was served at 8pm, and by 9pm after a quick briefing for the next day we were all in bed. Umm our tent is pitched on a slight slope, so I keep rolling onto Michelle's side of the tent.  Oops.

 

And with that, Day 1 is complete.  1 down, 3 to go.  1/4 of the way there.  At least that's what Michelle and I kept telling each other.

 

 

Bacardi, Beaches and Broke

We just finished an 8 day cruise that was successful (we hit target) and expensive (I've spent my paycheque before we get paid!).

We had two long sea days at the beginning of the cruise and then our first port was San Juan, Puerto Rico.     About 6 of us thought about going to the Bacardi Distillery but we were worried about timing... last time I went with Jorge, Victoria and Karl we cut it very close and only just made all aboard.  This week we had a general emergency drill meaning ouldn't get off ship until 11am, back on board was 230pm so it was a no go.  

 

After boat drill Trudy and I decided to check out the ferry schedule and fares for next time. Only we couldn't wait for next time. The ferry was leaving in 5 mins  and cost 50c.  We went.  

 

Ferry ride from Old San Juan to Catano took about 10 mins 50c each way

Taxi from ferry terminal to Bacardi 10 minutes $3.00 per person each way 

 

 

Barcardi tour - 1 hour, $12.00 includes a souvenir glass and one drink.  There is an option for a 2 hour tour that includes a mixology class and three drinks for $35.00. We might have done that except for the timing.

 

The tour is the same as I took last time with Victoria, Jorge and Karl expect Trudy and I didn't have to cut it short we actually stayed until the end and we even had time to browse the gift shop. I passed on the $85.00 bottle of limited reserve rum with personalized engraving on the bottle and I also passed on the very cute rum barrel.

 

Antigua was our next stop, the only time we stop there.  Antigua has 365 beaches. One for every day of the year. We only had time to visit one.  Trudy, Lavinia and I spent the day at Jolly Beach.  

 

 

 

When I think of Caribbean beaches, this is what I imagine.  Glaringly bright sun, blue blue green water and white sand.  Thank heavens for cloud cover.

 

A good few hours were spent doing nothing but floating in the water, laying in the sun to soak up some vitamin D, laying under the beach umbrella to avoid looking like a lobster, reading a few pages of my book, or just people watching.

(my toes are not sunburnt, I accidently had the vivid colour setting on my camera turned on!)

 

This photo makes me laugh...the tanned Romanian, Lavinina between the lily white South African and Australian!

 

I wish we stopped in Antigua more than once. It was a beautiful, relaxing day.

 

Our third stop of the cruise was St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Again we only stop here once. When I was on Liberty last year we stopped here every other week, I very much like St Thomas... beaches, shopping, skyride, ice bar, resorts, lots to do.

 

With so much to do, what did I do? Ummmm....spent money. Lots of it.  Mainly on speakers for Shaun, but I'm going to use them until I take them home!  He'll just have to wait patiently.  I did also get some jewelery and a headphones for me. And drooled over a very pretty diamond palm tree necklace but that stayed in the store.

 

Last stop for this cruise was Nassau, in the Bahamas.  It's not my first time in Nassau and it won't be my last. Nassau is on our itinerary quite a few time. Unfortunately it's not really a place that interests me much, and there's always rumours of tourists being mugged etc etc.  We just had a quick bite to eat, tried to find some fast internet and then went back to the ship for a nap.

Built by Convicts

 

My home state is one of the most beautiful places in the world. 

Lonely Planet just named Tasmania #4 of the world's top ten regions to visit in 2015. Calling Tassie "wild and dramatic, cultured and quirky." 

 

 

 

 

 

Yet Tasmania is also home to one of the harshest environments in the world - the remote south west wilderness. It was to this island state that over 70,000 convicts were transported in the 1800's. Sentenced to 7, 14 or 21 years for stealing a piece of fabric or a loaf of bread or some other trivial offence. Nowadays they just get a finger wagged at them. On this hostile island the convicts endured, survived and some even thrived. UNESCO lists Australian Convict Sites on its world heritage cultural listings, 5 of the11 sites are in Tasmania:

1. Port Arthur Historic Site
2. Brickendon and Woolmer's Estates
3. Darlington Probation Station (on Maria Island)
4. Coal Mines Historic Site
5. Cascades Female Factory.

 

Up until this week I had never been to the Cascades Female Factory. That's not entirely my fault. For most of the 20 years I lived in Tasmania the site was a paddock full of wallaby poop. Not an exciting place to visit. Also it's in South Hobart - it's cold and wet up there.

 

 

 

Sometime within the last 10 years some enterprising sole has developed the site and now it's a popular tourist attraction.

Rather than just visit the site we signed up for Louisa's Walk. Louisa's Walk is a strolling theatre moving from Cascade Gardens to the Female Factory and back - like a progressive dinner, only with no food.  Wear your walking shoes, and participate when asked.  It's a lot of fun.

 

 

On our tour Karissa played Louisa. A young widowed mother of 3 boys who was sentenced to 7 years in the colonies for stealing a loaf of bread to feed her family. She was not allowed to take her boys with her as the oldest was 14 and therefore able to support the younger two.

Jon played all the other roles...the magistrate, a ship's captain, the doctor, the head of the factory, and a few others.

 

 

 

Our tour into convict history started at the Cascade Gardens next to Cascade Brewery - the beer we drink here. (Sorry it's a slogan from I don't know when. I'm not even sure it was a Cascade slogan). Cascade is the oldest brewery in Australia. Tasmanians like their beer.

 

 

After Louisa was convicted and sentenced to transportation she boarded the Rajah for the many months long journey out to Van Diemans Land. The Quakers gave each woman fabric and cotton to keep them busy. Anything they made they could keep. Louisa made a quilt telling her life story to date. It includes squares with her deceased husbands name and the names of her three sons.

 

 

On arrival in Hobart Town Louisa was sent to the Female Factory. She was inspected and classified. Female convicts were classified as either criminals, xxxx or assignables.  I've forgotten the middle classification. Oops.

 

 

 

 

Inside the factory we heard many stories from Louisa's time there - picking oakum, seeking solace in the chapel, doing the laundry in cold cold water.  She was chosen by a man for work outside the factory only to be sent back to the factory when she became pregnant. After the baby was weaned (two weeks after birth) Louisa was sent back into the factory. Records show she was finally chosen/purchased by a gentleman who would eventually become her husband. Once she was married there are no further official records until her death certificate. She in her 70's when she died, quite old for the time.

 

 

There are no buildings at the factory, the yards are marked to indicate where structures had been, and there is a replica of a dark cell. I don't think we would have enjoyed the factory or learned anywhere near as much if we hadn't done Lousia's walk.  The tour was amazing. Jo, Irene and I both got caught up in the story, we laughed a lot. It lasted about 2 hours and was $35.00 each. Well worth every penny. 

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Zoodoo. Who? Zoodoo!

Meerkat. You can adopt one. You can't take it home though.

 

When I was home earlier this year Mum had double booked herself.  She had agreed to take a unit of 6 guides to the Scout/Guide Regatta and she had committed to organising the medal presentations at the State Athletic Championships.  So guess what? She volunteered me and my friend, Jo to take the girls to camp.

 

No idea why they have a fake meerkat in with the real ones. Anyone? 

 

6 months later I'm home again. 6 months later I've been volunteered to help again.

 

Wallaby with a joey in her pouch. See the leg sticking out over the joey's head.  Ouch! Can't be very comfortable for the mum or the joey. 

 

In November the Guides of Tasmania are having an overnight event, ROAR 2014 at Zoodoo. Zoodoo is a wildlife park about 20-30 minutes from Hobart.  They needed a filler activity for the girls to do on the last afternoon.   

 

 A rare albino wallaby. Until this visit, I didn't even know they existed.

 

Mum, Jo and I planned a lovely day in Richmond. A bit of shopping in the village. Lunch at the bakery. An hour or so at Zoodoo. Umm. Yep. Day didn't go as planned.  Jo and I got sidetracked in town. Mum was busy at Guide House.  We didn't actually head out to Zoodoo until about 2 '0 clock. So no shopping and no lunch in the bakery.  Next time.

 

 When I was a kid an emu bit my hand and took my sandwich. Emus and I are not friends.

 

We need a take nothing, leave nothing activity.  So trivia it is.  As we wander the enclosures taking photos, taking notes about the animals, we are approached by a zookeeper. He thought we were animal activists preparing to make a fuss about animals in captivity. Nope, just girl guide leaders spending an afternoon of their holiday getting ready for a guide camp.  We need a life. 

 

For everyone that asks me what a Tassie Devil looks like... This is a Tasmanian Devil.  Note, it walks on all fours. It does not spin.

 

After being distracted by the devils.  And they very cute meerkats.  And the marmosets... Okay so we were easily distracted. But we did come away with 27 trivia questions and 24 trivia answers.

 

Devils are quite small and very ferocious. Don't stick your hand in front of one.  They will bite it off. I'm not kidding. 

 

We threw in two questions that might be a little bit tricky.  They're actually really easy.  But we suspect quite a few of the guides (and their leaders) will get them wrong.

 

Okay so they don't look all that vicious when they are taking a nana nap in the sun.

 

Let's see if you know the answers:

When is a bear not a bear?

Where does milk come from?

Aquarium of the Pacific - Long Beach, CA

Woohoo it's always fun to spend a day with friends. Morag lives in London (UK) and no she did not come all this way just to spend the day with me!  She was visiting another friend in San Diego for two weeks, and was able to come up to Long Beach on the same day we were in port. 

 

 

The Aquarium of the Pacific is not far from where the ship docks and I've been past it many times on the bus.  Morag and I both love being tourists so it was an easy decision as to how to spend our day. The Aquarium is not overly big, but there was more than enough to keep a busy for a few hours. We didn't even see all the exhibits.

 

 

We paid a little extra to do a behind the scenes tour which lasted an hour or so and was well worth it.  It was Sunday of the Memorial Day long weekend, so the Aquarium was crowded.  The behind the scenes tour got us away from that hoard for a little bit.

 

 

This is a piece of artwork that hangs above the entrance to the museum.  It's created from junk that ends up in the ocean. As a piece of artwork it's really cool, but it sucks that all that crap is just floating out there. 

 

 

During the tour we got to go above the tropical reef.  It's the largest exhibit in the Aquarium.   One of the first animals we saw was the turtle.  Usually he's sleeping on the bottom of the reef, but today hwe was looking right at us.  Can you believe he's actually a confiscated animal? Someone tried to smuggle him in from Central America somewhere, and customs caught the smuggler.  So now he lives at the Aquarium.  (The turtle, not the smuggler).

 

 

 

The tank below houses fish that are in quarantine.  Once they have been declared fit and healthy they will be added to the exhibits.

 

 

Watching the fish from above the tropical reef.  There are two divers in the reef giving a demonstration, it was odd to watch from above the reef rather than from the otherside of the plexiglass.

 

 

 

While we were above the reef we fed the fish some seaweed.  They were almost jumping out of the water to get the food, and they were fighting for it.  

 

 

 

During the tour we had to disinfect our shoes before going in and out of all the tank rooms.  My shoes were quite wet but very clean by the end.  Remember Jacques the shrimp from Finding Nemo? He's a cleaner shrimp.  We got to put our hand in a tank with a cleaner shrimp and have him clean our hand.  My hand was either very clean or he was very full.

 

 

We also chatted to two of the divers who had just come out of one of the tanks. The divers at the Aquarium are all volunteers, have over 50 hours of diving and are all rescue dive trained.  As a bonus one of them was really cute - nice eye candy for the day.

 

 

There was a lot more to the tour...we saw shark eggs incubating, baby sea horses that are smaller than the nail on my little finger, gold fish and guppies being raised as food for the bigger animals, sea monkeys (remember those kits from the 80's and 90's), food being prepared for the otters and sharks and coral that had been confiscated by customs from stupid people at the border.

 

 

After the tour we wandered through the aquarium for a bit long.  Some of my favourite things to see were the sea dragons. Not to be confused with sea horses, sea dragons are found in the southern waters off the coast of Australia, especially around Tasmania.  I'm pretty sure I've never seen a sea dragon of the coast of Tassie, only ever in aquariums in North America, but then I've never snorkelled or scuba dived at home. Sea dragons are considered an endangered species. 

 

 

I love the jelly fish.  At least when they are in a tank with a thick plexiglass wall between them and me.  I could sit and watch them for ages.

 

 

But I could spend even longer watching the sea otters. How adorable is this little guy sitting in the sun?

 

 

And the penguins?  When can I have a pet sea otter and a penguin?  The fairy penguins at Philip Island are cuter, but these guys are still very handsome.  Although that one at the front left could do with a bath.

 

 

After the Aquarium, Morag and I had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, grabbed an icecream and walked back to the ship along the foreshore.  I've always caught the bus from the dock to downtown Long Beach, but the seawall walk to the Aquarium area only took about 20 minutes and it was picturesque.  I might have to walk it again, or even go for a run.  Beats running round in circles on deck 12.

 

 

Thanks Morag for coming to visit for the day, and for the donuts they were very much appreciated by the shoppies.  Who is going to come and visit me next?

Catalina Island - Catalina Casino

 

We visit Catalina Island once a week.  Since I joined the ship we've been to Catalina 4 times, but yesterday was only the second time I was able to get off.  A lot of crew don't get off here because it's a tender port and that can be a bit of a hassle.  But from my two visits I really like Catalina Island, or what little I've seen of it so far.

 

 

The most prominent building in Avalon is the Catalina Casino.  Yesterday I took a behind the scenes tour of the Casino.  Did you know that in Italian the word Casino means "place of gathering" or "place of entertainment".  The Avalon Casino is a place of gathering and entertainment but it is not and never has been a gambling casino.  

 

 

The Casino took 14 months to build.  Construction took place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  1500 men worked in 8 hour shifts. The cost to build the casino was $2 million dollars.  The Casino is huge. It's about 12 storeys high, and houses a theatre, ballroom, dressing rooms, projection room, a bar, a private viewing room and a musuem.

 

 

The casino was built by chewing gum owner William Wrigley Jr who also owned the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The Chicago Cubs stadium used ramps instead of stairs allowing large numbers of spectators to move quickly to their seats, Wrigley used the same ramps in the Avalon Casino.  

 

 

The theatre is on the lower level of the casino.  It seats 1184 people.  At the back of the theatre are the VIP seats - they have the best acoustics.  In the centre there is an echo, and if you talk while in those seats the whole theatre can hear you.  Don't tell your secrets.  And if you're there to watch a movie avoid those particular seats.  

 

 

The theatre also has it's original pipe organ that was used during silent movies. It's still played today during silent movie festivals and on weekends.  It's one of 4 remaining organs of it's type.  

 

 

The walls and domed ceiling on of the theatre are covered in a John Gabriel Beckman mural.  He also did the 9 panel paintings at the entrance to the casino. The ceiling is covered in sterling silver and gold leaf. It's one fancy theatre.  Unfortunately I won't get to see a movie here, as we always sail before the movie times!

 

 

The lobby of the theatre is black walnut and the wood alone is worth $4 million dollars.

 

 

Above the theatre is a private viewing room for the Wrigley family and the projection room. The projection room still houses the original two projectors plus a modern digital projector.

 

 

On the top floor of the casino is the 20,000 sq ft ballroom - the world's largest circular ballroom. The casino building is so well designed that there can be 3000+ dancers in the ballroom and they cannot be heard in the theatre below.  

 

 

The Tiffany lighting fixture can be lowered to waist height for cleaning.  Hidden behind the lighting is a huge wooden fan. 

 

 

The ballroom is surrounded by a balcony with views over Avalon, Descanso Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

 

 

 

The tour I was on lasted about an hour and included admission to the Catalina Island Museum. The cost was $25.00.  I really enjoyed it but then again I like learning useless trivia and history.  I didn't make it to the museum because I needed to get back to the ship.  I'll save the museum for another day. 

 

 Catalina Island Casino 

 

 

 

 

Castillo San Felipe del Morro - San Juan

 

Way back when, September 18th to be exact Manny and David and I went to Castillo San Cristobal in San Juan. Almost 2 months later Victoria, Jorge and I went to visit it's partner Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

 

 

We could have walked there from the port, it's only 2km or so but it was hot and we didn't have a lot of time. So we took the free trolley.  

 

 

While San Cristobal protected from land based attacks, El Morro was built to defend the entrance to the  harbour.

 

 

Construction began in 1539 and it took over 200 years to build.

 

 

It has 6 levels and includes dungeons, garitas, (domed sentries)  a light house, cannons, tunnels and 

 

 

my favourite, a triangular staircase.

 

 

We spent a good hour or so exploring and taking photos.  We didn't watch the film or take the ranger guided walk. 

 

 

Things we learnt:

The only time El Morro failed to protect San Juan was when the Duke of Cumberland occupied it in 1598. And he attacked by land not by sea.

 

 

The oldest part of El Morro is the Old Tower, a very original name.

 

 

The first shot of World War 1 by the US was fired from El Morro on March 21st 1915

 

 

There are three flags flying over El Morro.  The US flag, The Puerto Rican flag, and the Burgundy Cross.  The Burgundy Cross is the Spanish military flag, that flew during most of the Spanish colonial period.

 

 

The grassy area area in front of the fort was once a golf course.  

 

 

Barcardi Distillery - San Juan

It's not often we get a full day in San Juan.  Usually I'm port manning and can't get off the ship or we have a general boat drill and then we only have two-three hours. But about a month ago we didn't have boat drill and we had the whole day in San Juan.  After stopping in Starbucks for some free wifi and then wandering Old San Juan spending money on items we din't really need we decided on the spur of the moment to visit the Bacardi Distillery. 

 

 

We could have taken a shore excursion through the ship for about $40 each or grabbed a tour from one of the many operators right outside the ship for about $20 each. But we went with the cheap option.  We took the ferry - it's about a 3 minute walk from the cruise ship.  The ferry cost a whole 50c for the return trip.  We did get a laugh when the ticket they gave us said Seniors!  The ferry takes about 10 minutes and then it's a quick cab ride to Bacardi. The cab ride was $3 each.  The Bacardi tour?  It's free.  And it includes two drinks.  

 

 

You arrive at the visitor centre, a huge big covered area with tables and chairs and more importantly the bar.   First stop - at a tiny desk where a not so friendly employee gave us our tour and drink tickets. We had just missed a tour and had about 20 minutes to the next one, so it was a good time to have our free drinks.

 

 

For my first drink I had the classic Cuba Libre, and for my second I tried Black Razz Rum with orange and cranberry juice.  It was oh so good.   I could have drank oh so much of it! Just as we were getting comfortable they called our tour.

 

 

We took a tram across to the tour building.  It was not far, we could have walked easily, but the tram is their way of keeping everybody contained.

 

 

The tour is not actually a tour of the distillery, we didn't actually get to see the rum being made.  It's more of a fancy infomercial. Also we hadn't realised how late in the day it was and the tour was going to finish after the ferry back to Old San Juan, which would have meant us missing the ship, so we were a little stressed.  Still it was fun.

 

 

The tour starts with the history of sugar cane and the origins rum making. A short movie follows with the Bacardi family history and the rum making process. The guide took a long time getting everyone seated and starting the movie. This section of the tour could have been done in half the time.  I don't remember too much about the movie except that the ceiling was pretty cool.

 

 

Moving on into a reproduction of the original factory, the guide talks about the tells you more about how rum is made, how it's stored in the oak barrels, etc. Did you know they don't clean the Bacardi bottles with water? They clean them with rum so they don't dilute the product.

 

 

By now all four of us were getting a little ansty about missing the ferry and the ship! We asked if we could leave but the guide wouldn't let us, she said we had to go to the next part of the tour and then we could leave.  The second to last part of the tour is the bar.  You don't actually get any samples or drinks here, but a bartender talks about the different rums, and the cocktails you can mix.  

 

 

Finally they let us go, we raced back to the ferry, which was not at 200pm as we had been told but at 215pm.  Which made us very close for the 230pm back on board, but we did infact make it.  We still need to go back to Bacardi.  We had to skip the gift shop all together. Next time, we'll skip the tour, have our two free drinks and then go to the gift shop.

 

Bushwacker at Paradise Point - St Thomas

 

Okay, okay so Paradise Point in St Thomas might be one of those tacky tourist traps, but we wanted to go anyway. I signed on to the ship July 18th and Paradise Point has been closed up until now.   So this was the first chance we had to see what it was like.  

 

 

First off, it's expensive. $21.00 per person.  Lucky for us there is crew discount which made it much much much more affordable.  I think I might have baulked if I'd had to pay the full $21.00.  Or maybe not. The whole point of working on a cruise ship was to travel, see the sights and enjoy myself.  

 

 

Anyway we waited maybe a whole 5 minutes for the cable car to arrive.  There was only two other people waiting to board so Victoria, Jorge and I and a car to ourselves. The ride up takes about 45 minutes and the views are spectacular.  

 

 

There is a a lot of construction happening at the top of the tramway, so the nature trails etc are all closed.  However the lookout is what you go up for and it was open.  We took all the requisite tourist photos and then some.  Three people, three cameras, three smart phones. That's a lot of photos.

 

 

At the top there isn't really much other than the view.  A few souvenir shops that carry the same stuff you can get anywhere and a restaurant that only accepts cash (no cards) but there is no ATM to get cash.  The menu is limited - very.  No more than 6 items. And they were expensive.  We didn't eat.  But they do have free wifi.  Very important to facebook starved ship crew.

 

 

We decided to drink instead.  That's a wise decision when it's 40c out! But Paradise Point is famous for it's Bushwacker.  

 

 

Depending on who you talk to or what you read the Bushwacker was first served in St Thomas or Florida.  I'm going with St Thomas purely because it suits me and I'm in St Thomas, not Florida! 

 

 

The bushwacker looks like a chocolate milkshake but holy cow is it way more potent! Basically it consists of rum, vodka, Bailey's, Kahlua, Amaretto, Creme de Cacao, crushed ice and nutmeg.  Very very tasty.  I'd go back for another.

 

 

Altun Ha Mayan Ruins, Belize

 

Hmmm this day didn't quite go as planned.  Mariana, Victoria and I had signed up to do the excursion to Xunantunich, Mayan ruins close to the Guatemala border.  But the weather had other plans for us.  Rain had caused flooding in the area and Park Rangers closed the ruins.  Bah.  Shore Excursions offered to put us on the trip to Altun Ha instead. Why not? We were already up. 

 

 

The bus ride to the ruins took about an hour or maybe more. I'm not 100% sure as I slept most of the way.  Gotta get my sleep when and where I can.   The ruins at first seem tiny. There are only two plazas and about 1/2 a dozen buildings - temples, tombs and pyramids.  But... Most of the site remains covered by jungle.  There are actually 6 plazas and 500 buildings here.

 

 

Altun Ha was constructed about 600 bc or maybe even earlier. It may have been small but it is thought to  have been one of the major trading posts for the Mayan civilization at the time.  Objects have been found that would have originally come from Mexico, Panama and Guatemala. 

 

 

Inside the Temple of the Sun God they found a jade head representing the Sun God. It's about 6" tall and weighs over 10lbs.  The real jade carving is now in a vault at the bank in Belize City (which was built in the same shape as the temple) and a replica is on display at the Museum of Belize.

 

 

The Temple of the Temple of the Masonry Altars is the logo for Belize's Belikan Beer. Just thought you needed to know that!

 

 

According to our tour guide:

• every 52 years the Mayans added to or renovated a building. First time I'd heard that piece of information about Mayan temples. 
• 13 is a lucky number for the Mayans.
• Women were buried in Mayan temples, an indication that the Mayans held women in high regard.

 

 

On the way back, we took a boat ride on the River Wallace and saw crocodiles, howler monkeys and really big gekkos.