How About a Little Warm?

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here is nothing quite like a late winter blizzard to get one thinking about warm weather. Since we are just now in the middle of a dastard snowstorm, it seems an appropriate time to show a few pictures of our recent trip to warmer climes and different scenery. We spent the first half of February on The Queen Victoria traveling from Ft. Lauderdale to Las Angeles via the Panama Canal. Of course, the ship made the requisite stops at several ports to fleece the tourists in support of several nations. Accordingly, here are a few pictures and my explanation to my children about why their inheritance has shrunk to such a pitiful level.

A U.S. Navy vessel follows us through one of six locks at the canal. Three locks lifted us 88 feet above sea level to cross the continental divide, followed by our 40 mile trip across the country to the remaining three locks that lowered us to the Pacific ocean.

Contractor Hill - One of the many hills that French and American workers had to carve to make a canal through the continental divide in a land that features mountains and hills for much of its 48 miles that separates two oceans 



One of our first stops was at Aruba, the place where a few thousand drunken Dutchmen cling to a rock in the ocean. It is definitely a tourist place so we toured their single national park. We were surprised how arid their environment seems to be.

The terrain in Aruba was like Arizona with cacti and desert plants everywhere.

After the canal and Aruba we stopped next in Costa Rica where we toured a garden and completed a walk through treetops courtesy of a series of swinging bridges that connected one hill to another.

We learned that Costa Rica has more diversity of plants and animals than anywhere. On our brief walk we spotted butterflies, iguanas, bugs of all descriptions (including ants and termites everywhere), and the most amazing variety of plants that one can imagine. Even this fellow was interesting:

Our next destination was Nicaragua, another 3rd world Central American country that boasts tropical rain forests, squalid villages and little else, in my opinion. We were surprised at the poverty when we left the 'touristy' areas along the coast for a tour of a banana plantation. We ate several types of tropical fruits grown locally and all were delicious. The local beer and the rum wasn't bad either, proving that God loves these people in spite of their lack of cash.

I learned that bannas like these are grown on bushes, not trees. The plants were dense, thick bushes, 8 to 12 feet tall. The bannas are bagged to keep them clean and free of bugs as soon as they begin to grow

We left Nicaragua for Guatemala. It seemed to be a repeat of our prior stop. We only visited one tourist place selling beautiful, hand-made garments. We contributed. Their nation is now a bit wealthier.

After these places in Central America, we made multiple stops in Mexico at several ports I had never heard of. Our ship decided to skip Acapulco because of the risk of crime due to the drug cartels. I think they made a wise choice in view of the recent hold-up of tourists from a cruise ship.  At one of the ports we rafted a white-water river where we interrupted a woman and her goats at a quiet place in the river. She was washing her clothes in the river and the goats were watching us watch her. It was entertaining and I think the goats enjoyed the tourists even though the washer woman ignored

 us.