Beautiful Barbados

Yesterday we toured Barbados. What a tour! It was called Focus on Barbados and our guide was a professional photographer. He knew how to take pictures AND he knew his island like the back of his hand. He gave the group some good clues about taking pictures and then he showed us his island. We went to out of the way places that normal tourists don't go. He told us about the economy, educational system, transportation system, and so much more of Barbados. And he topped it off with a recipe for rum punch and of course a sample  Now for the important part--the recipe for rum punch.  One part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong and four parts weak. The sour is lime juice, sweet is simple syrup, strong is rum and weak is orange juice. You top it off with some angostura Bitters and cinnamon or nutmeg -- put in the fridge for a week and you have rum punch with a punch. I had a glass and it was tasty and strong!

Gateway to an old sugar plantation. The plantations are dying because the price of sugar is down...but people are still drinking rum, and Barbados produces a lot of rum.

This is a Chattle House. In the old days, these houses were owned by sugar workers but if the workers had to move, they could take their house apart, put it on the bed of a truck and move to another location.

The house started out with one gable...and as the family grew other gables were added or in this case, a shed was added. The house was put on a foundation of stones so it was not "tied" to the ground.

The front of the house always had a face and was painted either brown and yellow or brown and white. Workers no longer have to move their houses to be near the cane, so these chattle houses are slowly falling apart-- but this is a really example of an old style cane worker house.

Nowadays, houses are made of cement block and are painted fanciful colors and they are placed on solid foundations instead of stones. Workers no longer have to live on the cane fields.

This is a modern home that has not yet been painted. Paint is very expensive, so folks delay painting their homes until they have the money, instead they furnish the home first.

As we wandered around the Atlantic side of the island, we saw sheep. These sheep are raised for meat not wool, hence they don't have a woolly coat and do not need to be sheared.

On the Atlantic side of the island the air is pure as it's traveled 3000 miles from Africa over the water. The waves come in on the beach and undercut the limestone boulders scattered along the shore.

The trees are bannered showing the direction of the wind off the Atlantic.

The mushroom shaped boulders along the shore are interesting to look at.

We had a great time on Barbados. It's an island I could come back to and explore some more.

 

Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies

Today we landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad in the West Indies. Port of Spain is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, so think a city that would be equivalent to Washington, DC or Ottawa. It's an important city. Since Trinidad has been occupied by Spain, French, and England, you see those influences on the placenames and  architecture. Independence from the UK happened in 1962, and since England was the last colonial ruler, there are still many vestiges of this British past evidenced in many old buildings. In some ways, I was reminded of Mumbai, which has a very strong British heritage highlighted by the many old Victorian buildings still standing today. 

As you can tell, we did not have a sunny day. We are still in the rainy season and today we had rain--a nice gentle warm rain. 

I've learned that you get the weather you get not necessarily the weather you want.

As a capital city, there are many governmental buildings. We saw lots of them, including the destroyed house of the President. A few years ago a freak hurricane blew through Trinidad and destroyed the house and it has not been repaired.   

It does have a roof over it and it's supposed to be renovated soon. There are administrative offices for the President on the same grounds and they are guarded   

By this stern faced young man. When I waved at him he nodded his head and smiled!

We were taken to an scenic overview of the city but alas, it was so cloudy and rainy, the view was limited. But if you can use your imagination, you can Venezuela 7 miles in the distance. Apparently, you can see it on a clear day.  

The large building on the right in the National Arena for the Performing Arts (aka NAPA) and is something to look at. When we passed by it, I took some rain soaked pictures, so I was happy to get a better view of it from a distance.

Trinidad has a strong working economy fueled by OIL. Remember it's only 7 miles from Venezuela and therefore has access to lots of off-shore oil wells. The currency is called the TT, short for Trinidad-Tobago dollars and the exchange rate is 6 TT to 1 USD.

The license plate is pretty generic as it looks exactly like the one found on St. Lucia, but they are different countries.   

The state seal consists of a red ibis and a white ibis, representing the 2 islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The Crown on top represents their British roots; the 3 ships represent their Spanish roots. The country motto is "Together we aspire-Together we achieve." 

 

 

 

Castries, St. Lucia, W.I.

Today we landed in yet another new place for us. St. Lucia in the West Indies. So far, it's the prettiest of the little islands we have visited on this trip.

Like all tropical islands it's lush and green. There are flowers all over the place too. This island however has some of the steepest, winding streets you can imagine. Not quite Lombard Street in San Francisco but there is a lot of traffic speeding up and down the hills. All is not perfect in this island as there's 26% unemployment. We saw a homeless fellow    

Sprawled out on the street. He was sleeping soundly on that hard cement mattress. As with the tropics everywhere, there's "stuff" strewn around -- it just seems to happen    

I have no idea why this huge upturned bucket is there...and if you look at the house in the center, it's vacant and derelict, yet there is a fancy house on the hillside that looks perfect. That's just the tropics. Even with these two images before you, think pretty and peaceful and industrious. Lotof folks are working; there are lots of cars and trucks on the roads; and the kids are going to school in perky blue uniforms and the literacy rate is 90%. These are all good things. S   

The weather is not too humid and the setting is wonderful.    

The casaba is the national fruit...and this is a casaba tree. The huge fruits are not edible, but are dried to make musical instruments. 

There are many craftsmen on the island -- they make these amazing free form wooden sculptures from roots    

Each is one of a kind as the carver releases the sculpture from the root. Beautiful!

 

 

St. Kitts and Nevis

Today we had a tour of Nevis which is paired with St. Kitts (short for St. Christopher). Nevis, was named by Christopher Columbus because it looked like it had snow on the mountain--he was wrong, it's only cloud cover. I don't think it ever snows on this island, and today we were in no danger of snow as it was HOT and HUMID. 

The island is small, about 36 square miles. Sugar was king, but now they grow cotton and entertain tourists.  

The island is the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. Apparently he was a number whiz and figured out how to keep the fledgling government of the USA afloat. We visited his birthplace  

A home made from native stone. There are many old homes and buildings on the island made from this volcanic stone. They will definitely withstand hurricane force winds.

Other homes are made from cement block and I even saw one made from an old container. This home is really tidy, but many have rebar on the flat roof, which means they are going to add to the house, when they get the money. For now, the rebar rusts and looks all gnarled as it "survives" in a harsh tropical climate.

There are lots of goats on the island, mowing their way thru the greenery. There are also donkeys, left over from the sugar plantations, but I was unable to photo any of them. I did see a lizard.  

This fellow was hiding on a louvered window shade. Can you see him in the picture below?  

These window coverings are found on most buildings. There is no need for glass windows, but some sort of screen is needed to keep the bugs out and yet catch a breeze. We've seen this type of screen all over the tropics in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Colorful flowers and plants are abundant. From orchids to lotus, the place is a garden where almost anything tropical will grow.   

We had a nice tour of the island. Our next stop is St. Lucia.

   

 

St. Thomas

Our first land fall was St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We had 3 ships on island today. The huge Norwegian Escape 

dominated the port and flooded Charlotte Amalie with 5000 people. Our little Prinsendam added about 900 to the mix.    

The third ship was the Carnival Sunshine which brought about 2000 pax. That's a lot of people for a small place...and it does not include the port on the other side of the island.    

The weather was a bit swampy but after the first rain, the conditions improved.

 The flowers were in full bloom, always a treat when there are no flowers blooming at home.    

The bay of Charlotte Amalie on a gray but warm day.    

   

Towel Critters

I love towel critters, but sadly not every cruise line is allowed to make them. Princess used to have towel critters but recently they were banned as they waste "too much time." Rubbish as far as I'm concerned. Holland America, on the other hand, celebrates towel critters.  Their room attendants even put googly eyes on the critter. I wonder what other critters we will get during this cruise?

Yesterday we had a Manta or Sting Ray...don't know which. 

Today we have this creature...we have no idea what it is supposed to be, but we think it might be a flying fish. What do you think?

PS..tomorrow we land at St. Thomas.

Northern Gannet

Meet a Northern Gannet. We saw this fellow surfing the wind and the waves from our balcony. At first I thought it was an albatross,  but after looking at my Peterson Bird Guide App on my iPad, I discovered otherwise. 

This bird does amazing dives to catch a fish. We saw him dive twice...definitely a 10 if he were in the Olympics.

Prinsendam

About 2 PM we will board the Holland American Prinsendam and head out for the Amazon on a 29 day journey. Here's an official picture of her.

And here's a picture of her right after she came to port this morning (as seen from our hotel).

She's the little ship in the middle. She started life in 1988 as the Royal Viking Sun, a 6 star cruise ship. Later she was sold to Cunard, then Seaborne and in 2002 she was refitted by Holland America. Supposedly, she has been maintained as a 6 star cruiser (I'll let you know if that is the case). Her nickname is "Elegant Explorer" as she can sail to places larger ships cannot go. About 1200 people will board her today. As a comparison, the 2 ships by her sides will each board 2500-3000 pax. Boarding starts at 1 PM but the best time to board is around 2 PM, after the first crush. We are ready for this adventure to the lower Amazon in Brazil.

 

Ft. Lauderdale

We flew to Ft. Lauderdale today. After the "assault" by the TSA agent, the day went well. 

There were clouds over the airport, but the weather was warm. We were bundled up for a San Francisco morning and not quite ready for the heat -- what a difference a few (thousand) miles can make!

The view from our hotel reveals a nearby yacht basin. The ship we board will arrive tomorrow and then starts the adventure to the Amazon. Watch this space for pictures.

 

Beware TSA

I'm lodging a formal complaint in my blog against TSA in San Francisco. This morning I was going thru the security check and because I'm wearing my "bootie" I was told to get a special inspection. I did not think much of the request until I had the inspection! The agent pressed down hard on my scar -- so hard she brought tears to my eyes. I screamed "ouch" and she continued to push. She did not seem to pay attention. Later when I had gotten some composure, I told her that she really hurt me and that she needed to ask folks beforehand if she could press down hard on their body. She said she was "sorry" but her tone said "so what." Beware folks...the TSA is out to get you. I'm hoping this is not an omen about the rest of the trip!

Tahiti Blanket

When we cruised to Tahiti in April I made a Teddy Bear baby blanket and cap for our waiter, as his wife was expecting a baby. The baby was born the other day and I received the picture below. Talk about cute!

A little Balinese boy in his blanket and cap. Thank you Ketut for sending me this precious memory.

 

San Francisco

Today we drove to San Francisco, which is never a "fun" thing to do as there is traffic, traffic, traffic. We ran into some, but it was not as bad as we expected. A nice serendipity. We had a beautiful day for the drive. We skies were clear and we could see both the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Rafael Bridge without a problem. 

I could not get a good picture of the Golden Gate as it was just too far away. But you can clearly see the San Rafael Bridge in the distance.   

There are still a few vestiges of the old Oakland side of the Bay Bridge. Slowly, the steel is being stripped from the old bridge and shipped to China where it is probably stronger and sturdier than current Chinese steel. The Bridge of my youth is getting smaller and smaller each time I visit the Bay Area. One day in the not too distant future it will be gone and I'll be sad. 

That's progress, like it not, things change.

 

Sky Blue Pink

Tonight we had an incredible sunset, considering it was a rainy day and the sun never really came out. 

The sky was the proverbial "Sky Blue Pink."

It looked like colorful puff balls decorating the sky.

A very pretty sight!

Fall Color

When folks think of fall color, they tend to think of the autumn leaf display along the east coast of the US. But, there are some places along the west coast that have pretty good displays of fall color.

This is just one of many perfect red trees in California.

The trees are on fire!

 

New President

Last night I watched the end of an era and the beginning of another. The United States of America has a new President. A president who is not a professional politician but a businessman. Donald Trump reversed the tables on a Hillary Clinton victory by appealing to middle class folks by saying the old system was corrupt and change was needed. Mr. Trump now has a huge job in front of him. I wish him wisdom, luck, fair winds and calm seas. 

Election Day

It's almost 8 PM and the polls are closing in California. I'm looking at the results and right now Mr. Trump has more Electoral College votes than Mrs. Clinton. The night is young and much more counting is needed. It's been an interesting, divisive, horrible process. Right now I'm very happy it's just about over. May your candidate be the winner!