Our 115 day World Cruise, day 49, at sea!

Here we are again!  We need to do something different so that I can take pictures and have fun!

After having coffee with Sandi and Irwin this morning we went to Curves.  The plan for the day was to take Vicki's mother to the LazyBoy Store to pick out a new chair.  We had already picked the chair out and put a deposit on it.  This sounded like a relatively easy task....not so!  First we stopped at Quizno's and picked up lunch.
                 

    We could not find the sandwich that her mom likes so we had to get a new one.  Not good for 3 people who already had their mouths set for beef and got chicken!  lol! We took the food to Rosine's and she wanted to go into the community kitchen, which was a good idea.....so far so good!  Still I did not have a good feeling.  Rosine has only been out in the car once since Thanksgiving.  So, off we went to the LazyBoy store.  To begin with, the chair that we went to try her in was sold off the floor.  Not only did they sell the floor model, they sold Rosine's chair that was on hold.....we found that out when we tried to set up the delivery date.  Okay, things are not going well.  We took Rosine over to a larger chair that has the same lift features so that she could at least try it!  Well, at this point it got a bit hairy...Rosine could not stand up so that she could get into the chair...she was afraid that she was going to fall.....so, somehow she must have gained a hundred pounds while we were standing there and I was having a hard time keeping her up!  OMG.she is so heavy!  She told us that she could not get into the chair from the right because she always does it from the left in her apartment!  Okay, I will take her to the left...this worked much better and much to my surprise she lost 100 pounds right on the spot!  lol!  The whole situation is not funny but seeing the humor helps us keep our sanity!  lol!


Today I am going to take you to Nicaragua.  It was in January 2009 when we went on a trip through the Panama Canal.  This is when we visited Nicaragua.  This country is very very poor and its population is 60 percent children.  We went to the sulfur mud pots where we experienced the full picture of the poverty and the children.  This is in an area of volcanos.  The children tried to help the tourist and a lot of the tourist paid the children to help them or like we did they asked the children if they could take their pictures and then gave them a dollar.  The bus driver said it was a good idea as the children had nothing to sell, unlike the children in Guatemala.  One little boy tried to sell me a hand full of dirt.  It was very sad!
                     

        This little boy followed me around the sulfur pots and I paid him to let me take his picture.                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                   

    This is the house on the grounds of the sulfur pots.  I will say that the sulfur  ruined my $25 silver bracelet and turned my arm green!  lol!                                                                                

                           
Where we did not go today.....but the Amsterdam did!

At Sea

We had some pretty strong winds today, 40+ knots to contend with….  Fortunately, as the morning got a bit warmer it was OK to sit out in the sun as long as you got a little protection from the wind.  Tomorrow we will visit Albany with forecasted temperatures to be only 61F when we arrive…. Too cool for me.  Anyway, had a wonderful day outside visiting with my friends and doing a little reading.  Life is good!

 Posted by Jeff Farschman at 8:38 Am

Postcards from Paradise                                                     

Day at Sea February 23, 2013 Saturday

Well, we never did see the rain that was predicted, but it sure was rough, windy, and cool out today. The waters that we are sailing through, the Great Australian Bight, are known for turbulent seas, so it's no surprise that we are rocking and rolling.

There were few folks out at the aft pool, even though the sun was out. The wind was cool, and it brought a continuous spray from the swimming pool with it across the deck. A few brave souls actually swam in that icy water, while the rest of us tried to catch some sun. Cool sun can be deceiving, because one of us got a wee bit too much once again. Nothing that shouldn't disappear by tomorrow. Much more sunscreen will be used from here on out.

Most passengers must have gone to the lectures today, because they sure were not walking the promenade deck. One talk was about Australia's earliest visitors, and the second lecture dealt with the invasion of the European settlers on the aboriginal tribes.

The HAL Chorale group met for practice as they have been doing since the beginning of the trip. Sometime soon before we reach Hong Kong, they should have a grand performance. Many of our buddies are in the group, so we always look forward to going to the show.

Tablemate John had a birthday today, and we celebrated it at dinner tonight. One of our hosts, Tom, also shared our table this evening. The waiters gathered, sang the birthday song, and served up the delicious lemon-filled whipped cream cake. Fun night for all.

Tomorrow we will be in Albany, Western Australia. It will be great to be on firm ground after all this rock and rolling.

Mary Ann & Bill