Travel with Dale & Margaret

Today was a very (VERY) big day for us.  We got off the ship very early in the morning with an overnight bag and headed for the airport.  On the way out of the port in a cab we were told that we needed a special pass to leave the port.  To make a long story short, we had to go to a security office where they had never heard of this”pass”.  Eventually, they wrote up something and we headed back the security gate where they just let us through without checking our “pass”.  Oh well, we were on our way to the airport, Cusco and off to Machu Picchu!  We took the flight to Cusco where the air is thin at 12,000 feet.

From there we met our private car and driver who took us to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  Next we were to immediately board a train and make our way to Aguas Caliente — at the foot of Machu Picchu!  Then, an overnight stay at the beautiful IncaTerra hotel and come Sunday morning (around 7 am Eastern time) we were to be walking Machu Picchu!  We are very excited — if you haven’t seen it, check out this link with the history, etc.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu.  However, things didn’t work out that way.   After our morning at Machu Picchu we were to lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge before heading back down the hill to take the train back to Cusco where we would overnight before heading back to Lima and connecting to a city just south called Pisco where we would meet up with the ship.

The first leg of our trip would then be behind us — on Sunday approx. 400 people get off and another 200 or so get on to continue the journey down to Antartica and around the horn to Buenos Aires!

So, we got to Ollantaytambo after an absolutely magical drive through the Sacred Valley in the Peruvian highlands…one of the places I absolutely will return to and spend more time taking gorgeous photographs of the landscape and incredible people.  The pictures will speak for themselves.  But, after arriving to catch the train we found out that the trains couldn’t get through because of the torrential rains and the wild river had washed out some of the tracks.  We had to spend the night in a bed and breakfast right at the train station and we made the best of it by heading to dinner, dodging the rain as best we could.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to get to Machu Picchu in the morning.

Sacred Valley Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Sacred-Valley-Jan-23-2010/25154101_VC6Fvc#!i=2062658212&k=Z55Sgfn

We docked in this port (and by some measures a poor) city that, although it is on the coast, is really a desert.  The port area is a rather desolate area with fuel storage tanks, a beach for the locals, third world style housing and a 20 minute drive to the real city in the area, Trujillo.  I took a bus tour that took us to Trujillo where we walked around the downtown city streets past several colonial homes in and around the town square.  The houses were incredibly ornate, had beautiful courtyards and gardens and were wonderfully maintained.

These homes, having been built in the 1800’s by the wealthy people of that era, are either owned by private parties, operated as facilities for companies like banks, or owned by the government and maintained as historical sites.  The last home we toured was a private residence and the owner actually hosted a cocktail party for all of us.  She also took some of us on private tours of her favorite rooms in the house and told us some stories about some of the accouterments in the house.  On the trip home the poverty of much of this area became much more evident after the opulence of the huge, ornate homes we had seen earlier.  The government will actually buy homes for people in a sand dune area to assist getting a roof of sorts over their heads.

When I returned to the ship Margaret was on a conference call so I decided to take a photo trek around the port area to see some of the local’s fishing boats, the thousands of birds on the beach and to just take in some of the local flavor.  Well, after walking through the port area, getting kicked out of the “bird beach” by the guy guarding the fuel tank area…signs were on the OTHER side, not the port side…I guess they figure no one would be crazy enough to go there! So, I took some quick pictures of the birds and then walked all the way around the tanks, down a long, dirty road past local and very primitive food stands and through a gate that took you into the local beach area.  It was, let’s say, very bizarre.  It was like the Star Wars “bar” scene with dirty, very strange people laying around, more dirty stands selling local wares, marine parts and other non-descript stuff.

I made my way past this and finally got to the pier.  There, local guys were giving people rides in small wooden boats with small outboards.  Not sure why but everyone seemed to be having a good time.  Lots of people were enjoying the beach, laying on the sand or playing in the water.  I took my pictures and got the heck out of there…happy to get out without getting hassled. Since it was getting close to the ship leaving I walked quickly back, taking pictures on the way.  I could have bought my way back on the little motorbike taxis but I intentionally didn’t bring any money.  Oops.  Fifty cents would have saved me walking down that dirty road but it definitely gave me the local flavor I was looking for.  I made it back with 15 minutes to spare and was happy to take a shower and ettle down for a nice evening at Compass Rose.

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But, before that we decided to go down to the Horizon Lounge (Deck 6 Aft with an outdoor patio) to enjoy a martini and the beautiful sunset that was setting up.  We met a nice couple there and experimented with porthole pictures.  An hour later we were good friends and, after a couple Grey Goose martinis were ready for dinner!

We lucked out and managed to get a table at Prime 7 (we’re getting better at this!) at a “meet another couple” type of table.  The couple was from New York and, despite the fact that she had never used a finger bowl before (just kidding about that but she really hadn’t) they were very nice.  We had a discussion about one of my ideas for a website and had some fun trying to come up with website names.

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After Compass Rose we headed to the Connoisseurs Lounge and met a guy that I had seen in the elevator earlier in the day.  Turns out that he was on the ship setting up the new broadway show for which he designed the sets.  He had some great tatoos (even on above his ear!) and we had a great discussion about men’s jewelry.

We really have a good life on the Mariner!

Salaverry/Trujillo Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Salaverry-Jan-22-2010/25153320_rGrqdP#!i=2062600404&k=SBf6XRL

We arrived in Manta Ecuador today…the home of the original Panama hat!  Under gray threatening clouds with intermittent sprinkles I boarded a very modern and comfortable bus at the dock for a four part city tour.  Our tour guide was a woman who spoke reasonable English and was genuinely enthusiastic about her city.  The first stop was a museum that was fairly near the port and enabled us to take a drive along the shore and get a feel for the city.  It was fairly modern with decent beaches, some nice and modern buildings and generally nice retail stores.

The museum was a multi-story building that was modern and the exhibits were professionally done although most of the text was in Spanish.  It consisted of historical artifacts, many from prehistoric times.  Turns out that people in this area are some of the first inhabitants of the Americas and they were fairly advanced with their pottery and metal working.  Many of the pieces were related to the work of the medicine men.  There was also a section that had modern art although I didn’t really see the relevance.  A couple samples are in the picture gallery.  They also had a grave site that included a skeleton to show how they would have buried their dead and also how they found a couple buried together with their arms around each other.

After walking around a bit and buying some local pottery items to decorate our suite we drove to a hillside area and parked in an asphalt town square.  There were stands setup around the square selling local wares including Panama hats.  While I wanted to get a hat I figured that the next shopping area would have more choices and held off despite the hat people chasing after me.  We were taken into what looked like an underground parking garage on the outside of the building but turned out to be a manufacturing plant for sisal, the twine-like substance made from a local plant.

One guy takes the 3-5 foot stalks from the sisal plant which appears to be like a cactus and whacks them onto a device that has a number of sharp nails sticking up.  That breaks up the fibers from the stalk and, eventually, after a lot of whacking, he ends up with long fibers that are passed onto a group of ladies who sit at an ancient spinning machine that takes the fibers and turns our sisal yarn.  It is a crazy contraption but pretty ingenious.  It also must be pretty darn sturdy since it seems to have lasted 100 years.  Those ladies were anxious to get tips if you took their picture.  $1 seemed to get the job done.

Oh, by the way, the whole point of this sisal manufacturing process was to make 100% certified organic, bio-degradable burlap bags (they are actually “sisal” bags)!  They are very proud of the fact that they ship their coffee from Ecuador in these bags.  It makes the coffee taste better, breathes better and, once again, is all natural and non-polluting.  Seems we just need to go back in time to avoid some of the problems we have with the environment.

OK, back to the story.  We have sisal yarn which is quite sturdy and softer than you’d think.  It is used in many applications but, in this case, it is passed onto spools and put in inventory for the ancient loom that was around the corner.  As you can see from the pictures, he has hundreds of spools feeding a completely manual loom device that has many moving parts.  It also has a device that adds natural red die to the middle fibers to put the red stripes on the finished bag.  He operates the loom with great precision, having to feed a new fiber cross-ways from time to time.  While it seems that it is a very slow process he can actually crank out a huge number of bags a day.  It really makes you wonder if all the automation we have done really adds much when you consider the labor involved in the computers, machinery and the cost of all that technology.  The bags that he produced were beautiful, strong and is the most efficient and “keep the coffee tasting fresh” way to transport items like coffee.  Very interesting.  Throughout there were children assisting in various tasks. They also were dressed in native garb and were more than happy to pose for pictures in this underground manufacturing plant.

Next we drove to a marketplace that was located on a hilly area of town.  There were a number of shops, especially ones that specialized in Panama hats.  Turns out that this type of hat was really invented and manufactured in Ecuador but Teddy Roosevelt wore one when he toured the Panama Canal back in the early 1900’s.  Everyone took a liking to the hat they saw in the pictures and, because he happened to be in Panama the die was cast.  Ecuador would lose out on all that PR.  But they still retain the status of being THE place to get a Panama hat.  The best ones are hand-made and take considerable labor.  There were some ladies actually making the hats on the streets.  Many of the Regent guests bought hats including me.  I got a cheap one for me (not easy with my big head!), a very nice one for Margaret and the place threw in a nicer one for me at a great price.  So, we are now loaded up with our quota of Panama hats!

The last stop of the bus was, get ready for this, an organic button manufacturing company.  Really.  There is a type of nut called the tagua that is about the size of a small lime and is brownish in color.  They are quite hard and look like ivory inside.  For all practical purposes, it is treated as an ivory substitute.  The company we were taken to specializes in making stuff out of the tagua nut including buttons and assorted knick knacks like small penguins, other assorted birds and animals of all types.  Pretty amazing.  We were taken through the process of how they make buttons from the raw nut and, sure enough, they can crank out a lot of buttons using pretty basic manufacturing processes like a table saw, lathe and a special purpose drilling machine that drills the four holes.  They make a wide variety of buttons in all shapes, sizes and colors and sell them both loose and in small packages.  Now you know more than most people about organic buttons.  See the Picture Gallery for more examples.

We ended the day in the Connoisseurs Club (a fancy name for the smoking and cognac lounge) with Douglas, the Concierge with whom Margaret has made friends.  Good times.

Manta, Ecuador Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Ecuador-Jan-20-2010/25153200_g6Wkgz#!i=2062594458&k=wWQdv5K

Today is another Sea Day and we had a few things to see!  First, we see Margaret working in the room.  She had a busy day on conference calls but she has a good time!  She really enjoys what she is doing with her work.  So off I went to explore what was going on.

We were crossing the Equator today and, well, it turns out that you really can’t see it.  But, you can see a a “celebration” of sorts on the ship.  The idea is to act out “King Neptune” coming to visit the ship to wish us well.  I checked this out and said it was pretty strange and he has the pictures to prove it!

Both of us had some spa time this week — me a facial and hot stone massage and him a facial, deep tissue and mani/pedi!  The major difference with Canyon Ranch taking over the spa is that they finally got a real pedicure chair (previously it was fairly awkward to get a pedicure as you had to put your foot into the girls lap!).  We both were happy with the services so far.

This afternoon there was a presentation for the people that were on the Regent-sponsored Machu Picchu tour.  Since this tour was sold out we had to negotiate our own “independent” tour.  We did manage to get into the overview session that was being narrated by the Wonderful Terry Breen and found a pretty large crowd in attendance.  We learned a lot about what we were in for and got pretty excited about this big trip!  (PS: Little did we know what we were in for at this point).

We had dinner in Compass Rose, finishing off the Magnum that we had started the night before.  As you can see, Margaret has made friends with all of the sommeliers…what’s not to like!

Margaret received an interesting purse holder from her friend Jale before leaving on the trip.  The idea is that you don’t want to set your purse on the floor for if you do you’ll lose all your money!  And, Lord knows, we don’t want to do that.  So, she religiously uses this ingenious device all the time now and it reallly works well!

Today we are transiting the Panama Canal.  We have already crossed it once from West to East on a Regent Cruise from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale, Christmas 2007.  I wanted to get up early today to stake out a spot on the deck 12 for my tripod setup.  My plan was to take time released photos of the Panama Canal crossing — going through the locks and such.  However, I woke up a bit late, got dressed quickly and headed up with all my gear.  The crowd was already about 4 deep so I went back to the room and setup the tripod on the balcony and aimed the camera as much as I could towards the bow of the ship.  We were already close to the first locks, Gatun, so I set the camera for intervalometer mode and set it to take a picture every 15 seconds for about 500 pictures or about an hour and half.  It came out OK and the link to it is below.

Usually the two locks are going the opposite directions.  This time, however, a four masted schooner was in the lock to our starboard side.  It had Russian text on the stern.  She was going the same direction as us, although moving through the locks faster than us.  Turns out this ship has an interesting story and I will update it as I get more details.  After the war Germany had two of these ships that they used for naval training exercises.  Since the US and Russia were splitting up war spoils, they each took one of the schooners and have been using them for their own naval training exercises ever since.  After transiting the canal, this Russian vessel unfurled all the sails and were sailing about a mile off our starboard side.  I have a picture of them in the Picture Gallery.

The Panama Canal was originally started by the French in the 1880’s.  After 20,000 people died trying to build it using a completely different engineering approach than the current canal the operation went bankrupt in 1889.  In 1904 Teddy Roosevelt purchased the French rights for $40 million and, after investing $352 million to dig the “Big Ditch”, it was opened in 1914, closed again due to landslides and the war and formally re-opened after WWI in 1920.  There are three sets of locks with one set of three on the Atlantic side and sets of single and double locks on the Pacific side.  They are connected by Gatun Lake and Miraflores Lake.  There is a bridge that crosses the canal at the Continental Divide where we pass through the Calebra Cut which was one of the monumental tasks required to build the Canal.  You go “up” heading to the divide from the North and then “down” from there.  If you want some more info on the canal check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal.  It’s a pretty amazing story.

In the old days they would hook mules up to the ships and they would pull the ships through.  Now they have very powerful electric vehicles which are still called mules for obvious reasons.  They are on both sides of the ship and it gives a very smooth ride as we traverse the locks.

When the canal was originally built the engineers esimated that the size should be a certain size (research this more).  However, due to budgetary constraints and politics in general, they decided to make the canal significantly smaller. They figured, “why would we ever need to move a ship of that size through the canal?”.  Well, of course, ships continued to get larger but at this point the largest a ship can be is the exact size of the canal locks less a couple feet.  These maximum size ships are, of course, called “Panamax”.  And, they want to make even larger ships.  So, Panama has started a project to build another locks system that will be approximately the size that they original engineers wanted to do.  The picture above shows part of the construction project.  In this picture you can see a drilling mechanism drilling holes at an angle.  They then stick what looks like PVC pipe into those holes. At some point, they put dynamite into those pipes and detonate them all at once to widen the channel.  There was significant construction going on in many parts of the Canal.  Check out the Picture Gallery for more pictures of this.

We have a neighbor, Ed and Jerry who left a couple weeks before us on the Crystal Symphony heading from Rio up North through the Canal.  We had kept in touch via email and it appeared that we would cross somewhere in the Canal Transit!  While we were in Gatun Lake I happened to look out our suite window and saw a cruise ship less than a mile away.  It was headed in the opposite direction.  Figuring this was them, I threw on some clothes, grabbed my D200 and ran up the stairs. By the time I got to the 12th deck the Symphony was abeam us.  I started snapping pictures as fast as I could and sure enough, there on the top deck taking pictures and waving were Ed and Jerry!  I zoomed in a got the picture above.  Continuing to snap I took an impromptu panorama series of their ship.  Strangely, when I stitched them together in Photoshop it appeared that the Symphony gained about 100 feet!  Jerry and I traded a couple of emails and I sent them the pictures.  Pretty cool to get a picture of yourself on the top deck of your cruise ship in the Panama Canal!

The rest of the day everything went smoothly and quickly on our transit and our view of Panama City, including a bit of haze is above.  In the second to last lock I made one more time lapse movie from my originally planned spot on the 12th deck. The afternoon heat kept the crowds down on the deck but, unfortunately, at that time we were only going through a one lock system.   And, the heat got to me as well!

We had a nice dinner in Compass Rose and finished off the magnum of 1988 BV Reserve.  All the sommeliers enjoyed tasting it.

Tomorrow is a sea day off Columbia where we will not stop on this trip.  We stopped in Columbia on the other side of Central America the Regent Cruise mentioned above.   Next stop…Manta, Ecuador.

For the Panama Canal Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Panama-Canal-Jan-18-2010/25153072_j8L3DC#!i=2062582436&k=tBZQzHh

Timelapse Movie 1:

Timelapse Movie 2: