Ok, I have another update:



Hola Amigos!

I survived the very hot and humid weather in Acapulco yesterday while
trekking up 560 very uneven stone steps to the Palma Sola
archaeological site where we saw over a dozen petroglyphs. I'm quite
surprised I made it to the top, but I did, and the view of the bay was
incredible!

Later that day, I ventured just outside the terminal to visit some
street vendors and found a very old native woman who just kept
chanting with her hands out. So, I decided to hand her a dollar,
because I found her intriguing. She took my hand in both of hers and
began chanting a very neat blessing (at least I hope it was a
blessing), following with something that sounded like "Amen" after
about five minutes of interesting babble. The experience alone was
worth the buck. I wish I could have gotten a photo of her, but didn't
want to disrupt her constant ceremonial activity. On the way back to
the ship, I bought a little pink plastic bobble-leg lobster from a
kid. It's one of the weirdest things I've seen yet.

Last night, they transformed the adult pool deck into an "ultra
lounge", complete with posh pillows, curtains, and some swanktastic
music. I took a short video clip of the ambience and will post that
when I get home. It was like a little bit of LoT right here onboard,
and totally made me miss you all even more.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we're in Puerto Vallarta, where I get to train
dolphins and sealions for the whole day. I'm really looking forward to
all of it, except for the wetsuit part, since I'm afraid my fellow
trainers might try to throw *me* some fish. Heh. ;)

I've been getting my hair double french braided every other day for
only $4 by the Caribbean hair braiders onboard. When I pull it out, it
looks all wavy and awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't figure this out
until we were mostly halfway through the trip, otherwise, I would have
let them do my hair from the beginning, since it's so cheap and makes
it so manageable without breaking my hair like the cornrows did.

Today was MouseAdventure at Sea. I found our packet on our door just
before 11am, and had it turned in by 3pm. The only downfall - we had
to score something in shuffleboard, and I couldn't score a single
point, so we missed that possible 10 points. :( But, it was fun, and
my dad had a blast with it too. We'll know the results tomorrow.

Tonight, we had a special performance by Alfonso Riberio and Joey
Fatone. They were actually really good, and I got some great footage.
They will be with us all the way to Los Angeles, and are doing an
autograph signing in a couple more days.

Right now, it's just a bit before midnight, and we're only 60 miles
from PV, so we're only traveling at 8.2 knots, which is making the
boat shake like crazy, since we're not really cutting through the
moderate swells. It's like a constant 4.0 earthquake almost. But, I'm
very used to it by now. And, I can hardly complain, because the
weather has been perfectly sunny, except for a short patch of rain as
we left port last night.

I'll write again soon! :)

woot!! Thanks FP

I'm not sure why this didn't get here till today but here is DP's update from the 18th:
Hi Everyone!

Greetings from the Magic! It's Sunday, May 18th, and we're currently
sailing off the coast of Central America, heading towards Mexico. The
canal crossing was nothing short of amazing, stupendous, wonderous,
etc., etc. There are no words to describe it, but I do have pictures,
which will probably have to wait until I get home, because I took no
less than 200 just through the crossing alone. In the meantime, enjoy
the photos that I took us through our stop in Aruba. :) I wanted to do
more updates and send more photos, but the internet connections are
usually very sporadic and I can only send so much via photo text
messages.

Right now, it's 2pm, and there have been quite a few sealife
encounters in the last couple days. We've seen dolphins and whales,
and also have had a large flock of birds following alongside the ship,
hunting the flying fish. It's breathtaking, and I've never experienced
so much activity on the seas before. There was even a
waterspout/"tornado" yesterday. Nature is definitely making herself
known on this voyage.

On Wednesday, we were in Aruba, which was surprisingly dry and not
tropical at all. The island is largely rock coral, and is heavily
populated with assorted cacti and iguanas. We took a semi-submersible
craft to a historic shipwreck. It was so beyond awesome! The people of
Aruba are very friendly, and largely poor. The minimum wage is $805
per month, which is also the lowest rent for a one-room apartment. A
couple of us had a great lunch at a local cafe. There were these puff
pastries filled with Dutch gouda cheese that I wish I could eat all
day long. Wolfy and I also went shopping for some tacky souvenirs. At
one shop, she asked the man for a lower price, and he obliged, saying,
"Just please promise me that you'll vote for Obama. We're tired of
this war. Tired of people dying and tired of people being poor." It
was really interesting to hear a foreign opinion firsthand. Anyway, I
ended up with a stuffed rainbow goat on a spring as my tacky prize for
that port. It's awesome! I also bought two bottles of mystery drink at
a convenience store. It is in a soda bottle with a white label that
reads "Nesbitts" with a rainbow and barcode - no ingredients or
flavors are indicated, yet the two bottles I contain two very
different colors. I asked the cashier what flavors they were, and even
he couldn't tell me. It's a little frightening, so I think I'll save
those for my husband to try first. ;)

Our group of 14 are all seated at the same table in the dining room.
We're the rowdiest bunch onboard, and lots of fun has been had so far.
We've had a private brunch at Palo, and we have the best table
reserved for us in the main dining rooms. Our service staff love us
because we're so lively.

Passing by Guantanamo Bay was interesting - through my binoculars, I
could see a patrol boat speeding along the shoreline. The actual bay
was just on the other side of the hills, so there were no buildings or
anything that we could see. Unfortunately, it was already nightfall by
the time we passed Haiti, so I have no pics of that.

Tomorrow, we dock in Acapulco. A few of us are signed up for a hike to
some ancient petroglyphs.

So far, we've gotten some behind-the-scenes looks at the upcoming Walt
Disney Family Museum. We absolutely need a group swanking to San
Francisco next year. The museum is going to be incredible, and really
pay homage to Walt's legacy, without the company's over-marketing,
etc. It's a nice tribute to have something separate from the typical
corporate stuff.

Oh, and for some of the guys back home, there was dancing cowboy
eye-candy last night on stage at one of the clubs. Don't worry - I
made sure to take video. ;)

Anyway, that's my more extensive update-at-sea instead of a tiny text
message today.

Nesbitts !! We have that!! It's boot polish.

Dancing table cowboys !! Woo Hoo !!




(BTW, just joking about the Boot Polish.....)

Well, I'm back.

:)

Just stepped in the door and gotta unpack and get some laundry going before even thinking of a trip report. I'll post some pics tomorrow once my brother gives me the dang USB cable for his camera.

The trip was everything I wanted and then some... seriously I just came back into my room and started crying. What a pansy, I tells ya!

Now I gotta read this thread to find out what happened. ;)

I'm home also.....Wolfette already left to skate with Dan. Tim and I are having some alone time together.

Will have pics posted tomorrow.

Nice to be back home!

Did anyone else automatically try to click the mojo comment on Cherny's post?

DP is finally back I missed her so much.

I am so happy that she is finally home Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am SO tired. I slept for 12 hours.

Now I gotta catch up.

I totally slacked on photos - less than 1,500. But, I have over 12 hours of video footage. Good thing I'll edit that down some. ;)

And, I'm actually a bit sea-sick right now - my body keeps wanting to bob back and forth a bit, and it feels like the room is moving, so my stomach is doing flip-flops. I don't have any problem on a boat, but once I'm back.... ick.