Fort Lauderdale Interlude

Cadillac Villas, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Noah and I have been staying in a third floor apartment in the Cadillac Villas off Las Olas Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale during the 4-day gap between our Panama Canal cruise and our next cruise, a 7-day run to the Eastern Caribbean.  (Early this morning, January 25th, Noah woke me at about 6:15 a.m. because the street was filled with police cars and a helicopter was flying overhead.  When I looked out the 3rd floor window, what do you suppose I saw?  Roger Stone being arrested by the FBI right across the street!)  Here's our nearly-famous front door:

Front door of our "home-away-from-home"

With just a short time to visit, we've been trying to cram in as much of Florida as we can.  We started off by driving through the Keys to Key West along the Overseas Highway:

Overseas Highway, Florida Keys

Once in Key West, we spent a bit of time trying to locate the marker for the southernmost point in the continental United States.  After a bit of searching, we finally located it:

Southernmost Monument in Key West, Florida 

We also took a (very quick) tour of the Hemingway House.  We had to hurry, because our parking meter was running out, but I'm so glad we got to see it.  Hemingway actually lived in the home from 1931 to 1938.  It was a gift to him and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, from her father (he also bought them an apartment in Paris, a couple of cars, and gave Hemingway $25,000, so he could go on an African safari!)  Even though he divorced Pauline, Hemingway retained ownership of the home until his suicide in 1961 (despite the fact that he married two more times--not exactly sure how that worked).  Here I am on the front porch:

Me on Hemingway's front porch (maybe some of that writer's mojo will rub off!!)

Our docent told us that Hemingway was quite superstitious, and he thought that having cats (and lots of them) would bring him good luck.  When he moved away from this house, he apparently left some of his good luck charms behind, because there are currently 55 cats living on the property, all said to be descendants of Hemingway's cats.  Many of the cats are 6-toed, and we were told that all the cats carry the polydactyl gene, though not all actually have six toes.  Here's one I discovered sleeping on an upstairs windowsill.  S/he wanted zilch to do with me!

One of "Hemingway's" cats--don't know how many toes s/he has, s/he wouldn't show me!

After a grueling day driving to Key West and back, we decided to take it a little easier yesterday while still taking in a quintessentially Floridian sightseeing tour:  a trip through the Everglades in an airboat at Everglades Holiday Park!

Airboat at Holiday Everglades Park (not the one I was in, but a nearly-exact replica)

I was thoroughly thrilled by our visit.  The Everglades are amazing.  Did you know the Everglades is not a swamp, but a slow-moving river 60 miles wide and 100 miles long?  I didn't until I visited it!

The Everglades (spatterdock--native--growing in the water & cattails--invasive--growing behind)

We were fortunate enough to see three alligators.  Here is my best shot (they are not very easy to photograph!):

Alligator circling the boat (looking for a handout)

We also saw a number of birds including vultures, grackles, ibis, purple gallinules, and several very large herons.  I was only able to get a good photo of one of the herons:

Tri-colored Heron camouflaging himself in the Everglades

I wasn't able to get a good shot of any of the purple gallinules we saw, but I'm including a stock photo of one here, because they were so darn pretty!

Purple Gallinule (not my photo, sadly)

After the airboat ride, we went to view an alligator show with one of the Gator Boys (guess they had a long-running reality show on Animal Planet--who knew!)  Below is a photo of their toughest gator wrangler:

Buckskin Lily:  Gator Girl

During the show the skies opened up and it poured!!  We got thoroughly soaked, and though it wasn't technically "cold" we got rather chilled, so it was time to call it a day, head back to the pink palace and get dried off.

To finish off our short sojurn in south Florida, today we headed to Hollywood Beach where we rented bicycles and spent a few hours riding up and down the boardwalk.

Get on your bike and ride!!

After our ride, we spent some time strolling along the sand where I collected some interesting shell and coral specimens.  It was a beautiful day, and the ocean water was so pretty (very different from the darker gray-brown water of Southern California beaches).

Turquoise waters of Hollywood Beach, Florida

After that, we had lunch and headed back to the apartment (through some gnarly traffic) where Noah napped and Buckskin blogged.  In the morning it'll be time to pack up again, return the rental car and board our next ship, the Oosterdam for our next adventure.  Look for my next post on that cruise a week from Sunday, February 2, 2019.  Until then, make the most of every moment!

Talk soon!

Buckskin Lily

Buckskin & Noah Do The Panama Canal

Buckskin Lily enjoying the Panama Canal

Hi, everyone!  I'm sitting in my VRBO rental apartment in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida fresh off a 15-day cruise from Los Angeles through the Panama Canal.  We departed San Pedro on January 7, 2019 on Holland America's Amsterdam and stopped in the following ports:

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Huatalco, Mexico
Puerto Chiapas, Mexico
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Corinto, Nicaragua
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Transiting the Panama Canal
Cartagena, Colombia

Here are some of the highlights of our journey:

In Puerto Vallarta, we visited the Zoologico de Vallarta.  This was one of the best zoos I've ever visited!  Guests are given a bag of food that includes carrot and bread sticks, peanuts, dried corn and food pellets along with instructions on which food to feed the different animals.  I fed an ostrich (it liked the bread sticks the best!)

Ostrich eating breadstick

I also got to feed a giraffe (carrot sticks preferred this time!)

Giraffe eating carrot stick

My favorite was the Japanese macaque, or snow monkey, who ate my entire bag of peanuts!  He took them from me one at a time with his little people fingers!  I was having such a good time feeding him (or her), I forgot to get a photo!!

But the highlight of the entire visit was holding the lion and jaguar cubs.  I was expecting kitten- (or at least cat-sized) cubs, but the lady brought out this half-grown lion who obviously had no desire to be held on my lap!

Irritated lion "cub"

However, the jaguar cub wanted even less to do with me than the lion.  Here is a photo of me attempting to pet it on the head as if it were a little kitten.  About two seconds later it reached around and bit me on the finger before I knew what was happening.  The handler took him and whisked him away immediately.  Luckily, he just gave me a "love bite."  I had a small puncture wound on my finger that went away in about a week!  No scar.  Darn!  Would have made a better story!!

The jaguar cub

In Huatalco, we went on a bird watching tour, and saw lots of birds, including three types of hummingbirds (cinnamon, ruby-throated, green), lots of Chachalacas, and the yellow cacique.  Sadly, they were all too far away for me to get any good photos, so that trip will need to live only in my memory.

Our visit to Chiapas was another highlight.  We walked off the ship and hooked up with a local tour agency to take a 4 1/2 hour tour of the nearest town, Tapachula, as well as the Mayan ruins of Izapa, and a visit to an artisanal chocolate "factory" and living history museum where we met the wonderful Inez.

In the town of Tapachula we first visited the cathedral where mass was in session (I didn't get too close!!)

Cathedral in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico

Next, we visited the market where I got a huge butter avocado for 10 pesos ($1) and Noah got a Chiapas-style tamale wrapped in a banana leaf.

Outside of Tapachula Market

Inside of Tapachula Market

After some free time in town, we were taken to the ancient Mayan site of Izapa.  The site was at its peak between 850 to 100 BCE.  And it is believed to have been inhabited as early as 1500 BCE.  It was not a burial site, but our guide said it is believed the site was used as a center for celebrating the winter solstice due to the alignment of the pyramids at the site.  Here are a few photos of what we saw:

Noah & Buckskin on top of an Izapan pyramid (feeling the vibes!)

Another Izapa pyramid

One of the Izapan stelas

Our last stop of the day in Chiapas was my favorite.  We went to a living history museum preserving Mayan culture, arts, crafts, and chocolate-making traditions.  We were greeted by Inez and her daughter who sang us a song, and then I was presented with a ginger flower.

Ms. Inez (on right) and her daughter greeting us

Buckskin's ginger blossom

We then had a quick lesson on artisanal chocolate making.  We were shown how cocoa beans were originally ground with a volcano rock mano and matate.  (Lots of tasting was involved!

Hand grinding the cocoa beans

And finally, we attended a workshop on weaving.  Under Inez's instructions, we all wove bookmarks from dried palm leaves (here's Noah showing off his handiwork!!)

Noah's excellent hand-woven bookmark!

In Corinto, Nicaragua, we rented a pedicab and had a tour of the port city.

Pedicab drivers with their rigs in Corinto, Nicaragua

This is a shot of downtown Corinto:

Main street of Corinto, Nicaragua

And here's me at the beach:

Buckskin beachside in Nicaragua

We stopped to watch some fishermen cleaning their catch, and I took an (attempted artistic) photo of a colorful beachside restaurant.

Fisherman cleaning his catch of sting rays & shovel-nosed sharks

Colorful restaurant on the beach

It was quite hot, so we stopped to buy a bottle of water.  Here's Noah at the shop door.  Business was conducted through a hole in the steel door.  No one was allowed inside.

Noah buying water through an iron grate (and checking the exchange rate for cordobas on his phone!)

We opted to take a walk through the rain forest while in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  We were driven to the top of a mountain and then hiked downhill for about an hour and a half.  Our hike included three suspended pedestrian bridges that were supposed to facilitate wildlife viewing.  Here I am at the start of our journey:

Buckskin beginning her "sky walk"

Sadly, the wildlife was hiding the day we were there, but we were treated to some beautiful views:

View from the top of the "Sky Walk"

And we did get to walk across the "sky walks" (suspended pedestrian bridges in the forest), so that was fun:

Buckskin crossing one of the "sky walks" in Costa Rica

The best thing we saw was the leaf-cutter ants.  I had always pictured them as much larger (they were the size of regular California ants), but they were cutting and carrying leaves back to their nest (where the farmer ants use them to grow fungus to feed the colony.)  Fascinating!

Leaf-cutter ants in the rain forest of Costa Rica

As we were returning to the ship, our tour bus crossed over a bridge and we saw 10 crocodiles basking in the river below!  They have beware of crocodile signs on the roads!

Beware of crocodile signs in Costa Rica!  Oh, my!

The day after Costa Rica, we did our Panama Canal Transit.  The best part for me was being able to see it from the upper deck of the gym while doing spin class!  There was a hard-core group of six passengers (me included) who were up at the crack of dawn every day to do spin class.  We talked our teacher into moving the spin bikes out onto the gym balcony the day of the transit and doing class there.  Luckily, it was a relatively cool morning and we were in the shade.  So we were able to exercise, listen to loud music and have a front-row seat as the ship passed through the first lock heading east.  (Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so no photos. ( Boo!)

After a day at sea, we reached our final destination:  Cartagena, Colombia.  We once again opted to hire a local tour guide to show us around the city.  Our first stop was the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas, a 16th century fort.  

Noah and the Castle of San Felipe (trying to avoid the incredibly aggressive street vendors!)

Next, we visited the dungeons which were built between 1792 and 1796 and hidden inside the thick city walls.  They were used by the Spanish as storerooms for munitions & provisions and later as jails.  They are now shops.

Noah (not) enjoying the crowds at the dungeons, now tourist shops

Me & my new friend.  (She only charged me $1 for this photo!)

From there we were taken to the walled city of old Cartagena:

Section of the wall around old Cartagena with the spire of the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria visible in the background.

 Inside the walled city we walked along the cobbled streets and admired the colonial architecture:

A street in walled city of old Cartagena

Arched door in blue wall that I thought looked neat

Our guide pointed out many of the city's highlights including a dwelling where Sir Francis Drake lived:

Sir Francis Drake lived here!

The Inquisition Palace (didn't want to go in there!):

As close to the Inquisition Palace as I was willing to get!

The Plaza Bolivar with its statue of Simon Bolivar, the George Washington of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru:

Simon Bolivar Plaza

The Plaza of St. Peter Claver, and it's church with the nifty front door:

Pano of St. Peter Claver Cathedral (couldn't get the top in!)

And, last but not least, this statue.  This photo is supposed to bring Noah two years of good luck.  He could have gotten three, but...well, nevermind!

That concludes this entry.  We are spending the next four days here in Ft. Lauderdale sightseeing.  Then it's onto our next cruise:  seven days around the Eastern Caribbean on Holland America's Oosterdam.  Look for the details of that trip to be posted on February 2nd.  Until then, Noah and I wish you well!

Hugs and Kisses,

Buckskin Lily

I told you this church had a nifty door!!