The Beginning
Many folks celebrate wedding anniversaries, which is a nice tradition. Especially for the woman if she gets nice gifts to go along with it. My husband and I just celebrated what we consider is even more important, the 50 the anniversary of our first date. Yup, fifty years ago we had a celebration with about thirty of our friends in a large pub. It was the last day of fall classes at the University of Calgary, and we were very happy to be finished with exams. After many pints of beer to shore up his courage, my future husband asked to take me home. I said “sure” (I might have had a pint or two m‘self). He then said, “but I don’t have a car.” It was -30°C and the snow was deep. I lived about two miles away but hey – he was kind of cute and I didn’t have a car either. It took an hour to thaw out over cups of hot chocolate. By then I was hooked and apparently so was he. The rest, as they say, is history.
Here we are, fifty years later living where no flake of snow has ever landed, in the beautiful Caribbean. We chose to celebrate our 50th with a trip around our back – very far back – yard on our very first cruise, visiting places we heard of but never visited before. It was grand.
The Ship
We boarded Oceania’s Sirena in Miami and set course for Belize. According to normal standards, the ship was small with only about six hundred passengers aboard. It was elegantly decked out for the holidays, accommodation was very nice, and the food was wonderful. Any time you don’t have to prepare your own food is wonderful. So wonderful in fact that we are now dieting.
The Sights
We landed in Belize on a cool rainy day and along with about 40 others boarded a small boat bound for a jungle river cruise. To arrive at the river, we took a 45-minute speedy, wet, cold trip past our present anchored moorage. I shared my umbrella with my neighbor and the two of us hung on tight to keep it from turning inside out as we sped along. Once at the river mouth we slowed down and although it was still raining, at least we didn’t get any wetter. Any promised sightings of monkeys or other large critters didn’t happen. Most likely they were sensibly tucked up in their own shelter. I recall seeing some herons and a lot of iguanas. It wasn’t the best introduction to Central America, but better days were ahead.
Our next stop was Belize Cay, an island that the cruise company owned. There were many locals selling souvenirs, and once the rain eased up, there were shouts of joy from folks bound for the beach and deck chairs. A visit to the bar for the requisite piña colada and their dream of lazing supine on a tropical island was fulfilled.
Roatán, one of the big islands off the shore of Honduras was next. If you leave the fancy port area, which we did, you will be pestered to take a taxi ride, which we did. The chap proved most accommodating and took us to a nice viewpoint and then to a chocolate factory. The chocolate is different from the processed items one finds in our stores. We bought five bars just to be sure we understood the difference and ate most of them that day. Yay!
In Costa Rica, we trekked through a jungle under a cloudy sky that made for a pleasant, cool walk. Did you know that there are many, many poisonous critters in a jungle? We learned not to touch the wildlife after peering closely at little red frogs whose skin natives used to rub on their spear tips to paralyze their prey. Upon peering in a hole, we were surprised by a large, hairy tarantula. I stopped peering in holes after that. Thankfully none of the many deadly snakes in the region made an appearance. The walk featured three very swingy, swinging bridges that crossed deep canyons. The trick was to negotiate them without hanging onto the rails, as the bullet ants that liked to use them as a highway apparently had a bite that was very nasty. We managed to careen across with the others who were also careening. The scenery was beautiful, and we did see sloths in the distant treetops. A highlight at the end of the trip was each couple planted a wild almond tree whose fruit when it matures is a favorite snack for macaws.
The Panama Canal was next on the list. We travelled by train from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast and back and were lucky enough to watch a ship squeeze through one of the locks.
Cartagena, Columbia has a very modern city skyline, but we were interested in the historical area. So were the vendors who tried to sell us emeralds for a suspiciously low price, and others who offered counterfeit money as change.
Curacao’s Dutch heritage showed in the clean organized streets and buildings renowned for their many colors. Apparently, the original governor insisted that everyone paint their houses in bright rainbow shades. No one was allowed to copy their neighbor’s color. A local told us that when the governor died it was revealed that he owned the paint company.
Aruba has mile after mile of sand beaches that make Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach look puny. It also has mile after mile of time shares and condos on it. Being fairly flat, it has no rivers, and the population depends upon desalination for their water supply. The sea is a beautiful undisturbed turquoise as a result of there being no runoff.
St. Lucia was the most beautiful tropical island we’ve ever seen. Its twin world heritage. Pitons still have volcanic activity brewing within. We took a terrifying jeep ride on single lane potholed roads that threatened to swallow the jeep, and that were steep enough to have many of us praying that the brakes had been recently serviced. It was fun. Fortunately, there was a catamaran at the end to take us back to the capital, Castries. The trip ended in Barbados where we spent the night at a very nice Hilton and flew home.
Presently: We are filled with fine memories of people, places, and wine-paired menus.
Future: A diet.
Past: Fifty years now marked by fully lived lives.