Heather's Cruise Part 2- Canary Islands and Cabo Verde

Thanksgiving day 2010
I spent the day enjoying the warm weather at Tenerife on the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are to Europe as Hawaii is to the U.S.A. Mom and I decided to spend our 6 hours on the island at the European version of Sea World called "Loro Parque." I have lots of pictures of dolphins, seals, and orca whales, along with all the exotic zoo animals. They had the nicest penguin exhibit I have ever seen. We also had the pleasure of sitting in the front row in the "NO-splash zone" during the orca show. It was so exciting to be so close to the whales.

Mom and I really like this sort of stuff and had a really fun day. Our tour guide on the bus was very knowledgeable about the island and told us lots of interesting facts on the drive to the park(in no less than 5 different languages). Such as.. there are no canary birds on the islands. The word canary comes from the word dog (in which language I am not sure). The islands use to have a special type of wild dog on them. Also there are like 13 climate zones on the island due to the height of the volcano. The mountain range in the middle of the ocean stops the humid air and creates a tropical zone where they grow bananas. The banana plantations get their water form the mist that covers the islands daily. They do not have irrigation.The people do not built their houses higher than 3,000 feet elevation because they do not have indoor heating. Just a few little tidbits of information to add to your brain.

This is a shot of the volcano. It has not erupted for 102 years.

So while I was enjoying the tropical climate on Tenerefe, Tracy was at home swearing at me under his breath for not getting the outdoor faucet fixed before winter (like he had asked me a dozen times). He was calling a repairman on Thanksgiving morning to come repair the ruptured water line in the wall. The kids also got out of school all week due to snow and then  the Thanksgiving holiday.

That night we had an incredible sunset with every color of red/orange possible. It is very peaceful to sit out on deck and behold such a sight!

Friday November 26, 2010 Day at Sea

Started the morning at 7am and went for a 3 mile jog around the little tiny track on the 13th deck( probably 30 laps or something like that). Then I layed out in the sun for an hour till mom got up and we went to breakfast. Spent the rest of the morning playing Yahtzee with some new friends, then had lunch with 4 Italians. One gentleman spoke fairly good English and helped us all to communicate. He use to work for an aerospace company and had been to the Boeing plant in Seattle several times. We talked about religion and Italy and had a nice conversation.  We have met all kinds of interesting people.

After lunch I went to a fireside by Brother and Sister Wallace about their mission in Mozambique. Although it is in Africa, it was a Portuguese colony at one time, so they speak Portuguese now. So the language Brother Wallace learned a a young man on his mission to Brazil, led him to be called as the first Mission president in Mozambique, Africa. It was very humbling to see their pictures and hear the stories of the people there.  I started getting a little homesick today, but staying busy helps keep the sadness at bay.

Saturday November 27 Cabo Verde Islands

The small city of Mendelo as we come into port.

What a great day!! There is nothing to speak of here in terms of great buildings, or famous places, but the people here were fascinating to me.

We were met by several of the local Elders from the small branch here. They took us to their humble little chapel and then drove us around the island for a quick tour.

This was the only place I was able to go snorkeling during my entire trip. We went to a little cove, away from the city where there was a little beach. I asked the guides if there were any sea creatures I needed to be careful of in the water and he said "No it is very safe.". Then I overheard the other guide telling everyone the government had brought in a bunch of rocks to make a breaker in the mouth of the cove so sharks could not come in.

I just loved these beautiful little boats. The landscape was varying shades of brown, but the people made up for it in the colors they painted everything. This is also where I went swimming.

 While I was snorkeling I kept telling myself "there are NO sharks, there are NO sharks...."

Unfortunately we only had 30 minutes to swim, but I had so much fun in those short 30 minutes!

Here is a typical street in the town.

Guys playing soccer on a dirt field.

I just loved the color of these houses! My living room is actually about that light blue color in the middle:)

Here is a painting of the little island. We started from Mendelo and drove about 20 minutes to Baia das Gatas. It was a very fun afternoon. We went to one little souvenirs shop and got some great little mementos. . It is a very primitive little city, but that is what made it feel so charming.

After leaving Cabo Verde we said goodbye to the coast of Africa, and started across the Atlantic. We had 3 days to relax and play on the ship before we would reach South America. Our first day crossing was Sunday. We were busy going to church and had a fireside and a formal dinner that evening. Here is a picture of my gastronomical seafood delight. 

It was a little creepy to have my dinner looking at me, but it tasted OK if you just didn't think to hard about it. The next day started out great. I woke up early (as usual), jogged a few laps and rode the bike in the gym. By the time I got up on deck to soak up some sun it was 9:20am. We got settled into our deck chairs, and by 9:50 the sky had darkened and it started to rain:( Not just a drizzle, but a downpour, and it remained cool and coudy the rest of the day

I was sooooo disapointed!! I was in the middle of the atlantic Ocean, headed to the equator,

 I WANT TO SOAK UP SOME SUN!

Tuesday November 29, 2010

The day I sailed over the Equator!

Now this was a glorious day of sunshine. I laid on the deck from 7:30 am till 1:30 pm and finally got myself a sunburn:) Around noon got blessed by King Neptune and rode the waterslide a few times. I was misinformed about the Baptism by King Neptune (because I could not understand the Italian party planners) and missed out on being smothered in pudding and pureed "whatever it was", and so I just watch happily as a bunch of other saps jumped into the food sewage in the pool. It was really gross!

Here I am with King Neptune and my friend Larry Stamps. He was much braver(or just more foolish) than I and he did end up jumping into the pool of grosseness. It was the best day of fun at sea the entire trip.

 

Heather's Cruise Part 1- Italy to Casablanca

My husband was so gracious to let me leave for 3 weeks(Nov. 18-Dec. 9th, 2010) on a cruise with my Mom. It is a long story to tell, but if you are interested here are a few of the highlights.

November 19th, 2010 - After 23 hours of travel(Seattle to Chicago, then to Brussels, then to Milan, Italy) I woke up, looked out the airplane window and saw a magnificent view of the Italian Alps. I can't believe I almost missed them.

We stayed the night in Milan, then got up early to have a quick look around Milan before going to Savona to get on the ship. I would love to come back and live in Italy for a year or two. Here is our first glimpse of  the ship the "Costa Fortuna".

The boarding process took 2 hours, but we were patient, and ended up getting on with the very last dozen of passengers. We somehow found our cabin(mostly by luck), then quickly went to the top deck as the ship left the harbor. It was a little anti-climatic (not like the Love Boat) and it was dark, but Mom and I took pictures of each other and waved goodbye to Italy.

                                                          Sunday Nov. 21, 2010

We spent the day at sea traveling towards Spain. We had sacrament meeting with the other 80 Mormons in the tour group and spent the afternoon getting to know each other. That night was the formal Gala Dinner and we all dressed up for dinner and put on our "bling". We are assigned a table in the restaurant for dinner and became great friends with our companions.

I'm showing off my dinner of duck with mashed potatoes. The lady behind me is Sister Kay Wallace.

Monday Nov. 22, 2010

Malaga, Spain

After a good nights sleep I got up at 8am to go exercise at the gym. I tried to run on the treadmill, but with the rolling of the ship and watching the waves out the front window, I soon started feeling seasick. I opted for the stationary bike and did just fine. A little Brazilian lady was leisurely riding the bike next to me and started talking to me non-stop in Portuguese. I figured out she thought I was riding much too fast. My new friend, Cleonice, was next to us and she told me the woman was concerned I would hurt my heart to breath so hard. I tried to tell her I was young and had a strong heart, but she said back that she was 72 and also had a strong heart. She continued to yak on and on in Portuguese for nearly 15 minutes. It was very funny. She was sincerely concerned about my exercise habits and was not to be deterred from being my personal trainer. I ended up just talking back to her in English and just kept smiling. She really made me laugh. 

We spent the afternoon in Malaga, Spain. Here are a few pictures of the sites.

This is a few of my new best friends in front of the Cathedral.

Me, Dora Mae, Mom, and Carol. Carol and Dora Mae are sisters and they live near each other in St. George, Utah. We had a lot of fun together over the next 3 weeks playing card games and laughing.

Mom talking to the carriage horse.

This is Alf Gunn and my mom as we re-boarded at Malaga. Alf is from Gig Harbor and was our tour guide. He lives in my Stake and was the man who invited me to join the cruise.

Self portrait of me and the city of Malaga. I enjoyed Malaga because I could actually somewhat communicate with the people in my limited Spanish. I was even able to ask a lady on the street for change for the pop machine.

November 23,2010

Casablanca, Morocco

WOW, how to describe Casablanca! Exciting, eye-opening, culture shock, fun, tiring, too many stops to big fancy buildings for the King, and WONDERFUL!

I was a little nervous about going into an Arab city, just because of all the safety warnings everyone was talking about, but was anxious to see a new culture.

Here I am on deck at sunrise as we pulled into the port at Casablanca. In the background is the King Hassam II Mosque.

Here is a glimpse of a woman walking across the gigantic courtyard of the mosque.

Pictures can not capture the scope of this building. It was built in 2002(?) and took 5 years to complete with builders working 24 hours a day. It is the second largest Islamic mosque in the world.

Just inside the entrance hall. They gave us bags to carry our shoes while inside the main prayer hall.  

Our tour guide was very polite and spoke very clear English. I enjoyed learning about the Islamic religion.

This is the second lower level in the mosque. It is called the oblation room. It is where everyone must preform a ceremonial wash before coming to prayer(or something like that).

The third level down is the washing room. It was more like a pool people could walk into. The tour guide joked it was nice "like a spa" to come relax at the mosque.

This is a close up of some of the detailed carvings on the walls. After visiting the mosque we drove through Casablanca past government buildings and such. Then we stopped at a local handy-craft market /souvenir shop.

 Outside the shop my Mom had her picture taken with traditional water bearers. These guys would traditionally sell water to people. Now they sell pictures. If you get your picture taken you have to pay them a few dirham(dollars). They are persistent on collecting too.

The shop was really fun, but we only had about 30 minutes to shop. As you walk in there were shelves of copper goods and ceramics

This guy was decorating tin plates. He stamped any design you wanted by hand.

I did not get to see very much in the shop because I got distracted by the beautiful leather coats. I spent my whole time trying to dicker down an Arab to sell me the most amazing, orange colored, goat leather jacket. I was happy to strike a bargain for $150 US dollars instead of his original asking price of $220.

 It was a huge splurge, but I will treasure this jacket for the rest of my life, and always remember Casablanca when I wear it. Don't I look good?

Next we drove about an hour to the the Capital city of Rabat, where we stopped for lunch a local restaurant. It was a small (what I call a "whole in the wall") place and very authentic. I was having a fantastic time just soaking in all the differences and living in the moment. It was funny to see the culture shock on some of the other faces though. People were confused about what to order and some seemed a little uncomfortable.

I decided to just pick something off the menu. The funny thing was they actually had menus printed in French. I don't speak French, but could pick out a few words enough to know I was ordering chicken with citrus. This is what I ended up getting "Tagine de Poulet aux Citrons". Accompanied with a warm bottle of coke and fresh bread. The Piggy was my companion through the whole trip. The kids started a new tradition that it travels with Tracy when he is away from home, so I had to bring it with me too.

After lunch we stopped at the King Mohammad's Palace. This is as close as the guards would allow us to the front gate.

Then we stopped at the Mausoleum of King Mohamed V and his son King Hassam II. Our guide kept re-enforcing the idea that they were very good and great kings, but one of the guys in our group lived in Casablanca in 1970 while serving in the Navy, and he told us some stories that he witnessed that could prove otherwise.

King Mohamed V.

Guard outside the mausoleum.

Crazy tourists.

It was here I finally got to use the public facilities! I found it all very exciting to do as the natives, but most people just call me nuts.  Oh, and don't forget to either bring your own paper, or else tip the attendant on the way in.

Our next stop was to the walled city in the right background of this picture above. I don't remember the name, but it was a very old place that had little allies wandering in every direction. I actually got separated from the group, and nearly got lost inside. We only spent a half hour here, and I could have spent the entire day.

There were little shops and street musicians playing for the tourists. I took a wrong turn and ended up at the wall overlooking the coast. It was amazing, but I knew if I got lost I could be in there for hours. I decided to just follow the crowd till I came to a side street with a small door at the end. I followed the prompting of the Spirit to turn here and was relieved to find my group just around the corner.

I love this picture of the local men sitting around playing what  appears to be checkers and chess.

By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and we needed to start our way back to the ship. This is the proof I was actually there. Bye Casablanca!!!!



Erica's broken finger

We finally had our first broken bone with one of our kids. The week before Christmas, Erica went to a birthday party at the local "Bounce House" gym. She was not even doing anything crazy, but landed on her hand just wrong and snapped the pinkie finger of her right hand at the base on the growth plate. Due to the proximity of the growth plate we had to go to the pediatric orthopedics in Tacoma to get it evaluated. We first tried to just give her oral Morphine and Versed to make her sleepy, but after 2 attempts and a little screaming, she ended up getting an IV and being put to sleep temporarily with propophal (yes, Michael Jackson's sleeping drug of choice). Then after 2 more attempts the doctor finally got it back into alignment. She woke up with a little buzz and quite enjoyed the experience.

I know it is only a finger, but it still looks really awesome on the x-ray.

The good news is it healed very nicely and she should not have any growth plate issues to worry about.

Here is a funny clip of Erica after waking up. Her mind is still in slow motion.

Christmas 2010

We had a great, low key Christmas this year. Tracy's brother Trent, and his family, came to share it with us from Pocatello. The kids and adults had fun playing all kinds of games with each other. Here are a few of our favorite things this Christmas.

Tracy's new board game.

Megan's disbelief at a new netbook(for homework of course).

Josh's new card game. He begged for it!

Heather's new toy. Now there is no excuse not to learn how to make bread.

Erica's pogo stick. She has asked for one for 3 years, so Santa finally gave in.

Erica trying out her new pogo stick.

Here are Jordan, Monica and Preston opening some gifts.

In the background is proof Trent and Viona were here.