Pictures from African safari

Steenbok at left and you know this guy.
African buffalo (male) white rhino and giraffe.
A view of the parking lot before game drive.

Safari at Kapama private game reserve

Hi everyone, and thanks for following my blog.  I am home now and this will be my last post, at least from this trip.  After we flew to Johannesburg, we flew to a small airport very near the Kapama Game reserve.  In fact it was right across the road.  It was a beautiful slice of African wilderness right next to Kruger National Park in South Africa.  We were there for four days and the schedule went like this.  In the afternoon at 4:30 go for a game drive in an open vehicle with tiered seats, enough for ten people.  We had a very knowledgable ranger (Devon) and a spotter (Harry).  Devon drove the vehicle and narrated for us and Harry sat on a seat in the front by the grill looking for animals.  Harry is a Zulu and has really good eyes and ears.
Back to the schedule, the game drive lasted until 7:30 and dinner is at 8:00.  At 5:00 am we got a wake up call for the early morning game drive which leaves at 6:00 am and lasts until 9:00.  There is coffee and biscotti served before the morning drive and a full breakfast when we got back.  We spent four days on this schedule and saw an incredibe number of animals up close and personal.  The vehicle was able to go off road, so if Harry spotted something we drove to the animal.  The animals are active in the early morning and early evening, thus the daily schedule.  Everyone rests in the afternoon, people and animals.  One afternoon Dick and I had a massage at their spa, it was heavenly. 
I took lots of pictures of animals and will send them in a separate blog after this one, it is easier that way.  The animals are used to the vehicles and people so they are not spooked by their presence.  The ranger asked us not to stand up and change the shape of the vehicle because that will cause the animals to respond to something different and they could charge the vehicle.  We saw lots of giraffes, they are so tall in the wild and eat off the top of trees.  We saw all of the "big five" lions, both male and female, African buffalo, elephants, leopards and rhinos.  We also saw hippos, but they were usually in the water so it was hard to see all of their body.  We saw wart hogs, jackals, hyenas, zebras and lots of animals that look like deer, such as impalas, kudus, steenbok, and nyala.  There were white faced monkeys and baboons, some near the lodge.  We saw many birds and several owls in the nighttime drives.  All of this was breath-taking and unreal to be so close to African nature.  It truly was a piece of paradise.
We left for home on Thursday night and flew all night from Johannesburg to Atlanta, GA.  The flight was 17 hours but was on a new airbus with quite a bit of leg room and individual TV sets and music, so it was bearable.  Hard to sleep, though and there is an 8 hour time difference from MN. so still a little jet laggy. 
Thanks for taking this journey with me and it is good to be home.
Love to all,  Gwen

Capetown, South Africa

Hi from Africa,
Today we are in Capetown and what a beautiful city.  Surrounded by hills and mountain and located on the Atlantic with lovely sandy beaches.  The Cape of Good Horn is here where ships turn to make the trip around Africa.  What we have seen so far has been a very clean city, modern with many parks and green areas.  Most of the people live in single family houses, so there are very few apartment buildings.  Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent most of his adult life in prison is also located here a few kilometers off the coast.  It is the 20th Anniversary of his release from prison, so there have been many celebrations.  The African National Congress (ANC) is in power in this country, which is Nelson Mandela's party.  While things are not perfect they are much better without apartheid.  We get off the ship tomorrow and fly to Johannesburg for our safari.  Don't know exactly what to expect but hopefully some good pictures.  More later from the bush, if we have internet access there.  We'll be home on Friday.  It has been a great get away and experience but home sounds pretty good about nw.
Love, Gwen

Pictures from Buenos Aires

Tango dancers in Buenos Aires.  They are dancing in the streets and in front of outdoor cafes.  They are so graceful and proud of this dance.

Hello,  We are still sailing from South America to Namibia, South Africa.  We will arrive there on Thursday.   Having never been to Africa, I am looking forward to it very much.

This picture startled me when I looked at it,  can you see the ghost by the tree.  I have been having fun with the staff showing them this picture.  They are from Indonesia and many of them believe in ghosts, and have their own ghost stories to tell.

More later from Africa.
Love to all, Gwn

From the middle of the Atlantic Ocean

Hello everyone from the middle of the South Atlantic where we are cruising from South America to South Africa.  It is day 3 of 8 days to complete this crossing.  We have a lot of things to keep us busy, lectures, music, swimming pools, hot tubs, books, food and the piano bar.  We had a lovely three days in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.  Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, sort of a combination of Paris and New York.  There are many parks and squares including one large park, like Central Park in New York.  The streets are very wide.  One is twelve lanes wide and there is a walking street that is fun to stroll on, with many shops, restaurants and tango dancers.  We visited the cemetery where Evita Peron's tomb is.  In Mondevideo we had lunch with some of Dick's friends.  He spent a lot of time in Uruguay back in the 80's and 90's.  These are two beautiful cities and are worth a trip just by themselves.  They are divided by the Rio de la Plata (silver river) and are close together.  It is the middle of summer here and very warm, even in the middle of the ocean.  I'll send some pictures later.

photos from Antarctica

 Hi again,
Here are a few pictures from the many that I took while in Antarctica.  This is one of the famous "blue ice". 

I thought this one looked like the Metrodome, but it is just an iceberg.

This is a typical rock and ice covered mountain, most of the scenery is breath taking.

 I thought this one is interesting because of the sun and snow in the area.

This is still my best picture of penguins, I cropped it from when I sent it before.

More later,
Gwen

back from a South Pole Expedition

Hi again,
We have spent about five days in the Antarctic region, cruising, looking at whales and penguins and enjoying the solitary beauty of the last place on Earth not interrupted by man, or at least very minimally.
We have been out of reach of both TV and the internet while in that region.  We had various kinds of weather in the Antarctic, one day was cloudless, very sunny and calm, the mountains, land glaciers, floating icebergs and blue sea were spectacular.  We had a couple of cloudy days and one with heavy fog.  We stopped and picked up some young people from the Palmer Research Station, which is a US operation.  The Palmer staff made a presentation about their work and research in the antiarctic.  The lead research person was a young man from Minnesota.  While they were aboard our ship (The Amsterdam) they had haircuts, ate sushi and made use of all of the comforts that they don't have at their station.  We also had a very knowledgeable polar staff on board, an Ice Pilot, to guide us through the ice, a geologist who knew all about the continent and islands and a biologist who knew about animals and birds.  We saw several penguin rookeries (Gentoo and Chin Strap) in the wild.  It is the time of year that they are raising their chicks, so it was fun to see the parents and their babies.  We also saw lots of petrels (birds) who love to follow the ship.  We were supposed to go to the Falkland Islands today and stop at Port Stanley, but the weather and winds were not favorable (in fact dangerous) so we had to bypass those islands.  I took a lot of pictures in Antarctica so I will try to sort out a few good ones and send them along with my next blog.  Love to all,  Gwen

Cape Horn

Hi again from near Antarctica.  After spending three days at the very Southern tip of South America we have passed Cape Horn and are on our way to a peninsula in Antarctica.  When we were in Punta Arenas (sand point) we took a trip to a penguin rookery in the wild.  We hiked in about a mile and saw the Magellan penguins on the beach, pictured below.  We also saw the ones marching from their nests to the beach, they were very close and it was great fun to see them.  We spend a day in Ushuaia, Argentina which is the Southernmost city in the world.  While there we took a narrow gauge train ride through Terra del Fuego national park.  Terra del Fuego (land of fire) is an island owned half by Chili and half by Argentina.  It is a lovely city carved out of snow capped mountains with very colorful buildings.  The next day we got up very early to view the passage around Cape Horn with its many glaciers like the one pictured.  We will now spend three days in Antarctica.  The ship has Antarctic experts on board that give lectures.  All of them with many years of experience.  One is an ice pilot, who plots our course through and around the islands, one is a marine biologist and the other is a geologist.  The latter two have connections to the University of Minnesota, having studied there or worked there.  We are learning a lot about this remote area of the Earth and will appreciate it more after this cruise.  We hope to see more marine life, whales, seals, penguins and many large birds like Petrel.  I'll try to get some good pictures.  Love from the sea,
Gwen

Magellan penguins, it was nice of them to pose for us as they marched to the beach.

Bottom of the Earth

Hi again from the bottom of the Earth. Today we are sailing through the Chilean fjords without going out to the big sea. The seas are much calmer and the view is spectacular. There are large cliffs of granite and snow capped mountains as well as glaciers. Some of the people on this cruise are going to fly to Antarctica tomorrow. It costs $3500 a piece and they have to have their clothing and shoes disinfected. They are very strict about what you can bring with you or carry out. Basically, nothing because they are trying to keep it pristine. Tomorrow we are going on an excursion into a penguin reserve. We will be hiking into a park to see Magellan penguins in the wild. I'll try to get some good pictures.
Some information about the people on this cruise. There are 1035 passengers, 800 of which are going all the way around the world, starting in Florida and ending up in Seattle, WA at the end of April. We are going to get off in South Africa. This is a very geriatric group. Who else could take this much time off and spend this much money ? There is one woman who lives on the ship and has been on it for ten years. They call her Miss Dolly, and she is probably living out the premise that it is cheaper than a nursing home. The single gentlemen vie for a chance to sit next to her at meals or in entertainment venues. I think she holds court in her suite as well. We haven't been invited. The crew are young of course and mostly from Indonesia. They give excellent service and are fun to talk to about their native country. Until next time,
Love, Gwen

Hi,
Yesterday, Monday, we were in Puerto Montt, Chili which is in Patagonia and in what is called the Lake District.  There are many beautiful lakes in the Andes mountains in this region and the fishing is great, they say.  The seafood on the ships menus has been wonderful, most of it I have never heard of but it tastes great... very fresh.  Dick needed a haircut so while we were in this town we stopped in at a local independent unisex hair place.  He got a haircut alright, very short kind of like a marine.  He says he likes it and it was a way to practice his Spanish.  All of the small coastal towns that we have visited have two things, a large "Iglesia" which is Spanish for church or cathedral, and they also have a statue of Jesus or a cross on the highest hill in town.

This is a picture of Puerto Montt with a snow capped mountain in the rear, very typical of the scenery around here.  Sorry about the quality, I took it through the window on the ship and there was a lot of salt water spray on the window.
More later, Love Gwen

Patagonia and the Chilean Fjords

Hi again from the Southern Chilean Fjord country.  This southern tip of South America is incredibly beautiful with snow capped mountains in the background and scenic islands and fjords along the coast.  It reminds me of Norway only a bit more spectacular.  Early this morning we passed through the Darwin Channel which is a fjord.  Our travel guide narrated the passing and she is full of interesting information and history.  During days at sea on this trip there are various lectures and classes that one can attend.  We attended two lectures this morning, one on the political history of this area and the other about marine life and the sea.  We are on our way to Punta Arenas and getting very close to Antarctica.  When we get to Ushuaia, which is in Argentina and the furthest south of any city on the planet, we are going to go on a narrow gauge train ride to a national park and former prison which is now a museum.  I'll take some pictures and send them.  I am having trouble downloading pictures today, I keep getting a message that the server isn't working.  It is a wonder that anything works out here at the bottom of Earth.  I'll try to send pictures later today.  Too bad about the Vikings!!
Love, Gwen

at sea along the coast of Chili

Hi again from another day at sea.  We are sailing toward Patagonia after a day sp on the Island of Robinson Crusoe.  It is a small island that was the inspiration for the novel "Robinson Crusoe".  Off the coast of Chili the islands were favorite pirate hideouts for much of the 17th century.  In 1708, Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was plucked from the islands, having been stranded for four months.  A legend was born and widely circulated at the time and eventually inspired Daniel Defoe to write his novel. 
Today is Sunday and is lovely and sunny outside our windows from the top of the ship.  Tonight is "orange" night in honor of Antarctica and is formal.  After dinner we plan to watch the Viking game which is on at 8:40pm, we are three hours ahead of the Minneapolis time zone.  Many of the football fans on the ship like the Jets from New York and many others are Canadian.  I don't know who they favor.  More later from Patagonia and Antarctica.
Love, Gwen

Valpariso/Santiago, Chili

Hi again from Chili,
Today it is raining so we are waiting for the day to clear and we will take a tour of this area.  The picture at left is from Coquimbo, but it looks very much like Valpariso, hilly and seaside like San Francisco.  A little bit of information about the entertainment on the ship.  It has been very high quality, with singers, a harmonica player, a juggler and tonight a magician.  Kind of like watching the Ed Sullivan Show.  Most of the entertainers have been from Europe with some playing and singing classical music and others doing pop.  There is also a fun piano bar in the evening and the piano player looks just like Elton John.  More later.  Hope all is well with you.
Love, Gwen

From the sea alongside Chili

 Hi again from South America,
After spending two days in the lovely city of Lima, Peru we are now in Chili.  The picture above is from Lima, specifically in front of their famous church San Francisco.  It is about 500 years old and is all about Francis of Assissi and his monastery.  We took a tour of the catacombs underneath the church and walked through ancient hallways lined with very old bones and skulls.  Yesterday we spent the day in Arica, Chili a small fising seaport in the northern part of Chili.  The other pictures are from Arica and an area where natives lived in caves and left pictures on the side of the mountains of animals and people, called geographs.  The Andes mountains here are very barren and solid sand so it is hard to believe that the pictures made from stones have survived all these years.  We will be stopping at five ports in Chili and then head to Antarctica where we hope to see penguins and other wildlife native to the area.  Today the sun is shining and we are relaxing by the pool on the ship.  Love to all,   Gwen

Greetings from Lima, Peru

Hi everyone from Lima, Peru
I feel like we are really in South America now.  Lima is a beautiful city with a lot of European architecture.  Yesterday we went to an area called Miraflores where there is a large shopping center built into the beach area with many decks and a beautiful view.  The park above the shopping area has many painted cows like the one above.
Dick looks like he is up to something in his Panama hat.  Today, Sunday, we are going downtown and visit a famous church, San Francisco, and several museums.  Hope all is well with you.
Love, Gwen

another day at sea

Hi again... from the shores of South America.  Yesterday we spend the day in Ecuador on the Equator, quite the change from Minnesota.  Interestingly, Panama hats are made in Ecuador, not in Panama.  They were everywhere, and yes Scott, I picked you up another one.  Last night the entertainment was a folklorio show from Ecuador, many native dancers and music.  They were very limber and entertaining.  I tried to take some pictures but it was really too dark in the theater, so no pictures today.  Sorry.  Tonight there is a formal black and white ball,  so we have to get all gussied up for dinner and the evenings entertainment which is a variety show of singers, musicians and a commedian.  We have seen each of these entertainers individually, but tonight they will be performing together.
Until next time from Lima Peru,
Love, Gwen

Hi,  These pictures are from Panama City.  We had a nice tour of the old city with a cab driver named Ronnie.  He is a native Panamanian so he was knowledgeable and Dick had a chance to practice his Spanish.  We stopped in this Havana Bar for a cold drink in the middle of the day.  The picture above is of our ship the MS Amsterdam.  It's capacity is 1300 people, 800 of the passengers are going all the way around the world and end up in Seattle at the end of April.  We are only going half way, ending up in South Africa.  We are at sea today on our way to Ecuador which is literally on the equator.  Some of the passengers are going to the Galapagos but not us.  It is a three day trip and Dick has already been there.  More later.

Love to all, Gwen

and a special Hi to Jerry

Panama Canal

Hi again everybody,
We had a lovely day yesterday crossing the Panama Canal.  The ship provided a narrator from Panama who was very knowledgeable about the canal.  They are adding new lanes so there is a lot of construction going on.  Today we are docked at Panama City, Port Amado and we are going to explore the city and look for some local wine.  The picture of the bridge is "The Bridge of the Americas" which is the entry to the Pacific Ocean.  The ship has a rug in the elevators each day with the day of the week on it, so when you first wake up you know what day it is.  Very helpful for us seniors.  Talk to you again soon,
Love Gwen

Limon, Costa Rica

Hello from Costa Rica,
Today it is a very warm 85 degrees under blue skies.  We are docked in Limon for the day.  Limon is a port on the East side of Costa Rica and a town of about 100,000 people.  One can see the mountains that line the middle of this country.  Ticos as the people are called are very proud of the fact that this country is peaceful and has no standing army or any military whatsoever.  Eco-tourism is their greatest commodity.  We walked around the port and saw lots of handicrafts and beaches.  Their common greeting in this country is MUCHO GUSTO.
Last night we were entertained by Doc Severinsen, he can still play that trumpet even in his 80's.  We saw him up close by the pool and he is a very small man,  Tonight there is a commedian for entertainment.  Hope you are all well,
Love Gwen

pictures from Ft. Lauderdale

Hi,

I found some nice person to help me, so here are the pictures from Ft. Lauderdale. More later.  Gwen

second day at sea

Hi everybody,
We are cruising through some rough waters today on our way to Costa Rica. It is warm by the pool though and we are reading and eating our way through this day. I am having trouble adding pictures to my blog and am looking for a Mac techie aboard ship. There are plenty of PC people around but I am hopeful that I will find someone to help me. Doc Severinsen is performing tonight so we are looking forward to that. More later.
Gwen

first day at sea

Hi Everybody,
I am writing this from poolside on our first day at sea. We are sailing by Cuba on our way to Limon Costa Rica. We (my friend Dick Weatherman and I) spend a day and a half in Fort Lauderdale with my granddaughter Kathleen and her husband Felix. We had a great time and caught up on all things current. We had dinner at a fun place called "Mangos" the food was delicious and there was live music. We walked around the ship this morning and are getting acquainted with everything this ship has to offer. More later. Love to all,
Gwen
http://gmarty64.blogspot.com/

Getting ready for the Big Cruise

Hi,
I am at Scott's house learning how to use this blog. Three days to go before I leave on the Big Cruise. It is below zero and this is what I am leaving for the Southern Hemisphere and hopefully some sun and warm weather. More later when I am on the cruise.