Santa Marta, Colombia

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Geo: 11.2508, -74.2061

Last night we went through some rough sea and strong wind that woke me up a couple of times. Although Philip and I had left our Fitbits on the desk, I had to hide them away, because the rolling motion of the ship activated them, and their green lights kept blinking. We made it through the night and woke up before the alarm went off.

The ship docked in Santa Marta by 7 a.m., and Phil got up early to get online and check the status of his class and look for messages from students. He was able to get a lot of work done before we left the ship for the shore excursion.

We took a half-day tour that went to the 16th century Santa Marta Catedral, which claims to be the oldest cathedral in the Americas; the Santa Marta Museo de Oro, the Gold Museum with an impressive collection; La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, Simon Bolivar's villa where he died and was initially buried although he has been reinterred twice since and now rests in Caracas, Venezuela; and the Santamar Beach Resort for a drink and a folkloric show of song and dance. Our guide for the day, Sandy, was knowledgeable and friendly. He did not waste time pointing out trivial places, just the interesting and unusual ones.

He explained about the improvement in the living standard in Colombia over the past twenty-five years. It still has some problems, but no more than many other similar countries. Sandy was determined to make sure we understand that his country is safe. One way was by comparing Colombia now and Colombia twenty-five years ago to Chicago now and Chicago a hundred years ago. Not visiting Chicago now because of Al Capone would be like not visiting Colombia now because of Pablo Escobar. Colombia is a safe, democratic, and beautiful country.

Sandy also said that now any young person could go to college for free if they finished high school and passed the entrance examination. The only cost is to work for the government for one year after graduation without pay. Since most young people still live with their parents at that age, it does not present a problem. Anyone who needs to will take a second job to earn money for basic living expenses. He talked about the problems in Venezuela, just as our guide in Aruba did, saying that even though they have vast natural resources, Venezuela is the second poorest country in America after Haiti.

Since it is Sunday, the streets and sights we saw were relatively empty. There were a few vendors hawking souvenirs at each stop, but there would have been many more on any other day of the week. We met Shirley from California/Minnesota, a solo traveler on the tour, and kept up with her during the morning.

It has been hot and humid all day, and we were tired after the tour. We had lunch at the buffet then spent the afternoon in our suite. Philip finished more schoolwork, and both of us checked email and Facebook. He called the kids, too, to see what they were up to. The next time we will have access to phone service without using the ship's service will be when we are going through the locks. At least, I imagine we will be close to cell service then. The ship has Internet access that Philip has used some, but it is much slower than what we have gotten by using his cell phone as a hot spot. We have 500 minutes of free internet time on the ship (granted with Princess Platinum status), and Philip has used some of it for his classwork.

Only Estelle and Sam showed up for dinner at our table tonight. We had a good time getting to know them a little better. Our waiter was in a foul mood at the beginning of dinner, but he came around after a little while. I don't know what was bothering him. Usually, the crew members put on happy faces, but their schedules can be grueling.

We ended the evening by going to the show then reading and writing in our suite. We have a new comedian who got onboard at Aruba. “Big Daddy” Jeff Wayne was quite fun, particularly for a cruise ship entertainer. Often the cruise entertainers seem to think they should do all the same tired jokes about cruising—old people on vacation, eating too much, being shuttled to and fro without really seeing anything, long lines to wait in… This comedian skipped those relying only on a few old standards. Here's one joke, for example, that he said he got in trouble with a passenger on a previous cruise:

Two boys, about nine or ten years old, were talking. The first one asked, “You know what I saw behind the radiator?” Second boy said, “No. What?” First boy replied, “A condom!" Second boy asked, “Really? What's a radiator?”

Okay. Not the most amazing joke, but it made the audience chuckle. And they continued to laugh and enjoy the performance throughout it, about forty minutes.

Thought for the day: The world is changing. Pay attention.

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