Today was a day at sea so we slept in some. After lunch we spent some time in the hot tub and then went with the group to the movie "Casablanca" arranged by Larry and Cheryl Stamps, our cruise leaders, in a room reserved for our group. It is an old black and white Humphrey Bogart film about World War II days in Casablanca where we visited yesterday. Early in the film Mom said she was going to the cabin because she didn't feel too well. The seas have been quite heavy and the ship has moved quite a bit all day. When Dad got back to the cabin following the film Mom was having another amnesia episode like the one a year ago in March. She was also, like then, quite sick to her stomach and throwing up. We went to bed without any dinner and Dad is praying that she is back to normal in the morning like she did last time. This is quite stressing with so much of our trip remaining. We hope our family and friends are also praying for us at this time so that this will pass quickly.
Thu Nov 24
It doesn't seem much like Thanksgiving here but we are thankful this morning that Mom was doing much better. However the memory did not come back about the events of last evening. This morning we took a tour with the group to see the Island of Tenerife. This is one of seven Canary Islands that belong to Spain with quite a history going back to the time before Christ. It was cool and raining off and on, sometimes heavy, until about noon and then cleared up a bit. Tenerife is north of the equator so this is typical weather going into winter but the island is obviously tropical in nature. It is quite mountainous with a dormant volcano rising to nearly 12,000 feet toward the southern end but clouds hid it from view. We started from the port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
and climbed to the nearby historic town of La Laguna where we visited a number of sites along the narrow streets.
We finished up at a huge market. There one could buy any kind of fresh fruit imaginable, nuts, meats including whole baby lambs, flowers, clothing, live chickens and a variety of pet birds, etc.
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| Baby lamb for dinner anyone? |
From there we traveled about thirty miles to another port city on the opposite side of the island called Puerto De La Cruz. On the way we passed many banana plantations with the fruit just approaching harvest time. We also took a road to a lookout high on the mountain side with a beautiful view of the valley, the city and the ocean in the distance.
In the city the sea shore was rocky and very beautiful with large waves breaking along the beach. Break walls had been constructed to provide calmer areas in which to swim and there were beautiful resorts along the seashore with multiple swimming pools along the beach.
Although we only got a small taste of the island we were very impressed. It would be nice to spend more time here but we are off to Mindelo in Cape Verde.
Fri Nov 25
Today was spent cruising at sea. Early this morning we crossed the tropic of Cancer. We walked the track this morning then spent time in the hot tub and pool and read while lounging around the pool. Mom took two classes today, one in origami and the other painting a small ceramic dish. We also did a general walk about around the ship to become more familiar. The ship is beautiful. The food is good but not as good as we had on Royal Caribbean ships. The evening entertainment in the theater has been up and down with a very nice variety show last night and a talented female international singer tonight.
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