At the end of our cruise

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 22^nd 2011

 At Sea

Today we woke up today and we saw a certificate for crossing the equator in our ship mail box (even though we had already done this 15 days ago). I was fairly excited to have this because now I’ll be able to show people at home THAT MATTHEW BLACK has crossed the equator and I’ll even have proof.

                Today was the big Neptune ceremony so everybody crowed in the Lido pool area for the big event. I took my camera to take pictures so that I could remember this celebration later on.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 23^rd 2011

Puerto Caldera

                Today we docked in Costa Rica. We waited a bit to go off shore so we got off the gangway at around 10 o’clock. We decided to take a tour in a van with air conditioning, which was a life saver. We the tour guide talker told us that if we didn’t see any monkeys on our tour that the tour was free. The tour took us to a little forest type place beside a house.

                There were tones of white faced monkeys everywhere.  Swinging from branches, fighting each other and whatever else you could think of.

                I even got my brother on tape feeding the monkeys, as well as the monkeys having a huge tree battle with each other in the trees.

                Following that we went over stopped at a bridge to see and take photos of crocodiles. I didn`t think the crocodiles were very exciting, because the only movement we saw from them was one slowly closing its mouth.

                We then got back in the van and continued on our way to a little resort.

                The resort was quite noisy from all the sounds of birds. There were so many birds that you could not count them even if they were frozen because they were all hidden in different places, jumping out at you at random. There really wasn`t much to see here other than a church there, which was very nice, and a gift shop, and the natural forest that surrounded the area.

                When we finally got back to the van, our tour was already half finished. We decided just to ride through the roads just to see some of the country side. What I saw there, was a bunch of tiny houses on big giant properties. I found this quite strange. We got back to the ship at around 2 o`clock, and by that time we were completely exhausted from the heat.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 24^th 2011

At Sea

Today was another sea day so we spent most of the day in Club Hal. In club hal we mostly played Mario kart, and a bit of Wii Sports Resort, which is pretty much normal.

At 11 o`clock my parents and I went to a talk about how to change your I.D. in a foreign country. At first I thought it would be about completely changing you appearance. But instead it was more about how to blend in more, instead of looking like a tourist. The speaker explained how you could where the same kind of clothing as the Natives, or not where clothing that are very American. I thought this was very cool.
                I hope that I`ll never have to live in a foreign country and have to use this information, because to be honest with you, I really don`t want to be seen looking ridiculous, in our standards.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 25^th 2011

Puerto Chiapas

In Puerto Chiapas, we saw three things. A cool chocolate processing plant, some amazingly historical ruins, and the city of Tapachula. The first thing I thought when we got to the chocolate processing plant was what a rip of this was. It wasn`t a factory with fancy machines, that processed the cocoa beans. But no instead it looked like a market where people were selling chocolate. Even though the chocolate was excellent, I still didn`t think it was worth it, until I saw the stales up top. They had all the machines to make the chocolate up there.

What should I say about the machines? Well I should say they are basically big pieces of rock that grind up cocoa bean.  But I won`t. Instead I`ll say that the machines, were basically man power, and sun power. First they let the cocoa bean roast in the sun so that they can get the shell off easily. Then they ground up the bean with a big rock. Following that they mix it all up in their kitchen, meanwhile adding sugar and all sorts of sweeteners. The last step is eating the chocolate. This takes an incredible amount of energy from us. (Not really).

Following the tone of energy we spent eating chocolate at the chocolate processing plant; we went to the Mayan ruins of Izapa. These ruins were excellent. They had a sacrificial altar, tones of small pyramids, and even a ball court. They say that the Mayan calendar was created here. The way I see it, if we all die in 2012, we might as well blame it on Izapa.

The last place we went to was the fairly big city of Tapachula. On the drive there I was a soccer store that had a few soccer balls, and some soccer shoes. We decided to go there and buy a soccer ball, just to see that difference between that one, and the ones we have back home.

After that we went to the church that was supposed to have wonderful paintings on the ceiling.  Well the ship information was not one bit wrong. The paintings were beautiful, and painted with much care. Even the altar was painted all over. If you ever go to Tapachula Mexico, this is definitely a site to see.

We went back to the ship then, after having a wonderful day, and having a lot of fun.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 26^th 2011

Huatulco

                Today we docked in Santa Cruz. We got off the boat at around 10 o`clock and we got a taxi to La Crucecita which was the main town. The town was still pretty small, so we went to the church.  The church was fairly nice, with cool step ways leading up to it. The church was small but nice. The only problem I found was that it was very warm in there.

                Following that we went to the weaver’s shop, where we saw wonderful sculptures, pottery, and tones of mats and blankets. It was incredible. After that we took a little walk around and then headed back to the boat in another taxi.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 27^th 2011

Acapulco

                Today we were lucky for our shore excursion because the thing we wanted to see was right across the street from the ship. This was the Fort San Diago. I thought the architecture was very interesting because the fort was in the shape of a star. Also the gate ways and passageways were well thought out because I think it would be very difficult to capture this fort, assuming it was well defended.

                The other thing I really like about the fort was that it had a museum, and the museum was free on Sundays. And guess what, it was Sunday today. On top of that the museum was air conditioned, which was a huge bonus.

                After that we headed back to the ship. On the passage way back to the ship, taxi drivers kept asking us if we wanted a drive back to the ship, when it was 100 m away. That`s when me and my mom got a great idea to start talking French to them, and guess what, they went away.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 28^th 2011

Zihuatenejo

                Today we had to tender to Zihuatenejo, which I was not very happy about. But I`d say it was worth it because we took a taxi around the country side, and I got some wonderful pictures of the ship. And on top of that, it was fun. But after an hour in a taxi, you start to go a bit crazy, so that`s when we decided to go back to the ship. That`s when we went to Kids Club and we played Wii and watched a movie.

                I`m feeling hopeful for our last stop before we get off the ship, that it will be the best of the ports so far.

Matthew                                                                                                                                                March 1^st 2011

Manzanillo

                Our last port of the trip. My parents are sort of happy it’s over, but I’m not. We got off the ship at around 9 o’clock and we immediately went into the spot where the market was. It was wonderful. There were crafts, marionettes, wood burning art. It was great.

                We decided to come back to the market on our way back to the ship. We then continued on, seeing a few statues, a park, etc. Then we noticed a big shopping street. I bought a bunch of stuff like a mini boat in a bottle, some cool shells, etc. It was fun. On our way back to stopped at the market (as I said we would earlier). We bought some marionettes, and a wood burned portrait of a lizard. It was amazing. On top of that he even burned our names into the marionettes. It was great.

                Following that we went back to the ship and went to kids club and watched a movie.

                I hope that I can really enjoy the last few days of the cruise, and that reality won`t come too quick.

Matthew                                                                                                                                              March 2^nd 2011

At Sea

                No. Only one day left.

                Today we went to kids club at 9 o’clock and we immediately decided to have a big Mario kart tournament. It was with all of us except for Lauren. Me Eric, Rene and Joel, in a giant battle for 1st place. The only problem was that we decided to do it in 32 races so it took forever.

                In fact when it was time to go to the backstage tour at 10 o’clock, we hadn’t even finished. In fact we had to continue on in the afternoon. Eventually they made us stop and we went outside to play basketball.

                The only problem with going outside when you’re going 18 knots is that it’s super windy, and the ground underneath you is very unsteady. On top of that Rene somehow got annoyed at Eric her “wonderful” brother and decided to bite him. That sent Eric into a rage so he started pulling Rene’s hair.

                To make a story short, Britta sent them out of Club Hal to go tell their parents what happened. The annoying thing about it was that we only had about two races left in Mario kart, so that was a bummer.

                Tomorrow I guess we will have to start packing to go home.

                I really don’t want to go home.

Matthew                                                                                                                                               March 3^rd 2011

At Sea

My last day on the Rotterdam. Today we went to kids club for most of the day and played tons of games we hadn’t played before. At supper the waiters had a grand performance for us to watch. They came out and did funny dances in-between meals that were really hilarious. In fact in the grand finally the waiters came out with glow sticks waving them back and forth, meanwhile giving us Cooked Alaska which was delicious.

Following that we went kids club where I got everyone’s email there, and we watched a movie, and had a giant pillow fight. It was hilarious and amazing. At the end of the night we were sad to go and I could tell that all five of us kids could have stayed on this ship for another 30 days.

Tomorrow we leave the ship and use our cruise card one last time. How sad that will be.

A long time later

Sorry that I was unable to post for such a long time. We had no Internet connections available.

Matthew                                                                                                                                          February 6^th 2011

At Sea

                Today we were at kids club most of the day. In the morning we had Wii playtime and some wall art to do. Following that we played trivia and we went for a scavenger hunt. For the scavenger hunt we had to ask certain people if they had seen certain places. For example asking if the person had seen Mount Everest, or perhaps the Northern lights. We won of course with a win at the last second. Throughout the rest of the day we didn’t do much mostly Monopoly. Actually we haven’t even finished monopoly so we will be playing tomorrow.

Matthew                                                                                                                                          February 7^th 2011

At Sea

Today we were at kids club most of the day once again. In the morning we played Wii, Apples 2 Apples (our new game of the day). Apples 2 Apples is a game where you have one subject card and everyone has to put down a word card that is close to the subject word to win. The judge chooses the closest card and the judge changes every turn.

                In the afternoon we played tennis, and we had some wonderful ice cream on the Lido Deck.

Matthew                                                                                                                                          February 8^th 2011

Guatemala

Today we ported in Guatemala. We ported at around 8:00 A.M. and we got off the ship at around 9:00 A.M. The first thing we thought was how hot it was. It was sweltering. And that was only in the morning.

                The second thing I noticed was how nice it was there. It was sunny, there were palm trees everywhere, and there were little buildings everywhere. Most of them were made of bamboo, but some were made of cement, but more importantly, air conditioned.

                We went into a little jade museum where there were several kinds of jade. One of the workers there talked to us all about how there are like 20 different kinds of jade, ranging from bright red jade, to completely black jade.

                He continued talking to us for about 20 minutes (about 10 minutes was spent with my dad talking about some kind of energy inside jade and then we watched a short movie about jade.

                This short movie was all about a person name Mary Loo who discovered quarries of jade in Guatemala where the Mayans lived. It talked about how they use to carve jade for their kings with special precision and special tools. It also talked about how they shipped jade all over their empire so that they could make statues to honour their gods.

Matthew                                                                                                                                          February 9^th 2011

Nicaragua

Today we ported in Nicaragua. We started walking through the port fenced area until we came to a gate to go into the main part of the city. There we started going through the streets, (which were crowded and pretty dirty) and started wandering. Our intention was to go to the beach, but it seemed that it was quite a ways there so we tried to ask directions, but of course they weren’t very good ones. We accidentally picked up a “tour guide” named Callo who followed us around and put us on the right path to the beach. As we walked, we saw more and more poverty everywhere. There houses were made of pieces of scrap metal, and their floors were dirt. In fact someone told us that there were 300 children living in the garbage dump.

                We finally made it to the beach at around 1 o’clock and we were just in time to watch a game of Nicaraguan style soccer. The players were all ages below about thirteen, and they wore just socks for protection against the blazing hot sand. Not to mention that it was sweltering hot outside.

                After that we started heading back to the ship. We had a bit of a conversation with Callo. He said that he lived with his grandmother and that his mother was dead, and he didn’t know where his father was. I thought this was sad but then he told us that this was common in Nicaragua.

                After a bit we passed a pool playing shop, and Callo played my dad in a game of pool. He won, and you could tell he was a good pool player.

                Callo continued to show us the way to the ship and we made it to the gates, luckily without dying in the heat. He said goodbye, but we stopped him before he could go and my dad gave him 10 dollars. He called us good people and told me not to forget to email him on March 5, the day I get back from this trip. That was the last we saw him.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 10^th 2011

At Sea

We were at kids club most of the day today. We made a volcano, out of paper masher. We also played Pictionary, and we played some tennis, as well as having ice cream, and playing Xbox.

                Today was basically a usual sea day (except for making a volcano)

                (Oh and I think Erik cheated in Monopoly tonight because he won again).

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 11^th 2011

Panama

Today we docked outside Fuerte Amador, Panama, right where the Panama Canal is. We set down anchor at around 8:00 A.M. We then took a tender 11:30 A.M. and we walked around the marina for a bit. We kept trying to get to an aquarium or local fish in Panama that someone on the cruise had told us about.

We finally asked someone who spoke English and he told us it was a mile away from us. So we walked a mile, but after that we still couldn’t find it. So we asked another person who pointed us into a weird side street. But none the less we found the aquarium.

                I found the aquarium quite strange to start with. First of all the aquarium was situated on a “use to be island” and there were hardly any buildings on it. There were mostly weird domes with small swimming pools for sea creatures.     

                The other thing I didn’t like about was that most (if not all) the sea creatures we saw there, were ones that I had seen before, and they were not very special.

                Even with all those odds against the aquarium, I still think it was pretty cool to go to an aquarium in Panama.

                After that we exited the aquarium and we kept going on our way, trying to find a taxi who could take us to the big Canal. We kept walking and walking, until suddenly we got caught in a huge downpour which got us completely drenched. Being drenched could have been a nice thing if we had been outside in the heat, but no we found a taxi and the driver put the air conditioning full blast. In other words we were freezing to death in a country that is really hot all year round.

We arrived at the Canal Museum (its right beside the Canal) about an hour later. We bought four tickets (even though our tickets kept blowing away in the wind and we almost lost them) and we went inside.

                The museum was marvellous. It had a theatre, a mini museum, a restaurant, and even a view of the Panama Canal. The first thing we did was have a look at the Panama Canal.

                The first thing I thought was how small it was. It was really narrow. I was starting to wonder how boats could fit through until I saw a big cargo ship go through. Now that was amazing.

                The second thing I thought was how slow the boats were going. In most animations and movies they show the boats in the Panama Canal going super fast. But not here.

                After that, we spent some time in the theatre and the mini museum, and then they were closing the museum. We took a ride back to the ship and we got back on.

                After a day like today, I think I’ve learned a lot about Panama.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 12^th 2011

Panama

                Today we decided not to go to shore back to Panama, and instead we decided to take pictures of the city. Fuerte Amador has beautiful sky scrapers, and it is packed with tones of ships 24/7.

                The only thing I hope of today is that the pictures turn out.

                After that we went to kids club for the rest of the day. Today was the first day I had lunch with Club Hal, and to be honest, I don’t think it was that much different from usual lunch with my family.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 13^th 2011

At Sea

                As usual on a sea day we went kids club. Most of the day was spent playing Wii and board games, but there was one other exciting thing we did today. We got to play EGG-BERT. In EGG-BERT you get an egg and you cover it all up so that it won’t break when you drop it. Joel and I did really well but Joel’s egg won in the end. But it was all fun that’s the way I see it (or see it now).

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 14^th 2011

At Sea (Valentine’s Day)

                Today was Valentine’s Day. So for that in kids club we got to go on a scavenger hunt, we made Valentines cards to give to random people. It was pretty fun, an unusual, but still fun.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 15^th 2011

Trujillo, Peru

Today we were supposed to dock in Trujillo at 7:30A.M.  but instead but instead we didn’t dock until around 9:30 A.M. This annoyed a bunch of people because they were supposed to be on tours at 7:30. But I guess that captain was really happy we docked at all because about 15 minutes after docking the captain said on the speakers that cars had put their headlights on, on the dock to guide us to shore. I thought that was hilarious, but I guess not many other people did.

                We decided not to get off the boat right away, and to instead just relax and eat breakfast. And believe me, I had a big breakfast. In fact I ate more than my dad, and I don’t think that has ever happened before.

Finally at around 10 o’clock we got off the ship and we went on to shore. The first thing I noticed was that the whole ground was covered with bird poop. I thought this was quite strange, until of course I saw a giant flock of seagulls pass above me.

We tried to find a taxi but there was only one and he was charging outrageous money so we kept walking, but there was nobody in site. We walked on with a bunch of other people who had the same problem.

Suddenly a car pulled up. He just happened to be a taxi driver. Unfortunately then there were about 20 people surrounding this one taxi driver?

Luckily for some reason he took us in his taxi. Now that was a lot of luck.

He took us to two ruins. The first was the temple of the sun and moon made by the Moche people. I don’t even know why they advertise the temple of the sun, because it isn’t even excavated, and it’s completely covered in rock. I thought this part was a big scam.

But the rest of it (the temple of the moon) was fantastic. They had amazing drawings on the wall. It had tones of mud bricks all piles up super high.

One thing I thought was kind of cool was that the Moche people actually had 5 temples in one.  The first temple was pretty small. But then the second temple was a bit bigger but was on top of the first. Then the third temple was built on top of the second and first. And so on and so on until there were 5 temples on top of each other.

After viewing this wonderful temple, we continued on in our taxi to the ruins of Chanchan. The ruins of Chanchan were pretty good, but not as good as the first ruin we saw. There really was not much to see. Just walls upon walls of mud walls. On top of that lots of the stuff was replicas because the old stuff had been washed away. To make a story short we quickly realized that it wasn’t worth it to be here and we headed back to the ship quite briskly.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 16^th 2011

Lima, Peru

                Today we docked in Lima, Peru and we decided not to go out and explore, and to instead, just rest. So we went up to kids club. At kids club we had lunch played Wii, played board games etc.

                Afternoon kids club ended at 4:00 P.M. Our parents had to get us, and when my dad came he told us there was something amazing on the docks. So we followed him off the gangway and went into the street. At first I didn’t think the stuff was really amazing until we came to one stall. There was a tone of hats that I really liked. And they were really cheap too. When I would usually pay 30 dollars in Canada, these hats were only 8 dollars, which was a really good deal.

                Even my brother liked this store because it had some bears that were made out of alpaca fur. He bought one, and that sent him through the roof for the rest of the day. All he talked about was his little bear. Actually his little Toughy, which was the name he gave to the bear. I don’t know why he picked this name, but he liked it, so that’s that.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 17^th 2011

Lima, Peru

                Today we decided to go off shore a little farther, and we decided to go to the gold museum. We took free shuttle into town a bit, and then we took a taxi to the gold museum.

                The first thing I thought was how different it was. On the top it was an arms museum, and in the basement it was the gold museum. It was amazing. They probably had about 2-3 thousand guns, and about 50 different sets of armour, from many nations around the world. They also had cannons swords, spears, etc. It was a really unique museum to see.

                After a quick break to cool down (it was sweltering there) we hurried down to the gold museum. Parts of the museum were amazing, and other parts were just creepy. For example they had about ten different skeletons around all the corners. And yet in other parts they had pottery and dresses made of gold. It was incredible.

                This museum made my day, and I hope that I will remember it for many years to come.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 18^th 2011

Lima, Peru

                Today my brother and I didn’t do much on port once again, just like our first day in Lima. We mostly stayed on the ship and walked around, rested, went to kids club, stuff like that. But our parents were out on dock again. They bought earrings, cool sculptures, and stuff like that. I thought they were pretty cool, and I really hope they don’t get broken on our way back home in the airplane.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 19^th 2011

At Sea

                Today our captain’s contract expired so we got a new one and we were at sea all day. So as usual we went to kids club. We played Monopoly again, and once again Eric cheated. The rest of the day went as usual except for dinner. We had dinner reserve with a couple who had I Pad’s. Well those were pretty cool and amazing. After dinner I tried to convince my mom to buy some for us, but I don’t think I’ve got here around to it yet. Well too bad for me I guess.

Matthew                                                                                                                                         February 20^th 2011

Guayaquil, Ecuador

                This day was a day for my dad. My dad is always going on about how lizards are going to eat us. Well today, we saw iguanas, and guess what, they didn’t eat us. And guess what else. Iguanas are vegetarians. I thought it seemed weird that lizards would be vegetarians, but I guess Iguanas are a special kind of lizard. We took a shuttle to the park where we saw the iguanas.

                Following that we walked to a big shopping mall that was all underground. There I bought a tone of stuff for a third of the price we would pay in Canada. It was great. Unfortunately, half way through our trip through the mall I had to go to the bathroom. And let me tell you, that was an experience.  First of all there were barely any symbols showing which bathroom was male, and which was female. In fact there was just this tiny Aztec symbol trying to point us in the right direction, and believe me, that didn’t help. Second of all, the bathrooms were disgusting and creepy. The walls were rotting, the smell was horrible, and the people in there, looked like they were criminals. I don’t think they were, but just by their appearance, I wasn’t staying in there long.

                Shortly after that we got back in the mall and traced our tracks back to the shuttle buses, which took us back to the ship.

Matthew                                                                                                                                    February 21^th 2011

Manta, Ecuador

                Today we docked in Manta Ecuador. I learned today that Panama hats have to be made in Manta to actually be called Panama hats, because the originals weren’t made in Panama, they were made in Manta. Then they are imported to Panama.

 Today I was hoping for a little different experience than yesterday. Well I got it. It was extremely hot in Manta today, probably twice as hot as Guayaquil. But at least on our walk to the market there was a breeze from the ocean. When we got to the market it was crowded and burning hot. We bought a few items and then we were ready to leave. That’s when my dad had a “great” idea to buy a Panama hat. Well that that took forever and then of course my Mom and brother had to get one as well.

To make a story short we took way longer in the market than I wanted too, I when we got back to the ship, the air conditioning felt like heaven.

That evening we went to Kids club and we played bingo. Somehow I managed to win all the games of bingo and so I won a bunch of prizes which was pretty awesome.

The Past two days

Matthew                                                                                                                   February 2^nd 2011

8:15

I am now at the Vancouver airport with nothing to do. There are shops all around, but they’re not very exciting.  There is wireless internet but no games (they are blocked). It took a long time to get trough customs, and our bags were overweight, so we had to rearrange, which was quite an experience. We will probably be boarding our flight in 20 minutes. Until then I’m stuck here.

End of the day.

                We got on the plane at 9:10 (approximately) and got to San Diago at around 12:20. We then had to collect out baggage and get on a bus. The bus ride was about 5 minutes, which was fairly short I thought. We arrived at a strange building, but behind was the Rotterdam (our cruise boat). We had to go through customs and security all over again in this building, and then finally we were there.

                The boat was gigantic. It had reasonable size staterooms (where we sleep) and cool rooms, like a giant theatre, a big stage, and neat pieces of art all around the ship. We decided just to eat first (all of us were starving), and then wander. And believe me we got lost more than a few times on this big boat.

Matthew                                                                                                                     February 3^rd 2011

                Today I woke up and I felt sick. The boat was rocking like crazy, I and think I had a virus. I decided just to rest so that I would be able to go to kids club, which was at 10 a clock am. I barely made it, after desperately trying to swallow a ginger pill (I ended up just smashing the darn thing and pouring it a glass, which made me feel even worse).

                When I finally dragged myself to kids club, we found out that there were only 5 kids on the boat. And that only four of those (including my brother) were above the age of 8. At kids club we played a board game named Cadoo. Following that we played Wii sports. I have to admit that I was not very good at this game, since I have not played this game for a long time.

After that we played Mario Kart Wii and once again, I must admit that I was quite horrible at this game and that I have not had much practise recently.

Today was mostly just kids club, ping pong, and eating. Not too much excitement today.

   

My First Day

This is all the photo’s from my first day!

It took about four hours to get to our hotel!

Matthew                                                      February 1^st 2011                                                                                                                                     

                I woke up today at around 7:25. We immediately had to start packing and getting ready for the long drive to our hotel. We got everything packed, took a long good look at our house and said goodbye for a month. We left the house at 10:30 and we made it to the ferry by 12:05. We sat at the ferry terminal for 40 minutes and then we were moving.

                After 2 hours of continues fighting with my brother, we finally docked in Dwanson on the mainland. We drove for about a half hour before we got to our hotel, called the “Sand Man”. It has a 225 foot tall water slide, as well as 21 stories of hotel rooms.

                This was a fairly fun first day of our trip and I’m fairly excited about the plane trip tomorrow.