We began our Christmas cruise heading to Cartagena, Colombia in South America. This was the first cruise that I had a chance to sign up for some tours, which is a nice thing to do, especially in ports where you don't really have a major agenda or don't know what to do, a la Cartagena. I was put on a walking tour going through the old town of Cartagena, which turned out to be really excellent. Colombia was incredibly hot and humid on this day, but between our bus and the shade of the walk, we were fine. Our first stop on the tour was a giant fortress that was built centuries ago and sits on the sea, up on a huge hill. We went to a market with some local handicrafts and then we started our walk through the streets of old town. It was a beautiful and colorful town with cobblestone streets and flowers covering the buildings. There were so many people trying to sell things along the way, it almost made me sad, but it really was a beautiful town. Around one lush, green park square we went to a museum about the inquisition and another that held beautiful gold and jade from the area.
While we were in the gold and jade museum there was a small incident with our local tour guide. His name was Ronald and he was nice as can be. A little bit of an older man with decent English, Ronald wanted to make sure everything was going just as planned on tour. We were wearing individual listening devices to hear him speaking into his little microphone along the walking tour so he wouldn't have to shout and all was going according to plan. At one point in the museum we were about to watch a video, but had to wait a couple minutes to enter the viewing room. There were restrooms right there, so Ronald suggested that anyone who needed to should go and use them. I had already walked that way and was in the bathroom when I heard Ronald walk in. I didn't just hear Ronald walk in acoustically, though. I realized I was hearing Ronald walk in through the earphones still in my ears. His microphone was still on. He said, "Tripp- do you think it's going well?" I tried to respond quickly and with as much urgency as possible, knowing that all the guests were sitting right outside the bathroom listening to this entire conversation. "Yes, Ronald. But I can hear you still!!" Ronald obviously didn't get the gist of what I was trying to tell him. "You having fun?" I knew the inevitable was coming, but I tried a quick warning again. "Yes- Ronald. Wait. You have to turn off-" There it was… the sound of Ronald urinating was amplified into my ears and I knew there were 30 guests that were having the same strange, intimate experience as me. What could I do? "Ronald- your microphone is on." He said, "Oh sorry about that." And finished his business before finally turning it off. I walked out of the bathroom and just stood in the hallway for a second, wanting to avoid the looks from the guests, but there was no avoiding it. I did let Ronald go out first, though, knowing his shame would be even greater than mine. What a mess!
The main draw of this cruise for passengers was that the ship was crossing through the Panama Canal. I have heard from family that this was a really unique experience and one not to be missed. The morning we were crossing I woke up early to get out on the open decks for the first set of locks. It really was amazing to watch the machinery and the steps to get this giant ship through the canal. There was another cruise ship right in front and to the side of us going through the locks, so it was cold to watch them and follow behind the same way. Our ship felt like it was hardly going to fit, but of course it did. The engineering behind the whole thing was just amazing. I watched the first set of locks and was able to catch the last two locks later in the afternoon. I loved watching the giant hydraulic doors shutting and seeing the water rise or fall, slowly moving these massive vessels through a place in the world that used to be only land. How incredible that someone looked around and thought, "You know what we need to do? Just dig a ditch with some water elevators and connect the two largest oceans in the world together. That seems like a normal idea!" It really was a cool experience and I can't wait to learn more about the canal and how it was built.
This was the Christmas cruise, so you know it was busy with the Christmas show, caroling around the ship, etc. All of the entertainment events went very well, thank you for asking. But that still didn't really inform me what my Christmas day was going to be like. We were heading to Costa Rica that day and on Christmas Eve as we were sailing I got word that I was going to be going on a zip-lining tour. I zip-lined for the first time this summer for my birthday. My parents took me and we had so much fun flying over Red River Gorge. It was one of my favorite memories with them and I was glad to do it again. It definitely made me think of them throughout the day. I went with over 30 guests out to the JUNGLE of Costa Rica and we got harnessed up and drove up a mountain to start the tour. It was quite an operation with 13 lines crisscrossing through the canopy where you could spot tons of butterflies and lizards. The tour guides were great and very skilled at keeping everyone moving. We would be standing on these tree platforms hundreds of feet in the air and I couldn't believe the views down into the valley. You could see coffee growing and at some spots you could see the ocean while you were perched in a tree. We were high enough up in the trees that most of the time I couldn't see any ground below us among the lush green foliage.
At one spot on the tour one of the guides was setting me up on the next line and said, "Do you want to go upside down?" Well I didn't want to wonder what he meant or pass up on an opportunity to fly upside down in the jungle, so without thinking much I just said, "Sure!" He harnessed me a little differently and then instructed me to flip my feet up onto each side of the gear where the line ran. I was holding myself upside down and he just said, "Ok- let go." I was so confused. "Let go of what?!" He told me to let go of my arms. I was still at least holding on to the ropes of my harness, but I didn't need to. He let me go and I started flying just hanging feet over my head, arms out wide. I looked up and couldn't believe I was doing it, but when I looked down I had a real surprise. I saw my shadow zooming across the canopy of the trees. It was a Peter Pan moment. I loved seeing my shadow waving and flying over the trees. It was so cool!
The day in Costa Rica ended with both feet back on land and I was able to make a quick FaceTime call home to Kentucky where mom and dad were recovering from a full day of activities. After hosting 20-ish people for Christmas brunch, they almost looked like they had been zip-lining around the jungle all day, too! Ha ha! I never thought I would celebrate Christmas this way. It was a very different Christmas than what I'm used to, but I survived without the cold and the festivities and the family and being away from home. You know, many years ago the big Christmas celebration happened in a different way than one may have thought, too. It happened in a way that wasn't comfortable or expected. It happened to a family far from their home. They weren't in a nice home that day. It happened even though they weren't with all their loved ones. But it happened, praise God. This Christmas I was able to reflect on Christmas in a different way, but it was still a time to celebrate the greatest gift the world has known.
Blessings to you in the new year. 2014 is going to be an exciting time.
Tripp
1 comment:
you write so well. love you.
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