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The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Three

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December 3 (Saturday, Day 8, Devil's Island, French Guiana; €1 = $1.32; $1 = €0.76) -

Snookums woke up at 9:55 and decided to run to Neptune Lounge for a sunshine parfait (minced, and NOT diced, cantaloupe topped with yogurt and granola) mixed with fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries). She thought the breakfast items were taken away at 10 AM in Neptune, but she found out it's served until 10:30. She ate her yogurt mixture on the verandah and read her book. Filbert woke up and visited Neptune Lounge, too, but didn't know Snookums was on the verandah and he ate his oatmeal inside and then returned to the cabin.

Filbert saw a hammerhead shark from the cabin and another fish that he managed to photograph.

Fish

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Two

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December 1 (Thursday, Day 6, Castries, St. Lucia; 1 XCD = $0.37; $1 = 2.70 XCD) -

Filbert set the alarm for 6 AM since we wanted to be off the ship as soon as it docked at 8 AM. Our plan was to snorkel on our own since the ship didn't offer any snorkeling shore excursions. Neptune Lounge opened at 7 AM and we were ready before that so were enjoying the view from our balcony at the very front of the ship when we saw dolphins. The pod of five or six dolphins finally left and then we went to breakfast.

Police academy, St. Lucia

After waiting for the ship to clear customs, we finally got off around 8:30 AM and found out that a taxi ride to the one snorkeling place would take 90 minutes each way and cost $100 total. We found one boat company that was going to the same place and it was going to leave at 10:30 and return at 3:30 for $100 total (plus lunch on your own) but the boat looked like a little motor boat with very little shade so we decided to pass.

We returned to the ship to drop off all of our snorkel gear and then took the water taxi ($5 per person, round-trip) from our dock to the city directly across the harbor. It wasn't that far to walk, but since it was so hot and humid we decided to save our legs for the actual walk in the city rather than the walk to and from the city. We walked by lots of sidewalk vendors selling things to the locals (clothing, soap, sidewalk bars, sidewalk “cafes”, etc.) and wandered in two grocery stores and Filbert bought the local Piton beer (3 bottles for $3.10 which was much cheaper than yesterday). We also found the central plaza/park named for one of the two Nobel prize winners from St. Lucia. We saw a class of police recruits learning how to be a traffic cop, too.

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part One

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November 26 (Saturday, Day 1, Flying to Ft. Lauderdale) -

The cruise itinerary

We left home around 8 AM and it was raining but around 55 degrees which is just about unheard of for Kansas City in late November. We've flown out in ice storms before during this time of year. We ended up in Ft. Lauderdale without any hassles. Our Southwest flight was mostly full, but we managed to keep an empty middle seat between us. And, a Southwest pilot and flight attendant and 14 of their family and friends were passengers on the flight in order to go to the wedding of the pilot and flight attendant. It was a happy flight!

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, Holland America Prinsendam

November 26–December 21, 2011

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011 (from Holland America)

The Amazon (from Holland America)

This is the table of contents for the online version of our trip journal. Here are the chapters:

Part One - To St. Bart's

Part Two - St. Lucia

Part Three - Devil's Island, Macapá

Part Four - Santarém, Boca da Valeria

Part Five - Manaus

Part Six - Manaus, Parintins

Part Seven - Alter do Chão, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Aruba

For that matter, are you sure YOU aren't a Marxist?

Watch these two (admittedly rather dry) YouTube videos, then go into your bathroom, look at yourself, and answer the question.






The totalitarian "progressives" are trying to make the words "socialist" and "Marxist" as taboo as the word "nigger." There is a reason that they are doing this (and, for the record, I think that the "n" word probably should be taboo in almost every context (except, perhaps, comparative ones such as this). The "s" word and the "M" word most definitely should not.)

Videos via Ace of Spades HQ

Obama Administration Ministry of Truth agency "Media Matters for America" did indeed, it would seem, coordinate with the Obama White House and create an Enemies List of (perceived) conservative media and political figures to target with "opposition research".

Not that there's anything wrong with that, because "MMfA" are "progressives," you see. And they care more about pretty much everything important than you do.

Meta: yes, we're still around. Been doing lots of other things . . . going to basketball games, trying to catch up on reading, etc., etc. There should be a travel journal or two forthcoming in the near future. We hope.

Either way, win or lose in 2012, the rank and file voters, the everyday people who get up and go to work every day, the Main Street, the Maple Street, and the Mulberry Lane people who vote for Republicans, need to cut their ties to the Grand Old Party.

It's the 21st Century. Time for something new.

2011: The Year The Wheels Fell Off, an essay in which, appallingly, most of the cited events actually did occur:

. . .
FEBRUARY: Chicago chose as its new mayor former White House chief of staff Rahm Effing Emanuel, who immediately ordered a voter registration drive in the city's cemeteries. Shortly after that, the "Arab spring training season" began in Egypt. After Secretary of State Hillary said that the Mubarak regime was stable, the Cairo Clubbers traded their top grenade thrower to the Port Said Molotovs for two machine-gunners and a future draft pick.
. . .
SEPTEMBER: Republican debates became so boring that television networks considered hiring fake moderators such as Donald Trump. The problem can best be solved, without Trump, by ensuring that future debates are moderated, seriatim, by John Madden, the Kardashian sisters, and Liam Neeson accompanied by the rest of the stars of the "A-Team" movie appearing in character. I pity the fools…

DECEMBER: . . . Ratings agencies Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Fitch issued a joint statement in reaction to the Eurozone deal which said only, "Bwahahahahahahahaha." Which some people mistook for a reaction to Joe Biden's statement that the Taliban wasn't our enemy, "per se."

So what will 2012 bring? . . .

The 29-Day Ultimate Northern Discovery Cruise, Holland America Eurodam

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Nine

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September 4 (Sunday, Day 28, Nanortalik, Greenland, 1 DKK = $0.19; $1 = 5.21 DKK) -

Nanortalik

Snookums attended total body conditioning while the first tender was going to the little settlement of Nanortalik, population 1,500. (For comparison, the ms Eurodam has 2,100 passengers on it and 800 crew.) Greenland only has 53,000 people in it so this is probably a normal sized settlement. It was around 50° and misting. We weren’t in any big hurry to get out and about since it didn’t seem like it would take too long to walk the few streets there were.

The 29-Day Ultimate Northern Discovery Cruise, Holland America Eurodam

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Eight

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September 3 (Saturday, Day 27, Cruising Prince Christian Sound [Ikerasassuaq]) -

Early morning iceberg

We woke up at 5 AM since the captain said that we might see whales at the entrance to Prince Christian Sound (a channel off the coast of Greenland). Last year the ship saw 80 whales. It was cold and windy so we bundled up with all the layers we brought (including tights for under our pants). It took us several minutes and lots of stair walking to find a door open on the ship for us to get outside but we finally found one. The TV said that it was 48° and it felt colder due to the wind from the cruising of the ship. We stayed outside for about 45 minutes before calling it quits and going to breakfast.