Could that really be California???

Monday, May 5, 2008

Hola!

Well, we have just weighed anchor and started our journey to our last port of call, San Diego! And a CAR!! And HOME!!! So … from yesterday.

Our day (Sunday, May 4) began bright and early with our cooking class with Mark and Bruce, making mezze. All of the recipes came from their Ultimate Cookbook, which we plan on getting when we get home. Divided up the class of 12 into four groups, with each group making one or two mezze for a combined meal at the end. Robert volunteered for the snapper cakes team, and Mom and I worked on tabbouleh salad and grilled peppers. Interesting, as we needed to get the peppers out quickly to make way for the apricot tarte…didn’t get them nearly as black as I would have liked, and definitely a dearth of knives and wooden spoons…had to make do, though, and there was a lot of sharing going on! At any rate, everything came out well, even with substitutions and a lot of people stepping over each other. R had a good time with the snapper cakes (should technically been cod cakes, but apparently no cod available on the ship!) Lots of fun.

Right after the class came another cooking demonstration. This time, Mark and the Hotel Manager took on Bruce and the ship’s captain and “secret” ingredients. The ingredients they both had to work with turned out to be sambal sauce, potatoes and Skippy peanut butter! Mark decided on an African soup; Bruce and the captain made a pork stir-fry. Lots of fun as well – both captain and hotel manager were pretty proficient in the kitchen; dishes came out well, but Bruce and the captain won this time. [The captain always wins! – R]

From our cooking morning, we went to lunch in the dining room. It’s amazing how many activities they have going on to keep people busy! Jason, our goofy cruise director, was even giving Cha Cha lessons in the afternoon! And, in the afternoon, an amazing thing happened – we went out on the balcony, and it was actually COOL – and not humid! WOW! What a change from the Mexican mainland! AZ, here we come!!

As it was our last “formal” night (and we were NOT dressing up) we opted for room service again. Absolutely FABULOUS! We all started with chicken satay with both a peanut sauce and a spicy onion chutney; excellent! Mom ordered Osso Buco for her main course; R and I both had Asian spareribs over rice. Whew! We’re going to have to walk home from San Diego, just to lose some of these calories! Ended up the evening in the Crow’s Nest; nice place for a final glass of wine before bed!

Had to set the clocks back an hour; it’s getting late later and stays darker later…we’re now only one hour off of Tucson! Yea!! Up around 6, and down for breakfast about 6:30 a.m. Water fairly rough this morning, and the spray is everywhere – even when we stand on the verandah; also very cool, which is WONDERFUL! We pulled into the harbor later than expected – 8-ish rather than the 7 a.m. that had been predicted, but suppose that could have been because of the rough water. I had no idea what to expect – Hualtuco or Acapulco or something in between?! Well, turns out it was more Acapulco-like than Hualtuco. If it had ever been a nice smaller port, it certainly hasn’t been for quite a few years now! HUGE condos and hotels EVERYWHERE, for MILES down the beach. And, this was a tender port, which also took a while to get organized.

(This gave us time to go over our itemized bills … whew, this cabin definitely made an impact on the wine cellar, for sure!)

We went down around 10 a.m. to get “tender tickets” to go ashore, and whew – a HUGE crowd, everybody milling around. We were actually scheduled for tender 12, and they were calling 6 … hmmm…we went up on the promenade deck for fresh air and to relax – and of course, managed to miss #12! Oh well! Finally managed to get to port – and really, wished we hadn’t!! R likened the harbor to a border town like Tijuana – and that is NOT a compliment! We were literally hassled at LEAST 50 or 60 times for any and everything you could think of! Think the adults were hawking taxi rides, and silver jewelry [Sample: Silver necklace, señora, only $1!] and rides on glass bottom boats; older kids were hawking whistles; little kids were hawking chewing gum … a family event! At any rate, we thought it was awful – we couldn’t go – quite literally – five feet without being approached. Walked all around the harbor and into some shops, but decided very quickly that we’d had enough! So – no adventure here! Sorry!!

Did make it back to the ship unscathed, and just in time for lunch! R and Mom headed to the dining room. I headed to the Lido Deck for the Taco bar by the pool for yet another fajita-type lunch. Greatly enjoyed lounging in a chaise on the promenade deck for a few hours in the afternoon. Nice and cool; good breeze and a good book! Have to admit that I’m getting a little antsy about getting home – and R won’t let me pack until tomorrow!!

Oh well!!

Dinner coming soon, but I think I’m just about “fooded” out, so R and Mom may be heading to the dining room alone…if I don’t eat for several more days, think that will be just fine! Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow, other that get organized and packed, but am sure that they’ll come up with something! For my part, I think this will be my last post until we get home on Wednesday night, at which time I will be downloading photos, posting the comments (thanks, Hil & Katy!) and generally putting things in order!!

So – until them! Much love!
m