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2023 Adventure ATW

января - июля 2023
This is our third attempt to see Africa. Читать далее
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  • 124следов
  • 34стран
  • 181дней
  • 1,0кфотографий
  • 37видео
  • 46,1кмиль
  • 13,0кмиль
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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 12

    Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and Spa

    25 января 2023 г., Сальвадор ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    We visited the biggest attraction in Guatemala, La Antigua in 2017. So to find something interesting not too far from Puerto Quetzal, our choice was to go to a spa. The place is about 90 min drive from the port.
    So we booked a semi-private tour. We did not know how many people will be on this tour, but were happy to find out only us and our friends, Erin and Mui on probably 12 passenger van.
    On the way to the Santa Teresa spa, we made a quick stop to take pictures of Volcan de Fuego. There are 37 volcanoes in Guatemala and 3 are active. We witnessed an active one.
    Upon arrival to this place, we were directed to take a shower and then go for 10 min in the hottest pool of 105F (41C). After that to 75F pool, then 98F and the last one is 88F.

    During this process we were given Mango and Berries smoothies.

    Then we had a free time before one hour massage for $42 dollars. After massage, we were completely relaxed. The massage was amazing!

    After massage we were served lunch. Boris had a hamburger and I had grilled chicken.

    Full and happy, we got back in our van and drove back to the ship.

    We also made a short stop at Lake Amatitlan.

    Back on the ship, shower and a little rest.
    By 6:00PM, Erin and Mui came to our cabin and we had Mexican white wine on our balcony. Then light dinner at Terrace Cafe. After that we watch a movie in our cabin. That was the end to our day.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 13

    Acajutla, El Salvador

    26 января 2023 г., Сальвадор ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    The ship docked at 6:00AM today, but the departure is scheduled at 2:00PM.
    Because of such a short time in port, I was reluctant to book a private tour. We booked 4 hours highlights tour from the cruise ship. Departure was scheduled at 8:45AM.
    We departed exactly at 8:45 with 40 people on the bus.
    The country is pretty poor and pretty dirty.
    Our first stop was on the shoulder of the road to take picture of volcanos. The shoulder of the road was littered with garbage.
    Our second stop was Izalco town, where we had 15 minutes to take pictures of the church and see an artisan market.

    We continued driving in so called “Flower Road” named in memory of perished people during their 12 year of civil war from 1980 to 1992.

    We stopped in another town - Nahuizalco to take pictures of another church and visit another market.

    After that, we drove back to the ship. Can’t say it was a good tour.
    The tour guide was very good, but it was hard to understand him.
    We learned about national flower, tree and bird of El Salvador.

    Now it is time to rest and go for a nice dinner.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 16

    Manta, Eguador and Coffee Plantation

    29 января 2023 г., Эквадор ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    For today’s trip we joined our friends from 2017 cruise Erin, Mui, Pat and Norm.
    It is our first time in Manta.
    The name of the tour is “The coffee and Beach Experience”
    We did not know much more what to expect.

    The tour started at 8:00 AM with drive to higher elevation to visit Dos Maños coffee plantation. Dos Maños is two monkeys in Spanish. When we got to the plantation, we could hear loud monkey howling, but could not see them.

    The owner and our host was Juan who was born in Puerto Rico, lived in many places in USA and after retirement settled in Ecuador. He is still working and doing philanthropic work to improve life of local people and especially children.

    He explained to us different methods to process coffee and then we went for a walk through coffee trees, tasting coffee beans right from the plants. They call them “cherry”. Actually, the outer layer of the beans is very sweet.

    After harvesting beans, they dry them at the sea level to avoid higher elevation humidity (which did not make sense to us).
    But I guess they know what they doing.
    During drying process, they rake beans and then grind them to a desired size depending on what equipment used to make coffee.

    After that we visited Juan’s house on the beach. The location, the beautiful house, the tasteful decorations and welcoming host were wonderful. He made us feel very welcome, telling us interesting stories about his life and philanthropic work, making coffee for us, which we enjoyed with a beautiful view of the ocean.

    He also showed us his collection of artifacts he plans to donate after his death .

    We met his daughter’s little dog named Monkey. His daughter died after car accident and this little dog is the closest thing he has.

    It was time to say goodbye and have lunch.
    We drove to a restaurant Fish Cevicheria. There were rows of restaurants on the beach, but this looked like most popular.
    I had ceviche and Boris has a fish soup.

    The next stop after lunch was beach break. Unfortunately, the waves were very high and it did not look safe to go into the ocean.
    I went for a walk on the beach with Pat. The water was warm, the sand was packed and easy to walk.

    After spending sometime on the beach, we decided it is enough and time to go back.
    On the way to the ship we stopped at the supermarket. I was looking for good dark chocolate, but did not find any. Instead I got two bananas and one mango for $0.55.
    Mango was very delicious.
    Overall it was a very good tour.

    In the evening Erin, Mui and us had a dinner at the Polo Grill with General Manager Claudio (from Italy) and Executive Concierge Julio (from Chile).
    Delicious dinner and a great company.

    We skipping a show, but heard it was a good one.
    Tomorrow is another port, we need a rest.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 17

    Guayaquil, Ecuador day 1

    30 января 2023 г., South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    It was an unplanned two days port instead of Peru.
    The day started with taking a free shuttle to the city. The ride was approximately 30-40 minutes. We arrived in the center of the city at Seminario Park. The park was build by colonial settlers in the 1690. It is also known as Iguana Park. The park is a home to endless number of iguanas 🦎.
    It also has palms, almond trees and artificial lagoons stacked with fish. The park has a statue of Simón Bolivar on horse and a sculpture of two fighting wild boars. Across the park is a very impressive the Apostle Saint Peter cathedral.
    From the park we walked to Administration Square. It is surrounded by beautiful heritage buildings: Municipal building, Governor Palace build around 1930.
    The square is full of impressive sculptures and also Fountains of Glory and Grace in honour of Marshal Antonio Jose de Sucre.

    We continue to Molecon 2000 which considered as one of the most successful urban projects of America. It is 2.5km walk full of nature, history tradition and modernism. For the start we decided to walk, enjoy and photograph this beautiful place. With the exception of heat and humidity, the place is really enjoyable. We finished the walk at the Anthropology museum which was closed on Monday.

    We turned back and decided to find a lunch place away from the crowds, unfortunately lots of places were closed. We found a small restaurant and had a light lunch, then walked back to the shuttle stop.
    We passed a Moorish Tower dated to 18 century. We also passed a Presidential Walk. The walk memorialised four former presidents, all born in Guayaquil.
    Another memorable sculpture is The Rotonda Hemicycle. It was inaugurated in 1938. The monument shows Bolivar and San Martin greeting each other surrounded by hemicycle formed by ten pillars and ten columns that have the flags of the South American countries they liberated.

    It was too hot to walk anymore, so we walked back to our shuttle.
    After another 40min ride on the shuttle, it was a relief to come “home” and take a shower. Tomorrow will be another day in the city.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 18

    Guayaquil, Day 2

    31 января 2023 г., South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Todays plan was to walk Diego Noboa y Arteca stairs. It is a popular tourist attraction. It begins at the foot of the hill and ends at the top. It is made up of 444 numbered steps.
    Boris did not want to go ashore today, yesterday was very hard on him.
    I would probably not go by myself, but Erin and Mui were generous enough to take me along.
    We took an 8:30am shuttle and from the shuttle an Uber to get to the steps as early as possible.
    There are actually two sets of stairs, but the other set is not safe for tourists. We wanted to take a picture of the other stairs, but were intersected by police and locals telling us to turn around. We explained we just want a photo and were told to hide our phones.
    Erin took a quick photo and we walked to another stairs patrolled by police.
    The walk to the top was very pleasant. We stopped many times to photograph little squares, art galleries, coloured buildings. In no time we mastered 444 steps and saw a small chapel, the lighthouse and Naval Museum that was closed.
    We decided to visit Santa Ana chapel first.
    It has nineteen stained glass windows. The chapel was build in 2002.
    On the opposite side of the plaza located the lighthouse. Also build in 2002. We climbed the lighthouse. It is allowing 360 degrees view from the top balcony. We could see an old neighbourhood and a modern luxury residential and commercial buildings.
    Another attraction on this plaza was a sculpture of Juan Pueblo. We had to take pictures with this character.

    Now it was time to navigate same stairs down. Very close to the bottom of the stairs is a beautiful cobblestone street with colonial houses painted different colours. The street was lined with art galleries. It is not a very long street, so it took us 15 min or so to walk the street both ways.

    Our next stop was the MAAC — Museo Antropologica y Arte Contemporaneo.
    I was looking forward to visit this museum, but when we walked in, I could not wait to get out. The place was not air conditioned. Inside was much worse then outside. Maui and I got out and Erin continued to see this museum. It did not take long before she gave up and went outside.
    Anyway it was time for lunch. We went outside of Malecon 2000 to find a place.
    We found a restaurant with A/C and ordered our food. We were the only customers.
    We washed our food with a cold beer. The food was delicious and very filling.

    After lunch, we went back to Malecon and walked back to our shuttle. Again, we admires sculptures and gardens along the way.
    We were back on the ship around 2:00PM.

    Tomorrow is a sea day to relax.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 19

    THE Brunch

    1 февраля 2023 г., South Pacific Ocean

    The famous Oceania brunch for around the world traveler group. The variety and quality of the food were amazing.
    I am speechless.

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 20

    Scheduled stop. Callao, Peru

    2 февраля 2023 г., South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    As I previously posted, all our port stops in Peru were cancelled. Although we had scheduled stop in Callao, Peru to get new supply and some crew members had to get off and new crew members join.
    I went for a walk on the deck in the morning and it was so foggy, I could not see the ocean. The fog horn sounded constantly with the intervals between sound two minutes.
    Because of the fog, the ship was going very slow. We docked in Callao at noon instead of scheduled 10:00am.

    When we arrived in Callao, we saw lots of vendors waiting for us to disembark.
    Finally after pleas of the passengers, general manager agreed to let us get on the pier to pier. The passengers and especially vendors were very happy.
    Boris and I went to see the stuff and purchased a little stuffed llama for Arden.
    Glad that locals could make some money since there are no more tourists in Peru.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 22

    Arica, Chile

    4 февраля 2023 г., Чили ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    After three days at sea and two hours of time change, we arrived to the northern port of Chile. Arica is only 11mi south of the border with Peru.
    Arica’s population is 222.000 and it is an important port for a large inland region of South America.
    We were a little late to dock, instead of 8:00am, we docked at 9:00am.
    Erin organised today’s tour. There were 6 of us, all friends from 2017 cruise.
    To meet our guide we took a port shuttle and after a short ride were outside of the port gates.
    The plaza in front of us was full of vendors preparing for three days Carnaval. Our guide offer us to walk a little bit around before The start of Carnaval.
    One of the interesting things was a steel and iron St. Mark Cathedral designed by Eiffel.
    The cathedral withstood two earthquakes of 1868 and 1877.
    Then we all got into a very nice van and drove costal road to El Morro hill. It is approximately 130 meters high. From the top we could se a panoramic view of Arica.
    Also at the top, there is the Historic and Weapons Museum of Arica. There is also a monument to unknown soldier.
    We continue driving thru desert toward River Mouth, observing numerous geoglyphs from 1100 to 1400 years ago.
    We passed one valley in which they grow corn, lattice, tomatoes and another valley where fruits and olive trees are grown. We stopped few times to take pictures.
    Arica was inhabited by different native groups dating back 10,000 years. These people are the first known culture to mummify their dead, 2000 years before Egyptians. We stopped at the very interesting museum containing 300 mummies and artifacts. The mummies were discovered as recently as 2004.

    We enjoyed the museum, unfortunately it was very hot and only mummies enjoyed the A/C. The time was 1:30pm and we needed lunch.
    This tour included lunch, so we stopped at the restaurant which was not air conditioned. The lunch was delicious and portions were huge.
    After lunch we stopped at one more stop for pictures and continued to the port gate.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 23

    Iqueque, Chile (2nd time)

    5 февраля 2023 г., Чили

    This is our second visit to Iquegue. The first one was in 2018 when we went paragliding. Still remember this experience!

    Today we took a 9:00am required shuttle and in 10min were in the centre of the city at Plaza Arturo Prat with clock tower in the middle.
    We started to walk on pedestrian street toward the ocean, but then decided to turn around an go to highly rated Esmeralda Corvetta museum.

    This museum is a replica of the Esmeralda Corvette, which after 23 years of service sank in the Naval Combat of Iquique on May 21, 1879. It is a pride and the main attraction of Iquique.

    We came to this museum about 10 minutes before opening time, but they opened the gates for us and let us go in. We purchased tickets and audio guide in English.

    The original boat was build in England for Chilean navy. It is a sail boat with a steam engine. It was equipped with 9 cannons, which had a fire ring range of 3km.
    In this replica of the boat you could see how the officers and sailors lived, eat, worked and spent free time at the time in the sea.
    We spent about 45 min in the museum and walked back to the big plaza, stopping at the fish market. It is always interesting to see how locals live and shop.
    We walked back to pedestrian street and continued toward the ocean.
    At that time most of the businesses were closed. Probably due to the early hours or because it is Sunday.
    The waterfront walk was very pleasant.
    We walked pretty far, passing beautiful long beach. By noon there were lots of locals on the beach, but not many swimmers. The water was pretty rough and as we understood quite cold. There were many 🏄‍♀️.
    By 12:30 pm we turned around and decided to go back, but found a nice looking cafe with wonderful people. It was a small vegan restaurant. We ordered one vegetarian pizza. Delicious.
    The service was very slow, but we had nowhere to rush and had a nice conversation with a couple from our ship.
    We walked back to the shuttle and were on the ship by 2:30pm.    Читать далее

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  • Sonia Gelman2023 Adventure ATW
    День 25

    Coquimbo, Chile (2nd time)

    7 февраля 2023 г., Чили

    Today we docked at 7:00am, but our private tour did not start till 9:00am. We met with our group of 9 people and proceeded to meet our guide. We had to walk 10 min through cargo port to get out of the port. We met our guide and driver and started to drive north along the endless beach. The weather was cool and not sunny.

    The ocean in Coquimbo is always calm, but the water is cold and there were no people on the beach or the water. We saw few stands with vendors selling fresh fish.
    The further north we drove, the rougher the ocean became.
    We stopped at the lighthouse that was build 50 years ago.

    We also stopped at the 21st division of Chilean military, training facility.
    There are 500 recruits training there.
    Boris and Mui had a long conversation with a lieutenant colonel.

    We also stopped at the local market and then at the upscale stores to go to the bathroom and get some good chocolate.

    We had to be back on the ship no later then 3:00pm to arrive to the next port on time. The traffic was extremely heavy. Tomorrow, close to 200 passengers leaving us and more people are boarding the ship.
    In order to be on time, we cut Japanese gardens and going up on the cross out of our itinerary. In addition to that, everyone was hungry. It was not a very exacting tour, but we saw something different. We got back on the ship before 2:00pm, had late lunch and resting to be ready for tomorrow’s tour.    Читать далее

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