TRAVEL: The Cruise Diaries - Huatulco, Mexico

Welcome to the eight installment of The Cruise Diaries - make sure to read previous installments here first! Follow my journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, through the Panama Canal, up through the countries of Central America, and finishing in San Diego, California. New installments coming every few days so make sure to stay tuned on the blog and Twitter @CiarasCountry - on with the trip!

Day 12

We weren't due to dock until late in the day so I had planned to treat myself to a lie-in, but as is ship life, I was awoken bright and early so decided to head up to the Lido deck for an early morning session of Just Breathe. You wouldn't think stretching was terribly strenuous (well, with the exception of repeated attempts to balance on one leg, a particularly hard feat on a moving ship) but the humidity of the open air left me feeling pretty sticky, so I hopped into a cool shower before indulging in some pancakes for breakfast.

The ship itinerary for the day was fairly slim, so I entertained myself with a promenade round the deck and took advantage of the ships DVD service, which was fine when the discs actually decided to play. Lucky future generations who won't have to deal with the stresses of scratched DVDs...

Just after noon, we began approaching the port of Huatulco in Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca) on the South West coast of Mexico. It was a very pretty port to pull into with little beaches filled with people and banana boats galore, including the one that we eventually docked just a hundred metres or so away from - an example of just how close you can get a cruise ship at some of these docks.

Wasting no time, we hopped off the ship into the port. Given that a) we're not beach people and b) it was a Saturday meaning that all the locals had decided to have a beach day too, we decided to avoid the beaches themselves and instead walk over a pass through the hills to the neighbouring town of Crucecita.

With little plan in mind, we made our way to the central square of the small town and the church which sits towards one end, still made up with cute Christmas decorations. This church's claim to fame is that it is home to the largest ceiling paint of Our Lady Guadalupe - the more you know.

It being excruciatingly hot, I dove towards the first sign I saw for ice cream, which just so happened to be rolled ice cream - the kind they make right in front of your eyes, slice and roll into spiralled tubes. At the recommendation of the server, I opted for a Ferrero Rocher and Philadelphia cheese mix, an unusual combination but very very good.

It didn't really seem like there was much else to see in Crucesita so we headed back into the town near the port, Santa Cruz. I was sure there was another church to be found as one had been mentioned in the EXC port talk a few days prior, so we spent a bit of time looking for that before finding it literally right on the beach. This church's claim to fame is that it is home to a small wooden cross which was once part of a larger cross brought to the area many years ago by a holy man. The original cross was made into three smaller crosses, one which remains here and another which is currently in the Vatican.

There was only so much time we could waste so ended up back on the ship with probably more to entertain us there. I spent a little while watching the little boats and jet skis roam by as the sun dipped behind the hills before heading to a Mexican themed dinner in the Lido. It didn't look like the cuisine was much suited for vegetarian food, so I ended up with another pasta dish, made better by dessert in the form of the freshest mango I've ever tasted.

We had another Legends talk that evening, this time recounting two legends in relation to the two most recent ports. The first, The Legent of the Bird and The Brave, told the story of how the Quetzal bird got its distinctive red marking on its chest and is now Guatemala's national bird.

The second, The Girl and the Tree of Life, relating to the Oaxaca region of Mexico, was about a girl who used to carry avocados to the elites who lived at the top of the mountains, found a loom and began weaving the Tree of Life, was thrown out of the city by the elites leading to great anger from the Gods, who then gradually destroyed their elite city leaving only ruins behind.

I'm inspired to look into legends from my heritage, of which I know there are many, as they paint such a vivid picture of a place and can explain why certain things are the way they are today. I would highly recommend checking out some of these Central American legends if you're interested, and of course coming to visit the places themselves someday!

Our entertainment for the evening was comedian Andrew Kennedy. If you read about the last comedian who came on board, you'll know I'm difficult to please but this was quite a different type of humour. Andrew based his stories off of his own life, which meant poking fun at all the different parts of his heritage, including his Colombian mother, English father, Black great-grandmother, and time spent in places such as Hong Kong - basically an excuse to make fun of various nationalities without seeming insensitive! Funnier than the last one, but I'm still looking for someone to make me laugh out loud - if you know anyone, leave me a link in the comments!

Day 13

Back to the cruising part of the cruise as we had yet another day at sea. I don't mind these so much as there's usually plenty to do, and if you're ever stuck for entertainment you could always go and eat... Being back at sea meant we were back to our regularly scheduled programming of America's Test Kitchen where Maria did some demonstrations of Salad for Dinner. Am I likely to eat salad for dinner? Probably not, but at least she made salad a bit more interesting than it usually is.

As Mexico was out there somewhere beyond our view, we were treated to a live folkloric performance up by the pool with an absolutely fantastic Mariachi singer (I'll hire him for my wedding please) and two dancers festooned in masks to make them look elderly as they performed hunched over dances to the music.

I promised you another show with magician RanD Shine and that was on this day, in a room much too small to accommodate the number of people who showed up. Whilst I was about 50/50 impressed last time, I was much more impressed this time. He did a number of card tricks which I honestly couldn't say how they were achieved, coin tricks which were interesting in that he did most of them at least twice so the keen eyed of us could try and see where the sleight of hand took place or else revel in the magic if we couldn't figure it out, and another mind reading trick which I think I figured out, but was still nonetheless very impressive - as a magician never reveals their secrets I guess I'll never know how they were done!

We had our final port talk on upcoming port Puerto Vallarta which looks very pretty and will hopefully keep us entertained for longer than the previous port as we'll be spending the whole day there too.

The onboard naturalist, who we'd dropped off in his home country of Costa Rica, had since been replaced by a team of Mexican ambassadors, so we started off with a talk on the history of Mexico, taking us through its tribal beginnings with the Olmecs, Mayans and Aztecs, to the invasions by the Spanish and the French leading to the important celebratory dates of 16th September and Cinco de Mayo, the many rulers who moved in and out of power within the last few centuries, and even why despite being the less important holiday Cinco de Mayo is the more popular one in the states - perhaps because most Mexican migrants come from the Puebla region where it is most celebrated, because it coincides with a Russian holiday that the American government would rather not focus on, or perhaps because Cinco de Mayo is just a lot easier to say than dieciseis de Septiembre!

We had dinner with a US Airforce couple from Texas and a German/El Salvadorian couple - beer & cheese soup, ricotta stuffed shells and delicious warm chocolate cake. The entertainment that evening was very enjoyable, with singer Derek Floyd and his Lionel Richie experience. He sang hits like All Night Long, Dancing on the Ceiling and Endless Love, as well as telling us bits about his interesting life, including starting a brother sister band 'Derek and Cindy' who's song reached number 98 on the top 100; being scouted through a Christian singing show to audition to be a member of the Commodores which he turned down believing he was exactly where he was supposed to be; seeing a beautiful woman reading the news, rushing to the station to meet her and later becoming her husband; his wife dying of brain aneurysms two years later, being consoled by local churchgoers one of whom later became his wife of the last thirty-something years. Quite an interesting life and one where so many decisions led to him being there to before for us that evening. It gave me a big appreciation for Derek and a new appreciation for Lionel Richie - I think I'll be listening to more of his music when I get home.

Concert Review: DAN & SHAY, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

*Scroll down for a photo gallery from the concert!*

If you’re looking for some music to make you feel good ASAP, look no further than Dan & Shay. I’ve loved every track on all three of their albums, and there’s something about each and every song that just has a way of putting a smile on your face. So, the obvious cure for a boring Thursday evening? A Dan & Shay concert, of course!

The night kicked off with opening act Devin Dawson, who was back in the UK just months after touring with Thomas Rhett (you can read about that experience here). I appreciated from the moment he walked on stage just how chatty Devin was – this certainly wasn’t a ‘get in, get out’ kind of set, but a ‘get to know me’ set, and I think that really helped draw the crowd to him.

He began with War Paint, ‘a song that goes out to anyone who’s ever been cheated on’ (there were a bit too many whoops after that!) and Placebo, two songs from the rocky end of his catalogue. However, they were so different to me than they had been on the Life Changes tour – here Devin was acoustic, and it made such a difference. Instead of being shrouded by drumbeats and loud guitars, this stripped back setting really showed off Devin’s musicality.

Devin took a moment to explain his influences to the crowd, from the rock style we’d just heard, and the almost easy listening vibe of Symptoms; telling us that it was his mother who always used to play country music around the house, inspiring him to try his shot at writing ‘a damn good country song.’ The result is Asking For A Friend, which is up there in my top two Devin songs – if you want to get an idea of just how well he can write and sing, this one’s for you.

Not only was the music nice to listen to, but I was really impressed with Devin’s attempts to engage with the crowd, stopping after every song or so to talk to us. He introduced his favourite song to play in the UK, and the first song he wrote about breaking up with someone rather than the other way round, and just how much it sucks no matter who does it – Secondhand Hurt – give it a listen for the most pleasing ‘ooh’s you’ll ever hear.

He finished his set with arguably his best songs: the first, All On Me, a super catchy crowd pleaser which, like Dan & Shay’s music, can’t stop you from smiling; followed by the autobiographical Dark Horse. I was surprised at just how many people in the audience hadn’t heard of him before when he asked, and thought this song, and indeed his set, had been a great introduction to him playing as, IMHO, he deserved to be heard. Long live acoustic Devin Dawson.

And then onto the main event. I’ll preface this by saying that the first time I saw Dan & Shay tour was two years ago at Bush Hall (read about that here) – two microphones and Dan with his guitar. A lot has changed. Here we had a full band, 2,000 fans, and as Dan stated “a much better guitar!”

We were immediately transported back to the good ole days with 19 You & Me and Nothin’ Like You. I noticed similarities and differences with the duo since when I’d last seen them: one thing which certainly hasn’t changed is Shay Mooney’s incredible vocal range, and one thing that had was Dan Smyers’ confidence and energy – whereas before he’d stayed in one place and sang (granted, the stage was a lot smaller), here he was throwing himself all over the place, kicking his legs this way and that and posing for fan videos like a true rockstar. I swear I have never seen anyone who loves performing more than Dan!

I loved that the duo promised to play us songs from their whole history, and we then moved onto more recent songs including the hugely fun Alone Together. I should note that by this point we were only three songs in, and I already had a sore throat from scream-singing. If that doesn’t give you an indication of how much I was enjoying myself, what will?

Dan & Shay have a unique ability of writing songs that would really make a girl feel lucky if they were about her – case in point next two songs All To Myself and Show You Off. With every song, you knew what it was from the first two chords (or whistles, as the case may be) which made for a great concert full of non-stop singing.

We moved onto the joyful All Nighter from sophomore album Obsessed, followed by a song about appreciating the people you love, Keeping Score. There were plenty of heartfelt moments throughout the set, and this certainly was one of them.

The duo turned the emotion up to 11 for quote unquote potentially-one-of-the-greatest-love-songs-of-all-time From The Ground Up – if you’ve not seen a wedding video set to this song by now, you must be living under a rock. These tracks are truly swoon-worthy, and all I can say to all the women out there is get yourself a man who treats you like a Dan & Shay song. Unsurprisingly, this song got a huge standing ovation from the crowd, so much so that the duo had to take a moment to take it all in, both genuinely grateful for how far they’ve come, and indeed how far they have still to go.

I was well and truly having the time of my life, and this was only exacerbated by hearing two of my favourite of their songs, How Not To and Make Or Break, back to back. Shay’s vocals were utterly insane on the latter (check my Twitter @CiarasCountry for video proof), and genuinely, if you can find me a better vocalist than Shay, get in touch.

Not only were their energy and vocals on fire, but their personalities really shone through. Dan was a firecracker around the stage, with Shay singing most of the things he said, with ‘make some noise’ sounding like the sweetest song you’ve ever heard. We took a moment for the sexy Up At Night before two stools were brought out for an acoustic section.

Here they stopped to say something which I’ve heard a number of artists say over the past few years, and that is that UK fans are unique in that we don’t just listen to the singles, but the whole album, which means that artists know we’ll always know the words to all of their songs. I can imagine how special this is, to look out and see everyone singing along, even to the songs that aren’t played on the radio (and when it comes to country music in the UK, that’s pretty much every song!)

It’s evident as well that artists feel very close with their fans over here, as not only do they come over to tour so often, but in this instance, Shay asked if we wouldn’t mind recording a video to wish his two year old son Asher a happy birthday. Singer second, always a dad first – now if that doesn’t make you love him!

We had plenty of chances for a sing-along during the stripped down My Side of The Fence and Can’t Say No before bringing up the singing and adding in some dancing too for Stupid Love. One thing I will say is that I wished we’d had more opportunity to hear Dan’s voice – of course Shay’s is utterly magical, but I frankly don’t think I could hear Dan at all (was his mic even on?) so he seemed more like a backing singer than one half of the duo. This is something Florida Georgia Line have dealt with very well, with Brian Kelley now singing more solos than ever on their tracks when it used to be that Tyler Hubbard was always the frontman, so I’d like to see whether we can hear more of Dan on future albums.

The main set ended with a song written by the duo but recorded by perhaps the only artist who could compete with Shay’s vocals – Rascal Flatt’s I Like The Sound Of That; and then another of my favourites, Lately. It was evident that the crowd wanted more, more, more as the foot stomping shook the upper levels so much I thought they might collapse!

Thankfully Dan & Shay didn’t keep us waiting for long and ran back on stage for their latest potentially-one-of-the-greatest-love-songs-of-all-time Speechless – I’d heard a couple had gotten engaged to this song at their show a few nights ago so was half expecting it to happen again, but the beautiful lyrics and vocals were enough to tide me over. The crowd loved it and the screams hit the roof, with Shay having great fun controlling the audience with his hand, turning the cheers up as loud as they would go.

We had a super-fun and unexpected cover of Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop The Feeling before coming to the final song of the night. The band started to play but were stopped by Dan: “Do you think we can perform this last one in the middle of the crowd?” The two picked up their mics and squeezed their way right into the middle of the mosh pit – a very brave move!

They were completely squished on all sides, smartphones creating a huge halo around them, but that didn’t stop them from pulling off a stunning performance of Tequila. This for me was truly the epitome of fan interaction, giving the audience perhaps the most intimate concert we would ever experience as they were literally part of the crowd. I have never seen an artist do this before and doubt I ever will again – what a special moment for us all.  

To conclude, if you want a night of good fun and great music, I don’t think you’ll find a better option than Dan & Shay’s tour – make sure to check it out next time they come around, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re selling out much bigger venues by then!

I hope you enjoyed my review of Dan & Shay at the O2 Shepherd's Bush! If you'd like to see more photos and videos from the event, and stay up to date on upcoming concert reviews and interviews, make sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and drop me a message below with your favourite moment!

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TRAVEL: The Cruise Diaries - Puerto Quetzal & Antigua, Guatemala

Welcome to the seventh installment of The Cruise Diaries - make sure to read previous installments here first! Follow my journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, through the Panama Canal, up through the countries of Central America, and finishing in San Diego, California. New installments coming every few days so make sure to stay tuned on the blog and Twitter @CiarasCountry - on with the trip!

Day 11

Another day, another country, as had become the pattern of the past few days. We touched down in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and hopped onto a bus to be whisked away. We'd chosen not to do an organised tour in this location, and instead choose an organised transfer where the tour company would take us one and a half hours away, drop us off in Antigua, and pick us up again a few hours later.

I had expected that this would mean we'd be very much on our own, but was pleasantly surprised that the guide on the bus still talked us through what we were seeing as we drove along. Without a doubt the most impressive sight to see was the active Acatenango volcano which every minute or so would spurt atomic-bomb like clouds into the air. It's not just a pretty image though, as we drove past the destruction caused by the eruption that occurred on June 3rd of this year, killing 300 people and destroying everything in its path.

As we approached Antigua, we had to transfer to smaller buses as our large coach couldn't fit through the roads, and were dropped at the Jade Museum with instructions to be back there three hours later. From the moment we stepped off the bus, we were handed a free gift of a little worry doll for no other reason than that the townspeople wanted us to remember Antigua fondly.

Antigua is an absolutely beautiful town - uneven cobbled streets lined with low and colourful buildings, with open doors inviting you into quaint and colourful shops (one selling both sweet pastries and ceramics, why not?) or cool courtyards enthroned with bougainvilleas and the like. The colour was all around us, and we didn't get far before we were approached by what would turn out to be one of many women in beautiful woven garments who carried baskets on their heads filled with a variety of beaded birds and jewellery. We began with the usual 'no thank you' and continued on, before realising that I simply couldn't live without one of those birds and turning back.

Less than ten metres later came another lady, this time with the most beautiful woven shawls covering every inch of her arms. A quick haggle later and we were walking away with two shawls having been in the town for under five minutes. We continued on to the Main Square which (and I know I've already said this a lot) was the most beautiful I think I've ever seen. It reminded me of my trip to Merida (you can read about that here) with a pretty green space with a fountain in the middle surrounded by imposing and impressive buildings and churches.

We ventured into the main Cathedral de San Jose, coming out the other side with a what's-another-word-for-beautiful purse and a handful of Guatemalan worry dolls. For the uninitiated, these either come in the form of a singular two centimetre tall doll or a bunch of teeny tiny stick people in woven outfits housed in a colourful bag. You tell these dolls your worries, stick them under your pillow, and the following morning your worries will all be gone. Needless to say I need a fair few to divulge my worries to.

We continued on our merry way past some stunning pieces of architecture until we arrived at the La Merced church, which stands out for its bright yellow colour and intricate carvings on the external walls. Very very beautiful, with many townspeople relaxing outside while dressed in stunning traditional outfits.

Figuring that the likelihood of returning to Antigua, as much as I would want to, within the next few years is slim (but hey, you never know) I felt the need to take as many memories of the town home with me as I could, and one of the best ways I know how is through art.

A small table was sat outside the church bedecked with stacks of canvases showing various scenes of Antigua and its surrounding volcanoes. One immediately caught my eye - a colourful street with a blue night sky and dark volcano in the background. I had to have it. As you may have figured by now, the locals are hugely friendly and a quick chat resulted in us walking away with two for the price of one, and a wonderful memento of the city.

With time running out, we powerwalked to the city limits to climb up to the Cerro de la Santa Cruz viewpoint, a big stone cross with views across the city and the Volcan de Agua in the distance. A stark reminder that as much as I wouldn't mind living in such a place, you're nonetheless in a volatile seismic environment with the threat of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions at any point. Nice view though.

Back at the bottom, we walked over to the iglesia y convento de San Francisco with had interesting sculptures depicting various important Biblical figures in its pretty external courtyard, wonderfully detailed architecture and more stalls to peruse (one can never have too many beaded birds). It was then a rush back to the Jade Museum to make sure we didn't miss our bus - not that I would have minded staying longer - but many more places to see, you know how it is.

If you've read my blog before, hopefully you know that I try to be as honest with my opinions as possible, and I must say that Antigua is one of the most pleasant and beautiful places I have ever visited. It is without a doubt somewhere that you should immediately add to your travel bucket list (you'll thank me later) and somewhere that I could have happily spent many more days in. I hope you'll consider visiting the town and taking as much joy in its craftsmanship, its architecture, and its people as I did.

We returned to the ship with enough time to have afternoon tea up in the Dining Room before working it off at Total Body Conditioning, and putting it back on at dinner. I can tell you that sitting at a shared table is much more fun than by yourselves, and would recommend choosing open rather than fixed people so you're not sat with the same people for your whole journey.

We were sat with an interesting Canadian couple who looked many years younger than their age and an American lady. As seemed to be a recurring theme, the conversation eventually turned to politics in the form of Brexit, Trump and the like leading to a bit of a tense atmosphere, but for the most part dinner was very enjoyable!

After a courgette salad, aubergine and courgette piccata, and yummy cherry crisp; I headed to the Main Stage for the third of the Volendam Singers and Dancers shows - this time entitled Rock Legends. They had a loose terminology of rock, featuring the likes of Abba, Kylie Minogue and the Beatles; but the theatrics, dancing and costumes were all greatly enjoyable. I'll miss having such interesting entertainment every night once I've gone home!

TRAVEL: The Cruise Diaries - Corinto & Leon, Nicaragua

Welcome to the sixth installment of The Cruise Diaries - make sure to read previous installments here first! Follow my journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, through the Panama Canal, up through the countries of Central America, and finishing in San Diego, California. New installments coming every few days so make sure to stay tuned on the blog and Twitter @CiarasCountry - on with the trip!

Day 10

Nicaragua had by far the warmest welcome. As we pulled into the port, we could hear the faint sound of a marimba band playing and more and more colourful people lining the dock to welcome us in. The third deck promenade filled quickly with people aching to see the dancers in their beautiful outfits, as well as 10feet tall figures juxtaposed with 2feet tall ones - what a welcome!

We didn't have much time to engage with the locals welcoming us in as we were swept onto a bus to begin our tour. From the port of Corinto, we drove past looming volcanoes spitting clouds of gas into the atmosphere, low bungalows side by side where most of the population live, and plantations of coffee, sugarcane and peanuts; all the while being told about Nicaragua's tumultuous recent history including a civil war which our guide fought in, and violent protests which occurred only earlier this year.

Our first destination was Old Leon, where again we were greeted by colourful dancers - I'd love to be followed round by them wherever I go! Old Leon is a ruined city, and to be honest there wasn't too much to see aside from the low walls that had been excavated, but we were shown some interesting gourds which grow directly from the trunk of the trees, and a pleasant view of the volcanoes and lake.

Lunch was served at a restaurant here, and included the standard rice and beans, various meats, plantain and salad; as well as handmade sweet of condensed milk, coconut and even more beans. The weather was astonishingly hot in spite of the fact that this is their cold season, so it was pleasant to see in the covered area for a while before getting back onto the (thankfully air conditioned) bus.

Having learnt about the early history of the first capital city of Nicaragua, it was then time to head to what could have been the present capital had it not been for conflict for the role with the nearby town of Granada, leading to officials to pick neither and choose Managua instead.

Present day 'colonial' Leon was significantly more interesting with its Spanish colonial architecture, including a huge sparkling white Cathedral with a beautifully ornate Nativity scene inside lit up with fairy lights and with its own flowing stream - they don't do them like that back home!

Those of us who could manage were given the opportunity to climb to the top of the Cathedral to see the view, including of all the nearby Catholic churches which used to be connected by underground tunnels, and beyond that the lush agriculture of Nicaragua. The Cathedral probably looked better than it is actually made, as we were told to be careful not to put any weight on the balustrades surrounding the edges for fear they might collapse!

The Cathedral sits on the edge of a pretty but small square, so we had about a half hour to wander around and check out the stalls. The national sport of Nicaragua is baseball, so I picked up a Leon baseball shirt for a significantly cheaper price than my Toronto Blue Jays as a memory of my time in the friendly country.

As we drove back, our guide kept getting worried calls from the Volendam - "Where are you? Will you be back on time?" - and we arrived back at port with a minute to spare before the official All Aboard time when the ship is due to depart. Luckily for us, as the tours are organised in conjunction with Holland America, they can't leave without us, so at least we had that reassurance!

I had just enough time to get into my gym gear for another gruelling session of Total Body Conditioning, but admittedly I felt it quite necessary given that I'd eaten more in my week on the ship than I had for the rest of 2018... We headed down to dinner and once again requested a shared table, for which I was thankful as we ended up sat with an interesting couple who were friends with Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and had retired to the beautiful big island of Hawaii, a must on my bucket list of places to go.

The downside of a shared table is that you are not so much in control of when courses arrive and are cleared, having to wait for the last person to finish. Subsequently, I gobbled down my food in order to run to find a seat before the lights went down on the Mainstage for that night's show.

Entertainment came in the form of magician RanD Shine. I'm either very impressed by magic or not so, and this show was a bit of both. I found the sleight of hand tricks too easy to follow, but was more interested in his more psychological tricks. For instance, he brought two audience members onto the stage, got them to close their eyes, and then tapped only one of them, asking each time who had felt themselves being tapped, to which both audience members said they had. I wasn't sure how the non-tapped audience member had felt the taps, and knew for sure she wasn't a plant as I'd seen her around the ship as a guest before. Can anyone explain?

Another interesting trick was getting three audience members to think of pretty unpredictable things that RanD wouldn't know - the first word of a random page in a book, their birthday, and their parents name. Somehow he was able to predict these correctly, again beyond my understanding - can any magicians help me out? The bar had been set very high for entertainment and RanD would be back for another close up magic show in days to come, giving me even more chance to be impressed.

TRAVEL: The Cruise Diaries - Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Welcome to the fifth installment of The Cruise Diaries - make sure to read previous installments here first! Follow my journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, through the Panama Canal, up through the countries of Central America, and finishing in San Diego, California. New installments coming every few days so make sure to stay tuned on the blog and Twitter @CiarasCountry - on with the trip!

Day 9

Staying in the lower deck rooms, whilst completely logical in terms of expenses, is not always the best idea particularly if you're at the back of the boat where I was. On port days, I was usually awoken an hour before docking to the engine roaring as the mechanisms whirred and the bed shaking up a storm due to the vibrations. Not the best way to start what was set to be a long day.

We had breakfast at 6:30 before rushing down to the gangway to catch our tour group which threatened to leave without us if we didn't hurry up. Safely ensconced on the coach, about 40 of us headed from the port town of Costa Rica into the heart of the country, or at least as far as we could get within an hour or so's drive.

If you've read my blog before, you may know that I have visited Costa Rica before, and not only that, but just last year (you can read that trip here). What could possibly have brought me back with such urgency? Well, the need to see a sloth, which we had spectacularly failed to do on our previous adventure. Failure was not an option this time around, so the big pull of today's tour was that it was taking us to a Sloth Sanctuary. Guaranteed sloths? I'm in.

One of the great things about Costa Rica is that zoos are not allowed, and so the only kind of 'animal enclosures' allowed are sanctuaries like this one, which rescue animals from road accidents or the pet trade, with the aim of releasing most of them back into the wild. We split our huge group in two with our half heading off to see the sloths first.

You need a keen eye for sloth spotting as they're quite excellent at camouflage, move little, and often chill up in the top of the trees. Each section of trees we visited housed about three sloths, separated from the outside world with just a low wall which we could enter through to stare directly up at them. However, this was sufficient to keep the sloths in their place and not mix with each other (the aim is rehabilitation, not reproduction) and meant if you looked closely, they were easy enough to spot.

Lucky for us, a few of the sloths were active and so amused us by wandering around the trees, or just seeming to pose so we could see their cute little faces. I was enraptured - don't be surprised if you hear I've gone off to spend some time volunteering at a sloth sanctuary - and we had finally seen sloths! Bucket list item complete.

Also in the sanctuary were a few capuchin and howler monkeys; and scarlet macaws and parrots whom I fell in love with. I practically had to be dragged out of the aviary. Given we were in the land of delicious fruit, they'd laid out a spread for us of bananas, melons and juicy pineapple. My plate was filled to the brim with pineapple, better than any you'd find after it's been imported all the way back home - this was the best of the best.

Back on the bus, we continued up into the highlands. Our guide explained that the Spanish influence was more prevalent here, and it was evident as whilst the townspeople in Puntarenas had looked more Latino; these blonde haired and blue eyes locals looked positively European. She explained that this is how she expects the future of Costa Rica to look as the mixing continues, leaving Costa Ricans with an ethnicity quite unlike those in the rest of Central America.

Our next destination was the Orchid Botanical Gardens, where a trail brought us through various greenhouses and natural areas housing stunning colourful orchids. Fun fact: it is illegal to take orchids from their natural habitat, so what we were seeing were actually hybrid orchids, the same kind that Costa Rica is able to export to the rest of the world and that you might find in your local garden centre. They were truly beautiful, and it was obvious why they were the country's national flower.

We continued on our merry way to the town of Sarchi, which is famous for its oxcart production. We stopped at a factory where they make the oxcarts and paint them in the most beautiful and stunning patterns - deep reds and blues as the base topped with intricate hand painted designs unique to each artist. There's clearly a lot of artistry that goes into these creations, and it's great to see that such a tradition has not died out.

The gift shop too was quite impressive, filled with handmade crafts and even your own little oxcarts to take home if you wanted to. Upstairs was a restaurant, and we queued up to be served with a delicious meal of rice, beans, plantains, potatoes, and taquitos, topped with a glass of thick passionfruit juice. Whoever says Costa Rica doesn't have wonderful food needs to eat there - what a way to fill yourself up.

We had plenty of time to fill our boots with both food and gifts before jumping back on the bus for the two hour journey back to the port, just in time for the boat to rumble up again and roll its way along the coast. Until next time, Costa Rica.

We managed to wangle our way onto a shared table for dinner that evening with a couple of Australians and the most Texan Texan's you'll ever meet - great conversation and a pleasant break from our own company. The food was delicious as usual, sweet tomato and buffalo mozzarella to start and eggplant parmigiana for the main. I didn't even have time for desert as I was rushing off for another of the EXC Encounters where they regale legends of Central America.

This time was the legend of Isla de Ometepe, with standing room only - obviously word had got around about how fun these could be! We were told about a young girl called Ometepe who had fallen in love with the son of the neighbouring tribes chief. Knowing that the star-crossed lovers could not be together, they killed themselves a la Romeo and Juliet, with their blood mixing with the tears of the Gods to form the lake and her body forming the island within it.

That night's entertainment was quite different and took advantage of another of Holland America's partners, BBC Planet Earth II. We were treated to a live orchestral concert against the backdrop of scenes from the series. I'm not sure how much of the soundtrack was pre-recorded and how much was live as obviously the ships band did not have all the instruments necessary for a full orchestra, but it was pleasant to watch and listen, particularly as we are in one of the most bio-diverse regions of the world. However, I still think that Planet Earth should be renamed 'Nature is scary' - Google the marine iguana / razor snake sequence if you need more proof!

TRAVEL: The Cruise Diaries - Through the Panama Canal

Welcome to the forth installment of The Cruise Diaries - make sure to read previous installments here first! Follow my journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, through the Panama Canal, up through the countries of Central America, and finishing in San Diego, California. New installments coming every few days so make sure to stay tuned on the blog and Twitter @CiarasCountry - on with the trip!
 
Day 7

Waking up early for Christmas used to be so easy, but no longer as I found it pretty difficult to drag myself out of bed at 5am on Christmas Eve as we prepared to enter the Panama Canal, without a doubt one of the main selling points of this particular cruise. Yawning, I pulled myself to the bow of the ship which had been opened for passengers to use as a viewpoint, and was already extremely busy at this time in the morning. Waiters were wandering around passing out Panama Rolls, breads filled with custard and desiccated fruit, so at least that was a reason to be up this early!

We were closer to the shores on both sides of the ship than we had ever been as we crawled slowly towards the unnamed bridge at the Caribbean entrance near Colon to the Panama Canal. We moved at a pretty glacial rate waiting for the passenger ship ahead of us to enter the first lock, be raised up, move out of the lock, the water to fall, and then to let us in; which gave me time to check out the Panama Canal souvenirs sale on the Lido Deck, where gifts had been brought on board as we wouldn't be able to buy any on land. I opted for a tiny Panama hat - when in Rome, right?

And so the day followed much like that. After going through the first set of locks, I went and chilled at the back of the boat, watching the jungle scenario go by as we entered into Gatun Lake, a man made lake made by the damming of the Chagres river to form the canal. We cruised slowly through the Gillard Cut where the continental plate had been cut into; under the Centennial Bridge to our next set of locks, the Pedro Miguel locks; and out into Miraflores lake.

Miraflores locks were perhaps the most interesting of the three for two reasons - first in that these are the closest locks to Panama City, and so appeared to be where tourists to the country come to see the Panama Canal in action. As we made our way through the lock, we passed by a building nearly as tall as the ship itself filled to the brim with people rows deep, all looking out to get a view of us going through. Interesting day trip, eh? Secondly, this was the only canal where two ships could go through at the same time, each in their own lock. As a result, we were neck and neck with the Regent Seven Seas Navigator who we'd been tailing through the whole canal, and so it became a bit of a race to see who would make it through their lock first (we did).

Sure enough, it was then time for afternoon tea which was all the more special as we had a bit more to look at than the usual sea on both sides. Dinky sandwiches, teeny scones and a variety of cakes and macaroons to fill us up, topped off with cups of warming tea. I've had afternoon tea in plenty of places in London, but never before on the Panama Canal itself!

We headed back outside for the final leg of our journey through the Canal, watching as the skyscrapers of Panama City floated by, heading under the Bridge of the Americas which connects the Pan American highway, and out into the Pacific Ocean. From 5am to 5pm, we'd spent the whole day in the canal - still technically 'at sea' but a different kind of sea day.

We decided to torture ourselves at Total Body Conditioning (do I mind that OAPs are far, far, far more flexible and fit than me? Nope, gives me hope for the future!) and then for an earlier entertainment evening than usual. We were treated with hugely talented violinist Amy Lee, who told us how it had come to be that a classically trained musician had ended up playing on cruise ships. At an exclusive musical programme, she had been forced to play nothing but classical music; taking the fun out of her love of the violin. Having gone on a cruise with her parents, she decided that to be the optimum career choice which would allow her to travel the world and play what she wanted.

And boy, could she play! We had a great mix of music including Beethoven's Symphony number five, a medley of Michael Jackson songs, Lindsay Stirling, and a tribute to Phantom of the Opera. She had great stage presence, moving about as she shredded the violin (how do they manage to play the notes without stickers showing where their fingers should be?!) What a joy to behold.

I'd hoped to rush to dinner straight after in order to catch a showing of White Christmas in the theatre, but we'd been late to book dinner (never a good idea on Christmas Eve) so weren't seated for another half hour. Furthermore, the food was delicious (butternut squash and apple soup; a scrummy ravioli; and pecan pie to finish) but very slow to come out of the kitchen so there was not a chance that as going to happen.

This was the night that I had to stay up later than usual so I took advantage of the ships version of Netflix where you call the front desk and order a DVD from their vast range, before heading back to the Mainstage for 11pm. Tonight was the Sounds of Christmas Christmas Eve concert featuring the crew choirs, where we had the Volendam singers from our shows sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing; followed by the International Choir of any member of the crew who wanted to join sing Deck the Halls, Jingle Bells, and Let It Snow.

It was then a chance for the more represented nationalities to show off their own choirs, so the Filipino Choir stepped forward to sing some Filipino songs called Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit; Sa Araw Ng Pasko; and Just Love. I loved this as the songs were super poppy and upbeat and showed off the Filipino crews friendly nature.

Another largely represented nationality was that of Indonesia, so the Indonesian Christian Choir sang a beautiful song called Arbab. We had a wonderful soloist lead O Holy Night, which I really enjoyed as you could hear the lovely Indonesian accents coming through on the words, and then they translated a verse into Indonesian. A really special event and a chance to show our appreciation for the staff both for their talent and their hard work.

All the choirs came back together at the end to perform Silent Night, and left the stage to well-deserved rapturous applause. Whilst the weather outside may not have felt too festive, this was a truly wonderful way to bring Christmas cheer to all.

Day 8

Merry Christmas to all! I woke up to a Christmas morning unlike any others I'd had before, opening my curtains to see the Atlantic Ocean stretching before me. First stop of the day was Christmas Mass which I'm sure was less well attended than Midnight Mass the night before, but for those of us whose body clocks remained in a different time zone, this seemed a better option.

We broke our usual mould by heading to the Dining Room for breakfast. Whilst fancier, I felt that there was less of a selection than the Lido's buffet as you were to choose from a menu of set items, so I settled for creamy grits with brown sugar, raisins and almonds; followed by buttermilk pancakes. Somehow having them made in front of you in the Lido made them taste all that much better, so I don't think we'll be returning to Dining Room breakfasts.

As it was the big day, there were special festivities planned and adults and children alike headed to the Mainstage for the arrival of the Big Man. Unrehearsed carol singing which didn't quite fill the time needed in between the Captain's pre-recorded segments about spotting an unidentified flying object overhead was followed by a funny montage of Santa wandering around the ship - playing on the sports court, stopping at the bar, sampling some of the delicacies in the Lido - before he ran to the stage to great cheer from the children.

Subsequently, the little ones (of which there were more than I had expected, but I suppose they'd been spending most of their time in the kids club) lined up to sit on Santa's lap and receive a present, some of which I would actually have been quite happy with! There were a fair few non-children going up on stage too much to the disapproval of members of the audience, but thankfully the elves had enough presents for everyone.

We took a Christmas promenade around the deck to pass the time. Being on this trip has given me a great appreciation of seasons, particularly around Christmastime. It just felt weird to be going out on Christmas Day without being wrapped up in hat and coat; instead heading out in shorts and sunglasses. If you're looking for a great holiday, this could be it; but a festive one, not so much.

As it was an at sea day, we had another America's Test Kitchen session entitled 'We Love Chocolate', so bound to be great. We were taught how to make pot de creme and chewy brownies which looked utterly delicious. Seeing our salivating faces, Chef Maria explained to us why she was unable to share the food she makes with us due to the strict health and safety rules on the ship, at which point three people walked out! Looking at the food was good enough for me, and who knows, maybe I'll test some out myself when I get home.

We headed to the Mainstage for the last of the talks from the onboard naturalist, this one on Costa Rica Essential. He explained more about his country, including the high literacy rate, lack of army, influence of the Spanish colonisation in mixing with the locals to create a much lighter and European skin tone than those of neighbouring countries, the biggest exports (spoiler: number three is coffee, number two bananas, and number one pineapples), and the different states in the country, one of which we would be visiting the following day. This was a great introduction to the country and helped build excitement for our visit there.

EXC Tours took to the stage next to tell us how to Make the Most of Our Time in Puerto Quetzal, Guatamala; and Huatulco, Mexico which were some of our upcoming ports, full of beautiful pictures and explanations about the countries and towns. Having been on the ship a full week by this point, I still hadn't managed to make it to the onboard cinema which had films on rotation three times a day. Christmas Day's film was A Christmas Story about young Ralphie and his dream of procuring a Red Rider Air Rifle for Christmas (you'll shoot your eye out!) This was a pleasant way to spend a bit of Christmas.

It was then time for dinner. Traditional Christmas dinner was on the menu, but I decided to have grilled polenta to start, followed by four cheese ravioli, and pumpkin tart. The catering staff never fail to impress me. We had a special show on the Mainstage in honour of Christmas with two of our previous acts - boyfriend and girlfriend Matt Cairns and Amy Lee. Fantastic as soloists, they were fantastic together, playing songs like White Christmas, Zorba the Greek, and the Devil Went Down to Georgia together; as well as having the chance to play their own stuff, with Amy doing a Riverdance medley and Matt an Eagles medley. Not only were they great musicians, but you could see how much they loved playing with each other - if that's not Christmas, then I don't know what is.

TRAVEL: The Cruise Diaries - Oranjestad, Aruba

Welcome to the third installment of The Cruise Diaries - make sure to read previous installments here first! Follow my journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean Islands, through the Panama Canal, up through the countries of Central America, and finishing in San Diego, California. New installments coming every few days so make sure to stay tuned on the blog and Twitter @CiarasCountry - on with the trip!

Day 5

Down in the bowels of the ship, I was woken the next morning by what sounded and felt like an earthquake, but was in fact just the engine working hard to bring us into the port of Oranjestad, Aruba. We had a quick breakfast in the Lido watching as tour groups headed off on their excursions and feeling slightly jealous for those who had a submarine tour planned for the day (note to self: add that to the bucket list!)

Before long, we made our way out into the heat of the Arubian sun and onto dry land again. Our intention had been to catch the local bus up to the California lighthouse, wander around and figure out what to do - so not much of a plan. As luck would have it, the buses were only once every hour and we had over a half hour until the next one, so decided we'd see what options the tour hawkers lingering around the port could offer us.

First to approach us was a stylish woman who told us she could take us around the western part of the island on a tour that was leaving right this instant. With little time to think, we decided to just go for it, and so she ran off to pick up her colourful open topped van for us and another couple to jump into. And then we were off, cruising down the streets as the wind whipped my hair all over the place. I actually enjoyed the open topped bus as not only did the constant breeze mean that we couldn't feel the heat but the view was so much better than if we'd been behind glass.

Every time our guide wanted to point something out to us, she would yell over the engine. "ON YOUR LEFT YOU'LL SEE THE AYO ROCKS" she yelled as we passed the huge limestone structures, "THIS IS A TYPICAL ARUBIAN HOUSE," and so on and so forth. Our little journey took us to the Baby Land Bridge, along the road to which I was nearly thrown overboard by the horrendously bumpy road and lack of vehicle suspension; the tiny Alto Vista Chapel; the California Lighthouse ($1 if you wanted to use the restroom); and back along Palm and Eagle Beach with their beautiful clear water and the occasional impressive shipwreck. All in all, our tour took about 2 and a half hours, which for $20 I don't think was bad at all.

We arrived back in time just to see the free trolley train fill up again with visitors. Hopping on, we squeezed past cars parked too close to the tracks and cruised slowly up the pedestrianised Main Street alongside all of the shops. At the end of the street, the trolley train stops for twenty minutes before turning back, so we decided to hop off and walk back ourselves.

Along Main Street, there were a bunch of signs with recommendations of what to do which I thought was great, with one of the recommendations being to try a pastechi. As it so happened, the only shop with a line coming out of the door was a pastechi stop, so that seemed like more reason than any to try one. We had to queue for about twenty minutes before ordering our pastechis filled with young Gouda cheese (see the Dutch influence) and continued on our way while munching the deliciously gooey empanada-like pastry.

Turning away from Main Street, we headed back down to the seafront, stopping to buy a snowglobe at one of the many souvenir shops and then heading in search of coffee. Thanks to free Wi-Fi in the area, we TripAdvisored and chose the Aruba Experience Bakery and Patisserie, which was slightly out of the way, but a beautiful stone building. They didn't have many pastries on offer when we arrived but the atmosphere was so nice it seemed a shame not to stop for a glass of fresh orange juice.

And just like that, we'd done all we thought there was to do in the little port town of Oranjestad. We wandered our way back to the air conditioned ship, again just in time for tea in the Dining Room (a hard habit to break). This time we were sat with an American military couple and a German woman, providing a nice break from talking to the people you already spend a lot of time with, and find out a bit about other people's lives and their experiences of cruising.

I had a bit of free time for reading and blogging before getting ready for another round of Total Body Conditioning in the gym, this time full of ab work that certainly seemed much more difficult than usual, although maybe that was just due to the extra layers of padding provided by the past few days of eating about four times as much as usual...

Speaking of food, that was next on the agenda with a little bit of variation from the usual as we decided to eat in the Lido due to the Caribbean Themed Dinner that would be taking place there. There was plenty of choice, although not too much catering for the vegetarian diet, so I opted for a delicious bean soup followed by make-your-own-pasta (very Caribbean) and key lime and coconut pie.

The nature talks had been upgraded to prime time so we headed down to the Mainstage for a fascinating talk on birds which told us everything we needed to know and more about birds of the neotropics, from parrots to toucans and hummingbirds. Talks and entertainment seemed to get more popular each and every day so we had a full house by the time we got to the night's entertainment.

This was quite different than those that came before it as we had juggler John Nations, who not only did very impressive juggling tricks involving balls, bats, tennis racquets and knifes; but was also very funny and personable. I'd hire him for a party anyday.

Day 6

The clocks went back over night so we supposedly had an extra hour in bed, but knowing that there's no rest for the wicked, I was up at 7am to face the day. With all that extra time, I decided to head to Just Breathe up on the Lido Deck, again in collaboration with Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine. This was pretty similar to our Stretch and Release classes but with a bit of meditation and yoga thrown in for good measure.

We ate breakfast whilst watching the tiny flying fish jump out of the water from down below, and then headed back for our daily Stretch and Release. Sometimes it felt like the instructor forget we were on a moving ship, asking us to balance on one leg, difficult enough when the ground's not moving below you!

If you've read by blog before or can guess based on my meal choices throughout this trip, you probably know that I'm a vegetarian. However, this didn't put me off attending America's Test Kitchen's demonstration of the perfect Steakhouse Dinner, as I truly find the demos very interesting and relaxing. What's the going rate for a television salesperson? Now that's a job I'd like to try.

Our next nature talk was at 11am and on amphibians and reptiles. We learnt about all the differences between toads and frogs, and a bit more about one of my favourite toads, the Pebble Toad (YouTube its defence mechanism); differences between crocodiles, alligators and caimans; no discussion on snakes to make sure not to trigger any guests fears; and the water walking basilisks.

Given that it was Sunday, brunch was on offer in the Dining Room, so I opted for yummy caramel corn pancakes, smashed avocado on toast, and apple crisp. Going hungry is definitely not a fear on the Volendam! I raced back to the theatre to catch the second America's Test Kitchen demo of the day on 'Everything Salmon', again more interested in watching the demo and the skill of the presenter in talking continuously whilst engaging the audience than the food itself.

At 2pm, we headed to the Mainstage for a talk on the History of the Building of the Panama Canal given that we would be passing through it the following day. We learnt about its origins as a French project, all of the issues that occurred with landslides, diseases and poor engineering that led to the failure of the project before it was reignited by the Americans who led the project to its completion. Admittedly I knew very little about the Panama Canal beforehand, but attending the talk made me excited to see it as well as appreciative of all the effort that had gone into its creation.

If you've read the earlier editions of this trip series, you'll know that we managed to win a voucher for the spa, so I decided to put this to good use with a special multi-treatment they'd concocted. This consisted of an exfoliating rub, full body massage and wrap. A hugely relaxing hour, but I was surprised to hear that days at sea were the most popular for the spa - I'd have thought not rocking back and forth would be more relaxing!

Dinner was back in the Dining Room with beet risotto and pineapple crisp. I rushed off to the small Hudson Room on deck to hear the tale of La Segua, a Costa Rican folklore about a woman spurned by her lover who then turned herself into a terrifying flaming horse headed lady terrifying other playboy men who tried to lure young women away. Very interesting story and read well, with sounds effects provided by the attendees (dun dun dun!)

It was then to the Mainstage for the second show of the Volendam singers and dancers, this time titled 'Variations'. We saw some great dancing include an interesting street dance to classical music; and beautiful musical theatre style singing of songs such as 'Amigos Para Siempre' and 'The Winner Takes It All.' Without a doubt, one of my favourite parts of cruising so far has been the entertainment - I'd pay good money to see this stuff any day.