Here we are on board the Zuirderdam first thing. I was thrilled to find that much of the character of the ship was art nouveau, which I love, like this beautiful female sculpture.

and how charming are  the bar stools.

We went up on deck to see the ship sail out of the harbor in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday afternoon.

I later found this sculpture of a woman knitting in a niche in the wall of the theater.  It just tickled my fancy.  The opposite wall held a sitting statue of a man in a hard hat looking at blue prints, but the light was different on that side and I couldn't get a picture of it.

That night we watched an interactive program done by the cruise director, of the history of the Holland America Line.  It was super interesting.

Another bit of fun was while looking for a library, we found a multimedia room instead, and it had a Moomin game, what's not to love about that.  Unfortunately the library is limited to a few best sellers, and a lot of coffee table books.  I had hoped to find an Agatha Christie, as I had read all I had available at home.

On Monday we went to tea to see what that included.  This lovely stacked rack was mostly sweets, and we decided we really didn't need another meal each day anyway. But I do love the idea of afternoon tea, don't you?

Here's another work of art that made me smile.  It reminds me a lot of an artist that I saw exhibited in Finland.

Dad ran into a fellow temple worker, who works with him on Thursdays.  He's here with several extended family members, some of who live in Payson.  Its a large group and we see them all the time.  They are very active and have the only two teenagers on the boat with them.

Barb and Randy got a suite, so we would be able to play games inside without masks.  This is a hand of tricks, I had an empty suite, and it was trump.  Yeah, toughie to bid. 

We attended many performances in the red interior theater. There were the talks done with slides by the cruise director and some wonderful modern dance performances with projected light and images that make it all the more interesting. We also saw a magician a couple of times.

We decided to buy internet to keep in touch a bit, but its not that great, so we haven't been on line much.  Still, Dad has been able to post birthday greetings on FB.  And I was able to borrow this cute picture of Charlie from Instagram.

On Wednesday, after having missed a cancelled stop that was due to the countries involved not allowing us off the ship, we pulled into the harbor of  Cartagena, Columbia, as part of an international agreement of some kind.  This put us in Columbian waters, so we are counting it as having visited the country, though we did not get off, we spend several hours in their waters.

It really is a beautiful city.  We also saw battlements from the 1500s and some quaint villages along the shore.

Here we all watch the shoreline and listen to the Cruise Director telling us the history of the area.

On Thursday we went through the Panama Canal.  Here is Dad on the bow of the ship as we sit in the first lock.

Here he watches as we move along the canal.

This is the largest mountain peak, along the canal.  It had to be terraced to keep it from land sliding into the canal during the torrential rainy seasons.  Can you see the plates with bolts in the middle.  They are working like architectural stars to hold the hill together.

We sat on Barb and Randy's balcony to see the temple in Panama City. Randy even chose his cabin to this end.

Here are Dad and I in front of the temple, while standing on the Moe's balcony. It is actually our 60th to see.

When we went ashore after getting out of the canal, we found out that this was an art center, that has been closed down for covid.  

Here's another fun sculpture on the ship.

We got off the ship on Friday, in Panama City, as a replacement stop for 2 that had been cancelled on the east cost.  We're not sure what sisu means in Panama, but it a great Finnish word.

This is a fraction of a huge nativity scene in a beautiful old church we stopped at on our tour of Panama City.

This is the entire scene, the bit above is in the middle.

In another room they had houses of all kinds that people had placed on an alter when praying for housing for themselves or loved ones.  The two in the middle are glitter Christmas type houses, which made me laugh.  Some were hand made out of Popsicle sticks, or other materials.

There are also many churches in this state of disrepair.  

This was was run by Jesuit Priests, and was called The Company of Christ, which I really love.  The Jesuits gave it to the small local Jewish Community to use as a synagogue when they removed to another site, which I also love.

One of the lady's from our ship on another tour was able to find an antique store.  That made me jealous, because, well, 

Yeah.

Here's one of our evening dining staff showing us tricks with silverware.

Dad has been running on board, as I am sure you expected.  He's been getting some fantastic milage running on a moving ships, like two minute miles and such.  My personal favorite is this jellyfish run that was recorded when we were in anchorage one morning, as the boat swayed in the wind.

Today we took a tour of a coffee plantation.  Its their major export, and the mainstay of their economy so we thought it would be interesting.  Dad is shown here with a bundle of banana ripening on a tree on the plantation.

Here are some multi levels of ripeness coffee beans ... they pick over and over the same areas over a 3 month period because they don't ripen at the same time.

Here were are in sanitary  hats before going into the processing plant.

In the gift shop they had these carved wood mugs with Anthropological letters.

Next we saw the largest Ox Cart in the world.  Just right for Paul Bunyan's Blue Ox, Babe to pull.

Here's an older normal size one outside the factory.

in the 1980s they started decorating them like this, and they have become decorative as well as being a form of transportation that is still used by some small growers.

The factory also had available these 'arc of the covenant' replicas in the gift shop.

There were painted murals too.

I loved this stylized depiction of the Ox Cart Factory.

We watched a lady painting the folk art designs on mugs.  I loved the stacks of paint cans.

Its hard to see, but the owner, 80 years ago, made a ditch come off a river, 2 1/2 miles away, to run this water wheel, that in turn electrifies all the various machines in the shop, and had been used ever since.  As soon as they started to run the water through the wheels, every machine around us started working.  Not something you would be shown in our litigious society in the USA, but sooo fascinating.

Here's our so fancy tour bus ... Its a Marco Polo brand, just like the bus we took when we were in Bolivia with Brittany, Emily and Davin after his mission.  Such happy memories.

Here are some of the folk designs applied to an Adirondack chair.

So that was our great week.  We are having so much fun.  I did have a funny thing happen on Friday.  When we were on our tour that day, one of the guides I met is named Joy, I told her I love her name, its probably my favorite right now, because I had just finished reading Becoming Mrs. Lewis.  Its a book about Joy Davidson, and how she corresponded with CS Lewis and eventually married him.  When He first met her he was already writing his biography, which he had pre-named, Surprised by Joy.  Well, the book aside, my 'word' for this year just happens to also be 'Joy'.  So imagine how surprised I was when we got back from our tour, and I went to get my pedicure on board and my technician's name was also Joy.  Considering that I have never known one single person named Joy in my life, I figure it has to mean something.

Lewis took the name of his book from this poem by Longfellow.

Surprised by Joy

Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind

I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom

But Thee, long buried in the silent Tomb,

That spot which no vicissitude can find?

Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind—

But how could I forget thee?—Through what power,

Even for the least division of an hour,

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind

To my most grievous loss!—That thought’s return

Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,

Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,

Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more;

That neither present time, nor years unborn

Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.

So like the Brits say, when someone is getting married, "let me wish you joy!!"