Whitetails

The whitetails have missed the birdseed buffet!

Even the big boys have shown up!

Back to Winter

Back home in Indiana and, no surprise, we have snow!

 The animal tracks are everywhere.

Even on the creek.

Raccoon 

Mouse
Brrrr!

Towel Creatures

Our cruise is done but just wanted to share some of the 

fun towel critters our room steward, Riske, placed in our stateroom every evening.

Nicaragua & Guatemala

Another stop on our cruise was Nicaragua where we visited a banana plantation.

 The bananas are covered in bags in the field to protect them from insects

 and rubbing which causes bruising.

No one wants black marks on the their bananas!

One surprising thing I learned is that the bananas grow upward

 instead of hanging down like I expected. 

After being cut from the stems, the bananas are washed

Boxed

And ready to ship.

Maybe this box will go through the Panama canal!

 Another port of call was Guatemala, where we saw the active volcano, Fuego.

The volcano just erupted 6 months ago in June of 2018.

Antigua is a mere 17 kilometers from the volcano 

and is an ancient city which has seen eruptions before.

 Antigua is known for its Spanish architecture.

And has many beautiful churches.

Jade is also mined in Guatemala and we visited a Jade factory 

where workers were carving and creating jade masks, among other things.

 Carving jade.

 There are many street vendors in the town market.

 You can buy just about anything you want!

Antigua was a lovely historic city.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica was a beautiful country.

 Ocean, rainforest and mountains.

The country's main industry is tourism.

We explored the treetops of the rainforest while walking on some suspension bridges.

 And we cruised a river lookin for wildlife.

And we weren't disappointed!

 We saw monkeys

 Crocodiles

Parrots

 And even this Jesus Christ lizard.

it was a warm & welcoming country with lots of natural beauty.

I'd like to return for a longer stay sometime.

Columbia

We had two stops in Columbia.  

Even before we got off the ship, we could tell it was a very poor country.

These 2 fishermen were using the hull of a jet ski for a boat.

Homes were primitive.

 There were many modes of transportation.

 Motorcycles seemed to be popular.

 People were making money any way they could.

 There were lots of street vendors

 We did see a local dance troupe

And visited the old fort, Castillo San Filipe de Barajas, in Cartagena.

I didn't feel safe in Columbia.

In fact, our tour bus was held up for about a half hour by the police,

wanting our drivers papers.

Many street vendors were pushy and obtrusive, trying to get us to buy their wares.

I'd not recommend traveling to it.

Curacao & Aruba

In order to transit the Panama canal, 

we had to cruise the Caribbean.

First stop was an island I'd never heard of, but what beauty!

Curacao, a Dutch Carribean island is a hidden little gem.

The architecture is beautiful, quaint and tropical colored.

How fitting to see a flock of flamingos.

 That's the Queen Juliana bridge, one of the highest bridges in the Caribbean at 185 feet.

And Curacao liqueur was developed here!

 Next stop, was Aruba!

 Another beautiful Island.

 We sailed on a catamaran

 Snorkeled a shipwreck site

 And saw lots of lizards!

Be careful little guy, the locals will eat you!