Where in the World are Ric and Anne?

Guam Today I find it difficult to fathom the magnitude of the US and Japanese forces fighting in the battles from Guam to Saipan to .... Iwo Jima ... to Okinawa, the string of islands marching northward to Okinawa in the Ryuku Island chain leading to Japan proper. When I get back home and plan to watch in full the pair of movies  directed by Clint Eastwood, "Flag of Our Fathers," and "Letters to Home," depicting the Battle of Iwo Jima from the American and Japanese perspectives, respectfully. You can find trailers at          Flag of Our Fathers:   https://youtu.be/zmMygl7Ugs8?si=h08Ldrh8SeJQgSza          Letters to Home:   https://youtu.be/GA-sv7THq00?si=2zdO27O9XLy-RtGT   US Assault Forces. (Movie depiction) View of Japanese bunker as seen—or not—by assaulting US forces. (Movie depiction) American troops entering Japanese command complex?(Movie depiction) ...

Musings from Anne: Food:    There’s an amazing variety, most of which is quite tasty.  Vegan always available. Specialty dining rooms at added cost that people say are excellent. There are always cookies…..homemade   Avoiding gaining 10 pounds in 4 1/2 months is a challenge. Our Road Scholar group: 21 participants, 7 men, 14 women, 2 couples   Fellow passengers aboard ship: Predominantly English speaking with Brits, Australians,  Canadians & Americans. Many other languages can be heard, however.   There are a number of folks on rollators, canes and wheelchairs. Holland America is wonderful handling all the handicapped passengers. If we can pull up to a dock for port, off come the wheelchairs, no matter how primitive the area might be. The tender ports are not always amenable to rolling aids. The Road Scholar lectures and excursions have been terrific for the  most part. Although Americans clearly  visit these WWll battle sites, it is not ...

So, skipping to where we are now, after visiting Guam and Saipan (details later). We were in the edge of the largest expanse of water in the world. It is hard to believe that from a satellite somewhere above the South Pacific all you see is blue ocean. And we were, and still are, on the edge of that expanse, as seen in following figures:  

So we've been at sea for about a week sailing from Honolulu to Guam. You would have thought I would have caught up with this blog. But no, I've been side-tracked with ideas and quandaries that troubled this aging tech brain. One of these was how we managed to enjoy Valentine's Day after all, though it was going to be lost crossing the International Date Line, according to the published itinerary. I had understood that this was because the Zuiderman's captain had declared a shift in ship's calendar, and that we indeed had actually crossed from February 13 to 15. Trying to understand that, I concocted the appended story. But then I was informed that we actually had crossed the line on Feb 11 to 13. Huh? I'm confused and no one but I really care. Nor might you. But now that I've got that itch scratched, I plan to rapidly update many of the days missing days from this blog. Anyway here's the story:

Ric and Anne spent the next several days quarantined after testing positive for Covid. Very mild cases since we were fully vaccinated and had had Covid a year or so early. So, we spent our sight seeing from our balcony but were treated royally with fine meals beyond the normal room service, surprise afternoon tea cakes, free bottled water.

 Day 15: Santarem, Flona-Tapajos National Forest Tuesday, January 16 From Road Scholar Brochure:  "We ride south on the Santarém-Cuiabá Highway, the only road connecting this part of the Amazon with other points in Brazil. Different stages of "slash and burn" agriculture and the effect it has on the forest and land can be observed on this stretch of road as well as large soya plantations. "After approximately 1hr 15 min. on the road, we will reach Tapajos National Forest where we will enjoy a nature walk with a local expert where we will see the biodiversity of the area." Some photos: Ours and others' local forest guides. Our local guide cuts these shallow diagonal "trenches" and links them up with vertical accumulator cut.  This little white ball of white raw rubber is what bleeds out of shallow cuts. "Jungle telephone" used by natives to communicate by percussion code. As tall trees, their wood resonates for long distance when struck w...

Our penultimate stop on the Amazon River was at the city of Parintins. Fun feature of the city is that it has two major section, the Port side and the City side (or something like that), which have major competition between them. Late in June these teams hold a major festival and compete. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parintins_Folklore_Festival] But for us the city was quite quiet. From Road Scholar Brochure:  "Exploration by Tricycle ... aboard local tricycles decorated by the locals for a unique discovery of the city. We will start outside the port to see the major highlights; cycle by the club of Caprichoso Boi, the Liberty square and to the Bumbódromo where the annual Festival is held, here we will have a short visit of this area. Continue to the Cathedral and ride along the shore back to port in our tricycle's. Aboard ship. Enjoy a free afternoon in Parintins." Some photos: Blue Red Festival Stadium Parintins Red Team and Blue Teams colors around town Little man i...

(I'm way behind on blog, writing this on Feb 2 for  Jan 14 events.)  So, here we are at Manus, the capital and largest city in the Brazilian state, Amazonas. It is strange to find such a large city in the middle of a jungle. Well, perhaps the reason is that the Amazon river is navigable for large ships all the way here from the ocean almost a thousand miles away. Hence they can come here for whatever products the Amazon has to offer. In the early 1900s that product was rubber though now it includes manufacturing (electronics, chemical products, soap, distilling, shipbuilding, brewing, and petroleum refining) and some agricultural exports (soybean oil, malt extract, gold, Brazil nuts,  jute, and rosewood oil.) What was particularly remarkable as we approach Manaus on our ship was the sharp division of waters from the Rio Negro as it joined the Amazon. From Road Scholar brochure : "... ride to 'Adolpho Lisboa Market', also called Mercado Municipal or Mercadão (big market...