Diznyfan68
<font color=magenta>mmmmmm there's peanut butter i
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2006
- Messages
- 6,918
Hi Laura,
It's good to have you back!
It's good to have you back!
I'm here. I went to doc today. Now on lots of drugs so hopefully, I will feel better soon.
Thanks for asking.
I wish I could forget mine - one was so weird it almost qualified as a nightmare in my book - blood, gore and bodyparts, not good.
I wish I could forget mine - one was so weird it almost qualified as a nightmare in my book - blood, gore and bodyparts, not good.
Hi Laura,
It's good to have you back!
I wish I could forget mine - one was so weird it almost qualified as a nightmare in my book - blood, gore and bodyparts, not good.
There was a good article a couple of months ago in Caribbean Travel and Life, too. I think it will be a fascinating place to go.
I'm thinking of buying coffee and
EMERALDS![]()
I will be right there with you buying Emeralds!!!!
I love jewelry!!! I LOVE gemstones!!!!
Chrissie
What did the Dr say? Sorry if I missed it in a previous post.
He's sleeping it off now. He says he can't tell any different right now, but he (and his eyes) are so full of meds - who can tell. Tommorrow is a different matter.
I appreciate everyone's well wishes, thoughts and prayers. I apologize for not being able to respond to all the posts individually or multi-quote but I just don't have it in me right now. To say I'm a bit depressed would be an understatement. I don't even really want to talk about it -atleast not yet. but it appears that either something happened like a stroke or something or I have Bell's palsy or something and dealing with the non-functioning part of my face & mouth right now is well... not fun. I'm not even sure if I should post that because now if it doesn't go away I'm going to think everyone is looking at me on the cruise.
I'm only 37yrs old and was not prepared for something like this at this stage of my life. I've never been pretty- I know that. But it's like God had to say oh you think you're ugly now, you haven't seen nothing yet... it can always get worse little missy.
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Atleast I know my tears work in both eyes.
I think a bus rental from the DL area to the port would be tremendous fun. I have not volunteered to arrange it because I thought there would be someone from the area with prior knowledge, but I am happy to look into it -- Lisa, sign me up! I will arrange bus transport if enough people want it . . .
You know, as much as I like, I have to say that my vice is ICE CREAM!!! Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone, Marble Slab, Edy's, Breyer's...you name it!!!! I LOVE it!! Even when it's 30 below outside, it's always a good time for ice cream...
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I wish there was an ice cream smiley...*SIGH*
I love jewelry and I love gemstones but I don't love emeralds. But I'm still looking forward to going.
I previously mentioned the article on Cartagena that appears in the current Conde Nast Traveler magazine. I thought I would post some excerpts from the article to give people a taste of what certainly seems like a fascinating port-of-call. If nothing else, this should reassure those who, based on some of the previous posts, might have been concerned about leaving the ship. Having just finished the entire article, I will have to make sure to watch Romancing the Stone again before next August.
Excerpts from Sleeping Beauty: Even during Columbias darkest years, Cartagena was spared. David Ebershoff visits this dreamy city by the sea, a place that wears its rich history as lightly as it does its languorous charm (Conde Nast Traveler, March 2007).
On its beaches:
Cartagenas beaches arent what youd expect. The sand is thick and brown, muddying the water. The surf is rough and tricky. These are city beaches, like those in San Juan and Coney Island: crowded, nosy, and funnot relaxing. For that, most people go to the Rosario Islands, an hour and twenty minutes from the marina by launch. For a quick dip in the Caribbean, go to the busy, fun beach in Bocagrande, five minutes from the old city by cab. Another option is to hire a cab to take you to the small fishing village of La Boquilla, five miles north of the city.
On safety:
Columbias long-running civil war and campaigns of narco-terrorism have never erupted on Cartagenas streets; here the political strife and horrific violence feel very far away. If you take the usual precautions, you should feel safe walking around the historic center day or night. That said, the countrys political situation is always changing. In the past few years, the change has been for the better, with the country becoming increasingly peaceful and stable (with the exception of parts of the mountainous interior and the Amazon Basin).
Even in the bloodiest times, the violence never reached Cartagenas walls. Why not? Its a question I ask nearly everyone I talk to about the city. There are a lot of theories. Originally built by the Spanish, the coral, brick, and quicklime walls that surround the historic center have protected the city for hundreds of years. [Some believe] Columbians love the city too much to hurt it; Cartagena is the symbol of Columbia. All Colombians take pride in it. During the years of violence, even the narco-traffickers respected it. For whatever reasons, Cartagena has remained safe: For nearly two decades, it has been a haven for Colombias middle and upper classes.
On its bloody history:
Founded in 1533 on a small Caribbean peninsula, Cartagena quickly became one of the most important cities in Spains South American empire. Much of the gold, silver, emeralds, and pearls stolen from the Incas and other Andean civilizations passed through its warehouses. So much treasure was amassed that soon French and English pirates were attacking the city, looting the loot. The Spanish responded by building an elaborate complex of walls and forts, a project that lasted nearly two hundred years and required the labor of some 80,000 slaves. It culminated in Castillo de San Felipe, Spains largest military fort in the Americas, an imposing structure that looks something like the pyramids outside Mexico City. It was designed with trapdoors, niches of death, and two thousand feet of internal tunnels, some of which deliberately lead nowhere. It and many of the citys other fortifications remain intact, including almost all of the walls that surround the historic neighborhoods. The wall now makes a scenic promenade; along the way are a number of garrets that you can step into and look out at the Caribbean through a musket hole.
Cartagena has had a long relationship with the macabre. In 1610, the city became the seat of the Spanish Inquisition in Latin America. Although never as bloody as its counterpart in Iberia, the Dominican-led push to root out heretics, witches, Jews, and other undesirables resulted in roughly seven hundred local persecutions and five autos-da-fe [sorry, I have not idea what those are]. The Inquisition Palace is a grand Andalusian-style building freshly restored as a museum on the north side of the Plaza de Bolivar. Theres a display of torture racks, stockades, and a scale used to weigh women accused of witchcraft to see if they were light enough to fly. On the outside wall, at the height of a person on horseback, is the denunciation window. Here, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Cartagenos with a grudge would anonymously slip the names of heretics through the iron grille.
On getting to know the city:
The historic city is divided into three neighborhoods: El Centro, where youll find the major churches, museums, and plazas, and where the nobility once lived; San Diego, an upscale residential neighborhood formerly occupied by wealthy merchants and top military officers; and Getsemani, which has seen the least renovation.
On finding a guide:
Go to the entrance at the San Pedro Claver Cloister and ask for Willy or one of the other government-certified guides, who wear badges showing their credentials (about $30 for an afternoon).
'Eveing, Mark. How is FGM feeling this evening?
I like icecream too![]()
How about one for chocolate?
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Okay...she's going to kill me....but I'm posting a picture of Shelley...BBB..BIP....and her family. She said she wasn't pretty and I'm here to challenge her on that. She's a doll and has a darling family
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Shelley....![]()
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Okay...she's going to kill me....but I'm posting a picture of Shelley...BBB..BIP....and her family. She said she wasn't pretty and I'm here to challenge her on that. She's a doll and has a darling family
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Shelley....![]()
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