So. What to write...........
Well, the sunburn has been slowly healing. We both glow in the dark and we are so red it's scary. It's worrying how badly we burnt in the short time we were exposed. Lessons learnt! As our skin has been healing, we've been prickling and itching like fury. It's been driving us mad, but we've been practising mind over matter, knowing it'll all sort itself out soon enough.
I seem to have got water in my ear during the swim too. This now means that I feel like I've got a blanket over my head, and everything on my right side is muffled. However, if it were a competition, Peter is still more deaf.
I've been to a few lectures. I always enjoy listening to Louise Bonner. She's very interested in the wildlife and ecology of our surroundings, and I love learning about all these things. I've also sat in on Neil Bonner's lecture. I thought I ought to, since we've known them both for a few years now, and I've never heard what he has to say. He was funny and entertaining. And finally I listened to Peter Mawby, the nature and bird man. Well, I would wouldn't I? As a result, I can't wait to travel down the Panama Canal, and I'm dead excited about Costa Rica too.
Up until we left Manta, the ship had been on a sort of hygiene clampdown. This was due to a stomach bug picked up by the passengers on the previous cruise. There are a certain number of days that the ship has to continue with this process after the last case D&V is notified. So, by the time we'd reached Manta, The Voyager had finished the alloted time with no more cases and yesterday everything went back to normal. This meant we could help ourselves to food at the buffet, there were tablecloths, salt and pepper, milk and sugar on the tables, all the usual stuff. Which felt nice.
Then today it changed back again. O Oh! From what I can make out, a few people became ill after a trip into Manta - all of them together apparently. So we're back to bare tables and having to ask the waiters to pour milk in our tea. A little frustrating but very necessary sadly.
Something that's been amusing us and all the other passengers are three women from Canada, who seem to have brought a whole suitcase of props with them. This morning they turned up at breakfast with caps with rotor blades on the top. They've also worn Canadian maple leave sunglasses, Egyptian pharaoh headresses and sailors caps. In fact they have something different every morning and every night. We think their luggage allowance hasn't been the same as ours.
And of course, there have been Peter's classes. The first one was chaos at the start, which is nothing new, but this time it was due to not enough painting kits for the passengers that attended - just 7 kits for 27 attendees. Not a good arrangement. Peter went off to find someone that would agree that would could share the kits (luckily, Peter had spare brushes with him as usual) - but there was a equator crossing ceremony on the pool deck, so the ships entertainment team were all busy.
We did get it all sorted out in the end, and once we'd worked out the arrangements on the first day, it was easy to repeat on the second class, so all smiles in the end. Peter has also been trying out some new subject material, and today the passengers painted the beach at Manta (the one we got cooked at). They actually did really well, and it was lovely to see.
We've also spent a little time on deck hiding in the shade. We've seen a few dolphins, and the approach to Panama city was quite gorgeous. No pictures because the light was quite poor, but not to worry, there will be loads tomorrow. We will be escorting again - it's a boat trip around the lake. I'm told there should be wildlife, we'll just have to wait and see.
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