Life is a Carnival, Part One.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
The Big Boat
My wife and I just took a cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico out of San Diego, California. It was our first cruise and it was very educational.
Educational opportunities happen all around us every day, but seldom do we recognize them and take advantage of these wonderful chances to increase our awareness of the world. In fact, it seems to me that most of us are dumb as stumps and sometimes I wonder how we manage to feed ourselves or breathe for that matter.
Feeding ourselves was not a real problem on the cruise however, as there were a fairly large number of food options available most of the time. There were at least three buffets that ran from early in the morning until well into the evening. There was twenty-four hour room service available to everyone and there was a pizza station that was open all night long. My wife said there was a midnight buffet, but neither of us was ever up at that hour to actually verify that as true. We probably should have asked some of the folks that were around us as I know that a lot of them stayed up way past midnight. I know this because I checked the time on my cell phone whenever they woke me up. Some of them liked to scream and yell late at night in the hallways outside our room. I was always curious as to what ungodly hour it was.
We have decided that this was a younger persons’ cruise. At least it seemed that it was that way because there was a lot of drinking and partying going on most of the time all around us. I am glad to join in with most parties but I am no longer able, thank God, to stay up late at night carrying on in that manner. At least not night after night after night.
On the morning that we arrived back in San Diego I got up rather early. My cell phone was stuck on Cabo San Lucas time and did not return to Pacific Coast time until around five thirty AM so when I got up it was actually four o’clock in the morning but I did not realize it. I had slept well the night before and I was ready for some coffee and ready to get off the boat. Some would call it a ship I suppose, but as far as I am concerned it was a boat.
While sitting in the dining room of the large buffet they called Tiffany’s, I heard an older lady talking to some of the staff that were milling around and beginning their day as well. She saw me sitting alone and wandered over to talk. She liked to talk and so do I so we had an interesting conversation that lasted about an hour. Her name was Bev, she was widowed, lived in southern California, and had been sent on this vacation with her daughter by her son. I thought that was a very nice thing for a son to do.
Bev was one of those people who start right in to talking with people as though it was the most natural thing in the world and that we all love to talk. I’m sure there are plenty of times that she is left by herself but I am equally sure that this fact does not really bother her. We touched on the current popular topics. The economy, the price of gasoline and briefly on politics. She said there were no good candidates anymore and that she could not bring herself to vote for Barack Obama.
“Someone is going to shoot him”, she declared as though he had it coming.
I told her I voted for him before I left on the cruise.
She moved on to other topics like the injured dogs she takes in and helps to find homes for. It’s pretty hard to disagree with someone who is helping injured animals. I listened to stories about dogs that had been born with no rear feet and kittens that she had fed goat’s milk and how some of her dogs would play with kittens but others would just kill them, and had in the past before she kept them separate. She was really more of a dog person than a cat person she admitted but she found it hard not to help critters in need. It seemed to give her life some meaning and I’m sure that she missed her husband.
After awhile she headed back to her cabin to get her daughter up and I sat looking out the windows at the thickest fog I have ever seen in my life. The boat blew the low bass fog horn repeatedly and later they announced that we were going to be a bit delayed because they were having a hard time docking as a result of it.
I think many of us folks that were a little bit older than the majority of the cruisers were ready to sleep in our own beds. I know Bev mentioned it more than once.
My online dictionary defines a ship as a large seagoing vessel.
The same source defines a boat as a small vessel for travel on water.
The distinction is clearly a matter of the size of the vessel. When we first climbed aboard the vessel I thought that it was very large but after four nights aboard I had come to believe it was smaller than it first looked. My wife and I had some very good times on the boat. In particular we met and talked to a lot of very interesting and fun people. It was very educational. I think we learned a great deal about cruises but the people were by far the best part. There are many things I want to share about the trip itself and the food in particular over the next couple of weeks but I want to first give a shout out to some of the fine folks we met there who left us with the memories we will cherish the most.
First of all, the great group of people who sat at our dining table every night we ate in the dining room. There were Joe and Sandy, Patrick and Cindy, Danielle and her mother Debbie as well as Irene and Agustave. All very nice folks who we broke bread with several times and who we laughed with even more.
I had a wonderful discussion of barbecue styles with a very interesting old guy, like myself, whom I met named Rodrick. When I first met him I misunderstood what his name was and later called him the name of a guy I met when I lived in Oregon. Nothing really makes you as humble as calling someone by the wrong name. I hate that and yet remembering names when I meet people is something I have to almost consciously think about even when running into friends I’ve known for years. Rodrick was one of the few people I have met out west who knows exactly what I’m talking about when I describe Eastern North Carolina barbecue. He also told me about a style in northern Florida that was a particular favorite of his. I need to taste some of that stuff. One morning I ran into him in an onboard coffee shop and discovered that we shared similar political views. He’s a great guy in my book. Hello Rick. If I spelled your name wrong please let me know. That goes for anyone else I’ve referred to as well. Please let me know and I will correct the mistakes.
I also had a very short but frank discussion with a podiatrist named Ken. He shared his thoughts on how big business needs to be held to some ethical standards. He was ready to speak equally frankly about what individuals need to expect in terms of medical coverage and sacrifices they may need to be willing to shoulder. It is always nice to have a conversation with an intelligent person who feels compassionate about other people.
The last person I want to acknowledge is a bartender I befriended on the cruise who not only entertained me but conducted himself in a way that was polite, professional and friendly. Sayad, you are a professional in a field that has way too few professionals. But the real reason I kept coming back to this bar was that Sayad speaks to people, not just talks at people and he remembers people’s names. It was pleasant talking to you and I am sorry that I could not get back to you for that sample of the green tea you drink and speak so highly of. If that is the reason you conduct yourself in the manner that you do, then we could all use some. Thanks for being a bright spot on our cruise.
Sayad the Best Bartender
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