Equator and Equador

We crossed the equator yesterday. Margie and I have flown, driven and walked across it before, but this was the first time at sea. The bump in the ocean is about as noticeable as when flying, but the ceremony is a lot more fun. King Neptune and entourage visited the ship, and officiated as many guests and crew graduated from polliwog to shellback. In each case they were charged for some crime, and if found guilty by the judge in black robes were forced to kiss the fish, slimed, and thrown into the briny deep. The last participant shown here is Eda, our cabin stewardess from Zimbabwe, and her crime was requisitioning more pillow chocolates than she had guests.




Today we visited Guayaquil, the largest city in Equador. A popular ex-president died yesterday of natural causes, so today was an impromptu celebration to celebrate his life and rule. LOTS of people on the streets, selling everything you can imagine. One street vendor had tomatoes, toilet paper and blenders. Another was walking around with a 2 liter bottle of Coke and plastic cups. Very little English was spoken, and Margie and I got out of the main tourist area, so I actually got to use a little of my new-found Espanol. I don’t know what “yarn” is in Spanish, but we managed to buy 26 skeins of it anyway. Our main destination, besides buying yarn, was Parque Seminario y monumento al libertado Simon Bolivar. Got to see the statue of gool ol’ Simon on his horse, but the attraction to us was the iguanas. Lots of iguanas. They’ve taken up residence in this one block city park, are fed by city workers, and very accustomed to people. Across the street is the beautiful Catedral Catolica, where people were lined up to view their ex-President.