Days 61-63: Sea, Puerto Rico, Antigua

December 11, 2011 01:26 (2 months onboard!)

Hmm, normally the beginning of these posts come fairly easily as there's some overall theme or issue to cover. This time around however I stared at a blank screen for 5 minutes before writing this nonsense. I guess that's probably a good thing actually. Life onboard is still on the up and up and the past 3 days have been pretty good over all so I guess I'll get right into recapping the past few days.

The 2nd sea day of this cruise was actually pretty uneventful. I finally got a morning shift which was a nice change after working til 12 five nights in a row. The work day was pretty boring. Personally I haven't had any major complaints to deal with which has made some of my shifts really drag on but I'm certainly not too upset about that. The girls are all still crazy and wonderful each in their own unique way so that at least keeps me occupied.

What we did manage to accomplish on the 2nd sea day was the arrival of Christmas on the Poesia! We spent the night decorating and getting ready for Christmas onboard. It was nice to have everyone in good spirits as we prepped for the holidays.

Yesterday we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico which is now officially one of my favourite ports. First of all it's one of the first places we've been where there isn't a gauntlet of locals trying to sell you everything under the sun when you get off, secondly it's just a cool place. All the buildings are painted brilliant pastel colours and in the old part of town where we were the streets are all stone bricks and just a short walk away puts you onto of the city walls with an incredible view of the surrounding area.

We found a true hole in the wall for lunch. We just happened to stumble onto a little place recessed off the street and plenty of locals and next to no English inside. Perfect. A true sign of a good place to eat is no sign of tourists and lots of locals. I had caramelized plantains, rice and beans and this thing called mofongo. Mofongo is seasoned beef that's served in a bowl made of mashed plantains and garlic. Everything was amazing. I've quickly learned that Caribbean food is meant to me eaten all together. When you have one thing on it's own it's never really that good but when you mix it all together that's when the flavours really come out. So far it's been a culinary experience being down here and I'm loving every second of it.

Today we were in St John, Antigua and for a place we only go to once that I had high hopes for I have to say I was disappointed. The weather was crappy which didn't help so we didn't head to a beach which I'm sure would have made it much better so Tina and I just found a place for lunch and then wandered around town for a bit. On the plus side I found another good local meal. We went off the heated track a bit and I ended up getting a plate of chicken, spare ribs, and a mixed/fried rice. I wish I was better at explaining how things taste but all I can really say again was that there was a ton of flavour and I loved it.

The city of St John itself was pretty run down and dirty. One of the first things we saw was a huge rat that had been run over and was squashed in the road and it didn't really get better from there. Down both sides of the street is their gutter and possibly their sewer system because I didn't see anything to imply they had anything else in place for drainage/sewage. The water that flowed down both sides was nasty looking and smelled like old garbage. When we walked back we found the "tourist area" loaded with shops that I'm sure most of the locals don't even come close to shopping at. I always find it so strange to find all the upscale stores and boutiques in these poor cities, it's kinda sad really. It's almost like we're just rubbing it in their faces that they can't afford these things.

Tonight was pretty chill. Had a couple beers in the crew bar before going up to the disco on 13 to get outside for a bit. It was so amazing out. The water was completely still and the moon was full. Just another one of those moments that reminds me that life aint so bad after all.