Lunch across beach before Manuel Antonio

Parasailing @ Manuel Antonio

Stay at Villa Romantica… probably a 2 star but quite sweet….. and it had a pool…. yeah!

First go off to Manuel Antonio Park to look for wildlife on our own (US$16) but we’re not very successful. It was so hot(30C) & so very humid we just went to the beach in the park to cool off. Even that wasn’t very successful ….water temperature was apparently 24!!!

I cannot believe the price of food (bbq chicken….$13CAD)& liquor in grocery stores and food and drink in restaurants….. way more expensive than at home in Victoria. We went for dinner later (at El Guarato) that was excellent but required a small loan! All prices include taxes plus 10% tip whether you want it or not. But on the other hand local bus is about .75 CAD and a taxi $6.75.

More pictures to follow. Too hard to download very many!

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Street mural

Mexican Embasy

Fish mural

Reminds me of Rail station in Maputo… designed by Eiffel

Rotary park…

Street murals

Rotary Park

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Attention-getting entrance

Mural inside hotel restaurant

You all know the there is air pressure when on a flight, right? On first leg of our journey I had my metal water bottle with me in my backpack. I had refilled it after clearing security. While on the flight I decided to take a sip. Well…… the damn thing sprayed water like a geyser all over my face, hair, the top I was wearing & the seat I was sitting in. It looked like I had an accident …..lol! Well I did in a way. I told the couple I was sitting with on the next leg what had happened on the first only to have it happen AGAIN! They said they had never seen that before and neither had I. Let this be a warning not to take any water in sealed containers on board a flight and make sure to have all containers of liquids in sealed plastic.

We arrived late to the airport (10pm) but Jeanette was there waiting (she had arrived around 2:39) along with the GAdventures transfers guide. The drive in from airport to the hotel was very long, arriving at to our hotel ….. finally around midnight. It was a long day!

January 25/19.

Not too exciting day…. slept in, rearranged suitcases and went for a short walk. It’s a kind of scuzzy area we are in but as we walked farther afield, it got better. We found a lovely little park maintained by the Rotary Club. I have to mention too that there are quite a number of murals on the buildings….. beautiful! Pictures to follow….I hope!

This is a test for me to see if I can add pictures without too much difficulty and to resize them. Okay that wasn’t too bad. Please tell me if the pictures came through without being too big or should I make them smaller ś

We hung out in downtown Halifax on Friday, first going to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The major exhibits there are on the explosion in Halifax in 1917 and the tale of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. I had an aunt who was an infant in her crib during the explosion. It was caused by 2 ships, the Imo and Mont Blanc, one an a munitions ship colliding, killing over 1650 people. My aunt was left deaf caused by that explosion when the glass above her crib shattered down on her. From there we walked over to the casino that is right down on the harbour too……to have lunch and enquire about the lobster dinner we had heard about. Then we walked up the hill to the Public Gardens…..the first in Canada. Did you know there are lots of hills in Halifax? It was quite lovely although compared to Beacon Hill park and Butchards Gardens in Victoria, well……..

Next day we travelled out to Musquodoboit Harbour so that Jeanette could connect with a childhood friend, Patsy and her husband Marcel. What a hoot the two of them are. I left her there visiting while I went to visit my cousins, etc. in East Chezzetcook where my mother was born and raised and where my husband Floyd died when we were here in 2003 on the trip planned to attend the celebrations at Lunenburg. I spent a fair amount of time with cousin Weldon and wife Bernadette reminiscing. He took me over to see cousin Diann’s husband Keith (she passed away 2 years ago) , around to other cousin Lloyd and wife Jeanne’s but unfortunately they had to go out so we missed them…..and around to significant places in the area. Thank you Weldon! We returned to Halifax in time to take in the lobster dinner at the casino…..a $14.99 deal with a players club card. Wow! And it was fantastic!

Sunday the 1st of July, Canada Day, we took the bus down to the waterfront first going to the immigration museum and refuge museum…..amazing and sad! In it we both had the opportunity to enquire as to some of our ancestors. Mostly it was through census’that we were able to find out anything. My family the “Miseners”, that arrived in 1753 to Lunenburg…that information wasn’t available because that was before the records that the government kept. And so I enquire about the “Grants” and Jeanette, the “Galarneau’s” and “Ryan’s”. We both need to delve deeper. Interesting! There was entertainment and shopping in the farmers market. The waterfront walk is beautiful. We then took the transit ferry to Dartmouth and back. It was free today as was a lot of things because of Canada Day. By this time we decided it was time to take the bus back to the “dorms” because we had had enough walking. Alas, there was an accident that screwed with the bus traffic route. We walked and we walked only to find that we were on the wrong side of the road or the bus didn’t stop there or, or, or. Finally after almost walking the whole way back, we made it…….almost 13,000 steps!!!

Monday the 2nd, we checked out of the dorms and headed up along the Eastern shore toward Port Hawkesbury where we stayed the night. Definitely better accommodations that what we had in Halifax. The whole drive is dotted with tiny villages that don’t even have a store or a gas station. We did stop at Sheet Harbour (scenic bridge and waterfall)….they had a tourist info centre and bathrooms…..yeah! I thought it was there that there was a cable ferry but instead it was at Isaacs Harbour. The ferry had left just as we drove up. Well…… didn’t you know it but the “captain” stopped the ferry, backed up to come for us….even though it runs constantly back and forth….every 10 minutes. That was pretty much the highlight of this part of the journey. There really wasn’t a lot to report…..lots of trees. We arrived at Port Hawkesbury but trying to find a place to stay…..well……. had to pay quite a bit more than we were used too! Oh well!

Jeanette and I left Victoria on a flight leaving at 7:30 in the evening of the 25th, for Halifax. We were both thinking that this is a much more civilized hour to have to be at the airport. The next morning I think we both changed our minds. Neither of us had slept much on the plane so were kind of like zombies all day. We had arrived at about 7 am Halifax time….actually 3 am Victoria time. Maybe that was why we were out of it. Not my usual time for rising.

First leg…..to Calgary. I haven’t flown West Jet for quite some time. I don’t know if this time was any different than any other WJ flight but man, the pilot was just a gum-booting it down the runway, almost squealing his tires on the turn before immediately taking off. You’d think he was anxious to get home to a hot date….lol! That plane left right on time….amazing….doesn’t happen often! Second leg….to Halifax. We had a half hour delay in taking off….they had to I think, fix a relay or some such thing, so we sat in a totally quiet cabin with only emergency lights on….for a very short while. Not a big deal….just different.

Arrival in Halifax…..brrrr….only 7 C. Okay, I hope the weather smartens up. We picked up a rental car at the airport. Does anyone know that when you pick up a car at the airport, that there is a $236 concession recovery fee? One thing or another, the price doubled from what we were quoted as being the total. Not happy about that! Although we both wanted to get to our hotel, which wasn’t a hotel but a hostel ……the dorms at University of Kings College, we couldn’t get into the room until noon, so we hiked up to the Citadel and around the rim…..didn’t go in……we’ll do that another day. Too pooped! Didn’t really do much of anything that day, Tuesday the 26th.

Wednesday the 27th, we went for our first breakfast …..as provided. We met a mother and son from Manitoba, a young woman from Finland and a woman (she forgot to blend the heavy dark eyeshadow) my age, from Texas…..travelling on her own. At first, the Texas drawl was annoying….for lack of a better word, but what a gutsy lady! She told us about driving a few years ago ….on her own….in September, to Lake Louise, using her gps, getting stuck in the mud when it got her lost and having to spend the night in her car. She had to keep starting the car throughout the night because she kept getting cold. That day we drove down to Lunenburg. The last time I was there was 3 days after Floyd died. We had come all of this way to join in the celebrations that marked the 250 anniversary of the landing of immigrants from Europe. My mothers family was amongst them. Needless to say it was not a very happy time in my life for that visit. This time it was beautifully warm….as high as 30 C, blue skies, etc. We walked along the waterfront, up the hills and along the old town’s streets with it’s beautiful old homes, so lovingly crafted. Many were getting a fresh paint job. I wouldn’t imagine that with the extremes in temperatures, the humidity and nasty storms, that a paint job lasts for very many years. We saw the “Bluenose” come into port and leave with a full boatload of passengers that wanted to experience being on the lovely sailing ship. We……were not fast enough to get to go. From there we drove along the windy country roads to Mahone Bay. There isn’t much to the town but the harbour is beautiful. From there we headed to Peggy’s Cove, stopping at the memorial for the crash of Swiss Air that went down on Sept 2/98 with all 229 on board. What a marked difference when we got out of the car to see it! Suddenly it 18C and blowing a gale. Brrrrr! From that vantage point one could see the little hamlet of Peggy’s Cove with its signature lighthouse. The humongous smooth rocks that jut out into the sea, were being lambasted with waves. There are signs all over warning about the possibility of being sucked into the ocean by unpredictable wave action. One had to be careful not to get blown over by the wind, into the sea.

Thursday June the 28th. Today was cool…..had to put on longer pants. We drove over to Windsor so that Jeanette could visit an old friend of her family’s…….a lady named Veronica and then to Wolfville where Pam’s mom lives…when she isn’t out west visiting Pam. We will be back to see Shirley on our way back from PEI ….when heading home. In Wolfville you can see the tidal bore where water lowers and rises as much as 16 metres (52 feet) at the head of the bay. The current is equal to all the rivers and streams on Earth …..combined. Again our timing was off. It was very low when we arrived and an hour and half later when we were leaving, it was full. See pictures on Facebook!