Day 487 - Scarborough, Tobago

Today was a first for me! I’ve never been here before! I thought we were going to be in Port of Spain, but I was wrong. Which is most unfortunate, as I had made arrangements to purchase organic produce from one of the locals! I called her this morning only to find out that we were 6 hours by ferry away from each other! Thankfully she was able to use the produce herself, so it wasn’t going to waste!

M&D2 & I enjoyed a lengthy sleep. We met around noon & went out. We found a local market & bought a few coconuts. I was happy to get meat out of the coconut & started making bacon as soon as I was back onboard!

We looked for soil & planting trays. No luck on the trays, but success in finding soil! We didn’t find too much around town as far as sight-seeing went, but we enjoyed looking in the little shops at souvenir clothes & such. Of course, we walked down the waterfront to a little patch of dark sand beach. M&D2 were pretty excited to put their feet in the warm waters of the Caribbean! We picked a few shells & stones & made our way back to the ship.

In the afternoon, we met in Horizon Court & went through the tour sheets & selected our activities for the next 2 weeks. They are very excited to snorkel & beach it whenever they can! I’m so excited for them to experience life onboard!

We’ve applied for a snorkeling tour tomorrow & Jaco is going to come with us! Yay! I know it will be a challenge for him to come ashore with us, so I’m happy that we can squeeze this in right off the bat!

xxxxMaria

Just in time for a downpour!

Almost the best picture I've ever taken!

The lovely Sea Princess

Their first dip into the Caribbean Sea

Enjoy the ride guys!

Graffiti

Love the Caribbean Speak...

More Caribbean Speak

Day 467 - White Noise App

I must say. I. LOVE. My. iPod.

The white noise app will save my life this week. Neil is a real sweetie, but man, the snoring is pretty out of this world! If it wasn’t for this little app, I don’t think I would survive the week. I am grateful for Jenn suggesting I download it – way back in the summer when I was babysitting the kids. She uses it to help them sleep from time to time. I can understand now!

Today I had a 15 minute consult with Anna Maria. She is a wonderful woman. She is patient, warm hearted & caring. She answered my questions & helped me gain some confidence in doing this program. I’m still nervous to take the program to the ship – how will I find seeds, how will I sprout, where will I get the tools from, where will I find organic produce… There are plenty of obstacles to overcome!

I also had an appointment with Tom the Nurse. My first appointment last week was with Nurse Caron, but she forgot about my wet blood slide. They prick your finger & look at your blood on a slide. Actually, it’s two slides. One slide is exposed to air & is a ‘dry’ sample. The other one is given a cover & is still ‘wet’ when you observe it under a microscope. I went back again & she forgot the ‘wet’ slide again! So, I decided to see Nurse Tom & get another look at the blood. It was quite fascinating. He explained what everything was.

My blood is pretty yucky about now. The detox mode is in full swing. Parasites, fungus, acids, fats, sluggish white blood cells, clumpy red blood cells… It ain’t pretty! At least I know that things are happening!

We also had a lecture from Pam about water. I was really impressed with her knowledge! She talked to us last week about buying organic produce & what it means to be ‘organic’. It was really fascinating! This week we learned about water & what filtration & purification systems really do & what is best.

Reverse osmosis followed by an ionizer to increase the pH.

Today was our fasting day again. Green juice, fresh coconut water & green soup was the cuisine for the day. It’s interesting – just when you think you’re getting tired of the food, you fast & then on Thursday you’re famished & so excited to eat the food again!

I can’t believe that the 2^nd week is almost over! Where is the time going? It’s just flying by! I’m thinking I should have stayed twice as long! Will I be ready to leave? Right now I’m pretty worried to leave the ‘bubble’. I will find the temptations of the real world pretty strong! I am feeling so much better eating this way. My detox symptoms have been pretty minimal – a few migraines & that’s about it. We’ll see!

xxxxMaria

The Enema Fountain