Day 511 - St. Lucia

Today was nothing short of interesting! We were in St. Lucia today & after the past few days of diving, I wasn't in the sight-seeing mode. I opted instead, to try & find some wifi in the terminal. 

I like the terminal in St. Lucia. I've found a few cheap bargains over the years & you never what you'll find. I wandered around the shops & found myself in Diamonds International. Now, just for the record, DI is NOT one of the shops I find cheap bargains in. In fact, I am a strictly window shopper when I'm in that shop! 

When I strolled into the shop today, I was immediately approached by some of the salespeople. They asked if they could help & I said I was just looking. They were all smiles. Then, one of them tells me he has the perfect watch to match my laptop bag. My laptop bag is purple. I smiled sweetly. Then he comes over with a Hublot watch. It has a purple band & plenty of diamonds on the face of the watch. He slips it on my wrist & everyone oooh's & aaah's over the stunning timepiece. I said it was nice, but I'd prefer the diamonds on a nice eternity band instead. To which he replied, 'Platinum or gold?' I said, 'Platinum, of course!'

So there I was with this fancy Hublot watch & a stunning eternity band on my left wrist & hand. Sigh. That's a lot of glitter & glam! They told me if I bought the watch, they'd throw in the ring for free. Ha! The watch was only $23,000. Cough.

After I had removed all of their precious gems & metals, I looked around the shop. The salesgirls chatted with me & complimented my haircut. Pretty soon a few of the salesmen joined in. Before I knew it, we were a group of 6 & I was showing them my wig photos from Christmas, as well as wedding photos & pre-chemo hairdo's. We had a good laugh about all of it. Nice bunch of people working there!

From there I ended up at a little picnic bench next to a few crew who were hacking into the rum shop's free wifi. I joined them & settled in to update the blog. I hadn't been there for very long when 2 couple from the UK sat down at the table with me. Turns out they were from Harrogate! I've been to Harrogate! To Betty's for cream tea! Forgive me if I get their names wrong - Bob, Mark, Mary & Grace. The didn't even know they were on the same cruise until they were onboard! Fantastic! I told them about the blog - although I'm so far behind I'm sure they've given up by now! (Sorry guys!)

Today was also our anniversary! Our 1st 2nd Anniversary! 2 years ago today, we married in the Namib desert at a little place called 'Deadvlei'. If you haven't seen the photos, go to this link & scroll down to March 18th. Mario is an AMAZING Photographer. 

Jaco surprised me today with a dozen beautiful red roses! I was so impressed when he told me he did it all on his own accord! I thought surely the girls in the clinic had put him up to it! But nope! We had a lovely dinner at the Pizzeria - funnily enough, so did the rest of the Medics! They were at a different table with Eddie, the Medical Steward, as a farewell/thank you dinner for all parties involved. Rafeeq is the Supervisor in the Pizzeria & he & Jaco hail from South Africa, so they were able to have some chitty-chatty in Afrikaans in between courses. Rafeeq is a real sweetheart. He knows that Jaco likes these little nut squares & always makes an effort to send a plate of them back with Jaco or myself. 

Tonight I also had an email from Dr. Daly regarding my PET scan results. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but not entirely dire, either. Basically they didn't get a great scan so they want me to redo it in 3 months time. They think there *might* be some residual disease, but they aren't sure. (Most likely because they lost the 4th cycle scan of my head & neck. Yeah.) In any case, I'm not panicking & neither should you. Just pray! I'll keep you posted on what's next!

And with that, the day is done. I'm going to spend some time with my husband. Did I mention that I am married to the most wonderful man on the planet? He is more than I could have ever asked for, dreamed for, hoped for, longed for, or wanted for. I love you Jaco. 

xxxxMaria

The crew in Diamonds International

 Beautiful Roses from my Baby!

 My handsome Husband.

 Hmm... What's new on the menu? (Inside joke!) (The menu NEVER changes!)

 Rafeeq & Jaco

 Nic, Nelis, Eddie, Leana & Bronwyn

The Photogs were dining beside us! Larisa, Nacho, Taufiq & Craig

 The work of the AMAZING Mario Sales

Mario's Artistic Talents on our Special Day!

Day 178 - St. Lucia

So I seem to have this sleep issue when I’m on the ship. I just can’t wake up. I know, I know, I sleep late when I’m at home. On the ship, it’s even worse! Granted, I was pretty tired from the flights & all the running around of the previous week, but I could not drag my butt out of bed until noon. I guess my body was telling me it needed some rest. (I listened for once!)

I was not allowed to take Valentina off today, but I wanted to collect a bit of grass to put in her potty box, as she still hadn’t used it. I took a little ziplock baggie with me & ventured off to a desolate corner of the terminal area & took my collection. While I was there, I noticed those neat little plants that don’t like to be touched. They close their leaves up whenever you touch them. It’s pretty neat to see a plant move so quickly!

It was overcast & rainy, but still hot & humid. Oh how I love the humidity! I peeked in one of the shops I had found bargains in 4 years ago, but no luck. I was actually wearing the shirt I bought there 4 years ago & I wanted to find another one like it. I always get compliments on it & sure enough, I had 3 compliments on it by the time I boarded the ship again!

There were a few security girls that I recognized from previous ships – it’s always nice to see some familiar faces! I also ran into Eddie. Who’s Eddie? Eddie is a Bartender I met on ships 2 years ago when I visited Jaco for the first time. They were both working on the Dawn Princess. I had brought along a juicer & plugged it in at the bar to make my grape juice. As we were on Red Level for Norovirus, I had to eat my food upstairs in the buffet area, without Jaco. I sat at the bar & visited with Eddie. We got to know each other quite well & lo & behold, I was on the Star, again visiting Jaco, when it was doing the South America/Antarctica run. Eddie lives close to Buenos Aires & jumped at the chance to show us around his beautiful city. We frequented his friend’s sushi restaurant, downtown history & of course, La Boca, the Tango district.

Of course, I was delighted to hear that Eddie would be onboard the Sea Princess & it didn’t take me long to find him! He immediately began to make plans for the coming weeks. He had just purchased his first digital SLR camera, so he was pretty pumped to head out & do some photo shoots. He talked about all the best beaches, dinners & so on & so forth. He was very excited to hear about Valentina. I must say, his Italian accent is much better than mine! We enjoyed dinner at the Pizzeria tonight - the three or four of us will be busy these next few weeks!!

Anyhow, I brought the grass back onboard & no luck. We were approaching 48 hours with no #2. Jaco, being the Doc that he is, figured a little lactulose would do the trick. We googled the right dosage for dogs. Nope. A little doggy enema? Nope. Finally at 0100 in the morning, after being ‘sick as a dog’, I had put her in her kennel, when the bedroom filled with a certain foul aroma. Hey, at least we got a little business done. Her poor little tummy was so bloated, until then! This potty box could be a challenge! She is so used to going potty outside & thinks she’ll get in trouble for going inside. I’m sure if she hears me say, ‘Go pee pee’ one more time she’ll bite my arm off! And FYI, the grass didn’t do a darn thing. She just ate it!

I’m finally going to bed… What a day!

Love & hugs & happy bladders,

Maria, Jaco, & Valentina

xoxoxoxooxxxoooxoxox

View from the terminal area

Oh the memories!

Now you see me...

Now you don't!

Smuggling some 'grass' onboard!

Cloudy day in paradise!

Island life!

Eddie, Jaco & I at the Pizzeria!