Our arrival at Easter Island continues to be pushed back. Now the first tender is not scheduled to leave the ship until 2 p.m. Part of the delay is due to fact that another ship has to leave before we can get on the Island.
I did manage to finally find a tour guide for $575 for both days. The best I could do before that is $1200 so that is a substantial improvement.
The crew continues to be a highlight. They are all just terrific. With a number of sea days in a row and several more coming up before we reach Papeete, I am getting to make some friends and becoming more comfortable with a few people.
The Internet on the ship continues to be a problem. This is our sixth cruise, the first five being on Oceania. The Internet has never been good.
I had never played Trivial Pursuit before. I am enjoying that experience. However, I thought I knew a whole lot more trivia than I do. Some of the questions cover things I had never even heard of, and yet people are correctly answering. I knew the names of the three children in “Peter Pan” but one team knew the first President of a country I had never even heard of. Jeez!
Everyone on board passed their Covid exam. I was doing very well on the treadmill for five straight days, but the last two days I have struggled considerably. Not happy about that. I am still doing fine with my stretching routine.
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Governor DeSantis seems to be running amuck even worse than before. Yesterday our daughter reported to us that the day before our granddaughter Kasey was reading To Kill A Mockingbird in school, but the next day the book was confiscated from her and is no longer available to any of the students due to one parent complaining. That is just plain damn scary.
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There are many members of the crew from South Africa and several passengers who either still live in South Africa or are originally from there and have now moved elsewhere, primarily to the United States. I am learning a lot about that area of the world and find it fascinating.
One of my more erudite readers just wrote questioning what I liked about cruising which, admittedly, is not for everyone, including my Wife Barbara. One reason is getting to know about other cultures from outstanding people.
It is also very interesting to hear what people from other countries think about what is going on the United States. I think many of you would be very surprised as to how the rest of the world views us. You might also be surprised to learn that there are other places in the world where they do things and have things better than we do in the United States. We are far, far from number one in the world with respect to many aspects of life. Sorry fellow Americans, but that s the honest truth!
Still, if I were really sick, I would want to be cared for in a first-rate American hospital. There are great doctors in many places, many trained-- at least to some extent -- in our country. Still, our top places are top anywhere.
What is not true, however, is that the medical care for those who do not have the resources or access to the very best is very good in the United States. In Italy, for example, every single person has access to good care regardless of ability to pay. Hell, in Florida, it takes more paperwork and time to just get an appointment with a new doctor than it does to be treated elsewhere. I understand everyone wants to be paid but not everyone can afford to pay. Many in that situation are just flat out of luck in the United States.
We need to grow a bigger middle class for many reasons. We need to start asking questions like, “How much is enough?” We need to be kinder and more understanding because not everyone has the good fortune some of us do. There should be more to life than just gathering power and money. What I see happening in Washington over the next two years is truly scaring the living shit out of me.
Anyway, I am going to have breakfast and, hopefully, get off the ship today on Easter Island.
See you tomorrow. At least that is my plan.
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Go Ukraine