We have arrived in Manta, Equator and I have been invited to do a bit of a walkabout with two of my table mates, Wayne and Pat. They are two Aussies who will be leaving the ship when we get to Sidney. I am just sitting in my cabin waiting for our appointed time for meeting so I thought I would type a little for my post.

First I must clean up after myself. I have made a giant faux pas. Eva did not die. I know you are all saying Geez Judi how could you make such a terrible mistake? And, by the way I have been told I was not the only one jumping to this same conclusion. After all at our ages we don’t think in terms of separation by choice.

Here is how it went down. I saw Frank and said hello and inquired after Eva. He said “Eva is no longer with us.” I then said “I am so sorry.” I then saw Ellen later and again expressed my sorrow at Eva not being able to make the cruise. Ellen said something like “I know it is so sad.” Last night at our dinner table there was a general discussion of people who weren’t on for whatever reason. I put in my two cents in about John and Eva dying before the cruise started. Ellen looked at me perplexed and said she didn’t die she just decided she didn’t want to go on the cruise because she met another man. So Eva’s death was greatly exaggerated.

My table is really fun. Ellen, our leader, Joan and Barbie, my friends, Bill and Maryanne, who are going all the way to San Diego, and another lovely couple who I haven’t quite connected with their names. It just takes time to remember everyone’s names. Then there are Wayne and Pat the two Ausies. I enjoy trading barbs with both of them. Pat is from Cairnes and you do not pronounce it the way it is spelled. He informed me that it was pronounced Cannes. Wayne is from Melbourne.

This girl is named Vanessa and she one of the wait staff in the Ocean Bar. I believe this is one of their native dress. My friends, Marcie and Shirley, all dressed up for the Black and Silver ball and this black and silver theme was at the entrance of the dining hall. The ice sculpture doesn’t show well but it is a peacock. We had a great time. The officers were out and asking all the ladies to dance. I even won a bottle of champagne

This ironclad ship was in port at Manta and we were all very curious why it was there. There were quite a few soldiers with long guns and we were told the ship was on a humanitarian mission but they couldn’t tell us what that mission was or they would have to kill us if they did. If anyone can google this situation and find out what this ship was doing in Manta let me know.

I cannot post the photos at this time because of problems with the system so I will go ahead and post this and then post the photos later.