odds and ends

This is likely to be my last blog post while traveling. We’re at sea today, tomorrow is a shore day at Montevideo, Uruguay. Then we return to Buenos Aires, where we’ll have a day and a half with my good friend Martin (a college friend I’ve known forever, who lives there) before starting the long journey home. So, most likely my next post will be from home, around March 3rd. Actually I’m pretty amazed that I’ve been able to use the internet as much as I have on this trip. The satellite connection on the ship has worked most days, not all, but most, even in Antarctica. Some days it was so pathetically slow, that I’d say it wasn’t really working then either. You buy a package of minutes, and then try not to be sensitive to the fact it takes 5 minutes to see if you even have email, let alone read any of it, at a price of X per minute. For the blog I’d write it first then cut and paste it in. And it’s been good. Except for the time I somehow didn’t bookmark the logoff page for the cruise network, and so when I closed my internet window the ship system kept open, and it took me half an hour to figure out how to shut it off! Just $20 of internet time down the tubes.

It’s surprised me how much I’ve enjoyed writing this blog. I hope that some people have read it, but even if no one did, or if they read about the travel but aren’t interested in the disability stuff, I’d still keep writing. I signed up for a writing workshop next October created by The Sun magazine, and located at the Esalen Institute in Monterey, and I’m really excited about it. It’s something I need to do for myself.

But enough about writing – more about the trip!

Yesterday we were in Puerto Madryn, a city in Patagonia. It’s a very dry desert like place, drier even than San Diego because all the wind blows toward the sea, so even though they are on the ocean, there’s no sea breeze or moisture in the air. The private excursion we lined up worked out well. It was a sedan car as arranged, the tour guide was knowledgeable, driver was crazy fast but seemed to be following prevailing driving practices (note that I do not say laws!) It was not a particularly exciting place, but worth a stop. We went to a beach where there were seals, playing and sleeping. Then we visited a dinosaur museum. A lot of dinosaur bones have been found in Argentina and Brazil, and this group does excavations and creates models. It was a small collection, and I admit to being spoiled by grand museums in the US, but still it was admirable. Lastly we went to a town called Gaiman, a welsh town created about 150 years ago. Without all the boring history, a group of welsh people founded this town and brought a lot of stuff from Wales and until recently have preserved a lot of their culture and customs. Things are breaking down now somewhat, but it was curious to see all these old stone buildings in Argentina. I admit I’m more taken by how people live now than looking at historical places. I note things like the tiny size of the front yards of houses – perhaps only 3 feet deep and the width of the house, since the houses are very close together. And yet, everyone will put up fences or low walls around these tiny gardens, some even with locked gates. It looks very different from what we are used to. In Buenos Aires there are really tall apartment buildings, with 2 sides of the building totally flat, windows only on the front and back sides. That’s because at any time someone could build an apartment building right next to them – sort of like apartment row houses. But often no other buildings are erected, so these skinny towers of flat sided apartment buildings are all over.

In Gaiman, we had lunch at a local parilla, and I have come to the conclusion that despite my efforts to be open minded, I don’t really like the Argentine traditional meal. It’s fatty meat, fried potatoes and salad (which is lettuce, tomato and oil and vinegar only). My biggest problem is the meat – except for the high end places like Cabana las lilas in BA, it’s uniformly tough, fatty and salty. Give me fish! Which of course was a big industry in Puerto Madryn, but no one eats it there, it’s all exported to Europe.

Pulling out of Puerto Madryn we had a group of perhaps a dozen dolphins along side the ship, they are so graceful – natural aquatic dancing, they turn and leap as a group, dark shapes against a bright blue sea. Finally we had weather warm enough for a sail away party. And later last night we had a good look at the sky again. We’ve definitely seen the Southern Cross on 2 nights – it’s a group of 4 stars, and really easy to spot. So, we sat on our veranda with glasses of port and looked at the Milky Way. So romantic.

Odds and ends – written before Puerto Madryn, 2 days ago.

The albatross are so cool. Yesterday as we pulled out of Ushuaia, it was windy, and they like the wind – so there were several of them following the ship, and we got a great look at them. The naturalist on board is also a birder, and he gave one lecture on sea birds, mostly about the albatross because it is a favorite of his (and I can see why), so now I’m an expert too! The ones we saw were black-browed albatross – white bodies with black wings that turn more white as the birds age. They live to be about 30, and when they mate around age 10 they mate for life. They fly around and around Antarctica in the Drake passage and seem to be able to fly almost indefinitely, because they are gliders and use little energy, but only if there is wind. Their wing spans are about 6 to 7 feet, not the largest of albatross, which can get up to 17 feet, but pretty impressive anyway. The wing size to body size ratio is high. They have tendons in their wings that they can lock, so that their wings stay stiff. They can drink sea water, by filtering it in their beaks and the salt leaks out these tubes along their beaks, which enables them to stay over the sea for long times. They can dive down 10 feet into the water to look for food. And they have a very good sense of smell, so can smell a dead seal from miles away, and probably that’s what draws them to the ship as well. But what’s so beautiful is watching them fly. I gather that when it’s not windy they just sit on the water and wait till the wind comes back, which isn’t long around the Drake passage. Then they lift up those big wings and let the wind catch them, and they just glide and swoop – back and forth, dipping and diving, up over around and back.

For some reason they like the back of the ship. So, once again this cabin veranda has been a pleasure. When the naturalist has his bird watching sessions he goes to Deck 10, back of the ship. We’re just 2 decks below him, so we’re seeing the same show. Today it was Giant Southern Petrels, also fun to watch. These are black birds, also with a tubular beak, but smaller. The fun thing about them though is that they come closer to the ship, and fly in groups instead of solo. At this moment I think there are about 20 of them out there playing around. It looks like playing, no way we’ll know what goes on in their little brains. The naturalist says these birds eat at night. They aren’t as impressive as the albatross – not as large, and I don’t know if their wings lock stiff, it doesn’t seem so to look at them, for they wobble more and dip and dive more. But whatever bird is flying out there is welcome, especially when I’ve been doing my stretches for my neck – it has given me something interesting to focus on, something that makes me not want to rush through to finish.

We’ve seen some other interesting birds too. I liked the blue eyed cormorant. It looks a lot like a penguin when it’s just sitting there. While on the catamaran in Ushuaia we pulled up to a rock island, and everyone got all excited – penguins! Then we noticed that some of them were taking off and flying – these were cormorants. Same rounded bodies, glossy, black backs, white fronts as penguins, but not related at all.

Food – I haven’t talked much about food, which I only realized today, and this is not like me at all. But mostly it’s because we’ve had a lot of cruise ship food, and honestly the stuff on this ship is just ok. Our excursions force us back on the ship before dinner. The food was great in Buenos Aires, not bad in Iguazu. The ship food unfortunately varies in quality from day to day. They have one little bistro of South American flavors, which we’ve been to twice. One was a Brazilian barbeque, another a small eclectic menu. But their menu doesn’t change daily, and I’m not inclined to go again. We went to the specialty restaurant twice , which is better and more like a real restaurant, but there is an extra charge, and you don’t want to eat that rich daily anyway.

But even with my complaints, I like the main dining hall more than the cafeteria upstairs. I find it hard to negotiate this cafeteria when it’s crowded. I don’t want to get others sick by handling anything that’s self serve (luckily most things are served by staff, but not all), nor do I want to catch any new bugs – which is possible when your immune system is already down. There is staff to help me, to carry my tray etc, but I don’t know what I want, need to circle around, and hate having this personal attendant following me like a shadow, in general. And then there’s the problem of getting a table, or finding Jim who’s gone to look for a table. The tables are not set up so that a wheelchair can get to all of them, not that this matters much, for usually they are full. They just don’t have enough seating at lunch time, or they don’t have enough for lunchtime when in a cold climate and no one wants to eat outside. On cold days people camp out at the window tables, often 2 people to a large table, and then they don’t leave, all day. On the Azamara ship the staff would kick people out who weren’t eating, but not on this one. On the Holland America ship the tables were set with small ones by windows, larger ones further away, and all in rows so a wheelchair can get through.

So, we’ve had dinners at the dining room and lunches at a variety of spots. Tried the dining hall for lunch one day, but it took so long. Today was warm enough they opened the pool grill. My favorite spot is the Aqua Spa buffet. It’s all cold food, supposedly healthy food – small portions of some fish or chicken or mushroom sandwich, salad bar (no dressing), fruit bar. The best dessert I’ve had was there – a panna cotta made with yogurt and mango. Another good spot to eat is the coffee café. I don’t like coffee, but in the morning they have a variety of pastries and croissants, and in the mid afternoon small sandwiches. I’m not losing weight here!

We were told that Patagonia (includes Usuaia and Puerto Madryn) has the best chocolate, so we went in search of chocolate in Ushuaia. At Laguna Negra we got some yummy hot chocolate – not sweet and milky, like most of us are used to, but a real chocolate flavor. And we bought a sampling of chocolates from their case. Most of the chocolates are layered – like a sandwich of chocolate filled with some flavoring. We picked up orange (lots of peel), mint (again think strong), raspberry and one that was white chocolate with a dulce de leche filling. They also had nut barks, so we got some hazelnut bark. Different, not overly sweet, and very yummy. My guess is that the very best food we’ll have on our trip, will be our last night in Buenos Aires, when Martin takes us out to dinner. The last time we were in BA they took us to several amazing restaurants, including one Basque one that was truly outstanding.

So the food is not great, but food isn’t the reason you take a cruise, well, it isn’t for me. Overall, I’d say this has been our best cruise- because of the itinerary. I loved Alaska, enough to do it twice, and I could even see going again. It’s more affordable, accessible, and truly beautiful. The Panama Canal I enjoyed quite a bit, the only reason I probably wouldn’t do it again, is that it’s a long trip and I’m not as crazy about all the Mexican stops. The Canal itself I’d love to go through again, can it be moved a little closer to home?

Seriously, I think this Antarctic cruise is something special. I sort of wish I could take one of the Expedition ships that go down there. These are smaller cruise ships, usually for about 200 people, and they run round trip out of Ushuaia in Argentina, or Punta Arenas in Chile. They are able to get closer to Antarctica itself. We saw a few docked in Ushuaia,and later 2 were positioned closer to Cape Horn than we could go. The big ships will round Cape Horn if that is their itinerary, but we didn’t get close because we didn’t have to. The smaller expedition cruises will dock at Antarctica so people can get out, and they carry several zodiac boats for people to get even closer to the water and icebergs. We saw several of these in Paradise Bay, and honestly it was so cold I thought those guys were crazy. No chance a playful little orca will come knock them out of the boat, right? But I think the Expedition ships could be fun, and I’m sure they get amazing views up close. I don’t think they have wheelchair accessible cabins though. But if any of you able-bodied folk are thinking about Antarctica, consider an Expedition ship. I think you’d find the experience amazing. Actually, I’d recommend anyone considering a large ship like this one too, it has been amazing. The ship isn’t perfect (food, entertainment other than the lectures, service is mixed) but the itinerary has made up for any other flaws.


Cruise notes on disability topics

I’m having a problem with my right wheel. I have a set of puncture proof wheels that I use only for travellng. They are interchangable with my regular wheel assembly, actually a set of wheels from an older chair made puncture proof. Usually I have mag wheels with grey tires and inner tubes inside filled to 50 lb pressure. I had used them the last time I was in Argentina and worried every time I went out on their sidewalks that I’d get a flat. So we are using the puncture proofs now. This is a set of spoke wheels, same type of grey tires, with thick solid rubber inserts.

I switched the 2 sets the evening before travel, and wished I had done so early enough to have a mechanic adjust my brakes and inspect them as well. I’m not sure he would have predicted the problem I’m having now, but at least he could have adjusted the brakes. My brakes work well enough unless I’m on a slope, or if the ship is rolling, but I’ll get to that in a minute. The reason I didn’t switch the 2 sets of tires earlier though, is that from experience I know that the puncture proofs don’t fit well into the chair topper over my car. So, once they are on I’m stuck at home, which makes going to the mechanic hard anyway. But mostly, I just assumed they would be fine, and didn’t worry about it.

For some reason, my right wheel is behaving as if there’s a rock or some other lump in there. Every time it goes around it has a little hump at one point. It’s really hard to put the insert into a tire, and I know that when that one was put on a little air had gotten trapped inside as well. It’s always made a squishy sort of noise. I’m not 100% sure, because on carpet it’s hard to hear, but I think the squishy noise is gone. It’s as if all the air moved to one spot and has made a lump. I don’t think I’m in any danger. It’s not like I can have a blow out with these puncture proofs. I suppose somehow it could pop out of the wheel somehow, but it still looks locked in tight. So, I’m keeping my eyes on it, and looking forward to being back on my familiar tires at home!

The brakes are another story. That was just stupidity on my part, to assume they would work fine with the puncture proofs. They don’t exert enough pressure to pinch the tire well. I don’t use the brakes much, except for during transfers, or if I’m trying to stay still on a slope while waiting for a street light to change. Jim is holding my chair steady for a lot of my transfers, so it’s not been a big deal. I get on and off the bed easy without help because there’s carpet there. The carpet adds just enough friction that these brakes are fine as they are. He helps steady the chair most in the bathroom which has a slick floor.

What’s comic though, and the time that my bad brakes are most apparent, is when I start moving when I don’t want to! The ship has been rolling ever since we left Ushuaia, about 48 hours now. It isn’t rough, pitching and turning like it was going south last week, just rolling. I think the captain called them 10 – 12 foot swells. The sea looks calm, not a lot of waves or white caps. But if you sit at the bar on Deck 5, where you can see out the windows on both sides of the ship, you’ll see out to starboard – all ocean, while at the same time out to port – all sky. Then several seconds later it’ll be the opposite. Oh, sometimes it’s less, sometimes more – once in a while we’re really down low. And if my wheels are sitting just right, I roll with the ship. My brakes aren’t doing a thing, I just scoot back and forth. I noticed it at dinner 2 nights ago, when for some reason all of a sudden the table was further away. I pushed back up to the table, set thebrakes, and a few minutes later off I went. Last night I sat more perpendicular to the table, much better. But there are a few places where I don’t have muc h choice of how to set my position – the bathroom sink for example, and of course the slick floor doesn’t help. I went to a Rosetta Stone presentation (anyone tried their programs?) and a man near me, laughing, offered me his shoes for “door stops” because I was bobbing about.

I’m sure there are a whole bunch of nautical words for different types of ocean motion, but I haven’t yet learned them. Using my own words – today the sea is rolling, calm and easy and pleasant. Yesterday in the catamaran it was pitching – the boat rocked front to back, with a bit of slam in the front each time and spray. Also, not too bad, in a roller coaster kind of way, would be tiresome for days on end. And as I mentioned earlier, people got sick. Last week, we had rolling and pitching, and on top of it the rocking was unpredictable. Luckily our waves weren’t so high, but I found it annoying, and those were the days it was scary to take a shower.

I did a body check this morning, and am in good shape! I have some small bruises on my right hip that are mostly healing from the first days on the ship, getting used to the toilet seat. There’s one on the back of my right calf turning yellow, from a car transfer in BA. Some prickly heat rash on my left ankle from wearing my UGGs when my feet were swollen. And one little bruise that I have no idea how I got, on the place on top of your foot where your foot becomes your leg – not really ankle, it’s on top. It’s the most blue, so probably recent, but I don’t know what I did. Even so, it’s not bad. The skin on my face is healing from using rough (cheap) tissues that the ship provides with my cold this past week. All in all, I’d say this trip has given me fewer injuries than usual!

My wrist is doing well. If it starts to hurt again after I get back then something I do regularly at home is the culprit – could be transfers, pushing myself, driving, cooking. At least I know it isn’t typing! I’ll just have to puzzle it out, like figuring out a tough food allergy (not the life threatening type).But maybe I’ll be lucky and the wrist pain is gone for good. My vertigo has been long gone now, though I am not so sure of this that I’d stop my stretches. It’s come and gone before.

And one more comment for anyone out there who uses catheters – anyone who is a bit squeamish, well, just quit reading. I firmly believe that we need to share info, and support each other. And I’m beginning to feel we (this is a rather grand assumption – using the word WE to mean us folks with disabilities, as if anyone else would see me as a spokesperson) need to talk more about our experiences for others to read too. We all have disabilities, we all have weaknesses, and most of us choose to keep all this stuff to ourselves. But the problem with this is that it doesn’t help get rid of squeamishness, or to broaden someone’s understanding. It’s possible that I have a reader who already thinks I’ve been open about rather personal things, maybe I have. But this next comment is one that actually feels personal to me, risky. So, here is some advice for fellow catheter users. Make sure you bring extra supplies! This morning, getting into the shower I was sitting on a chuck. Of course as I slid onto the shower seat the chuck stuck to me, not to my chair, and it was not so easy to get it out from under me. The shower seat works, but I didn’t feel terribly stable on it, still, a soggy wet chuck under you is a bad idea, so it had to go. Jim tried to pull it out from one side as I sort of lifted myself up, but it wasn’t going. So I leaned to one side, to push it towards the middle. Then I leaned to the other side, pushed it towards the middle also. Now this big ole chuck is bunched up under me in the middle, ok, asked Jim to pull it out from between my legs, as I lifted myself up. Success! He got it loose, except that somehow he also got a hold of my legbag, and pulled my catheter out too, inflated bulb and all. Oops. I should have seen that this was possible, but didn’t. And the chuck was more or less fighting us already, and so Jim just tugged harder.

Now, this isn’t as bad as it sounds. However anyone who doesn’t use catheters might be wincing with sympathetic pain. I’m sure it would hurt if I could feel pain there, but I can’t. And it’s a suprapubic catheter, which to those who haven’t heard of that term, means I have a hole punched into my stomach wall for a catheter to go through, as opposed to the usual arrangement. All the same, it’s not good for a catheter to get yanked out. It’s only the second time this has ever happened to me in the 14 years I’ve used a suprapubic.

I had my shower, might as well since I had gone to all the trouble to get in there. And afterwards got out my extra supplies and put in a fresh one. This is the first time while traveling that I’ve needed my spare catheter, and now I’m without a spare (though I did keep the old one just in case of a REAL emergency), but I’m glad I had it. I did not relish the idea of a call to the medical office explaining what happened, hoping they had a size 24 Fr catheter for me! Putting it back in was a bit scary too – now it’s really good for squeamish people to stop reading! The catheter would not go in. Just enough of a clot must have been starting to form at my bladder that I had to force the catheter though, and there was blood in my urine. This happens once in a while changing catheters, but was definitely worse today, which I assume was related to the abuse my body went through. And now, a few hours later, just a bit of blood around the stomach hole, but I’m fine. So, remember my advice, take extra supplies, and maybe even extra for the extras.