Enviable Adventures & Privileged Disappointment

Our ship in the distance, Lanzarote

We are currently on day 15 of a 19-day sail from Buenos Aires to Barcelona. Much like last year, we opted to cross the Atlantic on a boat, rather than a plane.

I think's my new favorite way of travel.

This year’s cruise is shorter than last year’s (19 days instead of 27), and has fewer stops (5 instead of 14). In general, we love sea days, so we don't mind having fewer stops. I find the forced relaxation and sense of ‘languid’ on sea days to be an absolute joy…. When they’re expected.

Today's sea day was not expected. This morning we were supposed to dock in Casablanca. I say "supposed to" because at 1:00 am this morning a container ship lost about 20 containers at the port entry of Casablanca, shutting down the whole port.  This would have been the first time either of us had stepped foot on the African continent, so the disappointment was real. We had a tour planned for Hassan II Mosque, as well as the marketplace.

Although our plans were foiled, we feel saddest for the crew of this boat. Not only do they lose a port day as well, but some of our fellow passengers are GRUMPY about this change… and taking it out on these hard-working folks. If you’ve never cruised before, you need to understand that cruise-ship staff are notoriously good-natured. They smile through bad situations, disrespectful customers, and (sadly, too common) racist comments. Even though some guests (apparently) believe that the staff of our ship somehow personally teleported onto the aforementioned container ship and knocked the containers off themselves, not a single staff member expressed their own disappointment at either a) losing a day of calmer work because there would be fewer guests on board or b) losing their own day off/port day.

I long for this level of grace.

Prior to today's excitement we had a stop in Rio, as well as two stops in the Canary Islands. Last year we stopped in Rio and did a city tour, including stops at it’s famous beaches… we were grateful we didn’t sign up for that this year, as we never would have made it to the beaches… Carnival was in full swing throughout the city, so opted for a tour to Christ The Redeemer, to marvel at the sheer size and volume of it.  We also marveled at the sheer size and volume of the crowds. So. Many. People.

Eight days later we hit Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Despite the love of sea days, after so many, it was nice to get on dry land again. We wandered the city streets, hitting some of the tourist highlights. Our favorite, by far, was the Palmetum. This botanical garden started its life as a landfill overlooking the city’s bay. In 1995 they decided to fully make use of this beautiful location by slowly transforming it into a garden oasis. Almost 20 years later, it opened in 2014 and is now home to over 1,800 species of plants- 73 of which are critically endangered.

Our next stop, the island of Lanzarote, is also home to a botanical garden… but one of a much drier variety. The island is incredibly ‘young’, and its topsoil is heavily made of lava ash; thus, its botanicals are cacti and other desert flora. Native landscape architect (and local hero) César Manrique saw it as his personal mission to celebrate his island’s incredible natural beauty. We visited three of his creations.

The Jameos del Agua is a series of Lava tubes and caves that have been transformed into a garden, museum, restaurant and cultural center.

The Mirador del Rio is an overlook and escarpment that was built, incognito, into the rock.

The Jardín de Cactus was one of his final projects, collecting a broad variety of both native and non-native cacti and bringing them together into one protected cove.

Our boat is currently diverting to our next (and final) port of call, Gibraltar. We were scheduled to be there all day tomorrow, but now we will arrive this afternoon, and spend the night there. A few days after that we disembark in Barcelona, spend a few nights in Valencia, and then settle into El Campello for March and April. El Campello is just outside of Alicante, and offers all of what we love of Alicante (the 20-minute tram ride into Alicante runs every 15 minutes), but in a more sedate, small-town atmosphere.