Category: Uncategorized
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Morocco
April 23-26–Agadir and Casablanca We’ve visited Morocco 3-4 times, including with Maddy and Jackson when we lived in Spain. We especially enjoy Marrakech, but will only visit Agadir and Casablanca on this trip. Several hundred passengers will be taking the 4 hour bus ride from Agadir, our first stop, to Marrakech. We’re not excited about 4…
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Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands
April 22 We last visited the Canary Islands 12 years ago with Maddy and Jackson. That was on our last ever cruise with Holland America. The Canaries have a population of about 1 million; 200,000 of them live in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, one of the 2 capitals. The islands are an autonomous community of…
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Who owns the future?
April 21 In reading press accounts and columns while sitting in the US, I did not appreciate China’s efforts to control the future. Implicit in lots of articles is that the US is “the leader of the free world” and dominant in international affairs. The analysis of “trump tariffs” is starting to raise questions, although…
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Easter
April 20 It looks like Easter will be on a Sunday this year…a sea day. This will mark the 83rd consecutive year that I’ve missed sunrise services. Karla plans to attend both the Catholic and Protestant services so we’ll average one service each. At home, we might have celebrated with the Easter Aardvark bringing healthy…
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Cape Verde
April 18, 19 Macaronesia is a collection of islands about 350-400 miles off the coast of West Africa which are part of the mid-Atlantic range. The islands include the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira, and Cape Verde. We will be visiting Praia, on the island of Santiago, and Mendolo on Sao Vicente Island….both part of Cape…
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Wildlife Update
April 18 Richard, our wildlife specialist, recounted his sightings yesterday. (He spends lots of time on deck with a monster camera.) -a giant manta ray…..perhaps 25 feet across; -a large turtle; -a pilot whale; -a whale shark; and, -thousands of flying fish…lots of large glides. As we get near Europe, we…
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Wildlife
April 17 Not much. However, we have an excellent wildlife specialist on board who gives briefings each morning on what we might have seen. Occasionally, he mentions a “spotting” from the previous day. And, participants of dubious veracity comment on the dark spots on the distant horizon that may be whales. But, we have seen…
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Musings: GNP and Income Distribution
April 15 About 55-60 years ago, when I was studying and teaching economics, I objected to the focus on Gross National Product as a measure of a country’s wellbeing. At that time, it may have been a good indicator in the US, but it missed the mark in Latin America. There, growing GNP didn’t seem…
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Perspective taking– great trip, and . . .
April 14 I had planned to use our 6 sea days to step back and reflect on our visits to African countries, Colonialism and 1984 (Orwell.) As I was organizing thoughts,I realized that rather than 3 items it was one longer related rant. Here goes…. My starting point Having been raised in Southwest Portland in…
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Null Island
April 14 Imagine our excitement as we arrive at Null Island! We noticed the ship slowing and then circling. We had heard that the trump family was selling waterfront timeshares here, but had never actually seen it. That may be because there’s nothing here. There used to be a buoy, but it mysteriously disappeared. Now, it’s…
Millers World Cruise 2025 