November 15

We have another day at sea with lots to do. I subscribed to the NYT on my Kindle and read quite a bit of it this morning. My room steward tells me I read too much and I get up too early. I had a small omelet [peppers, onions, tomatoes and jalapenos] topped with salsa at 9AM. We will be attending a lecture on the Canal at 10AM. At noon Dotty and I have spa appointments. She is going for the works; I am getting a hair and beard trim. At 2PM there is lecture on Costa Rica. At 3PM “An Afternoon with Francisco Yglesia” will include an interview and Q&A with the great master of the Paraguayan Harp. We attended his concert last night. I have always been a fan of Los Paraguayos and although lacking the folk trappings of those recordings [he was backed by a contemporary quintet] it brought back some memories. As the harpist for that group his virtuosity dominated their recordings. Pan pipes/Andean flutes, charango, guitar and percussion completed Los Paraguayos. I will have to dig out the old CDs and LPs and load them on my new computers when I return home. Tonight’s dining is formal so we all get gussied up. We will then attend a stage show entitled “Showtime: Songbook” followed by dancing till dawn under the disco ball in the Crow’s Nest. Jimmy and I will smoke a Cuban or two over bit of Cognac and then retire.
I am enjoying the “unlimited laundry” feature offered at the beginning of the cruise. One pays $98.00 for the service [the price varies according to the length of the cruise] which picks up your laundry sack filled with the days sweat and toil only to return it to your room 48 hours later, clean and pressed on hangers. It translates to $18.00 to $20.00 every other day. On our 14-day cruise we save about $40.00 each.
We transit the Canal tomorrow.