December 14, 2024
SANTO DOMINGO one final time with the Little / Olson Family
Spent a nice afternoon with the Little Olson Family - from the left is Alonia 15 , Whitney, Lucia 13 and Doug. They are from Montana, and are on the ship thru to May. They asked me to join them on a final stroll through the walled colonial city. I enjoy the whole family very much and wanted to see more in town since I was rushed on Sunday morning.
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When Alionia was feeding the pigeons, a very nice elderly guide started speaking to us and he wanted to share so much information about his home with us. He led us all over and took us in and out of so many places, museums, hotels, restaurants and shops - non- stop for a good hour - all free. It was great! He shared so much passion and local knowledge and showed us way more than we anticipated. We shared refreshing beverages at a lovely restaurant in a converted old factory, complete with a waterfall. And saw Larimar stone being made into jewelry. We ended at a large local market. Really felt like we got to know Santo Domingo!
This Blog is more than a journal of my travels around the world, it's a major memory tool for me in documenting all the events along the way. You often ask me how we take care of medical things, as we travel non stop and today is a perfect example. A fellow resident had posted on one of our WhatsApp groups ( this is the main way we all- residents, crew and stateside support all communicate ) that she had an excellent contact for anyone looking to get medical appointments in the Pattaya / Bangkok area.
Off the coast of Pattaya, Thailand a talented and dedicated group of residents, the Odyssey Troubadours , performed A Night of Broadway for the enjoyment of all the other residents and senior staff on board. The group of 20 performed, 15 Broadway songs that had some special Odyssey edits, personalizing them to our journey. We loved it ! Such a clever, talented and fun loving group. I was upfront and focused on getting candid pictures of the talented cast.
We were up for breakfast at 7 and then hired a private small tram to take us around the gardens, for an overview, because it came with a guide. Problem was, guide barely spoke English, so we had a hard time figuring out the history of this crazy place. Even with translate app his answers were questionable. Did it start as gardens? What's with all the statues? Is there a master plan? It seems to be growing with no real connections, that we could make out. Web & Chat GPT seem vague on details too! We had fun with it, finding more and more absurd things, until the heat won out!