Kiss the FISH!!!!

March 4^th and 6^th

Manta, Ecuador and Panama City

So I forgot to blog right after Manta, because the day was so hot. We were right by the Equator and all I did all day was wander around, shop (of course) and swim in the ocean….ahhh tough life right? Haha. I had a great day though, with the exception of losing a pair of sunglasses I bought for 8 dollars haha….came right off in the ocean. And then I bought the exact same pair from the same guy and convinced him to lower the price to 5. Hey, it worked J

Well the day after was a sea day and it was quite eventful. Worthy of a blog entry I think haa. So it is a tradition on all ships I guess, that when you cross the equator, there has to be a ceremony for all the crew on board that have not been initiated into King Neptune’s Kingdom…. In other words, it’s playful hazing of the newbies. I was shocked at how much the passengers ate this up. I was a Polywog (one of the victims) and there were mermaids, pirates, nurses and doctors and of course King Neptune and his wife. It was literally a show. The only thing we were told before going to this ceremony is that we had to be there and that we should wear clothes that we could throw away. I knew they were going to throw food at us, but I did not know it would be this disgusting. They put all of us newbies in a cage in the pool and drenched us in water. 3 at a time, they called us up to the front where King Neptune was and he decided our fate. When it got to the entertainment department, there were three of us and our youngest passenger (who got out of this easy haha) and he said we must kiss the fish. It was a huge fish frozen in an ice sculpture that smelled disgusting. After that, (they saved us for the last so we could have the most repulsive food thrown on us) we each were put onto a table as they stuffed slimy noodles, beans, marinara sauce, chocolate and warm chili on our faces in our hair. It looked like vomit. One of my cast mates, David, slowly poured the most disgusting things in my hair. Oh it was so gross…..and then I opened my mouth to scream….BAD IDEA. I got a mouth full of dry flour…..It was stuck in my teeth for hours.  It took forever to wash it out…..but it was all in good fun. I am still finding meat particles and lettuce in places they should never be.

Today I am in Panama. And so far, I have not been exploring, rather uploading photos and taking advantage of the one day I have free internet haha. The whole port is very Americanized, so I didn’t feel the need to look at the TGIfridays around the corner….OH MY GOSH we go to the Amsterdam in 5 days! I cannot believe how fast this time went by. I had so much fun with the people on this cruise and I so look forward to meeting new people as well. Oh I love ship life. It’s been full of adventure. Not a dull day J