Observations from my recent vacation
BartSimpson @ Fri Mar 17, 2017 3:45 pm
From February 24th until March 16th I was busy with a vacation to Florida that wrapped up with a cruise through the Panama Canal on the Island Princess.
The pictures will be posted in this topic next week.
Some initial observations on the trip:
1. Traffic in Florida is insane.
2. There is more money wrapped up in yachts in Fort Lauderdale than there is in the Canadian Navy. This is not an exaggeration and it's stunning to see so much wealth in one spot.
3. Key Largo. ![[B-o]](./images/smilies/drinkup.gif "Drink up")
4. Everyone hates illegal aliens. Everyone.
* The Colombians hate the illegal Venezuelans.
* The Costa Ricans hate the illegal Nicaraguans and Cubans.
* The Mexicans hate the illegal Guatemalans.
5. In Cartegena, Colombia you can buy a 13-year-old Venezuelan girl for about US$800 and that's not for the night, that's forever. For another $3,000 you can buy adoption papers and make it legal. It was shocking to have someone walk up to me and casually propose I buy another person. 
6. The Panama Canal remains an amazing sight and it was awesome to get to see it from a ship for the first time!
7. Costa Rica is pretty awesome and I have every intention of going back to visit.
8. The Nicaragua stop was cancelled due to high seas at the port.
9. Cabo San Lucas is a sleepy, peaceful town until around 4:30pm when the sun starts to go down and the spring break crowd comes out. Seriously, I never saw that many almost-naked girls since I was a teenager! The place is party central and if you're young and single you need to be there. Now!
10. I discovered Timmy Trumpet, Savage, and 'Freaks'. 
11. Drinking .5L of rum was not a good idea back in 1984. It was a really bad idea in 2017! ![[drool]](./images/smilies/droolies.GIF "Drool")
12. Costa Rica is ridiculously beautiful.
13. There were a huge amount of British and US veterans on the ship. Mostly Navy pukes but with a smattering of Army types as well. Sucked being the only Marine aboard but it was nice to connect with the guys.
14. Colombia has a damned fine looking Navy.
15. Cartegena and Panama City are fucking amazing cities! Panama City especially looks like something out of a sci-fi movie with gleaming skyscrapers and massive video screens on some of the buildings that you can read from several miles away!
xerxes @ Fri Mar 17, 2017 4:28 pm
Glad to hear you had a great trip Bartman
BartSimpson @ Fri Mar 17, 2017 4:45 pm
Thanks! I think I was long overdue for some time off and have found that after three weeks away from news and etc. that I am a much nicer person.
Sad that I have to travel 8,000 miles to not be a bastard.
housewife @ Fri Mar 17, 2017 6:47 pm
Sounds like an awesome trip looking forward to pictures
Public_Domain @ Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:58 pm
martin14 @ Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:45 pm
Welcome back Bart, glad to see you had fun.
Did you get to see the new parts of the Panama Canal they are building now ?
Strutz @ Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:57 am
Good that you had a good vacation Bart and made it home safe.
#5 is disturbing but as PD pointed out that "service" wouldn't exist if not for the demand. Columbia is only one of many countries where this type of thing happens. It's so sad and wrong and not likely to disappear.
bootlegga @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 6:43 am
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
From February 24th until March 16th I was busy with a vacation to Florida that wrapped up with a cruise through the Panama Canal on the Island Princess.
The pictures will be posted in this topic next week.
Some initial observations on the trip:
1. Traffic in Florida is insane.
2. There is more money wrapped up in yachts in Fort Lauderdale than there is in the Canadian Navy. This is not an exaggeration and it's stunning to see so much wealth in one spot.
3. Key Largo.
4. Everyone hates illegal aliens. Everyone.
* The Colombians hate the illegal Venezuelans.
* The Costa Ricans hate the illegal Nicaraguans and Cubans.
* The Mexicans hate the illegal Guatemalans.
5. In Cartegena, Colombia you can buy a 13-year-old Venezuelan girl for about US$800 and that's not for the night, that's forever. For another $3,000 you can buy adoption papers and make it legal. It was shocking to have someone walk up to me and casually propose I buy another person.
6. The Panama Canal remains an amazing sight and it was awesome to get to see it from a ship for the first time!
7. Costa Rica is pretty awesome and I have every intention of going back to visit.
8. The Nicaragua stop was cancelled due to high seas at the port.
9. Cabo San Lucas is a sleepy, peaceful town until around 4:30pm when the sun starts to go down and the spring break crowd comes out. Seriously, I never saw that many almost-naked girls since I was a teenager! The place is party central and if you're young and single you need to be there. Now!
10. I discovered Timmy Trumpet, Savage, and 'Freaks'.
11. Drinking .5L of rum was not a good idea back in 1984. It was a really bad idea in 2017!
12. Costa Rica is ridiculously beautiful.
13. There were a huge amount of British and US veterans on the ship. Mostly Navy pukes but with a smattering of Army types as well. Sucked being the only Marine aboard but it was nice to connect with the guys.
14. Colombia has a damned fine looking Navy.
15. Cartegena and Panama City are fucking amazing cities! Panama City especially looks like something out of a sci-fi movie with gleaming skyscrapers and massive video screens on some of the buildings that you can read from several miles away!
The pictures will be posted in this topic next week.
Some initial observations on the trip:
1. Traffic in Florida is insane.
2. There is more money wrapped up in yachts in Fort Lauderdale than there is in the Canadian Navy. This is not an exaggeration and it's stunning to see so much wealth in one spot.
3. Key Largo.
4. Everyone hates illegal aliens. Everyone.
* The Colombians hate the illegal Venezuelans.
* The Costa Ricans hate the illegal Nicaraguans and Cubans.
* The Mexicans hate the illegal Guatemalans.
5. In Cartegena, Colombia you can buy a 13-year-old Venezuelan girl for about US$800 and that's not for the night, that's forever. For another $3,000 you can buy adoption papers and make it legal. It was shocking to have someone walk up to me and casually propose I buy another person.
6. The Panama Canal remains an amazing sight and it was awesome to get to see it from a ship for the first time!
7. Costa Rica is pretty awesome and I have every intention of going back to visit.
8. The Nicaragua stop was cancelled due to high seas at the port.
9. Cabo San Lucas is a sleepy, peaceful town until around 4:30pm when the sun starts to go down and the spring break crowd comes out. Seriously, I never saw that many almost-naked girls since I was a teenager! The place is party central and if you're young and single you need to be there. Now!
10. I discovered Timmy Trumpet, Savage, and 'Freaks'.
11. Drinking .5L of rum was not a good idea back in 1984. It was a really bad idea in 2017!
12. Costa Rica is ridiculously beautiful.
13. There were a huge amount of British and US veterans on the ship. Mostly Navy pukes but with a smattering of Army types as well. Sucked being the only Marine aboard but it was nice to connect with the guys.
14. Colombia has a damned fine looking Navy.
15. Cartegena and Panama City are fucking amazing cities! Panama City especially looks like something out of a sci-fi movie with gleaming skyscrapers and massive video screens on some of the buildings that you can read from several miles away!
Sounds like you had a great trip - I did a road trip of California in December and had a blast.
If you want to do something about #5, I would suggest supporting Thorn - and organization that fights sexual trafficking/exploitation of children.
https://www.wearethorn.org/
CDN_PATRIOT @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:15 am
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
2. There is more money wrapped up in yachts in Fort Lauderdale than there is in the Canadian Navy. This is not an exaggeration and it's stunning to see so much wealth in one spot.
Ah Bart. Any excuse to talk smack about the Canadian Forces, eh?
You could have referred to something else.
-J.
JaredMilne @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 10:46 am
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
From February 24th until March 16th I was busy with a vacation to Florida that wrapped up with a cruise through the Panama Canal on the Island Princess.
The pictures will be posted in this topic next week.
Some initial observations on the trip:
The pictures will be posted in this topic next week.
Some initial observations on the trip:
Welcome back, Bart!
Glad you enjoyed yourself!
Canadian_Mind @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 3:37 pm
Public_Domain Public_Domain:
#4, Nationalism is hardly an American-only problem.
Nationalism isn't a problem...
CDN_PATRIOT CDN_PATRIOT:
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
2. There is more money wrapped up in yachts in Fort Lauderdale than there is in the Canadian Navy. This is not an exaggeration and it's stunning to see so much wealth in one spot.
Ah Bart. Any excuse to talk smack about the Canadian Forces, eh?
You could have referred to something else.
-J.
I thought it was fucking funny. If we don't want our military equipment to be the laughing stock of NATO, we need to invest more in it.
raydan @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:06 pm
Strutz Strutz:
Good that you had a good vacation Bart and made it home safe.
I'm more concerned about the people he met.
Strutz @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 6:16 pm
Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:
I thought it was fucking funny. If we don't want our military equipment to be the laughing stock of NATO, we need to invest more in it.
Maybe someday there will be a new political party in Canada that gets elected who will.
bootlegga @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 6:35 pm
Strutz Strutz:
Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:
I thought it was fucking funny. If we don't want our military equipment to be the laughing stock of NATO, we need to invest more in it.
Maybe someday there will be a new political party in Canada that gets elected who will.
I'm cynical as hell, but political parties give the electorate what they want, and the majority of Canadians stopped giving two figs about the military decades ago.
As such, I'd say the blame lies squarely in the lap of the majority of Canadians, who would rather see tax cuts or social programs than make sure the military has decent equipment to do the jobs we expect them to do.
Public_Domain @ Sun Mar 19, 2017 7:47 pm