Out of Cyprus Summer 2018 part two: The voyage from Mexico to first sight of Panama

I hoped to blog every few days while travelling. But since we left Mexico, the Internet connection on the ship was almost non-existent. I started this post on Sunday morning, 29th July when the Internet was working better than it has done all week; this isn't saying much, but I took advantage of an hour before breakfast to check email and Facebook, and catch up with some writing. I'm now finishing it a week later, after losing some edits I attempted in the past few days. I'll keep it dated at the 29th July and hope to write a couple more blog posts in the next few days.

My first post about our travels this summer covered our lengthy journey from Cyprus to Progreso port in Merida. By the morning of Sunday 22nd we were feeling almost human. Sunday is a working day on the ship, as many teams go out to visit local churches; but for those still on board there's a church-type service which lasts about an hour and a half. Daniel was running the PA and audio visual content for the service on that Sunday. Afterwards David helped him put away some cables, and then spent some time with the drums:

In the afternoon, Daniel was off duty so we decided to visit the local supermarket, to buy some juice and fruit, and have a walk. Esther was quite cranky still, a few days after her yellow fever vaccination, but was happy to snuggle in the Ergo carrier with Daniel. She didn't want me to take a photo of her, however:

The ship was at the end of a long quay, so we had to catch the crew bus for the 4km distance - if it had been cooler it might have been quite a nice walk, but it was hot and humid and the crew bus ran a shuttle service between the ship and the port gate. We walked a few blocks, David chatting all the time as he was very excited to show us everything. So much so that I didn't think about taking photos.

We found the supermarket and Becky made some purchases, then we walked on a bit further and found an ice cream shop. Stopping for half an hour was a good decision, and Esther was much happier when given her cone:

In the evening, unsurprisingly, we decided to play a game of Settlers. We use the 5-6 player expansion board when playing with four people, something Daniel and Becky had not done for the past year. So Becky was a bit puzzled to find that two of the expansion pieces were missing from her set. Probably packed away with their other Settlers expansions in storage in the UK.  It wasn't a problem having two sea pieces missing, but a bit tight fitting it on the small table in their cabin:

We left the port in Mexico on Tuesday. We had more or less caught up on sleep by that point, so I was a bit surprised to find myself getting dizzy in the evening. Apparently this is quite common on the first day of a sail with Logos Hope; the way it's built means that it rocks slightly from side to side in an unusual motion, unlike most boats, and it's not unusual to feel light-headed while getting used to it. Thankfully this sensation disappeared within the first day.

I'm not entirely sure where the last five days have gone, as the ship makes its way slowly through the ocean. I've been outside a few times; all that can be seen is water, in every direction. Mostly pretty smooth, though sometimes it's been a bit difficult to walk in a straight line.

The days have followed a similar pattern. I usually get up between 5.30 and 6.30, take a quick shower and get dressed, then make my way to the staff lounge, near the top of the ship When possible I have checked Facebook, and one of the news sites briefly, but it's all been rather slow and some days I couldn't connect at all. So mostly I've been reading on my Kindle.

Breakfast, most days, starts at 7.00am, and the family usually arrive about fifteen or twenty minutes after that. We have cereal, perhaps fruit (currently canned, with this long sail) and yogurt, and sometimes toast, or bagels, or (once) croissants. The bakers are always up early preparing food for breakfast and lunch, and we appreciate them very much. There's a coffee machine too, offering several variations; I have decided my favourite is cafe macchiato.

We're usually finished by about 8.00 or 8.15, then David has to go up to the family cabin to brush his teeth and get ready for school. Not that this is anything like school as most of us know it. He LOVES going to school. He's in a mixed nursery/reception class of nine children, with a teacher and assistant, so there is lots of one-on-one attention. I've seen his 'wow' book - a photographic record of the past year, full of things he's said, photos of him painting, creating crafts, playing with puzzles and more. On Sunday afternoon, when Becky asked him what he would like to do, he said, with a sigh, 'I WISH I could go to school!'

He started with just a couple of mornings a week, for two hours, last September, but liked it so much and did so well that this was gradually increased to five mornings a week, for three hours each time. For the last hour the 'nursery' part of the class play outside with the older toddlers while the older 'reception' age children have an extra hour.  He'll be Reception age in September, meaning he can also go for a couple of hours each afternoon. In preparation for that, he's just started going on two afternoons per week.  He has apparently been asking to do this for a long time, and was so excited to have afternoon school on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  He was quite tired by the end, but clearly gets a great deal out of it. He's an extremely talkative, sociable child, and without parks to play in, or places to go, the ship school provides an ideal outlet for his energies and questioning, curious nature.

Back to our schedule... three mornings a week there's a baby/toddler group which Esther goes to, and for two of them, Becky gets a bit of space to catch up on things in the cabin. So I returned to the staff lounge and read some more while Richard has been working with Daniel in the A/V department. On the morning when Becky was staying in the toddler group, I stayed too to help, and enjoyed it very much.

One morning there was a ship voyage safety briefing, which Richard and I had to go to as we hadn't sailed with the ship in the past six months. Another morning there was a 'country orientation' - brief descriptions of what to expect, what Panama is like, where to go etc.  There will be a full 'port orientation' session on Tuesday evening.

Lunch is quite early, starting at 11.45am, but David doesn't finish his school until noon, so we go to lunch after that. Usually bread, with plenty of different kinds of salad vegetables, sliced cheese and processed meats.

Esther takes a nap after lunch, usually for about an hour, and Daniel is sometimes free for half an hour or so; he's had a couple of days off during this week, which we all appreciate very much. We usually hang out in the family cabin in the afternoons, at least while Esther is sleeping. David (when not at afternoon school) likes to do activities that are more difficult with a toddler around, such as painting, or sticker books.

Around three o'clock the children have some fruit and juice, then we might go to the 'fun deck' (where there are outside toys, a slide, swings and various other outdoor activities in a safe enclosed area dedicated to children. Sometimes we stay in the cabin.

The children have a lot of toys and books, and David has an almost endless capacity for stories. Esther has been a bit cranky; she's been teething as well as recovering from her yellow fever vaccination. And shes a very determined little girl with quite a temper when she feels thwarted. David didn't really do the 'terrible twos' phase; she is starting six months early and taking his share as well as her own.

Dinner/supper starts around 5.30pm - and inevitably, as on a cruise, we organise our days around mealtimes. It's good food, provided by the hard-working catering team, although there's usually only one kind of cooked vegetable, and they're rather limited at the moment. There's usually a vegetarian option, often some kind of eggs.   Daniel is a vegetarian, as are a few other crew members, and my tendencies are that way; it's possible to be vegetarian on the ship, though not easy. It would be impossible to be vegan. Richard eats meat but not dairy products if he can avoid them; that's been remarkably difficult.

As with a cruise, it's all too easy to eat too much and exercise too little. I'm going up more stairs than usual, which is good; the first time we climbed from deck 2 (where our cabin is) to deck 8 (where the family cabin is) my legs ached and I felt quite out of breath by the final flight of stairs. Now I find it easier. Richard, whose phone takes note of steps walked and flights of stairs, shows that on most days he's been going up about 35 flights in all.

After dinner it's back to the family cabin, with more stories for David while Becky puts Esther to bed. Then David is usually asleep by about 7.30. After that we've played a game a couple of times. One evening there was a gathering in the dining room for married couples where we played a different game. Becky had to bake cakes a couple of evenings, and last night Richard did a talk about his work and ministry, which was well received.

Today we should arrive near the entrance to the Panama Canal, and will remain there at anchor for about 24 hours. A pilot has to come on board and check the Logos Hope for safety, then - all being well - we travel through the canal on Monday afternoon/evening, and should arrive at the port of Balboa in the early hours of Tuesday. 

Out of Cyprus Summer 2018: the first three (plus) days

I had intended to write more often. So much for good intentions. June began with a week's visit from some very longstanding friends, and continued with the usual round of increased temperatures, decreased energy (on my part), games with friends and cake. In July we had a replacement outside shed built, Richard launched his new (to him) Kingfisher yacht Liza, and we wound down the supplies in our fridge in preparation for a month outside Cyprus.

Last year our son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren set off for a couple of years on the floating bookstore ship Logos Hope. Daniel works in the A/V department. In the first six months or so they travelled around several of the Caribbean islands, doing some aid work after the devastating hurricanes of last summer, and also selling inexpensive books, giving presentations and seminars, and offering whatever else was needed by local congregations.

In the past three months they have been in Mexico; tomorrow the ship sets off for Panama, and will - in a few days - go along the Panama Canal. While we're told this is not, in fact, a very interesting experience it still appeals to Richard so we planned our trip to include this. We couldn't leave before July 18th as he was providing PA for a concert and the 19th was our 38th anniversary. We really didn't want to go through the US to get here; it requires a temporary visa (Estia) even to go thrugh aiports, and any time he goes to or through the US, he gets stopped for 'random' extra searches.

Happily, we found reasonable value flights to Mexico City direct from Heathrow on the evening of the 20th, so we planned the trip around that. To get to London we booked an early flight via Blue Air which went to Luton; that gave us plenty of time to travel across London via National Express.

So our day started rather early, even for me, on the 20th. All the packing was complete, so we set alarms for 4.30am. Our friend Sheila collected us at 5am and we checked in at the airport immediately. I had packed some fruit for breakfast, and we bought coffee at one of the restaurants inside the security area.  I decided to take photos at every stage of the journey...

Blue Air, despite being a budget airline, offers free food and drinks on most of its flights. I knew from experience that I would not be able to eat most of the food as it contains nitrites and other nasties which would give me a migraine, so we had brought some cereal bars with us. But while Richard ate both our frankfurter-type sausages, and baked beans, and a croissant and roll and crackers, the only thing I could eat was the bread roll and some cream cheese.  Even the jam said it contained a migraine-including additive.

But I enjoyed the rest of the fruit I had packed and a couple of cereal bars. And the free fruit juice on the plane was nice.

We arrived at Luton four and a half hours after taking off; I had never been there before, and Richard only once. Our National Express coach was booked for 11.20am but we had paid an extra ten pounds for the ability to get on any available coach going to Heathrow for up to twelve hours before or after. The coach station was outside, and rather confusing, but a helpful young man in uniform knew all the schedule and gates, and told us the next coach to Heathrow was at 10.50.

It wasn't a pleasant wait. Several people were smoking, including some with large metal tube things - we assume electronic cigarettes, although I had thought they were made to look like ordinary ones. I gather this is not always the case. I had also thought they were supposed to produce less smoke, making them safer for those around.  This certainly wasn't the case. I watched at least three people take puffs on these large tubular things, and there was a huge amount of smoke. Perhaps it's not as dangerous as that from ordinary cigarettes, but it was just as disgusting, and there was considerably more of it.

We almost didn't see our coach when it arrived, as it wasn't at either of the stops where it should have been, but the next one along. We heard a 'final call' for Heathrow, so presented our tickets to the driver. He took one look, then pointed out that we had booked for half an hour later.  I explained that we had paid extra to take an earlier or later coach, and he said yes, but we still had to make the change at the ticket office. Otherwise, as he pointed out, we could have printed off dozens of these tickets and distributed them to other people, who could just get on any coach. Unlikely, but I suppose possible.

However the wording on the back made no mention of having to re-book or officially change the time, and a coach official standing next to the driver said she thought we were correct; so she made a note of our details and said she would change it herself.

What struck me, as we travelled through London suburbs, was the dryness of the grass everywhere. We knew it had been warmer than usual in the UK, with very little rain. But I was shocked to see grass like this everywhere:

Our flight was from Terminal Five, but the coach didn't stop there. The driver told us to get off at the main bus station at Heathrow, and then get the free train to our terminal.  We eventually succeeded in doing this - it wasn't a regular monorail type train, as we are more used to at Gatwick, but an Underground service.

Our son Tim had arranged to meet us for a few hours in Heathrow airport, and it was wonderful to see him waiting for us when we finally emerged from the train at Terminal Five. It was about 12.30 UK time but we were very hungry, as Cyprus is two hours ahead; so we found what seemed to be the only reasonable restaurant, and had a leisurely lunch together.

In the afternoon Richard and Tim went out of the airport for a couple of hours while I stayed with the luggage and read. I was very tired by this stage and had no wish to go anywhere! So tired, in fact, that I didn't take any photos then, nor of our rather high-class flight to Mexico City, in a 'dreamliner' aeroplane. Even with economy seats, it was more comfortable and quieter than most flights, with pleasanter lighting. Two meals were provided, plus extra water as needed and - unusually for me - I managed to sleep for at least four or five hours, albeit not very deeply.

We arrived in Mexico City at 3am local time, and had a few hours to wait there. Our luggage had been checked right through to our final destination, thanks to a very efficient and helpful Mexico Air staff member at Heathrow. So we sat and drank coffee, and then ate some fruit - two days in a row being hobbit-like with second breakfasts, but then our days were rather longer than usual. We exchanged fifty euros, too, and received over 1100 Mexican pesos in return.

Our second flight, which departed at 7.50, was only about an hour and a half. But even that provided a drink and a cereal bar, and a daytime view which looked much better in reality than the photo:

Merida is quite a small airport, and we didn't have to go through any security as it had been an internal flight. As we walked to the exit, we were startled to see what looked like huge lizards; apparently iguanas:

We had been told that we could either get a taxi from Merida to Progreso, costing about 420-450 pesos, or an Uber, costing around 300-400.  Since 400 pesos is less than 20 euros, and the journey is 50 minutes, we had decided to opt for a taxi. We emerged from the airport to be greeted with several drivers offering services... we asked one what the cost to Progreso would be and he said, '650'. We shook our heads and asked someone else. He told us it would be 750.

We went to ask at the official airport taxi booth, and they said it would be 950! So we went back into the airport to try to call a Uber. We were quoted just under 400 and three of them were heading our way. Unfortunately, the first one simply drove past despite our waving at him. The second one slowed down, but then the airport taxi drivers started shouting at him. He eventually explained to us - in pretty good English- that Ubers were not allowed in the taxi area, or anywhere else in the airport.  So we would have to make our way out, which was quite some way. We had luggage, and the weather was hot and humid.

While Richard was speaking to the Uber driver, the first taxi driver who had approached us came up to me, and asked what we had expected to pay. I said, '400-450' with a shrug. 'Oh,' he said, 'My friend will drive you for 450'. I was a bit dubious that this might be an unofficial taxi (we had been warned only to get official ones) but they took us to the official taxi booth, and we paid in advance there, and were driven in one of the white airport taxis. The driver was good and the journey was under an hour.

Our daughter-in-law and grandchildren were waiting for us by the entrance to the port; the final journey was 6km along  a narrow road in the crew bus to the ship.  There were people queuing for the book fair and shows on the Logos Hope, but we were able to go in by a staff entrance. David, who is four, was very excited to see us, and showed us our cabin on Deck Two. Then it was time for lunch - usually ship lunch is bread, cheese or processed meats, and lots of salad. David didn't stop talking...

Our granddaughter Esther, who is nineteen months old, wasn't too sure about us. She was only nine months old when we last saw her, so has changed from a just-crawling baby to a lively, quite feisty toddler. She wasn't feeling too well either, as she had to have a yellow fever vaccination a couple of days earlier, and was quite clingy with her parents.

However David more than made up for her reticence with lots of cuddles, assurances that he loved us very much, and was looking forward to seeing us, and then - as always - we read him lots of books in the family's cabin (rather a nice 'suite' with two bedrooms and a bathroom).

After lunch Esther went for a nap, and Richard and I did too, setting an alarm for two hours. It was so nice to lie down after around 36 hours of travelling and we fell asleep almost immediately.

Esther was miserable after her nap, so we all went to the 'fun deck', a place with toys and swings; she's very fond of swinging, and spent most of her time there, growing more cheerful as she swung.

Jet lag when flying West isn't supposed to be too much of a problem - and on the whole I've found that to be true. We were very tired, but that was due to lack of sleep, as much as anything. Richard fell asleep at 8pm that night, and I managed to stay awake until 9am.  I then woke briefly a couple of times in the night, eventually getting up shortly before 6am. Richard slept until 7.30.

We're now settle in, less tired, and loving spending time with the family.

Bonding Squares for premature babies

As I wrote in my last post, about knitting blankets for premature babies, there is quite a demand in UK hospitals for blankets, tiny baby clothes, and also bonding squares. I had not heard of bonding squares until I started reading about knitting for premature babies. I joined a useful Facebook group, and they provide both instructions and some explanations.

Bonding squares are knitted in identical pairs, usually square in shape, around 10-12.5cm square (that's four or five inches). They are used when, for any reason, a mother must be separated from her baby. This happens most often when a baby is premature. There is evidence for the vital importance of 'bonding' in the earliest hours after a baby's birth, when he or she gets to know the mother's scent. This works both ways; the baby's scent is an important part of the trigger for the mother to produce milk.

Normally mother and baby would spend a lot of time cuddling, including some skin-to-skin contact, and the bonding by scent happens naturally. But a tiny or sick baby may have to be in a special incubator, and this is where bonding squares come in. One is given to the mother, and the other to the baby. The baby will have it to lie the head on, and the mother will also keep hers close. Every four to six hours, they are switched, so each becomes familiar with the other's scent.

Bonding squares don't take long and can be made in any pattern so long as there are no holes. A beginner knitter could simply knit without any purl or other pattern to produce suitable squares. They can also be crocheted.

The number of stitches needed depends on the size of needles, and the pattern used. I have learned from experience that on 4mm needles, using double knitting yarn, I need between 24 and 30 stitches for around 12.5cm, and I have to knit about 36-40 rows. Some patterns require multiples of three, or eight, sometimes with one or two extras - so it's impossible to give an exact number.

I had tried knitting some earlier in the year, but they were too big so, as explained in the previous post, I sewed them together to form a blanket. However, on returning to Cyprus, I learned from a friend that babies are more often separated from their mothers routinely. She was visiting someone whose baby was being kept away from her, so I quickly knitted some bonding squares, in the hope that they might help.

After that, I knitted a pair or two each week for about three months until the weather became too warm for much knitting. I had to keep the cats well away, of course; babies cannot have any allergens nearby. I wasn't sure if local babies would need more, but knew I could send some to UK hospitals next time I'm there.

I decided to experiment with as many different patterns as I could find. The Facebook group has several suggestions, and I found one or two others elsewhere, and adapted a few myself.  Since my first pair was blue, I thought I would do a pink set in basket weave stitch, which is one of my favourite styles. It doesn't need a border, and the effect is quite pretty:

I then started a pair in ordinary rib, wondering how that would work. They don't take much wool, but unfortunately, half way through the first one, I realised I would not have sufficient yarn for the pair. So I decided to do a two-toned effect:

It was the turn of pink again - while I am not a fan of matching colours to genders of babies, a lot of people liked to do so. I did this pair in double moss stitch, a stitch I find very easy to do in company (unlikes some of the more complex ones!).

I still had plenty of the dark pink, and decided to try a pattern with a raised heart in the middle, which I found on the Ravelry site. It didn't come out square, although I knitted some extra rows once I'd realised it was wider than the height. And as a plain knitted border was needed to stop the stocking stitch part curling, it wasn't entirely even. Perhaps that's my knitting tension at fault. Still, the effect was rather nice:

I decided to adapt this pattern a bit to make a diamond shape around the edge and in the middle; the outside part was quite effective, although again it wasn't particularly even, but the middle bit didn't work too well. I don't suppose a newborn baby would mind, but I decided not to repeat this idea.

My next effort was a diagonal moss stitch pattern which I found on the Facebook group. I quite liked this, although it was hard to keep track of where I was and I had to back-track a few times:

I then tried the leaf stitch pattern, which was even more complicated - not one I could have done with anyone else in the room!  I liked it, but thought it perhaps a bit over-fussy.

Back to a simple moss stitch for my next pair:

Then I thought I would do the diamond effect style, another pattern from the Facebook group. I realised it would curl so I made a border, and was pleased that it turned out reasonably even:

Caterpillar stitch was the next one I tried - another one that was tricky to keep track of.  Again, it needed a plain knitted border. This picture doesn't really show the detail:

This is what it was like close up:

Next I followed another pattern, a simpler 'waffle stitch' which I had tried before with a blanket.

I didn't take photos of all of them, but those were the main different patterns I tried out. I think I'll be sticking to double moss, waffle stitch and basket weave for most of my future bonding squares.

We're soon flying to the UK, so I gathered up all I had done - thirteen in all, in addition to the blue ones which I had already given away.

Three of them had turned out slightly larger than the 5 inches/12.5 cm required by UK hospitals, so I kept those for my friend in Cyprus who visits newborn babies, and will be sending the other ten sets to the relevant contact on the Facebook group.