Anderson South America Misadventure Day 27 - In the Caribbean "Plague Ship of the Caribbean" March 30, 2020

We spent a good portion of the night in our transit of the Panama Canal. They had really bright lights shining which I could see under our curtains. I would move the curtains because I wanted to see what was going on. The bright lights would hit Rob in the face, wake him up and he would yell at me. I could hear machinery going and people yelling and there were lights. So I would move the curtain again and Rob would yell again. It was a long night. Then I could feel the ship moving and I knew that we had cleared the canal. That was a big relief. When we hit the open water and the ship started to rock something started to make a knocking sound. Rob got up to figure it out. One of the bottles of wine that we got over a week ago was in the cabinet. Since Rob made me get rid of my water bottle raft supplies the wine bottle was banging around. See, he should have let me keep them. We had the alarm set to wake us up early so that we could do a live spot on Good Morning America. We got dressed, I made the bed, brushed my hair and put on lipstick. And we sat on the loveseat waiting for the video call. And we waited, and waited. Then we got a text. I was unable to make Skype work so we were going to do it on facebook. I guess that they could not do it. I do understand that they said that they would have a live interview with us. We went back to bed. Rob went to sleep. I tried very hard to go back to sleep, but nothing. I gave up and got up. I could use the internet before too many people got up. The captain thanked us for cooperating with the directives of the Panama Canal Authority. He hoped that we did not get too spooked by it but we had to obey these rules in order to pass. The locals were not happy about us going through and this is what had to happen for us to get through. They expedited our transit and we got through in 7 hours. He also explained that we were going to veer to the west a little. A plane was going to land on San Andres Island, a small Columbian Island. They would be bringing much needed medical supplies. They were just awaiting the necessary approval for this. We slowed down and got closer to the island. Then we sped up and left. They were unable to the permission for the plane to land. I found out from another source that they were also planning to med evac the two COVID-19 patients to the US. A cruise ship is just not meant to provide the medical care that these people need. Rob has been feeling off and some days more than off. Today is not a good day. I have my little first aid kit with us. With my history of stomach issues I am well prepared. I have Pepto, Imodium, Tums and Dramamine. I get Rob to take some Pepto and hope that he will feel better. I partially think that he sleeps so much just because there is not much else to do. I am getting contacted for more interviews. The local Fox affiliate wants to interview me as does Inside Edition. I have to keep explaining that I cannot get Skype to work, the wifi cannot handle it. No, I do not have an IPhone so I cannot do facetime. They have to do this through Facebook. I am not certain how the Inside Edition interview went, I will have to see. I did one with the local Fox News in Cincinnati. It was short but went well. I kept changing my shirt. I was sitting around in a t-shirt but would put a nicer shirt on for the interview. At one point when I was changing I asked Rob if he thought that we would get rescued sooner or later if I did the interview in my bra. He said that it would be a draw. Then I got a funny contact. A reporter from the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee contacted me. He saw the picture of Rob and I with the penguins and noticed that Rob was wearing his Wisconsin Badger hat. He looked me up and found out that I was from Brookfield. We set up an interview. Then I got contacted from a synchro person who knows Victoria and works for CBS. We did an interview for the morning news tomorrow morning. Tune in at 7:09 am. Hopefully we did well. Usually for dinner we take the lids off then decide who gets what or what we are going to split. Tonight we had two identical dinners. Do you want stroganoff or stroganoff? We were not exactly sure what it was. I thought that it had green peppers in it but those were pickles. Pickles in stroganoff? I do not know if the kitchen is getting creative or has given up. It was actually pretty good. We also did not have any green beans. I swear, someone paid their passage with green beans. I like green beans, they prepare them well but could we have some broccoli now and then? I do not know when I last saw broccoli. We will not even get into what I would give for a nice tall glass of cold milk. At least doing these interviews are giving us some structure to our day. Otherwise it revolves around meals and playing trivia. We are doing OK at trivia. So far we have the highest score in the cabin.