Ghost writer

Our world traveling, unique friend Bob, has found “developing world” tech communications works as well as Trump’s mouth - crap.  So now you know this Ghost Writer’s personality.

As of couple days ago we can write limited text, no more than 4 lines & no pictures.  He’s going to keep trying to get his blog to work.  And I’m going to blog for him in the meantime.  But, since I’m writting his text I’ll put in quotes his words so you know whose voice your reading.  We don’t know yet if he’ll be able to read your post, but I’ll text them to him so h can respond.

So here we go😯

Customs

When we got to port two U.S. Customs agents came on board and interviewed everyone individually. When it was my turn I handed the agent my US passport and declaration card. His first question was, "Parley voo fransay?" The interview lasted maybe 10 minutes but it seemed much longer. It was like being made to talk to the most boorish clod at a party. "Why do you want to go to China? Why on earth would you want to travel on a freighter? [This was asked in several ways and he still never seemed satisfied with my answers.] How did you even find out such a thing was possible? How much does it cost? How can you afford that on a librarian's pension?" He kept repeating that he had never heard of passengers on a freighter. I got the feeling he was hoping I would break down and confess to being a crew member. Then they searched both passenger cabins thoroughly, after asking us if we had any knives guns or bombs. After they left the captain said to me, "So, you are not a terrorist after all!"

 I don't dispute the fact that they have an important job to do. I'm just irritated about the way they do it. I don't think this behavior makes anyone safer.

Enough. Yesterday I mentioned the good food. Here is a representative sample:

As I write this we are preparing to leave L.A.

The Crew

"We sail the ocean blue
And our saucy ship's a beauty
We are sober men and true
And attentive to our duty"

The crew of the Rigoletto can be divided into two categories. The senior officers are French, and everyone else is some sort of eastern European. I would have said Russian but the steward Andriy told me he is Ukrainian. I can't tell the difference.

I mostly see them at mealtime. The Frenchmen say "bon appetit" and the captain and chief engineer shake my hand. Otherwise I have no idea what they are saying. Or rather, I should say I wouldn't have any idea except the other passenger is a French woman who informs me that their two topics of conversation are work and the food. For me the food is great. The captain said of the chef, "He's not the best. He's not the worst." French people. Aurelie (the other passenger) says she gets frustrated because her friends only talk about the food at meals.

First world problems.

Ahoy.

Los Angeles

This is the poster outside my cabin. Each passenger cabin has a name and whether fortuitous or by design mine matches my destination. The posters all feature places with a CMA CGM ship in the background. Oddly, the motto at the bottom is in English.

I am enjoying watching the port activities which are like an elaborate ballet. I am amazed at the number of people, the huge cranes, armies of trucks, and machines I don't even know the name of, all working together.

The port of Vancouver is much larger than Seattle but L.A. is fucking HUGE.

Vancouver

We arrived in Vancouver Tuesday morning at 5am. Very hazy and smelling of smoke. I spent the day on the ship, watching the port operations and reading my book. At dinner I met the new passenger, a French woman who is going to Pusan, Korea. She told me we are not leaving until Thursday, so I decided to go ashore today. First I had to get the captain's permission. When this was accomplished I went to the ships office to get a Xerox of my passport (all passports must remain on the ship) and sign out. They said, "climb down the gangway and find a stevedore to call you a shuttle." I climbed down but no one was around. I walked around until I saw a suv to flag down. He said to wait by the gangway so I went back to the ship. Eventually another SUV came but they were mostly concerned about a net hanging over the side of the ship that had gotten snagged. I got in and waited for them to solve the problem. Then I was driven to the port gate where I showed my ID and signed out. Whew.

After that I started having fun. I walked through Chinatown and downtown to Stanley  Park. I spent several hours walking around this huge beautiful park. It felt really good after 3 days on the ship.

The original plan was to sail from Vancouver to Yokohama, but now it seems we are going to Los Angeles before crossing the Pacific. More fun. It turns out that when at sea I can take walks on the cargo deck where I can go in a straight line for a long time. That will be nice.

I probably won't be posting pictures for a while because on the ship I need to buy internet by the megabyte.

Ahoy ahoy.

The Rigoletto

There she is, ship of dreams ...

I caught the 594 bus from Tacoma to Spokane street in Seattle. From there it was about an hour's walk to the main gate of Terminal 18. I showed my papers to the customs guard and he called a shuttle to take me to the ship. Such a lot of fuss. Anyway I made it. It is a French ship and most of the officers speak French. Most of the crew seems to be Russian or Ukrainian, I can't tell the difference. My steward is Ukrainian and has trouble with English. He is really helpful though. My cabin is very comfortable. I eat in the officers messroom but at a separate table. Just as well since they are all speaking French. They are very friendly. As each one enters he looks at me and says "bon appetit."

The food is very good. Lunch and dinner come in 3 courses and I have a bottle of red wine on my table. I could get used to this.