Tag: Adventure
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Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru — Like Walking Back In Time
#flathal #flatstanley #peru #trujillo Flat Hal and Flat Stanley ventured away from the port area near Salaverry, Peru, where the ship docked to see some incredible sites dating back to the time of the Moche people. The Moche lived in the region before the Inca. The Moche built ‘huaca del sol y la luna’ the…
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Manta, Ecuador — a big city in every way
#flatstanley #flathal #manta #ecuador Manta, like Panamá City, felt like a BIG city, but where Panama City seemed to be full of skyscrapers lining the coast as far as the eye could see, Manta had more of a sprawl to it. (Then again, Panama City has 4 times the population.) República del Ecuador, A Presidential…
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Manta, Ecuador — a day when a little reality intruded on the flat fellas adventuring
#flatstanley #flathal #manta #ecuador With a population of just over 1/4 million people, Manta, Ecuador, turned out to be a good place for quite a few passengers to go looking for things we had realized in the past week and a half we forgot to bring with us, or simply wished we had. There is…
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Panama City, Panama— the Nation’s Capital
#flathal #flatstanley #panama #government Both Panama and the United States are presidential representative democratic republics. That doesn’t mean they have the exact same types of governments, but we can take our knowledge of the United States government to help us understand the government of Panama. Both have a President. Both have a legislative branch elected…
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Panama — Flat Hal and Flat Stanley made the most of their day ashore
#flatstanley #flathal #panama From a beautiful sunrise, to the Flat Fellas joining some friends for a tasty lunch on shore, our day was full of fun, laughter, making memories and discoveries. Including seeing trees growing out of the side of a building!
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The flat fellas spent a couple hours walking around Casco Viejo
#flatstanley #flathal #panama #cascoviejo The old quarter of Panama City dates back to 1673. It is easy to believe, simply by looking around this part of the city, that Catholicism is the most common religion as we saw a lot of beautiful churches that clearly had a long history. These churches were just a 5…
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Panama City, Panama — the flat fellas first time ashore in Panama
Flat Hal and Flat Stanley were excited when the ship docked at Fuerte Amador, only to discover that it may be part of Panama City, but it is a long walk from most of the places they hoped to see. The ship came out of the Panama Canal into the Gulf of Panama — we’ve…
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Certificates for transiting the Panama Canal
#flathal #flatstanley #panamacanal One of the fun things about a trip like we are currently on is getting to collect certificates that serve as keepsakes to remind us of doing something special and momentous. Flat Hal and I had never been through the Panama Canal before? Had Flat Stanley? Several friends we are traveling with…
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Birds flying around the Panama Canal
#flathal #flatstanley #birding #panama #panamacanal It might sound silly, but it seemed like there were different birds at the Caribbean side of the canal vs. the Pacific side. Just 75 miles apart, we sailed it in less than 10 hours, but Flat Stanley and Flat Hal saw more Brown Pelicans than they could easily count…
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The Flat Fellas Sail the Panama Canal
#flathal #flatstanley #panama #panamacanal Considered by some to be a man-made wonder of the modern world, on par with the CN tower in Toronto, the Empire State Building in New York, or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Panama Canal dramatically cut the distance ships had to sail from the North Pacific Ocean…
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Costa Rica… just a few of the flowers we saw…
an amazing number were familiar from the South Pacific trip. How many can you identify? #flatstanley #flathal #costarica
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Costa Rica covers only about 0.03% of the Earth’s landmass but contains approximately 5-6% of the world’s biodiversity!
#flathal #flatstanley #costarica #limon #biodiversity Limon offered Flat Hal and Flat Stanley the chance to discover new plants, animals, and more alongside things they discovered on our trip to the South Pacific. They saw the lipstick plant before, and marveled at the shape and color of what grew on it, having no idea until they…
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Sloths! The Flat Fellas see a Sloth on the Move in Costa Rica!
#flathal #flatstanley #costarica #sloth Flat Hal and Flat Stanley got to see a Sloth on the move! We wanted to share a little about them, in case you aren’t familiar with the sloth, so we asked Gemini AI for some help, it offered: These slow-moving mammals are tree-dwelling animals that live in the rainforests of…
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The Flat Fellas in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
#FlatHal #flatstanely #CostaRica #PuertoLimon #Cacao Located on the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Limon provided Costa Rica with a shorter more direct shipping route to Spain and England before the Panama Canal was built, when Costa Rica was shipping their exports from the Pacific Ocean side of the country. Cacao (the all important ingredient for chocolate,) and…
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Santa Marta, Colombia… where in the world are the flat fellas?
#flathal #flatstanley #colombia #santamarta The population of Santa Marta, Colombia is approximately 555,030 as of 2023. As a country, Colombia has a population of just over 53 million people, with around 7 million of them living in/near the capital city of Bogota. Have you heard of the country of Colombia? Do you know what part…
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Larimar – Blue Stone native to the Dominican Republic
#flathal #flatstanley #larimar #dominicanrepublic An oversimplification of Geology is to say it is the study of rocks. Some of us notice cool rocks we see. Whether it is because they are unusual compared to others nearby, or because nature has polished them smooth through years of wear and tear. In the Dominican Republic I saw…
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The Flat Fellas first port of call is Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic
#flatstanley #flathal #dominicanrepublic #santodomingo Located on Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic shares the island with Haiti. Both countries have ports cruise ships visit, today we visited Santo Domingo. We docked within sight of Punta Torrecilla, a lighthouse, about a mile from the old town. Facing the sea is an…
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Traveling again…or should we sing “on the road again”?
Flat Hal and Flat Stanley are off on another adventure. (#flatstanley #flatstanleyproject #flathal #hollandamerica #volendam) The last one was called Tales of the South Pacific, and they lost count of how many islands they visited in the region, though they sure had fun discovering capitals! This trip is called “Pole to Pole”. For the second…
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Huahine – the sunrise was a brilliant forecast of the day to come
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have been setting an alarm to get up to see the sun rise on as many mornings as possible during our trip. Some mornings that has been as early as 4:45 am. Today, at 4:55, when the alarm went off very little light was slipping beneath the curtains into our cabin. It felt…
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Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have been sharing pictures with our fellow travelers
There are lots of wonderful things about going on a cruise. One of them is meeting our fellow passengers, sharing experiences and excursions… and photos from our days, whether they are spent together or apart. Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have not only been putting our photographs in this journal, but we have also been sharing…
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Bora Bora birds… Flat Stanley and Flat Hal recognized the birds we saw!
When we first started this trip we would not have been able to gesture to the most of the birds and ask one another “is that a….?” and insert the correct name. However, as we walked around Bora Bora we recognized a Pacific Reef Heron, a Brown Noddy, a Zebra Dove, and some pigeons (also known…
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The Leeward Islands, part of The Society Islands in French Polynesia
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal had a good time walking around Uturoa, Raiatea, French Polynesia. It was a very warm day, with an occasional breeze that almost cooled us off. The Society Islands include the Leeward and Windward Islands… names that are interesting. With a little help from AI to understand better, The names “Windward” and “Leeward”…
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Good-bye Cook Islands, next stop the Island Nation of…
Our next stop is visible on the included map. The map shows Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands, all of which we have visited, as well as marking our path towards our next port of call. We are headed East / North East. We have several stops planned at various ports that are in the…
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Flat Stanley and Flat Hal tried to find a $3 note and a $2 coin in the Cook Islands
The Cook Islands have their own currency. However, they also accept the New Zealand dollar at a 1 to 1 exchange rate, or equal value, and the New Zealand dollar felt like it was the currency most people were using. As a result, trying to get a Cook Islands $3 note (otherwise known as a…
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Avarua, so many flowers to see as we walked this peaceful community’s streets
Our ship arrived in Avarua on a Sunday. The majority of businesses were closed, and families were enjoying the day together, relaxing, swimming at the beach, enjoy ice cream, and generally seeming minimally aware nearly 2,000 people had come to see their island home. Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands… everywhere we turned there were more flowers,…
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Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands – the flat fellas visited another capital!
When we got back to the ship Flat Stanley and Flat Hal were surprised to discover we had been in another Capital city. Our tender dropped us off in Avatiu Harbor. On shore we flipped a coin and walked to the left – mostly because we were told the airport was to our right. The airport sounded less…
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Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands – A relaxing community to walk around and enjoy the tropical sunshine
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal might not worry much about sunburns, but they travel with someone who does. Today we spent a lot of time finding shade as we walked beneath a powerful mid-day sun to see what this charming community had to offer. We found incredibly kind locals, children swimming, playing and enjoying ice…
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Aitutaki Flowers — a rose by any other name… is just as pretty
Do you recognize the quote I was inspired by? Can you get it right, & know who wrote it? Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have taught me a LOT about birds and flowers this trip. Among other things, the way I look at the world around me is changing. I look up in to the…
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The birds of Aitutaki- at least the ones our cameras saw
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have seen the Common Myna bird so many times now that he just barely rated a picture, and not a pretty pose to share in our journal with friends. The Pacific Plover is one we are still learning to recognize, so he got a photo, along with new-to-us (though similar…
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Vava’u, Tonga shared their culture and community with Flat Stanley and Flat Hal
Many of the ports Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have visited on their cruise have welcomed the passengers with local music, dance, residents in native dress sharing a glimpse of a life different than ours back home and taking time to talk with us and make us feel not just welcome in their community, but…
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Some of the birds in Tonga made an appearance for our cameras…
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal are good sports about respecting the personal space of wild animals, even when we wish we could get closer for better photo opportunities. The birds in Fiji seemed to master the art of blending in with the trees, and staying well away from the sun and heat, but a few…
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Flat Stanley and Flat Hal visited the capital of Tonga!
This is the fourth capital the flat fellas have visited since we left Texas. Can you list the four? In the past four weeks, Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have made their way to four unique capitals in the Pacific: Honolulu, Hawai’i; Pago Pago, American Samoa; Suva, Fiji; and Nuku’alofa, Tonga. While all are capitals,…
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Learning to be polite, the local way, when you travel…
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal have learned a few words from the locals at each of our stops. With a little help from Gemini AI here is a table that shows several words we have learned, words that are wonderful to learn anywhere you travel. Here is how to say hello, goodbye and thank you in…
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SOLAS – Safety Of Life At Sea
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal mustered again… this cruise is over 30 days, and it was time for a little reality to come in to our vacation. Here is an explanation, with some help from Gemini AI for why Cruise ships conduct safety drills every 30 days, there are a few important reasons: It’s the…
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Savusavu Fiji turned in to a day of rainbows for Flat Stanley and Flat Hal
The day started with a rainbow peeking out amidst the sunrise, and ended with a huge rainbow ending in our wake. To some we may have looked like the cruise ship at the end of the rainbow. In between, a rainbow appeared between our ship and one of the islands we were anchored off of —…
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Savusavu, Fiji — even on rainy and foggy days there are new discoveries to be made
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal started their day in Savusavu, Fiji before the ship arrived by seeing the sunrise— but that glimpse of a rainbow above Flat Hal was a warning of rain to come, not just a celebration of the rain that had already fallen. Since the flat fellas don’t do well in water…
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Dravuni Island, Fiji – where the locals teach visitors how to take life as it comes
Part of the magic of Dravuni Island is the people who live here. Children who are not in school move about Dravuni Island with a freedom and joy like the entire community is their playground. Any adult appears willing to lend a hand, and seems to have one eye on what they are doing, the other on…
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Seen while in Lautoka, Fiji
Flat Hal’s home doesn’t have a $7 bill, does yours? Coccinia grandis, the ivy gourd, also known as scarlet gourd Phainopepla, the silky flycatchers Rhizophora mangle, also known as the red mangrove Euphorbia tithymaloides has a large number of household names used by gardeners and the public. Among them are redbird flower, devil’s-backbone Pride of…
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Lautoka, Fiji – where trees can survive in salty water, and Flat Stanley and Flat Hal visited the Western Regional Library
The flat fellas stopped in at the Library and dropped off a copy of Flat Stanley’s original book along with an explanation of the Flat Stanley project, and Flat Hal’s url FlatHal.xyz so they can catch up online… and start following along on the adventures. These two guys have traveled a long distance together. They’ve…
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Thurston Gardens and a walk around Suva with Flat Stanley and Flat Hal
The flat fellas were reminded it is good practice when traveling far from home to have a buddy, someone to help read a map to find where you want to go. A friend to joke around with and share new discoveries with — a fellow explorer to recall favorite moments from the day with when it…
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Flat Stanley and Flat Hal on a 1.4 mile piggyback ride through the tropical rainforest at Colo-I-Suva Forest Park
Honestly, the Flat Fellas had the right idea. Piggyback ride is how I wish I had gone, but instead I carried our Flat Friends over rugged terrain on a challenging, and beautiful hike through the rainforest. There were times when the trail was narrow, and steep, but it ended in a natural pool everyone had…
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Samoa and American Samoa are on different sides on the International Date Line.
Samoa is on the same side as Australia and New Zealand. America Samoa is on the ‘other side’ with Hawaii and the rest of the United States. Have you traveled somewhere and changed your clocks because you crossed in to another time zone? Imagine, instead of moving the time just one hour or two,…
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Flat Stanley and Flat Hal saw the Great Frigatebird flying and playing near the pier in Pago Pago
Watching these birds in flight was positively delightful. There were times they were gliding on the wind, having positioned their wings such that they were almost impossible to find against the water, as if they were blending in with it. We found an informative webpage about them at: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Magnificent_Frigatebird/lifehistory and are sure there are other sites…
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Pago Pago, American Samoa… it’s not a state, but it is a U.S. Territory
Flat Stanley and Flat Hal had a full day in Pago Pago. First stop was the Visitors Bureau, a great place to get a map and some local information. It was there we saw this plaque explaining how long the island has been a U.S. Territory. (https://www.americansamoa.travel/) The National Park of American Samoa is part…