Our ocean voyage has been over for a few days and we have been absorbing Barcelona and Spanish Culture as we tried to process exactly how it was. We have not spent such an amount of time in such luxury and with such service...Oceania is a top notch cruise line from that point of view. We loved the staff...so friendly and professional...and from so many countries. We took some Spanish lessons, Jurg tried a little trivia, we both finished a book and we ate far too much food- good food for sure. Even tried our hand (or feet) at a few dance lessons.
We stopped at 4 ports...2 in Brazil- Salvador and Recife, and 2 in Africa- Cape Verde and Agidir, Morocco. They were all such extreme contrasts with the conditions of the cruise. In all but Agidir we just went off the boat and either walked through the towns or hired a taxi to take us to see the sights. In Morocco, we took one of the boat sponsored tours to do a 5 hr whirlwind trip to Tarroudant an old walled city, which we quite enjoyed.
We met some people that we hope we can continue to be friends with...Pauline and Werner from Switzerland..he a retired engineer and she a retired social worker...who spent time in Brazil working and now alternate between Brazil and Switzerland! they, like us, struggled a bit with the luxury and some of the other people...more on that later. We also met some new American friends...Renee and Erica...over 80 year old sisters, originally from Alsace France who married American Servicemen and came to the US. So interesting, intelligent, and decidedly liberal women who we loved. Also Tom and Carol from Oklahoma...open, questioning, struggling to make sense of what is going on in their homeland with this tea party stuff and the immense polarization.
Now for some of what we tried to comprehend. We did met our fair share of right wing Republicans. Most did not support George Bush- which I thought was to their credit. But, all seemed to absolutely hate Obama and feel he is destroying their country. They also are exceedingly suspicious of any federal government activity, feel any government help to others will result in dependency on government handouts, feel they pay too much in taxes and focus on personal responsibility in the extreme. All seem like nice people, but so different from us. The TV service on the ship included Fox TV which for some strange reason became the only channel we could get for about 6 days as we crossed the Atlantic. Felt like Nazi propoganda and only reenforced and echoed everything these people were saying. It felt very scary to me...Glen Beck is a demagogue and a dangerous man when one sees him in this context. No other side to the story and such mis information. I did learn from one of his guests that National Health Care programs cause obesity...a totally unchallenged remark in the interview!
One former teacher from California, really liked Sarah Palin. Felt the media gives her a hard time because she is the one female politician who doesn't present with a butch attitude. That really floored me.
Most of these people do service work in their communities as that should be the only way charity is handed out to those in need...
Needless to say, I struggled to put this all together and find ways to talk with these folks. A challenge, but I do feel I understand better this huge gap that faces the US in their political world.
Meanwhile we are having a wonderful time in Barcelona and tomorrow I will report on this absolutely magnificent city
Hasta luego!
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