Five Ports in Five Days

April 26, 2014

Today was another day at sea on our way to “five ports in five days”.  The weather was mostly cloudy with some brief but intense showers.  Once again, the day was slow, with another formal night.

April 27, 2014

We arrived early into Puntarenas, Costa Rica where Patrick had an early shore excursion, combining an aerial tram up through the rain forest canopy and then a zip line adventure back down the hill.  The zip line was in ten sections, several more than 1200 feet long and several hundred feet above the valley floor through the rain forest canopy.

Miriam had a scenic tour by bus through the countryside, with a stop in a small town for folkloric dancing and bands.  Both tours arrived back at the ship with just a little time before sailing.  The weather was very hot near the docks, so we passed on the walk into the small port town we had driven through.

April 28, 2014

The ship arrived in Corinto, Nicaragua shortly before 1000 and we headed on a tour to the Flor de Cana rum distillery, about a 45 minute drive through the countryside towards the city of Leon.  The immediate impression was of a very poor country, reinforced by the guide’s talk as we drove along relatively poor roads.  The distillery was modern and set up for tours, with electric carts to take us from place to place in the very hot weather.  Flor de Cana prides itself on “Slow Aging” their rum in white oak barrels that had previously been used for American whiskeyand bourbon.  Each barrel can be used twice more before it has given up all the taste and color to the rum.  We tasted both 18 and 7 year old rum, both good.  Returning to the ship we saw quite a few people eating in the small port town of Corinto, which proved to be a taste of things to come.

April 29, 2014

The ship docked in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala shortly before 0900 and we boarded a bus for a 90 minute drive to Antigua, a colonial town we had visited by bus some years before.  The previous visit included Palm Sunday with colorful processions though the city.  Today we shopped for jade, walked around the streets and ended up at “Frida’s” for lunch, a Mexican restaurant we had tried on the previous trip and knew was "safe".  We were given about 3 ½ hours in the city before the 90 minute drive back to the ship, giving us just a few minutes of last minute sightseeing in the shopping mall at the cruise terminal before departing for the next  port.

April 30, 2014

Puerto Chiapas, Mexico was our next port of call, arriving shortly before 0730 to the sounds of Marimbas and dancers on the dock, greeting the ship.  Boarding our bus, we headed for the small town of Tuxtlachico to see the entire chocolate making process the local people use, visit the local market and church before visiting the archaeological site of Izapa.  Izapa was an Olmec site, predating the Mayan civilization by several hundred years.  The excavated site was relatively small, but was only about 3 percent of the total site.

Returning to the ship we relaxed near the shoreside pool and restaurant complex built to support the cruise ships where the breeze provided relief from the heat before the ship departed for Hualtuco, Mexico.

May 1, 2014

The stop in the small port of Hualtuco was short, only about 7 hours.  We took a catamaran sail to visit five of the nine bays forming the Hualtuco area, which has really developed since our last visit in 2007.  We were surprised at the size of the hotel complexes, which now total over 6000 rooms out of a planned total of 17,000 rooms.  Returning to the small marina we found a spot in the shade on the beach and had a swim in the warm water while relaxing in the breeze, providing relief from the heat.  May and June are the hot months in Hualtuco, with temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees.

Returning to the ship we found that measures had been taken to try and prevent the spread of some GI illness that some passengers had experienced.  We could no longer get our own coffee and water, and everything was now “served”.  Unfortunately, not everyone complied, apparently, since the measures became more drastic over the next few days.  We are not affected.