The journey continues from Mexico to Chile

After we left from Huatulco we arrived in Guatemala on October 5, 2018.  Shawn, Al (my dad), and I took a tour of Antigua, Guatemala.  We found a company right off the port that took us on a scenic drive of the countryside enroute to Antigua.  We saw volcanoes and one that was still active.  We also saw the destruction of houses and roads caused by the volcano that erupted in June of 2018.

Once we arrived to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Antigua at the central plaza, we visited the Spanish colonial buildings, Cathedral and Capuchinas Convent.  We also saw the Government Palace and the Church and Convent of La Merced.  Many of these buildings were repaired and some parts were still the ruins from Earthquakes in the 1700’s.

While us three were out sight-seeing the kids were with Grandma Patti.  They boarded the shuttle and went to the market and bought some souvenirs.  They saw a Guatemalan fashion show.  They were fairly pleased with their purchases.

October 6, 2018 – We were extremely disappointed that we did not make it to the port in Corinto, Nicaragua. Dad (Al), Shawn, and I bought a tour through Holland America and were excited to spend some time here and see what Nicaragua was all about.  The seas were rough and apparently the port is difficult to get into as they didn’t have any breakwaters at this port.  The pilot thought that it was too dangerous to attempt the trip to port.

October 8, 2018 – On this day we arrived in Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama.  We lucked out by finding a large van to take us to all the sites of the city.  Even better luck was that we had a Spanish speaker in the vehicle to help translate to our driver.

Today was a hot one 30 degrees and we were roasting  (like turkeys) and it just so happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving this day. lol  We took a walk through Old Panama and saw where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans met.  We drove through New Panama as well and admired the amazing architecture of some of the buildings.  We went to the Miraflores locks but unfortunately did not get to see any ships pass through.

We enjoyed a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the fixin’s and pumpkin pie.  We celebrated it with the 7 of us and our new ship family servers Heri, Din, and Glenda!

Tonight was the Filipino crew show on the main stage.  Our wine steward was named Glenda and she was performing tonight.  We had the kids make signs for her in Club HAL (kids club).  Glenda was so tickled that we sat in the front row with her sign and made her stand out from her peers.

October 10, 2018  We all crossed the equator and got a certificate to prove it from the captain! We arrived in Manta, Ecuador.  Here we were surprised that it was only 21 degrees and the water was fairly cold do the Humboldt current bringing the waters from Antarctica up through the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Manta is a port city and we didn’t book any tours this day so we walked to the mall and around the town for a few blocks. We went to the ocean and looked for shells and glass.  Mom, Dad, and I bought some hats from someone selling them on the beach.  We also went to a free museum.

October 12, 2018 – We were woken up by the Captain’s announcement in our rooms at 2:30 am that we were to stay in our rooms due to the rough seas.  The Captain then decided not to make the port.  It was extremely rough this night and lots of glass ware and china were broken.  We were suppose to go to Salaverry and head to Trujillo, Peru for the day. We were looking forward to seeing some Inca ruins this day.

October 13, 2018 –  We arrived in Callao, Peru and were shuttled to Lima as safety was a concern in Callao.  We saw a man with a photo of a minivan as soon as we got off the shuttle.  The driver and the tour guide took us for 6 hours around.  We went to the main square – Plaza de Armas.  We arrived as the changing of the guards was happening at the Government Palace.  We went to the San Francisco Monastery and convent of Santa Domingo.  This was exciting as we saw the catacombs.  We went to first of three layers underground and saw many skulls and femur bones.

We went to a museum that was in a building that was previously the first bank in Peru.  Here they had gold and pottery from the pre-Incas time.  We ate lunch at a famous restaurant (apparently) called Bar Cardoba.  Shawn and I ordered Peru’s famous dish ceviche which is raw fish with lemon, lime and onions.  We enjoyed a beef plate with tacu-tacu (rice and beans mixture).

We took a trip down from the city centre to the affluent Miraflores district.  We walked the boardwalk with a cliffside view of the Pacific ocean and went to the Park of Love.  There were tons of para-gliders in the distance and shopping malls built into the cliffs (we didn’t end up shopping).

We went to the place of the Huaca Pucllana a place of the pre-Inca ruins.  Our tour was coming to an end so we didn’t have time to go inside and see the whole grounds.

Our last stop was the Indian Market.  This market was ginormous.  We experienced our first paid bathroom stop.  Thank goodness for our excellent tour guide Felix that helped us translate to the bathroom attendant. It cost 6 sols  for all 7 of us.  We got a ticket and an arms length of toilet paper each.  It was a first of many paid bathroom experiences to come.

Tonight on the stage were Peruvian locals that had amazing costumes and dancers.  They blew us away with their performance.

 

October 14 – We stayed in port at Lima, Peru overnight.  We took the shuttle to the mall but scored some Peruvian keepsakes from the market just outside the ship.

October 15 –   Tonight was the Indonesian crew show and our servers Heri and Din got the special signs tonight.  They were so cute when they saw our signs they pointed at us and all their friends laughed.  They lit up like Christmas trees!

October 16 –  Sayer also made a sign for the Dining room greeter, Fandy, who always had a cart with mints, apricots, ginger, and dates on the way out of the restaurant.  The kids loved the mints because they tasted like butterscotch. Fandy was always playing tricks with the kids getting them to solve toothpick puzzles.  As they took longer and longer to solve the problems the mint reward got larger and larger.  He ended up not performing this day but the kids got him back with the help of the maitre d.  They hid behind his cart and surprised Fanny with their sign.  He was so thrilled he had it hung up behind his trolley the rest of our trip on the ship.

October 17 – We arrived in Coquimbo, Chile and was fortunate to see some Chilean dancers right off the port.  It was the first cruise ship of the season so this entertainment today was special covered by the local radio station this day.  Here we walked around the city and got a very relaxed feel from the Chilean people.  We connected with wi-fi and I had to get a sim card for my phone since we plan to be in Chile for a couple weeks.  Again we were blessed with the parents of the one other boy on the ship to translate for us as my phone was having a hard time with accepting the sim card.

October 18 – We arrived on day 23 of our cruise to San Antonio, Chile.  We ate our last meal on the ship and walked a few blocks from the port to the bus station.  We took a 90 minute coach ride to Santiago for $28 CAD for all seven of us.

………To Be Continued

………Sorry to bore you but internet was next to impossible.    Renelle