Day 10 - Sunday January 7, 2024 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Arrival 09:00 All Aboard 18:30 Departure 19:00

I am generally up in time to see our ship sail into port. Today there was eight ships anchored outside the breakwaters to the harbour waiting their turn to sail into Puerto Quetzal to off load their shipping containers. The port is the main terminal for Guatemala on the Pacific Ocean side of the country for cargo ships and cruise ships.

The pilot boat with the harbour master appears on the starboard side of the ship to sail us into the harbour. While on board the pilot has control of the ship with regards to speed and control but it is the ship's captain that remains in control. Passing through the breakwaters into a narrow harbour entrance the aft section of the ship begins to turn. In effect we will backed into the pier where the cruise terminal is located. Nearing the pier the mooring lines are thrown down into the water and collected by docked workers in a motorized boat (unlike the procedure used in the Panama Canal). The dock workers will then throw the lines to waiting workers above in order to attached the lines to the appropriate bollards.

It is 09:00 the exact time we are to be docked with the ship tied up at the cruise terminal. Fourteen tours are scheduled for the island many of 5 hours or more in duration. The government officials arrive on time but I am not sure whether there is enough time for these officials to confirm the ship has be cleared to allow passengers to leave by their required tour time.

IAt the cruise terminal and you can see a welcome sign greeting the passengers. The blue and white Guatemalan Flag is barely recognizable due to the lack of wind. What is surprising is the Union Jack along with the Spanish Flag flying at the terminal.

There is an information desk after you walk into the cruise terminal. Janice spoke to the individual to see whether it was good to go into Puerto Quetzal. She said no but did recommend taking a taxi to Antigua.

It was interesting how they work the taxi system here. Because the drivers' have a limited understanding of English the taxis providea guide who will accompany you. In this case you have already determined a price for the taxi but then you must also tip the driver and the guide.

We meet another couple from the ship who wanted to go to Antigua as well so the four climbed into the van. The guide mentioned his name Juan and provided us with the name of the driver, Christopher.

The tour would be approximately 4.5 hours. We left the port and Juan explained what we would see. Along the way the van stopped to see a view of a Mayan woman's face shaped into the mountain.

Our next stop was to the Macadamia nut farm. Once harvested the macadamia nuts are left in the sun to ripen. Juan took us to the store where they described what products came from the product. These include chocolates as well as creams. Janice and Amy the other woman on the tour both had facials. They was even a ship tour to this farm which probably caused more money than we were paying.

Leaving the nut farm there was a viewpoint stop to see the city of Antigua with the volcaneo Agua in the background. This volcaneo is extinct because there has not been an eruption in the last 10,000 years.

The other two volcaneos in the area - Fuego is active and Acatenango is dormant.

A second stop was to a linen store and to consume some corn tortillas.

It was now time to drive into Antigua where most of the streets are stone cobbled. They have been in existence since the 1500s. Yes the streets on the outskirts of the city are made of existing products but no changes have been made to the cobbled stone streets. You must always be looking where you walk while in town.

An interesting site was seeing North American school buses which are still driven down here. The buses are very colourful.

Janice thought while driving and walking in the town of Antigua she thought she was back in Cucso Peru. The town was quite similar.

It was now back into the van for the drive back to the cruise terminal. There was a place to have our passports signed so I collected the passports and brought them back to the cruise terminal.

Everyone is on board and we depart for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 1,022 nautical miles away. Two sea days in a row.