We arrived in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico with the ship clearing shortly before 09:00 a.m. Chiapas is situated on the south Mexican Pacific coast, within the State of Chiapas, near the border of Guatemala and Mexico. The area is characterized by plenty of fertile soil, plenty of coffee and cocoa plantations with mango and banana plantations everywhere.

They say that it's 72 degrees, but I can’t believe that. There are Mexican’s fanning themselves and drinking coca light – I’d say that it’s more like 95 degrees and the humidity is very high. This is only a sampler of what’s to come in the next few days when we hit the rainforests.

We hadn’t booked any tour here in Chiapas, thought we’d wing it. Sure enough, we find a local bus that will take us to the nearest town Tapachula, some 35 minutes away. So for $10.00 US p.p. we hop on and head north into the unknown. It’s our wedding anniversary today so there’s plenty of cards in our stateroom window – thank god we both thought of the same thing.

Tapachula is much larger than what we’re used to in Ajijic – there’s Sam’s Club, Burger King, Home Depot and the like – the main roads are good but they still have those notorious "tope" (speed bumps) to slow everyone down. It’s the sidewalks that you have to be real careful on – there’s broken concrete and holes everywhere. After a quick tour of the downtown, we found an internet café so that I can upload my blog (5 peso’s or about $0.50 cents) for unlimited time – much better deal than aboard ship. We replenish our water and Diet Coke at the local OXXO and head back to the ship – all went well today.

One thing that’s funny is that our room stewart is very, very efficient. It seems every time we leave the room he comes in to straighten things up. I mean constantly. It’s not that we’re messy I don’t think – it’s just the way he is. You know how hotel maids and I guess ship stewards fold the little corners of the toilet paper into a point. I guess it’s neat but I’ve started to **** with his head a little. Every time Deb and I finish our business we fold the corners of the toilet paper back into a point. After some 10 days aboard ship he’s gotten to the point where you can see real concern on his face. Last night he left both Deb and I a prune on our pillow instead of a chocolate. At one point I’ll have to let him in on the joke as he’s really starting to look at me strangely every time we meet in the hall.

We’ve pulled away from the pier and we’re on our way to Corinto, Nicaragua – This is the first place on the cruise where we have the first of 10 tour’s scheduled – and then dinner in the Specialty restaurant with some friends that we’ve met onboard. To all those who continue to follow us on this trip to South America – THANKS – you make it all worth while to see the number of “reads” constantly increase.