Day 07 East - 01/08/22 Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

This port was added to our itinerary to replace the  Puerto Caldera, Guatemala port which was closed to us.  We've been here before and did a Mayan ruins tour.  While the port building is a huge & attractive  native looking hut shaped building, there is really nothing to do at the port proper.  There was a shuttle to Tapachula which is about 30 minutes away, but we opted for a HAL Tree of Life & Chocolate tour.

 

It was about a 40 minute bus ride to the ruins at Izapa at a different location than we previously visited  The last mile was especially challenging as the road was quite narrow cobblestone type road with local vehicles obstructing the roadway.  At the end of the road was our site, which was a collection of stone tablets covered by fiberglass A frame clad structures.  Each item had a brief description of it and many of the stones were quite weathered. In the center of the grounds was a large ceiva tree representing the tree of life.  After touring the stones there was a costumed dancer replicating traditional Mayan dances.

 

Leaving the Izapa site by the same narrow road we had come in on, we proceeded to the little town of Tuxtla Chico where in the crowded  town square there was a presentation on chocolate from plant to finished product.  From there we visited the beautiful whites church called Iglesia de La Virgen de la Candelaria.  While we were there there was a baptism occurring with lots of surrounding activity and pictures being taken of the smiling Father and the guests.After a quick walk through the adjoining market we headed back on our bus and to the port some 29 miles away.

 

At the port building we lingered and shopped, my wife enjoyed a tortilla, and I took pictures and replied to emails regarding my blog and another blog by a guest quarantined on board.

 

We re-boarded and took a position above the gangway.  Everyone was boarded by at least 20 minutes before the required 5pm boarding time.  While there, we received word over the PA system that the ship had cancelled its stop in Cartagena because of new guest testing requirements imposed by the local authorities which were at variance with what HAL and the port previously agreed to.  A new port, Puerto Límon, Costa Rica is being substituted.  My wife and I are not displeased with this change. We're still waiting to see what excursions are going to be offered. After an hour of being ready to depart, the mooring lines were cast off, the ship slowly moved away from the dock and headed out to sea.  The local pilot had some difficulty departing from the ship; it took three tries for him to reach his little pilot boat .

 

We enjoyed Asian food for dinner in the Lido and after no lunch it sure tasted good!  We watched mist of the first set by Jukebox Junkies  before taking in the comedy of Dave Burleigh.  It was his last set on the ship this cruise and he indicated that he's getting lots of cancellations because of the new omicron virus.  It was also no so family friendly this time.  We returned for Jukebox full late set featuring hits from the last 60 years.  Afterwards I finished my mystery novel, Perilous Gambit, by Kevin Chapman before calling it a night.



Comments

  1. DarrylJanuary 9, 2022 at 10:42 AM

    I am so happy to be reading your blog of the cruise. We are scheduled on the next east bound out of San Diego and nervous about committing. Based on your comments I think we're looking pretty good! Would like the link for that other guest blog that is being quarantined.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 01 East - 01/02/22

When we boarded, we noted a service truck had been wedged under the gangway, but by the time I went off the ship, it had been freed.     But the roof definitely got pushed in. The driver was not a happy camper.   We spent the afternoon getting lunchThis is our third cruise since cruising resumed after the pause.     As I indicated previously, we booked the HAL shuttle from the hotel to the cruise port.     It turned out to be the best $19 per person we've ever spent on a cruise.     We left the Sheraton at 11:17am and were sitting in the waiting area 1/2 hour later.     There was another 1/2 hour wait and we were on the ship by 12:30pm.     I did forget my CPAP machine in the terminal so I had disembark to retrieve it.     , wandering around the ship, attending a very sparse Mariner's reception (less than 45 people in attendance), unpacking, calling cruise friends who follow us, and watc...
Read more

Day 29 West - 01/30/22 - San Diego Disembarkation

We woke up around 7:30am to doors shutting and other noises.     But we didn't have to be off the ship until 10am for our HAL transfer to the airport.   The Lido was relatively empty for breakfast and I had my last standard breakfast (2 eggs over broken, one potato cake, one sausage patty and one piece of bacon).     It took about three weeks but the cook finally recognized my everyday order this past week.       When the announcement was made that immigration would be held on deck three in the main dining room I was a bit surprised.     The only time I can recall that immigration was held on previous cruises was in Asian or Russian ports.     We waited until there was a long gap between luggage tag color codes being called before going down and there was absolutely no line.     It took no more than two - three minutes and I even got extended questions about where I lived.     I...
Read more

Day 05 East - 01/06/22 At Sea

This is our second sea day in a row as we head to Huatulco, Mexico which is a substitute for Puerto Caldera which was closed to us.     It was a pretty busy sea day which started with a coffee chat with Ian and one of his assistants, Erica. This was followed by another canned EXC talk, Catching Waves, about surfing.     It was pretty interesting even though we had seen it before.   With a long gap, our next event was a presentation by Sandra, Mexican Cultural Ambassador, regarding 'Day of the Dead'.     It was quite good hearing about it from the perspective of a Mexican.     Later we took in a Lincoln Center Stage performance of Latin classics.       In the evening we watched another performance by the Jukebox Rogues featuring songs from musicals.     It was so good we went back for the late show after watching Marc Yaffee, the comedian, in the BBKing Blues club.     I shou...
Read more