Cruise Day 13: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
We decided to not stay in PV and took an all day tour up into the mountains to the little colonial silver mining town of San Sebastian. We first stopped at a tequila distillery and the owner described how he made his product. We got to taste it and decided it was a little harsh for our taste.
Cruise Day 12: At Sea
We spent our day at sea going to a lecture on tequila, ATK lecture, fiddling with our 'devices', reading, and enjoying the pool and Dive-In (drive-in type) food.
Cruise Day 11: Huatulco, Mexico
We could see why Huatulco is fast becoming a vacation spot for gringos. Huatulco is the port with a few nice shops and restaurants and only a short 1.5 mile walk to the very nice little town of Crucecita. In fact the path to Crucecita is very easy to navigate and beautifully constructed. We didn't have a full day here so we opted for a taxi to Crucecita. The water looks inviting and there are beautiful beaches here. This is the port of Huatulco.
Cruise Day 10: Guatamala
Again, we docked in an industrial port and took a tour to Antigua, the beautiful and protected colonial town which is now preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The designation is well deserved. The bus we took was not allowed in the city so we boarded small vans to get around the city proper. The cobbled streets, interesting doorways with tranquil-looking courtyards beyond were charming and picturesque. This iconic arch is actually a passageway used by nuns to cross, unseen, from one side of the convent to the other. There were a lot of tourists, and almost everyone was hispanic. Apparently, Antigua is a university town and also has a lot of Spanish-language immersion programs.
Cruise Day 9: Nicaragua
We docked in Corinto, Nicaragua which is a working, industrial port and took a tour to Old and Colonial Leon. We had a great tour guide whole gave a lot of history as well as background on the political situation and even talked about his family and the daily routines of Nicaraguans. There are over twenty active volcanos in the area with daily eruptions and we saw steam from quite a few of them.
