Puerto Quetzal is Guatemala’s manmade port along its 132 mile coast line.  The port has a new tourist facility, not open, and a dirt parking lot.  It looks like it was built the night before we arrived.  The Quetzal is Guatemala’s national bird.  You find it on all of their currency, their currency is the quetzal.  The quetzal is a large beautifully colored bird from western Mexico and Quatemala.  We decided to take a day trip to Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located about 5000 feet up in the mountains.  Antigua lies between two active volcanoes.  The active Volcan Fuego, at 13,000 feet, and the nearby Volcan Pocaya, may be seen at night spewing smoke and molten lava. As I write this they are having to evacuate several towns in the area due to lava flows.  The tour bus dropped us off at a place called Jade City.  A real nice store that is owned by a lady who is  a cousin of James Baker, the former Secretary of State.  Antigua is a beautiful city that you would want to see.

Near the border of Guatemala on Mexico’s Pacific coast is Puerto Chiapas.  Puerto Chiapas is the port for the city of Tapachula.  Tapachula is a city of 200,000 people and the port built in 1975 handles industrial cargo and the tourist trade.  The tourist facility is nice with a great restaurant overlooking the port.  We took a tour to the ancient ruins of Izapa.  From its beginnings as a small village sometime around 1500 BCE, Izapa grew into the region’s most influential cultural and commercial center with a population of possibly up to 10,000 people. After Izapa we went to the Chocolate City, I don’t think that’s the name of the city but that’s what the tour wanted you to believe.  But we did see the cocoa beans made into chocolate.  It was an amazing process that the ladies perform in the home.  I have trouble with fudge!!  The local girls did a few native dances for us before we headed back to the port.  Tapachula is very hot and humid so we had to sample some of the local beer at the port side café before getting back on the ship.  Next stop Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.

The Bahias de Huatulco, are actually made up of a series of nine bays and numerous small coves stretching along a jagged coastline.. The most centrally located bay is Bahía de Santa Cruz, which is just south of the town of La Crucecita. This is where the cruise ships dock. This is mountainous dessert country.  In the dry season the hillsides are mostly brown with light green dessert cactus right down to the coast line.  The coastline turns green with coconut palms, white sandy beaches and turquoise blue water.  Mexico has developed the port as a tourist destination with shops, bars and cafes as you step off the ship.  There is also a beautiful outdoor church on the beach where wedding take place.  In talking with our expatriate American tour guide the cost of his living down here was very low.  Our tour was by boat that took us to one of the nine bays.  Jump off the boat, swim to shore, have a cold beer and enjoy the day on the beach.  Don’t do this without sun screen or the sun will fry you crisp.  Take my word for it.  Huatulco is one of the sites of the old Club Med, it is wonderful and I will come back.  But after the day on the beach it’s off to Puerto Chiapas.