HOLLAND AMERICA WESTERN CARIBBEAN CRUISE PART III

WESTERN CARIBBEAN PART III - SANTO TOMAS DE CASTILLE GUATEMALA

We arrived at Santo Tomas de Castille Guatemala at 7:19 a.m.  After breakfast went ashore and I did a 1 hour trolley tour of the interior, including the capital which is Guatemala Guatemala.  You read this right.  The capital city is the same as the country. 

Guatemala dates as far back as 2999 BC.  Around 1519 the Spanish began arriving.  With them came many  diseases that devastated the native populations.  In 1821 the Captaincy-general of Guatemala officially proclaimed independence from Spain.  Finally in 1825 Guatemala created its own flag.

Again, when you leave the tourist area everywhere is poor, including the capital.  Again if it were not for the tourists and fishing they could not survive.  One other thing they have going for them is they have a lot of nickel that they ship to other countries, including the USA. 

After returning from the trolley ride I embarked on a 3 hour boat tour along the coast and up one of the large rivers where we saw many many pelicans and white herons, along with other birds.

We saw many homes along the banks of the river, and stopped at one such home.  The lady of the house was making tortillas which she would serve us.  We were told NOT to offer payment as she would be highly insulted.  We WERE her guests.  Our guide suggested that we drop whatever money we wanted to into a container sitting on the dock where we tied up. 

As we were pulling into this cove two hand made canoes approached our boat, girls about 12-13 years of age coming along side to sell us their home made bracelets for $1.00.

There was also a small gift shop attached to the open air kitchen where the tortillas were being made.

It was sunny and 81 degrees.

Upon returning to the ship met up with Nancy and we had supper, while watching the ship leaving for our next stop.  It was 5 p.m.  That night the water was pretty rough.  Felt like driving over the potholes in good ole PA.  Got rocked to sleep that night, looking forward to the next port - no side trips planned, going shopping with Nancy and relaxing.

When a cruise ship comes into port, all shops on board are closed, along with the casino, and liquor store.  We are not allowed to shop on board while docked.

The adventure was winding down.  One more stop, then all day cruising on Saturday, arriving back in Tampa on Sunday.   Our trip was going by all too fast.  Just like life, going by all too fast.

Hope you are enjoying my trip and God Bless.