Where in the World are Bill and Bob?

Guayaquil was added when all stops in Peru were cancelled. A major port located on the largest river to empty into the Pacific, Guayaquil exceeded expectations: beautiful quay along the river developed with children in mind, impressive government buildings, and of course a busy flower market. Along the river walk; Ferris wheel in background Catholic Cathedral and Seminario Park, home to many iguanas. City Hall. Statues all over the downtown area. The “Rotunda”, commemorating the 1822 meeting of Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin, the two liberators of South America. Kendie with flowers to brighten our rooms.

 Manta, another bustling port on the Pacific, thrives on its tuna industry. Tourism is developing around its lovely beaches, and expats have discovered a pleasant inexpensive lifestyle (one American told us he can live like a king here on $2,000/month: including 2 bedroom oceanfront condo for $600/month). And, Ecuador offers resident visas! Local tourist board gave us a swag bag… …Including a famous straw hat! Our walking tour included the local market  And a drive through to pick up your local live chicken  The harbor and unloading tuna

El Salvador was our last stop in Central America before heading further south. The 7 hour land tours departed at 6:45 a.m., so once again we opted instead to take a local shuttle around the area. Acajutla is a very industrial port, and fairly impoverished- a dose of reality adding new  perspective as to why people want to leave. Also makes one thoughtful and grateful for what we have. Our disembarkment welcome Busy port City views Beach view

PQ is a bustling industrial port, and the major tours involved an 8 hour bus ride to Antigua. So, no, we didn’t go (been before!) stayed local in the “tourism terminal” right off the boat, read, exercised in gym, swam, played bridge, and napped. One mini-highlight was a jade museum. Tourist markets. Much better selections than other places we’ve been. Some local indigenous statuary  Inside the jade museum

At the southern end of Mexico a few miles from the border with Guatemala sits Port Chiapas, a rather dreary little beach resort, a couple miles from the cruise dock. We were greeted with a folkloric band and colorful dancers. We took a 2 mile walk down a dusty road, then returned to the ship for lunch, swim, reading, nap, and of course cocktails and dinner. We just learned that all stops in Peru have been cancelled due to political unrest, including, sadly,  my flyover of the Nasca lines. But other treasures await us! Arrival entertainment Can you spot Bill on the balcony? Hint: in the middle beneath the ship’s smoke stack. Note the huge spray of flowers with him. Flowers courtesy of our travel agent, Michael Bray at Braycationtravel.com. Pool is tiny, so I grab the side with my feet and just work on crawl stroke.

Arrived this morning to sunny (hot!) Acapulco, big city lots of condos and hotels on the beach (like Miami). Immediately grabbed a taxi and took off to watch the famous cliff divers impressive (terrifying?) show. Then taxi took us on a private tour of the older parts of the town: Diego Garcia murals, Flamingo Hotel (home to the 40s Hollywood set), and finished with an excellent fresh fish lunch right on the beach. Back to ship for flamenco show around the pool. Cliff divers: young men and women Diego Garcia mural outside the home of his lover Lola Olenda View point with travel companions Kendie and Joseph Hartman: note ship in background. Lunch on beach. Folkloric show on pool deck.  Big day: now time for cocktails!

 Z is delightful, our favorite stop so far. The city is nestled into a charming bay surrounded by hills, and mountains a bit further away. The place is small, so we couldn’t dock. We took a “tender” (small transport boat, actually one of our lifeboats) in. One advantage of being on a cruise with only 400+ passengers (as opposed to 4,000+), there are almost no lines anywhere.  Welcome to Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa (they share a port) Z is an active fishing village, with some nice beaches. Statues all over town; we are with a fisherman statue. View from the boat

After two days at sea, we docked late morning in Manzanillo, Mexico, had a two mile walk around the old town, came back to the ship for a late lunch, nap, and now cocktails! Harbor, our ship in background   Sailfish Capital historic downtown  Lots of murals in old town Sunny, hot, and lots of glare!