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SANTO TOMAS, GUATEMALA BACKGROUND INFO:
This is a
port city lying in Anatique Bay in the Gulf of Honduras in east Guatemala very near the borders of
Belize to the north and Honduras to the south. Santo Tomas' new port was developed after the 1976 hurricane. Cruise ships have been calling here since the
cruise terminal was completed in 2004.
This is our first visit here however.
It is also a busy cargo and container ship port. Chiquita is a big exporter of bananas here and has its own port. The city population is 12,000 and the population of the country of Guatemala is 16 1/2 million.
Unemployment here is high, and if you can find a job, wages is about $425 per month. Motor bikes are the major way for locals to get around. It is not unusual to see a whole family on one bike.
Back in the late 1980's and 1990's I flew 727's for American Airlines from Miami to Guatemala City. We had layovers there and I figured out very quickly it was not very safe to be out of the hotel.
Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala is a short drive outside of Guatemala City. It is know for its Spanish immersion classes now and is a neat place to visit even today.
Our position today is at Santo Tomas, Guatemala. Rain showers in the area and 75 degrees this morning but to be 83 later.
LAST NIGHT:
Shameer, the head butler, usually stops by to say hi during cocktails in the Mariner Lounge.
Head sommelier, Emiliano, preparing for a mini wine tasting. Our supply of La Crema chardonnay from Sonoma is running low so they have been serving us La Crema from Monterrey.
So we are tasting the two La Crema chardonnays and a St Francis chardonnay. The La Crema from Monterrey was the loser. Hope they have more St Francis chardonnay.
I am trying the featured red wine of the evening. Richard is showing me the Wente merlot.
I thought the merlot was good and nice pairing with my entree.
We both had the beef bourguignon (beef cubes with pearl onions, mushrooms, & bacon) served over pasta.
One of my favorite desserts, profiteroles with ice cream
Theater before the show started. More did show up just prior to its start.
Tim Brumfield's show was very good. Very talented pianist.
TODAY:
Our alarm clock went off at 6:45 this morning but I was already awakened at 6:39 by the noise we are experiencing from somewhere. Had the noise at 4:40 also. They offered for us to change suites but we already did that once and is a big hassle.
When we opened the curtains there were rain showers in the area so I decided not to go on my 5 hour tour this morning at 7:45 which involved being out in the open on part of it. Before I went to Coffee Connection for our coffees I went up to deck 12 to take some photos. The deck was flooded from the rain.
Rain shower in the distance.
As I mentioned in the background info, this port is an important cargo and container port on the east coast of Costa Rica.
It says "Welcome to Costa Rica" on the roof.
After my treadmill time I decided to go down and standby for an hour trolley tour of town. I did manage to get on it. Marge, Judy, and Marcia were also on it. The tour was delayed some so did not depart until 11am. The tour guide was very informative but just not much to see on the tour. When the tour highlight was a cemetery, you know it was bad. We have been to the west coast Guatemala port several times so knew poverty and unemployment were major issues here. Half of the tour was getting to and from the downtown area through a not so nice area. Taking photos from the trolley was not easy.
This is the trolley with windows half way up so you basically had to stand to take photos.
This is the cemetery we stopped at but could not get off the trolley. People are buried in caskets above the ground as it is sea level here and water table is just below ground.
One tomb was fashioned after Taj Mahal.
We finally reached the market area in downtown. Our guide said they shop daily here for stuff to prepare meals for the day.
Dried fish sold here.
Fruits and vegetables are so fresh and all looks so good.
Bananas are the major export from this side of Guatemala. There are sugar cane plantations on the west side. Chiquita has its own port dock here for the export of their bananas. This is a statue of an plantation worker back in 1800's as the workers had to carry the bananas out of the plantation. Each thing of bananas weighed about 80 pounds.
On the trolley they offered free water, sodas, or the local beer. This is their local beer.
I was back on board from the tour just after 12:00 noon. After washing my hands good we headed up to La Veranda for lunch. Of course Rebecca had her usual Atkins bar and I had some Buffalo wings.
Massimo, our new General Manager starting on February 25th, stopped by to say hi to Rebecca. I had talked to him yesterday. I got him to drop his mask for a few seconds while I took his photo. We have cruised with him several times and really like him.
Rebecca tweaked her knee a few days ago trying to get up from one of the chairs in the lounge. All lounge chairs and sofas are so low and not comfortable. So the last couple of days she had used a lower speed on her treadmill time. Last night she started taking Motrin (anti-inflamatory) as the knee was swollen a little. She did not go to the gym today.
We will be sailing at 7pm for our next port, Roatan Island. It is 40 miles off the coast of Honduras.
Another short 120 miles cruise tonight. I was scheduled to go on a 4 hour tour tomorrow called "Best of Roatan. Well, it involves 1 hour of driving total and one hour at a beach. I do not do beaches and wearing a mask on the bus for an hour is not appealing. We will be back here on March 30th after the mask mandate is lifted.
We are having cocktails in the Horizon Lounge at 6pm and later dinner with Susanne Peters this evening. The show tonight is the comedian so not going.
