Puerto Vallarta
Last port! We had booked a "small group city tour" through Viator before we left home. We found our driver and discovered that we were the only ones on the tour. Our driver/guide, Miguel, was very pleasant and we spent the day seeing all the sights. We stopped at Senior Frogs for lunch, where we asked Miguel to join us.
Now, two days at sea before our arrival in San Diego for our trek home.
Guaymas Today is very cool and very overcast. The town is very poor and very shabby. We walked along the malecon, where there were street vendors and Mariachi Singers, then returned to the ship for lunch and rest. Tomorrow will be a very long day, as our alarm is set for 3:00am!
Copper Canyon
After a very short night, we boarded our bus at 4:15am for the 2 hour ride to El Fuerte where we boarded the train for the Copper Canyon. It was still dark as the train departed, and eventually, as the sun came up, we were able to see the beginning of this wonderful area. The ride was very pleasant and comfortable, as each car had only about 36 people and a Tour Guide in each rail car. We were given a box breakfast to eat along the way. There are two different kinds of people living in this area. The lower altitudes are mostly very poor Mexicans. The railroad company had built many small concrete buildings along the route for the construction workers. When the construction was done they stripped the buildings completely. The locals have moved into these building shells, with no windows, doors, sanitation, etc! The second group is the tribal Sierra Tarahumara Indians. These are not Mexican people, do not speak Spanish and they do not mix, at all, with the Mexicans! The tribal people live in lean-to's and caves in the canyons. They are very poor. The men scratch out some gardens and hunt small wildlife and the women weave baskets to sell to the train travelers. The baskets are made of pine needles and they smell wonderful. The train stops at Barrancas, where the women and their small children run along the tracks with their handcrafted baskets. They are not allowed onboard and the Tour Guides act as onboard negotiators, unless you can get to an open door to pick out a basket on your own. The tribals do not speak English.
At the top of the canyon lunch was served in one of the three Hotels. The one we went to has a dining room right on the rim of the canyon. The view is very beautiful and the lunch was wonderful, including a glass of Hibiscus Juice. There were more Tarahumara's selling baskets and doing some dancing demonstrations.
The ride back to the ship was quieter, as everyone began drifting off to sleep and it began to get dark well before we were completely through the canyons. Once back on the buses, I think that everyone but the drivers were asleep! When we arrives at the dock, at about 10:30pm, there was a whole contingent of senior crew members waiting to welcome us back at the gangway and a special buffet waiting for us in the Lido. We went straight to bed!
Mazatlan
We did not plan anything at this port and so we just took a short cab ride into the Old Town. It was not a very pleasant place, very dirty and uninteresting! We decided to go back to the ship and take a nap!
Holland America - Sea of Cortez Cruise - 1-2-11
New Year's Eve, 2010, was spent with family and friends at the Dallas Stars Hockey game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. We have traditionally gone to the Dallas Stars game on New Year's Eve for many years. This year Jim got a Suite and invited family and friends to help pay for it! It was a great Suite and included food, beverages, beer and parking. Too bad the Stars got "whipped" by the Canucks! Jim wore green hair for the occasion!
Jack and I were booked on this cruise Jan 2nd from San Diego. We booked ourselves on the standby list for San Diego, but the flights filled...so we booked ourselves on a flight to Santa Anna and rented a car, but the flights filled...so we booked ourselves on a flight to Palm Springs, changed the car rental...but the flights filled ... ..... so we booked ourselves on a flight to Las Vegas and changed the car rental! We did manage to get on the flight, arriving in Las Vegas on New Years morning around 7:30am! Once car bound, we headed for San Diego, about a 6½ hour, long, boring ride through the Mojave Desert and then down into San Diego. We had booked a room in the Holiday Inn, again, which is just across the street from the pier. We had stayed here in October when we cruised to Baltimore, through the Panama Canal.
Finally aboard HAL Zaandam, we were pleased to have gotten an upgrade from a "closet-room in the bilges level" to an obstructed view room on the Promenade Deck! The room is okay, except that the dishwashers are just above us and they wash a lot of dishes!
Cabo San Lucas
This is our second visit to Cabo and we decided to just do a little Whale Watching. We booked a tour online, not through the ship, and it was just great! We did see lots of whales. One picture is of a Momma whale with her baby! The weather today was sunny but windy, causing the seas to be choppy! Because this is a tender port, it made it difficult to get to and from shore! Going back to the ship, I went to step off the tender and the ship crewpersons grabbed my arms just as the tender dipped, causing me to land on my knees on the ship platform with my legs hanging over the edge. I threw myself forward to keep my feet from being crushed between the tender and the platform, but then I could get myself up! Finally I had to yell for them to help me up; they just stood there looking stupid! I was so glad to get back to our room and dry off!
Loreto
We spent the afternoon walking through the small tender port town of Loreto. I was overcast and quite cool for Mexico weather! I am having some knee and wrist pain today, from the fall yesterday! Guess I will have to use some Tylenol Crème, but that seems to make me so sleepy! There is very little to see in Loreto, but we enjoyed our stroll through town.
Guaymas
Today is very cool and very overcast. The town is very poor and very shabby. We walked along the malecon, where there were street vendors and Mariachi Singers, then returned to the ship for lunch and rest. Tomorrow will be a very long day, as our alarm is set for 3:00am!
