Historical/Background Info:
This is a port we have visited several times over the years on cruise ships. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s I flew many trips into Guatemala City from Miami as a check pilot for American Airlines. Due to the hazardous terrain around the airport a check pilot had to fly with all Captains flying their first trip into the airport for Guatemala City.
Puerto Quetzal is the largest Pacific Ocean port for Guatemala. Guatemala was part of the Mayan civilization until being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century. It became independent from Spain in 1821. It has undergone several dictatorships then a bloody civil war lasting from 1960 to 1996. Today Guatemala has a representative democracy with its capital being Guatemala City. The colonial city of Antigua which lies just 15 miles to the west of Guatemala City served as the capital city to all of Central America from 1543 to 1773. The city was destroyed by an earthquake then so the capital was moved.
Today the country of Guatemala has an estimated population of 16.6 million making it the most populous in Central America. It is about the size of the state of Tennessee with only about 2% of its landmass being urbanized. Consequently, it offers some superb scenery and great tourism opportunities for zip lining, white water rafting, trekking through jungles, hiking in volcanoes, and many more activities out in nature. The country is mostly mountainous, and unfortunately, its location makes it subject to natural disasters. It is in the path of many hurricanes, is on a fault line so subject to earthquakes, and the latest volcano eruption occurred June 3rd, 2018.
This is a very poor country with most of its people in the lower middle class with an average annual income of just $1620. There is no oil production here so propane is imported for cooking and gasoline imported resulting in price per gallon of around $3.50. Unfortunately, because of drug trafficking and poverty, there is quite a bit of crime. Most businesses have an armed guard. At an emerald factory we once visited there were 6 armed guards.
Tourism has become one of the main drivers of the economy. In the Pacific lowlands the volcanic soil is very fertile so Guatemala exports fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Guatemala exports a lot of coffee. Sugar cane and palm oil are also exported for use in producing biofuels. Corn is a major ingredient in Guatemala’s diet so it has to import half of it from the USA. There is also mining here for gold, silver, inc, cobalt, and nickel.
What We Did Last Night:
Adrian is a assistant head waiter who just arrived on the ship.
Georgiana is the head sommelier and making sure no one else is drinking the wine I had put ship for us.
We both had the wiener schnitzel for our entree last night.
Sorry this photo not good. This is our friend and tonight's entertainer, Mark Preston. Love his shows. He will be having a second show in a few nights.
After his show we met Mark for drinks in the Meridian Lounge. Ended up closing down the bar at 12:30 this morning.
What We Did Today:
The ship docked at 8:00 this morning. As we did not get to bed until 1:00 am we scheduled room service breakfast for 8:30. My tour to a macadamia nut farm as to leave at 9:15. I almost did not go but got ready and headed down for the tour. Glad I did! I will let the captions on the over 60 photos I took on it explain the tour. I think you will find it most interesting. Carla, the tour guide, was excellent and the tour bus not even half full so lots of room and very comfortable.
I returned to the ship at 1:30 pm and started trying to download the photos. Initially, had some problems but all squared away later. I went up to the pool grill to grab a hotdog and slice of pizza for late lunch. Still downloading photos then will take quite a while to add captions. So here is the link to photos when I finally finished at 3:30. Same procedure to view link as in other postings. Copy and paste link to "new tab" on browser. Click on first photo to enlarge it and then you can read my captions in upper right corner. Arrow mid way down photo through rest of them.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xrNufzAsPJJUJ4S1A
Tonight we are meeting Terry Breen, the lecturer, and our friend, Marcia Rector, at 6:30 for cocktails in the Meridian Lounge followed by dinner in Compass Rose. We are not sailing until 8:00 pm and tomorrow will be another day at sea enroute to Acapulco. The show tonight is featuring Linda Lavin and Billy Stritch for their second show of the cruise.
This is a port we have visited several times over the years on cruise ships. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s I flew many trips into Guatemala City from Miami as a check pilot for American Airlines. Due to the hazardous terrain around the airport a check pilot had to fly with all Captains flying their first trip into the airport for Guatemala City.
Puerto Quetzal is the largest Pacific Ocean port for Guatemala. Guatemala was part of the Mayan civilization until being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century. It became independent from Spain in 1821. It has undergone several dictatorships then a bloody civil war lasting from 1960 to 1996. Today Guatemala has a representative democracy with its capital being Guatemala City. The colonial city of Antigua which lies just 15 miles to the west of Guatemala City served as the capital city to all of Central America from 1543 to 1773. The city was destroyed by an earthquake then so the capital was moved.
Today the country of Guatemala has an estimated population of 16.6 million making it the most populous in Central America. It is about the size of the state of Tennessee with only about 2% of its landmass being urbanized. Consequently, it offers some superb scenery and great tourism opportunities for zip lining, white water rafting, trekking through jungles, hiking in volcanoes, and many more activities out in nature. The country is mostly mountainous, and unfortunately, its location makes it subject to natural disasters. It is in the path of many hurricanes, is on a fault line so subject to earthquakes, and the latest volcano eruption occurred June 3rd, 2018.
This is a very poor country with most of its people in the lower middle class with an average annual income of just $1620. There is no oil production here so propane is imported for cooking and gasoline imported resulting in price per gallon of around $3.50. Unfortunately, because of drug trafficking and poverty, there is quite a bit of crime. Most businesses have an armed guard. At an emerald factory we once visited there were 6 armed guards.
Tourism has become one of the main drivers of the economy. In the Pacific lowlands the volcanic soil is very fertile so Guatemala exports fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Guatemala exports a lot of coffee. Sugar cane and palm oil are also exported for use in producing biofuels. Corn is a major ingredient in Guatemala’s diet so it has to import half of it from the USA. There is also mining here for gold, silver, inc, cobalt, and nickel.
What We Did Last Night:
What We Did Today:
The ship docked at 8:00 this morning. As we did not get to bed until 1:00 am we scheduled room service breakfast for 8:30. My tour to a macadamia nut farm as to leave at 9:15. I almost did not go but got ready and headed down for the tour. Glad I did! I will let the captions on the over 60 photos I took on it explain the tour. I think you will find it most interesting. Carla, the tour guide, was excellent and the tour bus not even half full so lots of room and very comfortable.
I returned to the ship at 1:30 pm and started trying to download the photos. Initially, had some problems but all squared away later. I went up to the pool grill to grab a hotdog and slice of pizza for late lunch. Still downloading photos then will take quite a while to add captions. So here is the link to photos when I finally finished at 3:30. Same procedure to view link as in other postings. Copy and paste link to "new tab" on browser. Click on first photo to enlarge it and then you can read my captions in upper right corner. Arrow mid way down photo through rest of them.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xrNufzAsPJJUJ4S1A
Tonight we are meeting Terry Breen, the lecturer, and our friend, Marcia Rector, at 6:30 for cocktails in the Meridian Lounge followed by dinner in Compass Rose. We are not sailing until 8:00 pm and tomorrow will be another day at sea enroute to Acapulco. The show tonight is featuring Linda Lavin and Billy Stritch for their second show of the cruise.
No comments:
Post a Comment