Aboard the MS Zaandam, travel from San Diego to Buenos Aires, October/November 2016 - San Diego to Guatemala.

This post is rewritten from a previous post that didn't "take".  So, yes it is from 2016.

At times I feel a little guilty sailing on such a huge vessel, yet, it was really a lot of fun.  We have been land locked since selling our beautiful Finisterra, and I decided that for my 60th birthday something special was due.  Leif has been writing his novel, and South America is a main part of the plot, so it seemed a no-brainer that this cruise was perfect for us.  It was 37 days sailing, with stops in 21 different cities or towns along the way.

HMS Zaandam, our home for the next month.

San Diego was first, and I hadn't really seen the downtown area until this trip.  We hopped on a Lyft to the Irvine train station, rode the train to it's last stop in San Diego, disembarked and walked a short bit to the ship.  We were early, so the line to get our documentation for the ship was almost non-existent.  After 15 minutes we were finished and waited another 20 minutes to board.  This seemed much too easy.  We were welcomed aboard, found our verandah room on the 6th deck and settled into our new home, 6218.  At this point, we had noticed that our wine was not checked and perhaps we could bring on more?  It was only 11:00 a.m. with the ship not sailing until 5:00 p.m., we went back ashore for a sight seeing walk, and perhaps a bit more wine.  Upon our return to the ship, the check-in line was probably 500+ people waiting, however, we were already registered, so we sprinted right on through.

Our lovely verandah balcony room. 

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas, which was not too interesting to us as we'd stopped there a time or two while sailing our own boat down.  We had found it a bit too touristy for our taste.  I had won a free massage for two, so we enjoyed that instead of going ashore.

Mexico has been a destination for us for several years as we sailed our own boat down from Long Beach.  We had been critical of the cruise ships and their passengers who seemed to party hard, arrive in mass, and have arrogant attitudes towards the locals in many cases.  Knowing this, we tried to be respectful and not follow the crowds.  Leif is fairly fluent in Spanish which was a wonderful help when breaking the ice with locals.

This area is called Stone Island, known to us as Goat Hill, near Mazatlan.  We would anchor, and hike up the small hill to see the goats lazing about, and the expansive view from the top.

It was October, and the weather was scorching and humid.  Fortunately we managed to avoid hurricanes on our way down the coast.  It was very, very nice to be able to escape the heat and humidity in our stateroom.  A luxury that our little boat did not have.  We had bought a little window air conditioner which we installed in the companion way, and the coolness it produced created a few new friends who brought wine/beer to escape the heat.  Other added niceties included: clean, dry sheets, unlimited ice, water and room service.

The tourist trolley from the ship through the shipyard, to the entrance of the port.

Mazatlan was lovely as always, with its beautiful tree-lined cobble stone streets, and cafes.  But, it was over 100 degrees and very humid.  A bit much for walking hills.  Puerto Vallarta was also pretty, yet quite hot as well, not as humid though. 

Leif at Philo Hayward's memorial guitar on the La Cruz jetty.  Such a giving individual, and a sad loss to all who knew him.

Huatulco was our next stop and our first port we had not visited prior.  The lush greenery and blue water were a refreshing pause after the hustle of Puerto Vallarta.  Our learning curve was increasing, as we found it difficult to get away from the port without hiring a taxi or other transportation.  We did a lot of walking, and would go as far as possible, allowing time to return for the sailing.

Huatulco, Mexico.  Interesting architecture, and high prices.  Slow internet along the seaside restaurants, snorkeling and kayaking if one desired. 

We had now settled into a routine on the ship.  This included: breakfast of fruit and cereal delivered to our room and then walking the decks for a few miles.  By then it was lunch time, and salads or sushi were our main fare.   There were many activities in which to participate, such as classes on Windows 10, cooking, the gym, trivia, and talks on upcoming locales.  The evening shows were not bad on this trip, a nice surprise as our Alaska journey had fairly dated shows.  During dinner, we chose to sit with others and met some interesting people from all over.

The food on the ship was endless, if you desired that.  I loved the ice cream station, and Leif loved the salad bar.  The salads got a bit sparse as we sailed farther south towards the fiords and smaller towns.  But, the scenery more than made up for it.

Entering the harbor on such a huge ship was odd in comparison to the tiny village and pangas.

I jumped ahead a bit, our next town was Puerto Chiapas, Mexico.  This small port is known for its Izapa ruins, which is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site.  It was one of the largest during its time, with a population of around 10,000.  Now it is a lush area filled with stone structures, small fields where challenges took place, and signs explaining it all.  The jungle has taken over, and the locals have tried to maintain the site by constantly hacking it back.   This area is also known for coffee plantations, which we missed seeing.  The air temperature has dropped slightly as we travel south.  85 and humid.

Izapa ruins, possibly the origin of the Mayan calendar.   

A busy area, only a quick taxi ride from town.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala was the next town on the following day.  We took a tour bus inland to Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site, where we spent the day exploring on our own.  The bus was $50. each, which was the cheapest we could find, and sponsored by HAL.  It was over an hour drive, so a good deal as a taxi would have been more.

This began just as we were passing, amazing, but a bit worrisome. 

On the ride into town, we passed several tall volcanoes, one of which decided to start bellowing smoke and ash as we passed!  How did they arrange that?  We were dropped off at a tourist center which had a short talk about the area and its history.  We each received a little worry doll, hand made by the locals, and a cup of coffee.  The story of the doll is that if you put it under your pillow each night, it will take all your worries away.  I took two...  Not really, but what a great idea.