Sea day tomorrow

Sail in was rather uneventful. There were local dancers entertaining us on the pier as the ship came in. this was around noon. The temperature was certainly warm, humid but not as bad as last port, but still not fun for exertion.

Today’s tour

Started around noon when we joined a somewhat rickety motor coach. However, we could have had an open window school bus with metal seats so it’s all relative. It did have airconditioning that was acceptable. There was a modest amount of padding left on the seats still. And since the bus was not crowded, we had plenty of room to spread out.

I like to take photos through the window as we go along. One photo was a lady carrying a burden on her head. You could see the burden and the skirt, but no torso. Why? Because I think, while they did wash the windows, they did it with dirty water and the streaks covered up many areas.

A day to remember

The tour guide spoke good enough English (he had lived in the states for a while), but the day clearly got ahead of his limited tour guide skills. He said they changed the busses on him at the last minute and the microphone never worked properly. All we heard for the first few hours was “uno uno uno…” Eventually he gave up. It might have worked if he didn’t choke the mike when it did work, that is, hold it a little away from your mouth instead of eating it while you spoke which just sounded like muffled speech to us.

Firststop

Was to be a demonstration of some crafts and tour a museum. From this point and the rest of the day we were pretty much on our own. There was no coordination. He seemed not to know what we were supposed to do or when. So eventually we joined the other bus group, walked along the cobblestone streets (still a challenge after all these years) went to the chocolate making factory where we had been assured we would be enchanted by the demonstration (she only roasted coffee beans in a skillet and passed some around to taste) and get to drink some great chocolate. None of this happened.

Eventually we rejoined our original group who were all grumbling by this time. Ed said if he could find a taxi, he would have gone back to the ship.

Back on the road

Did I mention that the driver thought he was in the Indianapolis 500? Along these narrow streets and dogging equally insane tuk tuk drivers who were determined to mow down pedestrians. One of the passengers asked if there was a speed limit and the tour guide seemed not to understand at first. Finally said 90 KM. this driver clearly hadn’t gotten the message. And given the dodgie mechanical status of many of these vehicles in some countries, not very reassuring.

Climbing 5000 ft.

This really was a beautiful drive through gorgeous countryside which eventually had coffee plantations everywhere. Along the way were 3 volcanos in the distance. There was a viewing pad right near the road where we could have gotten off and taken some good photos. As it was we were confined to the cabin and pics through the smeared window.

Ultimately we were in this delightful little town high in the mountains called Atasco. The weather was wonderful and with a slight breeze. All along the way we saw school kids in their uniforms, all so cute and delightful.

Arabica coffee

We were told to sit down and it would be brought to us. After at least 20 min  two tiny cups with about ¼ c of coffee arrived and Ed declared it better than he thought but he wasn’t interested in buying any and taking it home.

On our own

Again. We saw others advancing down the street. We are the only bus in town by this time.Someone said the group was headed to the cemetery: we never found it but along the way we saw small shops with lots of local crafts. There was a delightful plaza with lots of trees and an enormous fountain. A lovely spot just to sit and breathe the air.

We saw a church in the distance and were trying to decide if we dare go see it since, again, no tour guide and no instructions. Someone said he was getting a beer.

Another couple wanted to see the church too so I said to the wife: if 4 of us don’t show up on the bus, they’ll have to wait for us. So off we went to explore this lovely little church. Again it took me by surprise to find that they were having the 40 hrs adoration (does all of Central American do this at the same time?) so we took some no-flash pics and left. At this point one of the ship’s staff who was also on the bus tour said the group was headed to a weaver’s place 2 blocks straight down from the street in front of the church. So off we whisked, mastering the cobblestones, and found something we thought might be it. Lots of lovely things in side but the looms were still as the workers weren’t around. So we never saw any of this.

We wandered down the street looking at other vendor’s wares and saw a pretty church in the distance. If we had known our time line, we would have hiked up to it to explore but I satisfied myself with a photo from the distance. We found a fruit and vegetable market and the wares looked fresh, healthy (they do not use fertilizer we were told) and with lots of smiling faces.

And back to ship

Pretty soon we noticed other Americano looking folks headed back toward the weaver’s shop and we heard the bus was to meet us there. After a while this was true. Along the journey back down the mountain, (I dared not look ahead with speedy Gonzales at the wheel). Again gorgeous lush vegetation all around and varying kinds of habitations along the way. School kids coming home in their uniforms everywhere.

Before I forget: there was a delay in leaving the town as someone said one person was missing from the bus. The tour guide never took a count and so he went on a wild goose chase. The woman had changed her seat to the back of the bus from the front. A simple head count, de riguer for all tour guides we’ve known, would have quickly cleared this up.

Along the way  we were given some water (some didn’t trust it) and a bag of Japanese style peanuts, whatever that means. I liked them but they had a harder crust than I was used to.

Late back to ship

But ship had a late departure and our group was not the only latecomer. I had heard there was a Mexican buffet as it is cinco de mayo, in the dining room so that’s where we went. It turns out it was up in the top buffet. However, Sunday is the big Mexican buffet as La Paz is our next and last port.

Motorcity

This was tonight’s production show. We had seen it before but our memories aren’t what they used to be and we enjoyed it just as much this time.

Yeah: tomorrow is a sea day. But now I realize it is less than 7 days before this remarkable journey ends and we go back to real life.