Tuesday, December 7 – Santo Tomas, Guatemala

 

Cap’s impression after two shore excursions: he doesn’t know who is happier, the tour guides finally working again or those on the excursions. He feels safer on excursions than in the grocery back in Colorado. All countries visited so far, and those we’ll soon visit, require masks be worn at all times except while eating or drinking, and some require proof of vaccination. No issues with compliance have been observed. And he’s seen no one smoke. Luis, his guide in Santo Tomas, said because of local conservative politics and religious issues, vaccination rate hovers around 50%. The federal government is addressing this by withholding funding to those locales.

 

Cap took a bus and catamaran excursion to Rio Dulce where he visited San Felipe Fortress (Castillo de San Felipe de Lara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_San_Felipe_de_Lara). The 500-year-old fort sits on a point in Lake Izabal. The Fort changed hands several times, Spanish vs pirates. The bus ride took 80 minutes or we could have arrived at the same destination by boat sailing the 27-mile very navigable Dulce River from the Caribbean Sea. This area is a big US expat area with dwellings from overwater cottages to trophy homes and yachts along the shoreline. It’s also a hurricane hole; when hurricanes threaten, sailors will sail up the river to the safety of Lake Isabal. Lunch at a shoreside restaurant consisted of the local Gallo beer, 2 finger sandwiches, an interesting flatbread smeared with a bean paste and a cupcake.

 

Map of the area in Guatemala we visited. The loopy lines are the ship's efforts at taking overnight to move about 50 nautical miles and not arrive too early in the next port.

San Luis Fortress--500 years old.

Examples of rental getaway properties on Lake Izabal.

Guatemalan lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suzy chose a trolley tour around Santo Tomas and Puerto Barrias, seeing a very different view of how the locals lived—largely at the poverty line. One exception was a run-down cemetery, which nevertheless contained a monument to a wealthy merchant that was a mini Taj Mahal.

 

                                                                      Santo Tomas cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Once back on board (we docked in an industrial port), we admired the efficiency of the longshoremen unloading a modest size container ship. Long Beach and other shipping ports have something to learn from the Guatemalans. 

 

 

 This container ship behind us unloaded containers one after another in less than two minutes each—and the trailers were in line to exit the port one minute later.