I plan on documenting some of my travels here, too bad I did not do this for all the places I’ve been. Places I have been (in no particular order) are Spain, Italy, France, Sicily, Egypt, Tunisia, Ireland, Wales, England, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Aruba, Belize, Costa Rica, Jamaica, St Thomas, Trinidad
Panama Canal - Feb 7-21, 2015
This Saturday we head on a 14 day cruise that transits the Panama Canal.
Start is San Diego with ports of call in:
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Hualtuco, Mexico
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Corinto, Nicaragua
Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica
(traverse canal)
Cartegana, Columbia
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
2/25
Back from the trip.
In San Diego we really did not have a lot of time so we did the visit In and Out Burger thing one must do when they are on the west coast. It’s a great burger but I think Five Guys is better.
First two days were at sea on Veedam, from Holland America. Relatively small ship and kind of old, it was last renovated more than 10 years ago. The crew were nice, the passenger were old (average age of 70). The cabin was in the back of the ship and at higher speeds you could really feel the vibration. The food was average, nothing special which remained the same throughout the entire trip.
Puerta Vallarta was fine, been there before. It’s touristy. We sat in the plaza for an hour since we did not chose any excursions and I really did not care to be in town again.
Hualtuco was this small village. We took a bus to tour the Copalita Eco-Archaelogical Park. Pretty cool ruins with pre-hispanic pyramids. It is well laid out and manicured. There is a short hike up to the ‘lighthouse’ with an incredible seaview. The ‘lighthouse’ is a polished rock on a hill. Cool early version. I think this palce dates back to 900 A.C to 1000 AD. Had some descent ceviche at a beachfront restaurant. Lots of fish and squid.
Puerto Quetzal in Guatamala was sort of a bust. The ship docked far from anything requiring a cab ride into the city. The tours were not of interest, were expensive and too long considering the relatively short visit. We walked around a small tourist area and had a nice lunch of ceviche. Thsi version was not hot, in fact no jalapenos at all. It was sweater than any I had had before. So far, Costa Rica tops my list.
Corinto, Nicaragua was next. We took a tour of the Flor de Cana rum distillery. What a nice place with some awesome rum. We received a rather detailed discussion on Nicaragua from our guide. Very pretty country, still looks pretty poor so they need that 51B canal China is building.
I’ve been to Costa Rica before so I was looking forward to returning. Puerto Caldera is in the Gulf of Nicoya. We took a long bus ride north to the other to a mangrove protected area where a boatride down a river toward the Pacific ocean, then back presented us with various fauna, birds, crocidles and other wildlife. It was hot and humid!
We spent the next day at sea.
The real point of the trip was to cross the Panama Canal. What an engineering feat. The guide that came on the ship gave a very good history of the Canal and its contruction. I will post photos later.
More time at sea then we arrive at out last port stop in Cartagena Columbia. Beautiful city! We took a bus ride first to the well preserved Castillo San Felipe de Baraja fortress. We were unable to go in on this tour but did stop outside to snap some photos. Next we were dropped off at the old walled city. We walked around, grabbed some lunch at a local place then headed back since our time was limited. Would like to return for a visit.
Finally, we headed back to Ft. Lauderdale for the end of our cruise. 14 days is too long to be on a ship but at least I got to go through the Panama Canal. That was on the list since I have been through the Suez Canal. Next up with be the Nicaraguan Canal!