Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Arrived Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.  Very hot and humid day.  

Mountains of Guatemala 

 Puerto Quetzal dock

 Adjacent shipyards

All ashore that's going ashore 

We did not take any of the trips up into the mountains, instead chose to wander around the little tourist complex at the port.  An air conditioning head cold has settled in so not really feeling like doing much of anything. 

We had lunch off the ship today.  Prices certainly are not cheap.  Bill had a breaded snapper, two came on the plate, more than he wanted to eat so he offered one to a table of fellow cruisers next to us.  They really enjoyed their unexpected snack.  I had a dish of octopus in garlic.  The octopus was tasty but cooked a little too rubbery for my liking.  Octopus is one of those things you either cook for a short time or a long time – anything in between gets you rubberiness.  

Restaurant interior and the recipients of the fish offering.

Orangeade drink in a fishbowl sized glass

 Snappers

 Octopus dish

  Some port pictures

We returned to the ship for what has become an afternoon ritual, a nap.    

When we woke from our nap we were watching the goings-on about the port when Bill noticed a fellow slowly walking the perimeter of the security fence.  When we zoomed in on him, what we thought was a backpack was an assault rifle sling over his shoulder.  He was checking wonder vegetation and debris all along the way.  We can only assume that he was looking for drugs or other contraband that may have been tossed over the fence, from the port. He did not seem to find anything after about an hour search and climbed the ladder back up to a little guard tower.

We noticed that many of the boats in the marina were covered by what we first thought was a type of protective wrap, but then we saw that some were leaving port with it still in place.   We are surmising that it is some type of shade cloth that helps keep the boat interior cooler. 

We were due to leave port about 4:30, but at 5:15 tours were still returning to the ship.  Then as we got ready to leave a storm front quickly moved in, bring lots of lightning, wind, rain, and thunder, so our departure was delayed a bit more.  One lightning strike was really close by and the accompanying thunder got everyone’s attention.  By 6 o’clock we were moving out of port and on our way once again.  

On leaving the port we could see a large fire burning off in the distance.