Acapulco is always a great long day for us. We try to get off the ship around 10 or 11 in the morning and we don’t get back on until 10 or 11 at night. We eat, we shop, we swim, and since it is always scorching hot, we sweat. We also take a lot of cabs, and walk for miles and miles in this city.

Acapulco is not the tiny resort town I imagined before I visited it. Almost a million people live there and the downtown area sprawls far, far bigger than downtown Halifax.

The cabs here are a little crazy. Often we squish five of us into little VW Bugs and the drivers weave in and out of traffic like there is some secret guideline for locals only. The cabs don’t have meters, so you have to agree on a price before you get in, and hope you’re not getting ripped off. Now that we know better, we can travel for 10 or 15 minutes for only $3.

It definitely beats some of the other modes of transportation we’ve seen. (Cheryl's photo)


MMMM… Gelato.

(Cheryl)

Playtime at the Villa Vera again. They actually turned this into a tower of four people
The hill on the way to Villa Vera.

Our new casino manager told us about a beautiful restaurant to try for supper called Su Casa. Now, Acapulco is a city of huge hills that are so steep you are scared to drive up them (see above). Su Casa is at the top of one of these hills, and gave us a beautiful, panoramic view of the entire city and crescent-shaped coast. The restaurant was on an open-air terrace and was filled with flowers and lanterns. The food was fantastic and we had a beautiful dinner.
Steven was wearing a tank top that day and they asked him to wear this extra waiter’s shirt instead. Haha.



The beautiful view.


This was our last dinner out for the five of us. Sean and Lindsay signed off at the end of the cruise and are just starting their vacation at home in Halifax. We miss them lots.


By the way... Jack is back! YAY!

Costa Rica

We visited Puntarenas, one of the larger cities in Costa Rica, twice in the past month. The first time was during Carnival, and the markets and restaurants were jam packed with people out enjoying the celebrations. All of the Costa Ricans I have encountered have been vibrant, strong looking people and I would love to have the opportunity to travel outside this small area.

It felt like it was almost forty degrees that day. I bought two pieces of fresh watermelon from a vendor for $1.

There were more stalls set up in the market, and games and rides for the kids

Fresh sliced mangoes for sale.


Some of you may remember that I posted this photo after my first visit to Costa Rica. I said that these stalls are everywhere you walk, selling mixtures of meat, veggies and rice to people wrapped in big leaves or plastic bags. At the time I didn’t know what kind of meat it was. Cheryl has informed me that it is deep-fried pigs’ ears. Bon Appetit.


On our second stop in Puntarenas, it was just as hot. Me, Steven and Cheryl had a delicious lunch at a nice restaurant that a lot of crew go to. Cheryl and I both had whole, grilled red snapper, and it was one of the best fish I have eaten in a long time. Very delicious. Steven had chicken breast stuffed with shrimp, in a coconut curry sauce. Yum.


Trying to beat the heat.


Lineup for the bathroom.

Return to Cabo

The nice thing about doing the Panama Canal run again is that I get to revisit the ports from my very first cruise in December. This time in Cabo San Lucas we took a water taxi out around the rocks and cliffs, and then over to another beach, where we had a great lunch and a few too margaritas a a restaurant called The Office.

The water taxi had a glass bottom, and our driver took us around to see lots of beautiful tropical fish. They didn't really turn out in the pictures, unfortunately :(
This is called Lovers Beach, one of the nicest little beaches near Cabo.





This is at the tip of Baja California, Mexico. This chunk of land separates the Pacific Ocean (on the other side) from the Sea of Cortez (where we are).





(Cheryl)