Guatemala

Our first port was Santo Thomas in Guatemala. It was suppose to be Costa Maya in Honduras but it was blown away by a hurricane last year, so they changed it to Roatan in Honduras, but the day before we arrived they had to slow the ship for an emergency disembarkation. This is just a fancy way of saying they had to slow down the boat to transfer a passenger to another boat. we heard it was a crew member that was sick. The ship could not make the time up, so we missed that port.

Guatemala is a very beautiful country. We went on a rain forest walk that lead us to 2 different water falls. The falls were small so we were able to swim in them. During the rainy season so much water flows from the falls it make swimming dangerous because of the submerged rocks.

Our tour guide Maria is also a teacher. She told that on the days when cruise ships were in port they close the schools so the kids can help her with the tours. I figured our assistant guide Jose (who was excellent) made almost $100 dollars in tips. This is a beautiful but very impoverished area and $100 US dollar goes a long way for them.