My new favorite country!!

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Hey all!!!

While I only have been to a few countries in my life, I discovered my new favorite country a few days ago. Our port was in Guatemala, which didn't have any particularly high expectations attached to it, which might account for my appreciation for it. DJ Dan and I left the ship at around 12:30pm, and began walking through the many shops that are located just outside the gangway. There I bought some nice presents (you'll have to wait till I get back...I wanna see the looks on your faces myself 😊 ), and then Dan and I decided to go see the city. We jumped in a cab and the cabby asked us if we wanted the beach or the bar. We said "just take us to the middle of the city". We were feeling adventurous!!

So about 10 minutes later, we find ourselves in the middle of a busy city. The streets were filled with a scooters, motorcycles, dirt bikes, and a few cars in there too. We got out and saw shops on every corner, as well as buildings that looked like there were hundreds of years old. There were stray dogs on every street, just walking around (not hurting anybody, you know just flying around, and they get shot down by George Bush....HAHA for the fam!!) no leashes or owners in sight. Also there were a lot of children, very young, just sitting on the street corner. Babies were playing in tubs while moms hung clothes on lines, all right there on the sidewalk. We were far from home.

We began walking in no particular direction, and found ourselves twisting and winding throughout the city, getting further and further away from what little civilization we had started in. Finally, I happened to spot a little bar hiding between two huge abandoned buildings. Dan and I decided that this would be a good place to stop and rest, maybe have a beer before we continued our exploring. We walked in through a small opening to find a rather large open space. Music was blaring, the heat was intense (about 95), and the best thing in the world sounded like a beer. So we parked at the bar and said hello to the bartender, a very young cute girl, whose name turned out to be Olga. She looked at us like we were aliens. I'm not exagerating when I say that NO ONE SPOKE ONE WORD OF ENGLISH!!! Not even hello!!! So, I found myself in the perfect situation to brush up on my Spanish!! We found out that Olga was 23, and her sister Fernanda (who looked exactly like Rihanna) was 18. I had a crush on Fernanda immediately because of her resemblance to the gorgeous singer, so we proceeded to talk, well at least try to talk the best we could.

Dan and I instantly fell in love with this bar!! The girls were friendly and the beer was cold. We ended up staying there for 2 hours, as the girls brought us out beer, tequila shots, this vegetable soup that was to die for (yes I ate the whole thing, cabbage and all!! SO GOOD!!), watermelon that I swear was made by Jesus Himself, (I wanted to die it was so good) and cantaloupe that tasted like it was from Eden. (again, made by God. Truly amazing fruit! I didn't know I could feel this way about fruit, but I do!) Needless to say, Dan and I felt like kings. After more booze than we should have had, we began to worry about how much the tab would be, seeing as we each only brought $50. In any other place in the world, we would have had to use our credit cards because we couldn't afford it. Seriously, it would have been a $150 tab AT LEAST in the US or Mexico.....that's being generous. Dan and I, however only had to pay $20 each. Yeah.....I love Guatemala.

We then stumbled "that way!!" (When Dan asked me where we should go, that was my drunken response) and found ourselves at the beach. It was a black sand beach, which we found most intriguing, so we took pictures of this new phenomenon. We each swam, then started wandering the streets, looking for a cab to take us to the ship. Amazingly we found one, and we made it back with 15 minutes to spare. I had a quick bite to eat, then passed out cold in my rack, but not before setting my alarm so that I wouldn't miss work. And I didn't, thank you very much, although I did have a severe headache 😊

That was the first time off the ship in about 5 days because I'd been feeling so bad that didn't have the drive to leave my rack, and boy was it a good way to get back in the swing of things!! I will definitely revisit Guatemala, although I don't think I will ever find that bar again. (I love you Fernanda!!!)


Life on the ship drags on. Yesterday was a sea day, which I normally like as a break from all the port visits, but I'm in the mood to "port" and see new things. Today's port is in Panama, which I won't get to visit because we won't arrive until 5pm, which means I can't get on the open tender until 6:30pm, and then the 30 minute cab ride into town means I can't sit down for dinner until 7pm, and I have to work at 9pm. So I won't get to see Panama, and tomorrow is the crossing through the Canal, which we also have to stay on the ship for, but either the day after that or the one after that one, we will get to visit Columbia, which I'm very excited about.

I will try to write again after that adventure. In the meantime, expect some phone calls from me in the next few days. I miss you all very much, and I can't wait to see you all again when this trip is through.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
--Charlie

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