Blogs from Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico, North America

World Cruise, part 2 Thursday 12th January. Bahamas. Grand Bahama Ship alongside 8am. Nothing booked. Went dow to Reception to see Visa Lady after breakfast. Still no word from ESTA . A call was made to ESTA and I actually spoke to official. Went over passport details. Had wrong date of birth. Therefore need to cancel old one and reapply. Sounds simple. Ok. Now need to wait for cancellation to come through. Could take 10 days. So can’t stay on ship. Have to get off! Told to go pack bag and they would help us find hotel if we wanted. Could leave whatever we wanted in cabin as ours for the duration of the voyage. Alternatives, maybe come through by Hawaii, or safer to fly to N Zealand and wait for ship there. This was quite ... read more

The ship arrived at 7:00 a.m. this morning but we didn’t rush to go out as we didn’t have a tour planned. When we finally went ashore we strolled around the shopping area adjacent to the pier and bought vanilla extract and beer. One had alcohol in it and the other did not. We met up with some friends from the ship who were swimming and all decided to go to a restaurant right on the beach and have some drinks. Three margaritas later (Jerry had beer, of course) we headed back to the ship (it was only 1:30p.m) because we were sailing at 2:00. I immediately headed for bed where I slept for 3 hours. As we prepared for dinner, I was still feeling those drinks. That was the first time I drank margaritas this ... read more

Took a taxi into Crucecita to buy my friend a bottle of mezcal. I asked around and found out there is a store that sells only mexcal. I was almost there and came across an old man sitting on a box on the sidewalk. He saw me looking around and he said, "What are you looking for?" I said mexcal and he said two blocks up and on the other side of the street. I soon found the store, and went in. On the back wall, they had to the left mexcal and to the right, tequila. The young Mexican man told me about which bottles were aged in oak barrels and so on. I told him I wanted a bottle of the best mexcal in the store, and he spun around, pulled a bottle off ... read more

I rented a cab driver (Silvario) to drive me around for an hour: Super Che, art supply store, glass shop, bank, taco stand, and back home. Time away from home = money spent. The weather is about the same everyday. High 92, low 72. The currency here is interesting. (one dollar = 12 pesos.)Coins go like this, in pesos:1, 2, 5, 10/ Paper money is 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 pesos. Frequently vendors cannot break a 50 or 100 peso note. Also, the water guy charges 25 pesos for a 5-gallon bottle of drinking water, Super Che: A little of everything, big store, items packaged in small quantities. Kind of a Fred Meyer. Everywhere I go, I am the only white person. Bought AAA batteries. Art supply: More watercolor paper (nobody spoke english so Silvario had ... read more

Tuesday, December 04, 2012 It was raining on the way to the airport, but when we were almost there the rain stopped. Terry tried to turn the wipers off, but they wouldn’t shut off. I told her to have one of the guys at the auto parts store pull the wiper fuse, or worst case, disconnect the battery when she got home. Omen of things to come? Terry dropped me at United and the trip had begun. Forty dollars for the second checked bag, ouch. . . .waiting for my flight to go off. ate a package of fruit Starbursts to qwell my anxiety. made it onboard my first flight in five years. When I arrived in Houston, the United assistant told me the next leg of my journey had been cancelled. She was kind enough ... read more