June 29, Monday, Puerto quetzal, Guatamala

We docked at 11:00am here at Guatemala's largest Pacific Ocean port and gateway to most of the tourism.  I went on the excursion called Auto Safari Chapin.  David went on Coffee Close to Nature.

Our drive was along the Pan American highway until we reached a gravel road approaching the zoo.

Puerto Quetzal means green place.  The economy is 90% agricultural, sugar cane, coffee, cattle, banana are the main products.  Energy production is 40% thermal and 30% wind.  Population:  70% indigenous Mayan, 25% latino and Spanish mix, and 5% black.  The problem they have here is drug smuggling.  Central America is a bridge for this.

It was very muggy and by the time we got to the safari, it started to rain.  But the safari was in our coach.  I could open up my window, but rain came in.  There is a series of gates that separate the animals who stay is large open areas.  Some animals are indigenous, but most are not.

The first thing we saw was this curious lizard

Very soggy emu

Giraffes huddling under their shelter

this spider monkey posed for us.

This lion kept by the female

She is looking down at her mate

A lot of pigs

We got to see this leopard wandering around

A tapir standing up!  Mostly I have seen them lying down.

A good clear shot of the chain link fence.

The tapir again

Typical busses in Guatamala

Quilts for sale.

Someone was going to buy one of these beautiful quilts

Another craft stall.  Guatamalan crafts are beautiful, esp the applique work.  I found a couple nice shirts as well as small souvenirs.

We just had a few minutes to shop before getting back on the ship. 

David's trip was interesting as well., called coffee close to nature.

This is the country area where the coffee is grown

The coffee was still green.  Harvest is Nov to Feb

One of the machines use for coffee

The roaster

The grounds of the coffee farm they visited

Another beautiful sunset