Cabo San Lucas: On our own

October 9, 2009

Since this was our third trip to Cabo, we decided to skip doing any tours in this port. Our first trip was here was 6 years ago, and our second trip was 2-1/2 years ago. Boy, has Cabo changed! When we were there the first time, most of the path around the harbor was hard-packed dirt and cobblestones. Flea market vendors lined the path with their wares set out on blankets. The second time, there was the start of a nice cement path round the harbor and a terminal cruise ship building (“meet your tour bus in the parking lot behind the terminal building”). Flea market vendors still lined the path. This year when we were in Cabo, the path around the harbor was twice as long, and the parking lot behind the cruise ship building was gone – it now was the site of an indoor flea market. No more vendors sitting on the path around the harbor.

As we were walking along the harborside path, Craig saw someone with a Starbucks cup. Not to miss an opportunity to have another Frappuccino, he stopped them and asked where the Starbucks was located. They gave us directions (“Go down about to there and then turn to the left. You can’t miss it.”) and we were off. Well, after about 10 minutes, we weren’t sure we hadn’t missed it when, all of a sudden, I noticed the familiar Starbucks logo on the side of the building on the right. We again got our regular Frappuccinos and then continued looking at all the shops along the way. Cabo is doing a lot of road construction so all the roads were closed to traffic. It made going from one side of the street to the other side as shop owners kept trying to entice us in to see what they had for sale (mostly silver jewelry, it seemed).

We finished our shopping and were tendering back to our ship when I realized that our snap camera (the one we had asked people to use to take our picture) was set to close-up pictures. This meant that all pictures taken with the snap camera were blurry and unusable. So, I reset the camera to normal picture-taking, and Craig suggested we drop off our purchased items in our cabin and then tender back across to Cabo since we still had 2 hours before we had to be on the ship. Then, we could take the pictures that were blurry again. Great idea, so that is what we did.

Happy Craig again -- with another Green Tea Frappuccino:

This flea market used to be a parking lot:

Craig and Cathy in Cabo, one of the pictures we had to take a second time:

Check out the rest of my blogs about our cruise:

• Our Mexican Riviera cruise: Impressions of the ship
  
• Topolobampo: Copper Canyon by Train
  
• La Paz (Pichilingue): Artisans of La Paz
  
• Mazatlan: Sierra Madre Country Tour
  
• Puerto Vallarta: Town, Country & Tequila
  

Puerto Vallarta: Town, Country & Tequila

October 8, 2009

From the tour brochure: “This excursion combines the charm of both old and new Mexico. Begin with a drive through the Marina Vallarta area and a stop at the small village's local church. Continue to Hacienda Dona Engracia, one of the finest tequila factories in the area for a first-hand look at the manufacturing process of tequila and some free time to explore the grounds of this working hacienda. A short shopping stop will be made on the way into the center of Puerto Vallarta where you can walk along the popular Malecon.”



This tour was one of two tours that were offered for free if you signed up to take the Copper Canyon train ride. Although we had been to the hacienda on a previous trip to Puerto Vallarta, we decided to take this tour anyway (free was hard to beat).

When we arrived in Puerto Vallarta, we found that Tropical Storm Olaf had been visiting PV and it was still pouring down rain. It was obvious from the large splashes that were made by cars and trucks traveling along the highway that PV was not used to getting this much rain at one time. But, by the time we were ready to get off the ship, the rain had slowed to a drizzle.

We boarded the bus at the pier where we were docked with tourists from the two other cruise ships that were in port at the same time. Soon, we were headed out of Puerto Vallarta for the short trip to the Hacienda Dona Engracia. We had a few minutes to walk around before our guide took us into the building where the tequila is made. Here, he explained the whole tequila-making processes and then took us into the tasting room. The last time we were at the hacienda, we tasted the tequila and absolutely hated it. But this time, we also got to taste some infused tequilas, and these weren’t too bad, especially when used in marinades and such for cooking. In the end, we bought the peach infused tequila. We still had a few minutes left and decided to wander around some of the shops that had sprouted here at the hacienda in the time between our two visits.

We reboarded the bus for a drive through the town that was attached to the hacienda – something we did not do the last time we were here. It is amazing that the buses can go down these very narrow streets without hitting anything or anyone!

We woke up to a torrential rain downpour:

We saw this lady making tortillas when we were on the bus driving through the hacienda town:

Check out the rest of my blogs about our cruise:

• Our Mexican Riviera cruise: Impressions of the ship
  
• Topolobampo: Copper Canyon by Train
  
• La Paz (Pichilingue): Artisans of La Paz
  
• Mazatlan: Sierra Madre Country Tour
  
• Cabo San Lucas: On our own
  

Mazatlan: Sierra Madre Country Tour

October 7, 2009

From the tour brochure: “Your exploration will carry you from historic Mazatlan to the Durango Highway, stopping at a brickyard where adobe bricks are handmade and fired much as they have been for centuries. Drive along the foothills of the Sierra Madre to Concordia for a visit, then continue to the village of Copala, once a thriving Spanish gold mining town. Enjoy a delightful lunch of Mexican food at a local restaurant followed by a visit to a furniture factory and a potter's home. Back at Mazatlan's Golden Zone you'll have approximately 40 minutes of free time to browse and shop.”



In Mazatlan, we wanted to get away from the city and see some of the countryside, so this tour sounded like a perfect trip. And we were not disappointed. We headed through the streets of Mazatlan and noticed graffiti on nearly everything. The exception was the local military/police structure (I wonder why….). But, as we got out into the countryside, the graffiti diminished.

Our first stop was a chance to see adobe bricks being made. It was really something to see the bricks still being made completely by hand. And then we stopped at a combination pottery and furniture shop. I bought another piece of lead-free pottery here – it was a bit big for my open salt collection, but I liked it and it will hold salt, so it will go into my collection.

From here, we drove on towards Concordia. What was really noticeable along the way was the plethora of furniture shops – they seemed to be every half mile or so. It would have been fun to stop but not this time….. In Concordia, we stopped for about a half hour so that we could wander around the town square. It was a pleasant town and made a nice stop along the way.

After Concordia, we again boarded the bus and headed towards Copala, an even smaller town. The countryside was beautiful, and Copala was a very quaint town. The streets were too narrow for our bus, so we all got off and walked the narrow streets. We met a retired economics professor from Manitoba who is working with the townsfolk to help them make and sell their handicrafts. He had a table set up where crafts were sold. 80% of the sales price goes back to the crafter and the other 20% is used to help better the schools for the kids in the town. We continued to wander around the town before it was time to head to the little restaurant for lunch. Here we met the owner who had come to Copala after living in LA and managing a restaurant there. He absolutely loved his new lifestyle and said he would never return to LA. Lunch was delicious (one of the best meals we had, too) and we were served Banana Coconut Cream Pie for dessert, which was made from the bananas and coconuts that grow locally.

All too soon, we reboarded the bus and headed back for Mazatlan. Here, the bus dropped us off in the Golden Zone – a shopping district with lots of jewelry shops. But, after a week without a Frappuccino, we decided to see if there was a Starbucks anywhere close by. We found that “Donde esta el Starbucks” elicited the response we were looking for and we headed down the street and around the corner, looking for the Burger King (the Starbucks was on the backside of the Burger King building). Sure enough, the directions led us to the Starbucks, and Craig was very happy to have his Green Tea (Te Verde) Frappuccino, and I enjoyed my Caramel Frappuccino. We sipped them slowly, savoring them as we walked back to the Golden Zone where we were to meet our tour guide, board the bus, and head back to the boat.

Concordia town square:

Copala town square:

Our lunch in Copala:

Happy Craig with his Green Tea Frappuccino:



Check out the rest of my blogs about our cruise:

• Our Mexican Riviera cruise: Impressions of the ship
  
• Topolobampo: Copper Canyon by Train
  
• La Paz (Pichilingue): Artisans of La Paz
  
• Puerto Vallarta: Town, Country & Tequila
  
• Cabo San Lucas: On our own
  

La Paz (Pichilingue): Artisans of La Paz

October 6, 2009

From the tour brochure: “Visit the seaside town of La Paz and some of the cultural highlights it has to offer. Travel through the thriving downtown area with its boulevards, shops, restaurants and mile-long waterfront promenade. You'll visit a pottery factory, a weaver's display of local crafts and stop at the public market.”

We chose this tour since we knew we would be getting in late from the Copper Canyon train ride. We just didn’t know how late. This tour sounded pretty low-key, and it was, which was perfect after not getting a lot of sleep. We went to the weaver’s shop (Artesania Cuauhtemoc) first, and got to see a demonstration of both spinning the cotton into yarn and then weaving an area rug. After the demos, we had our chance to purchase some of the carpets and other items made in the shop. From here, we went to Ibarra’s Pottery where we heard about how the pottery business is a family affair with everyone doing their part in keeping the family in business. And, again, we had our chance to buy some of the great lead-free pottery items made at Ibarra’s Pottery.

Weaving a rug:

My only picture of Ibarra's Pottery -- they didn't allow pictures inside:

Check out the rest of my blogs about our cruise:

• Our Mexican Riviera cruise: Impressions of the ship
  
• Topolobampo: Copper Canyon by Train
  
• Mazatlan: Sierra Madre Country Tour
  
• Puerto Vallarta: Town, Country & Tequila
  
• Cabo San Lucas: On our own
  

Topolobampo: Copper Canyon by Train

October 5, 2009

From the tour brochure: “The Copper Canyon Train is a notch in the belt of serious travelers, and the canyon itself is legendary for its breathtaking scenery and stunning landforms. Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, it's essential that you bring your spirit of adventure. This is not a typical train ride in any sense. Your approximately six-hour journey (each way) will wind through tunnels and over bridges as you climb from sea level to 7,200 feet.”

According to the brochure, it is essential that we bring our spirit of adventure, and that was certainly true. Originally, we were supposed to get into Topolobampo around 5:00 AM and assemble for our tour at 5:10. But there was a change in schedule and, although we would still dock around 5, we didn’t have to meet our tour until 6:10. It was nice getting to have a little bit extra sleep, and we didn’t have to get to the buffet quite as early. So, after eating, we met the rest of our tour in the Stardust Lounge, and then proceeded to the gangway to head for the buses. We had been given stickers with numbers (1-3) and letters (A-B), which indicated which bus (1-3) we were to board and (later) which train car (A-B) we would ride in. So, Craig and I were on bus 3 for the 1-1/2 – 2 hour bus ride from the pier to El Fuerte, where we would catch the train. From Topolobampo, we drove through Los Mochis, and finally arrived at El Fuerte and at the Chihuahua al Pacifico (Chepe) train. We really didn’t see much of the countryside on the drive since it was still very dark outside. As we board car B (since w had a B on our sticker), we look for a seat on the right side (we were told that this was the side to sit on to see the canyon – the other side just looks at the hillside).

We settled into our seats and soon the train pulled away from the station. The view out windows was still pretty dark because of the rain (left over from Tropical Storm Olaf), but it wasn’t raining too hard so we could see the surrounding countryside. And even with the rain and gloom, it was still stunning. According to one of the guides who had been working on the Chepe for 27 years, this was the highest the river had ever been that he could remember. And the other guide said that in his 8 years doing Copper Canyon tours, he had never seen this amount of rain at one time. But what’s a little rain to a Seattleite, right?

We sped along, going over bridges and through tunnels, when all of a sudden, we came to a halt. And here we sat. We could get up and walk around, and the platform between our two cars had open windows so we could stick our heads out and take pictures without glass to obscure the pictures. After about 20 minutes, our guide came and told us what was going on. It seems that we have a small truck that rides the tracks ahead of us, looking for anything that may be a problem on the track. And they had found a small rockslide and were busy clearing the track. After about an hour, the train slowly began to move again and we were on our way.

But, within about half an hour, the train stopped again. But this time it was to pick up a group of soldiers that had been camping along the tracks. We were reminded that the Chepe was a passenger train, not a tourist train, and when there were passengers wanting to ride the train, we had to pick them up. The Chepe, in fact, is the last passenger train in Mexico, and takes a couple of extra cars when there is a tour going up to the Copper Canyon. The soldiers climbed onto the engine (there was a platform and a rail around the platform for them to sit/stand on), and we were off again. The rest of the trip up to the canyon was pretty uneventful, and we stopped at a couple more towns before we got to where we boarded school buses up to the lower rim. At one of the towns, the ladies and children come running to the train with the pine needle baskets that they had made, hoping to find someone on the train willing to buy one or two (or even more) of their baskets. I bought two baskets ($3 each) and later wished I had bought more – they were beautiful and smelled wonderful, all piney inside.

We were supposed to get to the lower rim around 2:00 PM, but we finally boarded the buses to head to the lower rim around 4:45 PM. We were told we would have about 30 minutes at the lower rim for pictures and the chance to buy more baskets and blankets. I headed for the canyon overlook and Craig wandered around, looking at the baskets and other items the ladies were selling. The rain had stopped and the sun had even come out, making the canyon gorgeous to see. We had been at the lower rim for only about 5 minutes when our guide came and said we had to get back on the buses right away and go up to the restaurant at the upper rim for our dinner. People were very disappointed but still took their time to make one last purchase before, grumbling, they boarded the bus.

We got up to the upper rim and were ushered into the restaurant where we were served our chicken, fish, rice, and salad dinner. We finished most of our dinner and decided to go out on the balcony to get more pictures of the canyon. It was a good thing because, although we thought we would have about 45 minutes to an hour, our guide soon came and said that the cruise lines was concerned for our safety. The rain had started again and there was concern that the railroad would not be safe to travel on. People really started grumbling this time since most had barely had time to finish dinner, and we didn’t get to see any of the native dancers. But they didn’t seem to be concerned with dangerous the track conditions just might be. Craig and I appreciated the concern, though, and headed back to the bus and to the train.

We boarded the train and headed back down to El Fuerte at around 6:00 PM. Normally, we should have gotten back to the ship sometime around 2:00 AM, but we were told it would take a lot longer because of the track conditions and the rain. Not to worry, though. Since we had booked this trip on the ship, the ship would wait for us to get back before leaving Topolobampo. Sure enough, the train went extra slow and had to frequently stop, often backing up before continuing forward. Our longest stop was for about 35 minutes. And by now, it was quite dark outside. We tried to sleep, but the seats weren’t really comfortable enough to sleep for more than about 15 minutes at a time. Finally, at around 3:00 AM, the train arrived at El Fuerte and we got onto the buses (fortunately, these were the big tour buses, not the quite uncomfortable school buses) for the hour and a half ride back to the ship. At 4:30, nearly 22 hours after our adventure had begun, we walked up the gangway (and were greeted by all the crew who came out to welcome us back) and headed to our cabin where we could get at least a few hours of sleep before we had to get up and get ready to head out on another tour in another port.

The Copper Canyon train going over one of the 30+ bridges:

One of the ladies selling her baskets:

Craig and Cathy with Copper Canyon behind them:

Check out the rest of my blogs about our cruise:

• Our Mexican Riviera cruise: Impressions of the ship
  
• La Paz (Pichilingue): Artisans of La Paz
  
• Mazatlan: Sierra Madre Country Tour
  
• Puerto Vallarta: Town, Country & Tequila
  
• Cabo San Lucas: On our own
  

Our Mexican Riviera cruise: Impressions of the ship

October 1-12, 2009

Okay, I promised myself I would do a blog about our Mexican Riviera on the Norwegian Sun, so I better get with it if I want to get it done before our cruise month is over.

This cruise was our 4th one on Norwegian Cruise Lines (the other three were to Alaska). And this was our 3rd Mexican Riviera cruise, and at 12 days/11 nights, it was our longest.

Getting on the ship: We started our cruise is San Francisco (SF and Seattle are our favorite ports since we live in the Seattle area and can drive to SF – no need to deal with airports and too much luggage) on October 1, 2009. The forecast was for low 60s. Too bad that wasn’t the real temp – it was more like low 70s when Corey dropped us off at the pier. And, although we arrived just shortly after noon, the line was already quite long and getting longer without moving inside the terminal. It seems that the computer system for the security checkpoint was down, which meant we couldn’t even get inside the terminal, let alone get on the ship. The porters took our check-in luggage and we decided to eat at Butterfly, a little restaurant at Pier 33. We had a leisurely lunch (probably for about an hour) and then headed back out to the line, which was now moving slowly. Once we got into the terminal, the process for getting through security, checking in, and then boarding the ship took probably only 20-30 minutes total. Once past the obligatory boarding photo (and having to wait for the gal in front of us who didn’t know how to manipulate her electric wheelchair), we were finally on the ship and heading to our cabin.

Our cabin: Last November when we decided we were going to go on this cruise, Craig did a lot of research to decide which cabin/location would be good. As it turned out, we chose cabin 0067, which is located on deck 10 all the way aft. In fact it is on the very back of the ship. This one was described as a mini-suite, which meant we had a clearly defined couch area, a great bed area, a vanity besides the sink, a full-sized bathtub, the toilet in its own little room in the bathroom, a decent sized walk-in closet, and a very large balcony. We were impressed enough with this cabin that thought the design/setup would make a more than adequate master bedroom for us.

Here are some of the things we liked (or didn’t like) about our cabin:

• Our cabin had lots of outlets in it, which made plugging in all our various gadgets easy.
  
  
• There was no clock in the cabin. We always travel with a small alarm clock so it didn’t pose too much of a “what time is it now” dilemma.
  
  
• The cabin had very good lighting and it was easy to control the level of light.
  
  
• Our deck was nice, but it would have been better if the chairs were lounge chairs instead of the straight-back chairs we had. If nothing else, a footstool would have been nice.
  
  
• The aft cabin with a deck is very nice if you have lots of days at sea (fun to watch where you have been), but you do feel the swells a lot more when you are all the way to the back of the ship.
  
  
• The towel animals were great, with the towel monkey the best. We had never seen the monkey before.
  

The rest of the ship: We enjoyed our time wandering around the ship. The Sun is not one of the mega-ships, so it was easy to get to know your way around the ship. Except for the casino (midship, deck 7), there is no smoking in any of the indoor public locations – we really enjoyed not having to put up with someone smoking in the lounges when we wanted to listen to the piano music. We only ate in the Le Bistro specialty restaurant once, and that was for the special Jazz Brunch that they had one morning. At $10-$25 per person, the specialty restaurants were too expensive for us to want to go to them. We usually ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet, but we did eat in the Seven Seas (one of the two main dining rooms) on two occasions. For dinner, except for the first night when we ate in the Seven Seas, we ate in the other main dining room, the Four Seasons. All food was really good, and some evenings it was hard to choose only two items from the appetizer/soup/salad list and one item from the entre list. The cold fruit soups were are favorites!

We didn’t go to any of the evening shows other than the Jean Ann Ryan Company shows. But these shows were superb. We have season tickets to the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, and we find the JAR shows to be every bit as well done. It was fun seeing all the preschool/kindergarten age kids on the ship. The Kids Crew took really good care of these kids and kept them very busy, which gave their parents plenty of time to enjoy their activities. In the evening, the kids would parade through the common areas and show off the various craft items they had made during the day. Lots of fun!

We did have some excitement on the ship: the last night, while we were packing so we could put our bags outside the door for debarkation the next morning, the captain came on and requested (in very frantic terms) that the bravo team report immediately to the incinerator room. It seemed that there was a fire (hmm, isn’t an incinerator room where one would expect a fire) and lots of smoke. The captain came on several more times, telling us not to worry. But I decided to get everything out of the safe, just in case….. Pretty soon, the captain was back and said the fire was out and had been confined to the incinerator room and its smokestack, and was really nothing more than lots of smoke (which those of us in the aft cabins might notice).
Then, after we had finally gone to bed, we were awakened around 12:45 AM to a strange noise. When we investigated, we discovered a Coast Guard helicopter hovering off the end of the ship, just above our deck. We watched for a while, and assumed that someone must have been injured in the fire. Around 4:30, we again heard noise, and were surprised to find that the helicopter was back. We later found out that that the first time the helicopter came, it was to airlift an elderly man who had suffered a stroke in all the excitement over the fire. The second time the helicopter came was to take another elderly gentleman to the hospital because of possible internal bleeding from the Coumadin he was taking. He had fallen out of his wheelchair on several occasions and his bruises were getting bigger and darker instead of going away.

Here are some of the things we liked (or didn’t like) about the ship, and other final observations:

• The juice dispenser in the outdoor portion of the buffet worked much better than the dispenser in the inside portion of the buffet.
  
  
• If you plan to do any Internet surfing or e-mail reading, buy the largest package minutes for the best price. I bought the 250 minutes for the 12 day cruise and used all of them. The Internet connection is not particularly fast, and you use 2-3 minutes just logging on and off.
  
  
• The Freestyle Daily (the bulletin left every evening in the cabin) could really use a good proofreader.
  
  
• Latitudes members got an extra 10% discount in the photo salon and the shops.
  
  
• Instead of buying your photos as soon as you see them, ask that they start an envelope and let you put your pictures in, saving them for the last day. That way, you can get the ones you really want and get the best combinations and packages.
  
  
• Have “business” cards (actually, more like the old fashioned calling cards) made before you go on your cruise. These should have your picture and e-mail address on them. Great for sharing with others that you meet on the cruise. Try http://www.vistaprint.com for a good source for cards.
  

Inside our cabin:

Location of our cabin on the ship:

Monkey towel animal:

Check out the rest of my blogs about our cruise:

• Topolobampo: Copper Canyon by Train
  
• La Paz (Pichilingue): Artisans of La Paz
  
• Mazatlan: Sierra Madre Country Tour
  
• Puerto Vallarta: Town, Country & Tequila
  
• Cabo San Lucas: On our own