Canada to Patagonia at a Worrying Age

Ah Guatemala, a land of contrasts, of colour, of friends we haven’t yet met and of industry combined with nature. No journey to Central America would be complete without a trip to the evocative Porto Quetzal. My own sojourn to this glorious country was full of surprises and er…

…all of the above I was able to divine in a twenty minute walk around a smelly dock at 9pm at night. The dockworkers did seem nice, though, even if at least eight of them tried to run me over. (A container port is not the ideal environment for a gentle stroll.)

So I’ve been on here for a week now. The main thing has been the wildlife, which has exceeded expectations. It’s a bit too easy to lose a couple of hours looking into the water, knowing you’ll always see something. Current favourites are turtles, although dolphins are making a theatrical bid for the top prize. At least one whale turned up today – could have been more, but I couldn’t get high enough in time to check size and numbers.

Other than that, same old same old, except for the first time on this journey I’m heading north, something I hadn’t expected to do until February at least. Immediate downside of that is we’re not travelling with the flocks of migrating birds, as we have been for the past week.
The crew tell me Manzanillo is a bit of a blast and the chief cook is threatening to take me to a club he knows there if the timing of arrival is right. With luck, I’ll upload this in Mexico before heading out onto the town. Let’s wait and see.

Hope you’re all OK and that I’m top of the league.

Later – after tea

Turns out Manzanillo isn’t looking good (arriving late, leaving early). May not even get to check my emails.

Went out a bit fed up to look at the moonlit sea which was gorgeous – however, even better was the sparkling in the sea! Not the moon or the booze (2nd can only, I promise), but those creatures that wink lights on and off at each other in the briny. Lasted about 20 minutes, which indicates a lot of the little buggars at the speed we move. Anyone know what they’re called? Fabulous and special sight, whatever…

See you in a week.

Might be out of sync, but welcome to Matthew, and well done Mum and Dad.

However, I have noticed a distinct reluctance to use the name Martin in these various boys that keep coming out. Anyone would thing I could be cited as a bad example to the youth.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.