Hualtuco - nice place to visit and I absolutely WOULD WANT TO LIVE THERE.

I think about all the places I've been like India, NYC, Mexico City, even downtown Atlanta near where we live and I think, "Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there". Not the case with Hualtuco, Mexico. As soon as I got back on board, I started looking at real estate here. What made it so appealing? Firstly it was clean, not spotless but nonetheless, clean. Secondly, it was safe. Third, the weather here is a consistent 80 degrees and it is sunny 330 days per year. I think it would be the ideal place to winter. BUT it gets better. You can tell they have a long term plan for the city to handle many more people and specifically tourists than it currently does. There's a promenade under construction that goes from the port to the downtown....about a mile. It's exceptionally well done and there are excavated and level building sites on either side that will be amazing shops and restaurants "some day". My guess is in about 5 years, it will be built out and at that time, real estate will no longer be affordable. We still have a lot of cruise ahead of this but Hualtuco will be hard to beat as a place I would want to live in.

The ship arrived in port about 8:30 local time and we got off about 9. We immediately hailed a taxi to the center of town. The orange taxis service this area and it's a standard $5 to get into downtown. Definitely beats the $20 in Cartegena. But I digress. The downtown is relatively small and I noticed something I've never noticed in other towns. There's a one block radius around the town square that is "touristy" but beyond that, it's all locals living their daily lives. Because my wife and I speak spanish fluently, we love to venture off the beaten path. Under "Ports of Call", you'll see pics of the local markets. There aren't supermarkets like in the states. We passed a meat store with meat hanging out to dry perhaps (not a butcher per se), a fish market, multiple fruit and vegetable stands, a pharmacy, and the list goes on....each a speciality set apart from the others.

The big draw to the center of town is the church which has the largest painting of the Virgen Guatalupe. I think they missed an advertising opportunity. While the painting was large and well done, the really exceptional artwork at this church were the frescos.....some of the best I've ever seen and we've been to hundreds of (catholic) churches. I think what was so exceptional for me was the contrast between this church and all the other catholic churches we've visited, especially in Europe. Many of those churches are also exceptionally beautiful but part of that beauty comes from very expensive, intricate and brilliant art pieces of gold, silver and precious gems that would rival the royal crown jewels. In sharp contrast, this church was very modest, in fact one might even consider it a poor church, but definitely not poor in spirit. I loved how this church made me feel and the connection I felt to G-d there. I encourage you to click on the Port of Calls tab and scroll down to Huatluco to see all the pics.

After spending some time in the church and in the surrounding gardens (also beautiful), we walked around the town searching for a pendant for my wife. Hualtuco is known for its silver. The prices appeared to start at about $18 per oz and the pieces we liked most weighed about 12 oz, so about $200 usd. At least that's what I saw as they quickly punched the calculator keys. The best I could "regatear" which means to "bargain" was to about 75% or $150, which may have been a good deal but it was just more than we wanted to allocate for that. Going into the various jewelry stores was really a means to an end as it caused us to meander around and experience all the sights, smells and classic "mexican-ness" but yet uniquely Hualtuco. As mentioned above, we ventured out of the city center and loved being with the locals going about their daily lives.

During our meandering, we ran into 2 couples from our ship who had walked the promenade to town. We decided to walk it back and so glad we did. I gained yet an even higher appreciation for this town and feel strongly we'll be back.....multiple times. Once back to the port, there was of course more opportunities to shop and experience the local flavor of this beautiful town. It was 1pm by this point and we decided to spend a leisurely afternoon on the boat. After a modest lunch, I did my daily exercise, 1hr, 5.4 miles on the elliptical at a resistence of 20. I've switch from a musical accompaniment to an audiobook and the time is flying by. I'm almost up to 50 miles since we boarded and I've lost just a bit of weight despite some dietary indulgences and a drink or 2......or 3, 4,5 etc. Let's just say, higher than my grand can count.

That's a good segue to an afternoon spent in the hot tub with a drink or 2.... watching the 49ers and the Seahawk game on the big screen. 2 hours passed quickly till dinner where we met 2 couples who have been assigned to our table and so now we're a set table for the remainder of the cruise. We all got along and both couples are frequent cruisers so we're already learning a lot. One of the gentlemen is an engineer so we'll get along great. The evening show was our favorite guitarist from the Bayou. He was the headliner in the Princess Theater and he was so excited about it. And he did a good job.

Such a full day, I couldn't finish this blog till this morning. So far the cruise is a big hit with great weather, relatively calm seas, good food, good entertainment and good company. We're almost 10% through now and I can't believe how quickly it has passed. Hasta manana.