March 18, 2015 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I forgot to mention a couple of things at our last port of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.  We were given health forms to complete and turn in as we got off the tender.  It asked questions about symptoms in the last 30 days like fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting, etc.  I wonder how many people were honest with that?  They collected it but it didn’t look like anyone was reading them.  Then before we left the port area everyone had their temperature taken.  Don’t know what they were looking for - Ebola, the flu?  And our table mates, good sources of all the news of the ship, talked with two different people who had had the military take their cameras and delete all their pictures because they had been taking pictures of military buildings, unknowingly, they said.

Today was our last port, Puerto Vallarta.  We’ve been here a few times before and I don’t remember it as being too interesting.  But today, we were struck by how pretty it is.  I think that’s because the hills are green, the sky is blue and there’s lots of grass and palm trees around in contrast to some of the dismal industrial ports we’ve been to on this trip.  We wandered through the craft market set up right on the pier (“better junk for less”) and then decided to go across the thoroughfare to Walmart just to get us back into the American shopping mode.  We bought a couple of bottles of liquor at very good prices and when we checked out the cashier asked us whether we wanted the price in pesos or dollars.  There’s a button on their register that instantly converts the total.  You could pay with US dollars, paper only, but were given change in pesos.  We used our credit card.  And we saw an ATM that advertised either pesos or dollars given.

This time we had no trouble getting our liquor on board since there was no one monitoring it.  I guess they figure why bother at this point.

So we have 2 sea days before Los Angeles.  It has been a very good trip - we’ve seen so many new things, met many interesting people and learned a lot.  Every time we travel outside the US, we are reminded again how fortunate we are to have been born here and to live where we live.  That’s something we never take for granted.

The 49 days really wasn’t too long, but that was helped by having internet access (slow though it was!) and text capability in all but one port.  We’re really looking forward to seeing our friends and families again, but I’m so  not looking forward to having to shop, cook and clean again.  And the stack of mail waiting for us is not a pleasant thought.  Hope the TiVo didn’t have a hiccup and that all of my shows are waiting for me.  Ah, the simple pleasures.