Day 4

The 4th and 6th were just days at sea.  Visited several events that they posted especially the presentations where they discussed the next excursions that we had planned to do.  Seas have been really flat and we are traveling at about 18 knots.  Lots to drink.  Dinners and breakfasts were pretty good.  

We have a particular dining room that we have to attend for dinner, but the rest of the meals are where ever we want to eat. 

The 5th we were at port in Puerto Vallarta.  Outstanding place.  We did a tour bus that took us around the city and to a bunch of attractions. Lots of monuments made from bronze with tributes to the sea, gods, and sea gods.  Lots of people but all in all a very friendly place.  There was no noticeable crime anywhere.  Apparently, this is a very popular place for US citizens to retire too as the guide kept saying that they sure did like the Americans coming to town, whether by ship or air.   We had a fun day seeing how Tequilla is made and of course sampling some.

The 7th found us a the port of Huatulco, Mexico.  Pretty small place with a population of only a few thousand.  We had an excursion at 11 am so we took our time getting ready.  The temp was in the 80's, but so was the humidity.  By the time we finished up, it was in the upper 80's and the humidity was taking it's toll.  We had decided to visit the Copalita ruins or pyramids.  Very interesting.  Turns out they have been just discovered and have not really been understood yet.  They are built of river rock sand and mud.  They were built facing the East and were for worship of the gods.  I asked which gods and they said that everything in nature was represented by one or more god.  So lots of gods.  They also had human sacrifices and it was an honor to be selected for the sacrifice.  How did they chose a lucky subject?  Well, they played a ball game of several players, sort of like basket ball, and the winning team had to select a sacrifice.  They have this really cool platform where the prey was stretched out and then they (a holy man) ripped out his heart with a sharp flint knife.  

Day 8 we are at sea again. Had a very windy night with winds that were over 80 knots.  (93 mph),  Now that got interesting.  Pretty nice day today.  Tomorrow we are docking in Nicaragua.