On a World Cruise such as this ship is on, one of the main attractions to people is the ports that they will visit. Couple that with an economical operating speed along with a determinate time period [90 days for this one], and it becomes a juggling act to come up with an itinerary that will be attractive.
In crossing an ocean there are only so many islands so it becomes a matter of consecutive sea days, and too many on a voyage becomes boring, hence unattractive. The run from Panama to San Francisco is quite long, but the ship has to hit an American Port to be attractive to some Americans. Why we had half a day in Acapulco and then the whole next day in a little place that does not have a lot of attractions, is, I believe merely to give another port in the itinerary, but the ship can not go fast enough to give a full day there. And now you know. [At least that is my thoughts.]
Fellette and I chose the 'Jet Boat' tour today. We wondered where the water would be and we found out soon enough. About 15 of us were taken in two vans about 40 miles into the mountains beyond Acapulco to a river called the Papagallo. It is the water supply for the city and supplies 25% of the power with a Hydro dam.
We were in two boats. Ours had a 502 cubic inch chevy engine, liquid propane fuelled, draws 18 inches of water, is capable of 50 MPH and driven by a Mexican with a death wish. We had a glorious time even if we were soaking wet after the first or second 360 degree wheelie that he did just to keep us on our toes.
Because of the dam and it being dry right now, the water was not fast flowing and it was virtually like a mill pond. Therefore the driver and his obvious skill had to give us the thrills, which he did very well. The two boats gave unbelievable twists and turns and wheelies that the other boat could witness so it turned into a bit of a show-off thing between the two boats. Fine with us, we somehow felt invincible.
Mexico is a poor country, especially noticeable in the mountains where the people scratch a living out without a lot of outside help. Family is everything to them. There were some wooden shacks, all adjacent to each other along the shore of the river with people working on them. I asked our driver about them and he said they were locals who build a sun shelter, little structure, and use it on weekends with the family. They come to the river, the kids swim and the parents hunt for crayfish and have a picnic on the cool river. They were rebuilding them because a recent flood had washed them away.
Along the river there was a women washing clothes, kids swimming, a man bathing and several men trying to cast their nets in to put some fish on the table. Meanwhile two boat loads of over-fed Gringos were racing by them at 50 miles an hour scaring away the fish.
At least that is the way I saw it. I also saw it that those two boatloads also put in several hundreds of dollars into the local economy. Strange world.
A cool $2.00 Corona finished the trip off, it was only then that I realized how nerdy I looked in my $5.00 Aruba hat! (but how very sensible, my wife tells me).
When we returned to the ship, there in our air conditioned cabin was our fresh fruit basket and our hors d'oeuvres for the day. Another flash of guilt before we showered and went to dinner! That guilt thing does keep me on my toes. Great fun regardless.
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