Chiapas, MX - Guatemala & Honduras

March 19-22 Our voyage to Chiapas was uneventful, which is a good thing when your out at sea! The Chiapas marina is practically on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. It is a commercial and navy port. It is a very protected marina in that it is located quite a ways inland. It was a requirement to have an onboard inspection upon arrival with a dog. It is a bit intimidating to have a naval officer on your boat and a big dog sniffing around! But the officer was very nice. The marina was very clean and pleasant. We were only there for a few days, but we enjoyed our time there getting ready for our 19 hour voyage to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. We met another Nordhavn couple, Ian and Mary on Aegis, and spent some more time with our friends Chris and Vicki on Rainbow's End. There was a pleasant restaurant, tennis court (we used it to play pickle ball), and outdoor wood grilling station (Darryn cooked steaks). We enjoyed our short three days here!

Darryn taking advantage of an outdoor grill at the Chiapas, Mexico marina

We arrived at the commercial/fishing port of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala on March 23rd not really knowing what to expect. This marina is much different than most, as it doesn't cater to cruisers but to fishermen and shipping freighters. Not much English is spoken here, we struggled a bit with our limited Spanish (we are actively working on it!). Officials came to our boat and drove us around to get us officially into the country. This was a stop mainly to allow us to travel to Guatemala City and Antigua, but we did enjoy watching the flurry of activity with the fishing boats. Our boat was safe here, as it is a secure marina, but the swell was bad due to the close proximity to the open ocean. Also, at any given time there was a large freighter in the marina offloading coal. This is an energy source used here in Guatemala. It was fascinating to watch the cranes drop coal into vats that got transported via machinery onto huge piles on land right outside the marina. The only drawback is the coal dust gets on everything in the vicinity, including our boat! (ironically the ship was offloading coal from Prince Rupert, BC!) We quickly arranged a driver (as we were advised due to crime) to transport us to Guatemala City for one night and Antigua one night. Guatemala is the largest country in Central America with 14 million people. Guatemala City has over 1 million people, and is divided into zones, some are safe and others are not. We stayed in zone 10, and it was lovely. We spent most of our time walking around and admiring architecture, shopping and eating out. We even had Murphy groomed at a local pet spa. And in case you are wondering, yes their coffee is amazing! There were coffee shops on every corner! The next day we drove to Antigua. This is a charming town in a valley, surrounded by three volcanoes. It was the capitol until 1773 when an earthquake took a toll on the city. Much of the colonial style buildings were restored but you can still see some of the destruction. There are two active volcanoes nearby, Fuego and Agua. Mount Fuego erupts every 15-20 minutes! (See pic). The locals here are proud of their heritage and are lovely people. Their background is Mayan. Many of the women wear the colorful weaved skirts and dresses. The crafts they sell are very colorful and quite beautiful. One of the popular crafts are worry dolls. According to legend, Guatemalan children tell their worries to the worry dolls, placing them under their pillows when they go to bed at night. By morning the dolls have gifted them with the wisdom and knowledge to eliminate their worries. Antigua was really fun to stroll around, shop, look at local crafts, old buildings etc. The town is very colorful, the buildings are painted in vibrant colors and the flowers that were blooming around them were quite beautiful as well. The doors are all wood and beautiful. The stores and restaurants were mainly in courtyards, so not always very noticeable from the street. Our hotel was really cool, the room had stone and brick walls and sitting rooms throughout the courtyard. We enjoyed a hike in the morning up to the Cross on the Hill. It was a short but steep hike, with a great view overlooking Antigua and the volcanoes.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala - A fishing and commercial port

Murf in Guatemala City!

Antigua, Guatemala

Mount Fuego - an active volcano erupting!

The streets of Antigua

Stunning architecture!

The Cross on the Hill, a great little hike overlooking Antigua

A Mayan merchant with her colorful clothes (and great balance!)

My handsome hubby after a great local Guatemalan meal!

Gallo, the local Guatemalan beer! Muy bien!

We left for our 34 hour overnight trip on Tuesday, March 29th heading for the Isla Tigre, in Honduras. We passed the entire country of El Salvador, which is Central America’s smallest and the only one that doesn’t have a Caribbean coast. We enjoyed the mountainous view from our boat. During the middle of the night we hit a thunderstorm with lightening. Darryn was on watch and I woke up to relieve him at 4:00 am to a torrential downpour! Darryn was busy trying to avoid obstacles (boats, pangas and fishing nets) since the storm was interfering with our radar. Thankfully there weren’t a lot of obstacles and the storm slowly subsided and was gone by dawn. This was the first time we had a storm to deal with since we started cruising on Curandera! We don’t want to get hit with lightening out on the open ocean!

We arrived at Isla Tigre, Honduras later the next day. It is in a gulf where all three countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua can be seen from one vantage point. Isla Tigre doesn't have much on it except a small town, Amapala, with no tourists or provisions. The immigration officials and port captain spoke only Spanish. Thank God for Google Translate! We were a bit of a spectacle, since they aren't used to having many boaters or tourists. We had a group of 4 local boys swim out to our boat! They were fun and Darryn gave them a ride back to the pier and they swam back out a second time! I guess that's what we get for giving them a huge bag of jolly ranchers and school supplies! 

Local kids swam to our boat! 

The Main Street in Ampala, Honduras (Isla Tigre)

While in Honduras we discovered we needed a PCR test for our entrance into our next country, Nicaragua. Isle Tigre doesn't offer them, nor does the nearest coastal town. The immigration official coordinated a driver to bring us to the town of Choluteca. Well this involved a panga ride to the coastal town of San Lorenzo, then a crazy hour of fast driving to Choluteca. The panga driver joined us, so the four of us climbed into the SUV. The driver drove like a maniac, passing every vehicle, almost hitting a herd of goats, texting and talking on his phone! The road out of San Lorenzo was very windy and rough, it was scary going so fast around the turns. Finally we reached a paved main road that led into Choluteca. We had to stop once for a check, the armed police made us get out of the car and checked our passports. Once we got to the clinic it went smoothly but they charged us $175 for two tests and wanted us to wait two hours for the result. We said no way to waiting, and instructed them to email them! We left, and on the way back home we came close and personal with a herd of cattle. This whole trip took 2 -1/2 hours but we got back safe, and enjoyed a beer on the ride back!

Panga ride back to our boat following our Covid test road trip

The adventurous trip to Choluteca (yes that is a beer in my hand)

Its been some interesting stops but we are really looking forward to our next three countries, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama!