We arrived at
Puerto Quetzal about 8:00 am. This port is not a major cruise ship destination
and we docked at the commercial port.
There is however, a dedicated dock and reception center for one cruise
ship.
Guatemala
right now does not have a strong economy.
It is a democracy with elected officials but according to our tour guide
the country is run by 60 oligarch families that control the various sectors of
the economy. There is apparently a wide
gap between the very poor and the very rich, some of whom we were able to see
on our tour.
There is also
a large indigenous population of Mayan ancestry. They are essentially undereducated with most
children not progressing beyond the 4th grade. Although government education
and medical care are provided, families often remove the children from school
to work in the fields or sew/weave trinkets, blankets and clothing for
tourists.
Our offshore
excursion was a 90-minute bus ride into the mountains at 5,000 ft to visit the
old Spanish city of Antigua. The city
was the capital of Guatemala in the 1770’s until a series of earthquakes forced
it to be moved to Guatemala City.
Antigua Guatemala was subsequently rebuilt and it was declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1970.
We were
surprised at the large number of tourists in town, despite only one cruise ship
in port. The cobblestone streets are
narrow and were clogged with traffic and lots of people. We had an interesting stop at a jade factory
and sales room with lots of high-quality jade jewelry for sale. We also had a stop at the main city square where
we were overwhelmed by scores of natives (mostly Mayan) trying to sell all
kinds of tourist oriented things. We had
another stop at what can best be described as a tourist shopping bazaar. They
had a large selection of silver jewelry as well as lots of the usual tourist
souvenirs.
It was then a
long bus ride back to the ship, viewing a lot of the rural area along the
way. All things considered it was an
interesting tour, but not a great one with all the focus seemly on trying to
sell something to us. It did point out however the need for the locals to try
and make a living off the tourists as it appears to be one of the only viable
alternatives to other limited economic opportunities for the common people,
especially the natives. This is typical
of the historic model of many Central/South American countries. If you are rich you remain rich, if you are
poor you stay poor and there are few opportunities for the establishment of or
advancement into a true middle class. It
is easy to see why the attraction of easy money through involvement with
criminal activity such as the drug business can be an attraction for some.
After we got
back, we ran another gauntlet of trinket sellers before boarding the ship for
our 6:00 pm departure. After dinner, it was early to bed after a long day in
the third world.
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