We took a cruise to Hawaii, Mazatlan and back to L.A. last year.

I find cruising very relaxing. I love being at sea and always bring a few good books to read.

This cruise left from Los Angeles and was very convenient. No plane or airport hassles since the port is just a few miles from my home.

The ship was not set up very well for “quiet adult time” as it was a family or party ship. The library was used as a hallway to everywhere, sadly.

We finally were able to find a quiet spot during the day in the cocktail lounge of all places. It was empty during the day. Several people found our “little secret” in the rear of the ship, very high up in the lounge.

It offered a great view as well as some quiet time.

I worked on one of my novels and read a little. I was a hyper active child and remain a hyper active adult, so says the wife, anyway. She is pleased when I go off to play tennis three days a week and leave her to a calm, silent house.

We arrived in Honolulu and walked to a park at the foot of Diamond Head. The walk was seven miles each way. It gave us a chance to see the city up close and slowly. We are walkers.

We were in Ecuador in 1999 at Christmas when the president was “asked” to leave.

There were soldiers everywhere in the streets as we walked the capital. We had no idea of what was happening and were totally unconcerned. Ignorance, is bliss. That was the beginning of our Ecuador, Peru and Galapagos Islands cruise.

The ship then soon left for Mazatlan. The weather was wonderful and the sea was calm. I thought of Mark Twain taking this journey by sailing vessel when he came to live in the “islands” many years ago. What an adventure that must have been.

We reached Mazatlan a few days later and took the van into town and saw the sites. The city was once several separate islands. The sea was filled in to become one land mass. A great task, no doubt.

We went to the usual points of interest and had some nice meals there and on the ship. I usually loose weight on these trips as I am kept busy and away from our refrigerator.

We met some very interesting people and learned some things about this part of Mexico. Mexico is vast and has very different geographical zones. We had been to Acapulco on the return leg of our Panama Canal trip and stayed over for a few days to see the sites there, as well.

I have a friend here who we may visit at some point in the future in Nayarit if things calm down a little. Right now it’s just a little “too unsettled” for me to go into the interior.

Perhaps the new president can get some of those issues squared away so that we might feel a little safer.

I speak passable Spanish and can survive in that realm if given just a chance to hear what is being said. “Dispacio, por favor.

The Spanish language is an interesting one and since it comes from Latin, the root of our language, there are some commonalities. I often make the language more difficult than it is, due to my limited knowledge of it.

I grew up in a Mexican neighborhood or “barrio” in Southern California and feel comfortable and at home among these industrious people. I will put up some information on Mazatlan in a few days.

If you like Latin American adventures, read “Dreams of Costa Rica,” by me, R.C. Hand, on Amazon. It’s a fictionalized version of some of my uncle’s adventures there. I have many cousins there, I suppose, but have only met one sixty years ago.

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