Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Huatulco, Mexico. Finger manipulation, and excursion: Huatulco by land & sea.

Sun setting on the horizon

Yesterday was a sea day and we passed by one of Holland America's other cruise ships - MS Zaandam. No doubt the officers were communicating with each other on the navigation deck, saying 'howzit?'

Towards sunset officers on the bridge noticed some birds starting to settle on the forward mast and called Paul and he came fetched me, knowing that it would be nice to see them. The birds were either boobies or gannets. They had webbed feet and found it difficult to settle initially on the horizontal bars of the mast, but some of them somehow managed and there they stayed, hitching a lift, until sunrise.

As the sun sank closer to the horizon it became a beautiful red ball - it was an amazing sight. As usual it reminds me how grateful that I should be able to see it, and how grateful I am to be alive on this beautiful earth.

Huatulco is set in a beautiful bay and I was glad to get off the ship on a tour today. Once the tour group was down on the pier we walked to outside the harbour to meet up with our bus. The bus part of the tour was to give us an overall view of Huatulco and La Crucesita with two viewpoint stops along the way for photographs.

In La Crucesita we had a bit of free time to wander around the town. Some people went shopping, others went sightseeing; visiting the church and beautiful central plaza or recommended places as per our guide. I needed to get out of the heat badly and ended up going into a shop and browsed for a bit, enjoying the cool temperatures from the air conditioner.

José taking us around the coastline and bays

Throughout the bus tour José, our guide, was very knowledgeable and pointed out areas of interest. He gave a bit of a history about the town and its future. He spotted some iguanas and got the bus driver to stop briefly for guests to see them on the banks of the hill next to the road. He also pointed out the ‘tequila’ plant (blue Agave plant) and pistachio trees; and a few other plants. José was a likeable chap with a good sense of humour. (Guides can 'make or break' a tour!)

This blowhole gave a fantastic display for us

After the bus tour we got dropped off at an entrance at the harbour, the closest to the motorised catamaran that we boarded for the second part of our trip. The catamaran's name? "Tequila"! Very apt indeed. Is was it the motion of the ocean that rocked us or was it the complimentary drinks that flowed freely - tequila and margaritas. There was also beer and water on board too for those that didn't fancy the other drinks.

During the boat trip around the harbour and various bays in the area the catamaran staff were lovely. José Cruz, the captain of "Tequila" allowed a guest or two to pilot the boat under his watchful eye. Everyone on the catamaran seemed to enjoy themselves but one particular couple even more so. They were a bit drunk by the time they got off the catamaran. They ended up needing an electric mobility cart to fetch them and take them back to the ship! (Oh happy daze!!!)

Before dinner time Paul and I walked down to the ship's infirmary so that the crew doctor could have a look at my right hand's middle finger (don't even think along other lines!!).

To give you a bit of background: towards the end of last year when the Maasdam was in New Zealand I on a rocket boat tour in Akaroa. After the a scenic high speed boat ride around the bay the boat's pilot did a couple of G-force turns - which were fantastic because of the adrenaline rush. Unfortunately as we did the spins water spray made the forward bar I was holding onto wet; my hands started slipping. During the last spin my fingers lost their grip and I wrenched the middle finger of my hand. It was painful at the time but that was it. It didn't seem to be broken so I put my finger in ice for a good few hours. Over time, though, the finger has become more painful to use. Eventually when I got back to England I had it x-ray'd I was fed up with the pain and swelling around the joint. The x-ray was fine. Anyway I ended up strapping the finger straight in case I had damaged any surrounding ligaments.

Fast track until today, back on board and about 5 to 6 weeks of strapping my finger to a split, I have still been in pain so hence going to see the crew doctor to have a look at it/get advice. Dan decided to get Linda to x-ray it for me in case something didn't show up on the first x-ray, but there was nothing seen. So, he decided to see how much I could bend my finger - under local anaesthetic. Usually, for me, local anaesthetics have never been painful (I've had the same finger injected with a local anaesthetic when I needed stitches over the joint after cutting my skin open on a the lid of a tin of cat food by mistake) but bloody hell, the 3 injections he gave me near my knuckle hurt like blazes. The whole middle finger swelled up and eventually the local anaesthetic started to work. Dan then took my hand and gently started to bend the finger at the middle joint. It was a bit stiff but he kept on going until I could feel the joint hurting. I hope I didn't swear because the anaesthetic didn't help after a certain point in bending it. There was a bit more stretching and bending my finger to get the tendons a bit more mobile. The upshot is that I shouldn't splint the finger any more and to start exercising it, gently, even if it hurts. I need to get it moving again so that I can start using my hand properly. It might take a while to get full mobility back again but anything is a good start.

After visiting the infirmary Paul and I went and sat in one of the ship's Jacuzzi's and there in the warm water I started my 'rehab', clenching and releasing my fingers.

Time to head to bed - we will be arriving in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, tomorrow.

PHOTOGRAPHS