Guatemala

Sigh... so much time spent on the visa situation. I didn't know that there is a policy for the cruise to get all country visa  yourself otherwise you will get denied boarding. I didn't know that this visa is so hard to get. Anyways, I tried look it up online and email and there wasn't much information. Ga je and Dai goh helped calling the embassy and finally we had a plan on how to get the visa.

Mom and dad will go to the SF one with ga je after they arrive in the US. I need to cut the Christmas holiday short with Rian's family and will get my visa in LA. (Rian was upset about it but it is a different story).

Ga je picked us up from the airport and head to the embassy right away. Turns out that the embassy was super small and the process was very quick and easy.

At the end I don't even know whether this is necessary. The visa was not checked during the cruise check in. And there was no immigration when we get there.

Guatemala is the only port I bought excursion because the port looks very empty from the map. It was a tour to a mountain side (volcano) coffee farm. We got to see the coffee plants and how the coffee fruits and beans are processed.

It was quite informational. Since mom and dad like gardening and coffee. They also enjoyed the tour. Mom also bought some souvenir home, including a couple of small birds (national bird called quazel with a long green tail) made out of beads. Pretty neat.