Mezcal, Plants and a Day in LA

Our final two ports were in Mexico...first stop was Huatulco where we went to a local village to see how they weave rugs.  They not only weave the rugs but they make the dye from local plants and use moldy cactus to change the colors of the dye.

 

Our next stop of the day was at a medicinal botanical garden.  We started the tour with a cleansing and then wandered the path learning about all the healing properties in the plants.

 

 

 

 

 
The loofah sponge in it's natural habitat.  They grow on trees and if you peel back the skin you can use...no processing needed.

 

After the botanical garden, we stopped for light lunch of a tortillas filled with cactus.

Our final stop of the day was to see how tortillas are made and taste a little flavored Mezcal.  Once again, LuLu was a good sport and tried the Mezcal but not sure she enjoyed as much as Julie and me. 

 

 

 

Our last port was Puerto Vallarta where we did a little walking tour followed by more Mezcal...at least this time we learned about the process of how it is made and didn't just drink!

 

First time I've ever seen lights on an altar

 

After a couple days at sea, we arrived into the Port of Los Angeles.  Rather than trying to make a dash to the airport, we stayed in LA for the day.  LuLu does love her hot dogs so we stopped off at Pink's  before heading to the Griffith Park Observatory.

It was a windy day!

LuLu and Julie headed back home and I headed to Santa Barbara for a site visit of a hotel.  It was nice to celebrate the holidays at sea but I am looking forwarded to being home soon!