When cruise ships dock at Caribbean ports such as St. Thomas, Cozumel, or Cancun, nearly all of the passengers disembark to shop, eat, or sightsee. When cruise ships dock at Guatemala’s Puerto Quetzal, nearly all of the passengers stay aboard. Archaeologist Mary Lou Ridinger of Antigua has embarked on a one woman campaign to entice tourists off the luxury liners and into Guatemala.
In recent months, Mary Lou has lectured aboard three Pacific cruises, and in 2003, she will be guest lecturer on a dozen more – all with a goal of filling Mercedes-Benz tour buses for excursions to Antigua and elsewhere.Topics include Mayan culture, archaeology, the Jade museum at Jades, S.A., which Mary Lou and husband ay founded in 1974, and the discovery of an original source of blue jadeite that the ancient Olmecs had mined. In addition to promoting points of interest in guatemala, Mary Lou devotes about half of each lecture to questions and answers, and questions invariably arise about Guatemalan politics, culture and history.
Among passengers who attended Mary Lou’s presentation aboard the Universe Explorer in December 2001 were Robert Dowling, a consultant and lecturer at the University of California-Davis, and members of his family.
“We all attended Mary Lou’s presentation, and I learned a lot, both about the Mayans and about Jade. I had no idea that the Mayans valued Jade so highly,” Robert recalled. “Previously, whenever I thought of Jade, I assumed it came from China. Mary Lou’s talk opened a lot of people’s eyes to the rich culture of the Mayans and their use of Jade. Those who chose not to et off the boat and visit Antigua missed one of the highlights o the cruise. When we returned to the ship and told our fellow passengers about our day in Antigua, I think many were sorry that they didn’t get off that ship.”Not only did Robert and his entourage enjoy the day trip, he returned to Antigua in March for 10 weeks of Spanish language study. “We look forward to our next visit to this amazing town,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mary Lou has become a regular lecturer aboard the Universe Explorer. While cruise lines enjoy offering an intellectually stimulating alternative to the usual shipboard diversions, Mary Lou reports increasing success in getting passengers into the countryside. For Example, when a cruise ship Mary Lou was lecturing aboard stopped at Puerto Quetzal on Oct. 12, 580 of its 1,380 passengers (42 percent) bought shore excursions. “Over 500 of them came to Antigua,” Mary Lou said. “That’s still not as high as the 95 percent who get off at St. Thomas and Cozumel, but for Guatemala, it’s still a very high percentage.”
