A little bit about Cozumel. In the 1500s' the Mayan world fell to ruin when the Spanish imposed their authority and economy. The Spanish brought disease, including smallpox, which eventually wiped out the inhabitants of the island until the 17Th century when pirates used Cozumel as a base of operations. Cozumel was re-inhabited in 1848 by refugees from the "War of the Casts" on the mainland. The settlers numbered around 700 by 1890. It continued to grow but was a sleepy village until the early 1960s when it was discovered by the explorer and documentary filmmaker Jacques Cousteau. He put the island on the map as one of the greatest diving destinations in the world. In addition to water-related activities, the Mayan ruins are incredible attractions.
For our shore excursion we went to a Reef Explorer on a mini sub. We had deiced to go on this tour because we don't know how to scuba dive and have never been snorkeling. This kept us dry and we could see the reef in 2 hours instead of all day. So we got off the ship and went to the meeting place. Once everyone was there the guide took us to catch a taxi. There are tons of taxis in Cozumel. That is what most people do for work, besides owning a store. The taxi drivers are crazy. I was scared the whole time in the taxi. I can understand now why tour buses crash in other country's, they drive like maniacs. We made it to our destination safely and boarded the Mini Sub. The ocean was beautiful, along with all the fish and the coral. The pictures doesn't do it justice.
Then there was the taxi ride back to the port. This was the only day that we had all day to do any shopping. All the other days we had excursions that were all day so we didn't have time to shop. So shopping all day is my kind of fun, Randy even seamed to enjoy it. One thing you need to know is don't buy the first thing you see, because you can almost always find it cheaper in another store, and they will bargain with you, if you don't like the price then leave and they will usually come down to the price you are willing to pay.
I don't know what it was but we went on our cruise when these other countries were celebrating their National Holidays. They had a parade down the port street. A little different than what we have here in the states, but very cool.
After watching the parade we were feeling hungry and instead of wasting time to go back to the ship and eat, we tried a local restaurant called Pepes. I am always a little leary of trying new food especailly in a country I have never been to, but the food was fantastic. We shared a platter for two and we each had a coke, (which came in a glass bottle) it came with two steaks, beans and fresh guacamole, tostada, enchilada,and a quesadilla. I usually don't like to see any pink in my meat, but because I'm eating in a Foreign country I didn't send it back, I just ate it, which wasn't all that bad. I would eat there again.
After lunch it was off to do more shopping. Here is a list of things we bought. In Roatan, we got a Pink Pearl Necklace and Earings for 10 dollars what a steal for real Pearls. We gave these to Randy's sister Carie for Christmas. We got a Blue set of Pearls for 20 Dollars, which we gave to Randy's sister Aimee for Christmas. I bought a conk shell for ten dollars and a hair barette for 5 dollars and a fridge magnet. We collect fridge magnets for each place we visit since they are usually cheap and they are small and you can never have enough fridge magnets. In Belize we bought "Comatose" hot suace for my brother-in-law who is always saying it needs to be hotter, and it is very hot. I got myself a shell necklace, bracelet and earrings, made out of a black conk shell and black coral, and a fridge magnet. In Cozumel we bought Clay a Nacho Libre mask, a shirt, a shark tooth necklace and since he has been interested in coin collections we got him a rare coin from Mexico. Tyler a Nacho Libre mask, a shirt, a shark tooth necklace and a hand made crocodile toy.
They have so many jewelry stores that I went into one and found some Torquise earrings that would match the necklace I have but I didn't want to pay 55 dollars and the lowest he would sell them for was 35 so I told him no and left hoping I could find them somewhere else, and I did a few hours later. We came across this store that was selling everything for ten dollars and they were there so I snatched them up and picked up a beautiful necklace for Randy's sister who I had for Christmas. I also found these shirts and skirts in a lot of the stores which I ended up really liking so I bought one. When I wear it next I will take a picture of it. Randy found this Indiana Jones hat that the guy was selling for 50 dollars and was able to get him down to 30. It is really nice. We also picked up a few fridge magnets. And a wind chime for my mom and dad.
When we were done shopping we didn't want to walk by all the stores again, Randy was tired of the pushiness of the salesmen. So across the street was the ocean and there were no stores. Just some beautiful stone work, and Myan dancers
One thing I thought that was cool is seeing American Fast food joints. I know other countries have them but it's still strange to see them. Their store fronts are way different then we are used to. To get to McDonald's you had to take an escalator up to the second floor. We also saw Burger King and Pizza Hut.
So we are finailly done with all of our shopping and we head back to the ship. I wanted a picture of us standing in fornt and some nice couple took it for us.
We had a little bit of time to relax before we met Jon and Laura for dinner so we relaxed on deck 7 and then I wanted to watch us leave the port. So we went to the back of the ship and waited. While waiting we found out two things 1: 4 people hadn't made it back to the ship yet and 2: that the weather was too bad to go to the Great Stirrup Cay and instead we were going to Key West. I was really disappointed because that was the day we had planned on spending the whole day at the beach. Finally the 4 people we were waiting for come walking back to the ship 15 minutes late. Everyone on the back was cheering that they were back so we could leave. I have heard that they will leave you if you are not back, lucky for them we hadn't left yet. But this one lady decided to flash us all. The lady standing next to me said she had no class and I had to agree. While watching them untie the ropes we were talking to a couple who love Key West and they told us about a few things we should see and some stores to go to. One was the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory and the other was a store called Kino which has leather sandals for 8 dollars and they last a long time. Both places sounded like a must see.
Then it was time to meet Jon and Laura for dinner. We ate at La Cucina, an Italian Restaurant. It was a 4 course meal. I have never had a 4 course meal before.
Meat and Cheese Platter
Their take on a salad
Randy had soup which he really liked
Jon, Laura and I had Lobster Ravolli
Dessert was so good
I had this which was better than the other desserts
Randy and Laura had what ever this was
Jon had the Tiramisu
Then we head off to see the show for the night which was Sharkbait. They are Comedy Jugglers which were fantastic. I have never seen anything like it before. They use to be clowns for the Ringling brothers circus and now have there own show. They have also been on the David Letterman show and other things. If you every come across them, see their show. There names were Max and Sean.
Max, Alisha, Randy and Sean
Max, Laura, Jon and Sean
Then it was off to bed since it had been a long day of walking around. I have never in my life walked as much as I did this week. You had to walk everywhere on the ship and I was always to impatient to wait for the elevator to take you down, and it was just as fast to walk down 2-6 flights of stairs. Then all the walking on shore. I think I made up for all the excerise I didn't do all year long. I have also not drank as much water in one week as I did this week. I usually will have 2 cans a pop a day. I didn't have my first can until Wednesday and then I only had one every day after that. I would just drink water all day long, which is something I don't do at home.
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