Cruisin' With Mom Part II or The Return Voyage

Day Three Cozumel

I was up bright and early today and in my swim suit first thing ready to get off this boat. We had a slightly queasy breakfast (Levaquin plus ship swaying isn’t the best combo) but after eating I felt a little better. We walked up to the top deck of the boat and sat watching the Mexican cities pass us by as we came up to Cozumel. We watched Cancun and Playa de Carmen pass us by on the starboard side of the ship. I was getting really homesick so I made myself feel better by buying a new hat with mom’s money. 

Our ship was about two hours late pulling into Cozumel. Instead of disembarking by nine or nine thirty it was well after ten and our tour couldn’t get started until a little after 11. I saw a fun starfish mobile that I really wanted to get for Matt, but they only took cash so I’m sorry to say all I got him was a new magnet for our fridge. Cozumel port is set up as a tourist trap and looks like what Mexicans think Americans want to see on vacation. Thatch roofed buildings that are brightly painted in bright pinks, yellows, reds, and oranges, plenty of Tequila shops, Sombreros at every corner, and everywhere you go eager salesmen trying to pull you in and promising you a really good deal. Our tour guide’s name was Joshua (pronounced Yos-sua) and once he gathered us all up he walked us out to the taxi area, but not before stopping to give us a free juice sample and a sales pitch. Everywhere we went we were to mention Joshua’s group and get a really good deal.

The taxi vans took us to the Discover Mexico museum. Inside the museum there was quite a bit of Mexican art. I kept wandering a bit from the group so that I could see all of it and not just the few pieces Joshua wanted to tell us about. There was a lot of very beautiful Mexican art from day of the dead dolls, religious artworks, art work styled in Mayan and Aztec themes, and all of it fairly brightly colored which is my personal preference.The outside of the museum had replicas of the Mayan and Aztec temples as well as ones of Catholic churches. After seeing only half of those we sat down for a break while people converged on us to sell us stuff. Finally mom and I bought some Jaguar heads for Liam and Ian. When you blow into the top and use the palm of your hand on the bottom it makes a jaguar noise. 

After our sale break we went over and saw a traditional Mayan ceremony. I took a few pictures but the gist of it is five guys climb a ridiculously high pole and then tied to ropes four of them swing round out like a giant unwinding merry go round till they get to the bottom while the fifth guy lays on the top of the pole. The guy on top is supposedly pleading with the Gods to bless the four seasons represented by the four guys. As the four guys descend they rotate thirteen times which equals out to the number of weeks in the year.

We finished up at the Discover Mexico and went down to the Chakanaab Park. It was simply beautiful with white sand, blue water, and plenty of palm trees. Mom and I snuck away while Joshua was selling scuba and snorkel rentals. We walked back over to an outdoor restaurant that was a few feet from the water. We had a Mexican platter which was sumptuous. Every piece of food on it had a different sauce and flavor, and was nothing like anything I’ve ever had state side. 

After lunch we wandered over to the children’s lagoon where we waded around found a crab and several species of small tropical fish. It was really fun. 

This is me awkwardly trying to sit in a wooden chair with my plastic Frankenstien patch on my back. I asked mom how the picture looked and she said, "You look like you're in pain,". The statement was accurate.

After that we walked over and watched the dolphin trainers feed the dolphins. I took a couple of scenic shots so I could have some new screen savers and wall paper for my computer at home. 

We wandered over through the botanical garden where to our surprise we found some alligators. In fact when mom suddenly noticed a really large one not far from her she let out some very entertaining sounds of surprise. Then with only a few minutes to spare we went to the shops and found Miles a cute little sea turtle. By the time we finally got back on to the boat I collapsed exhausted and in fact went to bed by eight that night. 

Today was a whole lot of nothing. I woke up around seven am and finally got mom going by a little after eight. We went up for the subpar morning buffet and I ate fruit and several cups of hot chocolate. We went up to the track and by taking a break in between managed to walk a mile which is no small feat for me. I have been doing much better today than I have in several weeks. I still wear out but I don’t limp as much in between. At lunch we opted to go to the buffet rather than the sit down restaurant.  This was a definite mistake. Future cruise note: always eat at the sit down place buffets are not tasty. After lunch I collapsed and slept for two hours. It’s really easy to sleep in a dark closet room. Later Mom and I sat out for several hours on the deck. I read a non-fiction book on her kindle about the dust bowl depression and Mom worked on knitting a sock monkey that is for Max for his birthday. The book was interesting, sock monkeys are terrifying. At dinner time I took the time to brush my hair, put on a sweater, and wear lip gloss. This is why people used to dress for dinner one hundred years ago…they had a lot of time on their hands. The housekeepers made a towel monkey!!! (We had a seal, puppy, elephant, and monkey. Obviously the elephant and monkey were my favorites.)

Our cruise ship was pretty late getting in on Monday. Instead of arriving at eight in the morning as scheduled we arrived around one. Mom and I raced home to see the boys. We did stop and grab some Rudy's on the way home, which made for a delicious meaty dinner. When we got home I had a great time handing out the kids quirky presents which they seemed to enjoy fairly well. Matt had been holding down the fort like a trooper and combined well care for children with a clean house, I was very impressed. Mom and I had a great time on our cruise and were really grateful to Matt for giving us the opportunity to go enjoy ourselves. For me it made for a good recovery retreat.