Chapter 3: The rest

Okay, these are getting tedious even for me. I was all about doing one day at a time and being all descriptive, but if you know me you know I have a short attention span. So I'm going to just cover the everything else and do my reflections tomorrow. K? Good.

Day at Sea:
-> Angie and I ordered room service for breakfast (did I mention we were spoiled???) but forgot to put milk on for Angie's cereal. She ate Raisin Bran with chocolate milk. She was not impressed.

-> The ship rocked a lot this day, and it was pretty cloudy, some rain. We attempted to sit outside and actually both fell asleep for a while, then fell asleep in the cabin and almost missed dinner

-> Went to the first official show, saw a lot of girls in thongs. Talented performers, too much skin!

-> We were going to do karaoke, but when we got there it was "Karaoke Idol" with judges and stuff so we just watched

-> R-rated comedy show was pretty funny but not sure why he had to use quite so many swear words.

Cozumel (2/1/10):
-> At breakfast, our server Marie An saved us a table and we offered to share with these two older ladies in front of us in line. They were named Rosemary and Rose and had been friends for 35 years. They were from Jersey and Brooklyn (though Rose now lives in FL) and were hilarious. They were possibly my favorite people we met, and I want to be them when I grow up.

-> It was sunny for part of the day, which was fabulous.

-> Our excursion for Cozumel was going to play with stingrays. The guy in charge was hilarious. I was a little nervous, even though he told us they clip the stingers. We fed them, pet them, held them, and even kissed them! After that we got to snorkel. which I've never done. I kept thinking I was going to inhale water, but I never did. Also, this was my first taste of the ocean, and I forgot that it would be so salty! Still cool though. I look hot in flippers and snorkel gear.

-> It was terrifying being driven through Cozumel in a taxi. They drive super fast between speed bumps and then slam on the breaks. Scooters are weaving in and out and cars go bumper to bumper. Insane. I will never complain about Des Moines drivers again. (Okay that's probably a lie...)

-> It POURED for a while during our stay. Not cool, dude. Not cool.

-> Shopping is insane in Mexico. Crazy good deals, but the vendors are super pushy. We got our picture taken with a guy in a strange feather outfit and this guy was like, "Okay, he had his turn, now you come see what I have," and opened up this door. We got out of there pretty fast. You gotta be good at saying no!

-> Back on the ship we hit up the hottub. I was enjoying it until some older men got in and started making suggestive comments. Not to me directly, but it was still pretty uncomfortable. People are weird.

Costa Maya:
-> Ang and I got up to catch the sunrise, but it was cloudy. Sad day. The sun finally came up over the ship and we got some cool shots though.

-> At the port, there were military guys wandering around with big guns. I made Angie pretend to pose for a picture so I could capture them on my camera. They were a little intimidating but didn't even look at us twice. Guess we don't look suspicious!

-> In line for our excursion to Jungle Beach, we met a man named Scott who is 7'2. We talked about his height and I commented that he must get it a lot. He's like, no you're the first to mention it. In all fairness, he brought it up first!

-> The sun finally came out full force at the beach. It was beautiful. We sat in the sun for hours, went swimming for a bit, and took advantage of the open bar. I also made friends with a sand crab. So cute. Rosemary and Rose were there in all their glory. Lol. Still so spoiled. There was a bathroom attendant who opened up the stall for me, turned on the water, got my soap, and got my paper towel. I almost thought she was going to follow me in the stall and offer to help. I felt a bit of the American privilege guilt. Some things are just unnecessary.

-> Loading up to leave the beach, a bunch of drunk people got ahold of a megaphone. Instead of taking it away, the workers just laughed. We were slightly embarassed to be Americans. Of course we had to sit near them on the 30 minute bus ride back to the port. They were soooo wasted.

-> Vendors were even more pushy here, and would yell insults if you didn't stop at their store. I was glad to get out of there actually. I'm glad we went to the beach instead of spending the day in town.

-> We got our picture taken with a monkey and a pirate. Best. Day. Ever.

-> The serving staff did a dance after dinner. It was so great. I loved our servers. Plus, Von showed us some toothpick puzzles I will definitely use again.

-> Entertainment for the evening was the "Love and Marriage Show" with GARY as host. So hilarious. Probably my favorite show of the trip. After that was a talent show, and people were...well...not that talented. But it takes a lot of guts to get up in front of so many people! One of the ladies sang "Like a Virgin" and did a very suggestive dance. We could see Gary backstage from where we were sitting and he was on the floor, it was hilarious.

-> We had tried the dance club the night before and it was lame, as it was this night as well. However, there was a party under the stars and we did all the cheesy wedding dances (led by Gary!) and conga lines and all that. It was awesome. This was probably my favorite night.

Last day at sea:
-> I didn't take notes on this one, so I'm winging it. Yes, I took notes on what I wanted to remember. So?

-> Slept in. Beautiful. I slept so well with the rocking of the boat!

-> Went to debarkation talk. I only mention this because it was with GARY. And he's hilarious.

-> Went to find food. Got fried chicken and tried to dip it in ketchup. It tasted weird, so I looked down and there were bubbles in my ketchup. Like it was carbonated. That's just not normal. Of course I took a picture.

-> Tried to sit out on the deck but it was FREEZING! We were both wrapped in towels and finally gave up the fight and spent a couple hours just vegging out in our stateroom. That's what vacation is for, right?

-> We started to get sad about having to leave the next day. Took some final pictures on deck before dinner. Took in the show after dinner. Leah and Tara made us sit waaaay up front. Way too close for such skimpy outfits! They are definitely better when seen from a distance. Lol. Pretty much just hung out in our room after that, organized and got ready to leave. We were kinda lame and went to sleep earlyish since we had to get up so early the next day.

Final morning:
-> Up at 5:30. Last breakfast.

-> About 7:30 Gary told us we could debark if we were taking our own luggage. He looked all cas as we left the ship. Bye bye, Gary.

-> Customs was a joke. This is how my conversation with the officer went:
Officer: Passport?
Me: *Hands it to him*
O: Who are you traveling with?
M: Her *points to Angie*
O: *Ignoring Angie's passport* Anyone else?
M: Nope
O: Where are you headed next?
M: Back to Iowa
O: Going back to school?
M: Nope, I wish. Back to work.
O: What do you do for work?
M: I'm a family therapist
O: *Immediately averts eyes and gestures for us to continue on*

LOL. Apparently he had no interest in continuing a conversation with a therapist. I really need to learn to start lying when people ask what I do for a living. Probably it was good I didn't lie to a customs officer though...

-> Saw the weird/awkward guys from dinner one last time. They skipped dinner a couple times. Much less awkward without them there. Lol.

-> I found my new bodyguard in the bus driver. He was huge! Crazy driver though. I should have just closed my eyes.

-> Many hours at the airport. Not fun. Saw Leah and Tara once more. Switched seats to sit next to Angie. Kid screamed on the whole plane ride to Minneapolis

-> Had to say goodbye to my dear Angie, not knowing when I would see her again. I almost cried when I walked out into the cold and snow. It was nasty weather all weekend.


Okay so that's it for now. I will maybe post some reflections, but no promises. I have research topics to begin on...