Cozumel - April 21

We started our morning with room service. FREE room service. Today is our first day off the boat and I was so excited. Cozumel's water is swimming pool blue. Very misleading, considering pool water tastes like, we'll, it tastes like chlorine, but this is sea water so I have to remind myself that it's gut wrenchingly salty.  We got off the boat and walked down the long gangplank full of Los Angeles type costumed people.  And nothing is free. These people are gorgeous to look at but you'd better have a shit ton of tips handy. Because if you don't tip them, some of them get snippy. We discovered this with a Mariachi band in The Three Amigos Restaurant...while applauding, "tips only please". Well fine, mariachi man. What do you think this is? Mexic-oh. Right. We are actually in Mexico. 

And speaking of the Three Amigos, we got completely sucked in to this tourist trap. It's one of my favorite movies so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and we ate there for lunch. Do yourselves a favor, grab the memorabilia if that's your deal, but skip the food. I'll stick to Mi Rancho in Germantown. For a Mexican restaurant in Mexico, the food was HORRIBLE. And over priced.  But don't worry, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and MartinShort..I don't blame you. I blame myself.

One of the great experiences of Cozumel is a painter who sits in the cruise village. As we approached, through the hordes of other vendors who call to you and try to get you to come in and take advantage of their specials, I spotted this person surrounded by his hand painted crafts and took note of his art. He stopped a painting he was working on to create a small 2 inch by 2 inch finger painted card, which he presented to me as a "gift". I'm sure he was looking for tips so I one upped him and purchased one of his painted tiles.  It's those kinds of performances I don't mind rewarding you for. He didn't beckon me over, he simply took advantage of my presence and created something just for me. And they're both awesome. One I could actually use in my kitchen once I get my own place and re-tile a back splash!

So, tips for you people thinking about cruising. If Cozumel is one of your stops, PLEASE consider, nay, book, an excursion. Even if its the cheapest one your cruise ship offers. Because unless you like to be harassed the ENTIRE time you're in Cozumel by creepers who want you to buy a zillion silver charms or cheap crap you can find in Ocean City, you're going to be miserable. The downtown area of Cozumel is scary, and locals are pushy. We spent a whopping 15 minutes there before we grabbed a taxi back to the cruise line area.

I'm sure the fun areas were worth it because like I said, the ocean area is gorgeous, but we left Cozumel early to enjoy the scenery from our pool and balconies. I heard from a few of our balcony mates  that their excursions were well worth the money, they had a ball touring Cozumel and they would absolutely be back, but we missed the mark on this one, didn't do the research, and our experience on Cozumel reflected our poor planning. A bummer since it's my very first impression of Mexico.

Hopefully Belize will be a better experience. We've booked a snorkel/private beach excursion!

Belize, Bannister Island - Tuesday

Such a beautiful place, Bannister Island, and it was worth the $39.99 we paid for it, especially after yesterday's debacle.  We had to hop on a tender boat, since our water hotel was anchored in the middle of the bay, and they took us to a private beach. Scoooore! White sands, turquoise water...wild starfish everywhere. It was all inclusive, except for food, which we could have added for an extra few dollars, but since we were only there 4 hours, we decided to eat for free on the ship.

I have to say, the sun is strong here near the equator.  Whoo. I got a bit crispy today, but worth it. 

The island is about a few hundred feet long. I can walk it in 5 minutes. There's a gift shop, a tiki bar, a kayak hut and a starfish observatory where they let you hold them. That was new for me. 

I'm not a huge swimmer, so mom and I decided to go kayaking around the island. The water is about 8 feet deep for most of it, so I could usually see the bottom. I think I'm going it invest in a kayak. My arms feel totally buff!

We finally got Haley and Andi in a boat and they enjoyed it. (Told you so!)

 I could have stayed at Bannister all day.  It was quiet and relaxing, but sadly, our tender boat called.  Our boat guides were hilarious:  they break danced for us, let us do the electric slide and the YMCA while we docked up to the cruise boat.  We even saw a glimpse of wild Dolphins and a Manatee. :)

Much better day today. :)  "You better Belize it!"  (Don't ask me, Mom and Haley got that on some shirts.)

Went to the Casino after dinner. We watched Ryan play in the Blackjack tournament where he got into the top ten.  (( As I'm writing this, I am nursing my sun fried crispy self, so I'll update you tomorrow on how he did.))

Tried my luck at Roulette. Lost a million dollars of money.  Okay, I lost 20 but, but that's a lot of money for a preschool teacher.  I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe I'll ask for red chips , since I hear the Caps clinched the division?! Did I hear this right?!

Wednesday- Isla Roatan, Honduras

::hearts abound:: I love this place. Isla Roatan was beautiful! I did this day alone, since certain someones don't like heights, or adventure.. ;). I met the rest of my tour group inside the Isla Roatan welcome village around 9:45. Right off the bat, I liked it better than Cozumel.  The people here are friendly, laid back, and welcoming. Every store I went into, no one begged me to buy shit, and many of them said "thank you" and "God Bless Your Family" (("woah! Friendly alert!"))

We hopped on a rickety island bus and met Nelson, our tour guide. He was wonderful! He lived in Roatan his whole life, and his favorite subject was science. His words: "I'm the stupid one in my family, I have a brother working for the Pentagon." I didn't think he was stupid, he had TONS of knowledge about everything Roatan: pirate knowledge, macaw knowledge and he trained monkeys. Cool guy.

When we got 700 feet above sea level in the Canopy of Gumbalima Park we began the zipline portion of the excursion. ::hands get sweaty, stomach churns::  you can hear the whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrr of people going down the line and it really starts your anxiety.  Excited anxiety.  I met some cool people on the excursion, and a few other loaners.  Luckily I was with one of those loaners and it was nice to chat them up from platform to platform. 

What a crazy experience, zip lining.  They strap you in super tight..super...tight... I felt like Indiana Jones in this park. It felt like it went so fast, but it took about 25 minutes from the first platform to the last, with the major one going over a river ravine and a swinging bridge.  ::squee!::

After that we got to check out the pirates, birds and monkeys part of Gumbalimba.  We got briefed like 20 times about hiding loose articles from the monkeys, because if they take something you HAD to let them have it..or they'd bite you. A lot.  There was a mama with a 2 week old baby.  IT WAS SOOOOO CUUUUTTEEEEEE. I took like 20 pictures..3 were good, haha. 

The ride back  was just as entertaining. We rode through the village just as the schools were letting out.  Now, the village is made out of hundreds of treehouse type houses. They're all made out of wood, some painted, most don't even have glass in the windows.. The barber shop was literally a 5x5 square wooden hut..painted white with a plastic chair and the word BARBER painted on the door.

On the ride back all of the village kids poured into the streets- and not a single road law, by the way. You drive and pray. The kids all had their shoes off or in the process of, and outside the school were hordes of vendors selling fruit, Popsicles and cotton candy to the kids! HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Where was our cotton candy after school?

I got back with 15 minutes to spare to get to the boat.  

Learned how to play russian roulette tonight..lost my whole 20 in, oh, 5 minutes. Will try again tomorrow!

Thursday - Grand Cayman Island

I FINALLY GOT TO VISIT GREAT BRITAIN! Grand Cayman is governed by the British!  WOOOOO! Okay, I'm done. By far, I felt the safest on Grand Cayman Island, and it is gorgeous. We had to tender in to this one also, just like in Belize.  By the time we caught a boat and got to the mainland, it was already noon and we had to be back on the boat by 4 so we could make it to dinner. We knew we wanted to visit Hell. Yes, there is a place named Hell! We walked out to the main strip to catch a taxi, but quickly discovered that no one really taxied, but gave tours of the island. So for 15 bus a pop, we met Josephine, who runs her own tour service.  Best. 15. Dollars spent on this whole trip.

Governors house 

7 mile beach

Hell

Rum cake factory

Dolphin encounter

Back

We loved going to Hell.  And if anyone ever tells me to go there, I'll be just fine, because the Grand Cayman Island is amazing.  The coral rocks left over were melted by acid rain, creating these amazing, craggy black rocks.

Then, we went to the Tortuga Rum factory and finally the Dolphin Reserve.  Haley was in 7th heaven!

Grand Cayman went by way too fast, and Unfortunately I knew our sea Day would fly and vacation would be over.  It was a great time, and I finally made some money playing roulette.  20 dollars into 75.  Not bad. :P

Things I learned from cruising: 

-Invest in a cute pool skirt. Too jealous of some of the poolside fashion on this trip.

- Going to the gym before hand is imperative. You will gain 5 pounds.

- Body image issues are thrown out the window, there are way scarier people on this boat than you.

-Boys from Croatia are ADORABLE.

-I have a really horrific affinity to rum, and I can drink a lot of it.