Tuesday, October 24 - Cozumel, Mexico
As you can see by the picture, not exactly the most lovely view upon awakening. That hideous building on the right, the orangey-pink one, is the "Barracuda Hotel". The ship's itinerary called for us to anchor here, and ride tenders to shore, but the captain makes some phone calls and we are able to dock. I did not realize until we got here that Cozumel was on an island, not on the mainland of Mexico. At the point at which the pier joins the island, there is a large gateway arch you must walk under, on either side are soldiers in full combat gear with large machine guns. How welcoming......
Another cloudy, rainy morning, once again, as we prepare to embark on our excursion, the bottom drops out. We are quickly hustled thru a brand-new looking shopping center, complete with lots of Corona t-shirt stores, nice shirt in the window that says "Will F**k for beer" (minus the asterisks). I agree with Dana, as she says "why is there a market for that?". We found out soon enough that the reason for some of the dumpiness, as well as the brand new shopping center, is that Hurricane Wilma wreaked havoc on Cozumel last year. The reason for the "tendering" indication in the itinerary is that the docks just re-opened 3 weeks ago.
On the other side of the shopping center, our bus awaits. We are taken to the village of Cedral, which is a collection of shacks (our guide says "these may look like no one lives here, but they come on the weekends"). So these are the city-dwellers' weekend homes. All have cisterns on the roof to collect rainwater.
There is a central "plaza" which consists of a giant carport so the buses have somewhere to drop the tourists even if it's raining. On one side are crappy little shops full of "authentic" Mexican jewelry etc. (made in China I'm sure), on the other is a Mayan temple (see picture) and a Catholic church, the oldest on the island we are told. Our guide is full of "el crappo" so you can't really believe anything she tells us.
After leaving Cedral, we drive down a highway to nowhere, nothing on either side but scrub brush, little palm-looking things that are grey with a little green on top. Our guide informs us that all of this was under water during the hurricane, come back in 5 years and this will all be lush. Occasionally on the beach side of the road you will see 8-foot tall Dos Equis and Sol bottles, indicating a driveway to a bar.
We stop at a "corner" of the island, absolutely gorgeous beach area. Our guide tells us there are no restrooms, as there used to be a restaurant here, but the hurricane swept it away. All that is here now is a Mexican blanket stand, and a lot of pieces of coral that washed up.
We head back to the town of Cozumel, nasty, nasty, nasty third world place, finally the bus drops us off on the main drag, in sight of the ship. We "run the gauntlet" thru all the people trying to drag you into their store. "Hey Amigo! Come see my store! You from cruise ship?" I stop in the Hard Rock and buy a t-shirt, good deal $20 USD, no tax. We can't take anymore of the hassling from the merchants, say "no mas" and head back to the ship. The soldiers are nowhere in sight, guess they don't care if you leave.
Tuesday night - Disaster strikes. We had signed up for the late seating in the dining room, which was 8:30, it was great because we could sunbathe until late afternoon and take our time getting ready for dinner. This night, however, we never made it to dinner. Around 7 PM or so, we encountered very rough seas, starting feeling sick. We took our non-drowsy Dramamine, Dana sent me out to see "what was going on". Big mistake. I go lurching down the long hallway, there are many room doors open to "air out" i.e. get rid of the vomit smell. I get to the "centrum" the huge sculpture suspended in the middle is swaying big time. Back to the room as soon as possible, holding on for dear life to the railing. When 8:30 arrives, I'm feeling better than Dana, attempt to go to dinner. I open the door, the hallway is tilted down at about a 20-degree angle, the cabin to the right has the door open, again the smell of vomit. "Forget this!" I say and crawl in the bed, done for the night. Our room steward shows up about 9, he says "oh no, you sick too? Lots of rock tonight. I'm not feeling so good myself" (read those lines in your best African accent). Rocking continues all night.
Next - Grand Cayman, Jamaica
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