Cruisin' IV: Cozumel

This morning we pulled into Cozumel, Mexico. Rather sad that despite living in the South my whole life, and in Texas for almost ten years, it took a cruise to get me into Mexico. Frankly, I had no real desire to visit the country until now; not to hate on our neighbor to the south, but there are many places in this great world I would rather visit. But I digress...

We arrived in port early in the morn, and after a hearty breakfast we headed ashore. Naturally, the first thing we encountered was a mini town selling all kinds of souvenirs. Cruise ships seem to make port a good distance from both downtown and the major businesses. I'm sure practical nautical considerations are a factor here, but I can tell you taxi drivers certainly benefit from this arrangement. We hired a driver to take us to the Mayan ruins Cozumel, and Mexico in general for that matter, is famous for. The Mayan civilization is famous for its elaborate architecture, religious rituals, and famous prediction based on its calendar that the "End of Days" will occur on December 21, 2012. The driver waited for us while we explored the ruins:

You can see Saket walking off in the distance. This was an entrance to the complex.

We had arrived soon after the place opened so we managed to beat the crowds. A setting like this is best enjoyed in solitude. Mosquitoes proved to be our most significant companions and we were all bitten rather soundly. I noticed trilingual signs and tried to find out what the third language was (the first and last are clearly Spanish and English, respectively).

My hunch is that its a Mayan language (still spoken in some parts of Mexico), but I am not sure. After leaving the ruins we were on our way to the beach. Considering the tropical clime, Mom was just itching to get her hands on some fresh coconut and asked our driver where we could get some. Our driver had some sharp eyes (and good reflexes) and, sure enough, spotted a man selling coconuts by the road. With some deft whacks with his machete, Mom, Dad, and Saket were in coconut heaven:

Next stop: the beach. We ran into some difficulties when we tried to pay our driver. Unfortunately, we were a bit light on cash and of course there was no ATM at the beach. Travelers checks it was, except I was a fool and improperly signed mine; in any case I wouldn't have gotten cash for it since the retailers saw our distress and abused us roundly. They agreed to cash one check (if we bought something), but then claimed they didn't have enough cash for the second (after saying they did before we cashed the first one). That was upsetting, and we ended up tipping our driver enormously for the trouble we caused him. Anyway, the next hours were more pleasant. We enjoyed ourselves by relaxing, swimming, and eating some junk food (nachos, guacamole, beers, and margaritas) for lunch. The water gleamed like shimmering sapphires by the scintillating sand:

Finally it was time to return to our ship. We hung around for a little while in the shops picking up some swag. I finally bought a shark's teeth necklace beaded with red and black coral. I've been coveting a shark's teeth necklace ever since our trip to the Outer Banks in 2004. It's not that I don't like sharks. I think they're marvelous creatures and we should respect them instead of hunt them mercilessly. They are truly masters of the open seas, and I don't think I'm being hypocritical by wearing some of their teeth. These are creatures that practically shed teeth like we shed skin (okay, that's exaggerating but they do replace them quite frequently). You'll see that necklace in later pictures.

Back on the boat, we ate some snacks and lounged a bit before heading to dinner. For dessert, the ship was serving a "second dinner" of sorts up on the top deck that started around 11. It was a gorgeous spread and I could only convince myself to eat some dessert (coffee and vanilla ice cream). I also saw the most beautiful watermelon on the planet (next to an adorable eggplant penguin:
It was late after dessert, so we headed back to the staterooms for some rest. We were due in Belize City, Belize the next day and the three of us were scheduled to do some scuba diving, so a good rest was needed for all.