Cozumel.
Today we had to wake up early AGAIN! I thought we were on vacation! We had to be at the meeting place for our excursion at 8:45 am! While that may not be difficult in the “real” world, but after staying up until the wee hours of the night, 8:45am sucks. Today we were going horseback riding through some Mayan “ruins.” More on that later.
As per usual, we ate tat the Windjammer cafe this morning. Brandi had some toast and fruit. I had an english muffin, some eggs, bacon and some oranje juice.
When we exited the boat, we saw our little friend again, The Grandeur of the Seas! Hey! They’re following us! They must’ve gotten caught in our wake and were unable to break free of our awesomeness.
Waiting at the sign for our Mexican Horseback Riding adventure were Carlos and Caesar. They were FUNNY! And funny os always a good tihng...especially since they were going to be our hosts for half of the day!
We took a short 15 minute bus ride to the Ranch to get our helmets and horseys. Brandi got a good horse...a steady horse...a horse that wasn’t completely deaf or stubborn. Her name was Gloria. I, however...got Julio. Where do i start...He walked sloooooow and if I tried to speed him up with all of the appropriate mouth clicks and kissy noises and heels to the belly...nothing. It was as if he was on 100% autopilot. If the other horses stopped, he stopped. If the other hroses starting moving, he started moving. A leader of a horse, I did not have.
Ok...about the “ruins.” Brandi and I were under the impression that we would see some actual ruins. That was not the case. Caesar led us all around a path that looked like the tour in Jurassic Park and we stopped along the way to see all sorts of Mayan “ruins...” Well, during the first stop, Caesar told us about some sort of Mayan ball game and at the end of his informative speech, he added, “This is a replica.” Replica! In Belize we saw REAL ruins! Well, to make a long story short, (Too Late!) very few of the ruins on the tour were genuine! So what we got was a horse tour and some funny jokes...along the way, some Mayan “ruins.”
So...back to Julio, my steed. He doesn’t trot...at least that’s what I thought... During the whole tour, Julio refused to walk faster than what he wanted. Then...near the end, Caesar our guide, asked if anyone wanted to trot or gallup. Brandi got in the fast horse group while I stayed with the slow horse group. As soon as the fast group got going, my horse, still on autopilot, saw most of his friends running away and just bolted. I had no idea that he had it in him. WE WERE TROTTING! You know what that means? I means your butt will hurt more than before. I liked the “Happy Trails” speed better than the “Bonanza” speed.
We trotted and walked our way back to where we started and all was good. Oh...I cannot stress enough how the whether in Mexico in February is so much more comfortable than the weather in Mexico in July! Who woulda thought?
After we brought the horses back to the...let me rephrase that...after the horses brought us back to the stables, we were offered some authentic Mexican Tacos. They were freakin’ majorly yummy. Seriously...
While chompin’ down on our Mexican tacos and homemade tortilla chips, Carlos started doing lassoing stuff. Good stuff.
We took the bus back the dock and then we grabbed a taxi to do some shopping. We were about to just pass a Tequila store, but there was a girl out front who offered us some free samples...Hells yeah! We tried about 5 different ones until we found the one that we both liked. It had some Coconut in it and was more creamy than tequilaly. Yum!
Brandi did some jewelry shopping and found nothing that she liked...AGAIN. *secret happy dance* We walked down the major shopping street towards the ship and still found very little that we liked. *secret happy dance again* After finding nearly nothing to purchase, we grabbed another taxi and went back to the dock.
The dock! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ok...so...any of you ever see those street performers that dres up like statues and then jump out at people at the last minute causing that person to jump and scream? Well...Brandi was walking about 8 feet in front of me and we were coming up on one such performer. He was dressed all bronzey standing very still. I exclaimed out to Brandi, “Hey baby! There’s one of those guys that...” Then it happened. Bronzey dude jumped out and poked Brandi. She jumped and screamed. I laughed heartily. I gave the guy a dollar for making my day. Brandi said she would never be “one of those people.” So much for that goal.
We got back on the boat at around 3:45. We took a short rest in our room and then went to trivia! I played with Pete and Alyson from somewhere on the east coast. We got 37 out of 40 points and came in 2nd! Whatever! The top that day...Name that Tune 80’s Edition. The ones we got wrong were. Who sang Manic from Flashdance? We got the Tina Turner song wrong...We said. “We Don’t Need Another Hero” but it was “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” Bummer. We also missed The Foreigner song, “I’ve Been Waiting.” We put, “Waiting for a girl like you.” Oh well...At least I got another keychain!
While I was playing trivia, Brandi was sleeping in the Solarium, the adults only pool area. It was now 6pm.
We went back to the room and got ready for tonight’s production show, “Once Upon a Time.”
The show was FANTASTIC! They took modern songs and made song and sance numbers based on Cinderella. I’ll do my best to describe it. During Ciderella, at the ballroom scene, they sang and danced to “Everybdy Dance Now/After Midnight.” It fit perfectly with the Cinderella theme. Once he put the slipper on Cinderella’s foot, the Independence of the Seas orchestra started up with Harry Connick Jr’s arrangement of “It Had To Be You.” It was pretty sweet.
In Little Red Riding Hood, she was driving a car while singing Route 66 and once she made it to the forest, the worlves did a dance number to Duran, Duran’s, “Hungry Like The Wolf.” Once again...pretty sweet.
After one of the most entertaining song and dance things I’ve seen, Brandi and I headed to the room to get ready for the final formal night. We got all dolled up and then went to dinner with the group. The Thai Chicken that night scrumpdiddlyumptious...
Between dinner and “The Quest,” the PArk West crew was treated to a concert by the gallery director’s daughter, Amanda. She sang and played guitar. She is very talented.
The Quest! Yes! This is one of the coolest things ever. To sum up what it is in one sentence...It is a scavenger hunt within this room and you don’t even need to leave your seats.
The host (Cruise Director Graham Seymour) asked for things like, “I need to see 2 shoelaces of different colors not in the shoes.” At which point our team would get our 2 unmatched shoelaces to our team captain who would bring them up to Graham and we would get points. It was SOOOOOO funny...as usual. Ah...as a side note, our team captain was Joe. He is one of the most entertaining people I have ever met! He was great!
It is now 11:45.
After The Quest, Brandi and I went to see Graham Seymour’s comedy routine. Very funny! Actually...the correct term would be STILL very funny. Since Graham was our Cruise Director once before, the jokes remained the same. At least it had been 2 years since we had heard them! Brandi and I had a great time!
It was now almost 1am. Time to go back to the room. Sleepy time.
Tonight’s towel animal: Mr. Monkey.
-J&B
Today we had to wake up early AGAIN! I thought we were on vacation! We had to be at the meeting place for our excursion at 8:45 am! While that may not be difficult in the “real” world, but after staying up until the wee hours of the night, 8:45am sucks. Today we were going horseback riding through some Mayan “ruins.” More on that later.
As per usual, we ate tat the Windjammer cafe this morning. Brandi had some toast and fruit. I had an english muffin, some eggs, bacon and some oranje juice.
When we exited the boat, we saw our little friend again, The Grandeur of the Seas! Hey! They’re following us! They must’ve gotten caught in our wake and were unable to break free of our awesomeness.
Waiting at the sign for our Mexican Horseback Riding adventure were Carlos and Caesar. They were FUNNY! And funny os always a good tihng...especially since they were going to be our hosts for half of the day!
We took a short 15 minute bus ride to the Ranch to get our helmets and horseys. Brandi got a good horse...a steady horse...a horse that wasn’t completely deaf or stubborn. Her name was Gloria. I, however...got Julio. Where do i start...He walked sloooooow and if I tried to speed him up with all of the appropriate mouth clicks and kissy noises and heels to the belly...nothing. It was as if he was on 100% autopilot. If the other horses stopped, he stopped. If the other hroses starting moving, he started moving. A leader of a horse, I did not have.
Ok...about the “ruins.” Brandi and I were under the impression that we would see some actual ruins. That was not the case. Caesar led us all around a path that looked like the tour in Jurassic Park and we stopped along the way to see all sorts of Mayan “ruins...” Well, during the first stop, Caesar told us about some sort of Mayan ball game and at the end of his informative speech, he added, “This is a replica.” Replica! In Belize we saw REAL ruins! Well, to make a long story short, (Too Late!) very few of the ruins on the tour were genuine! So what we got was a horse tour and some funny jokes...along the way, some Mayan “ruins.”
So...back to Julio, my steed. He doesn’t trot...at least that’s what I thought... During the whole tour, Julio refused to walk faster than what he wanted. Then...near the end, Caesar our guide, asked if anyone wanted to trot or gallup. Brandi got in the fast horse group while I stayed with the slow horse group. As soon as the fast group got going, my horse, still on autopilot, saw most of his friends running away and just bolted. I had no idea that he had it in him. WE WERE TROTTING! You know what that means? I means your butt will hurt more than before. I liked the “Happy Trails” speed better than the “Bonanza” speed.
We trotted and walked our way back to where we started and all was good. Oh...I cannot stress enough how the whether in Mexico in February is so much more comfortable than the weather in Mexico in July! Who woulda thought?
After we brought the horses back to the...let me rephrase that...after the horses brought us back to the stables, we were offered some authentic Mexican Tacos. They were freakin’ majorly yummy. Seriously...
While chompin’ down on our Mexican tacos and homemade tortilla chips, Carlos started doing lassoing stuff. Good stuff.
We took the bus back the dock and then we grabbed a taxi to do some shopping. We were about to just pass a Tequila store, but there was a girl out front who offered us some free samples...Hells yeah! We tried about 5 different ones until we found the one that we both liked. It had some Coconut in it and was more creamy than tequilaly. Yum!
Brandi did some jewelry shopping and found nothing that she liked...AGAIN. *secret happy dance* We walked down the major shopping street towards the ship and still found very little that we liked. *secret happy dance again* After finding nearly nothing to purchase, we grabbed another taxi and went back to the dock.
The dock! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ok...so...any of you ever see those street performers that dres up like statues and then jump out at people at the last minute causing that person to jump and scream? Well...Brandi was walking about 8 feet in front of me and we were coming up on one such performer. He was dressed all bronzey standing very still. I exclaimed out to Brandi, “Hey baby! There’s one of those guys that...” Then it happened. Bronzey dude jumped out and poked Brandi. She jumped and screamed. I laughed heartily. I gave the guy a dollar for making my day. Brandi said she would never be “one of those people.” So much for that goal.
We got back on the boat at around 3:45. We took a short rest in our room and then went to trivia! I played with Pete and Alyson from somewhere on the east coast. We got 37 out of 40 points and came in 2nd! Whatever! The top that day...Name that Tune 80’s Edition. The ones we got wrong were. Who sang Manic from Flashdance? We got the Tina Turner song wrong...We said. “We Don’t Need Another Hero” but it was “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” Bummer. We also missed The Foreigner song, “I’ve Been Waiting.” We put, “Waiting for a girl like you.” Oh well...At least I got another keychain!
While I was playing trivia, Brandi was sleeping in the Solarium, the adults only pool area. It was now 6pm.
We went back to the room and got ready for tonight’s production show, “Once Upon a Time.”
The show was FANTASTIC! They took modern songs and made song and sance numbers based on Cinderella. I’ll do my best to describe it. During Ciderella, at the ballroom scene, they sang and danced to “Everybdy Dance Now/After Midnight.” It fit perfectly with the Cinderella theme. Once he put the slipper on Cinderella’s foot, the Independence of the Seas orchestra started up with Harry Connick Jr’s arrangement of “It Had To Be You.” It was pretty sweet.
In Little Red Riding Hood, she was driving a car while singing Route 66 and once she made it to the forest, the worlves did a dance number to Duran, Duran’s, “Hungry Like The Wolf.” Once again...pretty sweet.
After one of the most entertaining song and dance things I’ve seen, Brandi and I headed to the room to get ready for the final formal night. We got all dolled up and then went to dinner with the group. The Thai Chicken that night scrumpdiddlyumptious...
Between dinner and “The Quest,” the PArk West crew was treated to a concert by the gallery director’s daughter, Amanda. She sang and played guitar. She is very talented.
The Quest! Yes! This is one of the coolest things ever. To sum up what it is in one sentence...It is a scavenger hunt within this room and you don’t even need to leave your seats.
The host (Cruise Director Graham Seymour) asked for things like, “I need to see 2 shoelaces of different colors not in the shoes.” At which point our team would get our 2 unmatched shoelaces to our team captain who would bring them up to Graham and we would get points. It was SOOOOOO funny...as usual. Ah...as a side note, our team captain was Joe. He is one of the most entertaining people I have ever met! He was great!
It is now 11:45.
After The Quest, Brandi and I went to see Graham Seymour’s comedy routine. Very funny! Actually...the correct term would be STILL very funny. Since Graham was our Cruise Director once before, the jokes remained the same. At least it had been 2 years since we had heard them! Brandi and I had a great time!
It was now almost 1am. Time to go back to the room. Sleepy time.
Tonight’s towel animal: Mr. Monkey.
-J&B