Vacation Recap, Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

Monday: Wastin’ Away in Margaritaville

Up at the crack of 10:30 and was smart and brought my water bottle, ate an apple, and grabbed my towel before heading to the gym – this picture is (sideways) proof I did actually get up and go, and since it’s a crappy picture I’m too lazy to fix it.  Did 25 mins on the eliptical, abs, and a 15 min run.  The gym was totally dead because we were in port at Cozumel.  Yes I blew off time in Cozumel to workout.  The weather was sorta crappy and the ocean was so rocky they canceled all the water activities and told people they couldn’t swim at the beach because of the swells.

Anyways, we grabbed some lunch, another big ass salad, some soup, and some random bits from the buffet.  Then, we got off the boat, and promptly took off walking the wrong way.  We walked by a bar where we saw 3 other gringos pretty much run out, and when they passed us, they said “dude, DON’T go in there”.  When we got closer, we saw it was a really run down, falling apart gentleman’s club with some not-so-pretty ladies at the door.  Then, pretty much nothing for the mile and a half or so we walked.  The sidewalk became a trail, the trail curved around, and once we passed a resort, the road got narrow with pretty much wilderness on each side.  This was our sign we should probably stop, so we flagged a taxi and headed back the other way.

We ended up at Margaritaville, a total tourist trap, but looked like fun.  We got margaritas the size of our heads (as depicted in the photo) and spent the afternoon sipping way too much tequilla and sitting right on the ocean enjoying ourselves, and watching other people make fools of themselves.  I guess there is a time and a place for table dancing, and that place is probably in the bar in Mexico.  And, we got glasses to bring back (the ones in the picture), and see if we can transport them without breaking them!  Hooray, gambling with glass (note: they made it!  Woohoo!)!

We snagged a taxi back – we had wanted to walk back at least part way along the ocean but it was getting late and we wanted to be back on the boat before it took off, so a ride it was.  We ran into Zliten’s co-company founder person (pictured to the right with his wife), of all places, in a bathroom in Cozumel.  Somehow, that seemed fitting.  Yeah, we knew they were on the cruise with us but we hadn’t seen them until then.  Also met up with hot tub friends again examining their pictures from crazy excursions in Cozumel.  Got back on board, got changed for dinner, and headed down.  Zliten decided to continue drinking through dinner, I decided to sober just a little, and dinner was minestrone, and – uh – cough*friedcheese*cough (sorry folks, I had to), and jerked pork loin, which I could not finish even half of.  I did put away some tiramasu though.  Yes, it was a proud moment.

We hit the return cruiser’s cocktail party (yay more free booze), and then headed to the piano bar for a moment, and to the casino.  We quickly turned 40 dollars into 10 and then decided that was not as much fun as it used to be (I spent my 21st year in Reno).  Then, back to the piano bar again.  We ran into these fantastic lesbians we met the day previous (we sat with them at the cocktail party and then ended up following them on accident to a smoking bar before dinner).  Aparently there had been a fight, a refused proposal, and one of the girls was getting drunk with a friend she met named Tina, so we joined them.  There was some major boozing going on in the bar, the poor very pretty blonde russian waitress just got called “White Russian” all night, and there was a point that the entire bar had kidnapped the microphone and was singing from behind the piano.  Somehow, seem to be missing those pictures, but I have a great one of most of us singing.

Zliten’s co-person came back in to find us, we closed out the bar, and then just walked a bit and sat down and chatted looking at the ocean.  After a while of being windblown (I dunno if my hair will ever be the same after that day), we headed in.  Joel ordered room service (I was good and got veggie sticks – and yay for them having veggie sticks on the menu), and we drifted off to sleep.

Tuesday: Progresso, or Day of Relax-o

I think 3 days of drinking is finally catching up to me, I’m pretty worn out today, but it’s not all my fault.  I woke up at 5 am with some wicked cramps and had to take some painkillers.  We’ve been drinking Emergen-c every day for the last two weeks (sickness on vacation, DO NOT WANT) and in our experiments, found out it also pretty much kills all but the nastiest of hangovers.  So, even with all that’s been drunk-en, I have made sure to drink about 3 gallons of water a day, take my happy-fun-no-hangover-or-sickies fizzy drink, and to pace myself enough to not want to spend the day in the cabin sleeping.

Today, however, the fates are totally conspiring against me.  Today is that one day a month where I pretty much hug the couch at home, and can choose between painkiller haze or death pains.  Pain killers, ftw.  You will be able to tell by the lack of pictures today.  I slept until 10:30, read until about 11:30, when I finally drug Zliten out of bed, and we got lunch.  First, I want to point out that yes, I’m reading a book (Snow Crash).  I am actually pretty into it.  I hope I can finish it soon because what usually happens is I leave it for too long, forget what happened, vow to read it again from the beginning, and then just swear off books entirely like I usually do.

Anyways, I caught the tail end of breakfast, so I had half a pancake, some bacon, and some fruit.  Then, I got my trademark big salad (because damn, it’s remarkable how very seldom they just have veggies sitting out…burgers and pizza all day, but if I want a big lovely salad I have to get it within the hours of 12 and 2), and cruised the Indian food.  Since Zliten is allergic to a lot of it, we don’t eat it, so I wanted to give it a go.  OMG, Indian food is soooo good.  The spiced lentil soup was amazing.  The potato and leek fried puff thing was good (but it was fried, so that’s not really in question…in my book usually fried = tasty).  Then there was fish, and some kebabs, and other stuff.  Num!  I think it was all about the curry sauce, which was both minty and savory/spicy.  I’ll have to try stuff like that at home.

After too much lunch, we got off and walked around the shops at the port, and picked up the rest of our souvenirs, Zliten got a 3 dollar water that apparently does not taste like the ship water (whatever that means), we took pictures, and then headed back.  Now, he is napping, and I am typing.  It’s about 230 and my choices are:

A.  Pop another aleve, get my lazy bones to the gym like I didn’t this morning
B.  Grab my book, and sit up in the sun and read
C.  Get in the pool and maybe the water slide
D.  Go play minigolf
E.  Stay in bed and read and/or sleep

Well, first I picked B – and got quite a bit further in my book, and then we did D.  I figured missing one day of the gym on vacation wasn’t so bad.  Up on deck, it was pretty much hilarious trying to play minigolf while the boat was swaying and it was super windy.  We totally did not keep score but Joel declared me winner because, well, I dunno, but I WON!!!  Woohoo!  Our hot tub friends found us and asked if we would join them for dinner, and after thinking about it, said yes.  I was apprehensive because we didn’t want to abandon our dining companions at our table, but we decided, hey, let’s go to both!  The first dinner I had shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, and chateaubriand.  Sadly, one piece I got was way too rare, and the other piece was too tough, so I only ate a little.  The tiramasu at desert was very unlike tiramasu, but it was tasty!

We walked around and took more pictures, and then headed to second dinner.  They sort of didn’t like us coming in again but they finally took us to the table.  I had the fish and shrimp plate I was lusting after and this most delicious cappucino pie.  Way too much food today – and it goes on.

We headed to the casino and I pretty much lost another 10 dollars in the blink of an eye, so we vacated pretty quick.  We hit the hot tub for a while and drank some soul-warming tea, and then hung out with Zliten’s co-person and his wife and played in the wind tunnel and giggled.  To explain, the front of the ship on the top deck was so windy, walking up to it you had to lean forward, and by the time you got to the doorway it was seriously pushing you back so you could do the “cheek flappy” thing.  Hard to describe, but stupidly funny. And fun.  I totally felt like I was about 8 years old again.  Then, they were having this mexican buffet thing and I ate some – more than I care to remember.  Then, headed back to the cabin and bed feeling pretty disoriented from the wind to sleepy sleep sleep.

Bonus pictures from Day 3:

Check out the hair…this is how seriously windy it was in Cozumel.  And by the look – how strong the massive margaritas were. 🙂

Every time a Jimmy Buffet song came on, the waiters and staff danced for us (and got drunk people to dance with them).  It was pretty hilarious.

Inside it was a fun looking tropical bar, but nothing special.  The view from the deck – spectacular.  Dunno why anyone was sitting inside but hey, more room for us.

Our bar waiter, Iputu, who seemed to seek us out wherever we were sitting…very nice guy!

Tomorrow, the 3rd and final (pretty short) part.  Last day at sea and the trip home.