Vacation Day Four - Cozumel

**** After a two week pause on my recap, I'm going to finish my cruise report. ****

Wednesday, September 1st

We slept in a little on Wednesday, as we weren't getting into Cozumel until 1pm. After breakfast, we chose our excursion.......... because neither of us had ever been to Mexico (any part of it), we were a little nervous about trying to find things to do once we got there. Just a tip..... Cozumel is tiny and really safe. You'd be ok. So, we decided to book with the boat and because we're big on seeing the sights, we went with a "Highlights and Shopping" Tour.

Once the boat docked, we got off and were greeted by the beautiful island of Cozumel.......

The first stop was the Discover Mexico! museum. It was really neat, with artwork from all the areas of Mexico..........

There was a woman on our ship that dressed just. like. this. I'm not kidding.....

I love pineapple.

Once you go through the art exhibits, they have to scale models of famous Mexican monuments. It was really neat to walk through and see little pieces of what I could visit (during other cruises, lol)!!!

While driving around, we were taught about the silver and black coral that makes Cozumel such a great shopping destination. We were also taught how to tell the difference between real and fake, lol.

Next up was El Cadrel. A Catholic Church, sitting right next to a Mayan ruin, lol.....

Momma with an iguana......

We stopped at a beach. Our tour guide was a nice woman named Patty. She let us in on the fact that unlike most of Mexico, Cozumel is really safe and has a practically non-existent crime rate.

As cute as these were, I was glad I didn't need to go......

Next up, a Tequila Farm. Like Champagne is to France, Tequila is only made in a certain part of Mexico. However, the plant is grown all over and kind of resembles a giant pineapple.

Me on a fountain with a sombrero, possibly after I taste-tested several flavors of Tequila. Allegedly.

The last stop on our tour was the downtown area for shopping. Luckily for us, we came on a very slow day for the island........ we were the third of only three ships in port. By the evening, we were the only one there. Patty told us that a normal day was 6-9 ships and they can get up to 13-15 during their busy season.

I'm thankful that we were there on a slow day. I'm not a big fan of shopping and REALLY hate it when it's insane (ironically, I love Black Friday, but that's another story for another day).

Mom and I did our shopping and souvenir gift-buying. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled with Downtown or the port area. The jewelry was great, but I felt like it was like any other tourist crap you can find at any other touristy place. At one point, there was a shirt with Disney Princesses on it and "Cozumel"...... Really? That's appropriate in Orlando, not in Mexico. I preferred the outer areas we were taken to, for the shopping. It was more authentic, I felt.

We were supposed to be back on the ship no later than 9:30pm for a 10pm deport, however, we had plans to be back by dinner. Other cruisemates, however, had other ideas....... as we were getting on the ship, others were getting off and were dressed to the nines, lol.

After a quick refresh, we headed to dinner and met up with our table companions. It was really fun to hear all about their adventures for the day!

On the first night, we realized that "Happy Birthday" was a popular song and would continue to be. The question was raised, "Does anyone have a birthday coming up? I want to outdo these people." I spoke up that my birthday was the previous week and that this cruise was, in fact, part of the celebration. They declared that Wednesday would be my "One Week Birthday Party."

On Wednesday, they sang.

They also gave me a bow........

And, a special birthday pie......

For that night's entertainment, all the ladies were asked to join for a Bollywood number. So. Much. Fun!!!

After dinner, we went to the show. Instead of dancing, we got a balancing act. The guy was really impressive, especially since the ship was rocking pretty hard. He was balancing lit candlebras on his head...... bicycles..... tables.... you wonder how someone comes up with that talent.

After the balancing act, there was a comedian. Hysterical. I thought I would pee myself, he was so funny.

We hung out on the deck, chatting with our newfound friends and enjoying the evening.

Before bed, it was Mr. Lobster.....