Written by Kim
Sorry for all the posts today. Trying to catch up because internet was terribly slow on the ship. Our last port was Costa Maya which is actually the city of Mahahaul, Mexico. Costa Maya is just the commercial name of the port. It was pouring rain when we arrived at port. Everyone reminded me of our dog, Boomer, as they stuck their head out the gangway deciding if they wanted to venture out in the rain. Many chose to stay on board but I’m glad we decided to head out for our awesome tour to the Mayan ruins of Chacchoben. It was one of the longest piers I can remember and the port was a maze of stores to join our tour outside the port. We were drenched through to the skin but as the day progressed the sun came out.
Genesis, our guide, was fantastic. He was a native to the area and shared tons of information about the area, his culture, and of corse the ruins. He told us that most people are only educated through elementary school unless they are wealthy and able to go to the city to study as a doctor, lawyer, engineer or other professional. He didn’t have that opportunity but must be well read because he knew tons about the area and was very proud to practice his English which was very good. He lives with his family, a wife and 3 year as well as his parents, and abuelo and abuela (grandparents) . They have 25 hammocks in their house that they sleep in so i5 must be quite a crowd. He told us he was surprised when he had Mc Donald’s for the first time a few weeks in the capital city which is a few hours away. It was $8 for a combo when he usually pays about $1 for tacos or quesadillas. Too expensive and not as good as his Mexican can food.
There was supposed to be 8 people on our tour but only 4 of us showed up so it was a private tour. It took us a little over an hour to get to the ruins. During the ride, Genesis, explained the history and prepared us for what we would see with well organized pictures, some in books and some he took himself. We saw the 2 Sun Temples, the Moon temple and “Beverly Hills” the area where the upper class lived. He explained the class system of the Mayans. He also explained how the temples were built by the thousands of slaves ruled by the Hefe or king. Often there was a small fight or war for power and when a new Hefe came into power he would build another level on the temple so it was bigger showing his strength. The temples were used for human sacrifices of slaves to the gods. The Mayans were a bit crazy smoking leaves to hallucinate and become closer to the gods.
Now a few things from around the ship. We enjoyed a walk most mornings. We missed one or two but it’s a great way to start the day with a peaceful walk staring at the calm sea.
Most mornings we enjoyed breakfast at Johnny Rockets because it was pretty quiet down there but one morning we ate in the main dining room and one we ate on our balcony.
We bought a 3 night dining package. Already shared our first specialty, 150 Central Park on a previous post. We also did Izumi and Chops
We ate dinner one night in the main dining room and another night in Solarium Bistro.
We enjoyed a few pool days and the Aqua show. I never got to the ice show and don’t really like Cats so skipped that. We saw the crew running drills on a port day.
We got silly our last night with our towel animals on the balcony.
It was great to be back onboard. There were only about 3,000 guest so 50% capacity which was nice. At times it felt crowded but masks were required indoors and at all shows, even the outdoor aqua show. Because of masks there was no smoking in the casino which we loved but heard they are going to no masks for guests this week and probably back to allowing smoking in casino. Everyone was required to show vaccinations to board and given a bracelet that showed you were fully vaccinated which you wore the whole cruise. If you were not fully vaccinated you were not allowed off at ports. We saw one family arguing about that because their kids evidently weren’t vaccinated.
We did self assist walk off on Sunday morning. We were off the ship a little before 7 (we were the 2nd ones off), got a taxi to our car at the parking garage and we’re on the road heading home around 7:20. We expect our ride will be between 11 & 12 hours so hope to get home during the first quarter of the Super Bowl,
Until next time Oasis
