Friday, Jan 7, 2005
Cozumel, Mexico:
The Cozumel port of call was the only one that didn't require getting up super early in the morning, so we didn't actually get off the boat till like 9 or 10 am. The weather was *awesome*... low 80's, but about 70% humidity so it felt really warm.
The port at Cozumel has a long building that passengers are required to walk through full of duty free crap. I tried my best Bono impression with some cheap-ass sunglasses.
I probably should have purchased 'em, because my Maui Jims broke a hinge in Cayman, so I was without sunglasses. However Juno was loaning me a pair of his, so I got by.
We took a bus ride to the mall, since that's where the cruise line drops off all the people that say "we want to go shopping". The mall was basically just like the same crap we've got in the States, with a Burger King and a Subway.
We didn't linger long, and hit the streets on foot. We headed away from the beach, towards the more "local" side of town. We were still inundated by all the same Cozumel crap, and even ended up buys some stuff. Glen got a gawdy "Cozumel" hat, Juno hit up some Cubans... etc. At least the shops have a sense of humor about their wares.
After a bit more walking around, we found a little restaurant to stop an have a beer at. Dos XX all around! We kicked it for a bit there.
As we were getting ready to leave, Glen asked about our host's T-Shirt. Apparently the local elections were coming up and Cozumel was fairly split between the two candidates for Governor. The restaurant owner was supporting this Felix guy who was "from the streets" and down with his people, while the "other guy" was "rich and corrupt".
Glen bought a campaign T-Shirt from the guy.
Then it was more of the same... cruising the streets, checking out the shops, etc. We grabbed lunch in a restaurant that was on top of the shops. Someone in the group spotted it, and thought it would be a cool place, so we found the little stairway up there. Fish tacos weren't on the menu, but you can't go to Mexico w/o eating fish tacos, so we ordered them anyway.
Then we hitched a cab ride to the beach. The plan was to hit up Playa Azule, but the cabbie told us the beach next door was just as nice, and free to enter, so we went there instead.
Since some of us still had gifts to find for people back home, Juno and Dan decided to stay at the beach while the rest of us headed back into town. We found the last few trinkets we needed to wast our money on, and saw a bird drinking a coke.
Then it was back to the boat for dinner, which was no where nearly as good as the previous night's grub.
But our waitress showed us some suggestive napkin folding.
Day 7 Cliff notes:
Mucho shopping for junk in Cozumel's shops. Had beers w/ a guy who sold Glen an political T-Shirt. Ate fish tacos in a semi-local's restaurant. Swam at the beach. Glen got dirty w/ a napkin.