Third Port--April 25th
We got up early and headed out for breakfast. On our way, we noticed that all the beach chairs by the main pool had towel animals on them!
These little guys were sitting by the pool.
There were probably over a hundred towel animals on the chairs!
Here we are in Mexico!
On our way off the dock, we notice a blue haired mermaid heading down to get pictures with the guests as they got off the boat.
We though our ship was big until we saw Allure of the Seas, the Royal Caribbean ship that was also docked there.
Since Cozumel is an island, we had to take a ferry boat to the mainland. Then we took a 45 minute bus ride to Tulum, the Mayan Ruins, to take a tour.
There were lots of unripe coconuts on the trees there.
We are entering the ruins through an original entrance in the wall built by the Ancient Mayans. Only the priests and leaders of the Mayans who were "related to the gods" would have lived inside these walls near the temples. The average people lived outside the walls and farmed and things like that.
They had small temples built for various gods.
This was one of the smaller temples.
The iguanas were sure this was all built for them. There were hundreds of them all over the ruins. how many iguanas can you spot here?
In the background, you can see their main temple where they would do their human sacrifices.
This is the view from the back of the main temple.
As you can see, these ruins were built right on the beach. They are the only ruins built on the beach and historians think that this place was probably somewhat of a trading hub.
We couldn't go on this part of the beach because the sea turtles had recently laid their eggs there.
The water here was by far the prettiest, the bluest, and the clearest water we saw on our whole trip!
Here our guide, Lily, was showing us a picture of what the ruins would most likely have looked like during the Mayan times. They would have been colored with beautiful blues and reds.
This building still had spots with original color on it (reds). It was a building where they painted lots of pictures and things to the gods.
These are the steps and foundations of some our the houses of the leaders. Their houses were made of wood and branches and things though, so all the remains of them are the foundations.
You can see more foundations behind us.
The view from behind the main temple was just breath taking!
They had also built a small building up on a hill. Historians have several theories about what this building was used for. It faces north, so the first theory is that it is a temple to the sun god. The second theory is that it was a primitive lighthouse used to guide people bring obsidian and things in from the north.
After touring the ruins, we headed down the the part of the beach that we could play on.
We also had some friends (who sat on our dinner table with us on the ship) on the tour with us and we took turns taking pictures for each other. That's we we actually have lots of cute picture of us together from this trip.
It was 92 degrees that day with 100% humidity, so we were happy to at least stick our toes in the water to cool off.
Colton just stayed out and took pictures of Malea the whole time though.
"I don't always photo bomb people, but when I do, I make sure to get right up front and center! What ya ganna do 'bout it???"
Then we decided to head back and see a view things in the little market place before our bus left.
This was the shuttle that would take you back to the little market place for just $3, but since it wasn't all the far, we decided to just walk it.
The men climbing this tower are about to preform an ancient Mayan ritual to the sun god. Once they get to the top, they each sit on one side of the square (representing the four seasons) and turn the thing 53 times (for each week of the year). The turning winds the four ropes around the big pole until the ends and all the way up.
Then they tie the ropes around their wastes and lean off backwards. They dangle upside-down as the square thing spins back around and allows the ropes to unwind and lower the to the ground. The ropes tied around their waste and coming down upside-down is symbolic of birth.
Meanwhile, there is a fifth man sitting in the middle on the top to the tower playing a traditional flute.
Each one of the positions is probably symbolic too, but the guy telling us about it was speaking Spanish, and then our friend was translating, so we only got what he told us, but didn't have much time to ask questions.
Then when they got close to the ground, they would get up right and put their feet down, but not before they came awfully close to scrapping their faces all over the ground.
As you can see, most of the men dangling upside-down were not young men, which made it that much more incredible. After that, we browsed the stores a little and our friend was able to bargain in Spanish with a shop owner to get him to sell us a small obsidian carving for about half of what it was priced.
The Spanish told talked of Mayan cities being made of gold, but historians think they mistook the obsidian for gold. "How could they mistake obsidian for gold?" you are asking. Well, this is how...
In the sun, obsidian has impurities that make it look like gold!
The back or out figurine looks really gold in the sun.
Then we took the bus back to the docks, and caught the last ferry back to Cozumel.
We arrived just in time to run right to the ship and get on.
Then our ship set sail our its way back to the United States.
That night we found a cute towel elephant waiting for us in our room
Last Sea Day--April 26
They had 24-hour pizza made fresh on the spot that we tried out a couple of times throughout our trip. It had a thin, crispy crust and was very tasty!
They also had some really cool fruit carvings.
And a chocolate buffet for our last day on the ship! We wasted no time in trying that one out!
At dinner that night, we decided to be daring and try frog legs for our appetizer. They actually weren't too bad. They really kind of just taste like chicken.
These were the friends who sat at the same dinner table with us all week. (Most of them were on their honeymoons...)
Lauren & Sam, Tommy & Marilynn, Malea & Colton, and Cassandra & Bradley
Us with I Gusti and Miroslav, two of our waiters for the week. They were very funny guys!
This is our whole table with our three waiters. Seti is the one sitting up front! Dinner was one of our favorite parts because our waiters were so good and they were always making us laugh!
Then they had the Carnival Legends Show. This is our cruise director James dancing "All the Single Ladies" with two of the ship dancers.
On our way back to our room, we saw all the luggage on carts ready to take down below for those who didn't want to carry their own stuff off the ship the next day. We carried our own stuff off the ship and our debarkation was way faster!
This towel manta ray was waiting for us when we got back to our room for the night. The next morning we were back in Galveston, Texas. We got breakfast and then were getting off the ship by 8:00 am. It was a very fun trip that we will remember for a long time to come!
