The Dr Who Cruise Part 4
Oct 25, Wednesday, -Cozumel, Mexico
We got up at 7 and hadbreakfast in the buffet. We had a shore excursion to learn about Mexico’s Dayof the Dead. We needed to be on the shore by 8:45 at Station 4. Just before weleft the ship, Hubby realized that he had left the camera in the cabin and ranback to get it. Sensory overload hit me as I reached the end of the dock andtried to find the sign for Station 4. I finally found it, hiding behind Station5, which was hiding behind Station 6. Oberto was our guide, and he hadpaperwork for me to fill out. I found a table and chairs in the shade andstarted filling out the paperwork. Hubby showed up, so I started filling outthe paperwork for him, and showed him where to sign in.
At 9AM, Oberto gatheredus all together and walked us out of the crowded business section to a placewhere buses and taxis were waiting. He divided us into 4 different groups andput each group into a taxi van. The taxis drove us to Playa Mia, about 10 minutesfrom the terminal.
At Playa Mia, there wasa tour put together by a cacao company, and that was what we were there for. Wewalked along a wandering path through a small patch of jungle. Along the way,we were shown a ‘typical Mayan hut’ and given a tiny tostada with a daub offilling as our first taste test. We were shown examples of the various spiceplants they add to their cocoa drink and given a small wooden spoon with somecacao candy on it for our 2nd taste test.
After that, we climbedto the 2nd floor of the cacao shop and were given a few minutes todecorate an altar for the Day of the Dead. Then we got to cross a bridge to the2nd story of the next building. They handed out small wooden skullfaces that we could color using sharpies. And when we finished that, they hadmore things to taste; enchiladas, toquitos, a deep purple water made by boilinga certain type of flower, regular water, and some Mayan cocoa. The food wasokay, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about spicy cocoa made with water and notmilk, but I tried it, and it was good.
We were given 20minutes to shop in the various stores, and there were several in the area.Hubby went down the street far enough to find 2 swimming pools and the shoreline.Then we were put back in taxis and sent back to the terminal
Sensory overload againas we made our way through the first building and its myriad shops. When wecame out into the sunlight, I asked Hubby where he wanted to go, and he said‘to the ship’. I said, “Come on, it’s this way,” and he said, “Go ahead, I’llcatch up.” I thought he wanted to find a bathroom, so I walked forward about ashort block, and then waited for him to ‘catch up.’ I must have waited at leasthalf an hour before I decided he was a grown man and the location of the shipwas obvious, so I made my way to the dock and walked most of the way to theship, then paused to sit on a bench and rest for a moment. And that’s where hefound me. He was angry that I’d ‘gotten lost’ when he had OBVIOUSLY told me togo ‘back to the ship’. Not the way I remembered it at all.
Having found eachother, we went to our cabin for our special tumblers, and then went to thebuffet to hydrate and eat some lunch. That’s where we found A, another DWcruiser, so we sat and talked for a while.
Afterwards, we went toour cabin and worked on our stories for the afternoon. I laid down for an hournap, and Hubby got up and went walk-about a couple times. He’s not one to staysitting for long periods at a time. I also took a quick shower to wash away thesweat from our shore excursion, but by the time the ship pulled anchor and leftCozumel, I was deep into my writing.
When I decided to go tothe group’s social hour, the boat was rocking. I felt like I had lost my sealegs. This was a bit alarming because I ‘lose my balance’ entirely too often,even on dry land. But I got to the Schooner Bar safely and found a seat on thefringe of our big group.
Before long, it wastime to go to dinner. We had 2 go down 1 deck, and the elevators were mobbed,so we walked down the stairs, some of us gripping the banister as if our livesdepended on it. When we got to our table, we found that Tim and George were the‘monster’ guests for our table tonight. Tim is very outgoing and lots of fun.George has worked with Tim on lots of DW episodes, but this was his first timeon the DW cruise. He seemed to be warming up to the group’s off-beatcamaraderie.
We did have a touch ofdrama during our meal. Apparently, a server somehow dropped a bowl of soup.Some of the soup bounced as high as the ceiling, other splatters landed on 3 ofthe diners at our table. Hubby had a couple drops land on him. The lady next tohim went through two cloth napkins wiping off splatters that hit her. Tim gotso much soup on his shirt that he went back to his cabin to get a fresh shirt.Many jokes were made about the incident.
Several members of thetable decided to go do the onboard zipline. I don’t know if they got theirnighttime zipping done; the ship may have been swaying too much for thatactivity to be available. If not, they were looking forward to barhopping afterthat, so I’m sure they had lots of fun. Hubby and I didn’t have a beveragepackage that included alcohol, so we went back to our cabin to write, but thatdidn’t last long before we started yawning and decided to go to bed.
