As promised, much more to post. I got some great advice from Will regarding the previously posted situation. Basically I just ignored her when she was in one of her moods, and did whatever I wanted to do. Whether she liked it or not is not my issue. So, I had a bunch of fun.
Thursday we were in Costa Maya, Mexico. And it was such an awesome day. There were only two cruise ships in port that day, ours and a Royal Caribbean ship. The RC ship left shortly after we got there, so it wasn't crowded at all. Costa Maya is a town that has basically been created in response to the popularity of cruising. The port is new and is just beautiful. The beaches are just gorgeous. Unfortunately all of the water related activities were cancelled on Thursday because of rough seas as well as jellyfish being everywhere. However, that wasn't our issue because we were headed to Chacchoben to see Mayan Ruins.
It was about an hour bus ride from the port to the ruins; and our tour guide was just great. She provided all sorts of information about the Mayan culture and the native species of the Yucatan Peninsula. As we were driving along, we got to a military checkpoint. Costa Maya is very close to the Mexican/Belize border. The military is checking for illegal immigrants being smuggled into Mexico. Our tour guide said that the border area has a lot of problems with people from Guatemala and El Salvador being smuggled into Mexico.
Chacchoben was abandoned about 800 years ago. The landscape in Mexico is incredibly flat. And so when there is a mound of some sort, it's usually a ruin of some sort. Chacchoben was found in 1972, and excavation began in 1994. The absolutely fascinating thing about the area is that only about half of the structures have been excavated. The other half are still waiting. And so you can really see what things looked like there in 1972. The buildings are just fascinating. The temples were off limits for obvious reasons, but the staircases that go to them were available for climbing. It was so darn cool (and really pretty challenging). We went up one set of stairs, and then went down another set. The second set were really intense. As you stand at the top, it's just a sheer drop of stairs down. (I'll post the pictures later). Then we walked through the jungle to see where the villagers lived. I could go on and on and on and as I was walking all I was thinking about was how much it looked like something right out of Indiana Jones, except it was real! I can't wait to go back to Mexico and spend a week or so. I want to go to other Mayan ruins; and then maybe visit Aztec and Incan ruins as well in future trips.
When we got back to Costa Maya we did some shopping. I have some basic Spanish skills, so I decided to try them out while I was there. I was shocked to see that I could communicate well enough to get by there. I was also amazed at how friendly and happy people were when you would speak their language. I bought some beautiful dresses there.
I have to say, Costa Maya was certainly the highlight of my vacation; and as I said several times, I can't wait to go back!
Friday was another day at sea, travelling from Costa Maya to Ft Lauderdale. It was a great day, I spent most of it at the pool enjoying the water and the sunshine. It was perfect!
So, all in all, I would say that cruising is awesome. And I can't wait to do it again. When I called Lead Momma from the airport yesterday, she wanted to know when we were all going to book one. I told her we could go as soon as she wanted to. For anyone who hasn't done it, I highly recommend it. Carnival rocked! The cruise staff was just amazing. It was customer service done right. I've never experienced anything like it. The staff on the Liberty was just amazing!!
Photos later!!
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