I HATE Vince Vaughn

All week I've been posting pictures of beautiful water & all the great places we went on the cruise. Well, there were some not so beautiful pictures as well. We saw lots of people wearing stuff they shouldn't have been. Here are some from Cozumel. This was the only place I could pretend to take pictures of the water when actually taking pictures of people that were grossing me out.



Then there was this one.


Really? What are people thinking?

Saturday night was our first get together of 2010 with "The Worst Book Club Ever". We have some new members too. It was at Allison's house & just about everyone was there. At one point we were actually discussing books & sounded like we could've been a real book club. It was disturbing.

We had a coupon from Directv that was expiring today for a free pay per view movie. We were checking out what was available & I saw Four Christmases. I wanted to see this movie when it was in the theaters but I didn't so we ordered it. Now, Vince Vaughn annoys me. Like really annoys me. The incessant talking drives me crazy. Dean reminded me of this but I said it would be ok. I like Wedding Crashers & The Breakup so I thought I could handle it. Besides Reese is in it. I love Reese. I mean SURELY he can't be that way in EVERY movie he's in. Yeh, well, I was wrong. He's exactly like that in every movie. So much so that I got on the computer & imdb'd him to see if he's the writer of these movies. FYI - he's not. Apparently, and this is just an assumption on my part, he ad libs. I mean really, what else could it be? These writers can't be writing these movies strictly thinking Vince is the only person that can play the part can they? I don't recommend this movie. It wasn't good. Dean didn't even like it & he doesn't have any preconceived hatred of Vince. I'm just glad I'm not paying for it.

Toodles!

Cozumel

Friday morning when we woke up we were docked in Cozumel. I took a couple of pictures from the ship.



We had an excursion booked & it was one that I wasn't looking forward to. Maybe I shouldn't say I wasn't looking forward to it, I just had zero expectations. That way I wouldn't be disappointed. It was a cooking class. That's right, we were paying someone to teach us how to cook an authentic mexican meal. Everyone knows I don't cook, I don't like to cook, I don't really want to learn to cook & I don't eat authentic Mexican food. See why I didn't have any expectations??

We had to take a bus to what they called a resort. It was really just a park but it was nice. This is a picture while we were waiting for the bus.


At the resort/park there was a restaurant, a pool & of course beautiful water & a nice beach. They brought us to a room that had windows everywhere so we could see the water. It had all these little cooking stations & there were 4 people per station. Perfect since there were 4 of us.


The first thing we had to do was put this on


Don't I look thrilled? Chef Luis insisted we wear them the entire time. I was ponytailing it that day so I guess it didn't really matter. He proceeded to teach us. He was very funny. Our main course was fish wrapped in a banana leaf. Here's Dean cooking. Not an unusual sight at all.


Here's proof that I really did participate.


He also taught us about presentation.




These were the tortilla's we cooked to make our appetizer. If you notice the skinny legs in the background, they belong to one of the gay guys on the cruise. His presentation was UNBELIEVABLE! It was amazing how pretty he made his plate with that red dye!


This was the appetizer once it was done. It was REALLY good.


This was dessert.


It's cookies layered with rice pudding with cinnamon sticks as a topper. It was good if you like rice pudding.

Here's me & Chef Luis.


Doesn't he look about 12? He studied in Paris which to me is really strange considering he's teaching us how to cook mexican food in Mexico. Anyway, we had such a good time in this class. I highly recommend it. See what happens when you have no expectations!

I was a little startled when class was over & we went to the place where we'd eat. This thing was sitting right outside the door.


After we ate, there was a little mexican walking around with an iguana asking if you wanted to take a picture holding it. Ummm, no thanks dude. I certainly wasn't interested but then Cliff informed us that iguana's are carriers of salmonella. I guess that's one the reason the ship makes that announcement that you can't bring animals back on the boat.

Here are some pictures of the water!



We took the bus back to the port & did a little shopping. There was a band playing.


Carlos 'n Charlie's & Senor Frogs were in the shopping area so we went to Carlos 'n Charlie's for a drink.


Dean's starting to age & his eyes aren't as young as they once were. When the waiter brought the menu & he couldn't read it in the dark they brought him this.


These were the largest & cheapest drinks we had the whole week! Only $27!!!! Dean got nervous when the waiter brought the ticket & it said $365. It was in peso's not dollars!!!



I'm still amazed at the water.




That takes care of all of the ports we visited & the excursions we did. We had a fabulous time & I highly recommend it!

Belize

I knew when we went to Belize that our ship wasn't going to be able to dock at the port because the water was too shallow. We were going to have to take a tender from the ship to where we were going on our excursion. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking the tender was but when I got out on the very small platform & had to get in a small boat that was bouncing all over the place because of the waves I was a bit nervous! This isn't a good picture but with all the boat movement it was the best I could do. I didn't want my camera to go overboard. This is the tender tied up next to the ship. It was a really bumpy ride, kinda like a roller coaster at Disney!


You can kinda see how small the tender is compared to the ship.

What was even more disturbing than the little boat was the boat driver & his guy that jumps off the boat onto the dock to tie up.


Click on the picture to make it bigger so you get the full effect. When I saw the driver I immediately thought "Colombian Drug Lord" & the other guy, well, there's just not a whole lot to say.

We chose to do what they call a "Beach Break" for our excursion. Basically, they bring you to a beach & you hang out. It was heavenly! We went to Bannister Island.

This was the restaurant/bar


The island was really pretty. There were little tables like this all over the place.


I thought this palm tree was really cool looking!


In case you're wondering, that's a rum punch in my hand. They had those waiting for us when we got to the island.

The water was freezing so this is as far as I went.


We walked out on the pier & took this picture of the beach.


I couldn't get enough of this water! The color is just unbelievable!


I'm not sure why but there was a monkey in a cage on the island too. He was snacking on a banana. If you talked to him he'd look at the camera. It's a good thing there was a couple there talking to him because I wasn't about to.


Remember how excited I was about my hat? You know the perfect beach/pool hat? Well, this was the only time I put it on that day.


Notice I'm holding it? Yeh, that's because the wind was blowing 45 mph. I'm NOT exaggerating! I guess I'll just have to save it for those days when I'm laying by my pool. When it was time to go we had to get back in the tender & go back to the ship. It was a much calmer ride. Something about us going with the waves. We changed clothes & then had to get on yet another boat to take us to the port so we could shop. This boat was bigger & was closed in. There were no suspicious characters on it either. The one thing that caught my attention while shopping was the pharmacy. We went in to see if we could buy some Aloe Vera. I figured after all the laying out I was doing I'd be needing it. There was a sign with all sorts of prescription medicines listed. Amoxil, Lexapro, you name it, they had it! I thought about picking up some Amoxil but thought better of it. I had always envisioned the drug selling to be really shady with mexicans selling it out of their trunks.

We found a cute restaurant that had an upstairs deck so we stopped & had drinks. Dean had something called a Zombie & Cliff & Sheri both had Miami Vice's. Come to find out I've been drinking Miami Vice's for years & didn't know it! In the Carribbean that's what they call a pina colada & strawberry daiquiri mixed together!


I had a Pina Colada & it was delicious!!


Thursday was Cliff's birthday & we had reservations at the steak house on the boat. Since it was a little fancier we decided to dress up. This would be when you can see the "color" I got from laying out in Belize. I'm literally a "red neck"!


I'm also red chest, red arm, red leg & red spots on my feet. Apparently, aerosol sunscreen doesn't cover well in 45 mph winds. In this picture you can see just how white I really am normally so you can see just how burned I was/am!


Isn't that lovely? Moving along, this was after dinner. In the main dining room there was a chocolate buffet set up. I've never seen so much chocolate in one place!


There was white chocolate, dark chocolate & milk chocolate.




The ice sculptures were amazing too. Especially this one!


I can't imagine how long it took to make that!

When we got back to our room the towel animal guy had done another good job.

I thought the little piggy was appropriate after all that chocolate!!

Stay tuned for Cozumel!

Guatemala

Wednesday morning when we woke up we were in Guatemala. Their port isn't pretty. It's very industrial.


This is the city we were in.


There was some sort of Guatemalan Naval Base at the port also.


Some of their ships.


Right before I took this picture there were some goats running around. They moved to quick for the camera. I'm still not sure what they were doing.
Some of their sailors.


Since we didn't schedule an excursion we got off the boat & went shopping. These palm trees led the way.


The shopping was inside the building that said "Welcome to Guatemala".

Y'all just don't know how excited I was to see that the little concession stand had DR. PEPPER!!! Of all the places we were going, I surely didn't expect to find it in Guatemala. Maybe this little country isn't so bad after all! Not to mention it was only $1.00 & they gave me a straw without me having to ask for one!!!


Notice I'm still fluorescent but there's a hint of red on my chest.

Dean & Cliff enjoyed drinking the local beer. Sheri & I found it hilarious that they were talking the girl down on the beer. It started out at $3.00 & they got it for $2.00. Who knew that worked on beer! I guess maybe I could've gotten my Dr. Pepper for .50!


I enjoyed shopping here. Well, maybe I shouldn't say enjoyed. I felt like I was taking advantage of the people by not paying their asking price but considering what they would come down to I think they were trying to take advantage of me.

There was one point that really bothered me & I've continued to think about it since we got home. When we went on our excursion to the Ruins our tour guide told us that we may come across kids that will ask us for money & that under no circumstances are we to give it to them. Their parents are teaching them that this is ok. Luckily, we didn't see any kids. Guatemala was a different story. I was buying something from a man & he had the most beautiful little girl who looked to be about 4. She said something to me & I couldn't understand her. Being the naive person that I am I bent down & asked what she said & she repeated herself - "dollar for me?". Yeh, well that broke my heart. I would gladly have given her $1.00 or more just because she was so cute BUT my peeps told me I couldn't. I know her dad wouldn't have let her keep it anyway. I wanted to fuss at that man for using his little girl like that. It was incredibly sad. The only thing that made me feel a little better is that the little girl looked well taken care of. At that point, I'd had enough & we made our way back to the boat.


We laid out by the pool for awhile. The weather was beautiful again. When we were getting ready to leave the port we heard music. We went out on the balcony & saw this


They did a little dance routine & waved as we left. We weren't sure if they were happy to see us go or happy that we were there & want us to come back!

That night the show was the Second City comedy show. A lot of the famous comedians (Will Ferrell, Tina Fey) got their start with this group. It's a lot of improv & they were hilarious!

In the atrium of the ship there was a sale going on & I got this hat.


I LOVE it! It's the perfect beach/pool hat. We were spending the next day on the beach in Belize so I thought it would be perfect and if I ever feel the need to be incognito I just need to add my Jackie O glasses & nobody will know it's me!!

When we went back to our room, we found this


Our towel animal maker did a much better job don't you think!

Next up....Belize!