March 14 - Cozumel

Our pictures from Cozumel really are worth a thousand words. Try to look past my broad shoulders and CaraLee's wind-blown hair. You'll notice the wasteland that is left after the storms hit Cozumel. The entire island's trying to rebuild, but - in the meantime - it's a wreck. Look at the dock CaraLee's posing in front of. The waves ripped it apart, rebar, concrete and steel. It was a grave testimony to the disaster that struck Cozumel.

Our trip was not quite as disastrous. Again, we were like little sheep, nervously creeping off the boat and into the port. We worried about the stories we'd heard... people asking to be taken somewhere in a taxi and getting a bill for $50 after an unwanted tour of the island. We decided we'd walk to a nearby beach for some snorkeling.

Along the way, we met a North American lady at a booth who volunteered to answer any questions we might have. In the process, we were offered a free lunch and snorkeling experience if we'd just step into their hotel and get the "pitch" for a timeshare-type-thing.

Ever heard the expression "there's no such thing as a free lunch?" Now before you roll your eyes and shake your collective head at our naiivety, we did get out free lunch! The guy gave his hard sale and we managed to resist the urge to give him $5,000 as a down payment to belong to his club. He did also give us a voucher for lunch and snorkel gear at the beach down the road.

Proud of ourselves, we sauntered down the seawall to an authentic little beachside joint with open sides and a grass roof. We put off getting our snorkeling gear until we'd eaten. The food was amazing. We both had quesedillas until we were stuffed. I talked CaraLee into enjoying a Corona and we were feeling like we had pulled one over on the world.

Ever heard the verse, "pride goes before a fall?" As we were eating, it started to rain. It didn't bother us a bit because we were under cover. We even counted our blessings to point out that we wouldn't get sunburned when we were snorkeling! I walked the 15 feet back to the snorkeling hut to get our stuff, only to find out that it was - apparently - Cantina time. 1:45 in the afternoon and it was time to go home for the locals who ran the shop. The truth was that it was raining and they could see that they weren't going to get any more business for the day.

Sadly, our Cozumel snorkeling experience eluded us.

That night, we got dolled up in our "casual" clothes and had another amazing meal. I just had to take a picture of CaraLee's prime rib dinner. It was a little obscene. The photo really doesn't do just to how gigantic this slab of meat was.

That evening, we were treated to a violin/piano duet (are we cultured, or what?) in the theatre. Shortly thereafter, we traveled through 4 different short shows which featured acts from different Mediterranean countries. We started in Egypt & Turkey, where we saw a 7' white guy dressed as a lady teach us to belly dance. Then it got a little better in Greece, where we learned to OOPAH dance. In France, we spent some quality time looking at the butts of some can-can dancers... it was a bit much. Finally, some Spanish dancing in... you guessed it, Spain.

Went to bed exhausted.