Wordless Wednesday

My Life is Not Sucking Right Now

It seems like every trip with friends ends up with a long-standing and oft-repeated quote. For Cozumel, the quote came from my roommate Kim. As she got off the diving boat the first day in Cozumel, she found me lounging in a hammock and watching the water and commented, "Your life isn't sucking right now." That became our standard description for all things wonderful on the trip. Here are some of the reasons my life did not suck last week. . .


The hammocks . . . I spent a lot of time here. My camera lens fogged up on this particularly hazy morning but it was usually very clear.
The diving boat coming in (view from the hammock)

The Wildlife . . . Above and below water. Snorkelling was very cool, especially right around the hotel. (I hear tale of much more to see deep down where the scuba divers were. I like to think they're making it up and I really didn't miss anything. Hush, Chris . . . I can be in denial if I want to!) A highlight of the week was doing the "Taxi Dive." We piled all of our gear into a taxi and went up to the lighthouse a mile or so away, then rode the current back to the hotel. I especially liked this one because I could see most of the cool stuff the divers saw. Underwater photos to come later. These are a couple of the out of water critters that were wandering around.


Temescal . . . An ancient Mayan cleansing ritual.
We went to this sweat hut for the Temescal. You may be thinking it resembles an oven. That's because it is one, more or less. The man in charge, Moises, is a blond-haired, blue eyed local (with Mayan roots) who majored in Meso-American Studies. He taught us all about the background of the ceremony and some things about the Mayan culture, then called for "piedras calientes" (hot rocks) and a big pot of herbal tea to splash on the rocks with a tree branch (the ancient roots of aromatherapy?), and commenced cooking us. The ceremony had 4 parts, each one representing a phase of life. Each part called for more "piedras calientes" until I was hotter than I've ever been in my life. (That's saying a lot because it was stinkin' hot in Cozumel!)
When we were done, we went for a swim in this cenote. Aaaah, refreshing! (It's black because of the tannins in the water.)
Ancient Mayan Geocaching?



One afternoon, Chris and I rented a Jeep and drove around the island. The side we were on had very calm water and not much wind. The other side is much wilder . . . lots of waves and very windy. It was a beautiful drive.


We found several geocaches and a few things that amused us. This store
was just a few miles from Rasta Beach, home of the Bob Marley Museum. If you ever want to buy a bong, they had quite a selection in the gift shop.

Thursday night was Fiesta Night at the Scuba Club . . .


Tulum (Mayan Ruins) . . . Nick, a fellow traveller, says Tulum was the undoing of the Mayans because it was right out there for the Spaniards to see as they sailed by so they stopped to check it out. Historians aren't really sure but it makes sense to me.


While I am glad to be home in a place where I can drink the water, a stop sign means more than consider slowing down maybe, and I don't want to jump in the water every time I go outside because it's so hot and muggy (by the way, did I mention how hot it was there?), I already miss the clear blue water, the opportunity to jump in that water throughout the day, the island life, fantastic travelling companions, and of course, the hammock.

Wordless Wednesday

Un Dia en Cozumel

Early in the morning (early by my standards, that is . . . it was 9ish) I walked into town to visit the Museum. I love flowering trees. You can see my hotel (Scuba Club) in the background.

I am now publicly apologizing to Sina and Nate for secretly thinking they were whiny when complaining about 85 degrees in tropical humidity. Anyway, I was the first museum patron of the day. The guy at the desk greeted me, insisted that I look at the Geography of Cozumel exhibit, then ran ahead to turn on the lights in the underwater fauna exhibit. When I left that room, he ran ahead to turn on the lights in the island flora exhibit. Then I went upstairs and another guy ran ahead to turn on lights in the out of water fauna exhibit. Then suddenly they abandoned me completely. Turned out the last exhibit (a replica of a Mayan house) was outside in the sunlight.

To cool off, it was time for some snorkelling. There are lots of fish and other critters hanging around.

Danielle has a photo of her feet everywhere she goes. I have sunsets.

Every Sunday night the whole island comes out for a fiesta. On the way to the plaza, we had the Drag Queen Gay Pride Parade.

Sina, this one made me think of you since many mopeds like this carry families of 4 or 5 people here too.

We passed this sign on the way.

There was a live band and much dancing . . .

Sadly, it was not Free Slurpee day in Mexico. Even more sadly, there are no Slurpees in Mexico (unless you count the ones mixed with tequila).

The next stop was Fat Tuesday for the ultimate tourist moment with mariachis and sombreros. There was a ruckus behind me and when I looked to see what was going on, I found Kim dancing on the countertop. Beware the effects of tequila Slurpees. How I wish I had been faster with the camera.


From there, we found a geocache and headed off to the hotel. Partway there, it started pouring rain. . . Perfect for cooling off that tropical heat.

"Those of you on the right side of the plane can see . . . "

Just before 1 this morning, my friend Chris, and two new friends, Kim and Nick, and I got on a plane to Atlanta. It turns out, Chris and Kim had been tempting Murphy by mercilessly teasing the other group that we were to meet in Cozumel about how they would arrive first and be in the water before the other plane even landed. Eleven hours later, as we were almost close enough to taste the salt water, karma caught up with us. The pilot came on the PA with his pointing out a noteworthy site voice and said that those of us on the right side of the plane could look out near the wing and see . . . fuel leaking out! We emergency landed in Tampa a few minutes later. The girl behind us called her mom to report the events and was talking about how our plane was being chased by fire engines. Chris and I rolled our eyes at her exaggeration. There was just one parked fire engine on the runway, and two police cars at the gate. Then we looked out the window as the plane turned, and saw that we were, in fact, being chased by 4 fire engines. The plane stopped and we were told to stay in our seats while they figured out what to do next. A minute or two later, we saw a man dressed up like a spaceman climbing around near the wing. (Note to self . . . Always pack camera in an easily accessible location, even if there is no anticipated need for it.) We deplaned and were told that a replacement plane would be arriving in a couple of hours. (By this time, we had been en route for over 12 hours, and hadn't slept much since early the previous morning.) That plane was delayed as well so we waited patiently (sort of) in the Tampa airport. Chris and Kim saw the error of their ways as they realized that not only would the other group get in the water first, but the dive shop would close before they could check out oxygen tanks so they were quite likely out of luck for the day. Finally, around 3 pm, the plane arrived. . . from Salt Lake City. If only we had known . . .

The good news is we arrived safely in Cozumel, the other group made arrangements for the late arrivals to get oxygen tanks, and Chris and Kim got to play with octupuses. It's beautful here! More adventures to come . . .