Minutes to Memories

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY FOUR: Thursday, June 7, 2007
(a.k.a. "When In Cancun, Always Eat at Mocamba's")

* Our ship took the scenic route to Calica (so they could fire up the casino again overnight), and we docked early Thursday morning. We exited the gangway where we had more photo ops, this time with a man in traditional Mexican garb as well as some family-style shots. We found the bus that was scheduled to take us to Cancun for a shopping trip.

* It took us about an hour or so to get to Cancun. Our tour guide this time was Paco, a nice man, but without Antonio's personality. Paco looked sort of like my friend, John Barberio, if John were a lower middle class Mexican (that's really funny, especially if you know John!). We learned from Paco that Cancun means "Snake Nest" in Mayan, and that McDonald's just isn't the same in Mexico.

* Our first stop (of two) was at the Mexican Outlet, which turned out to be a fairly typical huge souvenir shop. It was neat, but we soon matriculated to the Flea Market next door, where we met the famed Mexican barter system. The girls all bought something, but I avoided everyone with this funny feeling that I was back at the Greene County Fair avoiding eye contact with the carnies trying to get me to play a game. Anyway, it was a neat experience nonetheless.

* We were fifteen minutes late leaving this area because two of our group did not show back up. Who knows, maybe they are still in Mexico tonight? Anyway, we drove next to a Mexican shopping mall close to the beach. Here, since we were hungry, we took Paco's advice and walked over to a Mexican seafood restaurant on the beach called "Mocamba's." It was unbelievable. The view. The food. The service. Everything. Unbelievable. I have been all over Florida and to Malibu, but the beach in Cancun as seen at Mocamba's was the most breathtaking sight I have ever seen (the picture above does not do it justice). Not to mention that when they brought me my shrimp dinner, it was six jumbo shrimp, each the size of a large chicken leg. Crazy.

* Afterwards, we hustled back to make Paco's air-conditioned bus trip back to our ship docked at Calica (basically, Playa del Carmen for those of you scoring at home). The girls shopped the little stands outside the ship while I took my sunburned self indoors (Hillary got her hair braided while there).

* At dinner, I ordered the lobster bisque as a starter, a California spring mix for my salad, and penne for the main course. It was in between the salad and the penne, as the boat started rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth again, that I thought I might contribute my six jumbo shrimp from lunch to the ambience of the Four Winds Dining Room. I decided to skip dessert and go back to my stateroom and lie down. After dinner, being the loyal wife she is, Jody came back to the room and got sick and did contribute her meal to the ship's plumbing system. And she will be so proud that I shared this with all of you.

* I got a little better after a couple of hours and got up long enough to go to the photo gallery and spend way too much money on pictures that I'll evacuate from my house next time a hurricane comes (while forgetting how much I spent on them), and Jody took Hillary back to Camp Carnival one more time (at Hillary's request) for a late-night slumber party scheduled to last until 3:30am. Hillary lasted just over one hour and was not having any fun, so she called Jody to come and get her.

* I ordered room service - a BLT with chips just for the salty chips (still feeling woozy), and some brownies and cookies just because... (hey, they're sort of free!). I felt a little better, and we all went to bed.