México

Mexico was busy port for us. On the boat we'd met a group of ladies that lived by us (small world!) and had chartered a tour to Tulum, a larger set of Mayan ruins. They were so kind enough as to invite us to join them. We debated as to whether or not they could be crazy kidnappers or something and came to the conclusion that yes, they were indeed crazy, but not kidnappers, so we decided to tag along.

Our trip to Tulum started out by arriving in Cozumel, ferrying from Puerta Maya to Playa del Carmen where we boarded our van to Tulum. The van ride was supposed to be an hour long, but we had a super speedy driver who got us there in 45 minutes...we were glad because we weren't expecting to have a lot of time at the ruins, so his heavy foot got us a few extra minutes...and him a good tip!

It was a little weird that we had to stop and pick up his girlfriend (who we were fairly certain was underage), and even weirder that Rob had to ride between the two, but it was an interesting ride nonetheless.

Tulum was really exciting! It was a lot different than what I had imagined. It was located right on the water and the place was packed! Lots of the tourists were hanging out at the beach and swimming, but since we weren't aware that the ruins were so close to the beach we weren't dressed appropriately. We actually thought getting to the ruins was going to involve some hiking so we were all dorked out in hiking gear.

We really enjoyed the ruins and would have liked to have more time to spend there. It was so hot out, but we sprinted through the place to make sure we got to see it all before heading back. Seeing these ruins made us regret not seeing the ruins in Belize. There are some more Mayan ruins further West of Tulum called Chichen Itza, but our stay in port wouldn't accommodate a visit there. Next time we're in Mexico, maybe?? ☺

Here's an aerial shot of the site that I found online...just to give you an idea of the layout. Pretty spread out. Amazing.

Back at Playa del Carmen there were a bunch of military guys with big ol' guns all around the ferry loading. I thought it was weird, but had to document it. I am way too big of a wuss to take a full on shot, so camera in hand I folded my arms, guesstimated what angle my camera was at and took a shot. Luckily I have mad camera skills and captured a great picture. Rob thinks I am a nerd for doing this. And maybe just a little stupid. My words, not his...but I could see it in his eyes. ☺

We did have some time to shop and beach hop in Cozumel before the ship left. We came across this store that had a bunch dog t-shirts. We aren't ridiculous enough to actually buy one for Jackson, but we are ridiculous enough to take pictures of them (and to later have wished we would have bought one).

That was Mexico, and our last port of the cruise. I still have loads of pictures to post from our actual time on the ship, plus our time in Miami before the cruise, along with our few days in the Keys after the cruise. Yes, this vacation is going to drag out forever, blog-wise.