Day Six - Costa Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Friday, April 5, 2019

I’m in my usual routine with yoga on the balcony but today we’re pulling into Costa Maya along with the other 15,000 cruisers, and as we approach our berth I play a game of Beat the Clock, since I’m in my jammies!  Turns out we’re the furthest out, so I needn’t have worried!

We have both been here before, so we haven’t booked an excursion.  We just get down to breakfast while there are a few stations still open;  but they have that lovely oatmeal with fruit in the little dessert-looking cups and fruit and today I experiment with the omelet station.  There is salmon as one of the choices and lots of veggies, and my version of café con leche completes the meal.

Woohoo!  I caught the light!!

Look at the Peter Max decor on this hull!!

From our balcony we could see a swarm of people storming Costa Maya.  It looked like the D-Day invasion!!  There are two huge ships already in port, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas and Norwegian’s Breakaway.  Our little ship looks like one of their life rafts!  We decide to try to get ashore anyway, and it’s easier now than it appeared before breakfast.  We have nothing in particular in mind except checking out the little shops and, possibly, getting some lunch.  We’ve learned that skipping lunch and drinking later is a terrible idea, even if we go to tea first.  And we might not even get to tea today;  there are lots more shops than either of us remembers from previous visits! 

The most impressive addition is the birdmen!  They climb to the top of a tall pole and spiral down in a controlled free fall!  I recall seeing them on a tour with Ginger and Juan and they are just as thrilling the second time!

The shops hold few surprises, except that there are one or two with original, signed pieces that are quite beautiful.  It’s fun to have new people comment on my hair!  And one guy even likes my t-shirt.  It’s from Costa Maya and that’s probably what he’s appreciating!  Gosh there are a lot of people! 

One young man, Jacob, gives us samples of moisturizer that we can order on line if we like it.  But then he decides I might like the eye cream and lickity split he’s spread some under my right eye!  Now I have to look up while he blows it dry with a small portable electric fan!  He sees Diana’s necklace and asks if she’s Jewish.  She says, “Yes”, and he says, “Well, no one’s  perfect!”  (Really!!)  Then he backpedals and says he’s Jewish, too; both his parents are Jewish.  And he’s even been cut “down there”!!  Like we needed to know that!!

The eye cream’s pretty good but we can’t get away fast enough.  The flamingoes are still in their little pool and you can still have a dolphin encounter.  We stop for lunch, because we sure won’t get back to the ship in time to eat and we know better than to skip a meal and indulge in wine with dinner!  Although our waiter said they don’t have wifi, we were able to connect, albeit briefly!  Diana checks in with Dan and I reach out to my guys and Meagan next door.  We decide to split and a huarache with chicken and it is plenty of food.  I have a bottle of Sol – ‘cause I’m in Mexico and why not?!

After lunch we see the little trolley that goes into town;  but we’re hot and tired and laden down with our purchases, so we head back to the ship. We’re in time for tea with our new best friends!  They still don’t have GF scones;  but there are finger sandwiches and little desserts and Darjeeling in our cups, so all is well.

The fatigue factor kicks in and besides it’s Gala Night, so we head to our cabin for showers and rejuvenation before donning our glad rags.  Strange to have Gala Night after a day of frolic and shopping in the hot sun;  but oh well!

Tonight’s entrée for me is the surf and turf!  I know this because Diana gets the next day’s menu the night before so they can prepare something that’s GF for her if she doesn’t fancy the GF choice on the menu.  They’ve been very accommodating!  I’m not as sensitive as she is, so I can usually get by without special treatment.  I just don’t get the obvious gluten choices, like the chocolate cake.  I can order cheesecake and just leave the crust.  So far that’s worked out just fine.

Anyway, back to dinner.  I’ve chosen a salad with beets, mandarin oranges, and feta!  Who would have thought this would be such a delicious combination?  It’s followed by an apple, pear, and cucumber salad with frisee, cherries and a blue cheese crouton, another good choice!  The filet is about three ounces and our waiter removes the lobster meat from the tail and pours butter over it.  Everything is perfect, and there’s porcini jasmine rice and sautéed veggies.  Warm flourless chocolate cake finishes the meal to perfection.

Robin and I have finished off our bottle of shiraz, so she orders another one this time.  We’ll have two nights to finish it and that’s just right.

After dinner, we are very excited to head back to the main stage for another night of PMJ!!  This time we get seats downstairs and pretty close to the stage!  Tonight’s show is different from the first and takes place in a jazz club.  The performers drift into the club for a rehearsal, then break into the real show.  They are SO talented!!

Afterwards, Diana agrees to go to see Barry with me for a little while.  Tonight he’s doing the Carpenters and Bette Midler.  We lean on one of the little dividers for a while, then Diana finds a seat at the bar.  Soon Diana II comes up next to me and tells me I’m having too much fun.  I ask if there’s a tax and tell her to put it on my tab.  Meanwhile Barry is singing and playing his heart out and we’re singing along.

We have to stay at least until 9:45 when the chocolate extravaganza is set to take place.  Barry assures us we don’t have to go anywhere;  the chocolate will come to us!  Sure enough, down the corridor comes a string of wait staff with trays full of goodies!  They pass us but come back by ones and twos, delivering tartlets and white-chocolate pops and other assorted chocolate goodies.

There is some conversation between Barry and the bar staff about “five minutes.”  We don’t know what that’s about;  but he vamps to fill the time.  Presently there is a parade of pleasantly soused individuals, led by a guy on a scooter with a glowing glass, and accompanied by a “keeper” in a rasta hat and attached dreads!  They are the Bar Hop contingent.  For twenty-two dollars they hop from bar to bar, getting a drink at each stop and I suppose something else occurs there, too.  I’m guessing that, because when they get to us, Barry teaches them a game.  The three who are the most nimble and have the best knees are chosen to participate.  Each one has a chair.  The one in the middle sits and the other two stand in front of their chairs, while Barry plays “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”.  Each time there’s a word that starts with a “B”, the sitter stands and the standers sit.  It sounds easier than it looks! Especially if you’ve been drinking! What a hoot to watch them pop up and down and berate once another for making a mistake!

Somewhere along the line Diana and I have acquired Amaretto on the rocks and when the drinks and the fun are over, Barry takes a break and we take our leave.  Diana thinks one more drink is a good idea and the math works for me, since the first round went on her card.  If I buy her second (I don’t think I need anything else!) and we’ll come out even.

She goes off to the casino and I go back to the cabin;  but before I can even get ready for bed she’s back!  She’s down to the last eight cents of her allotted gambling money and has called it quits, so we’re both turning in.