Adventures in Cruising- Day 3- Progresso, MX

On Day 3, we awoke to the sights and sounds of the Yucatan Peninsula and Progresso, MX. I had already done my research and knew I wanted to take the 8 hour shore excursion to Chichen Itza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. After checking out the visitor's center and duty free shop, we boarded a bus and met our tour guides, Saul (pronounced Sa-ool) and Mario.

Mario was a wonderful guide and lead us through the history and current culture of the Mayan people and language.

We also found some time for shopping and got to take in the local scene. It is amazing to me how these people can live so sparsely in what I would consider huts. The Big Monkey has been telling me for years about the lack of resources they have in Mexico, but until you visit and see it, it is hard to imagine. (Woman selling handmade servilletas. She was literally 4 feet tall)

(Children playing outside a store)
(This was a beautiful blanket but it was a bit too expensive)
(Yes, this is actually a herd of goats and a shepherd just walking down the street)
(Towel Elephant, day 3)

Adventures in Cruising- Day 1 and 2

Well, as you now know, The Big Monkey and I decided to take a last minute cruise. It has been since before The Little Monkey was born that we got to spend any real quality time together. So, we left LM safe at home in NOLA with the nanny and set sail for the High Seas (The Gulf of Mexico, that is)! Only two cruises leave out of NOLA so we settled on a five day Carnival Fantasy adventure.

Neither of us had taken a cruise before and all of my expectations stem from my many hours of watching The Love Boat. Well, friends, let me tell you, this was no Pacific Princess. When we first walked on, I was quite shocked by the amount of neon lighting and immediately felt like I had stepped back in time into an episode of Miami Vice. The white "marble" staircase on the Empress deck was really more cliche than impressive. But, my disappointment soon dissolved away when we headed to the Lido deck for the all you can eat buffet (thus, begins the tale of how I gained 8 pounds!).

The first evening we headed to a cheesy, Vegas knockoff show where we met "Fun Ship Freddy", the Carnival Cruise mascot. Big Monkey immediately noted that Freddy was more reminiscent of Satan than of a ship, which I thought was very true and very funny.

The next day we were at sea while we headed for Progresso, MX. I actually talked BM into waking up early with me and heading to the Gym for an early morning Yoga class. It was pretty tough and BM thoroughly embarrassed me by the amount of sweat he managed to drip on his borrowed yoga mat.

(The Big Monkey with our waiter, Omar)

That evening was formal night where we dressed in our finest and met the Captain. We had the late seating for dinner each night and fell in love with our head waiter Omar who took care of our every need. BM hails from Mexico originally and it was great that he could speak Spanish to the staff and to the locals in port. I think we definitely had a better experience because of that.(Towel ninja day 1)

(towel bunny day 2)

The best part of every evening was returning to our cabin to see the towel creation that our steward, Ramil, left on our bed.

Day 3 to come tomorrow. I'm sure you are on pins and needles.....

Been Cruisin'

Well, you probably didn't realize it (because I was sneaky and set up my posts to publish while we were away) but The Big Monkey and I set sail last Saturday to the open seas and just got back this morning! I will be blogging about our trip shortly.

I gained 8 pounds! Yes, you heard that right... 8 pounds! Is that even physically possible, you ask? Well, apparently, it is. So, this week, I am back on track and hopefully it will magically melt off.

I'm heading to unpack and then I'll come back to post pics and tell some stories.