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Here is a play by play of our trip to the Caribbean last
week. It truly was the most amazing experience.
Saturday we arrived in Houston. We
spent Saturday night at the Astros game. Originally
we had planned to have dinner with my friend Phil who
is serving his mission there, but due to a problem with
getting our rental car we weren't able to go. The one
positive about that was we were able to talk to him
on the phone for a while. I truly miss that guy! Back
to the game - unfortunately for Astros fans the St.
Louis Cardinals won. Minute Maid Park is a really nice
stadium. The seats were pretty high up, but the view
was fabulous. I am sure you could sit anywhere in the
stadium and get a good view.
Sunday morning we had a mini-sacrament
meeting. It was awesome! It reminded me of the very
sacrament meeting when they organized the church. The
intimacy allowed the Spirit to be so strong. I am so
grateful to have friends that are worthy priesthood
holders.
Next we took a shuttle down to Galveston
to meet the ship. We had to go through security and
get our passports checked before boarding. As we went
to get on I felt like the Love Boat theme music should
be playing. After checking out our rooms we headed to
the Windjammer for a buffet lunch which was delicious.
One of the nicest things about the ship was the amazing
food they provided for us. It is pretty much all you
can eat and is extremely tasty!
Monday we spent most of the day by
the pool. I managed to fry my back …and spent
a good chunk of the trip making my main goal to be not
to get burned anymore than I already had. The ship had
two pools and a rock wall. They do all kinds of contests
by the pools through out the day. Yesterday they had
the “Mr. Sexy Legs” Contest which Derek,
Jake, & Will participated in. You wouldn't believe
the stuff that happened in that contest. Jake has offered
me money to destroy the pics. Hee Hee! ;o} After that
contest a few of the others and I played “Pool
Games”. I had already changed out of my swimsuit
and ended up jumping into the pool fully dressed.
Tuesday was spent mostly by the pool
again. That night was our first formal night which was
so fun. I love having an excuse to get all dressed up.
The guys picked up the girls and escorted them to dinner.
Then we had a great meal. I was daring and tried escargot
(snails) for the first time. It was delcious. I am rather
surprised that I liked it as much as I did.
Wednesday was our first day at port.
Our first stop was in Ocho Rios , Jamaica . Half of
the group went to Dunns River Falls – a waterfall
that you can hike up. The other half went and did a
canopy tour of the jungle. I joined the Dunns River
Falls gang. We took a taxi to the falls. Because Jamaica
is part of the British West Indies, they drive on the
left hand side of the road. Everyone says “No
Problem!” Our driver told us “In Jamaica
we have no problems, only situations.” At work
we have decided to try and adapt that motto for our
office. The people are very laid back and have a great
love for marijuana. Tania told one guy that offered
to sell us some that we were Mormons and he quickly
made a get away. Anyway … back to the falls.
It was awesome. It goes from ankle deep all the way
up to your head. You can slide down the falls and dive
in. It was gorgeous and so refreshing. Michelle and
I had our hair braided by a Jamaican lady. After the
falls we went shopping and visited Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.
I had my first experience at bartering which proved
to be a lot of fun. I got a wooden giraffe that was
hand carved which I love.
One of the neat things about shopping
in Jamaica is that they have a Del Sol store. When we
went to the store the girl working there asked me if
I was LDS. I replied that I was and found out that she
was a member too, along with all but one other employee
in the store. All of the guys had served missions and
so they spoke with CJ and I about that. As we were leaving
the elders showed up to do a follow up with the other
girl that worked in the store that wasn't a member.
Seems like they have been doing their own fair share
of fellowshipping.
Today was our stop in Georgetown ,
Grand Cayman . Brenda, Seth, Katie, Derek, and Will
went scuba diving while the rest of us went to Sting
Ray City to go snorkeling and swimming with the sting
rays. It was absolutely amazing! The water was so clear
and blue and the stingrays were so friendly. They just
swim up to you and swim against your body. The excursion
we were on provided us with squid (which is like candy
for stingrays) to feed to them and they would just swarm
around us all. Rachael especially fell in love with
her “stingys”. The stingrays only sting
if you threaten them or step on them, so we were not
allowed to wear shoes to prevent any possible threat
to the stingrays. The surface of the stingrays feels
so neat … it is very smooth with small salt like
bumps that feel cool when you pet them. Also it is considered
good luck to kiss a stingray so we all took the opportunity
to do that.
Next came more shopping. Grand Cayman
is also part of the British West Indies and so the people
drove on the wrong side of the road again. It is a much
higher-class country compared to Jamaica . A lot of
the shopping was very touristy so Rachael, Tania, Aubrey,
Kim (one of the Cali girls) and I went hunting for food
instead. We ended up finding a good meal (after avoiding
turtle burgers and other odd sounding meals).
Thursday night was our second formal
dinner and I was extremely daring and tried lobster
(I have never been a seafood girl) and LOVED it. I even
had two of them. This was such a shock that we had to
take a picture of it.
And last but not least was Cozumel
, Mexico . We took a ferry from Cozumel over to the
mainland and met our tour guide named Nacho. We loaded
onto a bus and headed out to see Tulum, a set of Mayan
Ruins right on the coast. Tulum was absolutely amazing
and probably everyone's favorite stop on the cruise.
We started out by listening to Nacho go on and on about
stuff. It was hot and nobody was thrilled by the standing
in place. So Matt & Jake broke away from the group
and went off on their own. A little while later came
back and told us that they had found an LDS tour guide
who was willing to give us a tour of the ruins. Nacho
reminded us when to get back to the bus and we headed
off on our merry way. Our guide's name was Alma and
she was awesome! She explained about the symbols and
some of the various artifacts that can be connected
to the Book of Mormon. Each temple has three squares
at the top of them that represent the Savior, Heavenly
Father, & the Holy Ghost. They don't call them those
exact names but it represents the Godhead. Everything
was so amazing and the Spirit was so strong that it
brought some of us to tears.
After Alma finished with explaining
everything we went to investigate the ruins. They are
right on the coast and so the view is amazing. The weather
on the Yucatan peninsula is so hot that we decided to
go wade in the ocean. Well wading turned into swimming.
We jumped in fully dressed and had a blast. I have never
swum in nicer and warmer water.
One crazy thing that happened was that
I went to take a picture of these really pretty orange
flowers. I started to walk really close to the bush
and all of a sudden a hissing sound came from the tree
I was standing next to, and out of no where a iguana
came rushing down the tree at me. I made a quiet but
very quick exit. So much for that picture! (I did manage
to get one of my "new friend").
After drying off we headed back to
the bus and back to the ferry to head back to Cozumel
to do some shopping. Our friend from California, Jeni
ended up losing her wallet. It was so sad, but fortunately
her passport and drivers license was on the ship so
she was able to get back home okay. I bought a few souvenirs.
I was able to get a Hard Rock café pin. I was
so excited to get two on this trip, one in Grand Cayman
and one in Cozumel.
Saturday was our last day on the ship.
I did something I rarely do … I slept in until
noon . I haven't been feeling really well the past few
days, as I have managed to get a cold. Never planned
on catching a cold in the Caribbean ! I did some reading
on one of the decks and then ended up back in my room
for a good part of the day. Michelle and I decided to
watch “National Treasure” – love that
movie! Next we went to dinner and really enjoyed our
last night in the dining room. Our table requested songs
from the musicians and just had a good ol' time! Matt
ended up ordering four different appetizers and was
really in to trying new things. I miss all the selections
now that I am home. The selection is whatever happens
to be in the cupboard – so basically ramen, macaroni
& cheese, and bread. Yummy! ;o}
That night we did a white elephant
gift exchange. Matt came up with the idea to buy something
that we found at one of our stops for under $5.00 and
then we could do an exchange with them. I bought a little
velvet sombrero. I ended up with a seashell necklace.
Afterwards some of us ended up in the bar dancing with
some really drunk ladies. (It is a really long story!)
Sunday we departed the ship and went
through customs and took a shuttle back to Houston.
The flight home was the worst of my memory. I was so
motion sick and couldn't wait to get to Salt Lake City.
A rude awakening waited for me when I left the airport.
It was 60-degrees out. Made me miss the Caribbean even
more!
Actually being home isn't so bad but
I find my mind constantly wondering back to my days
in the warm weather of the British West Indies and Mexico
. I am so grateful that I was able to save up the money
and go on this cruise. I needed the time away and I
also needed the gentle reminders of a Heavenly Father
who loves us. The experience at Tulum really touched
me and I know He had his hand in Alma finding us.
About a year ago Katie and I made life
lists. We filled them with things we wanted to do before
we die. One of the things on my list was to go to Jamaica
and I was able to do that. I was able to see that beautiful
island and to experience the people and food. It was
amazing as were all of the stops we made. I loved the
beauty of Grand Cayman . The water was so clear and
the sand was white. And the flowers on all three locations
were great. I took pictures of flowers at all three
stops. I loved getting to see new places and capturing
them with my camera.
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THE SITE ...: ARCHIVES ...: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005
A
few weeks ago my mentioned that since it is just going
to be the two of us this year for Thanksgiving that
we would go out to dinner at a restaraunt for the meal.
I was not a fan of this idea. In my opinion Thanksgiving
is a very family oriented meal. It is a time to be in
your home sharing your gratitude with each other and
what fun is it not to have leftovers? And I really want
more than one piece of pie.
