Mexico, Man!

We finished our 2 ports in Mexico yesterday and are spending the day sailing to Miami.  Our first port of call was Costa Maya where, for a couple of reasons, we decided to do a ship's excursion.  In fact, we did a ship's excursion in Cozumel as well.

In Costa Maya, we took an excursion to the Kohunlich Mayan Ruins.  The site was far more impressive than the Altun Ha site in Belize and our guide was far more informative.  I'll throw in some photos that will hopefully give you an idea about the site.

As we walked around the site, I spotted an artifact - a flint flake probably used as a cutting tool.  My days of volunteering on archaeology projects paid off!

After the visit to Kohunlich, we stopped for an included lunch by a beautiful lagoon.

The only downside to the excursion was the over 2 hour bus ride to get to the site.  Otherwise, it was definitely one of the best Oceania excursions that we've taken.

Yesterday's excursion in Cozumel was a Mexican Cooking Class and Beach Break at the Playa Mia Resort.  It was another winner.  The instructor and his assistants were great.  We cooked a 3 course lunch.  For the appetizer, we cooked shrimp in a tortilla bowl with a spicy sauce.  For the main course, it was talapia cooked with a salsa.  And for dessert, it was fried plantain in a chocolate sauce.  It all came out good, if I do say so myself.

 

After indulging in our creations, we had an hour or so to relax on the beach.

As good as that excursion was, it might have been some family news that really made our day.  Our big family event this year is our granddaughter Emma's graduation from Stanford.  We hoped to have the whole family there but it seemed that our second oldest granddaughter, Phoebe, would have to be attending summer classes at Kennesaw State that week.  Well, yesterday after we got back to the ship, she sent us a message saying that her classes would be on-line and she would be able to be with us.  Yahoo!!!!!  It's been a while since we've been able to get the whole gang together.

And, as good as our family news was, this morning we got great news from one of the staff members about his family.  Alen is the Restaurant Manager.  We were with him last March on Riviera, just after the war in Ukraine started.  Alen's family, his wife, daughter, and stepson who is draft eligible, have been stuck in Ukraine since then.  At breakfast this morning, Alen came to our table with the biggest smile and told us the news that his family has finally been able to leave Ukraine.  They are in Moldova on the way to Serbia.  It made us so happy for him and we really appreciate that he wanted to share the fantastic news with us.  

The bottom line is that, no matter how gratifying our travel is, it is family that far outweighs it.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry