Adventures in kayaks, on beaches, and in Target

First, before I begin this blog, I'm going to provide you with the pictures from LAST post that never made it...First, we have COLOMBIA!

Successful Shopping Trip!

Book store in Cartegena.  Great wifi! :)

Next was Colon, PANAMA!!!

Panama Prison (For all you PrisonBreak fans out there...)

Gatun Lake

Kayaking Begins...!

My new friend and kayaking partner, Dave!

Monkey!

Our fearless leader telling us about the wildlife in Colon

We survived!

Seeing a ship pass through the canal

Self-explanatory

Very cool operation!

Well folks, I am currently in Cabo on my way back to Miami. We have started a new cruise (same itinerary, new guests), but I still haven’t updated you on all the ports we stopped at before we arrived in San Diego to do the change over.  I will start with Guatemala.

Guatemala Market

In Guatemala, we port at Puerto Quetzal where there is LITERALLY nothing to do.  You basically have to take an hour long drive on a shuttle to get to Antigua in order to do anything.  For the past few weeks, I have tried to get on an excursion that takes you to a volcano where you hike around, but apparently the rest of the crew realized that being a tour escort is awesome and the tour has always been booked.  I even tried to get on it THIS cruise, but had no luck!  I’m hoping fourth time’s the charm...Anyway, here I was in Puerto Quetzal with nothing to do besides look at a few shops so...I also try and find internet.  Now, finding internet in ports has become a bit of a fun game to me because I think almost every second port, a fellow crew member says “Oh, there’s no internet there.  Don’t even bother.”  Of course, this makes me even more determined to find internet.  For example, when I was in the Guatemala port, there was a place with wifi that was charging $5.00 for a half hour!  And this was to use your own laptop!  I laughed at them and began my search.  I was on the hunt for someone who I don’t know..wasn’t determined to completely take advantage of me?  And lo and behold, I found a cafe that had free wifi!  It was awesome and I was really excited about it.  I stayed there for most of the day (we were only in port for a few hours) and bought a few things.

The market was much nicer than the one in Costa Rica.  It still gets annoying when people are constantly telling you that you are beautiful hoping it will entice you  to buy something from them.  I don’t know who to trust anymore because according to every single local I am an “angel”.  All lies, I tell you!  No amount of fake compliments will get me to buy a fake leather change purse for $20.  My favourite moment was when I was in a little shop area looking at necklaces and touched something that was NOT jewellery.  Can you spot something in this picture that doesn’t belong there...?

THAT IS A CHILD!!Laying under that shelf!  There was LITERALLY a child sleeping ON the display...It scared the living daylights out of me.  I didn’t stay long before I went back into the port.  Hopefully I will find something to do next time we are there.

Our next stop was Puerto Vallarta.  The biggest attraction in Puerto Vallarta for crewmembers is the Wal-Mart.  Although my plans originally included a trip there to buy some products you can’t really find anywhere else in Central America, I decided to forgo my original plans and go to the beach with some friends!  We had planned to play football and I was very excited!  It was Dan, Alex, and Riley (acapella boys), Antonia and Frankie(dancers from the production shows), and myself.  It was so much fun!  It was definitely the best day I’ve had ashore.  I missed the Odegard Family Thanksgiving Football Game so this was a nice little activity for me.  It was a lot less competitive than the Odegard game (imagine that), but I tribute that to my self control.  There were a few moments where I could feel myself beginning to get competitive and I had to remind myself that, not only was this just a football game, but also I was meeting two of these girls for the first time and if I didn’t want to scare them off entirely, I should keep my competitive nature in check. 

Alex, Riley, and I before the game!

I couldn't resist.

Nothing like a  good photo collage!

Starbucks surprise from Alex!  SO STOKED.

After the game, we laid on the beach for awhile and walked around for a bit.  It was very hot, and though I thought the days of me holding cold drinks to my forehead in order to cool down were over, the photos don’t lie.

It was really nice to do something that wasn’t an organized tour and spend time off the ship with my friends.  One of the highlights of the day was that Alex went for “a walk” and came back with Starbucks!!! I was SO excited.  Don’t worry...I captured this moment.  Totally candid.  The part of Puerto Vallarta that we went to was actually really nice and I enjoyed looking at the stores.  I can’t believe I didn’t buy anything! I enjoyed the water (next time I need to get a boogie board!), the sun, the sand, everything!  I hope we can do something similar next time we are there.  It is probably my favourite port on this Panama Canal run. 

Then, finally, there was Cabo.  The day of the dolphins as I often referred to it as.  I finally got to go swimming with the dolphins, something I had always dreamed of doing!  There were six of us that went (all crewmembers).  Johnny (trombonist), Gabriella (waitress), Karen, Val, and Sylvia (facialists), and myself.  It was such a cool experience!  The dolphin that we hung out with was named Aqua and she was called the “Queen of the Pool” because she was the Mother and the largest dolphin there.  She was so cute and it was so much fun playing with her, seeing her tricks, and of course, getting dolphin kisses from her!  One of the girls was absolutely terrified the entire time (think Britt when she was 5 and a dog and/or clown would come within 10 feet of her).  She also couldn’t swim which made it difficult because she had a lifejacket on but couldn’t really kick, so she would just float away.  I spent a solid chunk of time swimming out to get her and LITERALLY drag her back by pulling on the lifejacket strap.  But she was a good sport and did everything she wanted to do so I was happy for her!  I WISH I could show you all these moments via photos but unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to bring our cameras in to the water.  We were told that there would be a photographer taking photos the whole time.  What we weren’t told was that it would cost us an arm and a leg to get any of the photos.  For a CD of photos, it cost $269!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  This was my conversation with the guy selling the photos:

Me: Hi, I was hoping to buy a few photos.  Can I see the price list?

Him: Yes Ma’am (still so weird when people call me that)

Me: Ok so...what are the prices in American dollars? (of course I assumed that they were in pesos because it would be absolutely INSANE otherwise!)

Him: It is in American Dollars, Ma’am

Me: Hahahah No, but seriously.  How much?

(Awkward Silence)

Me: Wait, this is actually how much it is?  $269 for a CD of DIGITAL photos?  (wrecks face in disgust and walks away)

So...that happened.  I THINK I may have figured out a way to get the photos, but of course, those will be on the next post because apparently that's how things work now.  

Eric and I at Starbucks :)

Finally, the passengers disembarked in San Diego.  I had the most wonderful day with Alex, Riley, and Eric (who was from the former acapella group).  We went to Target (AWESOME), and Ross (AWESOME). and Starbucks (AWESOME)!!! AKA we did everything we haven't been able to do in two weeks.  I did well and controlled myself (as much as anyone can in Target).  Of course, I spent a fair amount of time in the card section but refrained from buying the whole store!!  

Successful Target Shopping Trip! (And only ONE bag...can you believe it??)

Cards, Cards, Cards

So excited just to BE in a Target again!

And that was that!  Right now, we are in Puerto Vallarta on our way back to Miami...! I will leave you with a picture that I took on the way here.  It's me and a pirate.  No story, no point.  But due to the lack of pictures in the last post, I figured it's ok to go a bit overboard this time!

Sending love to you alll!!!!!

Byeee!!!

A