Cozumel: best. port. ever!

Well, yesterday was pretty much the best day ever. I would just like to put it out there that the Mexican island of Cozumel is definitely my favourite port. Ever.
Mark and I were lucky enough to have the day off yesterday and had the luck to have been able to book an adventure tour going zip lining and snorkelling with the stingrays. However, disappointment was to strike when we walked into club fusion for London Pub night on Thursday evening at 11:30pm to be told that we had been enrolled in safety training the next day from 9-11am, effectively dashing our stingray dreams.

Safety training was actually really really interesting. But it’s really outside the scope of this particular blog entry (see the next blog entry – I’ll write about it – it was very cool). So at about 11:30 Mark and I walked down the gangway and into Cozumel. To see shopping. So much shopping.

The problem with all the ports I’ve been to before is that there are only two types of things to buy- Really really expensive duty free items/diamonds/watches/diamond encrusted watches AND really really cheap souvenir t-shirts/key-chains/assorted-crap-you-don’t-want-or-need. Cozumel, although possessing both of these, introduced a third category – cool, reasonably-priced-stuff-I-actually-want.
I bought an amazing leather belt and leather bag for $40 (the guy originally wanted $35 for the belt and $45 for the bag, so I drove a good bargain). Also a pair of sunglasses and a mask + snorkel.

After making it out of the cruise terminal flea market, we caught a taxi into town. It was such a beautiful day – blue skies, warm temperatures, nice and dry (not horribly humid like other islands). Cozumel is very clean, the people are friendly (even the pushy shop owners are very charming), and everything is wonderfully Mexican.

We went for lunch at Toro’s place, a Mexican (duh) restaurant with beautiful views of the harbour. And my god. Mexican food in Mexico? You could not believe the awesomeness. The nachos were to die for – and the fajitas? Kill me now that I will not be able to have them again for two weeks! I got mixed fajitas – so beef, chicken and prawns – just perfection! Top it off with a bottle of corona with lime and you have the ultimate dining experience!

Before I tell you what happened next, I’d just like to point out something that really grinds my gears. At pretty much every single port we stop at (including tiny Grand Turk) there is a big chain bar/restaurant- Senor Frog or (most prolific) Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. You see our passengers flock into these giant bars when they arrive in port, not to leave until right before the ship departs. WHY? I DON’T UNDERSTAND! You are in a new country, surrounded by new sights to see and activities to do- and you disappear into a tacky chain bar, get drunk with other Americans and listen to American music, not seeing anything that island has to offer. MAKES ME SO MAD!

Anyway, after lunch I decided we would rent a scooter and drive out to some Mayan ruins. Mark was… unenthused at the outset. We rented a little 50cc scooter in a back street for $20. The contract was a little like signing your life away “YOU ARE 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SCOOTER AND THE DAMAGE YOU CAUSE TO THE LIFE OR PROPERTY OF OTHERS”. However once we were on the road (and mark stopped screaming), we had a fabulous time. I love riding scooters… except when a bug flies in your eye.
We drove to some Mayan ruins that were free to visit. We rolled into a sleepy little town and became confused as to where the actual ruins were. We walked around for a while, but with still no ruins sighted we asked some locals. And sure enough, next to a little church was the smallest Mayan ruin known to man. It was very cute for a ruin.

Sure enough, we were enticed into a small man’s gift shop, and feeling guilty after driving all the way to the middle of nowhere, we were both guilted into buying a small ceramic bowl each.

Afterwards we cruised along the highway on our little scooter, eventually stopping at a party beach bar in the middle of nowhere called MR. SANCHO’S… It was like a crazy metropolis in the middle of nowhere… you could buy Mexican wrestling masks there! The ocean was filled with giant inflatable pyramids, anchored to the sea floor, for climbing and falling from. There were drunken passengers everywhere!
After a little R&R and rum and coke, we headed back to the ship via a massive Wal-Mart style store, aptly named MEGA. I find being able to buy white goods, clothes and crackers in the same store somewhat unnerving.