the cruise was nice but i think i have outgrown them. they are pretty confining. i don't mean the ship itself. it was nice to relax at sea but when we were in port, i felt like we missed out on a ton of stuff since we were constantly in a hurry to get back on the ship. we did a bunch of fun things but i was always thinking about what time it was. they will leave you if you aren't back in time....in fact we saw 5 people almost miss the ship because they cut it too close. the weather was perfect every day. mid to upper 70's. i loved it. not too hot but not too cold.
on Belize, we went on a tour of some Mayan ruins and then toured the main city. it was pretty nice and we got some great pictures. our guide Modesto was wonderful. he was very well informed about the island and the Mayan culture. overall i was very pleased.
then we went to Roatan Island (part of Hondurous). this was by far the most beautiful port we went to. very hilly and scenic. we went to the beach to hang out. in order to get there, we had to take a bus through the hills. it was one of those where you wonder if the bus can make it up the hill and then when it does you start to wonder about the brakes.....then you notice the drop off just to the side of the road. no room for error. i actually found that entertaining.
the next island was Grand Caymen Island. this was very hard for me to look at. i have been there before and saw how beautiful it was. then hurricane ivan hit it last year. it was just devistated. the water came inland so far that the salt water actually burned the trees. it looked like a fire had destroyed parts of it except the trees were white instead of black. only one hotel is open in the prime ocean front area. the rest are still a mess. it is just hard to rebuild since everything has to be brought in from the states. but we did have fun there. we went to a turtle farm, to swim with stingrays, and then on to Hell (that is the name of the city). all were really fun. to visit the stingrays, we had to take a boat out to a sandbar. really a strange feeling being that far away from land but only chest deep in water. the stingrays just swim right over you legs. the guide lifted one and put it on my head. scared the crap out of me but ben thought it was funny. then on the way back to shore, our boat ran out of gas (brilliant). we tried to get towed by another boat but we came loose and they broke one of their engines.....so they left without us. another boat came along and let us get on with them. we had 30 people on a smaller boat and they had about 100 on their larger boat. with us, we were very overloaded....but we made it.
the last island was Cozumel. the tour that we signed up for was on the mainland so we had to take a ferry over there. unfortunately the waves were large so we rocked a bunch. luckily i took my dramamine and was fine. ben finds it relaxing (crazy boy). but a bunch of people were really sick. once on land, we got to drive jeep wranglers to the destinations. first we went snorkeling in a cave. really cool and beautiful. but wow was that water cold. we saw bats. they are so neat. the only problem was that there were too many of us in a small area. after that, we headed to the beach. they served us lunch and then we walked around. it was pretty windy so we cut that short. then back to the ferry to head back to Cozumel. when we were almost ready to dock, we actually ran into another Carnival ship. i don't think they even noticed. but we did. it wasn't a hard hit we kind of brushed off of them but still they had crew members running around checking everything out. we were all fine and so was the boat. we had more time for Cozumel so we cleaned up and grabbed a cab to Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlies. we had a few margaritas and had fun. then back to the ship for our last day at sea.
we were able to relax some but then we signed up for the guest talent show. we had to practice with the band and everything. we did really well. it was a blast. we danced to Beyond the Sea which happens to be Carnival's new theme song (we did not know that). i have a video of it. the rest of the cruise and in the airport the next day, we had people asking us if we were the dancers. i love that. they all loved us.... ;)
we were supposed to come back on sunday but it was a tad foggy here in chicago so the flights kept getting delayed. we decided to stay another day and spend the night with Ben's parents (they live down there). so we had dinner with them and they brought us back to the airport the next day. so i missed work on monday (darn). then i was sick on wednesday....and i had a doctor's appointment today that i couldn't miss so i only worked about half the week. definitely a good way to break back into the work week.
while i was home today, i got a call from a company that i had contacted 6 months ago. it is located at 4500 w. addison. it is pretty far west but i would only have to take one bus to get there. that would be nice. i am going to go in to tour their facility next week saturday. i am still pursuing my career change but that will still be a while yet before i can quit my job to pursue it full time. so this may be a good interim position.....who knows....it is worth checking out.
on Belize, we went on a tour of some Mayan ruins and then toured the main city. it was pretty nice and we got some great pictures. our guide Modesto was wonderful. he was very well informed about the island and the Mayan culture. overall i was very pleased.
then we went to Roatan Island (part of Hondurous). this was by far the most beautiful port we went to. very hilly and scenic. we went to the beach to hang out. in order to get there, we had to take a bus through the hills. it was one of those where you wonder if the bus can make it up the hill and then when it does you start to wonder about the brakes.....then you notice the drop off just to the side of the road. no room for error. i actually found that entertaining.
the next island was Grand Caymen Island. this was very hard for me to look at. i have been there before and saw how beautiful it was. then hurricane ivan hit it last year. it was just devistated. the water came inland so far that the salt water actually burned the trees. it looked like a fire had destroyed parts of it except the trees were white instead of black. only one hotel is open in the prime ocean front area. the rest are still a mess. it is just hard to rebuild since everything has to be brought in from the states. but we did have fun there. we went to a turtle farm, to swim with stingrays, and then on to Hell (that is the name of the city). all were really fun. to visit the stingrays, we had to take a boat out to a sandbar. really a strange feeling being that far away from land but only chest deep in water. the stingrays just swim right over you legs. the guide lifted one and put it on my head. scared the crap out of me but ben thought it was funny. then on the way back to shore, our boat ran out of gas (brilliant). we tried to get towed by another boat but we came loose and they broke one of their engines.....so they left without us. another boat came along and let us get on with them. we had 30 people on a smaller boat and they had about 100 on their larger boat. with us, we were very overloaded....but we made it.
the last island was Cozumel. the tour that we signed up for was on the mainland so we had to take a ferry over there. unfortunately the waves were large so we rocked a bunch. luckily i took my dramamine and was fine. ben finds it relaxing (crazy boy). but a bunch of people were really sick. once on land, we got to drive jeep wranglers to the destinations. first we went snorkeling in a cave. really cool and beautiful. but wow was that water cold. we saw bats. they are so neat. the only problem was that there were too many of us in a small area. after that, we headed to the beach. they served us lunch and then we walked around. it was pretty windy so we cut that short. then back to the ferry to head back to Cozumel. when we were almost ready to dock, we actually ran into another Carnival ship. i don't think they even noticed. but we did. it wasn't a hard hit we kind of brushed off of them but still they had crew members running around checking everything out. we were all fine and so was the boat. we had more time for Cozumel so we cleaned up and grabbed a cab to Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlies. we had a few margaritas and had fun. then back to the ship for our last day at sea.
we were able to relax some but then we signed up for the guest talent show. we had to practice with the band and everything. we did really well. it was a blast. we danced to Beyond the Sea which happens to be Carnival's new theme song (we did not know that). i have a video of it. the rest of the cruise and in the airport the next day, we had people asking us if we were the dancers. i love that. they all loved us.... ;)
we were supposed to come back on sunday but it was a tad foggy here in chicago so the flights kept getting delayed. we decided to stay another day and spend the night with Ben's parents (they live down there). so we had dinner with them and they brought us back to the airport the next day. so i missed work on monday (darn). then i was sick on wednesday....and i had a doctor's appointment today that i couldn't miss so i only worked about half the week. definitely a good way to break back into the work week.
while i was home today, i got a call from a company that i had contacted 6 months ago. it is located at 4500 w. addison. it is pretty far west but i would only have to take one bus to get there. that would be nice. i am going to go in to tour their facility next week saturday. i am still pursuing my career change but that will still be a while yet before i can quit my job to pursue it full time. so this may be a good interim position.....who knows....it is worth checking out.
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