Smash shuffle and Cruisin!

Well, I've been MIA for a while, but instead of saying that I will post later, I'll just do it now. The cruise was so so wonderful. We got to visit Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico and do some pretty cool things there.

We met our table mates on Monday..two of them were sisters, just a few years older than Jess and I, from Kansas. The other couple at our table was a gay couple from San Antonio. Chuck and Scott had been together for 25 years, and for their 25th anniversary, they decided to go to Boston to get married; the cruise was their honeymoon. The other six people never came to dinner, so we did not get to meet them. After getting acquainted all through dinner, Chuck and Scott invited the four of us to their room the next night for wine and snacks before dinner. After dinner, we chilled and watched karaoke...I would have done Tricky, but they didn't have that in the book.

Though we got on the ship on Monday, our first day in the sun was Tuesday. Jess and I roasted ourselves to a fiery crisp.Literally; all we did was lay in the sun and do nothing else. It was great, but at the end of the day, we were roasted, toasted, and burnt to a crisp.



That picture was actually taken on Chuck and Scott's balcony. The six of us did end up meeting for wine and snacks that evening before dinner. We talked the whole time and got to know each other. It was really fun; they were great company.

Wednesday was our first day on shore. We arrived at Progreso, Mexico that morning. Jessica and I, as well as the other two girls at our table signed up for an excursion called "Salsa and Salsa". It was a lesson in making authentic Mexican salsa and Guacamole, as well as learning to Salsa dance. A bus took us from the Progreo's port to Merida, a city about 40 minutes south of Progreso. Merida is gorgeous and full of Mayan history. We ended up at a restaurant called Pancho's (named for Pancho Villa). Here, we took seats at a long table with all the ingredients and tools necessary for making salsa and guacamole in front of us. After getting our first round of complimentary drinks, we learned how to make their margarita, which uses curacao instead of triple sec. We then began to make our salsas and guacamole. We made two salsas; Chiltomate and Salsa Boracha. Chiltomate is a standard salsa while Salsa Boracha has a bit more and adds in a shot of beer mixed with tequila. We then made the most amazing guacamole that I have ever tasted. After enjoying more drinks and our salsas and guacamoles, we got to have our mini Salsa dancing lesson. We moved to the patio of the restaurant and met our Cuban Salsa instructor. He was legit as legit can be. It was really hot outside, but learning the moves was so much fun. We learned 5 moves, but Jessica and I could really only do 4 of them. It was so much fun though! We spent the rest of our time hanging out at the bar and talking to the waiters who worked at the restaurant and the guys who helped work the tour. They were hilarious and we had such a great time chilling out with them. We did a little bit of shopping afterwards before getting back on the boat. We were pretty wiped and didn't do much that night besides hang out with Lindsay and Lacey.







On Thursday, we arrived at Cozumel and got ready for our second excursion. Jessica and I had chosen a ziplining and snorkel combo adventure. We thought that this was going to include ziplining through the jungle of Cozumel and then snorkeling and relaxing on a beach. We got the last part right, but the ziplining was actually that and a ropes course that was basically an outdoor rock climbing/ropes course. We were pretty disappointed, but tried to make the best of it, and doing the ropes course was fun even though i suck at rock climbing. After the ropes course part of it, we went snorkeling in the Carribean Sea. The water was so clear and blue, and even though I kept swallowing salt water (my body just did not want to get a hang of the concept of snorkeling), we saw some pretty awesome fish and sea creatures including some eel, barracuda, and black sea urchins, as well as huge schools of fish and gorgeous coral. After the end of our excursion, we decided to take a cab back to downtown Cozumel instead of straight back to the port We walked around a little bit and then went into the Tequileria to see all of the different types of tequila they carried.. After that, we wandered and found a restaurant called La Mission. We both had fajitas, chips and guacamole, and tortilla soup for $8. The food was authentic and fabulous. If you find this restaurant, do yourself a favor and skip Margaritaville and Senior Frogs and try their cuisine instead. We walked around a little bit more and did some shopping and tequila sampling. We tried this AWESOME pomegranate tequila that was actually good enough to sip out of a glass just over ice. I kind of want it right now, I won't lie. We hung out again that night, the day was tiring again, but so much fun.

Friday was our last day at sea. Jess and I decided to be smart and reapply sunscreen like crazy this day so that our burns wouldn't get worse. I'm pretty tan now, but I still have some red, burnt parts that are annoying me. That night, we had a lot of wine and a lot of drinks and just had such a great crazy time. The cruise was really so much fun, and I'm so glad that we decided to take it. We are thinking about doing more vacations together and i'm so excited for the next one!






The cruise was really nice because I just didn't have to deal with all the shit that irks me daily. Also, no twitter, no cell phone..it was really relaxing not to be attached to everything. Not that I didn't miss everyone, but I needed that break...and I might start turning off the cell phone a little more often and taking breaks just because it was that nice. Not that I want to get away, just because..its a nice break from the normal of ultimate nonstop connectivity.

I've been packing my stuff all day and am still not done, but mom and I are leaving for Dallas tomorrow. We'll have most of the day to furniture shop, and part of Tuesday to do that as well. I cannot believe this is really here!


Here is today's Smash Shuffle



if you want to grab any of this music, check out the Smash Shuffle; here is all the music up for grabbage so far.