Royal Caribbean Cruise - Day 6

We started the day with breakfast with the Allisons and Dukes on the a la carte side of the restaurant, with French toast, eggs, bacon, hash browns (not very crispy), omelettes, and a big selection of breads. For some reason they often put half of a grilled tomato on the plate. After breakfast we all headed out to see Cozumel. With seven big ships in port at the same time, they are docked pretty close to each other! 

We hadn't been here in several years and were hoping that jewelry, alcohol, and clothing stores hadn't taken over the place but it looked like they had. There was a lot of nice stuff here but we like visiting other countries to see .... well, other countries. 

But when in Rome (or Cozumel), do as the tourists do. So we visited several stores, saw the sights, and tried some alcohol samples. I liked Larry's laid-back attitude about the whole thing!

I found an alley that led to behind the stores. I asked the friendly officer there if we could go through and he said sure, it just led to town. So we unhooked the small chain across the alley and went through. The wall along side of the alley had a roll of barbed wire on top so the Dukes and Allisons decided they would be more comfortable in the shopping area. Randy and I decided we wanted to go on, and I'm so glad we did! It turned out the be a great area to walk around in, with a nice mix of tourists and locals.

There were a lot of stores here, of course (this is tourist country) but they were smaller mom-and-pop stores, with just little China stuff mixed in with the local stuff. And the people were so nice, even if they didn't speak English as fluently as their big-store counterparts.

In one area we found a small Mayan museum, built to mimic the larger, authentic sites. 

Inside was cool and clean, with some artifacts and their descriptions. Eagle warriors were the fighting elites, and the only upper echelon that was not restricted to the nobility. If you were really good, you were in. 

The "Woman giving birth" figurine was interesting. The informational plaque told of a support system that included midwives and steam baths. I know she's wearing a headdress but it looks like rabbit ears. 

I didn't find information about the biggest piece, but it was beautiful. 

Back outside we walked through a small strip mall, where I gladly paid some guy $5 to get a photo with his parrots. What a tourist - pink visor, sunburned, vacation t-shirt, even got a bottle of Coke Lite in my pocket! But I could not stop smiling!

One of the stores here was a small grocery store, occupied almost exclusively by locals. Lots of canned meats and hot sauces. 

Along the street we passed an open-air restaurant with some tourists having a great time with the biggest drinks ever! 

We kept walking, heading along the main street  The area got quieter, with less stores and less tourists. We passed a gorgeous old tree that completely dominates the sidewalk. As I stopped to take a photo, I apologized to a local guy for taking up the sidewalk. He smiled and said he loved the tree, too, and was so glad it had not been cut down. Me too.

This area was a mix of older buildings being refurbished and some really nice places, like the Grand Park Royal Resort. 

We decide the next town area was too far to walk to today so we turned back. Along the way we discovered that there are a few small places along the rocky shore where we could have gotten to the water fairly easily. If we'd known, we would have brought our snorkel stuff. 

Oh well, we enjoyed the view, and the iguanas who where sunning along the shore.

Eventually we got back to port where the big ships were lined up in a row, bringing back with us a lovey conch shell, silver earrings, leather shoes, a dive jacket, and (my favorite) a little carved whale shark necklace. 

We had a late lunch at the Windjammer of salad (it's about time I ate something healthy), chicken, hot dogs, and miscellaneous desserts, including dulce du leche. There was time for another nap, then on to dinner! Tonight was the second formal dinner. Prior to going into the restaurant, our group had a photo taken. I thought the guy did a really good job of getting so many people looking good at the same time!

Tonight's menu featured lobster tails so most folks had that. I ordered a second lobster for Randy (to go with his prime rib) but my dinner was the Vildalia onion tart, gnocchi in bolognese sauce (the best part of the meal in my opinion), followed by baked Alaska.