update, finally!

So, last I left you was in the Cayman Islands, with me being ridiculously happy to be here. Since then, not much has changed besides the scenery. I found myself thinking last night, “man, I have a hard day tomorrow…” …Then I realized that a “hard day” here is cancelled parasailing plans and four sets of music this evening. Really, when a hard day is less than 4 hours of work, I can’t complain.

We’re in Cabo San Lucas today, and due to scheduling problems we’re only in port for a couple hours instead of all day. Generally, the crew has to wait til the guests are off anyway, and has to be back on before the guests get back, so that leaves us with not very much time. I doubt I’ll get off at all – we’re swinging back by here a couple times, so.. plenty of time to go parasailing.

Let’s see if I can catch you up – Grand Cayman was about a week ago. Next was Cartegena again (as you remember, that’s where we got on the ship) we were able to get off the ship and walk around some shops. We didn’t get into town (it was very hot and we didn’t care to sort through the huge amount of sketchy taxi drivers to take us anywhere) but we drank some coffee and fresh fruit juice, and it was lovely.

The next day we went through the Panama Canal. This one was the coolest for me – my grandpa lived and worked here in the 50s, and my dad was born here. Before I left, Poppop showed me a lot of his old pictures and maps, and it was really cool to see that not much has changed (except it’s in color now) Panama is beautiful, but very humid. I will never complain about Maryland or Nashville humidity again!

Punterenas, Costa Rica was my favorite so far. Lots of people wanted to go ziplining in the jungle, but (again) we didn’t have a lot of time, so we decided to go horseback riding. We got a taxi into the mountains, to this darling little place with a restaurant, hotel, ziplining, horseback riding, pool, pretty much everything. And no one else was there. We had to wait a little bit for an English speaking guide to go with us horseback riding, but the view was so beautiful and the food was so yummy, and we were in rocking chairs in the shade of a giant tree, that we didn’t mind waiting at all. Then we rode through the mountains for two hours (and yes I definitely hurt for days after). Our guides name was Walter, and he told us a little bit about Costa Rica and some of the trees, and we saw toucans. It was amazing. When we got back, we still had some time before getting back to the ship, so we hopped in the pool for a bit.

After another day at sea, we had two days in a row in Mexico, first in Huatulco and then Acapulco. We went to the beach both times, and I got a little sunburnt, but it was awesome. In Acapulco some of the guys went bungee jumping, but I didn’t. I suppose I shoulda, just to say I did. But bungee jumping has never been something I’ve really wanted to do. Oh well.

Yesterday was a sea day, and today we are in Cabo San Lucas! Sunday we get to San Diego, so I’m excited to check my phone call people I miss and go to walmart and see the lovely Jessica Miller. And get real internet. And hopefully upload some pictures.

So – email me. What's been going on in the states? No one tells me anything! J beckahannigan@gmail.com