Final Trip Pics and The Roundup

Greetings and Salutations!
So there’s going to be some re-dos of the pics (the very few I was able to get to upload during the trip) but it’ll at least give some perspective and some of the sights I saw whilst on my possibly last for quite some time “oot and aboot trip”.

It started with me ‘mounting up’ on the Margaritaville Islander, which is a 26 year old cruise ship and the newest of the Margaritaville line.

My bunk was an inner cabin on the 9th Deck “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere”

My A.O. was 9012, juuuust a wee bit forward of the red dot on the upper right corner of the map. Desk 9 was where ALL the pools and hot tubs were located, as well as all the chow and the majority of bars. The casino was on Deck two, as was guest services, and the main atrium, which ran 3 glass elevators top-to-bottom:

There was quite the ‘holiday vibe’ kicking as Christmas (in theory) is around the corner… Funny thing is I kept having the term “The Great Glass Wonka-vator” from the second Charlie and the Chocolate Factory running through my head whenever I climbed in one of them.

I then had to hunker down for about 2 hours while the room got ready in a piano bar, which wasn’t that bad….

They did a few drawings for some free shit, mostly inconsequential cheap assed sunglasses and/or hats… stuff that appealed to the 70+ age crowd that seemed to make up the majority of this bunch I sailed with.

The breakdown of demographics was mostly 85+ % white, 10% black (and NOT the hoodrat persuasion) and then about 5% VERY young families with rug-rat kids. A further breakdown on the whypeepo is that 40% of them were old-old. Like mobility scooter/wheelchair old, which meant learning what the best time to dodge the lines at the buffet were, as they tended to ‘gum up the works’ if’n you will.

There were three pools on board, as well as three hot tubs.

and then:

Lastly:

And a smol pool w/Hot Tub on the fantail:

Where you could see the water slide:

A very well set up boat for R&R to say the least.

And no I did not go down the waterslide.
Too fat, Too high. I’m Airborne/Air Assault.
Not retarded.

The last time I ‘did’ a waterslide was my sophomore year in high school and ended up with a broken wrist. I lern’t that lesson early, AND cheap at the cost IMO.

On the way out of town, we went under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which was pretty damned cool. I was a bit slow in getting outside to get pics from UNDER it, but either way….

It was nonetheless Very Cool
So it was off to the races for the night.
I tried my had at $5 Blackjack and realized that the JuJu was ‘off’ so I avoided the tables after the fact…

Best to lose $20 than my ass.

After a night at sea, and some drinking and carousing,

We hit the Yucatan:

We then travelled downtown, and went into some of the ‘shadier’ non-tourista areas, primarily so I could find an ATM that spit out pesos as opposed to USD.

This from experience that paying in the local dinero, it’s harder to rip off us Gringos as exchange rates fluctuate, whereas what’s printed on the menu is printed on the menu, and harder to not fuck around with (in my experiences). Because of this, like I said, we got off the beaten path and well, it was cool AF in my experience.

MY travelling companion was a bit weirded, but trusted me as I had spent the night before regaling her with some of my adventures in Baghdad and other points of dangerous interest I’ve been in in the past. Egypt in particular…

I told her worse comes to worse, hide behind me as I absorb knives and bullets (albeit for a short time) pretty well. So we hit the bazaar:

They sold EVERYTHING there, from sandals to bedsheets and everything in-between. By that time, we were hangry, so
we plonked down for chow

As I had mentioned, it was dirty, dingy and not up to the usual ‘Murican Tourist thing, but ALL the locals were eating like mad, so I figured it had to be some good grub.

As I stated before, brekkie was Empanadas and a Coke

The Coke(s) there were WAY better than the chemically made crap we have stateside… the real deal if you will. A bonus was that the waiter (or whatever he was) told me that the ice was from a purifier, and considering we didn’t shit ourselves to death, good on him! The chow was good/great, and as I mentioned the other day:

“The Green Stuff/Sauce”

OK
An explanation is in order.
Here in The US we have Habanero.
Leastways what WE call Habanero.
Then
In Mexico, THEY have Habanero.
The Real Fuckin’ Deal apparently.
Outside of the name, that’s about ALL they share.

Now… let me tell you… it was delicious.
It was the ‘afterburn’ that got me… a slow, creeping burn that in the end felt like I had called in a “Danger-Close” ‘Snake and Nape’ airstrike on my tonsils… I just had to ride it out but damn if it wasn’t hotter than the norm. And I positively enjoy a good hot meal. There’s a new definition in my book as to my rating of heat, and it ain’t scovilles… Nope… it’s going to be “Local Hot” or “Mexican Hot” with the “MH” meaning the real deal.

My poor asshole took a few days to recover from it let me tell ya.. The songs that kept being replayed were “Ring of Fire” and “Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love” came leaping to mind when I had to do a ‘download’ so to speak. Ice cream wasn’t touching THAT burn let me tell ya…

So…
After lunch we wandered around a wee bit. The exterior of the Marketplace/Bazaar was at that point getting set up, in all it’s glorious veggie and fruity glory:

A positive riot of color…
Look but no buying as the strict rules about bringing fruits and veg back on board were in place per usual. I also saw them roasting some questionable ‘street meats’ as well:

….which just so happened to be across from the yet-to-be opened Chinese food place:

The name alone cracked me the Hell up… That and to come alllll this way to find Chinese Food in the Yucatan amiright?

I also found a place named after Frida Kahlo, apropriately named “Frida’s”:

A wee bit of a bougie upscale eatery, with the prices to match.
The artistry on the building however was great.

I also, as per an earlier poast interacted with the Yucatan State Police, and while I couldn’t take any pics of them, I did get a pic of their recruiting poster (I think):

So I dug the Yucatan.

I’d go back for another longer visit given the opportunity.
The local State Police sure enjoyed hanging with me it seemed…
It’s always nice to interact with fellow professionals…

The last thing I took of in the Yucatan was this weird assed sculpture of what appears to be a stylized heart that has some ‘stuff’ airbrushed on it:

The very bottom having what appears to be a Mayan Pyramid.
What’s unsettling is that a culture that literally sacrificed hoomon beans has a sculpture of what appears to be a heart, with a pyramid painted on it where the aforementioned hearts would have been ripped out?

Maybe it’s just me….

So onward back to the Boat, and I got ready for dinner. Said-dinner being part of my prepaid dining packages, and after a GREAT MEAL in the on-board steakhouse:

We went to a comedy show with Edwin San Juan,

He’s a Filipino comedian who was funny AF. Seems he’s been on Comedy Central, leatsways my dining companion told me this… It was a great show, and my sides hurt by the time I got to bed.

By First Call in the AM it was time for Cozumel.

And as far as Cozumel?

Unfortunately, it was WAY too crowded and commercialized and expensive.

“Thank you for coming Mr. Big Country, your total comes to one arm, half a leg, and your third born grandchild, payable on demand!”

Needless to say I hit the pharmacia, and chilled out by the pool for the rest of the trip, getting burned even more. At least I got a great base for a tan out of my efforts Aye?

So… I’m done.
Leastways for a while. It’s been 9 states, and two countries over the past 60-90 days. I’ve seen my Gran in TN, re-connected with old frens, connected with new frens, gone deep sea fishing, gone to Naw’lins to see the infamous Bourbon Street, went to California for a movie, met up with Aesop IRL and some excellent readers, plus done two cruises.

I’d say it’s been a lot of living packed in that timeframe.

No complaints.
No regerts either.
I only have One More Thing I want to get before the End of The Year, and this’s courtesy of WiscoDave:

I NEED THIS TAT
Right shoulder or right forearm… not sure which, but I am getting this inked come Hell or High Water! They had a tat place on the Boat, but they wanted $400 for it, and I was like ‘hard pass’… I’ll go down to Ybor and see, as MY tat place went out of business a ways back, which is a bummer ‘cos the guy did good work.

So… that’s pretty much a wrap for this trip. I’ll announce the raffle by weeks end, and yes, it’ll be for an Enfield.
So More Later
Big Country