The second stop on our trip last week was at the port of Calica, Mexico. It’s a small port just south of Playa Del Carmen. This was a really different place for a cruise ship to dock. There were no other cruise ships anywhere close to where we were. The pier was back down a dirt road in an industrial area. There were huge pile of rocks/sand that it looked like they were developing. It was not a touristy type place at all.

The day started out the strangest out of any day on the trip. We had a reservation with Budget to have a car from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. We took a taxi from the pier to the rental car place. We got there at about 8:15 and it wasn’t open. We thought that was strange, so we walked around the block to make sure we were at the right place. After waiting for about 15 minutes we asked around to see what time the place normally opened and some locals told us that the guy didn’t usually get there until around 10 am. We eventually worked out a deal with Hertz for a Dodge Atoz (raw power!!!) and finally headed back to the ship at around 9:30.

The drive to the Mayan ruins at Tulum took about 45 minutes. Chris and I followed the rule, “When in Mexico, drive like a Mexican.” There were a few passes that we were closer than we wanted to be to the cars going the other way, but we got there in one piece. The ruins were really cool. We couldn’t walk up on any of them, but the view at the beach was absolutely incredible. It was really humid and hot, but once we got in the water the trip was well worth it.

Here are some pictures at Tulum:

I thought I’d share a little bit about the cruise we took last week and the different locations we visited. The first stop we made was in Cozumel, Mexico. We arrived at Cozumel and got of the ship at about 9:30 am. The port we were at was your typical cruise-tourist boat. There were about half a dozen cruise liners within the area and the port had all of your touristy type of shops.

Our main activity of the day was snorkeling. Thanks to Patti from International Scuba in Carrollton, we decided to head over to Chankanaab National Park. The snorkeling there was incredible. The beach went right up to the coastline, but then you had to walk into the water on rocks. Other than that, everything was perfect. It was definitely the best snorkeling I’ve ever done. The park itself was pretty beat up by hurricane Emily. There used to be a museum, but it was taken down by the storm. The trees were pretty beat up and one of the shops had its roof blown away. There were a few iguanas throughout the park as well.

In the afternoon we did a little bit of shopping and pretty much took it easy. Tomorrow I’ll write about Calica and Tulum.

We’re back from cruising through the Gulf of Mexico. We had good weather (no hurricanes, unlike my brother) and didn’t get rained on at Cozumel or Playa del Carmen. I’ve posted some pics over at Flickr.

The cruise was a lot of fun. Our head waiter was from Romania and did this strange mumbling thing when he served us anything. It was funny. As far as cruise ships go, the Carnival Ecstasy was ok, but didn’t blow us away. It was designed in the late 80’s and looks like it. The food was good, but didn’t blow us away. The room service didn’t have a huge selection.

But with all of that said, the cruise was still a blast and well worth it.

We made it safe to El Paso last night. We made pretty good time – 11 1/2 hours. No troubles on the road. Everybody’s getting antsy to get to work. It looks like it’s going to be a great week.

I just took the Big 5 Personality test at www.similarminds.com. If you know me, please commment on whether or not you think these are accurate of who I am. Here were my results:

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