To The Mayan Ruins

To The Mayan Ruins

27^th March 2012

Meeting up in the Crew Mess Jose-Chavez, Ani and I quickly had some breakfast while waiting for the ship to dock. Maryna was there but didn’t want to come with us because she’d arranged to call her parents at 11am. Carolee couldn’t come because she had to visit the dentist. However, she was a real star and lent me her Nikon lens, so I could take out my Nikon D90.

Going into the lab so I could finish up the odd bits and pieces of set up, and grab my camera, Kate was there doing reprints. She asked where we were going, instantly wanting to join us. A little while later, Diva was walking through the door, ready to go and armed with a Canon 5D Mark II, the camera I want. Maryna came walking into the lab to declare that she’d changed her mind and now wanted to come with us.

Now there were six of us: Diva, Ani, Jose-Chavez, Kate, Maryna and myself. There was no way we were squeezing in one Jeep, we’d have to rent two. Out of all six of us, only Kate and I had driving licences. I was amazed and more so by Jose-Chavez’s ignorant comment “why do you need to learn how to drive when you live on a ship?” “Maybe because we don’t spend our entire lives on ships and for occasions like these?”

Once docked, we headed out into the Mexican sun. This was the first time Ani had seen sunlight since Castaway Cay – four days ago! Our eyes had become accustomed to the artificial light of the ship and the dimly lit crew areas, that even with sunglasses on we were squinting and struggling to see.

After what seemed an age, we managed to get the Jeeps sorted. Jose-Chavez had a few complaints though. He wanted to rent the Cherokee’s with air-conditioning. Kate and I didn’t for the simple reason that they were automatics. We preferred to drive manuals. Jose-Chavez didn’t understand why we were so stubbornly requesting the manual Jeeps, even if it cost us $5 more.

Kate has never driven on the opposite side of the road. In England they drive on the left, so if she felt more comfortable driving a manual than that’s fine by me. Driving on the opposite side of the road isn’t easy, I did it myself when I moved to Kent, England to study photography, so I understood why she wanted a car that she was more familiar with. Jose-Chavez really couldn’t understand what the difference was, after all, to him, it was just driving on the opposite side of the road… but it’s not really that simple if you’ve never experienced it before, let alone don’t know how to drive!

Kate and I, each driving a car, went against Jose-Chavez’s option of opting out for the extra insurance. If we were in charge of driving the cars and carrying two passengers, plus ourselves, we wanted as much insurance we could get. We were the ones responsible for the passengers!

Once the bill was sorted, we climbed into our Jeeps and hit the road. Ani and Jose-Chavez were in my Jeep. Kate was following me, carrying Diva and Maryna. Once we were out of the built up area we were on the straight empty roads.

After about 30 minutes of driving, I pulled over into a layby. Getting out the car, I went over to speak to Kate. A line of cars had piled up behind her as she was being cautious and driving relatively slowly. Checking she was okay, Kate was actually doing a great job. Kate wanted to take things slowly, get to grips with the gear stick being on the opposite side etc.

Talking to Diva, she missed breakfast and wanted to pull over somewhere to get some lunch. A place further along the coast, Alberto’s was recommended to us by the car hire place. We thought it’d be a good idea to have a look and maybe stop off there.

In the meantime, while talking to the guys in the other car, Jose-Chavez and Aniko were trying to fix the roof on our Jeep. Jose-Chavez had complained that the Jeep’s soft-top had been rolled back and he didn’t want to be in the sun. The only problem was that the soft top was broken! The car rental workers had tried to pin it down, but the wind won the battle and the material started to detach itself from the car,  flapping around uncontrollably.

Back on the road and we made it to Alberto’s within about 15 minutes. It was a quiet place, situated on the beach. Ordering drinks and food, Kate spotted a pole dancing pole. Time to have a laugh! Kate, Ani and I were straight up there and messing around. Kate and I didn’t have the strength to pull ourselves up the way Ani did. Ani, having such long legs, could wrap them around the pole, lift herself up and  dangle her upper body backwards. Kate and I gave it another go. Ani made it look easy… unfortunately for us, Kate and my stubby, little legs wouldn’t wrap themselves the way Ani’s did! Let me tell you something though, Ani, is a dark horse and one to be watched!

Dark Horse Ani

Showing me how it's done

Kate's Attempt!

Jumping down to get some food, we had a big plate of Nachos and cheese. Jose-Chavez said we shouldn’t have ordered food, just the free nachos and hit the road. Why can’t this lad take a chill pill and calm down? Enjoy the day! We’ll get to the Mayan ruins… just enjoy the day, the company, Cozumel!

The Photogs: Aniko, Kate, Diva, Me and Maryna

We’d decided to take the long route to the Mayan Ruins. Why? So we could circle the island of Cozumel and see the rest of the island. Ani and I only made it half way around and the place looked beautiful. Plus it was a chance for the others to see what else Cozumel had to offer, other than the over-commercialised port. Thirdly, it gave Kate time to adjust a bit more to driving on the opposite side of the road. Having said that, she was thoroughly enjoying herself, behind the wheel again. Even though she was being cautious, like everyone would be, she was doing a fantastic job.

Coming off the new road, we started driving along the old, snaking around its many corners. After the Bob Marley place (the furthest point Ani and I got) the seascape completely changed. Unlike last week, the sea was so calm and the colour of the water was unbelievable! Mixes of deep, royal blues, light greens and blues and crystal clear waters. It sounds unbelievable that sea water can have such a mix of colours to it, but believe me, it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It was so pretty! Kate later told me she just wanted to park up, run across the white sand beaches and jump into the sea. Ani had the same idea! However, we weren’t about to lose sight of the objective: the Mayan Ruins.

Twenty minutes later and we made it to the entrance of the Mayan Ruins. Little did we know, but there was a 5km, pot-hole infested track we needed to make our way down. After a slow, bumpy drive we were met by large, colourful banners advertising the Mayans ruins and other attractions on the island. The difference between the ancient grey and black rockery surrounding us and overly bright coloured advertisement banners made me smile to myself. Coach buses from Disney Magic had already arrived. A bit of a downer as it’d probably be packed.

Walking inside, we had to pay two entrance fees of $4. Also, if you’d like to use your video camera, you had to pay an extra fee of $4 for the copyright. Walking in, past the souvenir shops, we were in a different world. Very much like when we (my old team) visited the Acropolis in Athens while I was working on Mariner of the Seas. It wasn’t long until Ani, Kate, Diva and myself were armed with cameras and shooting everything. And I mean everything!

The wildlife in Cozumel is amazing. My parents would love it here! Just on the drive down, we had a large eagle flying low over our Jeep and swooping into the grasslands on the opposite side of the road. Again it’d fly up, swoop around before darting back down.

Just at the entrance of the Mayan ruins we saw a third, large reptile. This one looked more like an iguana. It was massive! The poor thing must have felt like a real celebrity with four or five of us standing around it snapping off photo after photo!

Walking around the Mayan Ruins, the place is amazing. Many of the places were only a metre or so high and had been eroded away. Others however hadn’t collapsed. You could imagine what the place must have been like, walking along the jagged pathways.

At the end of the stone walkway we arrived at an opening. It resembled a town square. On the left hand side of the opening were the remains of Los Nichos. According to the plaque situated by the remains “The structure is so named because of the miniature shrines that were built on the sides of the stairways, which must have been used for placing offerings. The upper part had a stone vaulted roof and the interior was predominantly decorated in blue. It was built during the Post Classic Period (1,200-1,650 A.D.)”.

Los Nichos

Opposite was a large building that we were joking was used for human sacrifices, we weren’t far off the truth either! Los Murales whichs translates into The Murals got its name by the “fragmented murals discovered within it, which were painted with vivid colours of red, blue, ochre and negro (black), and covered with geometric motifs, stepped lines and Grecian frets and spirals.” “… The building had vaulted roofs for ceremonial purposes… In the interior there were altars and benches used for placing offerings (sacrifices) and holding ceremonies. Los Murales has only one construction period which dates  to the Post Classic period of 1,200-1,650 A.D.”

Los Murales

At one point we spent a good ten minutes wandering around looking for Jose-Chavez, who’d conveniently gone missing. Kate piped up and announced he’d been taken by the Mayans hidden in the woods surrounding us. No doubt he’d be taken as a human sacrifice then! Finally, we decided to have a look around and find him later, we didn’t have long until we’d have to head back to the ship.

Maryna, Kate, Me and Ani

Walking to the main Mayan ruin, we followed a bumpy little dirt path. Half way to the site, we found Jose-Chavez walking towards us. He’d decided to go looking around the place on his own, without telling any of us. A few people were miffed, after all, we’d just spent ten minutes looking for him, which was wasting our time… and believe me, ten minutes is a long time in “ship’s time”.

Kana Nah

Reaching the Kana Nah, it wasn’t as big as I’d expected it to be, having said that, it was still an impressive ruin which has stood for thousands of years. Jose-Chavez, let us know that he wasn’t too impressed as he had bigger and better ruins in his home country of Honduras. Why be so negative? I don’t know! Having a look around, we all stood together for a group photo.

According to the plaque located at the base of the Kana Nah, “The base and stairway are decorated with small human faces sculptured in the stone”. Walking around the vast pyramid like ruin, we were all trying to spot any hidden faces.

Suddenly we were distracted by another large iguana like lizard. It was the same grey as the rocks and camouflaged perfectly. I didn’t realize lizards bobbed their heads up and down as a sign that they are getting scared/angry. Seeing this one bobbing its head made a us all take a step back and move along!

Out of nowhere, the quiet one of the group, Maryna, shouted “Look, there’s a Hidden Mickey”. Looking up to where she was pointed to, she was right. It could have been a face but with years of erosion, it now looked like one of the Disney Magic’s Hidden Mickeys (the ship has Mickey’s face and ears hidden within the architecture and guests can spent an entire day looking for them all.)

Hidden Mickey - Can you see it?

By this time, Kate was getting bitten by ants and time was ticking. We needed to get a move on and start the short journey back to the ship. Walking along the dirt track, it wasn’t long until Ani had ants biting her feet…. And they weren’t just having a nip. It was teeth in, bums in the air and you had to pick them off! Nasty buggers!

While walking down to the car, we heard loud rustles coming from within the bushes. “It’s the Mayans… they want us for sacrifices…” the jokes continued.

Back at the car, we had our photos taken. You can’t rent a Jeep with your friends and not get another group shot! Then it was time to get back to the ship. Bumping around the track, Kate was still doing a good job in the car behind.

Back on the main road, we whizzed along the straights. Soon arriving back in the built up area, the opposite side we’d departed from, there was a shock contrast between here and the port. The people here didn’t live far off abject poverty! We were getting a few glares from the residences and for the first time in Cozumel, I started to feel slightly nervous and eager to get back to the ship. I understood their glares though… in the same position, I’d do the same!

Once we’d finally reached the port, my engine had cut out for the fifth or sixth time. Climbing out, we had to sort out the petrol with the guy who rented us the cars. To cut a long story short, we waited and waited. In the end, I had to leave Jose-Chavez the money to pay the petrol bill ($15) for each Jeep and run back to the ship or else arrive late for set up.

The others had already ran off to get showered and changed. I had 15 minutes to get back to the ship and change for set up. This was going to be a challenge. Walking as fast as my stubble legs would carry me, I managed to get on board, shower super-fast, climb into my uniform and get to the lab before some of the others did!

So, after a great day out and about, driving through Cozumel and seeing more than just the port, it was back to work as usual. One thing was for sure, we were all shattered but at the same time full of renewed energy and refreshed.

L-R: Lou, Ani, Jose-Chavez, Kate, Maryna and Diva

Jose-Chavez

Jeep 1 - Jose-Chevez, Me and Ani

Jeep 2: Kate, Maryna and Diva

Kate

Diva

Maryna, Kate, Diva, Aniko and Me

At Los Murales

Ani and Jose-Chavez

Our AMP, Diva at the Kana Nah

Old Banger

Old Banger

21^st March 2012

Cozumel, here we are! The day has finally arrived!

Five of us had arranged to meet, rent a car, tour the small island of Cozumel, Mexico and snorkel. I went to set up the lab at 8am rather than 9 so we could get off the ship as soon as possible. While making a cup of tea in the Mess I noticed we were still moving. Why? Our schedule says 7.30am arrival.

In the lab, at about 8:30, Ani wandered in and told me we weren’t arriving until at least 9.30. Just my luck. On top of that, there was a delay because of the strong winds coming into the port which made docking difficult. Just our luck. Then there was an even bigger delay as we had to wait for another delayed cruise ship, NCL Epic, to pull up alongside us. Now this was just bad luck for everyone!

Waiting and waiting, Rama, Inna and Maryna, didn’t turn up to meet us. Rather than cancelling things and waiting for others to get their act in gear, Ani and I got off the ship intending to have the best day we could… and boy, were we in for a treat!

There were two choices of car rentals from this particular company. The Jeep was $60 or the Volkswagen at $35 for the day. As there were only two of us we went for the cheap and cheerful option. That wasn’t the final price though. There was an additional $15 for insurance. It was optional, but I thought we’d better get it in case anything happened. After all, we didn’t want to be footing the bill if someone bumped into us or vice versa. On top of the insurance came $10 of petrol. We had to return the car with a nearly full tank, which we expected.

Waiting on the sea front for the car to be driven over to us, we were keeping our eyes out for Volkswagens. None. All of a sudden, Ani got all excited, laughing “Noooooo, it can’t be”. Yes it was! We had just rented an antique Volkswagen Beetle that made a rust bucket look luxurious! We rolled up. Ani had tears running down her face!!

Getting in the car, I couldn’t get my car seat forward to touch the pedals. The guy who rented our car said “allow me” before physically hammering the seat about and almost picking it up, before putting it a smidgen closer to the steering wheel. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting! Looking for my seat belt, the guy said “Seat belts aren’t mandatory in Mexico… so we didn’t install any”. Looking at the pedals, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I thought I’d driven some heaps of crap in my time, but this was taking things to an entirely new level.

About to pull off, I checked my right mirror, only to discover that it didn’t exist. No right hand side mirror, no seat belts, tiny pedals, too far for my stubby legs to each and no handbrake… Ani and I were glowing with enthusiasm and confidence! We later discovered that the brakes were just about useable – we’d be screwed if we had to do an emergency stop. Needless to say, we were left thanking our lucky stars we’d said "yes" to the addition insurance!!

Pedals

Driving along the main coastline road, there were numerous snorkelling points, some private, others public. A favourite place for many to visit is Chankanaab. The cost to enter is $20 which will cover entry, snorkelling, sun loungers and umbrellas. There’s also different water sports from parasailing to jetskiing and swimming with dolphins, all of which come at an additional cost.

Travelling along down the coast, we stopped off at Punta Sur (South Point) and then Bob Marley’s Place (if you are a fan of reggae and/or Bob Marley – go!). The sea was rough and impossible for snorkelling.

We were trying to find the lighthouse, where we were told, you could see crocodiles in their natural habitat. We’d driven past the lighthouse somehow. Asking for directions, I was told to head back the way we’d travelled and head down the old road.

Getting back on the road, we headed back the way we’d come before joining the old road. There are two roads circling the island, the old and new road, so we didn’t think it’d be too hard to find the lighthouse. Of course, we were very wrong. Once again, this time on the old road, we’d driven past the lighthouse. Confused, we checked the map. According to the map, there is a small dirt track we need to take to get to the lighthouse. We’d been looking out for it since we set off and hadn’t seen anything of the sort.

Unfortunately time was ticking. We had to carry on our journey in the direction of the ship. You never know, we might be able to try again, next week. Stopping off at a small beach bar, we decided to spend the last hour chilling before Pirate Night.

Snorkelling

Dropping our stuff, we could see a number of people snorkelling a little way out. The bar tender told us that if we have our own equipment we could just go right on in and start snorkelling.

Stripping off and grabbing our snorkels and masks, we waded into the water. Only a couple of metres from the shore we dipped down into the shallow water and started swimming out. You didn’t have to go far until you were amongst the coral. Fishes were literally swimming straight towards us. I’ve never seen schools of fish come so close to me, some very nearly touched my mask. Others were circling Ani, almost intrigued to investigate what was going on. It was absolutely amazing to see. The disposable underwater camera we'd purachased onboard certain came in handy!

Swimming around there were fish of all shapes and sizes. Some were so brightly coloured. Blacks, yellows, purples and even reds. The bravest fish, the ones swimming around us were silver with a bright yellow line stripe down the side. Seeing a “pothole” in the sea bed with swaying coral, we spotted a massive lobster poking out from the rocks.

Turning around was an enormous red, orange and silver fish  swimming along before throwing itself into the seabed. Then it’d poke it’s face around, looking for food, before swimming along a little further and repeating the seabed bashing. Everything looked so surreal.

Floating above the coral, taking photos, I didn’t realize just how big the coral was… and I bet it’s tiny compared to what you could find if you went out further into the sea, scuba diving. The large deep purple corals were swaying with the current. Hidden away were more fish. One resembled an Angel fish, coloured in black with two yellow and purple strips.

Another resembled the Japanese Fighter fishes I once owned. They didn’t move very much and had a similar colouring, black with a red or purple tint to their scales and some had a dark red fin, while others had bright yellow.

My descriptions really aren’t doing the fishes, coral or entire experience, much justice. With a bit of luck, the photographs come out half decent. First though, we need to finish off the film before getting it developed, probably in Port Canaveral.

Getting out the water, Ani munched on fajitas before it was time to take the rust bucket back to the car rental store.

I’ll  never get used to driving a car with next to no brakes! We were still laughing about the car on the way back to the drop off point; especially when the car stopped going into third gear and doing bunny hops along the road. In the end, I had to speed the car up as much as I could, skip third and jump into fourth gear, something the car didn’t particularly like by the sounds of the rattling, roaring and banging going on inside the engine. Both Ani and I were expecting the engine to drop out at any second, or the wheels to fall off! We’d have to get the car back Flintstone style!

Dropping the car off, the guy was good enough to take our photo with our Herbie Banger. Running back to the ship we had 30 minutes to get ready for set up and then we were straight into Pirate Night.

Although tired from an action packed day, we were strangely enough feeling refreshed and ready for a night of pirates and photos.

One thing is for sure, it was a great day out, probably the best of this contract, so far. Hopefully, it won’t be long until episode two begins! Next time though, we’ll try and gather more people together and rent a Jeep. Or, at least a car with fully functional brakes!

Our Herbie Banger!

Inside

Where's the radio?

Our Rust Bucket for the Day

Help

Driving Through Cozumel

Cozumel Island Map

Check out the view

Too Rough to Snorkel

Oops!