Cozumel

Dec 29th
Cozumel

I had big plans for today in Cozumel! Brandon and I, after working the shopping show the day before, ended up with a couple of the books we were selling because they won’t be used after this cruise. These books we sell are just big coupon books, and if you go to Cozumel to buy some jewelry, they could really save you some money. Brandon and I weren’t interested in jewelry though, we were interested in all the free – no purchase necessary coupons. We decided to make the morning all about getting our free gifts, so after getting a cab to the far side of the city, we stopped at all the participating shops as we walked back towards the ship. Our travels took us to countless jewelry stores and other random souvenir shops, resulting in a bag filled with various free gifts, most all of which being completely worthless. But it wasn’t ever about the gifts, it was about the act of actually going around picking up these things, and the more I did it, the more I felt like it was Halloween and I was trick-or-treating, walking around from store to store with an open bag, asking for my free gift. I thought it was hilarious and really had a lot of fun collecting my pieces of garbage. I came out with a lot of cheap jewelry, including a few earrings, a couple cheap printouts, a water-proof wallet, and a tote bag that is actually really nice. One of the jewelry store gave me a gemstone, a lone rock packaged up in a folded piece of paper. It was the smallest, dumbest thing I think I got all day, and as they asked if I wanted to pay $15 for them to set it for me, I had no problem turning them down, taking my rock and leaving. The other thing that made it fun was how Brandon and I had to avoid the two shopping guides that work on the ship. We sell the books for them, and considering we weren’t exactly given the books as gifts, we weren’t sure if they’d be mad about finding out that we took them. The first time we ran into them it was early in the trip, I hid my book in a plastic bag and greeted them as I always would, trying to not raise suspicion. But then the next time they ran into us in a jewelry store getting our free shot of Tequila that the coupon was good for. Talk about being caught red handed, we’re standing there drinking free Tequila and they walk right by telling us to drink up. They didn’t seem mad, and who knows, maybe they didn’t even figure it out, but I’ll find out later if I get in trouble for it. After we were done with the coupon adventure we went to No Name bar, a crew bar where the ship was throwing a Christmas party for the crew. It’s a really great hang, and they had a bbq going which really tasted good after our morning of coupon exploitation. I hung out there with my friends for a while, swimming and eating, and just enjoying the day. I got a nice little surprise though right as I was about to leave though. After drying off and getting dressed to head back to the ship, I walked around the area saying goodbye to some of my friends that were still there. I was talking to someone on the big pier that sits off the water when the big Russian ice skater I know picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and jumped in the water with me…fully clothed. Luckily, I had left my wallet and camera in my bag, so I wasn’t worried about those getting ruined, but that doesn’t change the fact I ended up in the water with my shirt, shoes, and socks on. I was kind of mad that he did that, but it wasn’t worth getting upset over, so I laughed it off, climbed out of the water, and left he bar completely soaked. I left with Dan, the new Piano Bar guy who’s a friend of Pieter’s and a really cool guy. We walked to the grocery store and then caught a cab back to the ship. The rest of the day I had off and kept pretty relaxed. I’m still sick, so no use pushing it. I went over to Brandon’s room and played a game of chess with his roommate George and just hung out till I went to bed, and that was about it for that Cozumel day. Seeya!