Part 6: Cozumel, February 19, 2011

Here are some pics to add to the Cozumel trip from my pics. Ruby loved this store, for obvious reasons!

While we waited for our ferry to get from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen, we kind of played in the water in the middle of a busy part of the city. It wasn't a nice beachy area, but we only had a few hours in Mexico and we wanted to play in the water!

It was there when I experienced the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. Wow. I was swimming out about shoulder depth with Ruby when I decided to put my feet on the ground and I felt the spikes of a sea urchin break off into my foot. Immediately I was in so much pain I was actually really worried about my well-being. I tried not to freak Ruby out as we quickly swam back to shore. I think I remember getting out of the water and just sitting there, holding my foot just like you can see in this picture while Matt ran all over town trying to find me a pocket knife or tweezers to remedy my situation. I think someone gave me a lot of pain killer. I know at one point I was going to hobble back to the boat to get medical attention...that is how bad it was. There was no part of me that had any interest in Mexico for about fifteen minutes. I just wanted to go have the pain go away. I remember being very, very grateful that Matt was so engaged in finding me some tools. He was back and forth from a Farmacia with various interesting things. With some blunt tweezers that Matt found, Chris pulled out some of the spurs from my toes and the ball of my foot. It hurt so, so bad. I didn't think he even got the smallest part of the spurs out because there was dark venom released into my food that made it look like there was stuff deep inside my foot. I used some Spanish skills to ask the people on the street what I should do. The general consensus was that I should soak my foot in someone's urine. Yes. That is the real advice. I knew there was a possibility that they just wanted to see a stupid tourist soak her foot in pee, but I was desperate. So Chris peed into a ziplock bag and I soaked my foot in it. Yes. I did. I'd do it again. No, it did not work. I'd do it again because I had hope that it would work, which is something. So by the end of our day in Mexico, in spite of still having dark spots on my foot, I was FINE. I could put all my weight on my foot and walk normally. I'd say that the venom was the painful part...not the spines. The venom wore off after 15-20 minutes and then, since Chris had successfully gotten the spines out, I just had residual pain that wore off as the day progressed. Ahhhhh. Urchins. NEVER go without my Chacos again...any Croc or aquasock would be no match for the urchin. Go with Tevas or Chacos or something hard core.

We got off the ferry and saw this...the most beautiful, welcoming beach ever! I would have ditched our tour plans and settled in on this beach had it not been that I was in charge of that part of the trip. I wanted that beach really, really bad and I plan to return soon...is it our 10 year anniversary this year? I didn't even have time to touch the sand, but I stopped Alice and had her pose for me in front of the beach because I was in mad love with it.

Tulum...described better in the post with Pam's pics.

We did coax our tour guide, Helaman, into ten minutes or so at the beach by the ruins in Tulum. Thank goodness...ten minutes in heaven. Ahhhh...the water was so warm and the waves were super fun to play in and I just loved jumping in the water with my girls for those 10 minutes! No urchins!

It was nighttime when we had to get back on the boat. We had some time for souvenirs and we all got back on the boat at slightly different times.

So...the bottom line of cruising for me is...I need a week or more in each port! Is there a cruise like that? I loved the all-inclusive aspect of the cruising experience and that it enables you to see several places that are far from each other in one trip...but I think I am more of a one destination kind of girl. I just came home with a list so long of things I still need to do and places I still want to see for each port.