Friday, March 15, 2019- Cozumel, Mexico

Friday, March 15, 2019- Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel appears to be well developed for the cruise ship industry.  As we approached the island, we could already see several cruise ships berthed at several piers.  One appeared to be a Norwegian Breakaway class ship, alongside a similarly sized Celebrity cruise ship.  The Carnival Vista and Carnival Dream shared a pier next to ours, while the New Statendam was on the next pier down with the Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas.  

We arrived relatively late to Cozumel so there was time for a relaxed breakfast in the main restaurant, and a morning trivia game. We came in second by only one point teaming up with two couples we have played with before.

All the passengers coming off our piers were funneled through a very long and narrow air conditioned duty free mall before opening onto a shopping plaza filled with shops, restaurants and bars.  

Our excursion only required a short taxi ride down the street to the Discover Mexico Park. The Discover Mexico Park has miniature replicas of Mexican landmarks with some static displays, and a movie theater that plays informative movies, but our tour largely ignored all that and started with a small garden out front where some blue agave plants were.  Our guide walked us through the history of Tequila, starting with mescale, an indigenous beverage made from fermenting the pineapple from the blue agave plant.  The Spaniards further refined this by distilling it. The beverage we now know as Tequila uses the recipe from the city of Tequila in Jalisco state.  

We then went into a tasting room which was set up with a nice arrangement of special tasting glasses containing 3 different tequilas.  There were also a few things that were used for preparing and cleansing the palate to best appreciate the characteristics of the different tequilas. This reminded us of a Scotch and Chocolate tour we did in Scotland.  

We were walked through the proper technique of observing, smelling and tasting tequila like professional tequila aficionados.  We started with a White tequila, which spends 15 days in a stainless steel tank after double distillation before bottling.  The next was a “Rested” tequila, which is left at least 2 months in wooden casks.  The final was an aged tequila which spends at least a year in wooden casks.  We used lime zest to prime our olfactory nerves, coffee beans, and cinnamon bark to clear the nasal passages and crackers to cleanse the palate between samples, and some dark chocolate to boost the effect of the aged tequila.  

By the time we were done with the sampling seminar, we were inebriated.  Next we wandered through the gift shop, and then hit the margarita stand where we learned how to make authentic margaritas, and sampled their margarita of the day, which was a passion fruit margarita.  The margarita glasses were coated with taijin chili seasoning and it was delicious. 

We watched some indigenous Mayans do a ceremony where they descend spinning upside down on ropes from the top of a tall tower like a crazy carnival ride.  The Indian fliers had to inherit their jobs from their parents. 

Then we had some tacos with hand made tortillas, washed down with your choice of beverage.  That ended up being a very relaxing, fun, and interesting excursion, even though the Discover Mexico park itself was pretty rinky dink.

We got back to the ship in time for a local Mexican dance groups show followed by dinner - surf and turf.  The Princess Theater featured “Born to Dance” again.  We chose instead to get through “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the TV.

We played a Movie Quotes trivia where we had to name the movie, character, and actor.  We teamed up with a gal from Chicago, whom we have noticed towards the back of the room, and a new gal from NYC who was actually on the ship on a work assignment.  Her company is involved in the Ocean Medallion technology, and a group had been on the ship filming a commercial.  While most of the film crew had gotten off the ship in Jamaica, she and a few other people had decided to remain on the ship and disembark in Fort Lauderdale.  This was the first trivia she had actually gotten to play.  We thought we had done quite well, but we came in second again by a few points.  If we were to give our team a name, it should be the bridesmaids because we always come in second.   

Tomorrow is a full day at sea, and time to get our things packed up in preparation for disembarkation.  It’s hard to believe our cruise is nearly over.