Western Caribbean Cruise…. Part 3… Costa Maya

Welcome back to my blog post about our road trip and cruise last December. It’s been a while since my last post, but hopefully this time it won’t be long until my next one. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this pandemic. While most are enjoying all the reopenings of stores, restaurants, parks, beaches, etc, mom and I, Miss Kayla are staying in full isolation mode. We have ventured out for a couple of hours here and there to isolated places, but still being very cautious doing so and keeping it to just every now and then.

So, where did we leave off???? I think I went to bed…. 🙂

The next morning the ship was still on its way to our first port; Costa Maya… Mom and I, Miss Kayla, and Cubby love to hang out on the balcony and I also like to while mom finishes getting ready or gathers our stuff up to head out.

I, Miss Kayla am getting ready to go to Dr Seuss and gang parade and storybook time… Boy, that mirror in photo is dirty or something –

didn’t recognize that while there as it looked really clean..

For the Dr Seuss and gang parade, we met at the back end of the ship in a lounge where we played Bingo at yesterday.

There weren’t very many kids that showed up as there were only 38 children on the ship as it was. Anyway, they introduced Thing 1 and Thing 2. When they did, Thing 1 noticed a Dr Seuss stuff animal these two boys had and went over and grabbed it from them to toss to Thing 2. It was cool to see the boys having a camera to take pics with of their vacation. 🙂

They then introduced Sam I am but still no Dr Seuss.

They said Dr Seuss was wondering the ship and needed to go find him. We all had musical instruments and signs of different characters in the Dr Seuss movie to carry. I had Cindy Lou Who….

So mom and I carried the sign, musical instruments and we marched / strolled in the parade with everyone else but when they went through the casino and down the stairs in the atrium area, mom and I took a detour – elevator (pic was later in day, but still same elevator just without Cindy Lou Who) to the next deck they

 were going to be on and met back up with them just before the theater in the front of the ship. It was perfect timing. It ended in the theater where the shows are and we got there just to pick up the end of the line.

Then Dr Seuss Bookville was taking place and we still hadn’t seen Dr Seuss so mom and I stayed for that. It was cute. They choose kids from the audience to participate and read Dr Seuss Horton Hears a Who! book. As TJ our cruise director read the book, the kids acted out the parts. AND we got to see Dr Seuss. Yay!

Afterward, we took the long way back to our cabin and I got to go out on the balcony for a little bit as we docked into Costa Maya. Mom also wanted me to spend a little bit of time out of my chair since I have a big afternoon coming up and I had to get my treatments and get ready to get off the ship.

Mom was really nervous about getting off the ship and going on a private tour so yesterday during sea day we stopped at guest services and spoke with this young man who was really nice. Mom told him what our plans were and how nervous mom was about it and he was very reassuring to mom letting her know that she planned it well and we have plenty of time. But he could tell how nervous she was and he gave her the info to carry that if anything happens to have whoever call this number so its reported to the captain. And then he put all our tour info into our account and such. Mom felt so much better. Then today on our way off the ship we ran into the same guy that helped us and he wished us well getting off the ship.

 

We figured our way through the port of shops and restaurants and crowds to this opening in between the buildings to get out to the street area to walk/stroll down to the tour company that was a few blocks away.

It was an interesting stroll through the middle part of the road which had a dirt rocky path with trees along the side.

Anyway, we made it to the company (The Native Choice) to check-in and get ready for our tour.

Mom had been in contact with Ivan at Native Choice for a good 6-9 months off and on and they knew of my wheelchair, so they reserved a car for our tour with driver and guide. Well, I guess when we walked/strolled up they saw my wheelchair and the guide was like “let’s change vehicles so we can just keep her chair together” to the driver so they did. The guide told mom this after we got on our way as we had no idea, we were originally taking another vehicle. 🙂 That was cool they noticed that and was not thrilled on doing the taking w/c apart into two and lifting it in that way and putting it back together at our destination, etc. They did it the easy way just lifting my whole chair into the back area of the van. I got to sit up with mom in the seat next to her with my own seatbelt and my special cushion to help me sit safely. Mom doesn’t like doing this but I don’t mind every now and then and have my special straps that act like a carseat approved by whomever. We were finally off for our tour.

It was a great drive through some lush green fields, some cow fields, different communities, fruit/food stands on our way to Chacchoben Mayan Ruins.  On our way there the guide was full of information almost too much as mom felt a little overwhelmed but it sure was interesting. Most of it was about the Mayans, the village, history, and the current way of living. He grew up in a Mayan village.

Here is a photo of a small Cemetary we passed. Very different than ours…

We arrived at the Chacchoben ruins and I got back in my wheelchair and off we went on our tour around the ruins.

First human settlements in the area of Chacchoben have been dated at around 1000BC.

It was a beautiful afternoon and the crowds were heading out (most). The path was quite bumpy – hard-packed dirt with some obstacles here and there especially the first 100 feet. After that, it wasn’t so bumpy. The ruins were so ancient and there were still original parts to them.

There is a line (like rope in them or cement line) that shows where the original pieces are that are hundreds and hundreds of years old and above the line its replica (area that has been replaced). Two main temple pyramids dating from 200 B.C. to A.D. 700.

I really enjoyed the stroll through the trees and ruins.

Trees will take over ruins (homes, villages of the Mayans) to where the people have to leave and go elsewhere because the roots of the trees destroy their homes by growing through them. Its crazy and sad but here mother nature comes first.
In the pics below, these were all homes in a village, but the trees took over destroying the ruins/home and making the people leave to find another place to live.

This hut shows what their roofs were made out of. It is amazing how it can hold the water out from heavy rains.  There are drawings on the rock that our guide is pointing out in one of the pics below. Mom wishes her notes weren’t destroyed in her computer as she is having a hard time remembering details about what we learned this day on our tour. And its been so long she doesn’t remember.

While at one of the ruins where there was still a small crowd at

all of a sudden a Spider Monkey came walking through the area. It was so cute. Mom tried to get a photo of it.

As we walked / strolled the last part of the section we saw a family of Spider Monkeys up in the trees including a small baby.

They were eating high up in the trees, but you could see them every now and then.

You could hear parrots and our guide even saw the Parrots fly by in the distance at one point. There were Howler Monkeys that you could hear every now and then but you couldn’t see them.

Afterward, we used the restrooms which were interesting for me and mom made do, but it was no worse than some of the restrooms we encounter here in the states so.

On our drive back to town/port we stopped at a produce stand where our guide got some fresh pineapple. Mom had some and she said it was really good and different than ours back home.  We couldn’t take any with us back on to the ship so. Unfortunately, I can’t eat pineapple but I bet I would like it. Mom will have to try to fix me some someday.

Mom asked for permission to take photos before she did…

And our driver who did accompany us on our tour of the ruins, he didn’t have any pineapple as well as he doesn’t eat or drink or take his two hands off the wheel while driving. They are very cautious about safety with their driving.

Here is a photo of our driver and me at the ruins…

Our guide spoke some more about his family from a Mayan culture and the stories he told were so interesting. He had a lot of knowledge and stories to tell. That evening, mom was drained from all the information but that is a good thing.   It was so much fun and so interesting we can’t wait to return and do another tour with them.

They dropped us off just outside the port (between office and port) which was a good thing as it was dark by the time we arrived back.

 

We still had two hours before we had to be back on board – YAY, mom was relieved! So we did some shopping in port and strolled around since there was hardly anyone around which was so nice. I loved all the lights, loved shopping – I found a shirt and a magnet.

We strolled back down the path on the dock to our ship.

There were some other people from our ship in port shopping too and walking back to the ship at the same time. Mom started to feel a little more comfortable about doing what we did for our next port.

We were so tired, well mom was and I, Miss Kayla really needed my treatments, but was doing so much better already with having two doses of prednisone so mom was right – that is exactly what I needed. We got back on the ship and stopped in at the restaurant to let them know we were not coming for dinner since we were so tired, so late and that I, Miss Kayla needed treatments. Mom felt bad she couldn’t let them know any earlier as it was 8pm ship time already but it was a late port day. They said it was fine and offered to have mom and I order something and they would deliver it to our room, so of course, mom took them up on that offer. Mom wasn’t crazy about the room service menu so this gives her a chance to order something better, more healthy and we did. Mom wasn’t expecting that.

We got to our cabin and I was so ready to get out of my chair and chill out watching my programs on my laptop. Such a FUN day.

According to my pictures, mom and I went for a short stroll later that evening before going to bed since I was still on Cali time so that makes sense.. 🙂 We went to the deck where all the safety boats and stuff is. So much fun! I love evening/night strolls on the ships as no one is around. So quiet and peaceful, even almost scary.

This elevator was pretty cool with the neat colors and designs

With that said, it is time to end my day here as off to bed I, Miss Kayla, Cubby, and mom went…

Note: The next day we saw the young man that took our Native Choice Tour info and he said that he kept checking to make sure we made it back on the ship in time. That was nice to know that he was making sure we made it back in time. He mentioned the time we checked back in on the ship.

June 2020: During isolation (2 1/2 months in now) mom and I, Miss Kayla have been working on our anchors finally for each port we have been to.

Here is our Costa Maya one I, Miss Kayla made with what we had at home already: