Cancún- Out and About!

One day Erik took us into Playa del Carmen and then on a ferry to Cozumel. He wanted to show us around. We walked down the main boulevard for quite a few blocks, just taking in the sights. I love all the color! When it was time to return to the ferry landing we came via the beach. I've never seen so many old, tanned, wrinkled folks in my life!! (And sunburns... don't even get me started on the sunburns!)

OLD NOT-SO-TAN-FOLKS

The brilliant bands of ocean blue delight my heart. I've never seen water this color. I know the grey of the Atlantic and the deep blue-green of the Pacific but the Caribbean is a wonder to behold.

You can see a pirate ship on the right side of this photo. (Arrr, me matey!) It was a windy day, which made the ocean choppy... one of the cute attendants on the ferry came around passing out barf-bags; I readily took one! And, fortunately, didn't need it!

About the time I turned 50 I stopped feeling so nervous to go to the dentist AND stopped being so susceptible to motion sickness! That all ended as soon as we started the first leg of our trip on the flight from SLC to LAX. Even with Dramamine I still had a medicinal need for Coke. I drank more soda on this trip than I have in the previous 12 months!! (4)

It answered in my mind whether I ever want to go on a cruise.

I didn't get too many photos over on Cozumel since I was still feeling pretty green. Erik was very excited that we caught some of Carnival prior to Ash Wednesday. (You can see his photos here.) When it was time for lunch I found that even the sight of food was dangerous so I went and sat in the sunshine on the quay whist they partook.

Just as we returned from Cozumel we found we were just in time for a performance of the Voladores or the flying pole dancers. They were very interesting. They worked hand-beading their costumes between performances.

First they march/dance around the pole while one voladore plays a drum and another plays a *hooter-flute*.

Then *hooter-flute* dude takes the drum and climbs to the top of this pole with 4 other dudes voladores. They wind the ropes around and around the top like a fishing reel. All the while *hooter-flute* dude keeps piping and drumming away.

After much more *hooter-fluting* and drumming the four fall backwards off the top and gracefully fly round and round as their ropes unwind. It gave me a headache just looking at them.

And no post would ever be complete without a pix of the local wildlife. I absolutely love pelicans! I'm not sure why but they just make me happy. This fine fellow let me come up quite close on the quay and capture his likeness.