Cruise: top 10

I really tried to narrow the pics. and choose only the high lights from our cruise to Cozumel, Costa Rica and Panama! I didn't even get the pics. off of Kent's camera. Here's my top 10 list, not necessarily in order.

#10 Relaxing, sleeping in, napping, re-energizing!

#9 The whole lido deck! This is where the pool and food are located and the big screen TV where we got to watch movies in the evenings, kind of like a drive in, but sitting in lounge chairs and eating ice cream, pizza and/or whatever you could find!



#8 Excursion in Panama: The panama canal. I have to say I was pretty impressed with this structure. I wasn't overly excited to go here, but Kent would have liked to spend the whole day here. We were lucky and actually got to see a ship pass through the locks in the canal. It was pretty amazing! I can't remember how many thousands of gallons of water goes through the locks ( I have to ask Kent, or read the pamphlet again) but it was crazy!

#7 The whole reason we took this particular cruise was because I have always wanted to go to Costa Rica and zip line through the rain forest. Well, we got to do other cool things besides that...

We went to a banana plantation and got to see all the steps in growing and shipping bananas. It was cooler than I expected it to be.

#6 Rain forest: We got to take a boat on the canal through the rain forest, which I almost missed because I let all of the old ladies go potty before me, then they didn't let the guide know I was still in the bathroom. I was irked! They had to bring the boat back and I had to jump from the dock! Kent was just hanging out on the dock waiting for me, not saying a word, not a single word. ?!?!


Anywho, this is our guide, he was great. He is a biologist and was very into teaching us about the rain forest. He was full of tons of info. We got to see monkeys, sloths, iguanas, birds and bats. There is a sloth in the pic. below, but I can't find it to tell you where.... if you see it, let me know. :)

#5 We got to go to an authentic Indian village up in the mountains. I uploaded these out of order, so bear with me. At the end of the visit the tribe danced for us.

This is our friend, Reuben, dancing, Kent denied the cute lady that asked him. I felt so sad for her, apparently she didn't understand the making no eye contact, bright red face = extremely shy!

Reuben wasn't afraid to shake it though. He was a professional basketball player in Puerto Rico, so it was funny to see him dancing at 6'4" with these little women.






When we got there they fed us lunch! After the 45 minute canoe ride I was hungry! They fried some yummy talapia and plantains served up in a leaf. It was surprisingly delicious!

#4

These are our friends, Reuben and Julie. They were at our table for dinner and they were the nicest peeps! They're from Oklahoma now, but Julie is originally from Aloha, Oregon, and Reuben is from Puerto Rico. We spent alot of time with them. They are expecting their first baby!



This is our canoe ride. In the description it said, "A canoe ride to a local Indian village." I imagined, along with everyone else, paddling across a lake to the village. Not so much. We pulled up in our air-conditioned tour bus and saw 5-6 motor powered canoes along the river. They looked a bit shabby, but functional, I guess. We walked down and they handed us the lovely orange life saving vests, that smelled like BO! Then we preceded to sit in the canoe for 20 minutes waiting for the other buses to show up. (This is the worst part about excursions). We took pics. watched lots of people, who thought they were going to get drenched and decided to wear itty-bitty-string bikinis (which wasn't the best choice for these particular peeps, but I am sparing you the pics.) and traipse around for everyone to see. It was quite amazing. I am going to have to insert a #3 right here: #3 People watching. I am pretty sure a cruise is the best place to watch people, it is surreal!

Digressing, back to the canoe. We finally got it loaded with 26 people and tried to take off. We didn't get too far before the head guy said, too much, too full, some over here. They literally pulled up beside us and made some of the people move over to the other canoe because we were sinking! Of course, I was laughing inappropriately and snapping tons of pics.! It was hilarious. After we off loaded some passengers we continued on our way for 40 minutes and the guys in the back had to bail water out because it was leaking~ quite the adventure!

#2 Zip lining through the rain forest! It was breathtaking! I would do it again in a heartbeat, it all went way too fast! I loved it!

#1 The best part of the trip was spending 9 days with my husband without distractions. I am so happy that I married my best friend, and so happy that he is STILL my best friend! It's so nice to reconnect and remember why we love each other!