Paradise week

ALRIGHT!! I know this post is half a year overdue but I'm finally going to blog about my wonderfully amazing cruise that I went on in November of 2009 (hold your excitement). Well let me tell you I LOVED it. It was a 7 day-7 nights cruise in the carribbean and it was a week of paradise. I've never been so happy in my life! It was so unbelievable! I still dream about it and wake up so sad that it's not a reality. Let me tell you cruises are addicting...I will definately go on another one at the first opportunity. Let me tell you a bit about it and I will definately include pictures at the bottom of this post! Alright so on Sunday we drove down to Galveston and up until we got on the boat we all figured something would go wrong and we'd miss our trip. When we finally stepped foot on the ship it became a reality albeit an unbelievable one. It felt too good to be true! We got to our rooms (which were suprisingly nice for the price we paid) and unpacked. As soon as we set sail we explored the boat. It was the most amazing thing ever! We spent 4 days at sea and 3 days on land, making stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Our first stop was in Jamaica. We went on a zipline tour through the jungle. Jamaica was cooler than I expected it to be. Everyone talked so cool and boy was it beautiful! I'd always thought that "ya mon" was a steroetype...I didn't realize people actually said it after practically every single sentance. It was so cool. The rest of the week we were saying "ya mon" and "no problem!" The Jamaican way of life is just so chill and laid back. Even though the majority of them live in poverty they are still all so happy! Our bus driver was legit. He kept making jokes and talking in his awesome accent, he also taught us alot about Jamaica (their flag colors are yellow (for the sun) Green (for the beautiful lush vegitation) and black (for the people (lol) and also for the poverty that they endure)) Our tour guides on the zipline tour were all hilarious. We got to see a guy climb a huge coconut tree and we also got to try coconut water, and coconut jelly (neither of which i enjoyed much) There were 5 different lines on the tour each one getting progressively higher. The smalles was 250' above the jungle and the tallest was a whopping 1,600'. At first the jump was a little scary but by the end we were hanging upside down over the jungle. After the tour we went to the little gift shops in the area. They were really over priced but I got a rasta hat complete with dreads and well I don't regret it, I wear it often ;P. Our next stop was in Grand Cayman. We went on to sting ray city for our onland excursion. It was so cool! We brought our own snorkeling stuff and we were able to swim with sting rays and even feed them. It was kind of scary to be honest (those things are HUGE) and of course with the recent tragedy of Steve Erwin it made me a little uneasy to be so close to their barbed tails. Skyler ended up getting a hickey when one of the rays mistook his arm for a piece of squid ^_^. The water was really salty, I'd never been in the ocean before and I didn't realize how salty it was, after a few snorkel fulls of ocean water we were all ready to get out, but the water was just so beautiful! We also got to swim by a coral reef and see a ginormous eel. After the stingray city we walked around the shops and stuff, but they were pretty pricey so we didn't buy much. Cozumel was really fun too. We didn't go on any excursions (except my dad who went scuba diving) but we did get to shop all day which by my standard is a pretty great day! Am I right?! It was really fun trying to bargain with the vendors, I got pretty good at it, I was able to get 30 bucks taken off of a hammock chair (which is sitting in my closet as I write...lame) The male vendors kind of cracked me up. I've learned enough spanish from work to get the gist of what they were saying to me "¡Mi amor, Viene aquí! " or "Es tan guapa como una princesa" it made me laugh. If I'd been alone I might've been slightly creeped out but I just laughed it off. We took some really neat pictures and I had alot of fun. It was a beautiful place and even though it was like a thousand degrees I really enjoyed walking the streets. I've decided I really LOVE traveling and I'm so happy I got the chance to visit these places. I hope to return to them someday and travel to more places in time. I had alot of fun and maybe one day I'll be a veteran cruiser (I met this one lady who'd been on 27 cruises) The boat was great, I had alot of fun at sea and they had so many activites at all times of the day. I really loved it and I'm soo thankful I got to go on it. Check out the picture slide show I've put up!