Christmas

Christmas Eve

We went to the clubhouse Christmas eve where they had a very nice program. there were some interesting stories, nice Christmas carols with a choir and some individual singers. and an appearance by Santa Claus who gave presents to the children. They said my favorite about the retarded grandparents (see at bottom of blog). Afterwards there were tables full of goodies that everyone had brought.

We went for a walk and looked at the lights in the park after the goodies.

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas with our 4 friends and started by having liqueurs and coffee at Dot and Floyd’s and opened presents

Everyone came to our motorhome for supper and brought some of the food
We finished with having coffee and dessert at Linda and Jerry’s.

RETARDED GRANDPARENTS
This is priceless! (and was actually >> > reported by a teacher).After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following:
We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house but Grandpa got retarded and the moved to Arizona . Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on their bicycles and wear nametags because they don't know who they are anymore.
They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed because it is okay now, and do exercises there, but they don't do them very well. There is swimming pool too, but in it, they all jump up and down with hats on. At their gate, there is a dollhouse with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape!Sometimes they sneak out. They go cruising in their golf carts. Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And, they eat the same thing every night. Early Birds. Some of the people can't get out past the man in the dollhouse. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center and call it pot luck. My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the dollhouse. Then I will let people out so they can visit their grandchildren

Last days at Sea

We enjoyed out last days at sea watching live shows, movies and another excellent ice skating show. Of course there was more EATING, we got our lobster meal but it was nothing like the ones we had on Alaska cruise, they were small lobsters with not much flavor.

I enjoyed relaxing and reading out on our balcony

Food decorations

Christmas decorations

Towel animals

Costa Maya, Mexico

This city is located on the Yucatan peninsula 150 miles south of Cancun. The main crop was sap used in chewing gum until substitutes were developed in 1950’s, when mahogany and cedar became exports. Tourism is the main economy.

Linda, Jerry, Ches and I took a taxi to Costa Maya, which is 3 miles from the ship and cost $2 each person each way. We went past a lot of storm damage with uprooted trees and buildings. There were massage tables set up along the walkway and we were offered massages for $20 for 30 minutes.

The town is about 1 mile long with a nice wide brick walkway. We watched them re-thatching a roof.

The beach was nice with beautiful white sand and turquoise colored water.

Linda and Jerry stayed and enjoyed the beach and had massages for $10 each for 30 minutes. Ches and I went back and met Dot and Floyd and looked at the shops along by the ship.

There was a huge pool with a swim up bar.

Roatan, Honduras

All 6 of us went on a tour of the island. This is a small island 26 miles long and 2 miles long, with one main road. The island has a small beer factory otherwise they depend on tourism. The tour is on a nice small van, with a guide who spoke fluent English. We went through the city first, which is one about 3 blocks long with small mostly small, old buildings. The mayor however has a beautiful, large, house that looks like a plantation. After a short drive we went to the ocean and took a ½ hour boat ride through the mango groves. There are 2 huge rusted out shells of ships that were shipwrecked many years ago.

Then we drove around more of the island and the guide pointed out various places. They use rope across the road for speed bumps. We stopped at a place where they gave history of Garifuna people and their dances. When another tribe invaded the tribe they beat them in battle by the men dressing up as women.

They showed how they make bread by grinding up a plant and cooking the powder on a stove.

We drove to another place where they have a building that is how the natives used to live and they had soup made from plants and fish (Ches tried some, I passed). There is a statue one of their kings.

We stopped at a place with a beautiful view of the ocean and reef.