Okay. So I had a great time going on a trip with my mom. We had a great time together. Sunday morning saw me getting up quite early so we could make the 4-hour trip... luckily my mom has Delilah (named by ME, as opposed to her original christening of Bubbles), the GPS navigation system. With a couple of stops along the way for breakfast and such, we made it there by 11:30. There would be called the terminal. A passing point for myriad travelers such as ourselves. I'm trying to take it all in and notice that the employees have no patience for stupid tourists and questions. Understandable although I am one of those- yet I try to remember back to my employment at Schlitterbahn and how I felt everytime someone made the comment, "ha ha! y'all must put ice in the water!" and thought it was an original joke. Our time at the terminal was surprisingly brief. Soon we were making our way onboard the ship. It would be a couple of hours until our room was ready, however, as the ship takes off weekly and they had to prepare for the most recent one. We diverted ourselves by walking the many decks and sampling the outside food. Also, I took pictures... of course.





The view from Galveston. Blue skies... and free spirits.







This would be the main deck, where I actually did not spend much time. Too damn hot. Besides, there was so much to see inside of the ship that I did not really miss the activity... except for one part which you will shortly see.



There was art auction aboard the ship. I discovered quite the most original and haunting oil paintings depicting lovely girls' faces by a Hungarian artist named Csaba Markus. The least of his was $800 and though I was tempted and probably should have gotten one, I did not. My credit card thanks me although I do not. Here are some other picture hanging around the ship.





And then here is our lovely cabin. For those of you who have never been, never cruise without a balcony. The extra couple of hundred dollars is more than worth it. We each had twin beds with the most perfect mattress (firm mostly but soft on the top).



Here are several views from our balcony along with my special coconut monkey cup, which I now have on display.







So we spent 2.5 days at sea, which was getting close to being tiresome, although now that I'm back home I wish I was back to doing that. Third day, Jamaica.



I wanted to do the Rose Hall excursion, which I have encouraged people to google. It is a haunted mansion, as the mistress of the Hall killed off several husbands as well as slave lovers. She was finally murdered herself. Remember that Jamaica had several slaves and the entire population is almost nearly black, all begotten from slaves. They do have a distinctive accent and the poverty level is high, and they all drive on the same side of the street as in England. In fact, they don't drive like we do here at all. Normal driving rules are thrown to the wind as they just honk at each other and seem to understand each other.

Waiting to go to Rose Hall:



En route to Rose Hall... one of the most interesting bus rides ever...







Not that it's that great of a pic, being taken from a bus, but I love the fact that there's some young girl out there who had her picture taken next to the shores of the Caribbean (shout out to Bob Marley) who will forever be unaware of it.





Jamaican currency:





Finally, we are there. Beautiful place. I still remember how it feels. This house was not even still in its entirety but was huge. It was only 1/3 the house that it used to be, but this was all that they restored. Can you imagine living here with the wind and the view? I could.











The infamous bedroom of the mistress, although other murders were committed in other bedrooms.





Yes, the following is a man's room, hand-embroidered. One of them died there. Let's see... arsenic, strangulation, and I forget what else.



The foundation for another part of the house.



One entrance to a dungeon, where slaves were tortured. It's a bar and souvenir shop nowadays... gotta love commercialism.



In the dungeon looking out:



The grounds. We came across some Jamaicans selling hand-carved beauties. I bought a dolphin. I should have bought the cat.





Getting ready to depart.



Thought I'd throw in some food pics, as that seems to be the thing to do. This is the place me and Mom spent a lot of our time! Can you imagine three restaurant-quality meals a day, all in a buffet? And panoramic views of the ocean? This is it.



Think I had my camera set to tungsten light.





This was the least of my meals, merely a snack.



OH but backup for a moment, this was a brass band from Jamaica playing for us as we left. Their number one source of money is tourists. And they want tips.



This was out on the deck, when they were playing fun dances like cupid shuffle and that one song that goes, "now freeze! everybody clap your hands!" This chick got down, and you can see from the expressions of the employees that they loved it and everybody was having a great time.

















Here is my noble attempt at night photography. I'm still a poor subject, but these came out okay I think. This is over Jamaica.





Oh, and how could I fail to mention the awesome towel animals? Each night was different. I've never seen my mom so excited to see what we were going to get (did I mention I love my mom? I do).



Anyway, our second destination was the Grand Cayman Islands, a great place for shopping. I have not mentioned before this that there is this great thing called duty-free/tax-free shopping, where prices are 50-75% off of American prices. The downside to this is that American Customs only allow you so much. Therefore, me and my mom both brought home a pretty bottle of liquor and a carton of cigarettes ($24 bucks as compared to $50-60 here). Our time on the ship also taught us about beautiful gemstones and other semi-precious jewelery, namely ammolite, larimar, and alexandrite. Now alexandrite is for the richest of the rich, and actually changes color when going fron dark settings into light settings, such as day to night. Ammolite is the next expensive, but the least among them are only about 50 bucks or so. Larimar is the least expensive but I highly value it because the stone is like looking at the sea or the sky. I get a lot of comments about it. OH! Also Roman glass, which I bought onboard. It's real Roman Glass dug up from an archaeological site, 2,000 years old, wherein the effects of time have wrought the irridescent change that is apparently so highly valued. Me, I just like having a little bit of history. Anyway, on to Grand Caymans.

Aside from the fine shopping, in which I received free tiny samples of opal and black coral, we went parasailing. Did you ever dream of anything so peaceful, as to be floating above the whole world over turquoise waters, with the sea tugging at you? We both look very happy.





So our last stop, Cozumel. In the meantime, I have hidden contraband sand and coral in my pockets. I'm a girl who appreciates the finer things in life, which to me means the natural things in life. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who said they wanted sand or rocks, and boy did I get it for them. This is our third destination. We've had our run-ins with storms, we had to detour around a hurricane that was headed for the Bermuda Triangle. As always, a part of me wishes that I could have followed it. Being merely human however, and aboard a vessel, I could not. But I got to see parts of it. Sadly no pictures of the blue-black skies, the seas, or the flashes of brilliant lightning. It was enought to be out there near it, and anyway, you can't capture everything with the flash of a camera.



Another ship! Lo!

If anyone can tell me what about this picture reminds me of Shawn of the Dead, I will buy you dinner.



Utter calm and serenity aboard my ship.





Another storm passing through.






"Souls to go where the wild things are, all in your world away and so far" (actually a line from a very dear friend and poet of mine)

Why should I not finish it?

Souls to go
Where the wild things are
All in your world
Away and so far
And everything you've ever known
Is never seen and never shown

But lurking in the chaos in the back of your mind
I remembered the forgets you tried to leave behind
As my hell-spawned spector beings to take flight
Inside the darkness that swallowed the night

I see you run away~ yet you stand so still
While I hold myself against my will
And try to reach, but you're too far
In my soul's core
Where the wild things are

(courtesy of ZJ Saenz)

Cozumel! My mom picked out a very good excursion, which was lying on the beach for about 5 hours. Open bar! Sand and coral for the taking... to my sneaky ways at least. I also went snorkeling. There were some Italian lads aboard the small vessel we ventured out in who quite got on my nerves. Obnoxious and what's the word... full of themselves... eh I just don't like the type, but still, they were souvenirs!



Snorkeling before all the jellyfish started to meander by. Why was I the only one who ran... or swam... back to the boat? Have they never been stung before?



Had to do the self-satisfied lounge beside Caribbean waters. I'm jealous of myself at that moment in time.



Mom never saw coconuts growing on a tree in real life, and for that matter, neither have I. Yet here they are!



Saturday... I'm feeling very depressed that it's our last day there. But... Chocolate Lunch! This decadence I have never dreamed!







I made brief ventures into the library while I was there as well, and discovered it was decorated "Lord of the Rings" style. I fell in love with this couch. I did.



This is our last towel animal... while the cutest, I felt pangs of sadness. Our last one!!! Our room steward was totally awesome. He was Indian and had quite a tuft of hair growing from his ears. One thing I forgot to mention was that man, we were surrounded by so many different nationalities. We are used to being mostly Americans, but on this trip we were probably just a minority. It was very nice and refreshing, and I felt humbled to be around so many different types of people. I'd say Indians were the nicest except for the old ladies of the bunch, who as a rule didn't give a shit about any one else around them.



This would be Roland, our awesome and attentive steward, and our other attendant, whom I did not give the name of. He always had a very nice look in his eyes when I saw him though, quite nice.



So here! Is my epic journey. I think I'm as finished as I can be for a blog. There are thoughts and feelings that will never go into this but I've been putting off writing about it for way too long so I hope this suffices.