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WE LEFT MEXICO TO GO BACK TO MEXICO

…drive 4+ hours to Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale

First, I have to tell you that our alarm clock went off and the very first thing we heard was…

A cruise ship sank in Italy and an unknown number of people are missing or dead.  Many passengers jumped into the cold water to try and swim ashore after the ship’s crew failed to load lifeboats.

click

We hit the button to turn that off before the kiddos heard and got nervous about our next adventure.

Doomed Italian luxury cruise liner Costa Condcordia

Just a note:  In preparing for this big trip to the “fancy country” (as we call the States just because of the ease and efficiency)  I was getting a teensy bit giddy at the thoughts of Mikee working during this cruise and the kiddos hitting up the kids clubs and the (gasp) time I would have all alone.  Imagine being able to find a chair out on the deck and just read or have my laptop and write or just… (who cares what I would do but I would get to do it all alone)

Ah… an idyllic dream of sweet solitude while basking in the sun. 

Reality check:  Kids did not like the kids clubs and ended up hanging out together and I had nice dinner “dates” along with Mikee and the rest of the “marketers” each evening at 8:30pm.

This was a business trip that Mikee had been looking forward to for nearly a year.

Not Mikee, but his buddy Joel Peterson

 

There were over 350 people here for the Internet Marketer’s Cruise.  They came from all over the planet to be there. A lot of this business is based on teamwork, working together to market and promote products and training. This is a great relaxing way to network and make new contacts.

The people that came for this event are very interesting.  Very entrepreneurial.  People who do not see life as having limitations but rather full of opportunity and potential.  Very lively.  Very interested in making a difference.  I did enjoy the opportunity to have intelligent and enlightening conversations with such appealing people.

Guess the first stop?

Mexico

The kids think it’s funny that we left Mexico and went to the States to return to Mexico a couple days later.

COZUMEL

Cozumel is a place our little family of adventurers is very familiar with.  Had a great day hanging at the beach and grabbing some “mexican food.”  The US media is putting a LOT of stories out about how unsafe Mexico is.  We have not one single time ever felt even the slightest twinge of anxiety over our safety while visiting the Cozumel, Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen areas of Mexico.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit- GO!

Puerta Maya, Cozumel

India placing her cool shell on the "conch tree"

Returning to the boat after a fun beach day in Cozumel

Side by side sisters ships. Carnival Freedom and Carnival Liberty

Make sure you get on the right one

COSTA RICA

We do love Costa Rica so very much.  And since I am pretty sure we will end up here on a nice family vacation we were not feeling like we had to jump into any of the excursions or shopping.

An appealing thing about the souvenirs and wares in this market is that most items are actually made in Costa Rica.  So many tourist spots sell things that are not made in the locale you are buying from.

Limon, Costa Rica

Love all the beautiful wood that comes from here

Sublime painted feather artwork

Our one opportunity for working internet on the cruise in a local internet cafe

Local Jehovah's Witnesses with literature in a variety of languages

PANAMA

We look forward to coming back to check out the canal.  What an amazing engineering feat.

Colon, Panama

Picking out the "family souvenir"

The kids have been getting an education in vintage cars -there are so many in good shape. Mikee is showing Selena how to find the year by looking at the break lights

Colorful little town

Cargo ships seriously outnumber cruise ships near the Panama canal.

 

It was a great trip full of great contacts for Mikee and the kiddos had fun.

Giant chess set and we could watch movies on the big screen behind them.

Glamour Girl

All the ice cream you could possibly want

Fancy schmancy

Thank you RAMA for taking such good care of us

A looong corridor

Mikee had hopped off earlier to go pick up rental car #2 and so I was alone with the kiddos and ALL the luggage.  We needed 2 porters to assist us through customs.  People kept looking at the 4 of us and ALL THE BAGS with odd expressions.  I felt the need to explain…

“That’s just my shoes” I kiddingly told this one older man and he looked at me with a “What’s wrong with this younger generation?” look.

But the truth is we were packed for 5 weeks of travel including cruise clothing, warm weather clothes for Florida, cold weather clothes for Rhode Island, gifts for the family, extra suitcases to handle the shopping (the kiddos had outgrown all their clothes and the shopping is just superior in the states), books to read -and a couple extra pair of shoes for me.  😉

 

Smooth sailing. Onto the next part of our adventure.

 

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • Peter Nickerson March 7, 2012, 1:00 pm

    My wife follows your bolg because being just a few hours south of us it is encouraging to see others who “brave” Mexico as we do. We were wondering when you went on that cruise because we did teh same cruise on teh same boat and went to teh same places. We went Feb 12-18. Ginnie says she would be disappointed if it was teh same ship and we didn’t see you. You must have had teh same Maitre D taht would say “Ciao CIoa for now” every night- that was great!

    • admin March 7, 2012, 11:16 pm

      It sure would have been great if we were on the same cruise. We went in January at the beginning of our trip to the US. One of these days we will have to find a way to cross paths here in Mexico and share stories of “braving” the country. 🙂

  • DAD March 8, 2012, 10:01 am

    QUITE A MEMORY AND EDUCATION FOR THE KIDS. THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR MEMORIES.

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