Paint and Pixels

We went on a cruise



There is something about being on a cruise ship that will make a couple fall in love. It may be the excessive desserts that are served. Or it may be the way that the ship rocks making you feel like you are drunk, even when you aren’t. Or it may be the mint on your pillow every night. Or it may be the fact that you can sleep in until noon and have no clue because the inside cabins are pitch dark. Or it may be a combination of the above. That being said, there is something about getting off the ships at ports that will make a couple fall out of love. It may be the ruthless merchants or the heckling cab drivers. Or it may be the fact that it is almost impossible to agree upon what to do in the few hours you are given in an exotic foreign country that you may never see again in your entire life.

Miami

The cruise ship embarked in Miami. I arrived in Miami, safe and sound, but Matt did not (and he had my passport, so I couldn’t board without him). He was stuck in Washington DC. Don’t ask why we decided to fly separately. To make things worse, my cell phone wasn’t working so I was not able to be in contact with Matt. I explained to the passport checking man at the port that my husband had my passport and was (hopefully) on his way. The man said I could wait in the chair nearby in the air conditioned building until my husband arrived. After a few hours passed, the passport checking man approached me and asked if I would please move outside and wait on the front steps. I complied. As a few more hours passed, the same man approached me again and asked if I could move away from the building about 100 yards over with the porters. I guess the longer I waited there, the more he began to suspect that my husband was never going to show up. In my final waiting location, I became quite acquainted with the porters, who spoke a different kind of English than I am used to, and had all of their assets in their mouth (see the picture I took if you don’t know what I mean). The longer I waited, the more anxious I became. Not too much before the ship was scheduled to sail away, a taxi cap pulled up with my dear husband in it. All the porters cheered as Matt and I embraced and cried. It was the most emotional reuniting ever. But he came with bad news: he had no luggage. We boarded the ship anyways, because after that, nothing mattered except being together... and Matt spent the rest of the cruise wearing one single set of clothes.

Roatan

I'm sorry I didn't take better pictures of this place. My favorite part of Roatan was how colorful it was. Even the scrubbiest shack houses were painted the brightest colors. And everyone decorated their houses with rows of vibrant laundry. Even the piles of litter in the corners of the streets added to the kelidescope of this primitive island.






Belize
The awesomeness of being able to be in this place, where the Mayan Indians once mingled, is indescribable. If I never get to see something cool again for the rest of my life, I will try to remind myself that I am just lucky that I got to see this one cool thing- and we climbed to the top.

Cozumel
I ate some yummy nachos here.















Nassau

Stephanie and I ditched our husbands at this stop and went out on our own. We had many many men offer to turn us into a "Bahama Mama". We politely declined.