Cruise Vacation: Carnival Triumph to Mexico! DAY 3 Progresso
Today started off very early at about 7:00AM... The boat docked into Progresso, Yucatan Mexico and we had a mountain biking/swimming in cenote excursion planned at 8:00AM. What we didn't know was how damn long the car ride was going to be... it was about an hour and a half drive into the country side into Progresso. I felt so bad because the tour guide talked the whole 1.5 hours during the car ride about the area/culture of Mexico, but I just passed out with a towel on my head. I was SO exhausted from jet lag and no sleep from the night before. At about 9:30-10:00 AM, we finally got to this little village area inside the jungle. There were dirty stray dogs, run down huts, and farms everywhere. Because the area was so remote, I was actually surprised that there were real running toilets out there (but the toilets wouldn't flush... awkward). We got out of the vans and were told to choose a bike, helmet, and a life jacket. There were not many bikes our size (little Asian girl size), and some of us... (AHEM You know who you are...), had to get little kid bikes to ride and child life jackets to wear.
I was actually excited and terrified for the bike ride since I don't really know how to ride a bike. I just learned how to in Belgium last summer (and even then I was HORRIBLE). Also, the terrain out there was not a very safe area to ride a bike especially for a beginner... But I survived!! The road was filled with rocks, hills, and it was overall a very very bumpy ride. I like to think that I have a big butt, but even with my well cushioned butt, it hurt so bad to be riding over all those rocks. I don't know how the other skinny girls' butts survived. Nonetheless, it was a nice day out, so it was quite a nice ride. While riding, even when I was pedaling as fast and hard as I could, I was still somehow the last person!! And it wasn't even "closely behind" last, it was "at least 100 feet behind" last :(. Why do I suck at riding a bike?
We finally made it to this underground cenote swimming area. It was similar to the cenote me and Hanhwa swam at in Cancun, but this one was a lot smaller and less area to swim around. Though, the water was just as clean and beautiful as all the cenotes I have been to in Cancun.
After about an hour of swimming and snorkeling, we hopped back on our bikes and headed to the second cenote. A Mayan Shaman came out to show us some of the natural medicines found in the jungle the Mayans used. He also blessed us for a safe swim... Apparently Mayans believe that cenotes are portals to the underworld, thus before you swim in them, you must be blessed so that you are not sent down there. There have been many violent acts within the Mayan community due to this belief. There is a famous cenote called the Cenote of Skulls, where you can actually see human skulls at the bottom of the pool.... a little freaky deaky I may say... but it is still really interesting and I do want to go swim and visit, just to see it myself!
The second cenote was a prettier and had more accessible area to swim. I liked how open it was, and how large it was so that you could swim to other areas. The sunlight was shining onto the water, and the color of the water reflecting was a deep jewel green... so pretty! There were some boulders along the cliff walls of the cenote, so we were also able to climb up and dive into the water (that was really fun!).
After about an hour, we hopped back onto our bikes again and headed back. Even though I got more comfortable riding a bike, I was somehow still very far behind everyone! :( I at least had the company of Jackie (she's a beginner too haha). It was a beautiful day outside, so I tried to concentrate on that and also on the food that was waiting for us (instead of thinking about my very sore butt).
Our last stop on the excursion was eating at this little mom and pop shack restaurant, where we ate local Mayan/Mexican food. The food was "aight" compared to other foods I have tried in Mexico, but since we were all famished from lack of breakfast and the physical activity of this excursion, we all devoured our meals while drinking a nice cold Sol.
On the car ride back to the Progresso cruise port, we all passed out and had a nice 1.5 hour nap. Once we got to the port, we still had about an hour or two to kill before heading back to the cruise, so we decided to get some special Mexican water. We were all having a blast... even Jackie was like... "fuck it! We're in Mexico!!" and joined us in the fun muharharhar.
When getting back onboard, we, as a group, were so retarded the whole time.... We all were like "HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HARRRR" "MUHEWEHEHEHEHE" "MWAHARHARHARH SHO HONGRAIES. NEED FOOD NAOWS" and just acted extremely stoopit. We headed back to our rooms to prepare some "great" value water and continued acting rul' dumb. We drank these water bottles and (of course) ate ice cream cones while waiting in line for some junk food... We got suckered in, AGAIN, to get a monkey souvenir cup... MAN those cups are so expensive, but we keep buying them!! DAMN IT! haha
After junk food, we frolicked around acting stoopit with our monkey cups all over the boat, taking pictures with the sunset out on the deck, gambling in the casino, and playing pool. It was a lot of fun! hahah we got ready for dinner, and even though we were stuffed from earlier, we enjoyed another 5 course meal.
After dinner, we decided to go out to the deck and wait for the "party" the cruise had scheduled for tonight. There wasn't much going on, so we just decided to walk around. It was SO windy out!! The smaller girls like Huyen and Jackie were about to fly off the damn boat!! Hanhwa somehow found a basketball on one of the water slides, so we got it and decided that it would be fun trying to throw this ball around in the extreme wind. It was actually quite entertaining and fun for us. We seriously acted so dumb all day... so why the hell not? haha
On the topic of us acting dumb all day, me and Hanhwa also had a crazy dance off with our strobe light cups... yes, we got suckered in AGAIN with these damn souvenir cups!! Our third one in three days :( haha. But these strobe light glasses gave us power and confidence to dance!!!! I don't know what it was... but I... I.. JUST WANTED TO DANCE!!!!!!!!! hahahah
At around 11:30PM, the buffet for Mexican food opened, so we pigged out again. I wasn't even hungry, but I got a little bit of everything... which then of course turned into a huge plate of food! Peter, Jackie, Hanhwa, and I decided to stay out longer... good thing too! The party was bumpin' out on the deck. There was a huge 700+ person congo line all over the boat... we of course had to join in. It was really fun out there! But exhaustion took over, and we are now back in our rooms...
Today has been an amazingly fun and adventurous day filled with a lot of Mexican drinks & food! I hope tomorrow will be just as great! Long day tomorrow so it is now my sleepy time... Good night!
