The more I try to get caught up, the more behind I get. Argh! I have either been too busy or too tired to write. I wanted to last night, but was way too exhausted. I was so tired all day yesterday that I never even put on any makeup.

After nearly a quarter-century, I got to run into my big sister’s arms for a long, emotional embrace AND see my lovely niece Sarah! We’ll be seeing Becky tomorrow night at the Flamingo restaurant they’re taking us to.

Again, though, I’m determined to go in order of events as excited as I am to write about the reunion, so I guess the next day to cover would be the day we docked in Cozumel on the Yucatan peninsula. After waiting forever while they did an emergency drill, we got off the ship early the morning of the first. A small boat, which said “piloto” guided us in. I noticed that the land was very flat and green.

Where Florida was cool and dry, Cozumel was warm and humid. I can handle humidity in the shade, but not in the direct sunlight or if I’m doing something physical. Therefore, one of the first things I got to help protect me (this time we had sunscreen on) was a floppy hat with a drawstring that goes under the chin to keep it from blowing away. The wind was constant, and Tom saw someone lose their hat while on the ship. He said it took forever to land and just rode the wind for a while before settling upon the ocean.

The stores weren’t nearly as nice as the ones in Maui, but there’s also no comparing the Caribbean to Maui either. I did get a few things, though. Tom got just one blue shirt, and I got a pink dress with silver and purple studs forming the shape of dolphins, and a colorful dress (mostly purple) with fringes. I also got a pink shirt with the name of the place in colorful letters and black shorts with a silver-studded “Cozumel” on one side.

I also got 3 ankle bracelets… a pink one for Sarah, a blue one for Becky, and a purple one for myself. I also got a beautiful beaded bracelet for myself, plus a magnet.

I got 3 small wind chimes and while they may be nothing special to look at, they sound really pretty. I got butterflies for Tammy and I, and hearts for next door as a way of saying thanks for looking out for our place.

I got postcards for Tammy, Aly and next door. The problem is that I don’t know that they’ll be postmarked in Mexico since I dropped them in the ship’s mailbox.

Because I was still exhausted and disoriented from the heatstroke, we weren’t off the ship for long. I’d be tired all day only to perk up at night and have a hard time sleeping. I didn’t start feeling better till around the 2nd, but I won’t be back to 100% till I get a few good nights of sleep at home. I am a bit more awake than yesterday, though, so that’s good.

It really sucked that we never got to do much of anything as far as excursions go. We were supposed to stop in Costa Maya the next day, but choppy seas prevented that as I said before. You could hear the wind howling and see the ocean spray from the whitecaps. You could tell when it was more humid by the water droplets on the glass railings and windows, which were filthy despite them having a window washer.

The casino was nothing special, though we did gamble a bit.

One of the very few things that were good was the food. Well, so long as you stayed away from those nasty scrambled eggs that didn’t even taste like eggs. We did get sunny side-up eggs one time at the Windjammer and they were definitely real eggs.

For lunch and dinner, I had things like NYC strip steak, lamb, prime rib, pork, tilapia (both breaded and not), roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and French fries.

Most of their desserts weren’t that great. They just weren’t as sweet as I expected.

For drinks, I mostly had soda, coffee, OJ, mango juice and iced tea.

Tom took my picture with a guy dressed as a Star Wars character. Not that I’m into that show or anything, but just because I thought it’d make an interesting pic.

The lack of space and alone time got to me at times, but once Tom felt confident that I was recovered enough and more with it, he would take off on his own or sit out on the balcony, which was nice though windy at times, and I would chillax to some music.

On the second to last day was when I went to the spa for the Fire and Ice mani-pedi. I had to wait in the waiting room for a while where a woman told me she got her pedicure done earlier and said it was awesome.

Then Jill, a youngish woman from Jamaica, took me into another room. First she did a pedicure. She had me soak my feet in warm, milky-colored water that was all bubbly like a Jacuzzi. Then she filed my toenails and she did it in a manner which you would think seemed too rough and even painful, but it didn’t hurt a bit. Just a slight bit of irritation on the top of one toe. Then she took what looked like a big silver paddle and buffed the skin of my feet using the same motions.

She then put a gel on my legs and feet, and because she had plastic gloves on, her hands glided over my skin easily when she massaged my lower legs and feet. First she used hot volcanic rocks, and then she used just her hands.

Next she put lotion on my legs and feet and wrapped them in a warm wet towel. Lastly, she polished my toenails a frosty blue, which I picked out earlier.

She repeated the same procedure on my hands and forearms, only she buffed my fingernails so that after the pink polish was applied you could no longer see the ridges. My nails looked so shiny at this point, almost as if they had clear nail polish on them. Unfortunately, however, this made my nails thinner, allowing them to crack.

She also put some amazing products on my face (3 different things?) that reduced the redness I have caused by rosacea. I bought 2 products and would’ve spent over $200 at the spa alone had it not been for the $300 in credit Cosco gave us for booking through them. So they basically covered that much of the trip.

I’m hoping one of the products I got will reduce the frizziness in my hair. I won’t use it till we get home.

By then the laptop’s battery was dead and I took notes by hand. I wish I’d done a more organized job of it too, instead of just throwing them all in one big pile, but hopefully I got the most important stuff noted.

On our last day was when we got all the pics of the ship we wanted to get, including the rock wall which I declined to climb. I just didn’t want to get any more sun exposure than necessary while I was still a bit burned and not fully over the heatstroke.