Friday, December 22, 2017

Caribbean Day 6 (Merida, Mexico): Paseo de Montero, American Businesses and a Broadway Cabaret Show

Let’s start with waking up… Well, we did it. We were going to break our normal routine of heading to the buffet for breakfast so we called room service. Room services wasn’t going to be able to get to our cabin in time for us to eat and make it to our excursion so it was up to the buffet. We are docked on one of the longest piers in the world. It’s about four miles long and we were at the very end! Good thing we were able board a bus near our berth.

Our bus took us along Paseo de Montero where most of the notable buildings in the city are located. Our guide pointed out important government entities, banks and other important buildings as well as a surprising amount of American businesses like McDonalds, Starbucks, Costco, Walmart and Sam’s Club. He seemed very excited about those.

We stopped in the middle of downtown by the government building, St. Ildephonsus Cathedral and Francisco de Montejo’s house. There was a very small group of protesters outside of the government building. I’m not quite sure what they were protesting. We didn’t have a lot of free time to explore.

St. Ildephonsus Cathedral was built on the Mayan ruins of Tiho and is one of the oldest cathedrals on the continent. The main doors of the cathedral are called the “Doors of Forgiveness” and is only open during special occasions. The front of the cathedral was very interesting. It’s outfitted with slits around the door for weapons as a defense mechanism. Our guide also told us that This cathedral contains the largest wooden crucifix on the continent.

On our way back, we stopped by Monumento a la Patria, located in the middle of the busiest round about in the city on Paseo de Montero. I don’t remember much about the fountain but it was designed by Romulo Rozo depicting the history of Mexico.

We explored a small number of shops on the pier when we got back and headed up to the ship’s poolside grill for lunch. I was hungry!

After lunch we had afternoon tea and attended a farewell reception in the main atrium. There were performances and we were served champagne. At the end the cruise staff paraded around thanked us for traveling with them.

Tonight’s show was a best of Broadway cabaret show where everyone’s talents were showcased individually. Even staff outside of the cruise ship’s entertainment cast performed. They performed On the Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady, Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Lily’s Eyes from Secret Garden, On My Own, Stars and I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables, It Takes Two from Hairspray, This Moment from Jekyll and Hyde, Corner of The Sky from Pippin and finished with All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera. It was a pretty good show.

After the show we went to the buffet for dinner but had to cut it short because the jewelry store was picking the winner for a “guess the carat weight of a gem” contest they started at the beginning of the cruise. I didn’t win…


We went back to the buffet after the contest to eat a little more and then to the rooms to retire for the night. We lose an hour tonight because we’re traveling through another time zone but we also get to sleep in because tomorrow is another day at sea. Fun stuff!

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