CRUISE CONCLUSION

My learning curve has a very big arch. I've no idea what that actually means, but I mean for it to indicate that I don't learn easily. Just ask either one of my sons how well I learn computer stuff.

I'm not sure why I couldn't get more cruise pictures posted yesterday before giving up and publishing prematurely. There's not a great lot more to say about our trip other than that Mr. Bob and I stayed on board and let Tim do any exploring that was to be done at the three ports. He stayed on the ship at Mazatlan, but ventured out in Puerta Vallarta and Cabo san Lucas. Mr. Bob and I are hesitant to take scheduled tours ever since years ago when a float plane ran out of gas and sank in the water while we were docked at an Alaskan port. Our departure was delayed while there was a search for bodies. When we did sail, it was with three fewer passengers less than expected.

That has nothing whatsoever to do with our Mexican cruise, but we stayed aboard and looked out the windows. My memory of cruising to Mexico in 1973 includes disembarking amidst a crush of beggars and taxicabs, neither of which I knew what to do about. That's all changed in these modern times.  Now shuttles take passengers back and forth between the ships and the town. 


I enjoyed watching people return to the Mother Ship, most of them carrying bags of purchases. I wondered what they contained, but needed to use my imagination for there was no way of knowing what tempted people to part with their pesos. As I planned this trip, I had every intention of buying Mr. Bob a guayabera, also known as a Mexican wedding shirt, but it will need to wait until our next trip to Olvera Street. Much as I love to shop, bargaining is not among my talents and I'm pretty sure that in Mexico negotiating a price is part of the game.

In Puerta Vallarta, we watched and watched in the afternoon from our window high on the ship for Tim to return from town. Departure time drew closer and closer ....... 20 minutes to go, 15, 10.......if I were a nail biter, I'd have chewed........5 minutes, still no sight of him. After we pulled away from the dock, I went to our cabin, sat myself down, and commanded my mother-self to become tranquil. Breath deeply........all is well........it's not the end of the world. Shortly, Tim popped his smiling head in the door...........it was one of those moments when one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. He'd been back on board for 2 hours.....long before we'd started to watch for him. Damn! 


I told myself ahead of the trip that I was NOT going to be the sort of mother that Marie was on "Everybody Loves Raymond" or George's mother on "Seinfeld". It seems I spend an inordinate amount of time making sure I'm not that deplorable example of a maternal figure and then it sometimes turns out that, like it or not, I am exactly that. No amount of self-talk produced restful sleep the second night out when Tim sallied forth to take part in some night life. I was aware that he was still out when I awakened at 1:30, but it wasn't anything to cause concern. But as the wee hours of the morning got wee--er, my imagination started to soar and it spun such scenes of possibility that my sleep came in ragged patches by the time he rolled in at 6:30 a.m. Before my thoughts were made audible, he sprawled across the foot of our bed and regaled me with tales of the night that made me understand where the time had gone. He had had the time of his life and how lucky I was that he chose to share it with us.

 Did you notice that I hadn't mentioned food? One reader accused me of ususally having food as my main subject and that isn't far from the truth. I mustn't disappoint  Mr. Jim who eats to live rather than the other way around, so I'll close with two photos, one of a dinner entrée and another of the Captain's Farewell Buffet. 

If the above paragraph is underlined, as it appears on my screen, I don't know why it's that way. Another of the mysteries of working on a computer. There's no one to ask, so we'll go along with it.


The best part of returning from this trip was not having to go out in the garden, a place I really do miss, to see if our absence had created a tangled mess or worse yet, what plants had died while we were gone. And we didn't have to drive to the post office to collect our mail.


We had a fine time and even persnickety Tim had nothing but good to say about the trip. It was fun.