We are home and all is well, although I would love to have found a way to bring the sea air home with us. I can still smell the sea on some of our chlothes and I want to go back. My heart needed this break--I didn't know how much until I got there. I've spent an hour this morning trying to compose a thank you letter to my husband's regional manager and the words just don't seem adequate.
Cozumel is a land in slow transition. The beach we visited as part of our excursion package was magnificent and beautiful--obviously cleaned up of the debris from last years hurricane season rather quickly. Our bus ride from what was once a bustling pier to the beach--approximately ten miles down the shore-line--showed us much of the destruction and continuing loss that is on-going in the region. We passed many abandoned bungelows--multi-story Mexican mansions that were obviously beautiful at one time...sitting empty and overgrown now. So sad. What was once acre after acre of lush green jungle-like landscape was destroyed by the salt-water flooding and is now a dead, brown, tangled mess. It will likely take a decade or more to be reborn.
The beach we visited-- "Playa Mia" was heavenly. The water is crystal clear and the sand is a beautiful sand color...clean and gritty. Perfect. The sun was bright and the sky only slightly cloudy...we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day at the beach. The water was cool and there were these almost-clear fish that swam all around us. We played in the water, laid on the beach sipping Diet Cokes and water, lunched at the cafe', and shopped at the traditional Mexican-style vendors. I got a couple of braids in my hair...something I've always wanted to do.
It was peaceful. Beautiful, refreshing, quiet and peaceful. It's easy to be in love in such a beautiful place.
It was hard to get back on the boat.
I talked to a veteran cruiser at breakfast the following morning and she told me all about how the pier looked before the hurricanes destroyed most of it. I'm sorry we missed it. I can't imagine the loss Cozumel must feel.
The colors of the ship, the sea, the sky, the beach, the people...have me transfixed. The journey has captured my attention and warmed me to a place beyond words. It's a feeling sorta like being in love...it just captures you...and you never want to be free of it again.
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