We're on two Sea Days now so I will have a chance to catch up. I'm very aware that we're on a countdown and I am starting to make lists of things I have to do when I get home. But there are lists to attend to on board, too, very self-indulgent things, I'm afraid. I've had a stiff neck and shoulder for a while and I finally signed up for three 25-minute zone massages to deal with it, third one coming up in half an hour. I've kept swimming and the movement of the water is incredible. Who would have thought it in a tiny pool, but the motion of the ship and the state of the sea and wind determine the activity of the waves in the pool. It's like a lap pool with four different currents at once and that's what probably contributed to my stiff neck. Hazards of shipboard life? I am not complaining.
Yesterday we spent about 9 hours in Cabo san Lucas, Mexico, a resort dedicated to fun, so much so that the environment has been damaged and efforts have begun to restore and maintain it and to and prevent further harm. I can't think what possessed me but I found that I had signed on as a tequila aficionado for a tasting class. I've never had tequila - well, maybe one or two margueritas in my lifetime. I'm going to have one tonight.
The tequila tasting was not as satisfying as the wine-tasting on the ship when we have a very knowledgeable sommelier teach us about the soil and the vintages and so on. Mind you,the Tequila Class, as it ewas listed on a brochure, told me more abut agave than I ever knew or wanted to. Blue agave is the one we like; it has to grow for 7 years and be mashed and ferment and be distilled for another length of time - did he say 30 years? Anyway, our lecturer talked a lot and it was hot and it was afar 1 p.m. and I dozed through it. Food was put out, little taster amounts that people gobbled up as it was served: guacamole , salsa and tortilla chips, then seviche, then something (chile?)with some spices, ground beef and maybe beans?
I was seated between a couple: she wanted to sit near the power point screen and he wanted to sit under a ceiling fan, so I got the seat between them. I took my first sip of the pure white Tesoro (brand name?). Very strong. I sipped very slowly, with nibbles of food. The man next to me asked if I was going to drink it all and I shook my head so he took my glass and poured tee remaining contents into his. The woman leaned over and said "Don''t let him do that again."
I choked on the next sample and had to drink water to recover. I said jokingly, "I think I'll have a marguerita on the ship," so the man took my glass full -- well, hey weren't full, you know; they were just sipping samples. I leaned over and apologized to the woman. I sipped the last glass very slowly but I hung onto the glass - it was more like a cognac so I managed it.
And now I really am going to have a marguerita.