Vacation Snafu

After my mom had an accident in her home in New York, my husband and I decided that she could no longer live alone. She was almost 91-years old, and legally blinded with severe, age-related, macular degeneration.

Mom spent just over five years with us, while my husband and I put our lives on hold to give her the proper care she needed.

Once mom passed on, I knew it was time for my husband and me to get back to being “us.”

Using the small inheritance my mom left to me, I arranged a weeklong cruise to Mexico.

As our sail date approached, I went online and chose our favored excursions: snorkeling, tequila tasting, a trained seal demonstration, and a few others. What fun we would have!

Our first excursion was the snorkeling event in Cozumel. The online photos looked amazing, and my enthusiasm was over the top.

One thing I need to mention here is that I cannot swim! Yes, I know enough to flip on my back and float. I can snorkel as long as I don’t attempt to go “under” the surface of the water. I didn’t intend to do that.

The online photos showed a beautiful, sandy, beach, with just as beautiful clear, blue water.

I have no idea where that photo was taken but it surely was not the part of Cozumel where our snorkeling excursion was.

There was no beautiful sandy beach on which you could wander yourself into the water until you were deep enough to lower yourself and start snorkeling. Nope! Not at all! What we found was a pretty lagoon into which you needed to step down using a ladder with round rungs rather than flat steps. Oh, my goodness!

I carefully began my descent and on the third rung down (there were six rungs), my foot slipped off the silty rung and my toe smashed on the lower one. You guessed it! My toe was broken just at the joint near my foot.

Yes, I did snorkel and enjoyed every second of it. After all, I was not walking. The water was cool enough to ease the pain in my toe and for the next hour, I totally forgot about the dilemma I would face when I had to use that same ladder and climb out of the lagoon.

Our tour guide signaled to everyone that the hour was over, and it was time to leave the lagoon, head to the lockers, claim our belongings and head to the next event: tequila tasting.

Getting out the lagoon did, indeed pose its own problems but the worst came after I’d gotten out. Now, I had to walk from the seawall to the locker area which was about fifty yards away. There was no way I could put pressure on my foot in the soft sand. Holding on to my husband’s arm and putting all the pressure on the heel of that foot, I managed to limp to the locker area where I could now put on my sandals. At least I would have something a bit harder to walk on.

Still limping, I walked the next fifty yards to the small bamboo hut for my shot of tequila where I was sure the fiery liquid would calm much of the pain in my toe.

Once in the large room, I noticed the long table with fourteen one-ounce glasses set at each stool. One by one, each member of our excursion walked in, and we all took our seats.

Our guide walked in and announced, “Now, I will teach you the proper way to drink a shot of tequila!”

We looked at each other and I’m sure we all had the same thought. Pour liquid in mouth and swallow.

Nope, not that easy as our guide mentioned. That’s a sure way to get drunk quickly. He explained that we had fourteen assorted flavors to taste and once done, if we chose, we could purchase a bottle to take home.

Fourteen shots of tequila? I look at my husband and whispered: “if you think you had to help me before, you’ll be carrying me back to the ship.”

After our guide explained the proper way to “down a shot,” he poured the first round. A few minutes later, he poured the second – and so on. After about 45 minutes, all fourteen shots had been consumed. I stood carefully and took a step. Then another. I asked our guide if those shots contained any alcohol at all and he assured me each flavor contained the normal 80% proof. Not one person in our group staggered away inebriated.

Yes, we purchased two bottles of the flavor we liked the best.

Yes, my toe still screamed in pain.

Yes, our touring of Cozumel was cut short.

Once back on the ship, I called the service number and asked for two cans of Coke and a bucket of ice.

Upon delivery, the Coke was cold so there was no need to use the ice – that wasn’t why I ordered it anyway. We drank the Coke, and I wrapped the ice in a towel and wrapped it around my now swollen and purple toe.

We continued with our vacation plans, just not as quickly as we would have liked. Normal touring wasn’t about to happen, but we didn’t miss our excursions – we just left earlier to meet the group so I could walk a bit slower.

Walking on the ship proved a bit difficult. While I enjoyed taking the stairs, I now had to opt for the elevators which were always over-crowded and worried me thinking, “what if someone backs up and steps on my toe?” Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

I wanted to purchase a set of Mexican boots, but my toe was so swollen, I couldn’t even try them on. Oh well! At least my sandals were open-toed.

Thinking back, I was grateful for hindsight. The shoes I chose to pack for this once-in-a-lifetime vacation were all sandals – even my dress shoes, and thankfully not one person looked at my feet or noticed this huge purple thing sticking out from the straps of my shoes.

While I haven’t been on a vacation like that since, I have promised myself that if I ever have that notion again, I’m going to pack swim shoes!