Friday, August 2, 2013
"The Mayan Conquerors"
After an amazing 2 days of snorkeling and relaxing in Roatan and Belize, today is the day of physical stress... "The Amazing Cozumel Race". Today we are planning on running this Race that is supposed to be just like the actual CBS show The Amazing Race where teams travel around the world completing clues in a massive scavenger hunt. We knew we will never be able to get on the TV show which we watch every season and LOVE so we decided this was the best way to experience it! (We are going to post a separate blog with the actual clues and stuff much later but this is the main idea)...
At the starting line...
The Race didn't start until 10:30 but we decided to get off the ship and explore the Tourist area at 9:30. We looked around and browsed some of the shops before we decided to take it easy and rest before the Race started. We went into Fat Tuesday and found they had Free Wifi... this allowed us to mass delete the 100+ emails from the week and even leave a message for our kids on Facebook.
Chris and I outside Fat Tuesday in Cozumel
Cozumel Tourist Village near the Cruise Terminal
Outside THREE AMIGOS and we are READY to Race!
The time had come and we made our way to the designated holding area for the race near the end of the docking pier at Three Amigos Restaurant. It was here that we received our map and other Race supplies and clues as well as decided our team name of "The Mayan Conquerors".
The time had come and we made our way to the designated holding area for the race near the end of the docking pier at Three Amigos Restaurant. It was here that we received our map and other Race supplies and clues as well as decided our team name of "The Mayan Conquerors".
We traveled by taxi with other teams to the actual starting point of the Race inside Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Restaurant on the beach of Cozumel island. They gave us our first clue and we were off.
A picture of the "Flag" we would be searching for within all of our clues... A "marker" if you will.
Once we figured out the first clue we had close to a mile to run/ jog to get to the next clue and you were allowed to take a taxi... yeah that was hard! There were about 6 other clues and "Detours" before arriving at the finish line.
You may not be able to tell by this photo but I was tearing up... From relief and excitement!
This was an amazing experience! Life changing!
Once we figured out the first clue we had close to a mile to run/ jog to get to the next clue and you were allowed to take a taxi... yeah that was hard! There were about 6 other clues and "Detours" before arriving at the finish line.
This was an amazing experience! Life changing!
All in all we traveled over 4 miles BY FOOT down the streets of Cozumel in open markets and run down streets. It was JUST LIKE THE SHOW! We came in 6th out of 16 teams and completed the race in 1 hour 50 minutes. The guides of the Race said that "The Winners Circle" (1st-3rd place finishes) times are usually 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes but this set of teams was a little faster than usual. Being the two larger people that we are, I was happy with a 6/16 finish! But let me tell you... the Amazing Race would never work for me! Not because I am fat but because I AM WHITE! There was no time to re-apply sunscreen, and we were only racing for a T-Shirt NOT A MILLION DOLLARS! It was crazy and I got a mild sunburn! It was about 98* and the humidity was as bad if not worse then Houston! It was hard... BUT WE FINISHED and we weren't last AND we even beat a team from OSU! So all in all... I FEEL LIKE A WINNER!
BOOMER SOONER BABY!
The AFTER picture...
After crossing the Finish Line we got to eat and relax at the Final Pit Stop "Mama Linda's Restaurant". We were so hot we barely ate anything!
After crossing the Finish Line we got to eat and relax at the Final Pit Stop "Mama Linda's Restaurant". We were so hot we barely ate anything!
After the Race we went and purchased our standard souvenirs and then boarded the Ship. We were docked right beside The Carnival Magic that sailed out of Galveston and that massive thing made our 110,000 ton ship look like a CANOE! Wow, that boat was huge. We spent the majority of the remaining time before we left Cozumel just looking out our Balcony at The Carnival Magic! It was pretty cool. There was also Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas docked nearby at the Cozumel Cruise Terminal. This was a mammoth of a ship that had a hollowed aft section with INSIDE BALCONIES... It was wicked! I felt like I wanted to get off shore and just do a shore excursion tour of THAT Ship! Haha... forget the beach, I want to tour that Ship! It was so cool!
Their lifeboats are 4 times the size of ours!
Running this Race with Chris and being able to see parts of Cozumel that the average person never gets to see was AMAZING! I guess that is why they call it "THE AMAZING COZUMEL RACE"! It was awesome and although we were both DEAD TIRED it was one of the best times of our lives! Thank You, Lord for this experience!
God is Good... ALL the TIME!
Great photos. Cozumel sure has many amazing places to take. Underwater tours on the clear waters there also let you come in contact with nature like only a few places on Earth.
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