After about eight years, we finally made it back to the "Mexican waterpark," as we've called it since we first went there on a previous Royal Caribbean cruise when the boys were younger. It's in Costa Maya at the southern end of Mexico and is actually called "Maya, Lost Mayan Kingdom," but we just call it the Mexican waterpark. 😄 It was neat to go to it again with the boys being older!
Views of Costa Maya from our balcony that morning when the ship docked:
That big pyramid structure is the waterpark. We went down those very slides coming out of it a couple of hours later!
My Spanish came in handy here because a couple of the workers didn't speak English and I had questions about where to put our things. I enjoyed surprising the workers with my language skills (not that they're that great, but we were able to have good conversations in Spanish, which was thrilling to me!). They probably weren't expecting this blond American gringa to be able to converse like that with them! Speaking Spanish with the locals was one of my favorite things I did on this cruise.
Because we went on the cruise during a school week, there were far fewer children and teenagers than on any of our previous cruises. Because of that, the waterpark wasn't crowded at all. No lines, nothing. It was so nice!
First, we did the lazy river, which was very lazy and not nearly as thrilling as the boys remembered, but it was relaxing and I enjoyed it!
Then we went to the pyramid and the boys went down all of the slides, and I went down most of them(!!), including a steep, long body slide that I was scared to go down, but I did it! It was thrilling and fun, and it gave me a big wedgie. 😂
Another fear that I confronted was that I WENT ZIPLINING FOR THE FIRST TIME! And it was SO MUCH FUN! It was way less scary and complicated than I'd always thought it was. I did the whole zipline course around the park, and I really enjoyed it! Another fear, conquered. 🙌
When we first got there in the morning and picked these seats, I envisioned myself reclining on my chair for a couple of hours, resting and reading while the boys played. Alas, that did not happen, and I'm okay with that because it meant I got out of my comfort zone and went down slides and went ziplining with my boys!
After the slides and ziplining, John and Sam played in the pools until it was time to go.
They had fun water wrestling and flipping each other around in the water.
We also went over to this other pool, which they had completely to themselves the entire time we were there.
Note the zipliner in the air up on the right! That was us not too long before!
Ziplines!
This was a good blend of history (a Mayan pyramid—obviously not an actual one 😄) and modernity (water slides!) surrounded by native plants, trees, and scenery.
Handstands were done, first by Sam...
There we go!
And then by John, the former boy gymnast. Can you tell?
I couldn't get enough of that cool pyramide o'slides!
With the zipline in this picture, you splashed down into the water at the end of it. So fun! After this experience, I'll definitely go ziplining again.
There were iguanas hanging out poolside.
And by our lounge chairs.
We had a good time at the Mexican waterpark--even better than when they were younger. It was good to be back, and I hope we'll return again in the future!
We did some shopping in the port on our way back to the ship. I saw owls!
And flamingoes! Real ones. 😃
Our ship awaited!
A new towel creature also awaited. Cute!
Final views of Costa Maya before departing. This is a neat place.
There was another Royal Caribbean ship in port that day.
A yummy snack from Windjammer
Another yummy snack from the pool deck 🍦
Views of Central Park and the waterslides
From the Royal Caribbean app (which is totally essential and useful, by the way!)
Sam really wanted this handmade Mayan jaguar that he saw in one of the shops on the way back to the ship.
And yes, he really needed a haircut!
Don't mind if I do!
As I sat out on the balcony while we were sailing that afternoon, I noticed pretty gold stripes of some kind of seaweed spread out over many miles in the water.
It reminded me of the Japanese art of kintsugi, which makes broken things beautiful by filling in the cracks with gold. There is so much symbolism for life in this, and I've benefited from a book about it that I got during my painful divorce, Broken and Beautiful by Calee Reed, a fellow faithful Latter-day Saint who also went through a hard divorce. Seeing this "kintsugi" on the water felt like a sign of closure and peace for me, that I'm on the right track and making good choices and am helping the broken parts of my life come together into a beautiful life for myself and my special little family.
I snapped this picture of my waterbottle because of the MWEG sticker on it. I posted it a few weeks later on Basecamp, our online office space.
Dinner that night was really good. I had a delicious fruit and avocado salad for my appetizer, followed by lobster, followed by Baked Alaska for dessert. Culinary perfection!
After dinner we went to an ice-skating show at the ship's below-decks ice rink. It was the coolest! 😉 I love ice/figure skating and it was an excellent, entertaining show that was based on the four seasons.
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
The ice rink
After that, my mom, Sam, and I stopped at the Aqua Theater and watched the last 45 minutes or so of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (one of Sam's favorite movies).
This is also where the amazing InTENse show is performed. And where my mom and I went to the "World's Sexiest Man" contest the next day. Stay tuned for that! 😂
We enjoyed our final excursion day on the cruise. It was a good blend of fun, relaxation, fine dining, and great entertainment!
Tags: #royalcaribbean #wonderoftheseas #westerncaribbeancruise #costamaya #lostmayankindgom #waterpark
