the honeymoon: Mazatlan

Mazatlan was our most laid back day in port. We didn't have any excursions planned, and we decided to just go to the beach.

Once we arrived at the beach we were promptly accosted (harsh word? maybe, but maybe not) by local vendors selling their wares, everything from woven hats to sunglasses to your name inscribed on a grain of rice (I've never understood that trend). No exaggeration we were approached probably once every 60 to 90 seconds, and sometimes there were repeats. Eventually we learned to "play dead," which meant closing our eyes pretending to sleep or reading a book so intently you can't be bothered to pay attention to anything else (that was my strategy).

Josh was content lying out in the sun while I played in the waves a bit (he probably would have joined me had we felt safer about our belongings on the beach).

I'd been to the beach only once before this in my entire life, and I felt like a little kid with how much fun I had jumping in the waves and tasting the salt water. (In that photo I'm the one in the top right.)

We could take only so much of the vendors and left after about an hour or so. We walked down the street a little and looked into a couple of shops. Josh ended up getting a seat hammock.

We headed back to the ship about mid-afternoon, a little tired and hungry. Even though the local vendors were relentless, we still had a fun and relaxing time at the beach--we weren't about to let them ruin Mazatlan for us!