Cruise Day 3 Cozumel - The ABCs

On the third day, we arrived in Cozumel.

 And had another time change.   An hour change going forward, back and forward again occurred almost every day on the cruise. 

We disembarked in Cozumel and walked down the pier.

 We had some extra time before the excursion began so we checked out some shops around the port.

The farmacia was doing some brisk business and had some pretty decent prices inside.

 Then we met up with the excursion and boarded a comfy tour bus.

We were headed for a tour of the ABCs - on this case Alcohol (Tequila), Bees and Chocolate.

Our first stop:

 

The Mayan Bee sanctuary, home of the Melipona Bee.  The melipona are small, native to South America, don't sting, shy, and produce less honey than your typical honeybee.

They live in hives inside tree trunks.  

We got to sample the honey and compare it to the standard honeybee honey.  Allegedly in addition to being delicious, Melipona honey has therapeutic effects including bee-ing good for wounds and being applied to your eyes.

That was a neat stop.

Then we stopped for lunch. 

Had some great fish tacos on the beach along with a margarita.

 Absolutely delicious.

We then headed onward to discover Mexican chocolate.

 We saw a presentation on the history of chocolate and got to try some that was made in the traditional manner, with the beans grinded on a stone platter. 

Different from the chocloate you have today for sure, not sweet but very good. We then got to sample and buy some premium chocolates made in the modern and very tasty fashion.

Then on to the A in the ABCs of the day.

Tequila.  As it turns out ,Tequila can only legally come from the Blue Agave plant. If its not the blue agave its not tequila.  If its made with less than 51% agave, it also can't be called Tequlia.  Most types of Jose Cuervo is often referred to in Mexico as 51/49 or mixto as it just makes the cut. Mescal also comes from agave but not blue agave. The more you know I guess.

We got to sample some nice tequilas including 100% agave ones, as well as some flavored liqueurs made from tequila.

 The caramel one was rather exceptional.

 

 

That was the end of the excursion, and we headed back to the ship and soon were underway heading to our next stop.

After dinner, we went to the dueling piano bar.

 Helluva good time. All three of the singers were personable, funny, and really talented. All three could play piano, drums, guitar and sing which is pretty damn impressive. They could work a crowd and everyone was singing along to the many rocking tunes they played.

That was a great day and a great night.