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As we opened our stateroom drapes this morning, we were treated to the sight not only of Cozumel, but also lots of other ships in port, including the Carnival Paradise anchored off the coast using tenders to take passengers onto the island. In port are the Mariner of the Seas, and the Caribbean Princess, plus 6 Mexican passenger ships, 2 cargo ships, and a pilot boat. More than 25 cruise lines stop here, using 3 terminals – and then there’s a ferry terminal taking passengers to Playa del Carmen too! Despite all that activity, nothing today was the least bit crowded, and our beautiful Viking Sky was the only ship docked at the Punta Langosta terminal.

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On our 21/22 world cruise, we also made our first itinerary stop here in Cozumel (Episode 147 ) , where our included tour was a visit to a sacred pre-Columbian Mayan religious site, San Gervasio, located on the northeastern side of the island. 

That same tour was offered this year, but we chose to take the alternate 3 hour included tour: An Insight Into Mayan Culture.  The description read: 

Taste Chocolate and see a Mayan Dance Performance. Sample a taste of Mayan culture and enjoy a traditional dance show. Embark on a scenic drive by motor coach to the Mayan Cacao Company, where you will be greeted by your host. Delve into the fascinating history of chocolate and hear about its influence on Mayan cuisine. Cacao was considered a “food for the gods” and was consumed for its health benefits. Experience firsthand the traditional method of making chocolate and enjoy a tasting. Continue your tour to El Barriecito, where you will take your seat to enjoy a traditional Mayan dance performance. Be captivated by the music and colorful costumes as you watch this beautiful art form that celebrates their powerful connection to the natural world and a rich cultural heritage.

After spending 5 wonderful months in Mérida Mexico in 2022/23, Ted and I took every opportunity to learn about Maya and Yucatecan culture, and attended many wonderful demonstrations of ancient traditional Maya dance, sports like pok-ta-pok (Episode 376 ), and traditional cooking (Episode 393 ), but we’re always happy to learn more.  Plus … chocolate! 

It’s a balmy 78° F/26°C here today under overcast skies, but extremely windy. It made me glad we chose a land tour instead of anything involving one of the small boats we saw bouncing on the choppy waters.

The Maya dance performance was held in an arts, culture and entertainment complex called El Barriecito (“the little village”), in a building with a padded centre stage that is also used to host matches between luchadores, the iconic masked Mexican wrestlers. What we were treated to was much more ancient and thrilling, although I’d not have turned down a chance to see lucha libre!

Reminiscent of our Mérida pok-ta-pok experiences, the show began with the Maya equivalent of smudging – a woody incense smoke offered to the four corners of the earth in blessing of the coming performances.

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Then the drums: the drumbeats that drove the dances resonating in our chests, mimicking heartbeats, and drawing us into the magic of dances honouring wildlife, warriors, and the reappearance of the sun.

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The body and face paint of the dancers, and their headdresses, were spectacular.

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The Owl Dance featured a gorgeous costume – when the dancer knelt and hid his face, he looked exactly like a huge owl. It’s unfortunate that the moody lighting made a truly great photo impossible.

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The dance performed to escort heroes safely into the underworld involved some pretty intimidating skull masks!

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The dance honouring the return of the sun featured fire being ceremoniously brought into the arena, a demonstration of bravery, and the swallowing of the light.

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It was a very high energy and educational experience, augmented by everyone being given a tart lime ice “paleta” to enjoy before the show. Mexican frozen treats really are some of our favourites.

From El Barriecito, we drove to the Playa Mia Beach Resort, home to the Mayan Cacao Company. Cacao is not actually grown on Cozumel, whose limestone geology makes it unsuitable for most agriculture (although an abundance of luscious fruit-bearing trees like mango, guava, soursop, guanabana, and citrus trees, as well as bananas, thrive).

In fact, our guide Juan told us that the only things Cozumel “produces” are garbage and babies – almost everything else being imported on the cargo ships that come into port daily. Electricity is the exception; it comes not by ship but via cable from mainland Mexico.

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The chocolate-making process was similar to what we experienced in Puerto Chiapas in October (Episode 559), but presented in a more “touristy” way.

It’s understandable that these kinds of demonstrations would be done here, since Cozumel’s economy is 100% based on tourism. After the third Spanish landing here in the 16th century, just after Cortez, the smallpox that the Spaniards brought with them wiped out almost all of the indigenous Maya. (According to Wikipedia: “As many as 10,000 Maya lived on the island in the early 1500s, but in 1520, infected crew members of the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition brought the smallpox contagion to the island, and by 1570, only 186 men and 172 women were left alive on Cozumel.”)

The island, without arable land or precious mineral resources, remained a relatively unknown island of fishing villages, partially settled by refugees from the 1848 Yucatán Caste Wars, until Jacques Cousteau shared the wonders of the area’s coral reef (second in size only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef) with the world in 1962 and made Cozumel a diving destination.

The gardens of the Mayan Cacao Company featured several very vocal scarlet macaws.

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Our first stop in the chocolate presentation was a short film about the history of cacao, from the thick bitter drink enjoyed by Mayan royalty – and given to athletes to enhance their performance via the caffeine content – to its medicinal uses, its value as currency, and its eventual journey to Europe with the Spanish. After that, the addition of milk from European farms, and sugar imported from the West Indies, changed everything.

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We also learned a bit about why the best cacao beans, now grown in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, aren’t turned into chocolate there. It’s all about the cost of importing milk, sugar, and vanilla; it makes more sense to export the raw cacao to Switzerland and Belgium, who have become the world’s preeminent chocolatiers.

We got a taste of chocolate NOT being used as candy: smooth, slightly spicy chocolate mole on fresh warm corn tortillas. That taste made me miss Mérida and the wonderful selections of moles available there.

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As we left the chocolate store, a pretty big green iguana was resting on the ledge beside our coach. With all that orange colouration, I have to wonder about the name.

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We were back on the ship just after noon, in time for a light lunch at Mamsen’s: one of their tasty fresh open-faced sandwiches. I chose the rare roast beef on pumpernickel, with horseradish cream, a Granny Smith apple, and unsweetened iced tea. Tonight was our first Chef’s Table dinner, so I had to save room.

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While Ted curated the day’s photos, I got out of his way and found folks from Oregon and New Jersey to chat with in the Wintergarden. Folks seem to be genuinely interested in our “homeless” lifestyle, and everyone knows that I love talking about it!

By the time I’d finished chatting, it was time to change for dinner. That’s not something we “have to do”, especially if eating in the World Café, and even the main restaurant only prohibits jeans and logo tee shirts, but when the food is this good, the presentation this lovely, and the service this professional, it seems almost disrespectful not to freshen up before eating.

Tonight we enjoyed the Chef’s Table’s La Route des Indes 5-course tasting menu featuring flavours from the Indian Spice Route. We remembered this menu, which was introduced on the 21/22 Workd Cruise, as being one of the most interesting. I usually collage food pictures, but the Chef’s Table dishes really each deserve their own.

While perusing the intriguing descriptions on the fixed menu, we enjoyed tender yeasty rolls flavoured with cumin and sesame, served with sweet butter.

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Our Amuse Bouche was a carrot & cardamom cream with chopped chives, under an orange and star anise foam, paired with Mara Martin white wine from Monterrei Spain, made from Godello grapes. We’d never tried that grape variety before, but both enjoyed the light crisp flavour offsetting the cardamom in the carrots.

The first course was a spicy tuna tataki, with seared tuna coated in Szechuan peppercorns, dried coriander seeds, and sesame oil, served with a delicate lemon foam, avocado mousse, balsamic vinegar, and white sesame “powder”. Even Ted, who doesn’t much like fish, enjoyed it. The wine pairing was a Fontanafredda Gavi del Commune di Gavi from Piemonte Italy, made from Cortesse grapes. Delicious!

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Before the main course we were served a granita (shaved ice) palate cleanser flavoured with vodka, apple juice, ginger and tarragon. The heat of the ginger was perfectly offset by the cool ice and aromatic tarragon, and made even more sublime with lemon foam.

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Our main course was fork-tender rare beef tenderloin with four “warm” spices: Spanish paprika, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon. It was accompanied by seared mushrooms, beef jus, and vitelotte (a blue/violet potato) mousseline. This succulent combination was paired with a Fishbone Blue Label Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Western Australia, which was our least favourite wine of the evening.

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And yes, there was dessert too! The “apple délice facon tarte tatin”, highlighting cinnamon, served over a crisp biscuit base, glazed with butterscotch Calvados sauce, and garnished with a quenelle of vanilla cream and sliced almonds, was paired with a Torrevento Dulcis in Fundo Moscato from Puglia.

The menu changes to Asian flavours tomorrow, and we’ve already made our dinner reservations!

Before heading to the theatre, I stopped at Guest Services to reserve a spot on the “Behind the Scenes” ship tour being led by the Hotel General Manager later this week. I met the Guest Services Manager, Nico Thiart, and had a lovely chat. He is friends with Mara Buga, who was our Guest Services Manager on the 21/22 cruise, and was happy to pass on greetings.

Nico had noticed that I’d gone to speak to passenger Donald Woodley (above, in all his 93-year old joyfulness). Donald has been doing back-to-back Viking cruises since 2017, when he was still a youngster of 85. He has been deaf from birth, and now uses a walker full time, but nonetheless travels completely independently. He considers Viking ships his home, and the crews his family, and they certainly reciprocate.

Nico told me that Donald had recently just completed a Longitudinal World Cruise that includes visiting Antarctica. Because of his physical limitations, he was not going to be able to go onto land in Antarctica and fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing the emperor penguins. A walker most definitely is not designed for Antarctic terrain.

Nico and the Hotel General Manager on that ship CARRIED Donald onto the land! I admit to tearing up at the thought; this kind of story is exactly what keeps us coming back to Viking.

Of course, the excellence of their entertainment is a factor too. Tonight we had the absolute pleasure of hearing Manny Rodrigues’ incredible vocals on music ranging from Broadway to the Rat Pack to Franki Vallee to opera. Manny’s range and stage presence are stellar – AND he was our Assistant Cruise Director for the first leg of the 21/22 cruise, so reconnecting was a real bonus.

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Our days continue to live up to Viking’s high standards. Tomorrow will be a low key sea day until our Chef’s Table dinner, but I’m sure we’ll find lots to keep us occupied.