CELEBRATING THE DAY OF THE DEAD

On the annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dea") celebration, it is believed that the souls of those who have died return to visit the living. It is a Mexican holiday that has been celebrated for centuries, tracing back to a similar ritual observed by the Aztecs. It is now celebrated in certain parts of the U.S. on November 1 and 2, and its underlying theme for this holiday is that it is a time of great celebration, not mourning...and it's not the Latino equivalent of Halloween.

The small, but wonderful Figge Art Museum featured a superb exhibition of more than 30 hand-made catrinas, skeleton figures made out of clay or paper mâché. Instead of honoring specific people, most of the catrinas honor themes.

Here are my favorites:

All of the catrinas were made at the Casa Guanajuarto Quad Cities. You can read about their organization here.

To read more about the terrific Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, click here.

All photos in this blog post were taken by me during my visit to the Figge Art Museum in October, 2013.

BUENOS DÍAS, COZUMEL

Our first port stop.  This is our second cruise visit to Cozumel, but it has been nearly eight years since we have been here.  As avid snorkelers, it's strange that neither time we've gone snorkeling here in Cozumel even though it is known as one of the best snorkeling areas in the Caribbean.

Hey, we're not the only Carnival ship docking today in Cozumel!  Well, Cozumel is the most frequented cruise port in the Caribbean.

In fact the Carnival Glory followed the same cruise itinerary as we did so we saw her at every port.  It would have been nice to also see other ships, but the Carnival Glory was the only other cruise ship we saw in port the whole cruise.

Twin megaships!  That's our ship on the left.

Cozumel was the only port that we didn't plan a shore excursion.  We wanted to just walk around the tourist area of Cozumel and do some shopping.  You can find good deals in Cozumel: our first trip we bought two nice Movado watches for only $150 each; we still wear those watches today.  During this trip husband was looking for a gold chain.  We did get a pretty good deal at a local jewelry store.

Of course there are many opportunities for typical tourist photo-ops in Cozumel.  To the right as you exit the pier is the "Three Amigos" Flea Market/Cantina:

Outside are oversized pieces of furniture lending themselves for silly vacation photos: here is 6-foot, 2-inch husband looking like he's on the island of Liliput instead of the island of Cozumel...

And here is husband with our new friend, Lamont, looking a bit silly sitting in those "high" chairs:

There was the man dressed up as a Caribbean pirate...

And for a donation you can take a picture with him...

Of course there are the typical Mexican souvenirs to buy:

Stacks of colorful sombreros...

Colorful maracas...

Colorful hand-painted mini-guitars...

Colorful hanging parrots...

Colorful totebags...

Colorful necklaces...

But my favorite sights are the colors of Cozumel itself:

The theme of this post: COLOR.  In Cozumel, it's rare to see black or white; instead plenty of brilliant Caribbean colors whether it's the town, the souvenirs or just the beautiful turquoise waters...

Next port: Belize...the reason we booked this particular cruise.  Until next post, Adiós amigos!