About seven years ago we took a mexican cruise. We flew to San Diego and stayed
at a hotel in "Old Town" for about 4 days, then went on a one week cruise. The
traffic was atrocious in San Diego. You take your life in your hands just driving
around the airport. I liked San Diego, my sister hated it. The cruise only
stopped in 3 ports, Puerto Vllarda, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucus. The cities were
pretty much like Cancun only older. Not much happened in port, some shopping and
sightseeing. I remember having lunch in a place called the Giggling Marlin. Of
course we went during the day and there wasn't much happening then. But they
said that at night patrons are bound by the feet and hoisted upside-down to
the ceiling next to a big cutout figure of a marlin fish holding a fishing rod.
They take your picture and it looks like the marlin is standing
there proudly next to his catch, YOU! We really wanted to see that, Dad especially.
But I guess it was too early in the day for anyone to be that "well oiled" yet. Everywhere we went there were little kids trying to sell you 2 piece packages
of Chicklets gum for a nickel, or 6 packages for a quarter. If you bought from
one, suddenly you'd be surrounded by 8 or 10 kids jumping all around you wanting
you to buy from them too. My father left there with 3 pockets full of chicklets!
Everybody you saw was chewing gum. The cruise director of this trip was named Ivan. He had a mind like a steel
trap. He remembered everyone's name and constantly greeted all the passengers
by name. He was king of trival pursuit. There was a game called stump the
cruise director, everyone called out crazy questions and he always new the
answers. That job was perfect for him. He was very entertaining and knowledgeable
about everything. He always had time to talk and was very personable. He always
called the "horse races" onboard, and he made them exciting with his fast wit and
funny comments. If you've never been on a cruise or heard of these horse races
this is how it works, there are 6 wooden cut-outs of horses mounted on stands, and a
vinyl mat with 6 rows of spaces numbered 1 through 10. The caller has an hourglass
shaped cage with 6 dice inside. He shakes the dice and calls out the results.
Each time that a number is rolled the corresponding horse is moved ahead one space by
a volunteer "jockey" from the audience, until he goes over the finish line. For example,
6 dice are rolled, 2 of the dice land on 3, 1 die lands on 4 and 3 dice land on 6 - so the #3 horse moves 2 spaces,
the #4 horse moves 1 space and the #6 horse moves 3 spaces. It goes on like that
at a fast and furious pace until one of the horses wins. The horses have funny
names that the audience submits before the first race and the game is really comical. Of course, there is betting at $2.00 a ticket.
The money is usually split 50/50 between the winners and a seamen's charity. Ivan was the best horse race caller I've ever heard. All this sounds pretty stupid when your writing it down, but when your on
vacation and there's nothing else in the world to worry about, it's fun.
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